Kenilworthy1959

Here is a controversial suggestion. I wouldn't want to have to play Ipswich in the play-offs. So how about we don't try too hard next Tuesday? Although that does take the entitled position that we would win the semi-final.

I don't think Saints will be that bothered as the official shirts have sold out. So they are not losing any business.

Hull might have been too early, although all the negative signs were there. It was the Swansea game where I felt it was over. And we got so bad I could confidently put money on Preston to win at St Marys. Action just 3 games earlier might have yielded at least 3 points that would make all the difference at the end of the season.

One thing that isn't being mentioned is Ben Garner - his appointment in January coincides with our improvement. Maybe he is helping Tonda do what he is doing?

Such a shame that abomination was worn in our Centenary game against Everton. Saints claimed it was still stripes because of the shadow design.

To be fair its only second worst. 1985-87 trumps everything. It does amuse me that fans will buy retro versions of kits that were hated first time round.

yes he is slow. But if he had pace alongside his other attributes he would be out of our reach. Sadly it is hard for us to find a perfect package, and when we do they don't stay long.

What used to really annoy me was that Saints didn't start producing season highlights videos until 1988/89 when even teams like Aldershot were producing them years before. So some great goals went unrecorded. That includes an absolute cracker by MLT away at Watford in May 87 that I don't think was filmed.

11 v 11 answers nearly every question West Ham United v Southampton, 31 August 1970 - 11v11 match report

I got one from DH Gate and the quality is very good. It came with Puma tags and in a Puma bag. The only difference from the official shirt is that it has the sponsor on the front

Tom Jenkins at West Ham in August 1970. Left six defenders, including Bobby Moore, on their backsides before scoring. Sadly no footage exists. Geoff Hurst equalised through a dodgy penalty

I was a bit annoyed yesterday when not long after scoring he was standing around when Oxford were taking a free kick and then appeared to feel a touch on the back of his ankle and threw himself down. That sort of behaviour doesn't help to get refs on your side. Apart from that side of his game I'm delighted with him

yes. Not being streetwise has always been one of our major weaknesses

One thing we need to sort out is the base layers the players wear with the anniversary kit. They are completely the wrong shade of yellow and it looks awful. Although my opinion is that they should wear long-sleeved shirts anyway.

Do we automatically have to postpone both the Easter games now? Or could we say play the FA cup game on the Friday and still play Wrexham on the Monday - or play Ipswich on the Friday and the FA cup game on the Monday?

We have never played Leeds in the FA cup in our history, so have a feeling it will be them (yes I know probability doesn't work like that)

Given West Ham's obsession with our players I anticipate a bid from them in the Summer

Yes that was the season Cockerill was assaulted. The added time enabled Arsenal to equalise and without that point they would not have won the title. We still won a few games after that. The bad run started at the end of November when we knocked Spurs out of the league cup

That's what one Kevin Davies gets you

VAR should have been suspended the moment in 2019 when Mike Read didn't send Anthony Taylor to the monitor to check a foul because "he's a mate".

In 2018 we could see that VAR had a clear purpose - to stop Doucoure getting away with punching the ball into the net. And it would be great if it was those massive errors it was used to avoid. But now its mission has crept to the point where it is both micro-refereeing the game while still getting big decisions wrong

I think Puel did a good job with the resources he had. It might have been that Koeman, had he stayed, would have done no better after losing Pelle and Mane - but maybe he would have had the status to bring in replacements of equal quality. Ralph was generally good up until he beat Liverpool and seemed to have a breakdown. In my opinion he should have been sacked at the end of the 2021/22 season when he had clearly lost it.

Saints made a massive mistake in sacking Chris Nicholl, a manager who never fought a serious relegation battle and achieved solid mid table finishes of 14th, 12th, 12th, 13th, 7th, 14th and two semi-finals. How we would love some of that failure now. What was even worse was that proper consideration was not given to who would replace him.

we could have bought Moore and McBurnie for this season, both proven operators at this level, and had plenty of change from the cost of Downs

Totally agree. But he wasn't that good before he was loaned to Ipswich. He came back a transformed virtually goal a game player. Aside from his association there was a prejudice that at £90,000 he just wasn't expensive enough.