Pat from Poole

Blimey, the anus speaks a bit of sense, in his last paragraph.

Tosh of the highest order. They'd have been out at Coventry if it wasn't for a ridiculous own goal. Presume you're on a wind-up.

Nineteen Canteen is an anus, ignore him.

That could be the only way I get a ticket. One home and four aways probably won't be enough I suspect.

Hayden Mullins from the Skates? Played under Pardew at Reading and West Ham, I believe. Could be going cheap in the Fratton winter sale.

I think this is the crux of the matter. We need somebody who is really going to make an impact in midfield, somebody with a presence. The way Carlton Palmer played in his first season for us is the kind of thing we need.

You should have heard him try to pronounce Kosowski when Redknapp signed him. I do think Dave's great though. Him and Herdman were on top form today. Herdman's manure comment was top drawer, albiet probably rehearsed.

This game might be a bit different though. It's only £1 more to sit, and it looks like there's no pillars in the way in the seated bit whereas there's loads of them on the terrace. It is probably a massively better view. Of course, I bought 6 terrace tickets....

I'd like him more if he wasn't on such high wages and prone to moments of violent lunacy. I think he was possibly more deserving of a red card than Schneiderlin on Wednesday, accepting that he already had stud marks on his chest when he elbowed their guy.

I don't think either of them were that great tonight. Neither struck me as being team players. We just need a tiger in midfield and some pace up front. Bailey from Charlton and Jackson from Gillingham would do it.

I wouldn't say that at all. Not as if Doncaster are going to win the Cup. Maybe they're grateful for the prize money to get through an extra round.

Bobby Charlton played in an era when you almost had to decpaitate somebody to get booked, so it's not really a relevant argument. I'd far rather watch a Saints team which isn't bullied away from home. Makes a real nice change.

£14. How?

Wasn't he Brentford's chairman until fairly recently?

If Lambert scores 30-plus goals this season, I could see a Prem team coming in for him in the summer. Somebody like Wigan, Stoke or even Newcastle. He's on a good salary with us, but I couldn't see him turning down a move to the Prem.

Certainly not Alan Ball, I think he was on £60K a year. I could imagine McMenemy being on more than that in the 80's.

I'm not so sure. I fear Lambert and Lallana, and possibly even Fonte will move on if we don't go up this season as they won't want another season in Div 3 and higher league sides are bound to come in for them, and even though we would probably get decentish fees, we'd be looking at another major re-construction of the squad. I'd rather have the players than the cash. If we start badly in Div 3 next season like we did this season, which we could if there's a few ins and outs within the squad, how long will it be before both the fans and Cortese get impatient? I fully accept that we could have lost our club last summer, but we need to somehow go up this season. There is no guarantee at all that we would be in the top 2 next season, it's taken 3 years for a really massive club like Leeds to get back, assuming they finish the job in the next few months.

Just bought 6 for Brentford. They'd better not get lost in the post, what with Brentford's no ticket replacements policy. Ticket Office sounds busy today. Took 3 separate attempts before I could get through. They said they were selling a lot of Ipswich tickets this morning.

Pardew reminded me a little bit of Redknapp actually when he was asked about Stock on Solent. A clear indication of an interest, but negativity about the likelihood of a deal being completed. It's a clear Redknapp tactic, which invariably seems to work more often than not. Look at Redknapp's comments before the Skates signed Crouch and Defoe, "Oh yeah, for sure I'd love to have him here, but i don't think there's a chance he'll come here." type of thing. It's an obvious call to the player's agent to get sh1t-stirring and put pressure on for the deal to happen.

Crikey, that's a bit harsh on Dave, that guy's blind isn't he?

I think Moran's a bit old now, old chap. Still, always a hero for Fratton in 84 and all that.

The top teams by and large dominate possession and have more of the play in the opposing team's third because they have the strongest midfields. Goalscorers get the glory but they only get the chances because of the midfield. None of this is rocket science, but in this League you need tough athletes in midfield. I'm not convinced our players are fit enough either, to be honest.

I wasn't there, but listening to it on Solent it sounded like we really struggled in midfield. Unsurprising with Hammond going off injured, but I really feared the worst when our midfield comprised of Holmes, Wotton, Schneiderlin and James. We did well to get a draw really.

I do like Merrington but he has a habit of repeating exactly what his co-commentator has just said. Other phrases he likes to use include:- "Saints must keep their shape now" (usually when defending a set-piece) "He was too easy-osy." (he used to say that a lot about Rasiak, I never understood what it meant, I presumed akin to being a lazy b@stard) My favourite Merrington memory was when Kosowski played for us, he had the most awful time trying to pronounce his name.

You're talking about £3 million there. Jobi McAnuff is barely worth 20% of that, if he was a consistent performer he wouldn't be at Reading.