pap

Tell that to Greece and Italy. Your post was a defence of the EU's democracy, wasn't it? The EU Commission is the body that proposes legislation AND sets the terms of bailouts, etc. They're unelected and have a great deal of power.

I'm a fair man, Griffo. I did Google this and acknowledge that it has words. They don't manage to sing it, though. Singing usually involves consonants.

Expectation can be a huge factor, and needs to be managed correctly. Liverpool out-performed the expectation of making a respectable push for a top four slot last year, only bunging the league away when the weight of expectation crushed them. They still haven't recovered. We've managed to confound most pundits' expectations for the club already. When asked about our possible longevity in these lofty environs, most are now defaulting to small squad or a lack of results against the big teams to explain our imminent and inevitable descent to 7th or 8th positions. Let them keep talking bollócks, I say. The longer this team has doubters the more the players will want to prove them wrong.

It's a big achievement. Seen by just over 13K fans on the day, about 1K of those Bompey. http://www.afcb.co.uk/news/article/2014-10-25-match-report-birmingham-city-v-afc-bournemouth-2037449.aspx I feel slightly cheated myself having seen our 8-0 home (eep!) demolition of a Premier League team. I mean, it was a packed and jubilant St. Marys and everything, the game was being broadcast around the world and I suppose I should be happy to have been there, but I was just a number in a vast sea of (initially) 30K people. Those famous Bompey thousand are a much rarer breed. They'll be worth a fortune on Antiques Roadshow in a few years.

I had Saints fans telling me that annoyed them. ms pap and Upgrade 2 were not impressed either. My view is that you're spot on, that game in particular. I've seen a few sets of fans do that. Man Utd fans sang a repeating dirge that can best be described as "soup" last season. I'm not even sure it contained any words. I may be overstating our importance as fans here, but in edgy one nils, I do think the fans play twelfth man. Deny their support the chance to support. And do it singing actual f**king words too ?

I'm a Brand fan. He may not have a long-term plan, is undoubtedly reactionary, but he talks about interesting concepts and most importantly, has an audience. He was doing the companion show to Big Brother the last year I watched it. I thought he was off his f**king head on class A's on air, but there was no doubt the f**ker was engaging and genuinely standout in a sea of safe presenters. Here is an example. I think a big part of the reason that people are now laying into Brand is because what he is now is quite different from what he was then. It's fine when the jester is making up jokes about a bunch of talent show wannabees. No-one is really taking any notice. He talks about different stuff now, and probably gets a lot of flak because he is over the target. People are drinking the Kool Aid. People that criticise Brand for not having solutions to the world's myriad problems are missing the point. He'll probably never do that, but he will serve as a lightning rod or inspiration to people who perhaps can, and as I said before, he has an audience. Personally, I have a great deal of respect for his honesty and eloquence when describing the world's problems, something he's very good at.

I'm anti-EU, but probably won't vote for UKIP at the upcoming elections. I'm long past the point where I see my vote as an agent for change. It's more about expressing personal preference, in the possibly vain hope that some analyst somewhere counts up the aggregated anti-EU vote and the party chiefs get the f**king message. Putting my most cynical head on, you could argue that the EU has achieved exactly what we were looking to avoid in the 1930s and 1940s, a German-led empire. Sounds sensational, but anyone that's had the austerity imposed on them certainly feels that way. The lack of democracy at the very top is a huge concern, as is accountability and the erosion of the power of nation states. Before the Greek, Italian and Spanish crises the EU had a pretty good reputation as a fluffy, benevolent supra-national organisation, probably carefully cultivated. Those events demonstrated both the utter indifference of the EU when it came to the plight of its own citizens and the overall priorities of the org in general; the financial system is more important than human life. In the interests of giving people a clear choice, one might be tempted to say that the EU needs to set out its long-term aims clearly and unambiguously, allowing individual nation states to vote on whether they want to be part of that arrangement. But then, we've already kinda been there with the EU Constitution, which fell apart when the Dutch and French people rejected it in referendums and was effectively replaced with the Lisbon Treaty, a different mechanism to achieve the same ends. Most nation states weren't allowed to have a referendum on that. Ireland did, voted no, and was asked to keep voting until it voted yes. Finally, and I've made the point before, but let's imagine a hypothetical federal Europe. Who would you hold fealty to? What is to stop, say, a group of Polish EU cops from breaking a German-led industrial strike in the same manner that Maggie used southern coppers to sort out northern miners? National character doesn't happen overnight, especially in an artificially created state. That's probably why the Americans brainwash their kids every day at school and act like teenagers on the world stage.

Yes. HTH. pap, Itchen North

Mark the day. We agree

Some solid defensive work today apart from a couple of lapses. Cagey game. Should have put em away much earlier, but hey, progress.

Can't really argue with Lawro's prediction based on recent encounters, but I think we'll win this. Koeman's team knows the route to goal far better than Adkins or Pochettino's did.

Nah. We have got a few that are precious about Saints coverage and the arseness that plops out of the big team pundits' collective cakeholes. Normally, the media only talk about big clubs or joke clubs. We were a joke club during the summer and we're not a big club now. Yes, pundits write us off frequently, but we get talked up for loads of positives too.

I have watched both episodes of the Walking Dead. Interesting start to what looks like is going to be a wandering season. Last time out, Rick and company were holed up in a railway carriage, held captive by some people who advertise themselves as a safe haven, then get around to (ahem) assimilating the newcomers. They're not nice. Episode one stands out for the general badassery of Carol, one of season one's few remaining survivors. She had a hugely strong arc in the last season, becoming something of the embodiment of the ends justifying the means. She really does kick arse in this episode. Second episode is a bit slower, but has a bit of a shocking reveal at the end. It'll put you off your tea.

Superb video showing how the victory was built [video=youtube;ktDD-JhbT30]

We've moved since, so have more options around us. There's a pub right next door to us, but I have seen too many tracksuited individuals kicking around outside it to be particularly keen. Plus it was in Ross Kemp on Gangs. There are a few boozers down the village which have been busy ever since I can remember. One of them has a sign on the door saying "tracksuits, sportswear and trainers are strictly forbidden". Class.

Wasn't as lucky as you guys. Used to drink in Edge Lane in the early 2000s. Quite possible to go on a six pub crawl within a mile, with all the pubs having their regular characters. I know it sounds crazy, but I can honestly say that going to those boozers helped to establish me in that community. Got to know loads of people; those relationships were cemented when the kids started going to school, etc. The pubs are nearly all gone. Some have become other things; most were just flat out demolished, including this building. Blooming shame. Don't go out drinking in locals anymore. http://www.merseypub.com/guide/pu29.htm

Aye, although I'm a little worried now. Have we ever been in the same ground at the same time and seen a Saints victory?

Yeah, right! How many of them actually start on time?

Banning smoking in pubs was one of Labour's worst decisions. Seemed to be a good idea at the time, but having seen so many pubs close down, I feel Britain has lost something unique - the community boozer, where the only qualification for entry was being in the community and having a pint. The few pubs that are left in communities now have all the rats that left the other sinking ships. The rest are all places to get hammered, as opposed to somewhere you could go for a quiet drink and a chat with your neighbours.

Having seen many of my own immigrant family switch from Labour to UKIP, I can't help feeling whether the public is indifferent to the gaffes, though. As I said before, my objections to the EU lie mostly in the dangers of ceding sovereignty to a foreign power. Most will be thinking of immigration, and probably getting it wrong, but that'll be their concern. Is there a danger that UKIP will be seen as panacea to all of Britain's perceived ills?

Difficult to say, although "easy fixtures" have been a common comment on the podcasts I listen to. I can't wait to get stuck into some bigger teams myself. See what this team is really made of.

Me too. How exactly does that graph reconcile itself with UKIP's rise in popularity?

Liverpool Echo report. Comments are funny. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/liverpool-fc-0-real-madrid-7969555

I've got two Reds fans in the house, both scousers. It has been an interesting summer, to say the least. They were both giving it when we were losing all our best players back in the summer, often with mocking pity. They were smug after the opener, even though the performance there didn't really warrant any smugness. Since then, I no longer directly ask. They'll think I'm taking the píss, especially as I'm perceived to be obsessed with Southampton to the point of blinkeredness anyway. However, I have heard ms pap utter the following word in relation to Liverpool:- Shít.

Promo vid from Real. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNRQR6GajuA Much respect.