The Cat

You could do a decent pub/food crawl from Portswood, down through Bevois Valley and on to St Mary's. Pho Vietnam on Portswood Road is superb. Or if burgers are your thing then 7 Bone. Curry is catered for by the always excellent Kerala. Quick pint in the Gordon then a wander on down to Guide Dog. If you haven't eaten then fill your boots with a burger and a few more ales in the Rockstone. Platform and Woolhouse are both also excellent if you like good beer.

I normally fly from Bristol because it's much cheaper even when petrol is factored in. If we are away the Thursday before I'll go to that and give it a miss anyway. 2 expensive trips in a week is a bit much!

Home on 26th December is great news. Gutted I'll miss Watford away due to being at a festival. other than that it's all good though. Are there no cheap trains to Newcastle now since Virgin took over the east coast line? Flights are expensive.

Despitr having seen none of it so far, I ended up watching Cameroon beat Switzerland last night. Quite enjoyed it. Mane scored. Might watch the England game later.

Strachan?

Window Cleaner will probably be along soon to tell us he's not very good.

No goals in 25 minutes. Send him back.

No negative posts yet. Can someone please trot out one of the following: "doing deals on the cheap" "typical lightweight Spanish player, won't be suited to the Premier League - look what happened when we got that bloke from Spurs on loan" "this definitely means Mane is leaving" "why aren't we using the perfectly good players we have in the U21's" It just doesn't feel right until someone has slagged him off.

Sign him now, sell Wanyama end of next season. Makes perfect sense.

Nice

So bad they made Jamie Scowcroft look world class.

Rubbish draw. I desperately wanted them to scrape though a couple of rounds and get us. I know the chances of it happening were slimmer than a feeder's boyfriend but it's nice to have the option.

I don't want a bunch of Aussie day trippers getting in my way at the bar or when I'm trying to get a meal after. Just tell them to go to a Wetherspoons and KFC or something.

Looks like a great signing. With him and Mane running at defences with pace and trickery it will make it very uncomfortable for most teams.

Cahill you absolute ****wit

Oh my

Whether it's all his work or not, this sort of thing will look great on his CV: http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0OP18L20150609?irpc=932

My 9yo "I don't really care if England win or not, it's just England, not Saints"

Is this Andy Townsend's last game?

I won't ever stop supporting them but at the moment they are so dull, uninspiring and full of mediocre players that get in by virtue of the club they play for that my interest has significantly waned. Maybe if I went to the matches it would be different but games at Wembley are devoid of atmosphere and I can't afford to be flying all over the world watching them away - all the spare money I do have is taken up with Saints away games as it is.

OK maybe Gardos wasn't the best example. He was pretty bad in a few games though, Sheff Utd and West Brom away spring to mind (although, yes, no one played great in either of those) Can I choose Forren instead please?

Just had a brief look at it. It's as smug and self-congratulatory as Jo Whiley high fiving herself for bringing Brit Pop to the nation.

I care little but will probably sit through the match while moaning about how much I dislike watching England. I will also get excited every time a Saints player touches the ball, even if it is Clyne who looks like he may not play for us again.

It's reasonably self explanatory I'd have thought. I predict he will do OK, but not particularly improve the Villa team. He is a lower-mid table, flirting with relegation type Premier League player and therefore for a club in their position is, in my opinion, an average signing. If he was a good signing he would be someone who would improve their squad (like Alderweireld for us) if he was a bad signing he would make little or no difference (ie Gardos for us). I hope that helps explain my original post, however I suspect, for some reason, it may not.

Well he was terrible in Italy this season so I'd say it's no more than an average signing.