trousers

He almost single handedly got us a win away at Watford ( until the inept officials allowed an illegal equaliser in the dying seconds) Edit: needed to put a space between the bracket and 'until') !!

Sims needs to start from here on in IMO. He has an instinct to attack, and has yet to have that knocked out of him by the management And I would start both Sims and Boufal. Caution to the wind and all that malarkey

Indeed. I guess what everyone wants is refereeing consistency, but we ain't gonna get that anytime soon whilst human beings are involved. If we'd had yesterday's ref at the Etihad then Man City don't score a winner against us...

You won't find a single football fan of any team that wouldn't rather the ref blows up for full time at the exact moment time is up rather than arbitrarily wait for a passage of play to complete. The observation here though is that 99% of the time, the ref would have allowed yesterday's free kick to have been taken. That's what makes it bizarre and/or annoying. Furthermore, I believe it's 'fair' to add on additional time to allow such a free kick to be taken (whether the current rules/guidelines allow it or not). Otherwise, if you send out the message to defenders that they can get away with a cynical last ditch foul to prevent a goalscoring chance and/or a follow-up free kick, then you're giving unreasonable advantage to the defending side in those last few seconds of the game, which can't be right/fair.

Austin has been "3 to 4 weeks minimum" away from a return for about 2 months now. Indeed, Pellegrino said he was back in training at the turn of the year. So, sounds like one of those annoying typical Saints injuries, whereby the player's return date gradually slips out to the end of the season whilst raising false hopes that he'll be back sooner. Anyone know why his recovery from a seemingly bog standard hamstring injury keeps getting set back? He seems to be going about every day life without too much mobility issues.

-------------------------- McCarthy ------------------------- Cedric ---- Stephens ------ Hoedt ---- Bertrand ----------- Hojbjerg ----------------- Lemina ----------- ----- Sims ------------- Gabbi ---------- Boufal ------ ---------------------------- Guido ---------------------------- Subs: Forster, Bednarek, Romeu, JWP, Tadic, Redmond, Long

I accept that venting our spleen now rather than later *might* have a positive effect on the outcome of our season, but I also recognise it could equally have a negative effect. Whichever path we choose (protest vs non-protest) we won't know what the best approach would have been until the end of the season. That's what makes hindsight such a wonderful concept

I guess the fact that every team from 7th and below are bang average, and that we're still only 6 points off the top half, despite our lacklustre form, means that there's still plenty to play for and protesting now would/could/might be counter productive

Indeed. Absolutely bizarre. Surely the act of committing a cynical foul in added time should add to the added time? If not, then all a defender needs to do, with 15 seconds or less on the clock, is to hack the opposition down in the knowledge there's no time left to take the free kick. And when was the last time a match had anything less than 3 minutes added time at the end of the 2nd half? I appreciate we'd probably have never scored with an extra minute and/or if we were allowed to take the free kick, but doesn't make it any less fathomable

Just back from the game. Dullest 1st half game of football in the history of the world ever. Saints improved a bit in the 2nd half, but the bottom line is, if we can't beat a team as woeful as Stoke then we're in trouble. Sims was our only spark of inspiration IMO, so not sure why he was subbed. Should/could have nicked a win, but didn't. Story of our season right there. What's that, 13 draws now? We limp on.

Greetings from St Mary's... ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Decent. Only change for me would be Gabbi for Redmond, but hey ho...

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It's the 'management' that supposedly run the trains that haven't thawed, not the trains themselves

Tick

As one predicted 24 hours ago, everything has now thawed. Business as usual. COYR!!

Cheers. Left early and got into town in record time. Oh well, allows time for an extra beer

Is the A33 into Southampton from the M3 definitely closed? It is according to Google Maps. Any idea why? Nothing about it in twitterland. Cheers

I wonder what the reason is for not using it at our game? I suppose the obvious answer is: "The DW stadium isn't a premier league ground and, as such, isn't equipped for VAR"... However, isn't VAR something that is dependant on the broadcaster's equipment/facilities, not the hosting stadium's?

Temperatures in the south will be above freezing between now and the game

This

Excellent

The roads and paths in the vicinity of the stadium will be fine by noon tomorrow

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Whilst road conditions aren't great right now, temperatures are forecast to be between 2 and 6 degrees from midnight tonight and up until the game. So, 12+ hours of above freezing temperatures should be enough for trouble free travel tomorrow I would venture.