sandwichsaint

This is a real low-down, dirty stroke from MK! They had their home tickets out before and over Xmas, what was was the problem with them sending 2k down to us at that time? Serve them right if it all backfires on them: I'm half considering not going in a 'cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face' sort of way. F'eck 'em, it's on telly anyway. Hope they get 10,500k tops ...

Not sure they are miles better up-front? Beckford is 'OK' (good in Lge 1 but certainly not Prem standard) and Beckio(?) is pretty average. Lambert/Lallana or Lambert/Connolly are probably at least comparable as a pair? They are much stronger in centre mid *****il we strengthen at full back/CH/wide-mid then the Hammo/Schneiderlin combo will continue to struggle, these two could make a pair but they would need to be playing in a much better team than this one). They are better across the back four too; more pace than us and more prepared to play the ball out to feet when they get the chance. Prob better at GK too (?); Anker-wotsit is unorthodox but very effective, thought he had a great game yesterday. Snodgrass is decent too. We desperately need a proper (pacey) RB and a mobile CH to play with Jaidi+Harding; until we fix our back 4 it's hard to assess the midfield.

Interesting: when's Boxing Day in Poland? 23rd December?

And me...! I can't believe more people didn't see this at the time, some people round me certainly did see it. Morgan was absolutely done with a leading elbow straight to the side of the head and left poleaxed on the ground; it should have been a red card but seeing as how the game went on and there was no yellow either, I can only assume the ref and lino both missed it (it was blind side to the lino but no excuse for the ref not seeing it; I saw it clearly from 75m away!) I'm pretty sure this was why MS came off at HT (as per Big Ron's interpretation above) but strange this hasn't been commented on officially? Perhaps Saints have made some sort of complaint? Pardew's comments after the game were certainly fairly strong in a non-specific sort of way.

Three oldies to graft on to the present side? Mark Wright to play CB with Jaidi Alan Ball to show our midfielders how it's really done CMFG to play LM and free up Lallana to play off Ricky in a 4-4-1-1

Some Col U perspective (off the pitch) and on it. Off the pitch: Arrived at 12.00 and easily found and parked up at the station car park (GBP2) as advised on awayfans and on their website. Visited three pubs, all very normal (drank beer, played darts badly, watched Sky football), caught the shuttle bus to ground at 13.50, two minute wait for a bus, GBP1 return, arrived at the ground at 14.00 and footie burger for the usual 3 quid plus a programme for the usual 3 quid. More beer on the concouse for my passengers. After the game we left at the final whistle and made our way to bus queues, mixed queueing but well-stewarded and no hint of trouble, caught the second wave of buses after approx a 10 minute wait, back in the car at 17.30 and out on the A12 at 17.40. I thought their new ground (location aside) was excellent; smart, tidy, all the facilities you need, good views from every seat and I thought better than average (friendlier) stewards. No one loves an old ground more than me but where would you honestly site a small, ambitious club; in Col's shiny new stadium or, for example, in Southend's relic of an arena? Write-on, those who intend to write and complain, but I don't see anything very out of order there. Where the problems did kick-in was with one of the worst ref displays I have ever seen! I don't usually moan about refs but today's was something special! Absolutely no protection given to the players or their skills, it was like a time-trip back to the '70's. Col players pushed, pulled, held, tripped, and kicked anything that moved. Lambert was battered throughout the first half as was Lallana and then Morgan was taken-out, literally, with an elbow to the side of the head (presumably why he was subbed off at HT)which was 'missed' by both ref and lino and should have been a straight red. We then had Col players diving and falling down trying to get us booked and sent off, and hey, it worked! A final card count of 3 yellows to Saints and 1(!) yellow to Col was an absolute travesty of the play I saw. Lambert was also illegally blocked out in the box for a def penalty(he couldn't go down, he was being physically restrained by two defenders who had him in a rugby hold). Not sour grapes, but a nasty after-taste. Saints deservedly lost it, primarily with their selection and then their first half performance. If you play 4-5-1 and set up for a scrap why not play Wotton? He's not very good but it would have been his sort of game. Why leave Connolly and Papa (two of our best players) on the bench (and start with LJ/Antonio?), that doesn't make sense. How fit was Lallana? Why not play DC (or even Papa) in that position? Where was the service to Lambert suppposed to be coming from in that line-up? Should have played: Bart LJ/WT Jaidi Trotts Harding Papa Morgan Wott Hammo Connolly(or Lallana) Lambert I don't have a problem with 4-5-1 if we play Papa and either Connolly or a fit Lallana, the problem comes when they score first and we never threatened first half. 4-4-2 was a different story and we gave it a good go at 0-1 and fair to say that 0-2 was against the run of play and killed the game. Conclusions (?) = nothing new We can't defend in open play very well, the other team's counter attacks are always dangerous, we need a pacey CB or RB asap (both please!) Midfield is ponderous and one-paced, ball retention is poor, the other team has far too much time and space to build attacks or pick their forward passes; we need either a strong defensive mid or a fast, mobile, attacking mid (Lallana?) (both please!). We rely far too much on Lambert (even though we have been sharing the goals out with AL/DC/PW etc); he's good but he's not that good! We are asking him to get on the end of, and challenge for and win, low percentage balls and also to chase any number of lost causes, and then set himself up, and then score himself; how often is that going to happen? I don't think another Saints player got in their box in open play in the first half. What a difference in the second half once DC came on... we desperately need a third striker to take some of the workload off of RL. Ignoring their Boothroyd-inspired 'dirty Leeds' impression Col definitely did a job on us today. They are probably less good player for player but today they had the better game plan and executed it well, that's why they are where they are in the table. In terms of the play-offs I look at it that in the 23 reverse fixtures we have to get all the points we got first-time round, plus an extra 10 from somewhere. On that basis not a good start to the second round of fixtures, -1 today and we now need to repeat all our first round results PLUS 11 extra points from the remaining 22 games; a tall order but not impossible if we bring in more depth and experience in the window. COYR's!

Thought our disallowed goal looked offside. The Connolly follow-up to Lambert's free kick rebounded off the keeper and then out via Connolly's shin. If this was the 'definite' corner/goal kick scenario that posters are refferring to and the one that led to their second then in fact the ref got that one right ... the only thing he got right all day. Poor performance from Saints on the pitch, out-fought and out-thought in all departments today, and to cap it all, a dismal atmosphere in the away end; prob the single 'worst' Saints away game I've ever been to fans-wise.

Wot's the story with tickets for MK away? I spent 10 mins last night in the infernal hell that is the OS and absolutely not a dickie's on there (at least that I could see). Are we contracted via the League to that shi7e website layout/content or is there scope to bring it 'in house'?

I enjoyed it yesterday, not a particularly exciting game but a solid 'job done' and 3 points in the bank. Not sure where the 'poor atmosphere' comments are coming from? It was great to see the ground full and considering there were 8-10k occasionals in the ground I thought the atmosphere was pretty good; I was well back in block 39 and it was excellent in there, my fifth home game this season and probably the best atmosphere I've seen at home this year. Winning-when-you're-not-playing-well can be the most frustrating of games and have to agree that 3-1 rather flattered Saints on the balance of play. Exeter played more football but with very little threat up front, Saints more direct and had too much for them on the day. Bart 6, sloppy handling once or twice but he's doing much better than some feared. (was KD on the bench yesterday?) James 6, bit of a mixture, got his goal and an assist but still not convincing at RB (and those calling for him to play CM clearly weren't at Leeds!) Trottman 7, solid, not too much to do but kept it tight Perry 7, ditto, he's doing an excellent job as a squad player, but certainly could have been sent off. Harding 7, more offensive than in recent games, decent game yesterday in attack and defence. Antoino 5, never really in it but fair play to AP for mixing it up with both Ant and Papa, expect to see Papa start tomorrow. Morgan 7, good to have him back but seeing as his two jobs are 'continuity' and 'creativity' (and we had very little of either for much of the game) not sure how he's picking up 9's and MOM nominations? We were outplayed and out-passed by 10 men for long periods, surely he should have been doing something about that? Hammond 6, another 'job done' sticker, hopefully he was saving himself for tomorrow, I'm looking forward to seeing that one. Lallana 6, quiet game, worked hard but not too much impact today. Hopefully he was subbed out for nothing more than a rest. He will be massive for us tomorrow. Lambert 5, not quite firing at the moment but always a goal threat. Not sure why he didn't come off at 2-0, he's stuggling with one game a week so not sure what he's going to be like tomorrow but I won't mind if he does nothing but score the winner! (and his shot against the bar at the end was about the best bit of yesterday's game). Connolly 7, worked hard on some very limited service but rarely linked with Lambert. Mills 3, probably ought to be judged as a LB but he doesn’t do it for me at left mid (is Holmes injured or just completely frozen out? HChaveDAJFU for 20 mins yesterday) Wotton 5, limited impact but did what he had to (he should have played at Leeds, will he play tomorrow in a 4-5-1? I would ...) Papa 7, excellent, prob my fave player at the moment. Unleash him tomorrow, he is will be way too good for Col U Ref watch 8, good, unfussy, got most of it right. Crowd 10! Good day out (if you don’t like ‘stuff’ with your football then don’t get seats in the Northam! Simples)

Personally I'm loving AP's enthusiasm for the cup competitions! This season he has several, not always entirely compatible, goals to aim at. He needs to keep the profile of the club high both locally and nationally; to make us attractive for players to join, to reward ML's investment, to keep our commercial profile high. He is at the same time trying to rebuild the club from ground zero and the crowds this season are ample evidence he's doing that in spades, 20k in the third division in the middle of a recession, in December is not to be sniffed at! What better way to move the whole club forward than a Wembley final? He would IMHO be mad not to aim for this, nobody says JPT and play-offs are mutually exclusive do they? The players will be loving playing at the minute and will all want to be involved in every game, what a refreshing change that is. Just look at how few injuries we have had this year compared to previous years. That surely tells you that the players are much fitter, much better disciplined and much more motivated than the last few years? Also don't overlook our relative (certainly for this level) strength from the bench: depending on who starts on Saturday AP knows he always has a Plan B with some combination of Connelly(!)/Antonio/Waigo/Wotton/Perry/Thomas/Trottman to come on and do a job. I'm very optimistic for Saturday, we are in great form and Leeds have dipped at just the right time. I'm hoping for a win, I'd take a draw, we might lose; either ways we are 2 games from WEMBLEY and who would have thought that last July?

Any one remember Vignal being sent off at Wolves for something less? Can't remember the exact detail except it involving a throw in (I think he pulled the ball off a Wolves player that was holding onto it?), anyways, just about the softest sending off I've ever seen. Back on topic ... great effort last night and fair dues to the 15k+ who made it along, unfortunately I had to choose Leeds so hopefully more of the same on Sat!

"Any way when were at the Leeds united game do you think all southampton fc fans should wear Santa hats?" Not sure if I'm man enough to suggest how other fans should support the team but I do think the language police ought to investigate this particular crime. Santa hats? Live and let live, c'est' la vie, etc. Personally I will be wearing nothing less than a full set of Santa manswear, woolen long johns, most of my ski stuff, and with a real, hollowed-out, rheindeer's head balanced on my shoulders. I will also be suspending miseltoe and tinsel from the hem of my jacket. Do you think it would look a bit silly if I then hang a red and white scarf across the antlers?

You were doing really well till the last word of that sentence.

I'm always keen to see who we draw in the Milk Cup every year, but have to say I can't remember ever referring to our ground as anything other than 'St Mary's', it was never the FP St Mary's Stadium in our house.

Do you really think that? If we stay on our current good form and win through to a Wembley final v Leeds I would have thought we would have no problems selling 40k-plus. It will be the old ST-holders plus 1 or 2 extras gag; not sure where that leaves anybody else now that we don't have a membership scheme? Presumably they would go to some sort of purchase scheme but that only covers home games and assumes that all your sales are recorded against your customer number. I always ask for this but not sure how reliable it actually is. We have been to 4 homes and 4 aways so far this season so guess it might be something like 8 home, 8 away by March time. I am nervous now about getting 3 tickets for a JPT final at Wembley or, dream on, a possible play-off final.

All worthy nominations, indeeed if the original question had asked 'Who are your five players of the season so far?' then: Lambert, Lallana, Spider, Hammond, Connolly, wouldn't be far away. If we extend that to include Jaidi, Harding, and Waigo, we can get to 8 plausible nominations before we even approach our perrenial player of the year who has held that position pretty much uncontested for the past 2-3 years. As a single measure of our progress it is mightily reassuring to see we now have up to 8 players who have been playing above the level of KD. Long may that continue! Not a pop at KD in any way but to para-phrase Hanson 'You'll win nothing if your GK is your player of the season!'

Lieber softens up fans for next season's name-change: 'FC Gnomes of Zurich'

I thought McGoldrick did well the second half of the season; not quite sure where he would play in the current set-up? A front four of Waigo, Lambert, McG, Lallana looks quite tasty though. I posted after Southend that a left-side of Harding and Skacel would be half-decent with Lallana playing behind and around Lambert (that's Skacel the occaisionally very good left winger, not Skacel the half-arsed LB). I liked Surman but where would he play in the current team, right back would be a decent shout?

Did Wycombe buy their 'keeper in Poundland? Truly shocking; was he their regular first choice gk, a reserve maybe, the team coach driver, somebody's dad, a fan who won the shirt in a raffle? I think we should be told.

Difficult game to call (difficult game to watch for long parts!), it could have been 4-0, it could have been 1-1. Saints looked lethargic from the start and served up a generous mix of misplaced passes and aimless hoof-ball for most of the first half, very hard on the eye and it rather tested the patience of a small and tetchy crowd. As has been said Wycombe were by far the weakest team we have played in the league this season and on this form they look nailed-on for a bottom four position, which only made Saints’ ineptitude all the more frustrating. Saints started 4-1-4-1 but failed to make our superior numbers in midfield count as we constantly gave the ball away leaving Lambert feeding on scraps (again). The only bright spark in the general dross of the first half (on both sides) was Waigo who worked hard in attack and defence but was too often let down by the service to him after getting into some great positions (agree on the general offside thing, he is quick enough to hold his run by a yard, our midfield need to get on his wavelength as he has excellent early movement across the line and we need to play him in 5yds quicker than they were last night; and the lino needs to keep up and read him, I wasn’t in the best position to see but several in the first-half looked dubious at best). Saints then scored a goal that was out of keeping with most of what had gone before, decent build up, a penetrating long ball out wide to Waigo who easily out-paced his man to provide the perfect assist for Lambert to make no mistake. Visible relief in the team and the ground and a real platform for the second half. The second half was infinitely better than the first and turned out to be quite entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. Saints had pretty much the run of the pitch for the first 15 minutes but couldn’t find a second as they contrived to miss the goal, shoot over, fall over, and shoot straight at the keeper on at least four occasions. Just a word for their keeper, probably the worst keeper I’ve ever seen in a pro-game! Nil control of his area, stayed on the line for everything (except for the number of occasions when he rushed needlessly from his area), twice crawling after the ball in his own 6 yd box, he did block a number of shots that were straight at him but he never looked like holding anything and his rebounds were always straight back into the danger area, never away for a corner or out sideways, how didn’t we score from at least one of the six occasions he created mayhem in his own box? All of which Keystone-copping led to an increasingly nervous last 15 minutes as Wycombe sensed they were in with a chance of a thoroughly undeserved point and actually played some constructive football against a tired looking Saints team but they offered no real threat for the whole 90 mins while we continued to mess and miss pretty much till the final whistle. In previous seasons we would have conceded in the last 10 mins and hung on for a 1-1. I’ve seen several really good games this season but have to say I’d forgotten what ‘winning ugly’ actually looks like; obviously we can’t win pretty every week and the SMS faithful have seen two really good games in the previous two but have to say last night left a nasty taste. Really poor opposition, small crowd, poor atmosphere, poor performance from Saints; traffic was rammed after the game, got home at 12.30am. Still, 3 points, out of relegation, and the Skates lost, happy-clap me up! Bart 6, good to see him getting a chance, very little to do, looked tidy enough and hopefully his distribution will sharpen up with games played. Murty 6, still getting back to match speed/match fitness, solid at the back but expected a bit more offensively if I’m honest (first time I’ve seen him live) Jaidi 6, usual combo of rock and the occasional silly mistake, a real asset at this level Perry 7, busy and efficient, played his part in what was probably the easiest clean sheet we will earn all season. Harding 5, looked tired and very little attacking threat in this game James 5, busy in the Wotton role, covered a lot of ground and won his share of headers and tackles, distribution still below par but clearly a future in this role Waigo 7, my man of the match. I like his pace, his attitude, his enthusiasm, his positive attacking instincts, his workrate for the team. The sort of player we haven’t had for a number of years. Hammond 5, work a day performance, got the job done (sometimes you have to do that), but clearly not his best game. Schneiderlin 7, solid game, got stuck in and looked really good albeit against a conference-level side; can he do it (consistently) against the best teams? Leeds away will tell us! Lallana 7, has added consistency to everything else he offers, looking physically stronger with every game he plays. Rather isolated at times last night but he has a real goalscorer’s knack of getting himself into goal-scoring positions. Ricky 6, looked jaded from the off. A lot of hoof-ball that was nowhere near him in the first half, came alive for his goal but against their comedy keeper he must be wondering how he didn’t grab 3 or 4 last night. Antonio 7, a sort of footballing Frank Bruno (‘you know what I mean ‘Arry?’). In a word, loveable. Wotton, only on long enough to foul 2 people. Mellis, forgotten man, can’t see Chelsk keeping him on our bench for much longer. Ref 7, ‘fussy’ but not helped by the conditions or the number of times we were offside. Got most of it right and didn’t get a long wrong. Fans 4, I thought I’d arrived by tardis. Ground emptiest I’ve seen it for a long time, atmosphere tetchy, temperature freezing, oppo fans nil. Thoughts? We won! We will have to play a lot better to get anything at Walsall (I think we will on both counts). Players looked tired which is a concern with Xmas coming up; concerns about our squad depth / rotation. Why do Lambert and Lallana play every minute of every game, he could easily have given Lambo 20 minutes off yesterday (or 45 last Saturday)? I love my Saints and I love my football but last night was on those when we just have to take it and move on; I was a grumpy old man driving home last night and not feeling much better this morning! GGGGRRRRRHHHH!

Thanks for the info, tho not sure how if it was called the LDV and it included Conference sides, it *was* the JPT? It seems a different sort of beast entirely ..... anyways, bring on the west coast derby, Bristol Rovers v Blackpool.

A few years ago they used to run a cup competition along the lines of the JPT which mixed Div 3 and 4 with the top end of non-league (the Vauxhall Conference as it was then). Cue the sports reporter on our local TV late-evening news bulletin concluding with, 'And finally, in the South coast derby, it was Bournemouth 2 Dover 0'; that must have been one of the furthest derbies in the history of the game.

Aren't Brum/Villa/Wolves nearer?

Wolves home, FA Cup 3?

I still don't buy this FIFA/UEFA conspiracy bo77ocks, it just doesn't stack up. Alpine's original point was that he knew, first-hand, a FIFA official who told him that they (officials) were briefed to favour the bigger teams. I refuse to believe this and no one has produced any credible evidence on this thread that the refs and officials are 'officially', FIFA-sanctioned, bent. Beckham was sent off? Get over it! Ref completely blindsided misses a handball? Get over it! Trottman kicked the ball out of the keeper's hands at Southend (allegedly, there is certainly no clear cut video 'evidence' to prove this)? Get over it! If games were routinely bent then why let France get to the 110th minute of a series of twelve games to let them through? Why not give the penalty when Annelka fell over the keeper (not a pen but the ref could easily have got away with giving it)? Why not card a few Irish players in the first leg and take them out of the second leg via suspensions? Of course sport is riddled with cheating and fixing (drugs/dodgy transfers/bribing officials/match-fixing etc etc), the essential difference being that these acts are perpetrated by individuals, or teams, or clubs. Where this crosses the line is that it is claimed by many on here that the official body (FIFA/UEFA) actively sanctions an improper outcome on the pitch, 'by briefing match officials to favour one side over the other'. Rather than persue an arbitary incorrect referreeing decision Ireland would have much more beef in their complaint if they focussed on the off-the-field shenanigans. The seeding system has clearly back-fired in that only 2 of the 4 seeds went through (more massive evidence that the games were fixed, not!), approx the same number that might have gone through in an open draw. If the goalposts were moved and the original competitions rules stated the 8 qualifiers will play off via an open draw then the Irish would have a very strong case in law to say that the decision to move to a seeded draw was a breach of natural justice, it is far more likely that the original conditions didn't specify any details of the draw but merely said 'the 8 teams will play off', in that case UEFA have cleverly left themselves open to manipulating the draw at a later stage (which they did to maximum effect for the 4 'favoured' teams) and to the detriment of Ireland who ended up with a 25% chance of playing the biggest fish in the pool as against a 1/7 chance of drawing France. At the end of the day it is all irrelevent now: there won't be a replay, Henry won't be banned, nobody will apologise, Ireland should have scored a second, it will all happen again sometime in the future. C'est la vie!