sandwichsaint

Wrong on just about every level! 'Let down by league position and trophies' ? but the training ground's good! How would 'weighting it in' help our ranking? We won our only major trophy 38 years ago and have been more down than up over the last 8 years - weighting to the modern era would depress our rankings not improve them! (tho Wolves and West brom would be pushed even further back, maybe that was your point?) Global fanbase, if you scan down to the bottom, relates to twitter and facebook followers abroad, so an arbitrary-but-measurable 'fact' (keep up the good work Dubai). You 'definitely' think we are bigger than West Brom and Wolves? West Brom have won 5 FA cups, 2 League championships and have a record home attendance of near on 65,000, Wolves have won the First Division 3 times, runners up 5 times and have won 4 of their 8 FA Cup finals, they were pioneers in European football and were unofficially regarded as 'world champions' in the mid-50s after a series of high-profile friendlies, the pre-cursor to modern European football as we know it now. In addition Wolves have played in a European final and have a record ground attendance of 60,500. We're not in the same ball park historically, not even close, and we're not bigger than West Ham either. I'd say come back in another 10 years and see where we are then, if we continue what we've started we will be somewhere above 15th by then,; at the moment I'd say 15th feels just about right!

Great tribute from the Northam yesterday to come out with a chorus of Kelvin, kelvin Davies, Steven, Steven Davis. I'm sure he was looking down in a state of mild bemusement and wryly thinking that Heaton did indeed look like a wotsit.

Agree, was going to post this up yesterday, Aubisque is a fantastic climb and unusual in that it comes in two parts, first part up to Soleur(?) is relatively routine. Maybe 6 or 7k at 6% to 8%, not looking it up, just from memory. You then traverse along a spectacular contour with the biggest drop-offs I've probably seen anywhere (there is a small wall and a barrier but you are literally looking sideways over 'nothing') then there's a reasonably long tunnel with cobbles and dripping water, if you get through that lot there is a deceptively steep climb to the finish, again from memory, prob 4-5km at 8% plus with the end always in sight. Did it on the tour in prob 2010? ish? Red hot day and a fantastic decent afterwards, picking down through the crowds then a full on thrash back to St Gironds. Seriously consider adding Aubisque to your itinerary. Another unsung gem in the pyrennes is Plateau de Baille, literally a road to nowhere, and the climb that Lance Armstrong declared to be 'against his human rights'. A completely surreal experience, it kicks up relatively out of nowhere, straight on to 9% plus ramps. Literally in the middle of nowhere, we did it in mid-summer and only saw a handful of cars in an hours plus climbing. Road surface is excellent, bottom half is steeper (v. steep in places) top section is easier but guarded by giant cattle/ox/buffalo type creatures! Weave through those and arrive at a David Bowie/Man Who Fell to Earth type Sci Fi visitor centre (which was closed in the middle of summer) and about three cars in the car park. Now for the real reason for coming up here, the descent! Have to say this is up there with the best descents I've ever done ... the road surface is immaculate, the traffic is scarce, the visibility down is good and some of the ramps are in excess of a K long! I'm sure you go faster in Staffordshire but for me this is the faster I've ever been on a bike! Enjoy!

Bulldog. lots of football, is nine-in the same as 'buzz'? There was a conker craze once a year, pickled in vinegar and you gained the points if you beat an opponent. Bit of skipping over a long rope, Malcolm McLaren eat your heart out, we were doing the double dutch at Butlocks Heath in the early seventies. We also played marbles, or 'alleys?' 'allies?'. all marbles had a value based on their size, 4-ers, 6-ers etc, kids who's dads were in the motor trade bought in giant ball bearings which were 16-ers. Scraped the marbles into a hole on the playground and the last person to pocket a marble took the pot. We also had a boy in primary school who could lean back and wee against the ceiling of the outside toilets (he frequently did), think he went on to have a reasonably successful career in the adult film industry.

Penkridge Infants St Michael's Juniors, Penkridge Butlocks Heath Primary Hamble Comprehensive School Sir Roger Manwood's Grammer School, Sandwich Canterbury Technology College (A Levels) 2 Thick 4 University (allegedly:rolleyes:)

I'd go Forster Clyne Toby Fonte Bertrand Big Vic Morgan Davis JWP Mane Pelle TBF Man U away was about JWP's best performance of the season, I'd be inclined to play him in this one, leave either/both of Tadic and Djuricic for the last 15 minutes when it's still 0-0 and we're looking to knick it. 0-1 to the mighty Saints (pen in the 83rd minute, no idea who will take it though!)

Don't know if it's become rubbish in the last 9 months but Southampton have been in the top 4 for virtually the whole season, .

Nice one, I was born in Stone (1961!) and my parents were in Penkridge until I was age 9. Guess it's my third home but I rarely get there, my parents were both originally from Warsash/Tichfield and we lived in Netley (Hamble school) from 9-14. I have been in Kent since age 14 but I don't feel any great affinity to it, Soton will always be home for me. In Norman Tebbitt's cricket test I would take Hants over Kent every time. Just nice to see different parts of the country, you certainly live in some cracking biking country where you are.

Fair play, I did think he was a little bit leisurely for you. but he did have very similar colouring and facial hair! Looks cracking biking country where you are, we went from the Crem to the M6 toll towards Lichfield and we also went off the M6 early for the Stoke league cup game and went up through Stone and Leek (?), there's not a flat bit of road NE of Stafford!

VFT today, Inset day? Funny half term? Dentists appointment? Were you on the Penkridge side of Stafford around 11-45 this morning then round by the Crem about 12-45? We were at a funeral in Penkridge then on to Stafford crem after. Could have sworn we saw you, if not you then there's somebody else around Stafford giving a very good impression of you! If you don't want to be noticed, don't go out dressed as your avatar!!!

Difficult one, a 'clear' red card under the laws of the game - but it was 'common sense' refereeing in the context of what had gone before in the game and the provocation/time wasting from Saints when they tried to delay their corner.

I must have dozed off for that bit, I saw a largely nervous team frequently mis-passing, mis-contolling and over-hitting their through balls. I also saw a lot of falling over, running down blind alleys, desperate long-range 'shooting' and intricate link-ups that never quite came off. I can't really remember their back four being stretched at all in the first half. With MS and VW dominating midfield and no real end product it looked to me like an object lesson in WGS's 'propaganda football'.

If they ever get to make the DVD of that one we can rest assured that the title 'Thriller' has already been taken, may I suggest 'Turgid' as a suitable alternative? It really was a hard watch at times, in the first half Palace looked shot from their weekend exertions and despite us having the lion's share of possession, MS and VW ran the midfield virtually unopposed for the first 45 minutes, but our front 4, plus the two fullbacks failed to create anything worthwhile (I think I've seen this one before?). We are just so rigid and predictable in our movements, long-ball up to Pelle who seems to operate in an ever decreasing radius (by my estimation he was down to an area of about 6m by 2m last night), he flicks it or chests it on (he quite regularly won stuff last night), the midfield is then 20m behind the play and the wide players are both pegged out wide, sometimes when I'm watching it I'm not entirely sure what Plan A actually is..... When we did get it down most of our best moments came from Mane who cut in dangerously several times but at least twice he shanked his shot high wide and handsome. Palace offered little in a mind-numbing first half though Forster managed to keep them interested when he dropped a routine catch at the near post. For me Elia has a lot to do to earn a contract, hopefully Tadic can sort himself out in the forthcoming break and get back to being a regular starter. Second half was a brighter affair all round; Palace stirred themselves and while Saints continued to monopolise possession, generally to no great effect, Palace looked genuinely threatening on the counter with Puncheon and Bolasie both looking dangerous and both looking more direct than anything we had on show. Fair play to Fonte and Yoshi and Forster who were extended several times and generally came up with the answers to gain a well-earned clean sheet. Only question was could we, would we, should we score, and Koeman finally saw the light pulling off the ineffectual Pelle and replacing him with the lively Long and adding Tadic to the mix too. Once Pelle went the game changed with Saints suddenly became more fluid with the Palace CB's being pulled out of their comfort zone as we started to interchange in the attacking third, the goal was soft when it came, JWP advancing through their at-last disrupted ranks and hitting half a shot (at least it was on target. yay!), Speroni spilled it, and Mane did the rest. Relief all round but Palace roused themselves for a rather nail-biting finale as Saints somewhat nervously held on. Whither to from here? Koeman talks a good game (playing down CL ambitions on Saturday, saying last night that it was one of the biggest results of the season) but what have Saints got left in the locker for the run-in? Watching for 80 minutes last night was a bit like watching the fag end of the previous two seasons where Pochotino's sides went through the motions, out of both cups, not going up or down, and with several players with their heads already elsewhere. The selections look a bit random at the moment with no clear pattern up front; for me I'd give Long the next three games and get Davis and Tadic back in the team, Toby to come back in, and if we could get the fullbacks back firing again we could yet surprise one or two. If we persist with Pelle I can't see much more than the long-drawn out, excitement-free, run-in/wind-down we've seen for the last two seasons. Pre-match curry (that little red place by the bridge in Woolston) 8, unexpectedly good Weather 3, freezing Atmosphere 7, in the circumstances surprisingly positive Ref watch 8, much better than recently though TBF it was a very straightfd incident free game to ref! Traffic, 10 on the way down, 4 on the way back (A3 closed, diverted cross-country to Gatwick, M25 junction closed, loads of 50 mph roadworks) Onwards and hopefully upwards.

Totally pointless us signing Defoe, where would he have played? We can't swap Pelle for Long and adapt our game accordingly, even for a couple of weeks, so why/where could we have accommodated Defoe? Have to think that in the absence of SRL then Russell Martin could be the new Grazziano, yes? Where's that Grant Holt nowadays? HCDAJFU!

If saints web was a barometer it would rain everyday, always knew we should have signed that Justin St Swithin back in the day.

A change of direction from yesterday on your take on the first pen shout? You advocated yesterday that Djucy should have taken another stride towards goal and then Can would have run into him anyway and knocked him over ..... clear penalty. You appeared to imply that Djucy going down too easily ( or diving) made it easier for the ref not to give the decision? According to you (above), and what was my original interpretation, is that the 'action' of the forward is irrelevant, you judge it as to whether the defender has fouled ... in this case Can fouled Djucy (clear contact, Can didn't play the ball, or even make any attempt to play the ball) so the referee should ONLY be judging whether it was a foul by the defender, NOT whether the forward 'went down too easily'. Based on that, do you now think the first one on Sunday was a penalty? Not having a go, just asking, I find your insider's view very instructive!

I buried my TV in the garden before the Man Utd game and was jolly pleased to see in Monday's papers that we did indeed win that game.

I thought the first one was a pen when I saw it live and I haven't seen anything since to say it wasn't, attacker cuts past the last defender with ball under control and moving into a clear goal scoring position, defender arrives late and off balance and in no position to play the ball, arm collides forcibly with the back of the attackers shoulder, attacker loses balance (or dives if you want to be cynical)and loses control of the ball, defender continues his run straight through the falling striker. The attacker did nothing to lose possession, the defender didn't play the ball, he was never in position to play the ball, and he clearly contacted the player (a pushing/staining/lunging hand on the forward's shoulder) ... it was a penalty all day long and a red card too. No dispute about the second one though! The handball outside the area was pretty marginal and I can see how without technology the officials couldn't be sure, that's a rub of the green that's gone against us but no excuse for either pen though. Without those key decisions it makes it hard to call the game, a worldy from Coutinho (and LOL at anyone putting that down to the keeper), and a super-soft second which was a catalogue of errors when we were chasing the game and looking at the replays 'Forster will be disappointed with that'. Thought we were good first half and not very good second half; funny selection in the middle, I would have had Reed over one of SD or JWP (what's with MS playing half a game? Surely you would start with your strongest team? Some case for saying that if he is on the pitch we are less likely to concede that first goal.,... Subs were disappointing, they sat right back and we had nothing to change it .. the Southampton way? Onwards and hopefully upwards, Bertrand's suspension has been very damaging and hopefully he will come back fit and rested and raring to make amends, 3-5-2 for me for the next two games. Big up to Fonte and Yoshi who were both excellent yesterday, big Vic also good, but beyond that we came up a little bit short yesterday in most areras.

Maybe we could amend the Duck Off banner?

beyond stupid.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/03/qpr-harry-redknapp-fans-view-michael-hann A decent read. Anything like this shows how fortunate we are to be where we are, and what it's like for a fan when your club goes bad.

Word I never thought I'd see ...

Look on the bright side - free train travel to Europa league games.

Speedway? Monkey tennis? Womens football? #missedopportunities

I call BS too ... let's take 'Swansea' out of the equation (and substitute 'Liverpool') - are you really telling us there are 200 single seats available for the Liverpool game? But the club have shut up the ticket shop cos it's not cost efficient to sell £8k worth of tickets, despite the fact the box office is staffed and open pretty much every day and despite the fact the club could sell these 200 tickets 10 times over? 'Because people don't want to sit on there own' .... I call BS with a capital B and a capital S.