sandwichsaint

What did he say?

Train from Netley (70p), Saturday mornings at the old top rank out near the old County ground in Northlands Road (60p), Saturday afternoons in the chocolate boxes (£1.30). Saints in the old second division under Lawrie Mac. Me aged 13-14. And the kids today think they have it hard - no iphone, no FIFA, no interweb; we made our own fun then.

It's a shocking miss - he's paid to think, quickly! Freeze frame it - he's completely unmarked 6yds out with at least half the goal in front of him. He either crashes it back in to the empty half or takes a touch and plays it into a space. Caught in two minds and does nothing with it - looks just as bad on here as it did it real time.

Is there anybody over 18 on ****ter? What is RT?

Great game and the eternal ‘two points lost or one point gained?’ conundrum .... 2 points lost for me. Positives: we went toe-to-toe with the league leaders away from home: big club, big atmosphere, and we absolutely stood up to be counted to a man. We had a lot of the game and created a long spell of pressure in the second half. Fans were absolutely terrific, non-stop backing for the team and none of that moaning and groaning stuff every time a player misses a pass. Defence and GK showed real determination throughout and were only beaten by a pen, only one goal conceded from open play v Cardiff, Brum, and Wham is an outstanding effort. Negatives: despite the possession we again struggled to create clear cut chances, RL was well shackled by Faye all game and not for the first time we looked short of a plan B. I’m sure Sharp is going to be great for us and was really looking fd last night to seeing his partnership with RL but it never got going, he looked short of fitness and form and his miss was truly horrendous (Green made a right hash of a fairly routine drive from Lallana and spilled the ball fwd and sideways about 4 yds from goal, Sharp was completely unmarked and had half the goal to walk it into but inexplicably dragged the ball back into the only area Green could reach it – for all those on kumb – it wasn’t a ‘worldy’ by Green – 99.9% of the time it was a simple tap-in to the fd and a poor goal from a basic goalkeeping error.) KD 8 top performance, couple of really smart stops and gathered several dangerous crosses, very brave take against Cole on the top of the D. Right back on it the last few games. FR 7 up and down all night, couple of good crosses in the first half but couldn’t find the killer ball tonight. Surprised he went off, injured? JH 9 (every game), came out on top in a real battle with Cole and always on hand to double-up where needed. Absolute quality and a real steal from Celtic. JF 7 typical Jose performance, whole-hearted and a bit of everything including sweeping upfield with the ball a couple of times in the second half. Good stuff. DF 6 usual busy performance but as ever not very much end product – always leaves me wanting more. Gully 6 worked hard but typically inconsistent contribution, you can see what he’s trying to do but too often it doesn’t quite come off. MS 7 gutsy performance and kept us ticking over nicely. Lucky to escape with one or two very loose passes that put us right under pressure. JC 5 for me rapidly becoming the enigma of the side, first dozen games of the season it looked like he had it all but worryingly inconsistent since then. No lack of effort last night but nothing really came off for him and conceded a needless yellow card. AL 9 right back on his game and ran the show for the first 20 minutes of the second half when played infield. Faded last 20, not sure if that was the subs effect or he ran out of legs somewhat? RL 6 no lack of effort and one fizzing free kick but he was too-easily shackled by Faye and had little impact on the game. Not England quality tonight. BS 3 OMG! Looking forward to seeing his ‘burst of speed’, his ‘intelligent movement’, his ‘partnership with Lambert’ etc. I didn’t see any of that – he looked more like a pub footballer who had taken a wrong turn on the way to the game. His first touch was all over the shop, he was constantly beaten to the ball, he didn’t win any one on ones all night, and he capped it off with one of the misses of the century. He’ll have better days! Subs ????? A right dog’s dinner if I’m honest with you. Puncheon was excellent and a logical replacement for Gully but after that not sure what we were doing? We bought Connolly on for Richardson, with Cork going to RB, which gave us Lambert, Sharp and Connolly bunched in the middle and forced AL back wide when he had been very effective through the middle, and then as a point-saver we stuck Hammond on for Sharp in the last 5 minutes. No real game-changers there and a disappointing tactical response from NA when we played 70 minutes against 10 men. I’d have played Tandoor at half time for Sharp – their two-banks-of-four were resolute and organised and Tandoor’s pace would have helped break up their lines much more than the ‘high-ball-to-Lambert-(easily)-collected-by-Green’ which we saw way too much of. Great night out; proper football game in a proper football stadium and 1-1 probably a fair result overall. Very pleased to see a proper PL ref in what was a hothouse atmosphere and I thought he did well, more sour grapes from slug-face Allardyce. On last night’s showing these two ought to be able to hold onto the top 2 spots till the end of the season but we really do need to move it up a level on our finishing (and don’t get me started on our corners, why do football fans cheer when their team gets a corner? We looked much more dangerous from throw-ins!)

Great game and the eternal ‘two points lost or one point gained?’ conundrum. Positives: we went toe-to-toe with the league leaders away from home: big club, big atmosphere, and we absolutely stood up to be counted to a man. We had a lot of the game and created a long spell of pressure in the second half. Fans were absolutely terrific, non-stop backing for the team and none of that moaning and groaning stuff every time a player misses a pass. Defence and GK showed real determination throughout and were only beaten by a pen, only one goal conceded from open play v Cardiff, Brum, and Wham is an outstanding effort. Negatives: despite the possession we again struggled to create clear cut chances, RL was well shackled by Faye all game and not for the first time we looked short of a plan B. I’m sure Sharp is going to be great for us and was really looking fd last night to seeing his partnership with RL but it never got going, he looked short of fitness and form and his miss was truly horrendous (Green made a right hash of a fairly routine drive from Lallana and spilled the ball fwd and sideways about 4 yds from goal, Sharp was completely unmarked and had half the goal to walk it into but inexplicably dragged the ball back into the only area Green could reach it – for all those on kumb – it wasn’t a ‘worldy’ by Green – 99.9% of the time it was a simple tap-in to the fd and a poor goal from a basic goalkeeping error.) KD 8 top performance, couple of really smart stops and gathered several dangerous crosses, very brave take against Cole on the top of the D. Right back on it the last few games. FR 7 up and down all night, couple of good crosses in the first half but couldn’t find the killer ball tonight. Surprised he went off, injured? JH 9 (every game), came out on top in a real battle with Cole and always on hand to double-up where needed. Absolute quality and a real steal from Celtic. JF 7 typical Jose performance, whole-hearted and a bit of everything including sweeping upfield with the ball a couple of times in the second half. Good stuff. DF 6 usual busy performance but as ever not very much end product – always leaves me wanting more. Gully 6 worked hard but typically inconsistent contribution, you can see what he’s trying to do but too often it doesn’t quite come off. MS 7 gutsy performance and kept us ticking over nicely. Lucky to escape with one or two very loose passes that put us right under pressure. JC 5 for me rapidly becoming the enigma of the side, first dozen games of the season it looked like he had it all but worryingly inconsistent since then. No lack of effort last night but nothing really came off for him and conceded a needless yellow card. AL 9 right back on his game and ran the show for the first 20 minutes of the second half when played infield. Faded last 20, not sure if that was the subs effect or he ran out of legs somewhat? RL 6 no lack of effort and one fizzing free kick but he was too-easily shackled by Faye and had little impact on the game. Not England quality tonight. BS 3 OMG! Looking forward to seeing his ‘burst of speed’, his ‘intelligent movement’, his ‘partnership with Lambert’ etc. I didn’t see any of that – he looked more like a pub footballer who had taken a wrong turn on the way to the game. His first touch was all over the shop, he was constantly beaten to the ball, he didn’t win any one on ones all night, and he capped it off with one of the misses of the century. He’ll have better days! Subs ????? A right dog’s dinner if I’m honest with you. Puncheon ( was excellent and a logical replacement for Gully but after that not sure what we were doing? We bought Connolly on (for Richardson, with Cork going to RB) which gave us Lambert, Sharp and Connolly bunched in the middle and forced AL back wide when he had been very effective through the middle, and then as a point-saver we stuck Hammond on for Sharp in the last 5 minutes. No real game-changers there and a disappointing tactical response from NA when we played 70 minutes against 10 men. I’d have played Tandoor at half time for Sharp – their two-banks-of-four were resolute and organised and Tandoor’s pace would have helped break up their lines much more than the ‘high-ball-to-Lambert-(easily)-collected-by-Green’ which we saw way too much of. Great night out; proper football game in a proper football stadium and 1-1 probably a fair result overall. Very pleased to see a proper PL ref in what was a hothouse atmosphere and I thought he did well, more sour grapes from slug-face Allardyce. On last night’s showing these two ought to be able to hold onto the top 2 spots till the end of the season but we really do need to move it up a level on our finishing (and don’t get me started on our corners, why do football fans cheer when their team gets a corner? We looked much more dangerous from throw-ins!)

'OS in running tired, out-of-date ticket info' shocker. Really? How hard can it be for a modern, consumer-focussed organisation to run an effective and accurate web-based information system?

Where did you get this from - nothing to that effect on the OS. Ditto - where did you get that only family tkts are left?

Indeed!

When I watch the PL I find Dzeko the most direct comparison; he can play short and long, holds it up well, plays others in, and can finish when he gets the chance. How good would RL be playing with Da Silva etc? LOL Watching Liverpool at ManU yesterday couldn't help but think how much better they would be with Lallana for Downing and MS for Henderson! LOL!!

Maybe the Bad Boys can fix u up with a couple?

v surprised these went to general sale but nonetheless delighted! picked up 6 today so we're sorted now and bring it on.

That was easy! I'll go next - desperate for 2 tickets if anyone can oblige? (will take 2 singles) Happy to buy you whatever it takes, by way of commission.

Biggest plus was the crowd! Best atmos at SMS for ages and the crowd stayed positive right through the game. Bit of a nothing first half, both teams ‘busy’ but neither able to create many (any?) clear openings - bar the Lambert pen which was stonewall, I had full view of it and it was absolutely nailed on - couldn't believe it wasn't given and the ref IMHO bottled what would have been an early-ish red card for them. Couldn’t really see their goal but a massive reaction from Saints players (which, rightfully, we don’t see very often at all – clearly something had gone on). Second half Saints much more purposeful but oh so wasteful from the flanks. Fox continues to flatter, he doesn’t half give it away a lot with his long diagonals: Richardson also had his radar all wrong, time and again he was in positions to cross unopposed and either under-hit it or over-hit it, I reckon if he had 10 good crossing opportunities last night he didn’t put it in the right areas more than 2 or 3 times – disappointing and a big factor in us not making enough clear scoring opportunities. Great to see Fonte slot straight back in – unless anyone can tell me different that was probably his best game of the season albeit he didn’t have over-much to do. Martin was also excellent (again). Puncheon was lively and will be a real assett if he can maintain this level of form, Morgan and Cork struggled first half but did much better second half, and AL looks to be getting his confidence and form together but would like to see him mix it up more; at least twice he could have played it early to Tandor but chose to find something more difficult and complicated, a couple of times in the second half I had nasty flashbacks of watching Fabrice Fernades running in ever decreasing circles. Lambert was awesome (again!), he is surely the most complete player in this division? Connolly was dire (again), I would have liked to have seen Lee up top for the entire second half. He looked very lively when he did come on and really up for it. Pleased not to have lost because Cardiff looked comfortable at half-time; a strong second half comeback from Saints but if we are going to play ‘narrow’ then we need much more consistency and quality from the full backs. We would almost certainly have won if the ref hadn’t bottled the first pen and are still in a good position going forward. Brum is a hell of an ask looking at the teams respective form lines and beyond that game we really do need to get on a winning run. Too much propaganda football last night and not enough poke in the final third, consequently that was two points dropped for me (tho the ref did play a massive part in that!). Well done the fans! Let’s stay positive home and away and see where it takes us.

The last person I saw paraded on the pitch (or at least in the directors' box) was Delgado. Saints 3 Ipswich 3, Strachen's first game.

This!

Where are you getting that from? Vital cog for me - regularly picks up an un-noticed 7 and gets his share of 8's too - his problem (a little like Gully) is when he has one, he absolutely has one cf Leicester last week (just like MS, just like Cork, just like Conno, just like Gully did etc etc etc). I bet NA keeps count and I bet Hammond's season avg over all games is equal to that of MS or JC. Personally I have no beef either way, just saying my personal hunch is that NA will continue to play him; if he does I hope we will all get behind him cos I don't recognise him as our weakest midfielder and I wouldn't have thought NA does either - tho looking at Saturday's selection we could see a MS/JC combo tomorrow tonight LOL!

Where's Jack Cork in all of this? One of our very best players in the first part of the season and looked genuine PL class, worryingly inconsistent since then. Well chuffed with Sharp and Lee (once I've seen him play) but we are still left with 3 fairly similar midfielders now playing for one or two places. Reckon we will see an awful lot of rotation across the middle with: Deano, MS, JC, AL, JP, Gully, Falque, Chappers and SDR (and Holmes and the yoof) competing for 4 starting places and two spots on the bench. Effectively we can rotate our midfield pack every game without losing very much at all - if we can pull this off and maintain consistency it will be massively to our advantage. Have a hunch that Hammond will start most games in the centre; a fit AL is a given, interesting to see where we go from there?

Great news, grab an oar son!

That's not logical!

Good result - in the hat for the next round and another 90 mins competitive football lined up for Bart / Punch / Lee / Chaplow perhaps? / and the yoof players too. Great bounce back today from NA and the boys - bring it on for Tuesday!

Don't forGet yore iD !!!!

TBF we've never replaced Ivan Golac (but we keep hoping)!

Slower the better - this was the first game I looked for at the start of the season and everything crossed for getting 5 tkts on general sale!

Great news, decent player at this level, let's hope he can get up to speed quickly because he will certainly give us options either as a starter or from the bench.