revolution saint

Genuine question but is the north really crying out for a high speed rail link to London? I heard Mr North himself, Andy Burnham, describing the decision to scrap the second phase in pretty apocalyptic terms; it would doom the North to second class economic citizens for the rest of the century. Stuff like that. Now I’m not northern and I don’t use trains much either so I don’t know if he’s right but I’m a bit sceptical that HS2 would make that much difference economically speaking. Certainly there seems to be a decent case for improving the northern rail network in general as it appears that it’s pretty shoddy and doesn’t have the capacity it needs so kind of makes more sense to use the money there instead (huge caveat, if that actually happens). Anyway, would be interested to hear views on scrapping HS2

He’s a good lad and very underrated. Good luck to him.

Definitely S Armstrong if past history is anything to go by. I'd imagine he also wants to give a bit of time to Charles, Edozie and possibly Adams and Fraser. Wouldn't surprise me if we see S Armstrong, Alcaraz and Sulemana drop to the bench. Not saying that's what I'd do but I could see us going with: Baz KWP THB Bednarek Manning Charles Downes Smallbone A Amstrong Che Edozie

We'll either win or draw as I've just put a bet on Stoke to win. I'm doing this as a public service seeing as how it worked against Leeds.

Yeah, she’s wrong on that one but I bet if you asked most fans after a game they’ve just lost then a large percentage will claim the ref was poor.

I watched the game twice yesterday (once at the ground and on TV last night) and rewatching it, it was surprising how much more direct we were. It wasn't hoofball but we did get the ball forward much quicker and there were far more longer balls as well. For a bit of interest I also looked up what Leeds fans thought and the first reaction I got was this one: Obviously she's only a fan but she certainly seems to think we were much more direct as well so I think you're in the minority here.

I did but it was more in the hope of jinxing a Leeds win than anything else. I don't really bet much but I'm happy to do the same until it becomes unlucky and Saints start losing again.

We stand a really good chance of winning today. I've bet on both teams to score, Saints to lose and Piroe to score - 5/1.

I like the crazy version. That's OK. On the subject of golf, it strikes me that it's not a particularly great spectator sport especially if you're gathered round one of the tees. Surely that's like watching someone take a penalty but not being able to see if it went in the net?

Oh yes, forgot about Tella. Fair enough

Can you do that with a shirt?

Not sure it's a significantly weakened attack - it's the same one! Unless you're counting Tall Paul as a big loss? I suppose he is big......

I know for many he’ll be known as Stumbledore (or whatever) in the Barry Trotter wizard films but for me he’ll always be the lucky git who got a greasy massage from Joanne Whalley in The Singing Detective. Anyway, RIP, seemed like a decent bloke and played some decent roles.

Southampton fans are acutely aware of the lack of productivity from players, not just now but for several years.

That’s interesting considering it’s after 8 games and we still have a higher xG than most (if not all) teams. Gotta hope Stewart comes in quickly and starts burying those chances. Not great reading for Baz though.

I do that just so everyone knows that I'm not on it and find the whole twitter (or whatever they call it these days) thing rubbish.

That's right - you're the one who tipped me off about the odds on Charlie. Bastard.

Fuck me, didn't realise Yoda was a fan too! Force is with you mate.

Trousers has been living groundhog day for what seems like forever so he's had far longer to post.

I blame Russell Martin

Reading some of the stuff here (not just you), you could almost be forgiven for thinking that the atmosphere in St Mary's is a toxic, hate filled cauldron and Martin needs a pitchfork to get the players out on the pitch. In my experience, that's simply not the case. If anything, we've been fairly apathetic to what's been pretty poor performances but, generally speaking, I think the crowd has been mostly positive. First two games against Norwich and QPR I thought the atmosphere was really good. Even against Ipswich in the second half there were attempts to get some chants going so I don't think it's that bad. I think we've all been to games where the atmosphere is toxic and where players have been almost universally booed from all four corners. We're not there yet and the manager certainly hasn't been subjected to any of that. Sure, there's been some grumblings and moans but this isn't Saints fans being uniquely negative - it's the kind of thing that happens everywhere. You'd think if we applied the logic of fans disgruntlement affecting team performance then we should have cruised to an easy win after taking the lead against 'Boro. It wasn't anything to do with fans when we went up to Sunderland either. Frankly, this whole fans thing is a deflection tactic from Russell Martin. If we carry on in the same vein then he may have a point but it'll have been of his own making rather than anything else.

I thought you liked Baz?

Particularly when I have a tenner each way on him being top scorer in the championship at 100/1.

This is one of the reasons that I'm not calling for Martin to go - just don't trust SR to get a decent replacement in (and we're getting less attractive every game). Only hopes I've got are that we manage to get a win from somewhere that instils a bit of confidence in the players and we can go from there. It's still a decent squad for the Championship and at some point you'd hope that will tell. The other hope is that Ross Stewart comes in and starts banging goals in - that will make a huge difference. We're not creating that much but should still be scoring more and, again, a bit of confidence could make a world of difference.

Yeah, I could have been mistaken on the episode. Probably a trailer I’d seen. Stand corrected, he’s an arrogant cunt in more than one episode. Thanks badger!