Zurichsaint

3rd link on firstrowsports working for me.

OK, I'll have a go at answering this - going back to 1958 Our best defensive opening 8 games was the 1983/84 season, when we conceded 2. Of course that was our best league finish, coming 2nd to Liverpool, conceding only 38 goals (in 42 games). Our current figure of 3 goals is next best. The only recent season that came close was the 2003/04 one under Strachan (5 goals conceded from 8 games), when we were 4th at Christmas before losing badly at Fulham away. (Incidentally that match was the turning point for me, where it started to go downhill more or less constantly until ML took over...) To answer your question about keeping a clean sheet this weekend: Game 9 in the 83/84 season was a 3-1 reverse away to Luton. So after 9 games, we had conceded 5. If we keep Fulham down to 1 goal or less, we'll have made the best defensive first nine games to a season since 1958 (at least)! Now isn't that something! FWIW, I fully agree with the comments above about 'starts' to the season. It was the same with David Moyes, who either made the best start of a Utd manager for the last 30 yrs, or was their worst manager for 40 years, so something. It all depends on what angle you want to put on the statistics. Another point I noticed, was that last year was, by quite some distance, our worst defensive opening 8 games of the season since 1958, with 24 goals conceded. Only once previously (1998, with 21) had we conceded more than 18. It just goes to show how quickly things can turn round. [removes statto hat]

To be fair, they also hit the bar and had a good chance saved by Boruc from van Persie. He only really good chance we've had was Osvaldo's after Rooney's mistake

Just to interrupt the usual bickering for a moment... Here you go. Its a really good website for looking at the stats, if you didn't know it: 29 September 2009: Southampton 2 : 3 Bristol Rovers http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/318507/Live 28 September 2010: Yeovil 1 : 1 Southampton http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/412888/Live 28 September 2011: Cardiff 2 : 1 Southampton http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/505996/Live 29 September 2012: Everton 3 : 1 Southampton http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/614226/Live Actually, looking at it, we've got a shocking record in matches played at the end of September, even when we were runners up.

To be fair, even if the ref had given a penalty, he probably shouldn't have sent Boruc off, as Chamakh was going away from the goal. Denial of goalscoring opportunity for sure, but only a red card if he's going towards the goal. That said, most pundits (and some refs!) seem oblivious to that part of the rule, so who knows!

Interesting idea that. Will be interesting to see how it works. Thanks for posting the link.

Same in Switzerland. I think it is only in the UK that the ISPs were put under pressure to block it

There is a whole thread about him from last year, including what he said. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?36784-Kevin-Phillips#.Ugdtb5LWV8F If he is out there now speaking highly of the club, then fair play to him. It is all in the past now anyway, and those were some very dark days.

Fantastic! I am so glad you posted that. Many thanks ?

It is supposed to be sponsorship that is 'commercially competitive'. So the urinal sponsorship shouldn't be more than you would realistically expect another firm to pay. This will be one of the big challenges to see how tough UEFA are on the topic. A good example is Emirates sponsoring PSG. If UEFA deem the sponsorship deal to be excessive, they can discount those revenues from the calculation. Can't see Platini having the balls, to be honest to you, especially when it comes to PSG...

Pochettino addressed this in the post match interview. Said that Punch had been having a personal issue or something lately. Presumably something to do with his new baby? http://audioboo.fm/boos/1387591-saintsfc-boss-mauricio-pochettino-talks-to-bigadamsport-after-draw-with-sunderland Agreed that we looked much better going forward, when he was in the team earlier and again today. Although his form also dropped off a bit, after he signed his new contract Many of our other midfielders seem afraid to try to beat a man and take a shot.

I looked on the same website (http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/18), following this thread. There isn't a great deal to choose between our 3 CBs statistically, apart from the own goals, which have been discussed in depth above. The other interesting stat that you didn't include was Aerial Duels % won: Yoshida: 86 / 134 = 64% Hooiveld: 73 / 99 = 74% Fonte: 66 / 97 = 68% I'm a bit surprised how high the stats are - that Jos is winning 75% of his headers.

As anyone who was in Bucharest a few years back could confirm...

As of the middle of Jan, we were 4th: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/socialresponsibility/respect/news/newsid=1911234.html If you click on the link at the bottom of the text, you can download the pdf. Norway 8.252 Sweden 8.243 Finland 8.205 England 8.166 Considering that the Scandinavian leagues are probably on a winter break at the moment, they won't be losing any points soon. But we probably won't see the next update until early May, going by what happened last year

That was a clear dive from Rodriguez Goal was coming, but wish Ramirez had put his chip in

Funny that. I spoke to a mate of mine who is a Juve fan, and he thought he's be a really good signing for us. Said he was the best player on the pitch in the Juve match, and marked Pirlo out the game (something none of the English defenders could manage at the Euros). Apparently 'the bigger clubs in Italy' where also looking to buy him. Lets see what happens.

I think he's referring to the 'clear the air talks' http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11700/8349223/Southampton-midfielder-Jack-Cork-highlights-importance-of-clear-the-air-talks Honestly - I don't care how they managed to sort out our form, I'm just very happy that it has turned around. If it helped to ask the players' opinions, then that's fine. I still think that a combination of easier fixtures, cork returning from injury, and a change in left back has made most of the difference.

At Anfield... yep

It's in the Swiss press too. Sion have confirmed he's not going there, so it could be between us and Sydney? http://www.20min.ch/sport/fussball/story/21038630?redirect=mobi&nocache=0.3863430228084326 Wow

It depends how long you're planning to stay. I think you can drive it on English plates and licence for a year, but need to convert to Swiss ones after that, which is extra cost (maybe ~CHF 1000?). Buying a car here can also be costly, especially of you don't a) know the language and b) have a rough idea of what things should cost, though at least will be left hand drive... Suggest you come over with your English car and sort those details out when you've settled in.

I've been living here for almost 10 years now, though in the German speaking part, not Geneva. Firstly, prices are high, especially in Geneva area - all those well paid diplomats... So be prepared for a shock. For detailed advice on renting, suggest you go to http://www.englishforum.ch/forum.php, they've got several sub-forums, one of which is especially for housing. Switzerland has got lots of weird rules, especially with renting, where you can easily get caught out. Its not joke that when you leave a rented place, it needs to be absolutely spotless, else they'll charge you extra for cleaning again, etc. You can check out flats that are available on http://www.homegate.ch/en?a=default&l=default or http://www.immoscout24.ch/IS24Web/_V2/Home.aspx?nav=-1&lng=en&wl=1 Good luck!

Will be delighted if its in Switzerland again, for obvious reasons... Just got to try to make sure I'm not in England at the time, like last year! The paper in Luzern seems to think we'll be playing them between 19th July and 9th August. http://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/zentralschweiz/sport/fc_luzern/FC-Luzern-Geht-Renggli-Kommt-Dortmund;art98,179692 That would mean that we'd only go over after the ML tournament on the 14th July, so the dates could fit. Could Dortmund be another team we'd play?

I'll take a guess at what those long term links are. In 1993 Di Matteo was a member of FC Aarau's Swiss Championship winning side. He is actually dual nationality Swiss-Italian. Cortese grew up in Menziken and lived in Ennetbaden, in the Canton on Aargau. The capital of Aargau is Aarau - about 20km from Menziken. Both Italian speaking Swiss, living in the same area, similar age. I'd be amazed if their paths never crossed, particularly if Cortese was already involved in Sports banking at that time. Makes the link an interesting one - that said, I'd still rather see NA given a proper chance at the role. He's got us to where we are today, so deserves to give it a shot in the top league.

From the Aargauer Zeitung, on Monday Google Translation: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/aargau/kanton-aargau/wie-ein-aargauer-den-englischen-fussballthron-erklimmt-124203831&ei=nxKkT-jABsur-QbLo421CA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCQQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daargauer%2Bzeitung%2Bcortese%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1676%26bih%3D775%26prmd%3Dimvns Original here: http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/aargau/kanton-aargau/wie-ein-aargauer-den-englischen-fussballthron-erklimmt-124203831 Not much that we didn't already know, but nice to see that we are getting noticed, even over here. The article in the paper was a full half-page, which is good considering life outside the Premier League is never normally mentioned. There's an interesting snippet in the article stating that Katarina Liebherr is Markus's heir, which people have been wondering about. Also that Cortese used to be her neighbour. I'm looking forward to reading plenty more in the local press next season!

Any chance of your mate getting a batch of tickets?