VectisSaint

Isgrove hasn't been involved in the u23s for a while. I think its unlikely he will be in the squad for Wednesday, suspect he is injured. Gardos could be on the bench Wednesday, he will probably only play 45 tonight, if he comes through that I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the EFL squad.

Highly likely Fonte will be gone in January, hence why he has not played in Europa League games. VvD is obviously being lined up for captaincy. He will be here next season, despite Sky trying to sell him yesterday.

Because the group tables are currently being sorted alphabetically when there is a tie on points (or in the case of Group C numero-alphabetically, as "1. FSV Mainz 05" comes before "AS Saint Etienne"). There is a set of 12 criteria for determining FINAL group positions when there is a tie, the first factor being the number of points gained in the matches between the tied teams, then by goal difference between the tied teams in the matches played against each other in the group, then goals scored. Overall goal difference is only the 6th tie-break factor. [Away fans singing is the last unwritten criteria if all else fails] [http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/35/92/45/2359245_DOWNLOAD.pdf Article 16]. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to apply these factors in the interim, but rest assured as things stand we would qualify 2nd above Beer-Sheva, due to goal difference overall. Note that if we were to draw our home match against Beer-Sheva 1-1, AND we ended up on equal points, they would qualify because of away goals.

Didn't even consider the shots, it was the giving the ball away, misplaced passes and poor tackles that made his performance poor. We looked much better when P-E came on. Good point today (excellent (point actually), really could have won it, Austin should have done better with Boufal's lovely ball. Boufal looked promising, but his Gaston-esque give away very nearly cost us dear. Well done to Sam McQ, he had a tough afternoon, and was clearly feeling it with 10 to go (cramping and blowing), but with some help from Davis and VvD he really did a good job defensively today, which was the question that was being asked.

How did he "not create a chance"? Maybe the author has a different idea of chance creation than me. Thought he also slotted into the Romeu position well when needed as well, most of our MFs now samlessly fill in on an as needed basis when Oriol gets forward, Hjojberg and Davis also do this very well. Still think his future is more defensively oriented than creative.

Good performance except in front of goal, though the Inter keeper made some great saves. Shame we got to play them when they decided they needed a result, that was not the Inter that played in the previous two group games, they weren't brilliant but they were much better organised and had a determination to at least not lose. One piece of finishing quality was all they needed (it was ever thus in Italy). Still, as far as qualification goes it doesn't matter. We should get 6 points from our 2 home games and that will be enough, but will need to get something in Prague to win the group (which has to be the aim). Back to full strength in 2 weeks should see us get the points at SMS.

Don't really think Austin is rested because of his age, he is only 27. More to do with managing his overall fitness. Find it a bit odd that Jose does not get to start in these games, would think his experience on big occasions would be beneficial. Would prefer to have seen Davis play as well, we nearly always lack pace and intensity when he is not in the side, but maybe that is not so much of an issue tonight.

Looks like some people have trouble with English comprehension in their comments. The DM does not say Cortese was popular, it was Markus that endeared himself to the St Mary's crowd.

So why did you bring up how boring the Boro game was? You seem to be the one that has a problem with understanding. FFS.

The first half yesterday we were awful after Targett was injured (14 minutes). We had looked OK before then. Not clear what happened after the substitution but the team just lost their way and Burnley got into the game, it may have been partly due to the reluctance to get Sam McQ into the game, he hardly got a touch after he came on, and that's not necessarily a criticism it is good tactics to ease a youngster in to the gamein such situations (second half he was an absolute star, instrumental in 2 of our 3 goals). We were fortunate that Burnley were appalling throughout the 90 minutes though, one of the worst displays I have ever seen by a visiting team, goalkeeper excepted. We were excellent in the second half and should have scored 6 or 7, but to say that we were brilliant yesterday (as some have) is an over-reaction. Our manager seems to agree with this view that first half we were poor, it is testament to his ability to motivate and re-organise that we looked so different second half. A couple of observations. I have never see Virgil lose so many challenges as yesterday, it was quite a shock. Redmond had a lot of touches and got involved a lot, but he seems to lack the confidence to attack defenders and most of his offloads are sideways or easy - he could learn from McQueen who drove at the defenders and got his reward. Very well struck goal though, most players balloon chances like that. Austin is scoring a lot of goals and long may it continue, but he still looks agricultural to say the least, will be great when he is and looks fit. Romeu was excellent yesterday, so much improved on the first couple of games of the season, now back to how he was at best last season. Can't comment on their pen as I did not see it and had no idea what happened, the McQueen pen was a stonewall and any suggestions he went to ground are well wide of the mark in my view, the first half shout against VvD? must have missed it, nothing I saw that warranted a pen. Good to see JRod actually looking fit.

Awful in the Chapel/Itchen corner. Worst that it has ever been. Couldn't hear a word that Kenzie was saying in the interview at HT. It suddenly came back to its usual level about 5 minutes before the end of the game, maybe it was something to do with the radio mike Kenzie was using. Frankly it was quite embarrassing when there was something that you really wanted to hear and that deserved better reception. Still, thankful for small mercies at least I couldn't hear the "motivational" speech from Ralph :-)

Of course. They knew in advance that today's games would be dull.

Thanks Doc

Boscombe running riot against Hull, 6-1

Hardly remember him making a save for us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/37157682 Dyche expects Heaton to be fit. Interesting. Bertrand and Cedric out of our game against Watford. Interesting, thought Puel was talking about Burnley.

Wish I was going too. But I would be happy to see a weakened Saints teams beat a weakened Milan team, and I fully expect it to happen. We don't need to play our full strength team out there, and we won't. Milan have already lost to Praha who we easily beat, and also lost to Beer'Sheva. They are not interested in qualifying because of the restrictions put on them by FFP. Even if we don't win it really won't matter, we will still probably qualify. We must beat Burnley, and it is daft to believe that we would definitely do that with a weakened team, we might do, but we might not, we cannot afford to take that risk, we need 3 points, and we also need to ensure we have a strong team against City 3 days after the Milan trip. Sentiment is not (or should not be) a factor in our planning.

More to the point, will the team/players be affected and delayed again (as they were in Israel for different reason)? If they are flying back straight after the game probably OK, but if they are planning to fly back on Friday could be delayed and affect prep for the City game on Sunday. Not good.

But does little or nothing to succeed this season. More important than having a stat in a history book that says we once won in the San Siro. As I said before with the team Inter are putting out we could still win with a weakened team, and if we don't it doesn't matter too much as long as we win when Inter come to St Marys. Thinking that SFC will target a win in Milan over a PL win may not be mental, but its fanciful not based on reality and won't happen. Fully expect Fonte and probably Davis not to be included again, unless injuries force our hand.

No chance. Burnley will be the priority, quite rightly. We could afford to lose in Italy, and anyway Inter are trying their best not to qualify. 3 points at home and a draw away against each team is enough to qualify for the next round. We also have City away to come after Inter, we will rest some players again for the San Siro (and probably still win).

Assuming Martina is fit.

Does anyone know whether Martina is injured? He wasn't involved for Curacao against Antigua, originally not in the squad (for the Caribbean Cup), then called up, then withdrew. Don't know if he travelled or not. No mention of him playing today on the OS (Puerto Rico). Given he is usually captain of Curacao, it looks like there could be a problem.

More likely your obsession with rubbishing Davis. Hardly ever is he "elevated to something special" on this forum by anyone, occasionally he gets decent reviews when he has played well. But you obsess by posting mostly unwarranted criticism of him whenever his name appears in a post.

There's still time.

Unless our Club is now Serbia, why would it be included?