VectisSaint

But would he sing in Walloon, he comes from Antwerp so would be more likely a Flemish speaker.

So the setback was due to an infection. I have not seen that reported before. Suggests the news could be good, it is not really the original injury which has delayed his return (possibly, maybe). Still seems unlikely to me he will really be in contention for a place this season when we only have 8 games left.

This is not strictly true. Section V.7.6.2 of the Premier league rules state "the Temporary Transfer of a goalkeeper which in its absolute discretionthe Board may allow in circumstances it considers to be exceptional;" This was mooted by Newcastle Utd before Xmas, and the understanding was that exceptional circumstances would mean that the club had only one fit professional keeper. So although technically such a transfer can take place, there is no way this could be applied to Saints since we clearly currently have at least three fit pro keepers (Davis, Gazza and Cropper) not forgetting Will Britt and Chris Johns are also probably classified as professionals. Premier League Rules: http://m.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/handbooks/premier-league-handbook-2014-15.pdf

Correct, just as Toby has stated he wants to stay. Your remark earlier is so easily proven as nonsense. That said I don't expect Toby to be here next season, neither do i think he will be at Spuds.

Yes but 17th is special. Especially for those with a sink plunger appendage.

At least we know we can't finish 17th.

AOC and Gibbs last season

Bit early this year, 28th when we won it, my way of remembering the wife's birthday.

No rhey didn't. Some always highlighted Fonte getting Lovern out of trouble. But Toby is top class.

They will have rejoined their clubs, Arsenal, Manu, Liverpool and City well before our players get back having reached the latter stages with their own countries.

Davenport arrested on suspicion of assault http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-31958766

You mean he wasn't able to cover Costa when the defenders who should have picked him up failed to mark him properly. Anyone who thinks it was Davis' job to mark Costa in the penalty area for a cross really has a serious misunderstanding of how football works. Davis did lose possession a couple of times granted, it wasn't his best game, but clearly we went seriously backwards when his replacement was brought on.

Apart from Lambert that is (and the Skate). Seems like SRL's brief England career is over.

This. Well said.

If I am being harsh then I'm afraid its not just me. Professional managers/pundits have the same view, ex Saints managers as well. There is an irrational idea on here (not from you) that any Saints player, and in this case Forster, is above criticism. Like every player he has his strengths and his weaknesses. He is beginning to prove that he is a good shot stopper, his kicking is good, he usually deals well with crosses (certainly better than some of his predecesors). But so many times he is found wanting when it comes to coming out for the ball. But some on here cannot deal with this, usually by saying "he is faultless, he must be because he has conceded the least goals in the league" or words to that effect. The guy is good, but he could be even better, maybe in time he will learn to be better at claiming the ball in some situations.

Really. I think its quite obvious. We should go with the same starting XI as yesterday, make sure we don't give anything away early on, the one thing we cannot let them do is get an early goal. Hopefully we get Elia and Reed on the bench for this one (instead of Gardos and JWP).

Why is it a worry that a footballer sees out his contract? If he plays for us next season and then leaves that would be a good thing would it not? After all we have already paid for the number of years that his contract was for, therefore it means we have got our value for the money we paid and in return the player has provided us with the service we requested. Of course if he were to see out his contract by sulking like a little girl and not playing that might be an issue, but I don't believe that Nathaniel is that sort of bloke.

OK, so finally go to watch the clip. What a brilliant reaction, reminds me of the days of WGS. Doesn't indicate any pressure at all, just indicates what a clueless bunch of tossers we have sometimes asking these questions at press conferences. Pity a few more managers don't respond more honestly when they are asked this sort of drivel. Its not a PR issue either (unless you mean in the medical sense of the abbreviation). Journo acts like an arsehole is treated in the appropriate manner.

Of course the defence was at fault, thats not the issue. But to try to claim that the TV angle foreshortened the distance FF would have needed to come, come on Whitey I expect better of you than that. It was hardly more than a stride for a giant who is on his toes, to punch a floated cross (maybe catching would have been expecting a bit too much). I said it when it happened and was heartened to hear two of our former managers saying exactly the same, and Ronald hinting also that he could have done better. I'm sure that Lloris or even Joe Hart would have punched that away instead of standing rooted watching a soft goal pass them by.

At least Vic and Morgan get their bookings for something tangible, rather than something silly like taking their shirt off during a goal celebration.

Championship

So he might as well have come for it anyway, the result would have been the same. Disagree completely with your assessment that he would not have reached it, he would easily have reached it if he had been positioned better and had anticipated the flight of the ball. He also would not have had a problem physically reaching it, would not have even needed to jump to punch the ball away off Costa's head. Forster had a great second half, but still people will not see that he has significant shortcomings, which have cost us a few times this season.

Did he make a goal line clearance yesterday? Replays on Sky suggested (and pundits said) that it came back off of Ivanovic. Having watched the highlights again today it is very difficult to tell, but my money is still on Ivanovic from what I can see - if it did come back off JWP then fair play, he was on the near post so he was doing that job effectively. I also don't really think he came on yesterday as a "late substitute", he played 24 minutes (came on at 71 and there were 5 minutes extra played. i would call pelle a late sub, but I guess it is a question of semantics.

Still counts as an assist, even though his shot was awful, and that's why whenever people quote stats about assists you should treat them (the stats) with the contempt they deserve.

To be fair he hasn't played for the England u21s since September against Lithuania "when he [Kane] nodded in James Ward-Prowse's sumptuous cross.". Of course he can't feature if there are no games or he is injured, but saying how good he is based on his u21 performances is part of the problem, people are making their judgements based on how he played a long time ago. He certainly does not become a bad player overnight, but in recent games since he came back from injury he has been shown to be slow, unable to tackle, poor at decision making in defensive positions, unable to shoot and his dead ball deliveries which were much lauded (rightly so) at one stage have become average at best or poor if you want to be honest. I think JWP needs another pre-season to get back to full fitness and perhaps to bulk up a bit, the evidence at the moment is that he is not the player he was last season or even the one before. I don't think that is down to the Koeman formation either, it is simply down to him not being able to do the things necessary at the moment to be anything more than an average AM player.