The Kraken

I overpaid my mortgage over a few years and it was the best thing I ever did. I chose to keep my monthly payments the same but it meant that the mortgage would have been paid off earlier. Any work bonus or payout always went into my mortgage, and the length of term just came down each time. Living mortgage free

Difficult to say. As Glasgow says United have had a terrible season but they're still 7 points above us. So their midfield isn't as utterly sh*t as some dimwits make out. Although I have to say I'm massively disappointed with Cleverley, he looked a decent prospect 1 or 2 seasons ago but looks like a real plodder this season. My joint team: De Gea; Clyne, Lovren, Vidic, Shaw; Januzaj, Carrick, Schneiderlin, Lallana; Rooney, RvP. And we play 4-4-f*cking-2.

They'd be winning the league if they had Saints' midfield.

Ah, missed that part, I clean forgot this game was even on. So did half of Sunderland, apparently.

The pen? Don't know if it was, really.

Sorry, but I believe it does. If there's that much trouble after the game with home fans only, what would be the effect with away fans chucked into the mix? Like I said, I don't agree with the principle of the bubble but I can completely understand why it was brought in, its simply much safer, especially for the away fans.

Difficult one this. I'm no fan of the bubble but you simply can't argue that it cuts out trouble. Granted, it is also a real infringement on the rights of fans to travel to a game but I'd suggest that if football fans in such large numbers can't behave themselves then the bubble is a justified inconvenience. The Newcastle horse-punching fella just shows what sort of numbskulls the bubble was brought in to protect against. I don't like it, but I also don't see a better option for certain games. In this case it would seem that Northumbria Police have gone beyond that and refused to police games that are 3pm kick off and beyond, even despite the bubble. So I can see why the clubs are protesting.

Pap, you're such a voice of reason.

Ah yes, correct, I hadn't even seen the author!

That's a blog from a (probable) Saints fan; about as impartial as an opinion from this thread.

Look behind you, it's happening already. Although, to be fair, its the club alone that are bearing the brunt, radio commentators I've heard both on talksport and 5-live have stated along the lines of "even lots of the Saints fans are embarrassed by it".

Yes and no, IMO. Ramirez wasn't the player we needed as a priority at that time; CB was much more in need of top class reinforcements. This summer our priorities were a top class striker to compete with/take over from Rickie plus one (or two if possible) top ten quality centre backs. We got both of those, Lovren has been a sensation and while Osvaldo looked the man on paper, he simply hasn't delivered. But it was definitely a position we needed to bring in, its just the choice of player hasn't worked out so far. But the decision not to strengthen the GK ranks was mystifying and could be a real body blow.

Unfortunately that's the law though, a booking. If you're saying that's not enough then I entirely agree, a yellow card is no real deterrent considering the potential reward. But until the lawmakers redress that balance It'll continue to happen because, as far as the attacking team is concerned, it's a risk worth taking.

Why should Oscar have been sent off? The ref followed the rule to the letter. In a thread where a referee is being pilloried for not applying the laws of the game correctly it's slightly odd that you're suggesting another ref deviate from the laws of the game.

Probably the same ones who said that Gaston wasn't fitting in because he was a different wavelength to our other players and they couldn't read his brilliance.

Fair enough. I think there's been some bad decisions this season but not overly more than other seasons. Clattenberg's was a mistake, but I've said on this thread that I don't think the current rule does anyone any favours, its too loose in its application and leaves too much grey area. As bad as they might be perceived, the current batch of officials are the best there are in this country. They could do better, but they're a hell of a lot better than the podgy old buggers who used to waddle around the pitch in the 70s, 80s and even early 90s.

The Daily Mail really are our go-to paper for official club leaks.

Has it really, though? I keep hearing that this season has been the worst for refereeing for many years. Is it? Or does the media just exaggerate everything to the nth degree, placing expectations on officials to get every single decision correct. Referees now are fitter than they've ever been, they're subjected to the highest amount of cheating, simulation and diving than ever before, and they're under enormous media scrutiny every single game. Its gotten so ridiculous that almost every single game a team loses, the manager will deflect blame from him or the team and blame the ref for a minor incident, which the media just love. The haranguing of refs by players and managers is obscene, really. I'd like to see something proper done about it.

Not harsh at all, I think that's exactly how the rule should be.

Oh get in!

Sam Matterface - his face matters. Lucky sod is married to Natalie Sawyer too. And he's a Chelsea fan, although does seem to have a close affinity with them lot down the road.

Home against Bournemouth would be good.

1 Coventry City 2 Yeovil Town 3 Liverpool or Oldham Athletic 4 Nottingham Forest 5 Bristol City or Watford 6 Southend United 7 Hull City 8 Crystal Palace 9 Kidderminster Harriers or Peterborough United 10 Stevenage 11 Stoke City 12 Southampton 13 Cardiff City 14 Rochdale 15 Wigan Athletic or Milton Keynes Dons 16 Charlton Athletic or Oxford United 17 Manchester United or Swansea City 18 Port Vale or Plymouth Argyle 19 Norwich City or Fulham 20 Sheffield United 21 Macclesfield Town or Sheffield Wednesday 22 Sunderland or Carlisle United 23 Bolton Wanderers 24 Blackburn Rovers or Manchester City 25 Everton 26 Brighton & Hove Albion 27 Arsenal 28 Birmingham City or Bristol Rovers or Crawley Town 29 Huddersfield Town 30 Ipswich Town or Preston North End 31 Derby County or Chelsea 32 AFC Bournemouth or Burton Albion

David Connolly is playing close to non-league football for some shonky outfit down the road.

I agree that Lallana's should have been a penalty. The defender could quite reasonably have not had his hand where it was, and it affected the flight of the ball. Any incident where the defender has his arms stretched out like that are fair game for a handball IMO. Its just incidents where the hands are very close to the body and particularly being used for self-defence that I'd have an issue with for this "its handball if it hits the hand in all cases" scenario, I think that's an unfair rule. The current rule is far too loose so the refs have their own interpretation of it, but it would seem that there are different ways for them all to interpret it. I wouldn't question Clattenburg's impartiality, just his ability as a referee. But I don't think the current rule helps, it leaves too much open to interpretation. But olallana's 100% handball remedy is a step too far IMO.