Joneth

So is Fonte not injured then? I assumed that Jos playing meant he must be. If that's not the case then that is an absurd decision by Poch.

Excellent first half, terrible second. Well beaten today. Osvaldo needs to be showing more than this, he did absolutely nothing and doesn't seem to have any understanding with any of our other front players. Wasn't the only poor performance, I thought Schneiderlin was struggling to compete with Ramires and Clyne was beaten over and over by Hazard. Still Chelsea are a quality team and our season will be defined by games like Villa on Wednesday, not Arsenal and Chelsea away.

Personally I think yesterday would have suited Osvaldo better than Lambert. Arsenal's defence is really solid at the moment and we needed some flair and creativity to get round them. Only other player offering that was Rodriguez today. I would have him in for Chelsea.

He understands and speaks English, not perfectly mind, but well enough to be an excellent manager for this club. Thats not conjecture, its a fact.

------------------Lambert------------------ J-Rod------------Rooney-----------Lallana What a front 4 that would be. Saints bias aside, the England side is starting to develop some really good attacking players IMO. Our problem is in defence, especially at right back. For me, Clyne is the only English right back who can defend as well as attack.

My understanding is that NC has specifically requested that Poch uses an interpretor in interviews to protect him from the media. He speaks English more than adequately and has done from day 1.

Dare I say it, but today was like watching Le Tiss with a workrate. Magnificent performance today.

The opposition doesn't really dictate which matches I go to, if anything I'm more likely to turn up to Palace than Man Utd because a) its cheaper and b) we aren't as likely to get smashed. I simply can't afford to watch us every week and have steadily been going less regularly for probably the last 5 years. Its not the same 2-3000 not showing up each game, in reality there are probably several thousand who only go to 5 or 6 home games a season for one reason or another. Regardless of whether a ticket is £45, £35 or £25, many people will still not be able to justify going more than once every couple of months.

Or when he scores.. We've got that lovren feeling, Whoa, that lovren feeling, You lost that lovren feeling, Now he's scored, scored, scored...wooooooh

Anyone actually know the answer? 1984? Don't think we've ever been above them in my lifetime following football (mid 90's).

You've got that Lovren feeling, whoa that Lovren feeling.....

Very good article, the point about Nolan and Morrison pressing Schniederlin and Wanyama is spot on. 'The hole' was massive yesterday and Ramirez is exactly the player to exploit it. It would have made their two drop off and give our CMs more room to operate. Instead we just launched it up onto the considerable meat head of James Collins.

Same old Saints, can't beat teams that don't want to beat us. Are we now that much of a bigger club than West Ham that they don't think they have the ability to win against us? Ironic that Collins should put their only chance about 60 feet over the bar. Complete anti football team and I really hope fat Sam falls flat on his backside and takes them down.

The actual job is horrible but the people and the atmosphere is generally a good laugh. If you stick it out and take it seriously then there's normally plenty of opportunities for progression. Is it RBS/Natwest or HSBC?

I'm off to Rio for the carnival, Iguazu and then Manaus next year. Never been before so can't really advise on safety beyond my own research but usual rules apply I guess, no flashing cash, cameras, phones, keep bags close, don't get ****ed up and cause trouble, learn some lingo and you'll be fine. I have noticed that a lot of the websites for internal flights have often been displaying outdated prices, the only way to get the actual cost is to check with the actual airline either TAM or GOL.

Christ those other forums look awful, don't think the old saintsforever site was as bad as that west ham one was it?

What's the consensus on this lad then? First time I've seen him and thought he looked very solid cover for Clyne. WBA tried to target him a little but he defended sensibly and looked calm on the ball. Is this another one off the production line?

I've also stayed at Jibacoa and would highly recommend it. Beautiful place. Go to Cuba before it all changes.

A little late to this thread, but having visited South Africa (CT, PE and Durban) in the last 2 months and spoken to many people from all backgrounds about life, society and politics I feel qualified to point out what a brilliant post this is. There is a divide in SA, but its not about blacks and whites. It the divide between people that want a united country and people that don't. How that will play out after Mandela passes away is anyone's guess, but the image I have is that despite being haunted by its past, South Africa is a country that wants to move forward together.

Ok tbf there's probably not any actual spite as such. I just don't think fans really matter that much to clubs as long as we all keep paying our sky sports subs. Kit sales are a tiny proportion of our revenue either way so you'd think that the club could at least give us a shirt that we (well 50% odd of us) wouldn't be embarassed to wear.

I'm with the OP, I believe this (albeit on a pretty insignificant scale in the grand scheme of things) is indicative of a shift in football culture where 'what customers want' is no longer of much relevence to business decisions. Fans of Southampton football club, (or Manchester Utd, Cardiff City, A.N Other FC) are not the lifeblood of the business any more. Whether we get gates of 30,000 or 3000, in the Premier League it doesn't matter and the same goes for shirts. Surely, someone in the club must have looked at a range of designs for this kit and realised it wouldn't attract a 100% positive reaction. This means that someone else in the club has essentially said..."yeah, well **** 'em"

Really hope that monstrosity turns out to be fake. Can we just cling to the hope that the club have leaked this rubbish to wind us up before they release the Rank Xerox classic everyone wants to see? (Or at least some stripes)

I do look at fans of top 4 clubs and think how privileged I am to have grown up with Saints. Dealing with defeats and setbacks, always expecting disaster to be snatched from the jaws of victory, that is basically life. Supporting Saints has definitely made me a stronger person, so I agree that fans of some clubs 'get' more out of football than others.

Personally I don't rate Mancini particularly highly. I don't think he's anywhere near as tactically aware as the manager of a top european club should be. Man management wasn't great and the constant 'Ah dunno awhy my teama lose' press conferences don't exactly inspire confidence. Right decision in my opinion.

Signed, good luck to Coventry, decent club who should still be scrapping down at the bottom of the prem with us like in the 90s.