Cabrone

It's a crying shame Ossie didn't work out as if it had I think we'd be gatecrashing top 6 right now. Infact it's a testimony to just how good the rest of the team have been that we've been able to absorb it and still look safe as houses. I was tremendously excited by it, he's a class act but sadly his personality didn't gel. The club took a justifiable gamble and it failed, fortunately we are safe and live to fight another day. The search for a top class striker that can fit in with the squad needs to start now, it was our no 1 priority last summer and it's an even bigger priority now. We can't go into 2014/15 with Ricky as our front line striker. We also need to get a rival GK to Artur, that's another major weakness in the squad.

Been the same old story all season namely that our finishing isn't up to it. We all knew that the priority last summer was a goal scoring striker and Ossie should have been the answer. Unfortunately it didn't work out and we have gone back to square 1. It's really frustrating as our midfield is brilliant and our first choice defence is solid but when that ball gets worked into the area we don't have anyone to regularly stick it in the net. But don't worry, the season isn't over. We can still get the record of 'number of consecutive games spent in the same table position' award. Lots to play for

Feel flat rather than angry TBH. Not going to watch any more cup games if the club has no intention of competing in any of them. We could be looking a realistic semi final place but sadly the club rejected it out of hand. However the league is still worth pursuing starting with WHam. The club are going to have to work hard to clear this particular self inflicted hangover.

If the club aren't going to take cup competitions seriously then fans should not bother turning up. That is the message the club is sending out. Really feel for those that made the difficult trek to the furthermost club from us just to watch a bit of a debacle. I'd feel ripped off. What's even more galling is that we were in the fairly unusual position where the cup game was a lot more important than our league games and yet the club still did not want to go for it. Says everything you need to know about SFCs attitude to the cups. Next season save your cash and don't bother with cup matches, if the club can't be arsed then neither should the fans.

Damn, this was the game most of us wanted to win and we blew it. Baffled and disappointed why we didn't select the very strongest XI. The rest of the season is going through the motions now, what a damn shame.

The chances of us going down are so low now as to be irrelevant. We've gone past the 'survival is our top priority' part of the season to the 'let's push on and see how high we can get part'. Like Dalek I've been one of those that has been fixated on just getting those 40 points but in the last few days we've crossed the threshold. I guess those old habits die hard.

Huge game, just need to not lose - a replay would be fine by me. Then hopefully Chelsea get knocked out, Citeh draw Everton, we win the replay and get a home draw where we can beat anyone. We have a real fighting chance in this competition.

Lallana is a definite, Ricky will go if Carroll doesn't do anything special, JRod is more of an outsider but a possibility if he keeps his performances right up. I'd also take Clyne, he's simply the best English right back at the moment IMO - just doesn't get the attention he deserves.

Rotate them whilst giving JRod increasing amounts of time. Ricky would make a good impact sub. Defence wins you things, big Vic behind Cork\Morgan would be one hell of a defensive shield.

He's a fantastic defensive shield and his passing is nowhere as bad as those on here would have you believe. I'd like to see Wanyama play infront of the back 4 with Cork\Schneiderlin\Davis in the middle and width provided by the full backs, that would be a seriously tough lineup for any opposition to handle.

Firstly keep what we have got, including the manager. Top of the list by a long way is a clinical striker. With a bit more consistency infront of goal I believe we'd be in mix for top 6. Ossie was supposed to be that guy but now we're back to square 1 again. Next I'd get a solid back up keeper, it's no coincidence that the Boruc injury period was when our form dipped. The other keepers don't transmit the level of confidence that Artur does. Then after that I'd look for a decent AM that can link our excellent midfield with the forwards. Hopefully that is Gaston's job but the jury is still out. Personally don't think CB\FB are areas that need real strengthening at the moment.

Last time this was asked I thought Palace, West Ham and Fulham. Fulham still look down to me. Norwich now look in a bit of trouble. Their last 4 games are Liverpool (h), Utd (a), Chelsea(a), Arse (h) so realistically they have 10 games to get 16'ish points to safety. Being as they average 1 point per game I'm not convinced they can do it. As for the third slot it really could be anyone from Villa down, whoever has a bad run will be in big trouble and they are all capable of slipping up.

Yet another great result and great performance (in the end). Fulham look down to me but we look the business. First thing is to get the extra points for absolute safety then that big clash with Sunderland. If we push on as hard as we can in league and cup who knows where we might end up? I also really hope Poch hangs around at the end of the season. Unless he gets some crazy offer at a European giant I think he's at the best place at the moment. SFC offers Poch the chance to work with lots of exciting youth, great football, decent fanbase and an owner right behind him. He's tailor made for us and we for him. I'd imagine it would take a seriously good offer to tempt him away.

Not too bothered atall, we should be OK in the league so a great opportunity to blood in the talented youngsters and have a good look at them. Just get those 3 wins starting today to nail the league and concentrate on the cup. Why pay overinflated prices in Jan when we really don't need to?

It's a great move for Juve, they get a top quality striker with a known track record in Serie A, a guy who is hungry for success to get him on the plane to Brazil. They also get to wield the big stick with the threat of a return to Saints if Ossie doesn't toe the line and they also get the option to jettison him if they find something better in the meantime. I suppose we get a bundle of trouble off our books for the time being but we are not out of the woods on this one, it's just a temporary situation as far as SFC is concerned. Lets all just hope Ossie is a smash hit back in Italy - better for all concerned now. Bloody Juventus taking our castoffs. That's not a sentence I thought I'd ever write in my lifetime.

Over the summer someone posted a video up on here of a Roma fan having a 'chat' with Ossie on the training ground. The Roma fan was telling Ossie that 'you could have been the emperor here'. At the time I thought the fan was probably being a bit histrionic but now I feel the same way myself. The guy could have been a cult hero at this club, he had the talent, the looks, the bad boy tag..........but somehow he's managed to throw it all away. Ossie, I was tremendously excited when you came but you've gone and screwed it all up mate. Get your head straightened out and show the world what you can do. I wish you all the best.

It's a competitive tie and both sets of fans will fancy their chances. That said I think we've got the better team and I fancy our chances more because a draw is absolutely fine by us. If we could get a replay I fancy us to finish the job off so Sunderland really need to win at home. Factor in the added pressure of your league position and the other cup vs us in mid table with this being our entire season and I think Saints will give it their all whereas Sunderland might not. We pulverised you for large parts of the game last time yet somehow ended up with a draw, we need to be more ruthless next time.

No, SFC is looking up, Sunderland is looking at best sideways. Better football, better owners, better manager, better players, still in the Cup and everything looking rosy - no way. We could yet have a real good run at the cup ourselves this season, get past Sunderland and a home draw in the quarters could quite feasibly see us in the semis and then who knows.

This is all pretty frustrating - the missing piece of the jigsaw is a top class striker and we have one at the club right now. Surely all parties can kiss and make up and we can finally see what Ossie can do. Great performance last night BTW.

It was Neil Ruddock that took that penalty (it was 88/89) right at the very end of the match and I remember the tension. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Wikipedia says: Ah yes, the Ruddock stomp. Forgot about that one.

Well if you're good enough you're old enough. The lad looks decent and let's not forget we'll also have JRod. Should be interesting to see what happens. Thankfully we aren't in any immediate danger so they should just go for it, the way to knock Arsenal out of their stride is to get right into their faces and see how they cope.

We ended up finishing 3 points behind 'Pool that year which in reality makes it seem closer that it actually was. We were always part of a chasing pack but 'Pool were always ahead, they had had the league stitched up pretty early whereas we had an amazing run in and finished top of the chasing pack but we never really threatened them, we just ran out of road in the end. Had we had more games then who knows? Probably 'Pool would have just gone out and done what they had to do to keep the pack at bay. Not to decry the achievement, it was amazing and was built on a rock solid defence and a couple of pint sized poachers up front. We had a huge amount of 1-0's that season. We were almost invincible at home that season but funnily enough one of our 2 defeats was to relegated Notts County, the other to Forest though we got our revenge on them in the 3rd round of the cup.

Fancy us to get something in this game, Arse are a very skillful team but they have weaknesses. We don't have anything to lose whereas they do so hopefully the players will just go out and have a good tearup. 1-1

Ray Wallace? Do me a favour. The rest were quality though, shame Wise never really got going with us. Looking back I think Chris Nicholl was a pretty good manager that had the misfortune to follow probably our greatest ever manager. His teams were never boring, we'd often get tonked 4-0 and then give someone a good tonking ourselves the next week. To this day I think the MLT, Rod Wallace and Alan Shearer forwardline is the most exciting thing I've ever seen at Saints, they were bloody brilliant together.

Dull but winnable which is all that counts. This time we must put them to the sword or if we can't finish them off at least get them back to St Marys. Hopefully Citeh will have really softened them up beforehand. Also they probably won't be too bothered about the cup whereas we must be. Really relieved we didn't pull out Everton, was looking a bit close and great that one of Citeh\Chelski and Arse\Pool will be kicked out.