Cabrone

Never mind the performance, feel the result. This was a real banana skin of a game against very decent opposition and we came through. Through to the 4th round and another 3 weeks closer to Boruc getting back, boy do we miss him. If we can stay in the cup whilst nursing our first 11 back together then I don't see why we can't get something from this competition.

Banega\Astori back on the radar? If Gaston is out of favour we really could do with a quality AM.

Wettest game of Saints history?

Tiss is my all time great, one of the most naturally talented players England, let alone Saints, has produced. Then add the fact that he was 100% SFC throughout his whole career and he's pretty much untouchable. He even tried to help save the club when they were in trouble when others went quiet. Ricky is a legend but in a different way. He has been our Atlas lifting the club on his shoulders from lge 1 to prem stability and providing a host of special memories on the way. Of course he didn't do it alone but he was definitely the focal point and made the biggest contribution. Tiss is my all time no 1 but Ricky is right there in the next tier of legends alongside Bates, Davies, Channon and Paine. It will be a sad day when he goes, that's for sure.

I hope not, I think he's a good player and could link up well with Ossie, plus we're not exactly over endowed with attacking midfielders at the moment. I think we have the strikers, we just need a more creative link between midfield and up front so for that reason I hope Gaston gets a good run of games.

Rhodes would be a tidy piece of business and a very good replacement IMO. The deal makes sense to me. From our perspective £8M is a very decent price for a 32 y.o which gives us some cash to get an up and coming striker. From Spam's position if Ricky could keep them in the prem (and he could IMO) £8M would be a small price to pay. However the emotional impact of losing Ricky would be big and we aren't safe yet so a bit of a gamble. It's going to break a few hearts, Ricky's a legend at SFC and we'll all miss him but this is business and Cortese won't let sentiment cloud his judgement.

Lots of possession and control but not enough sharpness up front. Despite not having much possession Everton carved us open when they needed to, got the feeling that if we had scored a 2nd they would have gone up and gotten a 3rd. We have become tough to break down but in doing so we seem to have also sacrificed quick incisiveness infront of goal.

Can't see us getting anything from this one. Everton are an excellant side plus we have a horrific record against them, a real bogey team. However if we could somehow sneak a win it would be the sweetest result of the year for me as Mr Heath plus almost 30 years of pain against them needs to be redressed. Come on Saints, we owe this lot a thrashing.

In just over 4 games he has conceeded 2 more goals than Boruc did in almost 13 games. He is not good enough, even if some of those goals were hard to save he gives the defence no confidence and consequently they make mistakes. Time to give Cropper a go until Boruc is back or we get a better keeper.

Not too surprised, think AVB flatters to deceive and Bale papered over a lot of cracks last season. Spurs are potentially joint (with Utd) biggest club in the country IMO. A massive catchment area that stretches around large parts of N.London right up through the home counties and into East Anglia\southern midlands They are held back by a boxed in stadium, get an Emirates style bigger one and they'd fill it. Unlike their near neighbours they have consistently underachieved and it rankles. Hence a rather trigger like tendency to eject managers when sometimes they should keep.

Decent back up option but would a 34 y.o international want to come here to sit on the bench most of the time? Would we want to pay his large wage demands? Pesonally I'd rather a younger, decent keeper but I guess they are hard to find. Has the academy got any GK starlets in the making?

I can see the logic of this one, Wham need firepower and Ricky would slot in as a direct Carroll replacement. Even if Wham had to pay a lot for a 32 year old if it meant they stayed up then the investment would have been seen as worth it. With Ossie and JRod increasingly taking over Ricky might think about jumping. Would be a damn shame for us but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

Spurs (H) - W 3-2 Cardiff (A) - D 1-1 Everton (A) - L 0-2 Chelsea (H) - W 2-1 West Brom (H) - W 3-1 Sunderland (A) - D 1-1 Arsenal (H) - D 1-1 Fulham (A) - W 1-0 An optimistic 15 points

Great point at a tough ground. Better teams that Saints will go there and get nothing. 3 points against Spurs and we'll be purring again. How many days\hours\minutes before Boruc is back again?

We've got a decent track record against the Geordies, can remember Tiss regularly sinking them with another wonderstrike. Guess we'll try to do the boa constrictor and hope for a bit of Ossie brilliance. My money would be on Newcastle but we still have a decent shout ourselves. PS Those that are going take mountain gear with you, it's the highest spot I've ever sat in. The pitch looked tiny from up there but it was a great view across Geordieland.

Cost conscious Pompey board react with unbridled joy as McInnes announces he's the new centre forward.

Lowe's encouragement of the academy is one of the few things I'll give the guy credit for as it set the groundwork for what we have now. Saints did produce some good young players in the 80's but with the loss of Merrington it seemed to dry up till the academy came along. However his ultimate record is relegation from the premiership to league 1 via a succession of incompetent managerial appointments and a string of journeymen signings that left us with a bloated squad. As far as I know no other SFC chairman has managed to do that. His strategic thinking was poor too. When we were a decent striker short of having a real chance of getting back to the prem in 05/06 under Harry Redknapp he didn't release the funds and the season collapsed after Leeds at home. We battered teams in the first few months just to come unstuck by not having someone to stick it into the net. His axing of the well liked and decent Pearson for the Dutch duo was the final, almost fatal, mistake. His public relations were terrible too, alienating most people and causing a lot of friction within the club. I have no fond memories of the guy, he was parachuted in on some Askhamesque dodgy reverse takeover and scuttled off with the club at death's door. No amount of rose tinted glasses will make him look good IMO but I will give him some credit for the youth setup.

Can't see why all 3 can't play together, Big Vic infront of the back 4 with Morgan\Jack in the engine room positions. I'd also persist with a Lambert\Ossie combination, Ossie playing spearhead and Ricky playing foil - I really think we could get a very productive partnership going there given a bit of patience. Don't think they have had enough time together to see what they can really do.

Tricky draw but an interesting one too. I hope we take the FA cup seriously, it's our one chance of silverware left and we have a fighting chance of winning it. Put out our best team and we should get through although Burnley play some good stuff and will have their tails up.

Great performance, great point and hopefully a quick bounce back to form from here. Really great to see Cork back on the pitch, shows how important strength in depth is. It was a tough break for him being dropped as he was but I always knew he'd play an important part at some stage. Watch out premier league, Ossie's getting to grips with the play and there's going to be more where that one came from over the following months. By the end of the season I predict he'll do to his doubters what Boruc did to his, i.e.make them eat their words. Said the same about Boruc 12 months ago and I see Ossie following the same path - just give him regular games.

Drops far too many clangers, not consistent enough and transmits a panicky air to the defence who then try and overcompensate. If fit I'd have KD or even Cropper before him.

22 points in the bag from first 14 games should see us safe long before season end. Ossie scored, hopefully he'll go on a run now. Media love in over and now reality kicks in.

If KD is out how good is Cropper, could he do a job for us? I really have little faith in Gazza, makes the odd good save but always looks like he's going to drop a clanger. Hopefully against Villa it won't be critical but he's not up to it. Would be very interesting to see Ramirez and Osvaldo paired up, got a feeling those two could combine well.

He's obviously a top draw finisher yet it's not happening for him (yet). Class doesn't just evaporate overnight so what's happened? Also he's not alone, Ricky and JRod have been fairly subdued too. MP needs to get busy on the training ground, it's criminal how all this talent is being squandered.

If Artur is injured then KD should step in but it's a major blow. Just highlights the thiness of the squad, think we'll be conceeding a few over the coming weeks.