SaintBobby

The mystery for me is that our attacking options look way, way better - and deeper - than our defence. But the goals for/against tally tells a very different story.

I'm still laughing at the mere idea that Southampton play even remotely like a Pulis Stoke team. I don't think anyone else in the world shares that view, even in jest.

I think you mean "Why not?" not "Why not." An example of very poor punctuation.

Think we need 9 points to equal last season's total, but last season we just squeaked 7th and it was a tad unusual for this position to be good enough for Europe. If you want us to qualify, you probably need Liverpool to screw up badly in the Premier League but not win the Europa League and Man Utd to win the FA Cup. If those things both happen, 9 points might well be enough. If they don't both happen, then 12 points probably isn't enough anyway.

If only we had the imagination of those teams. They're leaving us behind. This is probably because we need to sign players quickly in early June. Or something.

Classic. "Absolute maximum". Lols.

Villa were truly appalling. They could tumble down the leagues. Good riddance. They've been awful for several years and have only stayed up because they have managed to float like a turd.

This thread and opening post just get funnier and funnier with each passing match. A bed wetting classic.

When was the last time we were 2 goals down with 30 mins to go and win? Brilliant.

I think I'd rather skip Europa this season. We got in by a mathematical fluke last season (League Cup and FA Cup winners being in the top 6 and us in 7th) That may happen again, but I hope not. If we storm into 5th place or 6th and are ripping our way up the division, fair enough. But getting into this tournament (which no one much cares about) on some bizarre chain of results that ends with us ahead of, say, Everton on goals scored or goal difference is just a joke. Best avoided.

It turns out that (a) Shane Long was worth £12m and (b) that people paid very large amounts of money to decide these things know much, much more than fans on a website. Neither of these things are particularly surprising. Lock thread?

I'd settle for 0.841 points now. Where do I cash that in?

I'm conflicted on this. Sort of still have an old-fashioned "romance of the Cup" streak in my DNA, but am also noticing I care about it less and less. I also want Saints in as many competitions as possible in the hope of winning silverware. I still cherish the JPT win. So, some random thoughts: 1. Merge the English and Scottish League Cups from round 4 or 5. 2. In the 3rd round of the FA Cup, Premier League teams should always play away to any lower league opposition they are drawn against (in all other circumstances, the team drawn first out of the hat plays at home) 3. Replays in the third round, but decided on the day in all subsequent rounds (prob after extra time, rather than straight to penalties) 4. Premier League teams can only name a maximum of two players in their squad who have not started a league match so far in the season. 5. Bonus points in the Premier League for the winners and also possibly the runners-up/semi-finalists. Say +4 for the winner, +2 for runner-up and +1 for semi-finalists.

Thanks. Does anyone know if that's the all time record?

Is six clean sheets in a row a goalkeeping record for Saints? At least in the top flight?

Can we agree it's a "must win" match?

This.

This isn't really true, especially if you use betfair. A couple of years ago, I placed a bet on Saints to win the league. Which is never going to happen (and even more "never going to happen" than relegation!) The odds moved in by about 90% in the first couple of months, just before we lost 2-0 away Arsenal. I cashed out just before this match, making a 1,000% return on my stake. If you could get 1,000,000/1 on Saints being relegated a little while back, you'd have been made not to take it (even on an expected value basis, even if you can't cash out). And as we sit today, 1,000,000/1 is probably worth it (although it would probably be some weird points deduction for something that would be more likely to get us relegated that us losing 13 matches in a row).

reading this thread is 20 mins of my life I aint getting back. gees....

both great displays, but Kelvin v Leeds was better.

Bumping this...just to put it ahead of the Transfer Deadline Day thread....which is less interesting....

Mentioned above, I think Kevin Phillips scored twice on his debut at home to Leicester

At the range from Saints to West Brom (149m euros to 127m euros), would it be fair to say it's so "much of a muchness" that none of these 8 teams really have a measurable advantage over any other. The elements of luck, desirability of location, quality of local housing stock, having an international team mate who recommends the club etc might outweigh a financial advantage/disadvantage of £12mpa or so. Competing with the very top teams over the long run is damned near impossible though. Man City could burn £100m a year as a laugh and still have much more money than Southampton.

Obviously things came right for him yesterday and he'd basically won us the game after 35 mins. Other than his goals, I didn't think he really shone though. He was fine/okay but not amazing. Frustrating player. For the last few years I've been thinking he is going to breakthrough as a great player right now, but he never does. I always felt the same with Matt Oakley back in the day. I like JWP. Very good at set pieces. Good squad player. Seems a nice bloke too. But I don't think he will ever be much more than an adequate mid-table Premier League player. Hopefully yesterday really was a turning point and he proves me - and others - totally wrong.

I was there. Feeble. At least add "'m" after the first "I". Hell, these guys are paid a mint and speak/write like 4 year olds. Secondly, we lost on pens. Not sure which party was spoiled.