ant

What about if did attend and you spent a good portion of the duration with arm aloft, intending to ask such a question, but were left frustrated by a deficit of staff with mics? Are you allowed a little grumble then?

Tonight was a worthy exercise in principle, but the implementation was slightly lacking. The free-for-all nature meant unfulfilled potential and I don't understand how two members of staff with mics was ever supposed to achieve fair coverage of 500 people. They barely moved. It's pretty selfish to stand up and take up a portion of the (relatively curtailed) running time in order to big yourself up as a super-fan. No doubt that prevented some genuinely corking questions from getting airtime. Personally I'd have liked to ask Les Reed why - after saying 18 months ago that we don't see the value in loaning out multiple youth players - have we since sent 7 individuals to other clubs (and 2 of them more than once). At a push it could've been followed up by asking why players such as Harrison Reed (supposedly one of the best players our academy has ever produced) are struggling to make it into the first team.

Without doubt, but it's inextricably linked to the game now.

Would be more difficult to weedle out of if worded something like: "Though the club's commercial revenue has increased in the past year, it still looks low when compared with that of clubs of a similar size and stature. Which specific actions are being taken to improve this?" I'm both interested to hear what's said tonight and prepared for a session of half-answers/management speak. Obviously it's unlikely that anybody will get to ask more than one thing, but I've prepared a few questions just in case my points of interest are asked by others. Better to go in prepared with some facts and figures than to rattle off meaningless waffle off-the-cuff. Hopefully that's the way to get some answers of substance.

The 'Big Book of Football Forum Clichés' has taken a pasting there, with bonus [insert name of form player and pick on a trait they're known for] comment. About as insightful as referring to Ranieri as 'the Tinkerman'.

"Have you all got your fun packs? I've got one here. Dropped it. It's all right. I've got a list. Here. It should contain a torch, a CurlyWurly, a book of stamps, a free digital watch with denim strap, a vodka miniature, a Bic-style razor and a copy of the Daily Express. Ooooooh, it's a good paper!"

You hear so much ****e spouted about Pelle. Delighted he's finally winning fans over en masse, but it's a shame it took so long for them to see it.

Watched the first of the two episodes last night and I was getting a surprising number of identical answers to Matt. Unfortunately my feet don't work as similarly as our brains appear to...

Will be the first home game in this cup in over two years too. Did not enjoy the drive home from Sheffield last year...

That's weird as I've never had a profile on match.com. On a more serious note, that's a bit of a logic fail from The Echo. Participants were asked whether they'd date fans of certain clubs. While that factors into the overall 'attractiveness' of a person, it doesn't appear to have specific correlation with their aesthetic qualities. Also if they only asked 'rival' supporters (presumably on a geographic basis as we have no true rivals in the division), doesn't this just mean that us and Bournemouth seem to quite like each other?

Let's go for a cup run or two then.

Can't see that as bottling. He's gone for what he appears to have thought a simple header, but has been comprehensively out-maneuvered by Schneiderlin (who, it has to be said, has always won a daft percentage of his aerial battles). Never mind the terrible clearance beforehand, that Mata was offside, or the sketchy defending in the box. He's passionate. He cares. Sometimes that can spill over into being critical but generally I see a man trying to gee up his team mates. As I said above, I agree that it may be wise to look at other options away from home.

Kinda indicative of an annoying trait of modern times - recording everything, regardless of merit. I'm guilty of taking a quick snap at an away day and sticking it on social media to remember the day by, but standing there with your phone out all match? Get to ****. Exactly the same happens at gigs nowadays. Forget living in the moment and actually forming some memories worth preserving. It's all about disconnectedly watching events unfold behind a viewfinder - capturing the maximum amount of grainy snaps or video footage. At a Metallica fan show (for the launch of 'Death Magnetic'), James Hetfield said, "Stop recording this and enjoy it. Nobody's going to like you any more for posting ****ty quality videos on Youtube." Couldn't agree more. People will be putting retweet/favourite and follower counts on their CVs next.

They are. But Pelle's movement can be excellent too - was against United. It was entirely responsible for crafting his chance to make it 2-0, when his shot just clipped the post rather than sneaking in.

Exactly. Pelle doesn't get nearly enough credit for his workrate. Haven't checked the most recent stats, but in the first half of last season he covered more ground than any other PL striker. On Sunday, there was an occasion in the second half where Graziano sprinted into the United half, chasing down from the front. Must have run a good 60-70 yards at full-pelt. He jogged back to catch his breath, at which point a ball was played over the top from midfield. Given that Pelle was a) never going to get to it and b) still offside, it was absolutely pointless to waste any further energy. Yet one of the masterminds behind me was apoplectic; effing and blinding, calling a lazy this-that-and-the-other. Lots of fans seem to pick up on individual moments without considering context. I know you can't watch the movements of all 11 players at all time but keeping track of the ones currently involved in play really shouldn't be that difficult.

Now I don't agree with dropping Pelle on the basis of last night, nor that we play better without him - but there may be something in this. The vast majority of Pelle's goals for us come at home. What would need to be established is whether that's because the way we play away doesn't suit him so well and whether any of our other strikers can reap better returns on the road. In short, playing a bit more 'horses for courses' rather than inking Graziano's name on the teamsheet regardless.

Couldn't have gone any better really, could it? Clean sheet; Rodriguez amongst the goals; Bertrand back in first team action to (briefly) complete our best back four; Juanmi slotting in well; Ramirez looking worthy as a backup option; 6 goals from 8 shots on target and plenty more near-misses. Away attendance of 2,556 too, which is excellent.

Over 2,500 Saints fans there and 6 goals from 8 shots on target. Good night for us, however poor MK Dons have been.

Ah well, at least Corbyn didn't roger a dead pig.

I say it every year when this comes up. The 'overall' number matters little - it's the players' individual attributes you want to be looking at.

Can I have my sausages burnt to a crisp, please? So that they can only be identified by reference to their dental records.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Heh, I was being somewhat facetious; suppose it didn't come across properly. Doesn't surprise me too much.

No doubt there'll be a few uncomfortable truths contained within. Thankfully football has moved on somewhat. Perhaps.

Still, struggling to see how that's much different to SMS, other than their bowl having two tiers.