ant

"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.

In a choice between The Brewery Bar and the The Barleycorn I'd go for the former every time.

Not badly written, that. Far pithier than the club's own survey. Perhaps they'd be interested to see the results too? One thing to bear in mind with using percentage of capacity is that we'll never be at 100% due to the way segregation is handled. It may be different at some other grounds.

That's the one. Arrived at 09.32 this morning and has a Word Doc attached. I'd check your spam boxes, ladies and gents!

I can't be doing with any of it any more, to the point that I don't bother with terrestrial TV either. Don't have time to watch much, plus it's still perfectly legal to use iPlayer and similar services (for catch-up programmes only, not live broadcasts). Saves on Sky/Virgin/BT TV fees and the TV licence - we're only paying for broadband and line rental. I'm at 2/3 to 3/4 of all Saints matches anyway and am happy to watch the broadcast games (that I'm not attending) at the pub.

In the Watford 'Spoons on Sunday, there were some of our lot singing "He's a Kenyan, a greedy Kenyan, Victor Wanyama". All based on a 'story' that was potentially leaked by another club. Cracking support.