ant

Class, will give it a go then. Seen lots of people say they'll wait until FMC 15 comes out on the Vita with the inevitable refinements, but unless sales of this version are good I'm worried Sega won't give it the green light.

Good news for Ultimate Team fans. As well as having Lovren and Lallana feature twice in the weekly In-Form squads (Rodriguez snuck in there too before he got injured), two of our players have made the 'Most Consistent' Team of the Season squads. Schneiderlin is in the Gold one and Shaw made the Silver one.

Anybody given the Vita version of Football Manager Classic 2014 a go? By all accounts it's a faithful recreation of the PC version (and has cross-save functionality) but is slower and requires a stylus to get the best out of it. I'm teetering but we've never had a speedy PC at home so I haven't ever been bitten by the FM bug. Bit worried that I'll either get bored quickly or, worse, my life will flash by as a montage of stats screens...

If the betting sites really are "rarely wrong" as stated, we're more likely to see Malky Mackay or Dan Petrescu at the helm than Moyes.

Maarten Stekelenburg would be my first choice too. Wouldn't really be fair to judge Mannone solely on Sunderland's capitulation last night.

Depends how much you want to automate. As one example there's no need for incorrect offside decisions any more - this could easily be resolved using very similar tech to the goal-line decision systems already in use. While I fully understand and appreciate not wanting to slow the game down, surely there's an argument for implementing all and any technology as it becomes feasible to integrate it seamlessly? Would seem odd to say it's not worth using the bits that do work flawlessly just because we can't provide a full raft of perfect, seamless solutions right this second.

Existing technology is such that there shouldn't be any need for replays and challenges/appeals - near-instantaneous decisions can be directly fed back to the officials.

Or rather "I could've...". Damn autocorrect and inability to edit posts.

I couldn't sworn it was that too but I found an old unofficial annual from the 96-97 season and the address listed there doesn't have the tilde. Strange as I still remember the link to my hosting as something like http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~aj805.

How is this not in Golden Posts?! Bloody awesome day in all. I remember I was inexplicably living in Southsea at the time (don't worry, was only there a year and didn't catch anything). Traveled up on my own but only had to get as far as the A3 before seeing cars clad in red 'n white and flags. Everywhere we went in London seemed to have been taken over by Saints. Plenty of moments to cherish. Tinpot trophy, blah blah blah... As an occasion it was worth far more than the sum of its parts.

Can't be short of a few bob. Has he signed up and paid his fiver yet?

Hi, Peter.

Chelsea showed the difference it makes to have two squads worth of PL-quality players; pulled us apart good and proper in that second half. As mentioned above, their fans were by far the loudest this season too. Wasn't overly impressed with Liverpool, Suarez aside. Sturridge wasn't at his best and I wouldn't say any of the rest of their team was streets ahead of our lot.

I'm Hampshire born and bred, but the local pronunciation of Bevois as in 'Bevois Valley' does my head in!

Hedge End's barely a town so a bit harsh to refer to it as if it tries to be more than it is. I moved out from the city centre to Hedge End just under a year ago and am enjoying it. Got quick 'n easy access to the benefits and amenities of Southampton without so many of the downsides.

Lloyd's contact is up in the Summer I believe. Doesn't look great for him in terms of his future with us.

That was good fun. Assuming the voice of generic skate #657 I put that he misses the old clock. Maybe the company holding it will actually get their money back eventually. Nah, it's Portsmouth. Must be a non-league player they can throw wages at instead.

Very true. I'd never bought a console on launch day before the Vita but haven't regretted it for a second. Probably used it more than my PS3 over the last 18 months. Quite a few are curiosities or indie titles, but I'd say all of the following games are near-essential: FIFA Football (don't bother with sequels, they're just reskins) Gravity Rush Guacamelee Hotline Miami Killzone Mercenary LittleBigPlanet Motorstorm RC Need for Speed: Most Wanted Persona 4 Golden Sound Shapes Super Stardust Delta Tearaway Uncharted: Golden Abyss Velocity Ultra The Walking Dead (if you haven't played it elsewhere) Wipeout 2048 TxK, OlliOlli and Surge Deluxe are getting great reviews too.

Fully agree with Adrian. Plus BT Sport made this fixture far easier to watch from home or the pub, only to the detriment of those that actually wanted to travel. On the day it felt like decent support. Actually I only expected half as many of our fans so was heartened upon reaching the concourse. Realistically you have to look at how the club has approached the other rounds - many may have wrongly assumed that we'd put out the strongest squad, but the warning signs were there. Sub-consciously or otherwise I'm sure that put many off. Ultimately I believe this wasted opportunity will only speed up the decline of our cup attendances. My lot had a good time and it was certainly an experience, but I'd think twice about doing the same again. The reasons against attending a match like Saturday's are stacked a mile high. Beyond blind loyalty or romantic dreams of cup heroics there's little in the 'for' column.

Still here. Actually don't give a toss about the money expended, just the gutless manner of defeat. That squad should have been plenty for the win but not one player fulfilled their potential. Briefed to save themselves? Didn't care? Simply not good enough? I don't believe the latter to be possible. We had a decent chance this year. Far from nailed on, but it was there to attack. We didn't play the 'Southampton Way' today.

Not a big fan of 3G but saves being caked in mud all day. Quite up for this!

Nice one. If there's anywhere that does 'proper' beer then so much the better. Neither can I, but weirdly this one's actually cheaper than West Ham for me! Sunderland: £16 ticket, £30 petrol (£120 split four ways), £7.50 hotel (£15 room, Travelodge mates rate) = £53.50 + beer. West Ham: £43 ticket, £10 train, £8 tube = £61 +beer. I don't even have to drive

The togetherness is a sight to behold, as is our tempo and workrate. The commentators last night were spaffing themselves silly over it. Another related point is that yesterday's starting XI, Rodriguez aside, was very cheaply assembled by Premier League standards. Conversely Hull (billed as plucky underdogs) had two players on the pitch that cost a combined £14m in January. We have built slowly, steadily and sensibly over the past 5 years. I would argue that even our larger transfer fees paid have been justifiable considering the TV money. Yes, there have been some mis-steps, but 'Billy Big ********' behaviour has been dealt with well. If you don't make the effort to fit in at Saints you will lose out, but additions such as Lovren have shown how quickly you are welcomed if you do. Add in our youth output and things are looking undeniably rosy. Meltdown? Us?

Never been to the Stadium of Light or indeed Sunderland itself. Worst comes to the worst I'll just make a weekend of it up there, but I have a good feeling that we can get the win.

No doubt celebrations would be a little more muted if we won the Cup in modern times, but as somebody that was born 11 years after the heroics of '76, the prospect of experiencing a day even half as good is far more exciting than whether we finish 7th or 10th.