ant

Matchday Uncovered started 18 months ago.

Yep. I believe the club held a leaving party a while back.

This is my first experience of PS4 FIFA (only just bought the console) - loving it so far. The animation's so fluid and natural, plus I don't think I've scored the same goal twice yet. Done roughly the same, got 90k to play with. Would recommend holding them until the market calms. You'll get such better value.

I've bought a bundle of PS4 + FIFA 15 + The Last of Us: Remastered for £349.99; thought that was a pretty solid price. An extra controller was £39.99 but I traded in £70-worth of old games to counter it. Pretty happy with a net spend of £320 for that little lot.

Samuel's clearly misinformed and full of opinions that he can't substantiate, but isn't it a little precious to get wound up by this? I can see the logic in trying to answer criticisms, and let's be frank - if anything he just makes himself look even more dopey. 'Enough rope' and all that.

Last time QPR came to St. Mary's we spent ages berating 'arry as opposed to supporting our own team. Not trying to call superiority because I was just as involved. It seemed to play into Redknapp's hands though - let's face it, he doesn't give a toss what we think and it deflected attention from his lacklustre squad. I'll never forgive the saggy-faced, twitchy ****, but since this season started, the Koeman era has exuded positivity. To my mind we'd be better off focusing on Saints' performance for this one. As a prime example, Pellè looked dead on his feet by the end of last night's match, but appeared genuinely chuffed that the crowd kept chanting his name and gave everything he had left in the tank.

It's certainly true that results don't tell the full picture. A fair number of strong, physical players break through to full teams at a young age only to never truly make the step up. I vaguely remember hearing that clubs are working to combat the 'September baby' effect that a traditional academic year creates. Surely there'll always be a knock-on effect caused by creaming off the best players from academies anyway? Bit mad to think that Shaw, Chambers, Ward-Prowse et al would all still be eligible for the Development squad if they hadn't been promoted so early. I don't have stats to hand, but it seems reasonable to suggest that we give youth more of a chance to integrate with our first team than the more 'elite' clubs (if sometimes through necessity rather than design).

Umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to drive to Kew or Cockfosters. The short Tube stint from Cockfosters appeals; the significant number of M25 miles less so. A single incident on that road... Train for the whole journey isn't an option as I need to pick my brother up from Alton or Farnham.

Overall rating numbers mean very little - it's the individual ones that count. Luke Shaw's 64-overall card a couple of seasons ago had better defensive attributes than Danny Fox's 70-overall one. You also have to bear in mind that almost all of the overall ratings on the link above have been upgraded season after season as we've risen up the leagues but a degree of relativity has to remain. Schneiderlin was 65 overall in FIFA 11! In terms of updates, Ultimate Team gets a January update and weekly 'Team of the Week' special cards. doggface's description of how the main database updates week-by-week is spot on. Also on those weekly updates, stats can temporarily move up or down based on current form. I can't affect those, but can put forward suggestions to upgrade/downgrade a player's 'permanent' stats. The Saints squad will be up to date when the game is released, don't worry about that. If we carry on playing as we have been of late you can expect to see our ratings continue to rise across the season.

Yep, although some stats are still subject to change slightly and obviously there's a few in/out transfers to be settled. Gonna try to nab a Ramirez and a Taider (if they even go into packs) as they'll no doubt become rare.

I hope many people do just that. The man deserves a guard of honour onto the pitch for this.

Indeed - up £12,000 in the past 3 days, albeit boosted somewhat by one single £5k donation.

Donated again. Sod it, it's only money I'd have spent on beer. A little surprised that this has had so little mainstream coverage. I get that he's not a high profile ex-player, but the feat in itself is extraordinary. Hoping there'll be one extra final push of goodwill and donations as he makes it to St. Mary's on Saturday.

I'm particularly pleased that we seem to be addressing the opposition and their strengths/weaknesses now. I'm led to believe that MP stubbornly stuck to training without consideration for how the opponents would be lining up. We played our way and if it didn't work, tough. Often seemed beneficial against the tougher teams but occasionally stung us against technically inferior ones.

People can act as ridiculously as they like on here - doesn't directly affect me or my opinions, Frank. Bit much for those same people to get all precious when they're called up on it though. If you don't want to be judged on rash statements, perhaps it's wise to take a moment to breathe before posting them.

Not sure how it's even relevant, but I 'sit' in Block 42 of the Northam. Quite near the back too. Surprised? Actually in all of that long-winded monologue you seem to have overlooked one line of my post: Was I ****ed off, concerned or otherwise frustrated at any point this Summer? Yes, of course. My passion for Southampton Football Club knows no bounds, yet I'm generally able to keep my behaviour in check when adversity rears its ugly head. You talk as if trying to keep the bigger picture in mind is the wrong thing to do! Using emotion as an excuse to throw toys out of the pram (and timidly reaching back for them when realising it was a rather groundless over-reaction) - that's the truly disingenuous attitude.

Plans are afoot, somebody just needs to find capacity to put some graphics together *ahem*.

I don't believe my emphasis was on it being well-executed. More that every time a spokesman commented, their words were distorted and used out of context. It got to the point where it was perhaps more sensible to do business and then explain. At several junctures they faced with lose-lose PR situations which could only be alleviated by holding hands up and saying, "look, we'll sort this in due course." At no point have I claimed that the board got absolutely everything correct this Summer. Surely I wasn't the only one to find Blackmore a little hysterical throughout the whole ordeal?

Said last night that I'd have done exactly the same. Was hilarious watching some frothing at 11pm, only for the club to unleash a steady flow of information thereafter. Social media-wise there's few clubs that can touch us.

Staying balanced throughout the turmoil was never about point scoring or acting superior - it's about acting like an adult. Pragmatism and emotion need not be mutually exclusive. Some have said that you can only work with the information you're given but that goes both ways. So many ridiculous assumptions were made and conclusions jumped to about who would be leaving; Katharina Liebherr's intentions; the board's and staff's competencies etc. All without the possession of facts or substantiation. Basing opinions and emotions on diddly squat is instantly setting yourself up to look daft. Over-use of terms such as 'fire sale' and 'meltdown' were media constructs as much as anything. Incorrect terminology angled towards crafting a narrative and - if you believe the conspiracies - carefully targeted by friends of the 'big boys' towards destabilising our remaining playing personnel. It's been an interesting contrast to see how little we've been talked about since the signings started rolling in. The so-called 'silence' from the club was punctuated by relatively frequent statements. When they talked, it was claimed they said the wrong things. When they remained silent and asked for our patience that was wrong too. Some of the comments and slurs directed towards our club's owner and board were nothing short of shameful. Even on the less extreme end of the scale, the sense of entitlement and constant need to have metaphorical heads patted was frankly embarrassing. Perhaps that's just indicative of modern society. A difficult situation was dealt with by maximising return from the disruptive want-aways and carefully reinvesting it in quality replacements. Minimal panic buys and a relatively steady flow of incumbents spread across the entire transfer window. Krueger and Reed asked for patience. They have delivered us a strong, charismatic manager and a strong, deep squad in an incredibly short space of time. A squad whose performances so far have hinted towards a continuing stability and cohesion. In my eyes they have been vindicated and deserve immense credit.

Quite interesting how many loans have gone through for our young players after Les Reed explicitly said that's not how we develop players. Not a criticism, merely an observation. All the best to Jake for the season.

Of course I don't, thus I remarked that it can't be possible or productive. Still an odd thing to come out with though. I don't doubt Forster is the better 'keeper. However the impression I get is that there was no 'fight' to be had. Fraser's gone straight to the top of the pecking order without opposition and Boruc is claiming he's been told there's no way back. I agree that it would be daft to only listen to Artur's side of the story but if that's true then arguably knuckling down is futile. Sounds reasonably plausible - and fair. Easier said than done when he's actively fishing for controversy! FWIW, Friedel was still Spurs' #1 at the age of 41. Van der Sar retired at the top level at 41. Schwarzer's 41 and looked solid enough when called upon by Chelsea last season. All this decade.

Artur Boruc, He's having a barney, Bring your Pampers, Bring your Barbie. I jest of course. Love the big man for all his foibles. I can sort of see where he's coming from - shame he's not concentrating his efforts on knuckling down to impress Koeman rather than posting these wet 'inspirational' quotes. That said, I saw Artur reply to one fan's message with a comment along the lines of him having been told that he's 5th choice. Surely that's neither constructive of the club nor possible for him to be so far down the pecking order? If you believe everything he's said then it was never going to be a fair fight for the '#1' spot anyway.

Good to see the pitch is sorted. Don't think I've ever played at BTC before. Feeling pretty fit after a decent pre-season - well up for this!