ant

32 days of the window left - over a month if you prefer. How many more of these threads before 2nd September? My belief is that we have the players to tread water at the very least. Pushing towards the upper half of the table would be nice but there's too many variables to call it at this stage. If we're serious about infiltrating the top 10 a couple more signings of proven class may be required, though it's perhaps not entirely realistic right now. It may be better to have a little patience, establish ourselves as a solid PL team and try to tempt a couple of superstars next Summer on the back of that. It's that or unearth a hidden gem from abroad, because I don't see many reasonably-priced Premier League players available to bolster the positions we need them in.

Oh dear, somebody's put Turkish-bot on 'autopost'. I actually don't disagree with many of the things you rip at on here, but my word does it get dull when posted ad infinitum. On-topic: meh. Can't think of any media outlet or individual that regularly calls it correctly pre-season. Predictions are only really published to provoke engagement.

1. England = Killing Joke 2. Scotland = Mogwai 3. Wales = Skindred 4. Republic of Ireland = My Bloody Valentine 5. Northern Ireland = Ash 6. France = Gojira 7. United States = Weezer 8. Canada = Alexisonfire 9. Australia = Parkway Drive 10. New Zealand = Flight of the Conchords Republic of Ireland and New Zealand were tough for me!

As a student I used to do some of my shopping in both of those stores. There's genuinely some really good stuff on offer yet also plenty that simply doesn't stand up to direct comparison with the competition. Through trial and error I worked out what was worth it, but it was only ever to supplement what I bought elsewhere. Probably made bigger savings through buying my fruit and veg at a decent greengrocers. In other words although there's some bargains to be had, I don't think they're one stop shops.

Agree with most of the rest of you - rather toothless for 70-odd minutes and then bossed it. Mayuka, Lovren and Davis all had meaningful impacts (although Davis probably should have cut the ball back for a simple tap in rather than attempting that lob). Top finishes from Mayuka and Lambert. Would be delighted to see Mayuka step up next season; so much pace and looks far less lightweight these days. Could be a great foil for Lambert, especially with Rickie dropping deeper.

So rather than pay off some of their debts earlier, they'd rather plough this unexpected (and very relative) windfall into player wages. Meet the new boss...

I don't think the issue of whether they're racist or not is relevant, they're simply not something I'd want to see driving around. It's not 'proactive'. Lazy and passively aggressive perhaps.

Thanks for posting that. When we're scrutinising everything in micropscopic detail on here it's easy to focus on this, that or the other the club's doing wrong. Given the wider picture, I too am proud of what Saints are achieving and agree there's elements of our methodology that could be used to brighten prospects at a national level.

Yeah, I saw some of the posters dotted around the place. They're in the middle of a 16-day run of gigs at the moment with profits going towards the PST. Specifically didn't spend any money there that I didn't have to Very true about the Wedge - virtually all of the bands I used to see there are playing venues like the Joiners, Talking Heads, Brook and Cellar now.

That Basingstoke one's horrendous, but I reckon Hull might have it licked:

Though there's many valid points in the OP, that's nonsense. It was true some time back, but since our nPC season Adam has tracked back consistently and competently to offer support. Before his injury issues last year he was amongst our best in terms of tackle and interception totals/ratios. Still, I don't see an awful lot of point mulling this over now as pre-season's not the right sort of time to make bold judgements.

Plenty of Portsmouth bucket rattlers outside the We Are Scientists gig at the Wedgewood Rooms last night - I know they're back to their level but really, how tinpot can you get? More money to spend on player wages before paying creditors their fraction of a penny in the pound, I wouldn't wonder. Now and again I actually feel sorry for the way their fans are exploited. They're scrabbling around for a few quid in the misguided belief that it's a fan-owned club, all while the HNW individuals make a bob or two on their investment.

John Guidetti seems well down the pecking order after City's endless Summer of signing strikers. Rumours that Valencia are in for him but CHDAJFU?

Beyond the inherent flaws of the policies, this commences censorship by deception; they are using an emotional issue to wrestle governmental control over the Internet. As responsible adults we can all decide where legal pornography sits on our moral compass. Parents already have a multitude of tools available to protect children - if they choose not to use those, that's on them. Enforced restrictions will breed complacency and may ignorantly be assumed a catch-all, which is dangerous in itself. As a government, educate and inform such that your people are capable of making their own measured decisions. Oh, and consider properly regulating the media's output while you're at it. The Daily Mail heralds Cameron's policies a success - all the while continuing to sexualise teenage girls across its entire website. Do some proper research into what you are proposing. With regard to the exploitation of children, tackle the source of a problem by pursuing the criminals, not imposing ridiculous restrictions upon the public. All of this nonsense comes from the leader of the party that cut the budget of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre! Or as I've seen spectacularly mentioned elsewhere, this nothing but Tory-blue waffle.

It's an interesting idea to combat exploitation of specific players but the implementation will be key. Sadly unless EA fix the core gameplay, it'll likely only end up causing everybody to pick whichever chemistry style affords the biggest pace increase. Then you can watch in despair as your technically balanced side is torn apart time and again by a pace abuser that just uses diagonal through balls humped over the top. Fully agree that the handicapping system needs to go.

I don't think it's a case of whinging - more that most people have a finite supply of money and have to carefully choose how to distribute it.

Quite a chunk to pay for a friendly, especially if you've got kids over the age of 11. I'm always up for watching Saints play but am wavering on this one - the money would probably be better used towards an away day. I suppose the standard should be reasonable since this match is only a week before the new season starts.

After seeing the OP's tweet about this recently, I tried my luck in the club shop by asking for the discount on a home shirt (to no avail). Definitely seems wrong that a purchased 2013-14 season ticket isn't yet valid for discount on 2013-14 kit. I'm of the opinion that it's a deliberate tactic to make impatient people go "sod it, it's only a fiver extra" and just pay up. I've collected our shirts since I was old enough to know what football is but am tempted to give this one a miss now.

Given that the alternative company's coach travel was dirt cheap last year, I imagine the club wouldn't take much of a hit if they organised something like this. Good initiative.

Get paid to (anonymously) act the fool AND watch Saints? Sounds pretty good to me. Mind you, my season ticket's bought and paid for so there's not a lot of point in applying.

There's reports that Villa and Newcastle have expressed interest in Bafetimbi Gomis. Wouldn't say no if we moved in - only one year left on his contract and Lyon are definitely looking to sell. Slightly older than some of the players we've been looking at, though with similar attributes to Lukaku.

I can't wait for the U-turns on Ramirez.

Great stuff. Are you on Twitter by any chance?

I've just moved out to Hedge End but spent the best part of 7 or 8 years drinking at The Hobbit, The Shooting Star (formerly Kolebka), The Dungeon, The Alex and more recently The Rockstone. Overall I have to say I was happy enough. Between The Talking Heads, The Brook, The Joiners and The Cellar, Southampton is really picking up for gigs. When I moved down here you generally had to go to Southsea, Brighton or London for decent bands, but most of them are getting booked here now. Looking at my calendar, there's at least half a dozen Southampton gigs I want to go to in the next couple of months. I don't think the city's quite as bad as has been made out - really it's just disconnected. Random bits and pieces strewn across the place with little thought, not least the hastily-built parts in the areas that were worst affected by the war. With a concerted, focused effort over a few years I genuinely believe it'd be easy to inject some soul into Southampton. Still, at least there's some rhinos dotted about the place now.

Top article. Had a pull through some more stats and it looks like Cork only got one yellow card last season. Pretty remarkable given that he retrieved the ball more times than any other PL player. Also found this site quite interesting: http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/18/Show/-Southampton You can click on each individual player and it gives a breakdown of their characteristics (strengths/weaknesses) and playing style. It's not 100% accurate but overall is surprisingly insightful.