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Certainly the case where I was stood. Lots of encouragement above the groans, even when he fluffed a couple of kicks straight after - it's almost like people realised that getting on your own player's back doesn't inspire them to perform better... Was pleased to hear that because the negative vibes have been building over the past couple of home games.

You want to risk putting him out of action for the whole season? We'll be seeing an awful lot more of Bart between the sticks if that happens.

To echo all of the previous posters in agreement, I believe this is a far more fair, measured assessment. Can't really add anything in fact. Simply find it difficult to direct all of the blame towards Bart, there's more factors to the situation than simply picking him as the scapegoat.

Possibly, although as you say it's more about the pride. The most ideal part of a strong win in that particular match would be the boost back up it'll the lads. They're well aware of the derby atmosphere. I thought the way Saints rallied today was admirable - they kept their heads up and kept battering the Blackpool goal until something worked. To me it felt like it was only a matter of time. Given the benefit of hindsight and just a smidge of perspective, today hasn't turned out too badly at all. Stick a bloody smile on your face, remember that we're top of the league and get behind the lads to knock the stuffing out of the dirty skates next week.

Exactly. If you're going to end a winning run at least do it with a draw. Must admit I came away from the ground today feeling a little deflated if relieved, but given the West Ham result I'm back in a very happy state now. To the 21 wins - can't see us ever forgetting that run somehow.

*hand raised* Well that's that then!

Don't like the talk of having to play people out of position, especially this early in the season. Doesn't suggest that we have the depth to keep up when niggles, injuries and suspensions start kicking in. Still, I'm cautiously optimistic about tomorrow (only problem with that is the negative side of that attitude's starting to perpetuate throughout the crowd and is evident in the team's recent performances) and will be marching confidently to St. Mary's. In all likelihood half asleep!

Fair enough. I expanded my post a bit after initially submitting.

Boxing day's always an attractive fixture, hardly a fair test. Look, clearly most of Turkish's posts are on the wind-up, but there's a point behind this one. We know for a fact that there's enough match-attending Saints fans to fill St. Mary's and then some, but it takes an occasion as big as Wembley to get them all together at the same time. Even in the Prem you're not going to have the pull to get all of those people to turn up week-in, week-out. Anybody that thinks we're suddenly going to double the number of season ticket holders if we manage promotion is a little delusional, IMO. I guess the truth will become even more clear in the second half of the season - if we're still up near the top and regularly selling out then there might be a bit more of a case for an expansion. Strikes me of counting chickens before they're hatched to even suggest it anyway. No guarantee of promotion, no guarantee of a strong enough level of support, no guarantee of Premiership stability even if we get there... I'm one of the optimists but it's one thing to plan ahead and quite another to make that sort of investment, risking leaving the club with a crippling bill and half-empty stadium.

I've kept out of these discussions to now, but actually agree - doesn't even seem a particularly antagonistic post Sadly you just know that we'll struggle to get more than around 25k in tomorrow. What's Blackpool's away attendance like? Long old way to travel for an early game.

Those blocks have been piping up well this season, shame they're not always open. The North ends of the Itchen and Kingsland are often the ones picking up the slack when all the Northam wants to do is moan and groan - I often cast a jealous eye across.

After repeatedly asking my girlfriend weeks ago whether I should get her a ticket next to or near my season ticket for Boxing Day she piped up on Saturday saying that she does want to come along after all So yes, after checking the online booking and phoning the ticket office I can conclude that the Northam is almost completely sold out, only a few singles left. Would be great to get a full house and have the place rocking, the boys may need a lift after the next couple of aways.

Exactly the point, and it feels as though there's a lot of arrogance creeping in to even suggest that we are good enough to roll over the opposition in every fixture. To my mind our fanbase was a lot more appreciative of this at the start of the season - fully aware that any team in the Championship could beat another on its day. Every team has competent players in this league, most even have some great ones dotted throughout. 20 games through 46 you can't even say that the league table has settled out yet - certain ones such as Bristol City seem completely out of place to me if we're going to use the playground logic of entitlement. So it's no use saying 'bottom of the table' if that's indicative of the attitude of banking the 3 points before a ball's even been kicked. At the same time that mentality also belittles the efforts involved in Saints' achievements so far in the Championship - yes, we have some experienced players but for many that's not the case and they've dug out some great wins out against the likes of West Ham and Middlesborough, probably punching above their weight. It seems that few fans are in doubt that strengthening in January is going to be necessary to increase the chance of being in the fight for automatic promotion at the end of the season, but how many of us truly believed that we'd be top come December, still unbeaten at home? Surely we have one of the smallest squads in terms of strength in depth? It's been remarkable. A game being of 'should win' status can make it more frustrating to lose, but doesn't independently suggest a crisis or 'choking' as you put it, Alpine. Any number of factors could have caused the recent blip, but at present it's just that - a couple of momentary lapses in form which need to be addressed by Nigel and his team. Way too early to decry "CRISIS, PANIC!"

Do you mean the 0800 2800 050 number? Didn't have a season ticket last year and that's the one I used then.

Looks like we need the skates after all - their continuing painful existence evidently inspires a better breed of chant!

Likewise - I initially found it impenetrable even though I work with the web and have used a lot of social media platforms. If you're interested in Twitter I'd urge you to give it a go and see whether you can get past that though. Drop me a PM if you like and I can write up a short, explicit guide on what you actually need to know to get involved. There's surprisingly little to it.

It has helped the fans get a glimpse of the team spirit though.

Quite, noticed it at the time and was a little puzzled. He responded a lot more positively after Lallana's goal though. Think we can chalk it up as an off-day and move on - mind you I'm not too bothered if he continues having 'off' days and scoring, so long as it's not disrupting the rest of the team!

I love watching him sprint-waddle down the right flank. As somebody pointed out on another thread, there's the makings of a cult hero in Frazer.

Overheard a guy near-ish to me suggesting he would "bring Guly a bag of bananas" for the next home game, nothing particularly subtle about that I'm afraid. Not to suggest that the abuse directed at Guly is inherently racist, but I have no doubt that there's still an unhealthy undercurrent of it in football.

I understand where you're coming from, but hold back next time there's a mistake and really listen to the sound emanating from the crowd. It's horrible. That negativity transfers to the pitch and doesn't help anybody, else booing the team off at half-time would be a gainful response. Grumbling and moaning isn't passion, sticking with the team and geeing them up is.

Guly's an enigma. To some extent I can understand the frustration (there was one moment where a high cross came over and he simply refused to chase it down - the defender was very slow off the mark and could easily have been pick-pocketed), but his abilities are such an asset to the team. I guess some of the criticism would be silenced if he always looked 100% interested, but it seems that many ignore the large amounts of tracking he does do - more than Lambert at times. Yes, he does sometimes lose possession with his flick-ons, but mostly they're very intelligent and a whisker away from coming off. Last night there was a real reluctance to go forward at times from Saints. Though Guly's touch was off it's normally one of his assets and I appluad the attempt to unlock defences when the rest of the team weren't going for it. Another point from those stats - the delivery from our full backs is fantastic.

Agreed, it was dead other than for the first ten mins in the second half. Tried to raise a response in the Northam after we conceded and was just met with blank looks and so carried on singing to myself... The crowd seems very quick to get on the players' backs at the moment. I don't remember us waiting to be entertained last season when grinding out results against teams parking the bus. Arrogance? The weight of expectation?

Fully in agreement, JBS - just one little thing... We weren't top of the league at half time Fans' criticism of the players/performance is OK in itself, but at least make it factually accurate! Bite your tongues. I would never, ever boo my team - especially with half of the game still to play. The number of people seemingly unable to understand that the opposition can't do anything with the football if they don't have it stuns me. Can't think of a time when I've been happier as a Saints fan. The majority of our Prem days were fraught, it feels incredible to be leading the pack and playing such resilient, eye-catching football. People have to realise that it won't be like that every match for all of the 95-ish minutes though. Take the rough with the smooth and give our opponents the respect/credit they're due. We will not dominate every game we play and the fans need to back the team and pull them through periods of sustained pressure. So often when the crowd picks up in volume it translates to extra confidence and drive on the pitch.

Exactly that. He probably only strikes half of them at the moment so a lot less opportunities to score directly. A lot of teams wised up to his dead ball ability and changed their defensive positioning to suit. That's why we've been able to exploit the space that gives so many times. Clever stuff as it gives us allows us more options and a greater chance of making the free kick count. I didn't think the Hull wall was far back enough either.