ant

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.

My reaction? Yeeesssssssssssssss! Go and look at that league table - we're now eight points ahead of Cardiff in 3rd A decent number of positives to take from that performance - OK, it shouldn't take conceding for the lads to wake up, but there's a good spin to take from coming back in that manner. That said a few of the lads are looking a little off. Lallana and Barnard clearly need all of the game time they can get (just for two, not picking them out especially) and we could do with somebody to take control of the right flank (de Ridder did well when he came on - a starter yet?) Felt that we were cutting back and faffing around on that side rather than getting the early ball in. Thought Guly looked knackered from the moment the game kicked off! The quality's there, just feels like a few of them need a rest. Certain positions we can easily rotate but bolstering a couple of the others in January should be the aim. Again on the positive side, our 'plan B' worked very nicely in the second half and we effectively nullified the threat shown in the glimpses from Hull in the first half. As it goes I was fairly impressed with them - came to play the right way and knocked it around quite nicely (to start with at least). Very important result overall, the impact could be far-reaching for the season. On and on and on, together as one

This place is hard work today A deal can be announced early though, right? With the paperwork and formalities sorted when the window re-opens.

Yeah, post made in jest. Fingers crossed Jos will be officially announced as a permanent signing very soon.

None at that time from London Victoria either. The plot thickens!

Fair play, the estimates in my head were way off then. That's why I generally stick to the pretty pictures and am a designer rather than developer In retrospect I also failed to take into account the likely cost of the ongoing maintaining post-launch. All considered I'd not be surprised to see the club persevere with the current system until it becomes 100% unfit for purpose. There's obvious drawbacks to that, but you see it happen a lot. It's difficult to convince of the future savings when a significant outlay is required upfront.

It is a lot of money but in many other instances forgetting or losing a ticket would simply be tough luck. Most larger gig venues certainly wouldn't let you in without one. It could be argued that the £10 fee is the minimum required to prevent anybody trying any funny business as there's a large element of faith being put into the honesty of the customer. There's two lads that do exactly that in the seat next to mine, definitely got some kind of swizz going on.

It's a very outdated, inflexible system, simple as that. That creaky old thing's been in use for far too long now - apart from anything else I imagine the problems it causes swell the number of support calls made to the ticket office which is expensive in itself. A custom-built solution wouldn't cost the earth! A lot of clubs seem to have booking platforms based on Ticketmaster et al but they must take a pretty sizeable slice of the profit. Keep it all in-house.

It's the same highlights feed as Saints Player isn't it? I like the free features of the Football League app but double-dipping on subscription fees is a bit much.

Made up news travels quickly on the Internet.

Or something like this:

Not the most thrilling thread I'll grant you, but anybody else seen these around and about the city? Driving into Southampton off The Avenue this morning I spotted them lining either side of the road, thought they looked class (not sure how I've missed them unless they went up today - drive down there every day!) Messages like "Together We Stand" and "Passion & Pride" on them. I'm sure there'll be some cynics that say it's a waste of money, but I think they're a good way to capitalise on the very real buzz that there is about the team at present. Can't hurt in terms of getting a few more people through the turnstiles surely? If nothing else it's just brilliant to be able to display some pride for the team.

Would be fantastic to get it going for away matches. Let's make it happen.

Well I've had an absolute stinker of a week, but 3 points tomorrow would be enough to make me completely forget about all that bullsh*t. Come on Saints, do us proud. Right now I'd take a scrappy 1-0 victory from an awful game, but if we could be greedy and top it off with a great performance that doesn't allow Brighton chance to start their negative tactics I'd be ecstatic. Hope the near-capacity crowd will be up for it.

Spot on. Discrimination always is.

I didn't even realise until recently that they were mis-quoting Adkins the whole time. He actually said "Well if they can keep with us", the false inclusion of 'up' makes it sound worse. *nudge wink* To be fair they don't seem to specifically harping on about that innocuous comment any more, though I'm surprised by the vitriol some still display towards Nige. A lot of very simple creatures amongst football fans...

I too paid for my season ticket in full up-front but only received a book for matches 9-23. When I enquired via the ticket helpline they sent me a whole new booklet of slips via the post and merely asked me to destroy the one sent to me in error. Expected to have to go down to the TO and hand the incorrect one in - they saved me a job but a little negligent perhaps. Still got it on the side at home, might keep it as a memento, haha. It was a pretty widespread c*ck-up but hopefully shouldn't now affect those who paid in instalments. I expect a whole load of booklets have just been sent out for games 1-23

Do you mean nothing like Partridge? It is him - the (and arguably funnier) clip is from The Day Today!

Surely the pitch surface would start to take a pounding if we allowed a multitude of other events to take place on it though? Rather not do it for that reason, and wait for when (or if?) we're selling out home games and need the extra space on a regular basis.

First game available in the incorrect season ticket books - 'unofficial' 40,000 attendance anyone?

Despite the criticisms of him, I get the feeling that he could be a better player with an extended run of playing time and build of confidence. Likely not with us however. If he goes then I'll never forget his significant cameos, but overall I'd think it a mutually beneficial move.

Ever since I started walking home past the King Alfred and St. Mary's Street we've won every game at SMS. I always tweet on my mobile whilst doing so. Working so far!

Quite happy to have the best football and worst interval TBH