Midfield_General

Well, they will be absolutely delighted to see both Scienza and Fellows on the bench. That's a huge boost for them. Need Edozie and Matsuki to step up and show they can cause just as many problems against a side whose own fans say they have a real weakness against tricky wingers.

Some interesting and fairly balanced views from the other side: https://www.redpassion.co.uk/threads/southampton-h-ts-ps.127291/ They're generally viewing it as a 'must win' for them as they think we'll win our game in hand and that if we get above them they won't catch us. They were pretty confident before the Arsenal game, but that result seems to have understandably got them a bit worried. Lots of them saying that we are clearly a better footballing team than them. They seem particularly fearful of Scienza and Fellows, as they generally seem to feel that fast, tricky wingers are a bit of an achilles heel for them. I can see those two getting a kicking tonight so I hope we get a strong ref. If we can score first they'll have no choice but to come at us and then I think we can do some proper damage against them on the break. If they score first I could see them shithousing and trying to park the bus for an ugly 1-0. Could be an interesting game this one. Over to you Tonda. If you can school Arteta then surely you can come up with a plan for Parkinson.

Bazunu, Djenepo, Lyanco, Caleta-Car, Salisu, Walker-Peters, Diallo, Lavia, Ward-Prowse, Mara, Armstrong. Subs: Caballero, Perraud, Finnigan, Elyounoussi, Edozie, Aribo, Orsic, Adams, Morgan. That awful side played a Man City team that started with Cancelo, Walker (when he was good), Laporte, Gundogan, Foden (ditto), Palmer and Grealish and had Ake, Mahrez, Rodri, De Bruyne and Haaland to bring off the bench. It was also managed by Nathan Jones. Result - 2-0 Saints win. It will obviously be a very hard game but it can be done.

I know. No light show, no pyrotechnics, no influencers live streaming it on TikTok - what has modern football become when the FA Cup draw is just balls being drawn out of a bag? They really missed a trick there, it could have been really really cool

Fratton

“… but verily, at leas’t we shall have half a chance if Gav’n Bazunu be nowhere neareth the side.”

Man up you bunch of melts we’ll twat them

Yeah Di Canio got a straight red and an 11 match ban, and as far as I can see the only difference was that last night the ref stayed on his feet. Retrospectively he surely has to face more than a yellow card?

Wrexham are sending t a dossier to the head of referees to try and pressure them into giving more penalties: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpd51wevy79o

I think it’s important to remember that the fa cup is just a pointless waste of time because we’ll never win it so we shouldn’t even bother trying, so whoever we get we should just put the reserves out and rest everyone for the Ipswich game a few days later, because that’s what really matters. We could get fifth in the championship, imagine telling your grandchildren about that

Absolutely outstanding. So proud of every one of them. Went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the world and deserved to beat them. Magnificent

Interview with Peretz: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/apr/04/southamptons-daniel-peretz-we-have-a-lot-of-respect-for-arsenal-but-we-are-not-afraid Talks about playing with Neuer and Kane, and how him and his Mrs are apparently the Israeli Posh and Becks

Matty Fernandes of course. And I'm surprised you've overlooked versatile full-back Matthew Robinson, who could play both sides and made four appearances under five different managers between 1994-1998 before becoming a copper; Matthew Marshall, a right-half who played once in 1894; and Matthew 'Gunner' Reilly, who made two appearances between 1895-96 and as a former Gaelic football player was able to turn his hand to a stint as a glovesman. Matthew 'Gunner' Reilly Matthew Marshall - Matthew Bound - Matt Mills - Matt Targett Matthew Robinson - Matthew Oakley - Matheus Fernandes - Matt Robinson Matt Le Tissier Matthew Paterson

If we’re talking championship level then Breezer is a solid 6-7 every week. Never going to set the world alight but just gets on with it, does a job and we miss him when he's not there.

He 'won us points' in this game, right? The one where his positioning was so bad he managed to get lobbed by a wafty header from outside the six yard box?

It's why modern professional football is fucked. Most of the people involved at the top end are simply parasitic capitalists out to make as much money as possible out of businesses that happen to be football clubs, so getting the money for being in a particular competition every year is far more important to them than silly secondary concerns like the sporting glory of actually winning them. So they make decisions that reflect that, and put forward convincing-sounding justifications for those opinions, which some fans end up nodding along with. While that's sad, if you put yourself in the shoes of those businessmen or agents or whatever who don't give a toss about sport and purely see the opportunity to make millions for themselves or their families, you can sort of understand them doing it, from a purely selfish point of view. What's weird though is like you say when the fans start talking like that as well, even though they don't actually see any of that money.

Yeah, I'd hate to spoil a league game for sixth in the Championship with a waste of time like the FA Cup 😉

I do wonder sometimes why some people bother with football. The FA Cup is the only major honour we've ever won. It was fifty years ago, before many supporters were even born, but that date is still burned into the soul of most Saints fans. Half a century later, we're still bringing out a special shirt to remember that one thing we did. We won that as a second tier side who no-one gave a prayer to against a much stronger team with much deeper resources. But somehow we did it, and it's the biggest thing that has ever happened to the club. Now we're in touching distance of having another go at that, and some people would basically rather not bother trying, because of some small imagined advantage it might give us in a league game a few days later which, while important, won't even decide this season on it's own. As a football fan and a supporter of a team that has won almost nothing in 140 years, if you can't get excited about having a crack at one of the best sides in the world, in your own stadium, to go within one game of a major cup final, honestly, what's the point?

Something something gets caught Sleeping too much Something something Satellite club

£120 for a nylon football shirt that probably cost £3-£4 to make. They can get to absolute fuck. I was born a month after we won the Cup, so it's my 50th anniversary this year as well and it's made me kind of want one even though I don't actually ever wear football shirts. But that price/ mark-up is absolutely outrageous, and if the club want to try and take the piss out of the fans like that then two can play at that game and to be honest I couldn't give a toss if they get the money or not. I'll probably only ever wear it once or twice, maybe for a 5-a-side kickaround or in the event that we get to Wembley, so if the option is there to pay £11 + shipping for something which to the untrained eye is basically exactly the same and not like you say obviously some rubbish Kho Sanh Road knockoff, then that's absolutely fine for me. Anyway I'm going to get one off the back of the excellent feedback from others who have already bought one, so I'll report back

This was really helpful mate - didn't realise I'd missed a whole discussion on this exact issue! Thank you

Nice one - cheers fellas 👍

Has anyone bought the 50th anniversary shirt from DHGate? If so, is it obviously a snide? Thinking about getting the anniversary shirt for a friend and don't want to pay £120 for it but similarly don't want to get a DHGate one if they're obviously a poor imitation. If you put the DHGate one next to an official one from the shop, is it easy to tell the difference - e.g. different quality of material or quality of logos etc?

Like a top ten Premier League team? 15 days ago

This one is a lot better https://watchfooty.st/en/stream/4825499/southampton-oxford-united/easy/1