Dangermouth

Ah! Wonderful!!! In the first leg the attendance was 995 so let's take the average and say that for the cup final the attendance was circa 6000. In last year's final the attendance for WHam was 10267 and at Hull 3886 so again a roughly comparable figure. For a cup final. Let's have a straw poll and say it's a mere £50 to get to Colchester and back and in the ground and have the traditional pie and pint (only one, some will drive) and enjoy a 300 ish round trip taking say 4 hours. Straight after work and back up the next day again for another day's shift. Perhaps you should actually try harder with your responses as I believe my argument beats yours hands down.

Each team will play the other once, either home or away. How many will go from Southampton to see the team play Colchester on a midweek evening? How many from Colchester will bother to turn up to see 'Southampton U21s'? How many went to the first leg of the U21 cup final at Blackburn or the reverse fixture? I doubt even with competitive pricing that it will prove to be an economic benefit to the lower league clubs. I would expect most U21 teams to simply get rolled over and learn that they'll be outmuscled against lower league opposition in the whole 3 games that they'll play. Possibly someone like Chelsea will do well and might even win it. If Man City were in it, I could see it being them v Chelsea/Spurs or even Man Utd so next year when they all enter it will fall flat on its face.

In real terms are we not likely to face much the same task and largely the same calibre of opponent i.e. those in Group 1 will be very good teams, the others are beatable and we have to get at least 3 wins and a draw to go through? So what does it really matter what pot we are in? Again, look at Midtjyelland's progress last year.

When are Holland playing the US? Hope we get at least 2 in the squad.

Yep.

I think Gardos is better than Yoshida but is a confidence player so will do better when next to VVD (who just stays calm - mostly) and he doesn't have a crocked knee holding him up.

Why AOC? He has neither a good goal nor assist record and a poor injury record.

Been looking at bra wearage recently. Quite a number have them high up. This is deffo a bra-topped effort. Rather than under armour, shouldn't they just call themselves undergarments on top?

Even the posters on RAWK refer to it as a 'bra', so everyone else will.

Truly ****ing atrocious kit.

I think this is more about promoting the academy (to prospective new entrants) and building the 'brand' again rather than actually doing well in football. It could be good because I liked what Georges Prost brought to the club and feel much of that has been lost but it could be too comparable to Lowe's 'balance the books' approach which ultimately will only lead to a downward spiral as it did last time. I do get the impression that this might be the beginning of a 'showcase' period where the club will be looked to be sold - possibly a majority shareholding as has happened at Everton - but that that will be a period that lasts a few years. I think a problem with lots of the academy is what is wrong with the likes of JWP - they're not physically capable enough - and I can't really see e.g. Hesketh et al making the step up as they'll never be able to impose themselves on games properly. Puel, I am sure wants to do well - Gallic arrogance and all - and should have a lot of good players to do well with. There's a lot of spin around what a 'clever' appointment it is and that hints at it being a business decision rather than a footballing one and I doubt very much Puel was the first on the list; I think Garcia was. I expect a tighter league than last year with the possible exception of Hull and maybe WBA if Pulis goes but with 2 or 3 very strong teams who will beat most teams (Chelsea, Man City and a.n. other) and for us to have the 'plucky loser' tag applied to us like we used to.

If Saints don't win the league someone should tie Reed/Kat/Ralph/Puel/Whoever to the back of the next space shuttle and let rip. As far as I'm concerned we're here to win the league, not make up the numbers. If Reed doesn't get that he can **** off.

Most Norwich fans seem to think he's inconsistent, has his head up his ar$e, hasn't improved and while their best player isn't one they'd miss.

The standard look crap.

***Actually this describes the remain voters from what I have seen. The point you make is a good one otherwise.

Hmmm. Thinks about the future of humankind and the planet known as Earth. Nah, sack that off - I want to be able to go to Amsterdam on a **** up and when I fall over and cut my knee get free healthcare. Come to think of it, knowing most people you could have probably got a 99% stay vote with that argument. It's all your fault.

For once I actually agree with Mr Mann (as one of the many who have lived under the yoke of oppression and will continue to do so). Your second paragraph is a truism and swung both ways and people on facebook are, by definition, not clever ergo ... As I've not posted on this thread before I'll explain my politics to y'all "I believe in iconoclasm and self-determination" - Dangermouth

Yep. St Peters is full of grime ignoring the show houses but you can still walk around lots of it pretty freely - or could. The police usually looked to pick upon young Russian men who wore leather (because it signifies you're a 'bad boy') or maybe the few obvious immigrants. You should have read up about the water: it's apparently also full of heavy metals but as most stuff in Russia is (or was) dirt cheap just get a few litres of bottled stuff. The metro is great but if you can't read Cyrillic ... As for being charged double it's par for the course in several places. Just argue and then walk out if they don't drop it. Mostly they will because the kind of places you would have gone to would have overcharged you anyway (and probably did as the guide was likely to be in cahoots with the vendors). Learning a few words would have helped too. Anyway, back to Pellegrini. I can see pros and cons and wonder if the manager choice reflects the new direction. Otherwise I'm not sure we'll really get many youth team players in the team. Does he have a track record of bringing through large numbers (not Iheanacho who seems obviously one who'll make it) of youth team players at places other than City?

Have we sold the **** and got in a proper manager yet? :suspicious:

You won't hear it if it's 'mute', will you? Moot, on the other hand ... Is this the Sk8 mongboard in disguise?

Osvaldo can be written off. Period.

That's very kind. They're worse than that.

Ronny Delia.

Maybe Guan, KBS, one of our Dutch supporters can comment on Erwin. From what little I've seen and heard I think he would be pretty good but would like to know what others think.

I'd like to endorse that. Most of the Toffees fans have been quite refreshing and made some good points. I do find it slightly surprising that people don't recognise that Everton have underachieved and are/were in the same bracket as Spurs (who do deserve hatred from all and sundry for how they behave - like West Ham do but with less grace) but I do think that it will take time for them to re-establish themselves and also that the old predictable order will not necessarily come to pass once again. China will have a lot to do with that but its league will mirror Russia's more than this league and much longer term the US is the greatest threat and then after that the superleagues of the Mancs v Barca v Bayern etc which will happen. What I am interested in is a comment that was made when Koeman signed for us from a Dutch supporter in that RK has one good season, one mediocre and one poor and the pattern suggests he may not do particularly well at Everton. I do think he has underachieved though, especially last season when we should have made the top 3 so perhaps you'll get him when he's on fire. I do think there are many better coaches/managers out there and it would be nice if he could learn a bit of English because he still hasn't improved in this regard which suggests he thinks he knows it all. I do like the fact that the fans in Southampton are now minded to want to look upwards i.e. 'show ambition' because I think they should and as far as I'm concerned it's a question always of what we do, not what others do (apart from on match days of course). Have a good day and prepare to be depressed at the Euros with Owl Face.