Chewy

So losing to spurs and being 9th is unacceptable, but top 4 is a ridiculous pipe dream? We are therefore only ever allowed to finish 5th - 8th, is that it? Oh, and win a cup, obviously. So long as I know what the expectations are ...

Wilshere or oxlade will get one of the starting spots IMHO alongside gerrard, unless he plays lallana there, though I agree he should be in the front three. As to the main point, like others have said, lambert ahead of Carroll for me, and Jrod ahead of wellbeck, but it think woy will go with wellbeck. I do think, hogue, that he will choose rickie and not Carroll. Would be made up for him too.

Yes but you didn't see the first half hour. You couldn't have, you only started contributing to the match thread once we conceded the first.

But hoddle never got us to finish 8th? Sorry, most confused by the relevance.

Look at everyone else's squad in the league and compare. Ten years of sky money means the teams are all full of better talent.

Given the players at their respective disposal, this is hardly a fair comparison. Two years ago they were in the champions league, and we weren't in the premier league. To be at the point where we are disappointed to lose to them is quite an achievement. Well done to all at st Mary's.

Our best ever premier league finish is 8th, and we will finish the season in either 8th or 9th. Why is this even a discussion item?

I would agree ... Were it not for the fact that the replacement would have been jos or maya. Definitely need an addition at cb in the summer.

I'm sorry, you're just wrong. That was never a keepers ball.

Boruc 6 two saves, suspect kicking (as usual) and couldn't have done anything about the goals Clyne 5 ineffective going forward, game changing error Fonte 6 not great today Lovren 5 could argue one or both goals were free kicks but generally poor all day Shaw 7 had Lennon and Townsend pocketed all day Cork 6 average Jwp 6 also average, good set pieces (except 1) and a good effort in an unfamiliar position Davis 6, great first half, disappeared second Lallana 7 thought he was excellent first half, but also disappeared a bit Jrod 6, poorer second half again, but probably due to the knock Lambert 6, awful last half hour, but good first half Chambers 6, pretty average Gaston 6, couple of excellent touches, together with a couple of moments of being too weak. I.e. Typical gaston

And somebody else has said boruc was at fault for the winner. We have so many clueless fans on here. Clyne's error changed the game, spurs just weren't in it until then. Think the equaliser was a foul too - davie proven saying it wasn't hard enough to push him off his feet so it's not a foul. Um, ok then ... Gutted, but in context we lost to a top 6 side so I'm not going to join the ranks of bedwetters just yet.

This is a really tough ask, and I suspect that people's answers depend on how long their memories are. I'd say there's a few levels Elite: Man U, Chelsea, arsenal, Liverpool. I'll leave out city due to lack of history in elite. Big clubs: city, spurs, Newcastle, Everton, Leeds, and just about villa Large: Sunderland, Sheffield wed, forest (twice euro cup winners), possibly west ham. And then there's a load of mid-sized clubs: saints, Middlesbrough, Sheffield utd, Blackburn, stoke, derby, Leicester, Coventry, wolves, WBA, Birmingham, Charlton, palace, Ipswich, Norwich, and bottom of this pile Pompey. Maybe Bolton, maybe qpr, and just about Fulham too. Of this bunch I'd say we are about the biggest, but Blackburn, derby, wolves, Ipswich and Pompey have won league titles in the past, and a few have much longer league histories than ours. On trophies, we don't fair well, but on consistency over 40 years we are probably 15th or so and stadium wise I believe we are 16th. That's about our level. But, I'd argue that we have the country's premier academy at the moment that gives cause for optimism that we can improve our standing. Of course, selling them all this summer would put a downer on that optimism.

Anyone got any idea??

Fair enough, I just thought bears were the eats, shoots, leaves types. Didn't cross my mind for one second that you'd care about what the female was thinking during mating season. Shows how little I know.

You didn't come across to me as the manscaping type. Gone down in my estimation.

Personally I think the current capacity is about right. Part of getting people hooked is the atmosphere, and seeing half our games with a half empty stadium and poor atmosphere isn't going to hook anyone. If we had regular european football, then at that stage it may be worth it, but it's only our second year back in the premier league, we've finished in the top ten a handful of times in our history, and despite my optimism for the future being as bright as anything we've seen, I think only the happiest of clappers would suggest we are on the verge of regular european football. Talking of atmosphere, the one change I'd like to see is the positioning of the away fans. A team needs a home stand, a vociferous end that sings, chants and screams, and we lack it. The people who do this are in the Northam, but we only have half this stand. I would like the away fans put all into the itchen to give us all of the Northam. That would do far more for a match day experience than adding a couple of thousand seats IMHO.

No, alpine is just miserable but his hearts in the right place. Glasgow is an attention seeking (how many threads has he started?) wum. There is a difference.

We are 5 players short of a top 4 side, but hey, who isn't? United are for sure! We need a keeper, a centre back, a centre forward, a forward (to play in the 3 behind the centre forward, preferably a pacy wide option) and a left back. We won't get all of these this summer, and could possibly go backwards in one or two areas (shaw, lallana) but essentially that's where we need to focus on improving the squad.

I agree with the concept of a like / dislike function, but to take it to the level of banning people for trolling is excessive IMHO. This is an Internet forum; I'm not a fan of censorship at the best of times, but to ban people for saying stuff others don't like is way beyond the pale. And if anyone is so precious about an Internet forum, they need to get a life as much as Glasgow does. That said, like most people I find Glasgows incessant, monotonous trolling extremely tiresome (amongst others). I don't want him banned for this (I'd quite like it, but it's just not right) but being able to rate posters and have him publicly displayed to be someone we all can't stand would be the most effective way of getting him to rethink his ways. He's happy to publicly air his "views" so why shouldn't we publicly display what we all think of them?

This whole nationality thing is a farce. I think there ought to be something put in place at maybe youth level that asks players to declare their nationality and that's it. Had I been in a position to choose, thanks to grandparent nationality etc I could have played for England, and either of the Ireland's. Had I then gone to play in another country for 5 years then I could have been eligible for wherever that is. But I'm english, and nothing is going to change that. Same as I'm not going to stop being a saints fan whatever happens. Morgan is french. He knows it, we know it, and so his only option should be with France. Would he improve the England team? Yes. Is it a travesty he's not been called up to the french squad? Yes. Should he choose to take up english nationality just because he can (or can't, depending on the home nations agreement)? Hell no. I do accept it's sometimes difficult to know where to draw the line (mo farah for example) but surely someone must feel a sense of nationality, and stick with it.

That united team is a disgrace. Fail to get past olympiakos and lose to man city and I'd be sacking moyes. He is clearly not up to it. I mean, his last sub ... Taking mata off when you've lost and he's the only player intelligible for the olympiakos game??!! Wtf? And I hope Rooney is crocked for the World Cup. If he was even half as good as he thinks he is he'd be great. But he isn't. Still, it is all very amusing. I'd love to beat them on the final day to finish above them.

I see Gallagher was subbed at half time in the development teams game so I expect he will be on the bench today. I'd like to see Ramirez start and would personally prefer jwp to Davis with Morgan, but think the boss will play it a bit safer with either jwp or Ramirez benched. I imagine it will be something like Boruc Clyne Fonte lovren shaw Jwp Morgan Davis Lallana srl Jrod Subs Davis, chambers, maya, wanyama, Ramirez, guly, Gallagher If wanyama was completely out of the reckoning I doubt reed would have played the whole game for the development team but we shall see. Saints to win by a couple coys

So, not one post on the match build up thread, but lots of petty point scoring posts about someone who left 2 months ago ... Gotta love this forum.

A perfectly valid argument, and in principle I agree that what's the point in competing if you don't try and win. Economic reality though is that being average in the premier league is far more lucrative than winning cups and gaining promotion. It's all a bit crap but that's the reality. I don't like it, but I'd rather be us than hull right now. Can totally understand the opposite view, though.

Fair point. I think I aspire to a consistent league finish And the odd dabble with Europe, but only when we have a squad capable of coping. Hull don't, and neither do we. Right back and central midfield aside we are well short of cover as evidenced by our recent form with a handful of injuries, and right now I fear a european campaign would leave us seriously struggling. Swansea and Newcastle in the last two years are a case in point. Spurs have a squad but they'll fail to reach the champions league because of the Europa league this season IMHO. I'd love european football, but I worry about the impact it would have. I know that's fickle, but hey, I'm a football fan!