CanadaSaint

I've never quoted myself - it seems rather like masturbation - but: He's probably not finished yet.

I'm not sure there is one if we go 0-2 down. We've got to keep plugging away with width, pace and running off the ball. Brighton outworked us for the first twenty minutes on all fronts.

Honest to God, I'd fine any player that doesn't clear the first defender with a free kick or corner. Bloody pitiful.

I have 'faith' in the ref. I'm pretty sure he refereed the QPR away game last year (Wiltshire red carded, no call on a clear offside for a QPR goal), so it's obviously best if you're the home side.

Teams have done it ever since we left the Prem - it's a footballing mecca compared with where most of them normally play. They're taking it to us and we're not coping at all well. Now they'll sit back, I suspect, and we'll be all over them.

And you are now correct, benji.

As soon as he moves up the England tree he'll encounter the temptation - the stories that players tell eachother about their wages, their superstar treatment by the club, life in the big city and so on. I really hope he stays and I think he'd be much better in the long run to do so, but you can never tell how players will react to those stories. I don't think we'll let him go easily but he's really starting to attract attention.

By my reckoning we need to win 26.55 games out of our last 31 to average that 2.57 and end up as champions. As good as we seem to be in this league, I don't see that happening. But we can certainly make the playoffs. We need 20.56 wins (and no draws) to end up with 74 points. But I don't think it will take that many points to finish sixth this year because there seems to be more equilibrium in the top 2/3 of the division. Now look what you've made me do.

If it's any consolation, I slapped myself after posting that. Still, it makes a nice change to be doing that for the top of the table, eh?

Based on points totals over the past five years, we need 2.57 points per game from now on to be champions, 2.33 PPG to finish second, and 1.99 PPG to sneak into the playoffs. I had a spare few minutes! :smt053 It's gonna happen!

Brilliant picture that really stirs the memories. Jimmy Gallagher was a great guy. He was known for sprinting onto the pitch at incredible speed whenever a Saint was injured - moving at a far higher rate of knots than any of the players could muster. No new-fangled medical technology for him. In his hand was an old ball bladder with the top cut off. It contained really cold water and a sponge. That less than sophisticated combo had a habit of getting players back on their feet very quickly.

Lallana's looked a cut above.

If Charlton are another indication of the Top six, even if they haven't been playing that well lately, I fancy our chances even more of making the playoffs.

Some of these linesmen are fricking clueless. Two things to keep an eye on and neither of them involves rocket science.

That came at a great time. I thought we were really starting to lose momentum.

He really is class. His first touch is great, he's super-aware of what's going on around him and he's a clinical, two-footed finisher. If he can stay fit, he and Lambert are going to be a lethal duo. They'll feed off eachothers' touches.

Didn't Swansea pay about the same for Dyer that we paid for Lambert?

Once they work out their "dovetail", I think they'll make eachother better and that will lead to goals for both of them. How the hell do sides mark a duo like that, especially with trailing finishers coming in? And when's the last time we had that kind of contrasting pairing? With those two at our disposal I really don't want to see too much 4-5-1.

AP will think about this one a lot. We were 3-0 up and cruising, and then Rovers made 2 subs, quickly followed by the fateful Gobern for Harding move. It went pear-shaped in a hurry, soon became 3-1 and could have been 3-3, and then we pulled off two front-runners (Connolly and Antonio) for Wotton and Mills. At that point we were effectively committed to playing the rest of the game in our own end. While Rovers were in sh*t or bust mode, we handed the initiative to them and nearly paid the price. We're a far better side on the front foot with width on both flanks, and we shouldn't forget that again.

If Pardew, Cortese and - more to the point - Liebherr are as excited about him as the fans, a way will be found. That's the difference between us now and us a year ago.

It would have been nice to hear our lot singing "Goodnight Irene" to them.

Every game is lessons learned. Antonio is the right side starter, we're better on the front foot with width both sides, Connolly can play off Lambert and they won't have enough markers, we're best not playing in our own end, and ... Gobern ain't a left back. We've won from behind and we've won staying ahead. Everything is cool. And if AP is the guy I think he is, he'll hold his hands up and admit his error.

James is horrendous defensively. His man is cutting across him every time.

I think he was worried about a second yellow.

Abso-fricking-lutely. As soon as we kept it on the deck we started murdering them