Tom & Gerry

Lee Barnard was a good athlete and ran about a lot. I think there is a lot more to Shane Long than that in terms of skill and intelligence.

How come our academy can produce all sorts of players but never a goal keeper? Was the last decent first team keeper Gerry Gurr?

We've put in an enormous effort this season and now we've run our race, as have Spurs. The lesson and warning has to be just how fragile success is in this league.

Shocked to hear this. He brings back memories of many great times. RIP.

Cor Blimey, of course we must do our best with the hand we've got and I will be shouting as loadly as anyone, just as you Europa fans will cheer when we win a cup tie, though I have shockingly heard a few fans say they would rather us lose than draw a cup tie as it might affect our league form, but I'm sure that's a minority. I really am not trying to create a cup V Europa arguement which I agree is a false one. I am not even saying that we should change our priorities,though I would err towards playing our best possible team in the later stages of cup competitions. What ever happens happens but I would just prefer we won a major trophy, what is wrong with wanting to win something? Others would prefer we have a long run in Europe, fair enough no big deal. I do have concerns that Europa might hinder our prospects of getting that trophy but let us hope that we can march on in league and cup and over come those difficulties. The club do have a pretty good record at over coming difficult situations. I am also not as excited as some at the prospect of Europa. Yes we have some great if heart breaking games in Europe in the past, I'm thinking of Newcastle and Anderlecht in particular but this Europa is a different animal. I admit I don't watch it much but then who does tucked and hidden away as it is on ITV4. My impression though is of boring football,teams I've never heard of, half empty stadiums, and teams that lose the following week end. I really do hope though that the product is much better than the image. After all the JPT wasn't so bad after all was it. And I really hope our players improve for the experience and are not just more tired. I would love it if we became a force in Europe, it's just that I want that trophy just a little bit more.

Indeed. I well remember the Inter Cities Fairs cup where only 1 team per city could participate. Any one outside London, Manchester and Birmingham in the top half had a chance. The question was - will participation in Europa damage the club (lower league position, less focus on domestic cup competions) or help it grow and how can the club grow if it doesn't progress to the Europa if CL qualification is a step too far. I just thought that winning a cup first would mitigate some of the down sides of playing in Europa on Thursday nights and might generate interest that would help the club grow Some however are in denial that there are any downsides to Europa and seem to under estimate the excitement that a cup win brings. Just look at how many fans we took to Wembley for the JPT and how many are attending tonight for an under 21 game that is on Sky.

Not at all. Swansea raised their profile by winning the league cup. It's a mute point how much participation in Europa raised it any further especially as Gary Monk says they have reached their ceiling. For Saints winning a trophy first might be a better way of growing the club as it would put bums on seats in any expanded stadium for instance.

Or how about the old fashioned idea that we win a trophy and then go in to Europe. Winning something seems to be a concept people have difficulty grasping probably due to only winning one trophy in our entire history. That would be a better way to grow the club and it would be good for the fans and some of us would then be less concerned with the consequences. If the Europa league was so good for Swansea and Everton how on earth are we 7th without ever being in it. Of course I would like to see us play the teams you mention but we would need to get past an awful lot of dross to play them.

Grow the club? Like Fulham and Wigan you mean. Swansea and Everton? not really - which clubs have grown a a result of playing in the Europa League? Admit it it's just a jolly.

This is difficult. I am torn. I don't want Liverpool to succeed. Not because of any vendetta but it might ever so slightly help persuade players see that no one who has left Southampton for Champions league football has ever truly fulfilled their potential apart from Gareth Bale and he didn't leave for a team in the Champions league. Getting in to Europe would be success and I want that but I am desperate for us to win a major trophy and I know that we should be focusing on things we can win and that will be more difficult with the boring and tiring Europa League. I think I'm more ambitious than those who want European football just so they can have a nice holiday. But then again it is progress so I guess we just have to take it and see what happens.

I've dusted it off now. It was on the Diana Ross and the Supremes join the Temptations album. Any how thanks for the info and whatever version play it load and proud

Come on, it would be one of the greatest achievements in the history of football if we finished 4th. So dust off your old Diana Ross records " Dream the impossible dream". Just 1 more win than City and Liverpool in the next 5 games and we go to Manchester with a stab at history. It's on...at least until Saturday!

Midfield players are not the best defenders or goalscorers in the team. They sometimes shoot and sometimes tackle, run around a lot and mostly give short easy passes to players better placed than themselves. Occasionally they produce a defence splitting pass that leads to a goal and that is how they are usually judged by the public. Where as if a forward shoots narrowly wide or has a shot saved it is a good effort if a midfield player's pass is slightly off so that the ball is intercepted or goes out of play then he is a bad player. We once had a midfielder called Matt Oakley.Nobody thought he was that good but he stayed in the team and people ignored him and almost forgot he was there. Then one day the manager WGS said he was the best midfield player in the league (or words to that effect). We said - is he? we didn't know. So we looked and saw that yes, he was quite good, his experience meant that he knew when and where to run, pass, tackle and shoot and he helped knit the team together. I'm sure the same will be true of JWP and experience will make him much better top class player.

According to the "I" he is due to join up with the squad on Sunday

In 2012 we did not have the defence we have now. Kelvin will be perfectly adaquate for most games.

I am actually slightly more optimistic of Champions League football than I was. From thinking it was imposssible I now think it's just about possible given Man U's remaining fixtures and ours. I am also not totally convinced yet that Man U are the real deal. Yes they've had 2 great results but 2 weeks ago they were rubbish and the Manager was facing the sack. We would have to show our very best form of course.

You don't get those at Matalist

Yes, winning the FA Cup is pretty bog standard. Just a day out, then a night out, then the next day out parading the cup round the town, then a year of celebrations ,viewing the cup, having your photo taken with the cup, then there are the anniversaries and the legendry status of the players, but I take your point, I'm sure you will have a great time in Qarabag and Dnipro. Other competitions we've played in Europe were not the interminable Europa league. Don't get me wrong. I want Saints to finish as high as they can, it's just the reward I'm not fussed about.

Enjoy. I hear watching paint dry is pretty good too.

If we qualify for Europe it will be a great achievement but the Europa cup itself doesn't excite me in the slightest. If we draw some East European or Scandinavian minnow I probably wouldn't go (home or away) Would have much prefered a trip to Wembley - not that I am saying that is a greater achievement.

If you are having trouble scoring from open play you would think the coaches would work doubly hard on free kick and corner routines. It's another way to score a goal and it doesn't just have to be a forward that scores. They may be but I haven't seen much sign of it. Even the best teams use this as a get out - take Chelsea at the week end. They are playing sh*t and Terry scores from a cross from a free kick. The forwards relax and Costa scores in the second half.

Pelle produced one of the passes of the season. It was probably the best moment of the match from a Saints point of view.

We are not Man City, Man U, Chelsea or even Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs. We never can be and probably never will. That has nothing to do with ambition it is just reality. The fact that we are trying to break in to that group our own way makes us far more interesting and worth supporting. It means that players who want to maximize their income and have more chance of winning things will always want to leave if coveted by the above mentioned clubs. It takes skill and patience to replace them. The personnel of any team will be broadly the same for only 1 season. Get used to it and get over it.

3 blind mice, see how they run, They all ran after the Champions league and now they don't play in Premier league, 3 blind mice. They're sitting on the bench, just sitting on the bench, what a glorious feeling they're sitting on the bench.

Me Dad took me. At first I preferred the Albion Band and wanted to get home for the Lone Ranger but it gets in your blood doesn't it? and there is no cure.