kwsaint

Dislike of Branfoot was there for most of the 2 1/2 years that he was in charge. It just kept on growing during that time. In comparison the current situation is frustration with Puel's tactics, and the inability of the club to sort out the issues that seem to be there. Nothing like as bad. Put it this way, no one has published a fanzine with Puel's picture on and the caption 'Hope you die soon'. Which was in incredibly poor taste, but a reflection of how bad things had got. I seem to remember the celebrations in the city the day that they finally sacked him.

Probably out of his depth as England manager, but getting Watford to the First division (twice) and nearly winning the league with Villa were superb achievements. But a thoroughly decent, straightforward man. One story is that a long term Watford supporter got married and invited him to be his best man, not actually knowing him personally. But he was down in Watford on commentary duty, did the honours including the speech, then hung around chatting. During his first term at Watford he insisted that all players lived in the borough, so that they lived with the supporters. Which was clearly a part of building up the team and the club. Top bloke. Will be missed

Fifth semi-final for me tonight, but three of them were in the eighties. Still haunted by Adrian Heath's goal at Highbury in 1984. But two semi-final appearances in major cup competitions in the past 25 years is not a great return (don't count JPT, fun as it was)

I was at the Dell in 1987 for the last LC semi-final, also against Liverpool. I remember a 0-0 draw at home (did a Liverpool player get sent off?). We then held them 0-0 at half-time in the second leg, before losing 3-0. They were a bit good then. Not optimistic at all for tomorrow. We might get away with another 0-0

Not so worried about this season, as we should be able to get enough points to stay up, although it is looking like it will be a pretty miserable second half of the season. More concerned about next season. I would give Puel to the end of the season. If nothing improves, then get rid then and reorganise. This has echos of 2003/04 for me. Imploded in the second half of the season, then struggled all the following season as nothing got sorted out that summer. For me, I am just fed up with the constant chopping and changing of the team. We need to get a settled side for the rest of the season, once we are out of the cups, and grind out some results. Also need someone short term who can score goals. As for who to replace Puel in the summer. Howe, with a good defensive coach, would have worked. But can see him going to Arsenal in the summer. Could do worse than raiding Celtic again and getting Brendan Rogers.

We have had threads about a railway station before, and I have posted on it before. At one point the council wanted to reinstate the docks line for passenger services, with a station behind the Kingsland (where the old Northam station was) and a station next to the old Terminus station (a site has been reserved). But operationally it would be very difficult, as the curve to to Central station has been filled in. So where would the trains go to? What would actually make much more sense would be to put a basic station on the main line just north of Northam bridge. Would have to be match days only, as SWT are really not keen on the idea as they struggle to keep to timetable normally. But regular trains and specials could use it. Unfortunately much of the site is now occupied by the train care depot. For what it's worth I can only see a review of public transport to SMS if the stadium was ever extended, which doesn't appear to be likely at the moment. And we have had lots of threads on that subject in the past.

The Dell was only sunk at the sides, which was normal practice for Leitch stands. Improved the sightlines for terraces, and enabled the ground staff to get at the drains! At some point before I started watching (may even have been in the thirties), the pitch at the Dell was lengthened, but the Milton and Archers were not reprofiled at the time. Which meant that standing at the back of a full Milton in the seventies you couldn't see much of the goal. This was fixed during Lawrie Macs time, when the Milton was rebuilt and the Archers sunk down. Meant that during the eighties the Milton terrace was an excellent place to watch football. Think we might be going off topic here!

Completely agree. When they used to read out lower league half-times, we used to cheer if Pompey were losing and cheer if Bournemouth were winning. Good to put them in their place yesterday, but like to see them do well. They are a well run club with a top manager

just back from the game. would have taken 0 - 0 at the start but we were totally dominant. just no way of scoring goals. genuine concern now. thought it was a blip but it seems a bit more. thought the ref had a good game though.

Think that we will get someone in January that none of us has thought of, and it will simply be announced. That's how it seems to work. Management must know that we have a problem and will be looking to do something about it. Doubt that it will be anyone 'proven'. That doesn't seem to be the way that things are done here.

Not much of a rest until Wednesday's game. Never been to Stoke before so should be an experience. Will definitely be a tough game although they didn't look great against Arsenal. Predict 1 - 1. Suppose the question is, can Saints do it on a cold, wet, windy Wednesday night in Stoke?

Puel got his tactics completely wrong last night. On the rare occasions that we pressed them, they paniced, and their keeper looked very dodgy and was flapping at crosses. Instead we sat back, got hit by a sucker punch. OK to keep it tight against Liverpool, not against this lot. We simply didn't move the ball quickly enough to trouble them Also don't understand why Redmond was still on the pitch at the end. I am sure that there is a decent footballer in there somewhere, but he was clueless last night. We need to get a striker in the New Year break, offload Rodriguez. I am sure that the famed black box has some names.

It does

Fair point. Anyone who is a regular user of Southern Railways has my sympathy. Their treatment of passengers is appalling. I commute to London with SWT. It is generally OK, except that I often don't get a seat at Winchester - but the capacity changes at Waterloo next Summer will help. The problem with SWT is that they set the timetable, then are completely unable to manage problems. And don't plan ahead for times when there are major events. When it goes wrong on SWT (as it did last night), then it tends to go spectacularly wrong. The simply cannot manage anything out of the norm

Was seriously overcrowded - and only 5 carriages. So much so that people could not get on at Clapham. Also 45 minutes late getting to Winchester, and presumably even later further down the line Just sent a complaint to SWT. Just a bit of thought could have avoided this by running 10 carriages. I was one of the lucky ones with a seat, but there were some seriously squashed people on the train - which was the last one before buses.

Was at the same game. Bale looked class even at 16. McGoldrick made his debut in the same game and looked out of his depth

I was at the Millwall game when Gareth Bale made his debut at 16. For me that was the best debut that I have seen. But Josh Sims had an excellent debut and really didn't look out of place at all. Really good to see Puel giving him a game. Thought JWP had a decent game as well, although the less said about his miss the better

Got to be the first time that Lukaku has played for the opposition at St Mary's and not been given a sniff of goal. VVD was immense (as usual).

We cannot compete with the top 6 financially. Our matchday revenue is a lot less and so is our commercial revenue. The current model is sustainable, and we seem to be a fixture in the top half of the table now. It gets frustrating to keep losing players, but I would much prefer this to where we were 6 years ago. Football history is littered with clubs who tried to 'buy' success (Leeds, Pompey, Blackburn etc). I guess that we will lose VVD at the end of the season, as we lost Aldeveireld and Lovren. But we will get good money for him. He will be replaced (and the club already have options) and we move on. The good thing is that players want to come here. They know that they will get a chance - and some (Fonte, Davis) stick around.

Why don't we just play all the eligible first team players (JWP, Redmond, Targett, Reed, Stephens and we can all go to Wembley again

Of all the Saints players who have left in the past three or four years, who would you want back and could fit in the current team/squad. Plenty to choose from: Lambert, Clyne, Mane, Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Chambers, Steklenberg to name a few. I would have Clyne back, as he is clearly better than what we currently have. Your thoughts

Still think Wanyama at his very best is better than Romeu. But Romeu is far more consistent, has a much better attitude, and you know what you will get. Wanyama goes AWOL in games or gets himself sent off So I would pick Romeu every time

31 Euros for 3 excellent pizzas and a beer each in a pizzeria round the corner from the main railway station. Avoided Duomo as it is stupid prices. Fantastic trip - pity about the result. You hear a lot of English spoken in Milan. Just that everyone I heard on Thursday seemed to have a Hampshire accent. We were everywhere. San Siro was great to look at, but needs upgrading. Exits are terrible. And cheers to Alan and his son for sharing the taxi from Bologna airport to station.

Will look out for you. There are three of us. My guess is that there might be others on the flight.

Looked at that one. Also looked at the flight to Genoa from Heathrow. Ended up on the 8.45 to Bologna from Stansted. Got a cheap price and an hour by train from Bologna