S-Clarke

Billy is back with us now. The loan was only until 1st Jan. But I still wouldn't expect him to even make the bench.

This is what I was told, Club still see Gaston with a big future here - but I was told that we'd consider a loan deal so he'd get regular playing time to continue his development.

So now we know why there'll be no Southend highlights today Someone will be job hunting...

You don't really need to ask Dalek that! He thinks we will still be in a relegation battle.

Cheers for the info Monk. Do you have any clues as to if these are defenders, goal keepers....? The tone of your post re: our players, seems to suggest there has been interest registered...

Umm, they may have lost 20 players over the entire club - but only 5 of those were relevant to the first team. Can you name the 20 please? Ta. The general mood with Reading fans is that they've had enough of him, things aren't changing and they're not doing well enough. It doesn't take much to be near the playoffs in the championship at this stage of the season. He was great for us and will go down in Southampton history, but to say he's done well at Reading is utterly misguided and wrong.

Nope, you've got it. Can be pointless is what I meant. That's why I kind of think, let's just go for it. There's nothing to really lose. I'm not against resting a few, and giving a couple of talented young players a chance....but changing the entire team, and bringing in players like Jos and Fox isn't exactly my idea of fun. It will be interesting to see the team tomorrow anyway!

I don't think he will, he's come out and said that it will be pretty much the same time - barring 1 or 2 injuries.

But, nothing is guaranteed. We could rest everyone tomorrow and pay not attention to the cup what so ever, and then lose our next 2 leagues. We rested everyone against Sunderland in the league cup to protect from injuries, and then on the back of that went on to have an injury crisis and lost lots of games - so resting players was pretty pointless all being told.

Personally, I don't quite get this logic. I'm not massively excited by finishing 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th - and we'll finish in one of those spots come the end of the year. I want to win something, I want a trip to Wembley and a real reason to remember and look back on a season. Mid-table mediocrity and early knock outs in the cups don't excite me, and although you cannot deny the progress the club has made (it's been tremendous), we're still a few years away from breaking into the Top 6 (although we will get there, but not this year), and decades and billions away from being able to compete to win the league - therefore I'd like us to go all out and attempt to win a cup. On our day, with a fully fit squad, we can beat anyone. And with a favorable draw, we should be able to get pretty far with this squad we've got. Although the skate ****s are at the level they deserve to be now, they had 2 great FA Cup finals and those will live long in their memory, as will their recent FA Cup win. We need to get some silverware, we've got the squad and the setup to do it in the cups. Finishing 8th, 11th, 9th, or whatever is academic to me - resting players in the cups or 'concentrating' on the league isn't really going to leapfrog us above Everton, Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool and propel us into Europe. Getting to the final and winning the FA Cup is our best route to Europe this year, without question.

He did a job for us, but wasn't ever that good. Could do a decent job in L2 or L1 though.

Someone mentioned the fine was a weeks wages for each respective person involved.

I fail to see the issue, either way to be honest. So what? Let him think that, ambition is great to have. If it doesn't happen, Ok then. What's the deal? Why do you always have this odd, odd meltdown over this? If you're worried about what other clubs and fans think, then I doubt they give us a second thought. It's really strange.

They're very much the minority if you're on about the wallies on here. I doubt they're even saints fans to be honest.

This. And it's simply not just the smart alec remarks either, he simply cannot referee a football match.

Yeah, we've done absolutely nothing in the last 5 years. Absolutely no success what so ever, what a joke of a club. They should ignore the reporters question, because as we all know it works like that.

The reason fans feel a little bored with it is simply because the clubs don't give a ****. The 3rd round weekend used to have a real buzz about it, and everyone would be chomping at the bit to go and play - no matter who it was against. Now we're charged a fortune to watch the youth and reserve sides, and that simply doesn't excite me and I know others feel the same. Once the clubs start taking it seriously again, then so will the fans.

So, he should have said this, yes? ''Is Europe the next target?'' ''Nah, we'll just carry on bobbling around in mid-table, getting dragged into occasional relegation battles and lose in the cups. No ambition here, nah nothing''

Seems a bit feeble, but it was obviously a ''had to be there moment''. If it was said at the heat of the moment, after he'd turned down the penalty appeal, with a smirk on his face...then he'd get anyone's back up, and I'm surprised he wasn't smashed. I think the FA should look at the entire picture, over his entire career and just sack him. He's simply incompetent, he cannot do his job. Therefore he should be sacked, just as myself or anyone else would be if we kept making **** mistakes. He likes to think he's some sort of superstar referee and the pinup boy for the referees, but he's actually probably the worst ref' going. If this slagging match highlights his continuous incompetence then so be it, at least we won't have to have him mucking around with our games.

His start with us has been nothing short of disastrous, unfortunately.

Hopefully this is the final straw for him, and he's finally demoted down the leagues. He's really not a top referee, easily the worst. Mistake after mistake, horrendous ref.

Probably a bit of misguided hope to be honest. I've been hoping the same for over 18 months, he's not changed a bit.

The only issue there could be is with surface water on the pitch, from what will be a very, very wet couple of days. With a high tide, there won't be anywhere for it to really drain away to - so that could be a potential issue.

Johnny Heitinga rejects WHU. Quite funny, a player with no game time what so ever rejects a chance to play at WHU. They are officially ****ed IMO.

He's a good player, very tidy - but we do get played through very easily when he starts. Him and Morgan together, although very tidy, are easy to shrug off the ball. Hence the increase in goals we conceed outside the box. Wanyama is a pretty big barrier between the CB's and the midfield. Crucial to our defensive discipline.