JRM

we don't have 23,000 season ticket holders. It's about 20,500. i can understand people in two minds about renewing, fixture changes are a headache and this season we have scored fewer home league goals than i can remember in a long long time so fans are just not enjoying it as much. Let's hope for a good result tonight to give us a boost.

One of the reasons for delay in announcement is SKY and BT working out how many more fixtures they can fit into their schedules, just like our Chelsea away game being selected now that is has changed date. There are a few games still to be re-arranged in the Premier League due to re-arrangements from Cup weekends, we have two with Arsenal and Man United, very few slots left for the Man United game due to their involvement in the Europa League. They've even rescheduled Man City v Man Utd for a Thursday night at the end of April to maximise the number of games they can show.

I read yesterday we have only scored 14 goals in 13 home games, the only team in the league with a worse record than that is Middlesbrough. When was the last time we had such a poor goals to games ratio? On Saturday we could easily have scored 3 or 4 if we'd had a decent finisher on the pitch, Rodriguez, Long, Tadic and Ward-Prowse all had good chances plus Yoshida had a free header he put wide, Still loads of home end tickets available for this game. Palace have sold out according to their website although it doesn't say if they took the full 3300 allocation. Can't remember many good games against Big Sam's teams over the years so going for another 0-0. Palace away is definitely up there with our worst games this season.

A real shame, he played on in the Sunderland cup game despite being in real discomfort and hasn't been seen since. I rate him as a keeper hopefully will get a full pre season in and get back to challenging for the England squad again.

Surprised this still hasn't sold out, first home game in 8 weeks against a team of local interest who have sold out the 3300 away end so it's not even like we've had to shift extra tickets. About 55 decent seats in block 4 put on sale earlier if anyone's still looking for a seat near Itchen centre. First game since the cup final I thought this would sell out quickly. 5.30 kick off should be a boozy one , will help the atmosphere a bit. I think we'll struggle to score, frustrating 1-1 draw my prediction

The current family area is currently nearly all season ticket holders so the club must think there is demand for more and on the basis existing season ticket holders can stay in those blocks it won't be so many seats for sale. By having this change and new season ticket holders benefitting from the renewal price I think the club are hoping to boost the overall number of season ticket holders. This will reduce the number of game by game match tickets available which may then make being a member worthwhile if that could be the only way of getting a ticket for big games, they'd have to get season ticket sales up considerably from the current 21k for that to be the case though.

Thats a good post. More does need to be done about Muslim converts in British prisons, there are so many and they are often prime candidates for radicalisation.

I'd like to see this re-introduced. Anything that reduces the rush on the 85th minute by people wanting to beat the traffic is a good thing, we've got to be one of the worst clubs for that. Might encourage fans to spend a bit more time in the city and have a beer instead of rushing off.

I thought the Saints lads showed some good touches and didn't let themselves down. Main takeaway from it is good experience for young players playing on the international stage, will hopefully act as good motivation for them to put in a good end to season and a bit of a confidence boost.

We've sold just over 2000 so about 600-700 left, should sell those in the next three weeks.

yeah it looks like the original 1,682 allocation has sold out and about another 700 tickets are on sale, i reckon we'll end up selling blocks A3 and A6 and have the usual 2,750 there.

4 current and 5 ex-Saints in the squad is remarkable, will definitely wind up the Skates who attend England games in quite big numbers. I expect Forster will drop out as usual, in fact i bet a few from that squad will drop out following this weekends matches, always the case. Anyone tempted to buy tickets for Lithuania game now on the back of this? i remember going to Chile home game to see Lallana and Rodriguez debuts back in 2013 and buzzing for Lambert's debut against Scotland, doesn't feel quite the same this time. I expect Bertrand to play ahead of Shaw in both games, hope Redmond and Ward-Prowse get on at some point to join the club of Southampton players who have been capped by England. Since returning to the Premier League we've had ; Forster Clyne Shaw Bertrand Lallana Lambert Rodriguez soon to be Redmond, Ward-Prowse plus Chambers got a full England cap shortly after leaving. Even Alex Mccarthy was in the squad earlier in the season

There's still 12 games to go in a 38 game season so too early to say I think, I know it seems like we've had a seasons worth of football already with Europa league and league cup run. Based on season so far Romeu and VVD for me. If Gabbiadini finishes as our top scorer that will be quite an achievement.

Several of the Sunday papers this week speculating that Redmond is set to be included in the England squad to be announced on Thursday for the friendly away to Germany in Dortmund and qualifier at home to Lithuania. I'm not convinced myself but would be a good boost for a player that seems to thrive on confidence. Apparently Southgate rates him highly along with Ward-Prowse, if they both get a call up along with Forster and Bertrand would that be a record for Saints to have four players in an England squad?

I quite like the idea of playing Man Utd and Arsenal at home in the run in, all the pressure will be on them to get the points in their financial requirement to be in the Champions League, I think that will suit us especially as we should be fresh for the run in having had very few games in Feb and March. United look set to go through in the Europa league so will have another two games to fit in mid-April. I'm hoping Man City go through against Monaco this week as Champs league quarter final is either side of our game against them. It will be interesting to see if Caceras plays for the u23s again at Old Trafford tonight.

Looking at the table it's mad to think by the time we take the field on Sunday we'll have 3 games in hand on many teams around us. If West Brom lose to Arsenal we'll be 7 points behind with 3 games in hand, 8th is definitely achievable.

It will be interesting to see if he is included in the England squad when it's announced in a couple of weeks, he tends to drop out anyway and in my opinion Hart, Heaton and Pickford are all ahead of him currently. I think Pickford looks like a great prospect would like to see us try to sign him if Sunderland go down. Such a shame that McCarthy has been injured for most of the season, he'd have given us an excellent back up option.

Caceras looked ok but always hard to tell quite how sharp he is for the speed of the Premier League in such a game. The u23s are due to play next Monday night again, this time away to Manchester United at Old Trafford, I'd play a strong team in that again with the aim to keep match fitness up. I've seen Jones play a few times at centre back, definitely looks like a good prospect. Considering Chelsea have so many players out on loan I thought the team they managed to put out was decent, must have so many young players stock piled there.

We lost to Chelsea U23s earlier in the season, have a look at the line up they put out that night possibly the strongest ever at this level and only beat us 3-2. We can't win this league so tonight is a chance for a few of those names to get a run out , work on fitness and remind Puel what they can do. I can't make it down there but for those who can what a great chance to watch a game live for free.

In term of result I can't see anything but a defeat in this game. Spurs play just the right way to expose our weaknesses, almost certainly one of their goals will be a hard low shot into one of the corners out of the reach of diving Forster. Was absolutely brilliant winning there last season but since our promotion back to the Premier I think Spurs have beaten us more than any other team. Will be our final visit to White Hart Lane, some memorable games there over the years and sad to see another old ground go. My favourite being 3-1 away win in the FA Cup 1990, low point being FA Cup semi final 1986. Didn't we once beat Nottingham Forest there in a FA Cup 3rd replay?

Most likely both games will be end of April / start of May midweek slots, as will Chelsea way if they knock United out of the next round of the Cup. i don't mind that, keeps the end of season interesting playing teams who still have a lot at stake and midweek games on a mild May evening are decent. we already have four home games in April (1st Bournemouth, 5th Palace, 15th Man City and 29th Hull) with only one in May (Stoke 21st) so better to have them in May in my opinion. Also gives Austin and Van Dijk a chance to be fit by then.

I'm actually pleased Man Utd went through in the FA Cup as if we'd had them in our next home game it would have been too much. Let's play them at home in May, hopefully they'll be struggling with a backlog of fixtures.

Agree wouldn't change much from the final line up, try to build a bit of consistency. I don't think Caceres deserves to come in yet until he's played a couple of u23 games and shows he can handle it. With only 2 games in March there is no need to rest any players with such long breaks between matches. Will be worrying if we do lose this with Spurs away next we could find ourselves going into April still on 30 points. Watford are a funny side, hard to beat but no great players in there. 1-1 draw my prediction.

Out of contract goalkeeper Wayne Shaw was seen at the game yesterday, make of that what you will.

Unless I've missed it the club have never revealed the full details of his injury, we've seen pics of his foot in a support but nothing specific. Does anyone know if he has gone with the squad to Spain? Nearly 5 weeks since the Leicester game and it's been very quiet since. I'd suggest he is more likely to remain out for a while based on our signing of Caceres but you never know!