JRM

Same here, as long as work arrangements allow will buy a ticket, been a mental season when did we last play this many games? JPT year or 91/92 ZDS year?

Still plenty of seats available at the Chapel end, quite sad really we should be absolutely buzzing for this raring to get at them and give 'em a game but despite the cheap tickets there's a huge amount of apathy amongst our fan base. I kind of get that after so many fixtures already this season with disappointment of Europe and Christmas period but even so there is reason to be hopeful, I've seen Liverpool have some shocking defending this season the Bournemouth game in particular stands out plus they will have one eye on Man Utd game. Matip, Henderson, Sturrridge and Courtinho may all be injured plus Mane is away. Let's go for it, I didn't expect us to win at Arsenal so you never know our name might be on the cup.

yeah looks like they've had a shocker all round with this one, £25 is steep just after Christmas, looks like we'll have 1300 there not too bad with a 4 hour journey to get there but half full away end plenty of room to spread out. Brentford v Eastleigh at £10 might have a few Saints fans going to that. The home end sales look awful, one of their forums talks of a boycott , want the manager out etc, will be a weird game in front of such a small crowd. Looks like plenty of our u23s will feature, it's more like a CheckaTrade trophy game than FA Cup!

Exactly. It's all about $$$$$$$ not footballing integrity, just as it has been with all the other mercenary footballers with "ambition" that have left us. That's the modern game for you. A bidding war between a couple of Chinese clubs would be ideal.

if he goes to Liverpool and plays at St Marys again he'll be ahead if Lallana in the queue for abuse from me. f*ck him, got to big for his boots.

On the contrary this is one game where you absolutely can make a case for playing a "weaker" team (not that Puel knows what his strongest XI is anyway). The Liverpool cup semi final on Wednesday 11th has to be our primary focus now putting out our strongest team possible in that fixture and Liverpool will rest plenty in their game v Plymouth. Norwich is an odd one, their fans are not particularly fussed about the game and have been calling for the managers head as they fall further and further behind in the promotion race and want all the focus to be on a run for the play offs to get them back up. Neither the home or away ends are anywhere near being sold out (in fact Eastleigh have sold more for their trip to Brentford than we have) which shows where this game sits in the eyes of the fans. Such a shame McCarthy got such a bad hamstring injury against Sunderland and he was showing promising signs of challenging Forster for a starting place and would have featured in this. I'd expect to see Martina, Sims, McQueen, Reed all play. 1-1 draw and a replay that neither side will want.

I agree, he has defended team selection and tactics due to energy preservation, yet that is a contradiction as if he is going to change so many players each game anyway then energy preservation should not be such an issue. We've had glimpses of how well we can play in 15 min slots this season at a decent tempo, but so often after a good start we retreat and give the opposition so much space in midfield. Puel has lost a lot of goodwill due to the manner of our exit from Europe, I haven't seen fans around me so wound up and angry in years and those feelings are still there in the criticism he is currently getting. If Puel is somehow able to work a miracle and get us through against Liverpool then that will go a long way to rebuilding his support within our fan base.

I think the biggest indicator that the fan base are not behind him are the pitiful ticket sales for the Liverpool semi final, what should be one of the biggest games of our recent history has not captured the imagination, mainly because no one believes we've got a chance of progressing. I don't blame Puel completely though, I think Black was a strange appointment and certain players are not pulling their weight. Forster looks like a table football goalkeeper at the moment.

It will almost certainly be the last game on Match of the Day! WBA have only sold about 1000 tickets so despite the cheap cost it is a game that doesn't seem to appeal to them, tickets sold well in the home end with block 43 already sold to Saints fans plus block 44 now on sale. 0-0 my prediction.

Out. The French c'nt can **** off. Could feel all the frustration from Europa league debacle coming out tonight.

No thanks, he had his strop and made it clear what he thought about playing for little old Southampton. Pleased he has fallen flat on his face at Old Trafford. Definitely do not want him back in our team.

Yeah Fulham fans are not too pleased about it, 11.30 kick off on a Sunday morning clearly doesn't give much thought to the match going fan, being squeezed into the schedule for BBC Wales. Don't think I'll bother tuning in for any of those fixtures, Plymouth have a long trip for a Sunday lunchtime game and have taken an allocation of over 8000 tickets, I thought our semi final allocation was big but that's incredible if they sell all of those.

Absolutely u18 they are having a laugh with this competition putting out progressively weaker teams in each round, I've decided to save my money instead of going and spent the cash betting on Reading to win instead. Makes no sense to me to not include the likes of Sims, just because he's on the fringes of the first team he still needs these games to aid his development. Likewise with McQueen. In past rounds we've featured international players like McCarthy and Gardos. Shame really but no great loss if we go out I suppose.

Personally I think Fonte has let his ego get to big for him after the amazing events of the summer lifting silverware alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. He's showing the signs of being greedy and thinking he can do better than Saints. I won't be too bothered if he leaves but would rather not see him at Liverpool, despise everything about that club / city / fan base and our reputation as a feeder club for them is getting ridiculous.

Who's that then? We put out a very young side to beat Crawley convincingly but will need a bit more experience for this one. I'd like to see us play Sims, McQueen and Reed in this game as despite recent first team appearances they need this game time to stay sharp. Wembley here we come

Just wait until next season if Brighton come up no doubt that will also be billed as a South Coast derby , although at least they already have a fierce rivalry with Crystal Palace so wouldn't try to follow Bournemouth lead in pretending there is one with us. Having said that they did develope a dislike to us during the Adkins years so perhaps they will. We need a few more games like this to get the fans going. Really pleased with today's performance, Bertrand was so fired up and took his goal really well. Hard call between him and Rodriguez for man of the match. Interesting comments from Howe after the game, clear his team struggled to keep up the way they play with three games in a week, as we've been experimenting with rotation all season it should set us up well for the mad run of fixtures starting with Spurs on the 28th. Howe also said Chelsea can recall Ake at the end of the month, if Fonte does leave I would not be surprised to see us go for him.

you are looking at the Spurs at home match

I agree, he is one player who could get a goal out of nothing, plus i am less inclined to rest him considering he is off to the African Cup in January, get as much use out of him now as possible and if he picks up a knock and gets injured he can stay here and recover instead of going off for a month. last season was one of the worst away games i've done for a while, awful atmosphere, terrible game, they really really hate us and you could see how much it meant to their fans and players to get a win. When we come up against teams who want it more than us we often seem to fail, definitely need to get the players in the right mentality. I'm hoping we can rely on our defenders to give us a chance, 12 clean sheets this season so far is impressive.

Away Leg details confirmed - https://southamptonfc.com/matches/2016-17/efl-cup/liverpool-v-saints-2017-01-25/ticket-info massive allocation 5,646 , priced £30 - 33 for adults, decent prices for u21s and u17s. Can't remember the last time i saw that many Saints fans up north midweek, we'll do well to sell out i think. I had thought Saints / Virgin Media would subsidise coaches for this one but they haven't.

anyone who spends time in the Kingsland and Itchen centre would not be surprised to see a large number of those fans are not the sort who spend their time on twitter or the internet in general. I don't recall hearing any announcements at either Be'ersheva on Thursday or Sundays game. Plus in both match programmes a whole page dedicated to "Ticket News" doesn't even mention the game. Anyway lets hope sales pick up , Liverpool sold out there 3302 allocation straight away to fans who had been to Burton and Derby away this season, i know of one plastic red in my office in Surrey trying to get a ticket no doubt there are plenty more.

i think it is a few factors. - season ticket holders unaware (i didn't hear any annoucements and there is no mention that tickets are on sale in the match programme on the "Ticket News page" from thursday or Sunday, in fact when i mentioned it to a few people they were unaware tickets were already on sale. - over saturation of football this season playing so many midweek games that fans from outside the city struggle to get to - money tight in the build up to Christmas - feelgood factor plummeting after going out of the Europa league. anyway the season ticket holders who did not purchase can now have the pick of the whole stadium at the same price, so why sit in the corners when there are prime halfway line seats for £20 available.

Tickets are now on sale to members, quite incredible only about half of season ticket holders purchased their normal seats during the reserved period, despite the excellent price and this being our first cup semi final since MK Dons in the JPT is seems that apathy has spread throughout our fanbase. Tickets go on general sale on Friday to fans with a purchase history, with a month until the game i'm sure we'll sell out will just be a shame if local plastic Liverpool fans manage to get their hands on tickets.

agree completely mate, unfortunately for him this Manji chap seems to have confused attending a football match with a political demonstration.

Based On our recent away form, lack of goals and general despondency still being felt following last Thursday's disappointment I'm expecting a defeat in this one, I think we'll try and play for a draw and bore them into submission but Stoke will come at us. Perhaps if they do have a number of injuries we can get a 0-0. Looks like this will be our smallest away following so far this season, was told just 650 tickets sold as of the end of last week, hopefully a few more will go following yesterday's win and we can get close to filling the 1200 allocation.

I've asked the club if the cd will be available to buy in HMV on the build up to Christmas, would make a great stocking filler and the whole family can gather round to sing it in the afternoon. Really looking forward to singing this as the players emerge from the tunnel today, when they see just how much the fans like it it could be the confidence boost they need to spur them on to victory. Coyr.