JRM

It is such a massive clash that the Skates have failed to sell out their allocation of 1000 tickets.......perhaps they are afraid they bump into some of the travelling army of Saints fans on their way to Luton airport to fly to Prague on our European tour.

the link doesn't work? i noticed they won 3-0 last night, they haven't conceded a goal in 4 games , 0-0 draw on Thursday?

I think that will be close to the line up, might see Gardos on the bench as well , good to see Reed back involved as well. Apparently they have been very inconsistent this season , currently 5th in Czech league which isn't a great standard but they seem to have found form in Europa league. Odd considering how poor they looked at St Marys. I'd take a draw.

I assume there is no confirmation yet that Lallana and Courtinho are actually out? Has Forster featured in any of the training photos? I hate Liverpool, their glory hunting fans stuck in the 80s, our mercenary players who leave to play there, the needy victim status which characteristics sum up the whole city , state funded cruise terminal built to take business from Southampton , would love to win this but unfortunately I don't think we are strong enough.

The fine is to be deducted from any prize money / participation fee owed by the league to the club's, clever move as they don't need to chase them for payment and it'll probably mean that the Skates made a loss hosting games and competing in this competition. Saints on the other hand played several kids from u18 side and thrashed Crawley 4-0 a club just a few points below Pompey in the league.

that is random that just a week before the game they have given us more tickets, there are quite a few going out intending to watch in bars / home end so good news for them although waste of money if they've already purchased home end seats , they don't say how many more tickets we have though. They'll be on general sale to people with a purchase history from lunchtime tomorrow so will be interesting to see if we sell these out.

I reckon this will still sell out to season ticket holders with 2 or 3 away games as it is so close and such a small allocation but I get your point, it’s an unprecedented run of games we have had in the first half of the season so people have had to start to pick and choose which games they go to. We had 7000 over in Milan, 2000 going to Prague next week, 5800 to Arsenal the following week, then 3000 at Crystal Palace a couple of days after that. The games that will really suffer support wise are Stoke away on Wednesday 14th December, Everton away Monday 2nd January, Burnley away Saturday 14th January and Swansea Tuesday 31st Jan. Can see a few sub – 1000 turnouts for those, especially if we progress in Europe / League Cup and get interesting FA Cup draw.

94th minute wasn't it? And we were never going to win the replay on their plastic pitch. Stockport was a bad one as well, having done the hard work and got a draw up there we somehow managed to mess up the replay at The Dell , in fact Sheff Utd and Liverpool were both awful (low points of the season two years running) we do have a terrible record in this round of the cup! Tickets for Arsenal away and Crystal Palace away both on general sale so for those who have moaned in the past about missing out on tickets due to not having enough away games etc here is your chance.

Has Tadic dropped out of the squad for their away friendly v Ukraine tomorrow night? Could do with him concentrating on treatment in preparation for Saturday. Good to see Boufal played 85 mins v Ivory Coast, he's the obvious replacement if Tadic is not fit to start.

agreed he's not had the best run of it, lots of small injuries and he didn't really have a pre-season at all (same as last season). We are lucky that McQueen has stepped up this season and has been superb as Targett has also had an injury jinx. I know Alex McCarthy is out for a couple more weeks so hopefully Forster is fit for the weekend, any more news on Long? He'll need time to get back to full fitness, along with Cedric.

I noticed Sadio Mane played full game for Senegal away to South Africa yesterday, not sure if they have another game still to come but I recall Koeman often had him on the bench after a international break with long haul flights. So far all of our players seem to have come through their international games ok except for Tadic broken nose. Even Boufal played for Morocco against Ivory Coast so he should be ready to start for us if needed. Any news on Forster's injury?

I was not happy I asked for a ticket stub and was told that was not possible for this game. I did manage to take more than one free programme which offset the disappointment. Next round week beginning 5th December I think, if so that is also the week we are home to Be'ersheva so not sure how that will work (They will have access to train at St Marys on the Wednesday night) I thought Sims and Isgrove looked strong tonight, amazing result considering Hesketh , Reed and McQueen unavailable.

It's not completely pointless as you point out finishing top of the group is an incentive for a home tie in the knockout stages. I've had a look at the tables and they seem to be missing the extra points for penalty shoot outs from last night, doesn't help the competition's reputation as a farce when they can't even get the basic points total correct. Pompey's historic victory last night puts them on 4 points joint with Yeovil but with a worse goal difference. If Yeovil lose at Reading tonight I think it's possible for the Skates to go through and who knows Paul Cook might get his dream glamour trip to St Marys that he wanted in FA cup. We should definitely play Rodriguez and Gardos. It's a shame Harry Reed is injured he needs more games as well. With Hesketh also injured and Jack Stephens with England u21s it is a weakened u23 line up

We will lose unfortunately (in my opinion) I've seen several of Liverpool's games this season and they are set up perfectly to beat us I think if we continue with usual tactics. Liverpool to win and both teams to score Liverpool to win -1 handicap both look like tempting bets at 3/1. Would be good to have Cedric back and on form to have some pace at right back, I'm taking some hope from the fact Burnley managed to beat them earlier in the season.

Now i know there is a match programme available that is going to be a collectors item that might sway it. Worth noting that Colchester v Charlton is tonight, if Colchester win, or a draw with Colchester winning on pens we are definitely though regardless of tomorrow's game.

Anyone else planning to go to this? Should be a decent game and the squad features three of our lads with James Ward-Prowse as captain, Nathan Redmond and Jack Stephens. Shame Targett is still injured, I'm surprised McQueen was not called up instead based on recent form. Ticket sales are currently low, Saints have opened the Itchen, Chapel and Northam stands, cheap tickets, think I might go to this instead of the Crawley game. Guess we've had a lot of matches recently and have been spoilt for "cheap" football this season but still a good chance to take in a game at affordable prices, family ticket 2 adults and 2 kids just £20. Game is also live on BT Sport.

Should have said other English keepers have looked better. We need him to find form for the Liverpool game as he'll be facing a lot of low hard shots (worth a tenner on Courtinho to score anytime) Forster has managed it before I recall a superb performance at Arsenal but it's been a while since he's been a match winner and whenever we concede a penalty you know he'll get nowhere near it. I like the look of Mccarthy so at least we have a decent back up once he is fit.

I have to agree I've not been impressed with him this season, other English keepers Heaton and Pick fords

Agree with others I'm not buying the tiredness excuse that seems to be churned out, we rested a number of players against Inter with no travelling midweek and a short one hour flight up to Hull. This was a classic Saints shlte performance that we've had many times before (losing at Norwich, Burnley etc) Listening to Dave Merrington does my head in don't think I'll bother tuning in to Solent again. Fingers crossed for an injury free international break with some of the squad getting some rest, I fear we'll go down the table by the end of the month, very tempted to put my Liverpool ticket on the ticket exchange can't face watching a certain defeat against the ex-saints greedy bastard 4.

As much as playing Inter Milan was good for the novelty value this game is in someways more important representing our best chance of Wembley and silverware. I would play Gardos and Rodriguez as over age players. Crawley travel club are running a coach so a decent away following should help the atmosphere. Let's get through and keep our season going on 5 fronts

Gale force winds, not great conditions for us. I think it will be a very tough game, was impressed when I saw them play Leicester first game of the season.

i agree with this, have Rodriguez on the bench at Hull then give him the full 90 mins on Wednesday night v Crawley at St Marys, will help build fitness and confidence while the rest of the squad are away on international duty. The fact we are able to bring back into the starting line up Bertrand, Fonte, Davis, Clasie, Austin, Boufal possibly as fresh legs is great and should allow us to fall into the tiredness of Thursday / Sunday fatigue. plenty of tickets left for this game for anyone who fancies a trip up.

I agree, fantastic result but I think Puel got lucky. Rodriguez is nowhere near the level needed. If it's game time he needs let him have 90 mins against Crawley in CheckaTrade trophy next week. Fonte lack of appearance in Europe is strange, fair play to Yoshida he has not less us down. McQueen find of the season, for me he is ahead of Targett now and I'd be tempted to start him at Hull and allow Bertrand more time to get his fitness back. The result is all that matters for the history books and gives us a great chance to progress to the knockout stages. Be'ersheva seem to have lost their way after a good start.

It's a shame that the pre-match build up to the Inter Milan game has been forgotten about while all the talk is on this. The timing could have been better for the story to leak.

Not for me. But i think there is some truth in this, someone posted on here before of Kat being seen with Chinese in Limewood hotel, and she wasn't having a take away delivered...