JRM

Yes completely sold out 3300 according to their website. We must give one of the biggest allocations in the premier league. Rare for August home games to sell out so good to see. If the open up resale for season ticket holders a few more seats might become available with people being away. My prediction 1-1 draw. Game between 2 managers who have no experience of the Premier league and still trying to work out their best XI

I agree, have 3 main concerns. - the intention of Puel to fit players into his chosen system rather than play to the players strengths. - our ability to score goals. I'm not convinced that Redmond is the striker that Puel says he is. Far more likely to provide assists than goals, he certainly won't score as many as Mane. - our 'settled back 5' have yet to play together preseason and question marks over Bertrand's fitness, we could do with that unit of Forster, Cedric, VVD, Fonte and Bertrand being ready to go from day 1. I think we've got the basis of a good squad, lots of new managers in the league so some are bound to struggle and I see us being about 10th - 12th in the league. Would be fantastic to have a good European run with some memorable nights under the lights at St Marys. Due to where I lived I went to Fulham's home games on their run to Europa league final (mainly thanks to really cheap tickets) and was very jealous of them then beating teams like Juventus 4-1 so let's take our chance now.

Yes mate Plzen and Razgrad would be good, the latter especially in remote Bulgarian countryside has good adventure potential. I'm pleased Spartak Moscow are out, avoids the requirement to have a scrap with a Russian wearing MMA gloves , badly fitting shorts and a GoPro camera. Still potentially 3 Israeli teams going into Europa group stages , I've heard good things about Tel Aviv. Shame Cork and Aberdeen are both out. Sassulo would be good.

Interesting by using this method it seems to ensure that some of the bigger names will drop into the Europa league. Monchengladbach would be good for those half and half scarf collectors amongst us, Hapoel Be'er-Sheva also top notch for the half time falafel. I like the look of Villarreal as a trip.

No I'm only interested if Saints Away Travel are running a coach which includes a stop at a Chocolate factory near Bruge. Joking aside I'd love to get a draw like that or Israel although would be put off by high costs. I've done a fair few of the grounds so rather than pick new places my thoughts are more around which grounds I'd like to see Saints in. Russia / Turkey or Serbia would be a laugh but I'm not sure our fans are ready for that particular challenge.

I'd be quite happy with Cork City or Dundalk in our group , so hope they both end up going through, quite a few Irish saints but not sure how much of a warm welcome we'd get from the locals based on the stories of those who went to Limerick away. Pot 1 - Inter Milan Pot 2 - TBC Pot 3 - Southampton FC pot 4 - Dundalk

i was wondering that, have a ticket for the chapel stand for Sunday but would like to sit in the Kingsland tomorrow night, will see if it is open, and if so if my ticket lets me in there. there will be a small crowd, i doubt more than 8000 tomorrow night so would not surprise me to just see two stands open .

We've got Pied Jeremy Pied I just don't think you understand he's Claude Puel's man he's better than Obertan we've got Jeremy Pied Looking forward to singing that tomorrow night and welcoming him to the club.

Has there ever been two keepers from the same club called up for England? “I am confident that Fraser will soon be England’s number one, and in Alex we have a young player who has already had a taste of the England senior squad, as well as excellent experience at Under-21 level. “Alex is ambitious and will be pushing for a starting place every time he gets the opportunity, which can only be good for Fraser and a shining example for Harry Lewis and the younger keepers below. “Working with Dave Watson, our keepers can only get better and, who knows, we could have two Saints stoppers at the World Cup in two years’ time.”

We have got a large number of fans incapable of understanding basic instructions as I witnessed last year with the print at home tickets causing delays at turnstiles but I think we'll be fine for this one. It is a fantastic deal , £2 matches for £8 and fans will be eager to welcome Monsiuer Puel , Black and Plonk along with the new players but I doubt we'll have more than 10,000 at the game and if they open a few stands will be plenty of space to spread out. I reckon they'll do a combined match programme as well as ticket stub.

It looks like Brighton and Reading are both in this now, I'd bet a fair amount that Pompey will be grouped with one of them for the lucrative tie whereas we'll get Yeovil or Exeter

We know what to do in these situations, send for Steven Caulker on loan......

#economicMigrants welcome here The murder roadshow goes on and still mainstream media too scared to call it for what it is.

Not 100% sure of the accuracy of this, but was once told that the record England caps holder Peter Shilton made more of his England appearances as a Saints player than he did at any other club? if that's true there is a perfect legacy for Forster to follow, pretty sure Flowers was also capped for England whilst playing for Saints. the concept in mainstream media that England appearances are the domain of big club players in the modern era is so ingrained they just cannot get their heads round a Saints player being first choice.

I can't see a Zwolle build up thread on the board so will add this here, anyone know if the game will be streamed tomorrow? I don't know a lot about Zwolle but assume we'll start this game with a mixture of U21s and first team, doubt we'll see Euro 2016 players feature yet with more challenging games to come. Good luck to any fans travelling, also a good challenge to get to a game that officially we're banned from. No doubt Koeman will giving our tour an envious glance as we enjoy the Dutch hospitality in the sun while he's off to Barnsley this weekend!

Not sure what this will be. Doesn't seem much point in reducing match tickets now they are capped, and being a night game up north running a train probably not an option unfortunately so if anything could be subsidised coaches or offer to watch game online ?

Agreed. Sounds like another Hassan Kachloul who decided he was too good for us and engineered a move away.

Well considering we'll play at 3pm the following Saturday we might as well get used to it, plus you might have noticed that the English summer is currently on and I doubt the heatwave will last that long. Should be an interesting tactical match against a very good Bilbao side.I'd welcome a trip there in the Europa league, a city we have a long standing trade relationship with, they got their kit from Saints and gave Matt Le Tissier an award a year or so ago. There were also a number of young refugees that came from Bilbao to Southampton during the Spanish civil war.

who is the friendly against in the US? i think this is the lowest number of games being scheduled that i can remember , no doubt there will be a few others behind closed doors but does worry me that we do not have any 1st team games against other English teams, would be good for the new coach to get some experience i think.

it is an interesting point, the Football League have "invited academies" to take part in the competition, but that is a red herring as when you look at the rules it is actually the football club taking part - with 5 over aged players allowed to take part and a number of first team players being under age anyway (i've read in some articles that the age threshold will be 23) it certainly is not restricted to a development squad and so should not be reported as such. What i find most difficult to understand is the tournament starts next month and they are still unclear who is going to take part - it is as if they just expected all of the invited teams to accept but most of the "big" clubs are not interested.

I can't see them doing that as they sold the idea to the lower league clubs as a chance to raise income through shared gate receipts etc. I've not read anything about TV coverage but would imagine that they were hoping for sky to sign up if the comp included the big 6, again would boost the income.

Don't worry i think Ryan Seagar will be our Rashford.

I read in the paper this morning that Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd are expected to decline the invitation to join the competition. I find it incredible that the football league announced details before checking who will actually compete in the competition, and with the first game due to take place next month they haven't left much time to resolve an inbalance of numbers. What a shambles. Everton and Stoke have confirmed they'll enter, I've not seen any comment from Saints on this yet.

Yeah good shout I forgot about Shamrock Rovers making it that far, they played Spurs at Landsdowne Rd didn't they? Think the Russian team in the group was Kazan. spurs have had some cracking trips last few years including Tromso away inside the artic circle in December, I doubt we'll be that lucky but fingers crossed.

I like following these rounds, some fascinating teams / places but the chances of more than a couple of them making the group stage is slim. Hearts or Aberdeen would be good, also would not be surprised if Celtic drop out of Champions league into Europa league. I was dreaming of a trip to Llandudno but their 5-0 first leg defeat to Gothenburg has ended that St Pats or Cork City would be good but don't think an Irish league team has ever made it that far