St Michael

I'm 31 so started going to The Dell at the perfect time to enjoy all but the earliest part of Matty's indescribably sublime Saints career. To me, Matt is, and always will be Southampton FC. During the mid-90s I probably loved him more than the club itself, and watching us just hasn't been the same since he retired (Strachan era excepted). I will always worship the man, not just for the incredible moments he gave us while on the pitch, but for his loyalty, modesty and simply being a great bloke in a game where morals and admirable characters are often in scant supply.

The only consolation for going yesterday was I live in Leeds and was home by 5.30pm. Oh, and their stadium announcer was quite amusing and gave us a warm welcome, which was quite a novelty. Other than that, abysmal.

Huge, pivotal game. A home win would give me real hope for the rest of the season. Another insipid home performance would put us right back to square one after three matches unbeaten. With a team full of inexperienced nippers we are never going to be consistent so predicting (and especially betting on) Saints scores is almost impossible.

We haven't got a prayer. But I'll still get that irritating grip of disappointment when we concede the first goal. When will I learn?

Everyone is, of course, entitled to voice their opinions but what the plebian boo boys totally fail to understand is the context. It wasn't a great game obviously, but the one thing you will never get from young players, however talented, is consistency. Cretinous chavs need to understand that. It's hardly surprising when two good performances last week are followed by a knackered, flat display just a few days later. We've got a fledgling team just getting to know each other and their manager, the style of football is by and large encouraging and the philosophy seems right. We receive a setback and what is some people's response? "BOOOO!". Get a grip, folks. Rupes and JP have put their faith in youth and it's a laudable philosophy (if a little transparent - young players are cheap after all), but, apart from Manchester Utd in 95/96 Alan Hansen was right - you don't win anything with kids. Give it time.