Pamplemousse

We've got the 4 results we needed so Saints are definitely seeded

"If money was no object, which player would you bring to Pompey?" McIness: "Ruben Reid" (to much laughter) Paul Cook: "I wouldn't sign him!" McIness: "Andy [Awford] said that and he got sacked!" :mciness: Not impressed on POL either There are a few comments from the skullheads who found the comments hilarious, McIness is a legend innit for killing scummaz but most of the comments seem fairly reasonable. But don't worry folks, they haven't forgotten about us Dinlos?? I think the word this skate was looking for is nutjob Meanwhile, our old friend Corporate Ho has been peddling a few Portsmyths again

So after tonight's Champions League ties, these are the teams that lost and drop down into the Europa League play-off round. Teams with a higher co-efficient than Saints (16.078) Ajax (66.195) Red Bull Salzburg (43.135) Viktoria Plzen (41.825) Steaua Bucharest (40.259) Young Boys (31.375) Sparta Prague (30.825) Fenerbahce (30.020) Panathinaikos (19.880) Lech Poznan (17.300) And teams with a lower co-efficient Qarabag (11.500) HJK (11.140) Molde (10.375) Midtjylland (7.960) Videoton (7.950) Milsami Orhei (3.750) At the moment, if all the Europa League ties continue like they did in the first leg, we would be 21st out of the 44 teams so would be a top seed, but it really is touch and go at the moment. There were a few upsets in the Champions League so hopefully that will continue tomorrow in the Europa League.

BATE Borisov just scored against Videoton with about 5 minutes to go

Astana scored a last minute winner to beat HJK in their Champions League tie so HJK drop down into the Europa League play-off round. But both teams had a lower co-efficient than Saints so it didn't really matter which one went through (although from an away fan's perspective, Helsinki is better to go to than Astana!) Qarabag v Celtic kicks off at 5.30pm and that one is important, we need a Celtic win.

At the moment there are 17 teams in the play-off round which definitely will have a lower co-efficient than Saints. There are 22 seeded teams and 22 unseeded teams so we need at least 5 more results to go our way to ensure we are seeded. Only judging by first leg results, we would be the 20th seed and therefore one of the top seeds but it's touch and go. We really could do with Ajax coming back in that game.

APOEL v Midtjylland and Molde v Dinamo Zagreb kick off at 6pm and Ajax v Rapid Vienna is at 7.15pm.

There are 4 games tomorrow in the Champions League so I thought I'd summarise the situation regarding which teams we want to win in those matches to ensure the best possible chances of us being seeded in the play-off round. Southampton's co-efficient is 16.078 so we need teams in the Champions League with a higher co-efficient than that to win their leg and teams with a lower co-efficient to lose. The losers of each Champions League tie will be in the play-off round for the Europa League. Monaco (31.483) v Young Boys (31.375) - It doesn't really matter because both teams have a higher co-efficient than Saints. Monaco won the first leg 3-1 so it seems likely that Young Boys will drop into the Europa League. APOEL (35.460) v Midtjylland (7.960) - APOEL won the first leg 2-1 so it looks likely that Midtjylland will drop into the Europa League, which is a good news from our point of view. Molde (10.375) v Dinamo Zagreb (24.700) - The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw. Molde have an away goal but we could do with a Dinamo Zagreb win. Ajax (66.195) v Rapid Wien (15.635) - The first leg ended in a 2-2 draw. Ajax have two away goals so are in a decent position to win their leg, which is what we want. So to clarify, in tomorrow's Champions League matches, we want wins for APOEL, Dinamo Zagreb and Ajax.

Referee is Ilias Spathas from Greece. The only thing on wikipedia about him is that he's a suspect in the 2015 Greek football scandal He's been accused of accepting a bribe but nothing has happened to him it seems.

Who was it that predicted that fans would start fighting amongst themselves, as they demonstrated at their friendly against Gillingham, and that there would be fighting within the PST? It wasn't those jealous bitter scummahs, surely not?

Ooops. Their best player last season, Paul Robinson, leaves the club before the start of the season http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/paul-robinson-makes-shock-pompey-departure-1-6880927 And on POL they're not happy... But the hero to villain swingometer has swung in the opposite direction, as our old friend Banker aka Corporate Ho demonstrates

I remember the pressers with Adkins would go for 30-45 minutes. The ones with Pochettino took longer too but that was also due to the fact that he had an interpretor. But you're right, these days they're not as long as they once were.

I saw on facebook a story that John PFC Westwood a.k.a. the bestest of the bestest, has had his bell stolen. Anyone on here know if there is any truth to this?

I'd keep him on ignore if I were you

Can any of our resident Dutchies give us the lowdown on Vitesse, their expected lineup, key players, weaknesses etc.

Referee on Thursday is Jesús Gil Manzano from Spain

UEFA website has the kick off time for the home leg being at 8.05pm UK time http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2016/matches/day=-4/index.html Haven't seen it confirmed anywhere else yet though, so don't know how accurate that is, especially as they think we play at the Friends Provident St. Mary stadium

A thread from POL And some responses... My favourite comment is this one

Only on SaintsWeb could the bed wetters come out in force over the release of squad numbers

It'd be nice if you actually copied the quote instead of just posting a link

Looks like it's promotion or bust considering the outlay on a new manager and new signings. It really would be awful for them to fail...

The plucky heroes battled hard to score an 89th minute winner against Gosport, who clearly were no match for their more illustrious opponents. The new players seem to be coping well with living up to the legacy of the two-time English league champions

How many tickets do we have to give to Vitesse for the leg at SMS? I imagine they would take a sizeable contingent of supporters like we will over there.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=132968649&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=pVSV&locale=de_DE&srchid=3401979901436628204042&srchindex=7&srchtotal=12&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A3401979901436628204042%2CVSRPtargetId%3A132968649%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary%2CVSRPnm%3Atrue Been a commentator on the Bundesliga since 2000, so he's hardly new to this sort of thing