Lighthouse

Dragged back in?! If we lose ALL our remaining games, with a GD of -20, that would have kept us up last season. Put your feet up and enjoy the football. We’ll be in the mid 40s on the last day of the season whilst the teams in the actual battle are fighting over 35-37 points.

11 games left, I’m sure the bottom 5 are ALL going to get 4 wins more than us. I guess when they do, it’s between us and Arsenal for the drop.

6 points off a champions league place, 10 above the drop zone and still people talk about it being a ‘critical win’ and being nearly safe. We are not going down, even if we’d lost today we still wouldn’t go down. As for the match, very good performance all around and should have won by a much bigger margin. Good performance by Smallbone and Hoj in the middle and JWP filled in well at RB. Villa we’re properly awful though and rarely troubled us.

Goodnight.

Not a red IMO, looked deliberate in slow motion but it wasn’t.

How does that work? Jordon Ibe sat on the bench for Liverpool, so did Solanke. You could put me on the bench for that 1970 Brazil team, wouldn't mean I'm good enough to play for anyone. The players you've listed played in a different era, sports fitness has moved on so much since their day. Channon and friends played in an era when you could go out on the lash the night before a game, then grab a large fish and chips on the way to the ground to soak it all up. It's not like that now, we've got VO2 max tests and midfielders running 11km in a game. I think Lallana would be off the pace again and likely just get injured trying to keep with the pace.

Wow, you’ve lead a sheltered life and have obviously never been to Russia, Ukraine, any of the Balkans, Italy, pretty much all of the Middle East, the USA, France, Japan/China, South Africa... I’m not even going into the rest of the continent and all the genocides they’ve had. If you want a Utopia, I’m afraid you’re the wrong species living on the wrong planet. If it’s a choice between occasionally having some kn*bber in a crowd shout, "oi puff!" Or living a lonely, self-loathing lie for your whole career, I know which I’d pick.

What are reported incidents though? Are these convictions, are they all at games, does it include social media, which leagues does it include? If I went to a Sunday League game and shouted, “f**k off, you useless *****, you’re sh*t!” At a black player and someone just assumes I have a problem with race and reports it, does that contribute to the statistic? To put that number into context, Brighton had a turn out of just under 60,000 at the last election, slightly under an average home gate at Arsenal. 177 people voted for UKIP, who are all racist xenophobes according to many. So statistically Brighton has a much worse problem with right wing racism/xenophobia? I know it’s a facetious argument but talking about the 0.01%’ers as representing an institutional problem doesn’t hold up either.

So you have no evidence that football is worse than anywhere else? It’s just an old cliché, so we’re going to stick with it. As for the rest of Europe, you think the average Serbian or Ukrainian is open minded and tolerant, it’s just the football fans which are the trouble makers?

I must have missed 750,000 people attending Crufts every week for 3/4 of the year. Not that I can be arsed to debate it again but the percentage of people committing racist offences at English football is miniscule.

You get the 50,000 antiques collectors, dog trainers or train spotters in one place and tell me not one of them is racist.

I think when most people say open they (I) mean not denying it and having a boyfriend. You don’t need a flag waving glittery parade down the Mall, just not denying yourself is all you need.

Who has experienced it though? We’ve not had an openly gay player since Fash and that was back in a time when people used to chuck bananas at John Barnes. I think it’s sad an unnecessary that players feel the need to hide it in 2020. The positive reaction would massively outweigh any homophobia if someone did come out.

The whole team was crap against Leicester, even if Valery was a stand out performer. He’s no worse than Martina, Pied, Richardson, Kenton, Targett, Fox or any of the other reserve full backs we’ve had over the years. Like it or not, he is about our level when it comes to cover in that position.

We've been here before with, "player X was racially abused on twitter." There's no point in being offended or upset. It sounds silly and easier said than done but social media is an almost borderless, unpoliced free for all, where anyone in the world can say anything to anyone else.

32 and it’s certainly getting that way when you’ve had injury problems and a lack of regular football. 2014 Lallana would obviously improve this team but he hasn’t been that player for a long while now.

Don’t know what to make of the Flack situation. I wonder if it ever occurred to her, or was suggested, to delete all her social media, drive up to Keswick and spend a week walking around the Lake District. It’s not a cure but I can’t help but feel a week away from it all, in a rural town where everyone is over 50 and never heard of her, might have given her a chance. I doubt there’s a celeb alive or dead who hasn’t been abused on twitter. If you’re going to make yourself an open goal for the whole world, you need to have a thick skin towards pretty much everything.

Not for me. Old, injured, only here for a pay cheque. Not been consistently decent for years.

I saw an interview with a female pop star a few months ago, can't remember who, I think it might have been one of Little Mix. She was talking about the online abuse she was getting from trolls, people commenting on her weight on Instagram etc. Eventually it lead her to a point where she either contemplated or attempted suicide. Her friends and family helped her pull through and things started to improve when one of them suggested she delete her Instagram and Twitter accounts. Not wishing to downplay any of the abuse she received but I find it utterly astonishing that some celebs would choose to commit suicide, rather than delete their social media accounts.

All set up for one of those 'glorious European nights at Anfield', where Athleti take the lead and Liverpool need three goals to go through. It's all looking hopeless with 5 minutes to go, when they make it 2-2 on aggregate then pull off a sensational winner in the last minute of injury time.

You don’t want to face the wrath of his bunghole.

I wouldn't sign him but I would bring him back and just let his loose, sort of feral around the city.

Because they're used to playing there. They know the surface, the grass length, water it how they like, the dressing room, the sun direction etc. Yes, having a passionate stand of continental ultras would give them a small boost but in no way does that account for the four years of sh*te we've had to watch.

This site has ruined a lot of things in real life for me. Breaking Bad, the Ottoman Empire, Bruce Wayne, salt-water molluscs...

Any professional worth his salt should be able to turn up and perform in an empty stadium. A passionate crowd can sometimes give a team that extra lift, 1% extra when a do or die game is going down to the wire. However, nothing the fans at St Mary's have done (or not done) over the past four seasons is any excuse at all for some of the abject, pathetic non-performances the team has put in. Any player who says otherwise needs to shut up and take a good hard look at his own attitude. Players are all to quick to dismiss the fan base when it comes to going on strike, refusing to play and demanding a big money move elsewhere etc. So for some of them to turn around and pretend they care about our supposed lack of support would be taking the p*ss.