Lighthouse

Brilliant!! Well done Donny. If Carslberg did results tonight wouldn't be far off. Reading draw, Cardiff and Brum lose.

Nice to see Falque and Barnard giving Adkins food for thought ahead of Saturday. Good that Jaidi and Seaborne got some good game time too, although I can't see either of them playing for Saints this season.

Yes. The point I'm making is we would probably still have won with another striker instead of Connolly. When we are good, he plays well. When we aren't so good, he's nowhere. He doesn't effect the game IMO.

Both games when Saints were awesome anyway, they are the only ones when DC plays well. Connolly is like having a friend who turns up at your Hawaiian beach house to party when you've won the lottery, but is nowhere to be seen when your wife leaves you and your house burns down. Would we have won at Ipswich and Notts with Sharp, Lee or Barnard up front instead? You can never be certain but I'd have said most probably.

Had a spectacular view from 38,000ft above the Bay of Biscay this evening. They've been fairly well aligned for a few days now. Venus in particular was very bright.

He scored 4 goals last season, when he was a year younger and in League 1. 3 of them came against gash teams like Shrewsbury, Walsall and Brentford. Even then he only got in the side because Barnard was injured and Lambert and Guly were the only other strikers on the books. Connolly only scores when we are playing brilliantly, we have plenty of players who can do that. If we are not at our best and need someone who can come of the bench and nick a goal out of nowhere, Barnard and Guly are far superior.

This is true, however hopefully they will be like the team we took to Fratton in 2005. I can't wait to see whatever's left of their team stood like rabbits in the headlights in the tunnel at St Marys. After the two 4-1 games we really owe them an absolute hammering and we will be well up for it being so close to automatic promotion. Here's a scenario: Saints vs Coventry on the last day. Saints already promoted and need a draw to be champions. Coventry just need a draw to avoid the drop at the expense of...

I think it's unlikely. I'd settle for sticking 5 past them TBH.

I'm going to say we will have the same scenario as last year. The result at Boro will leave us 2nd, 3 points above West Ham in 3rd with 12 points better GD. Technically we would not yet be promoted as we would have to avoid a 13 goal turn around with a 7-0 home defeat against Coventry on the last day. Maybe...

Think of Guly as being the new Rasiak and I think he makes more sense. He's a good striker who can make the right moves at the right time. He can head, he can finish and he can bring others in to play. However a winger he is not. Playing wide does not suit his style at all. He can not take on a full back, beat him with pace or trickery and put a decent cross in. He tends to drift inside into more of a supporting striker possition, which then leaves Richardson exposed when the attack breaks down. Quite simply, he is a useful option to have as a striker but should not be played in midfield.

Barnard was one of our most important players before he got injured last season. Hard working, always putting pressure on defenders and a decent finisher. He has popped up and scored some very important goals when we were struggling and needed them most. Wednesday way last season, Adkins first win and our first goal for about a month. The winner in the 3-2 MK Dons game. Both goals at Carrow Road under Pardew when Norwich went up as Champions. An injury time equaliser at Brighton and a last minute winner at Yeovil. He hasn't been fit this season, but I'd at least give him a shot off the bench if the alternative is Connolly.

Is he better than Fonte and Hooiveld? Without having seen him play, except for one game at Fratton I'd have said no. If we're serious about the Premier League, that's what we need to be asking. The only upside to a loan would be Pompey missing their best centre half for their visit in April. Pretty trivial point anyway, I'm sure this is a wind up.

Because he isn't very good. 2 goals since August and he only ever scores in games when we're playing brilliantly and cruising anyway. If we are struggling on Saturday and need to change the game, DC isn't the man to do that.

I can't remember wishing good fortune on Neil Warnock or Leeds before, but here we are. I don't really rate Boro this year, they have far too many shockers to be automatic candidates, yet somehow they are still up there. A win today would leave them 4 points behind Reading and still with a game in hand on Saints. I wouldn't completely write them off.

I'd go with Chaplow in for Guly on the right and maybe Cork for Hammond in the middle. Drop Connolly from the bench and have Guly or Barnard there instead.

I know you're joking, but I think Warnock is normally one of the worst out there. I remember his post match interview after getting battered by Spuds earlier in the season. I thought he was about to drop his trousers and crack one off over Gareth Bale, it was just embarassing. With us he went for the other post match interview, default setting - Their 'keeper played a blinder, on another day we'd have scored 4 or 5.

Managers usually say nice things about the team that has just beaten them. If they say, 'oh they're the best team in the league, they play wonderful football etc,' it doesn't make their own failure seem quite as bad. If the manager said, 'yeah they were sh*te but they still battered us,' it doesn't reflect too well on his managerial skills. Similarly after a win they always say, 'we knew it was going to be tough, they're a good side' etc. etc. to make their win sound even more impressive. I wouldn't read too much into that, it's all standard stuff.

Can all the idiots banging on about 'subconscious racism' kindly p*ss off. It's nonesense. Dan Harding Dean Hammond Neil McCann Paul Telfer Rory Delap Peter Crouch David Prutton Matt Oakley Andreas Jakobsson Kamil Kosowski Tomasz Hajto Marek Saganowski Paul Wotton Are just a handful of the white players who have taken a disproportionate amount of stick in recent times. Don't forget players like Waigo, Antonio and Jaidi who seemed to enjoy something of a cult status whilst they were here. It's bullsh*t. I know some people like alpine only serve to antagonise, but the rest of us should know better.

So what's the 1pm kick off in aid of if the game isn't on TV? I'm guessing something to do with Policing and allowing people less time to get p*ssed before the game.

23 and I live in Bristol First game was that 2-3 against Villa in 2005. I still wake up screaming... First away game was a 1-1 draw at Scunny under Pearson in 2008. Both penalties, Vignal scored ours with 5 minutes left right in front of me.

At best you would say he divides opinion on here. I know that isn't the measure of a players ability, but to do it in the Prem I'd have said you need to be consistently good in the NpC. Guly just isn't IMO. Plus the fact that we will need more firepower up front. We've got Lambert, Lee looks a live wire and Sharp will come good with time. We will need to offload a couple of our weaker striking options and for me that's DC and Guly.

Hypothetically speaking.... I'd get rid of quite a few players. Connolly, Jaidi, Holmes, Forecast, Dickson, Harding, Seaborne, Hammond and probably Guly I'd say are not Prem quality and I would try to offload. Question marks over a couple of others, like Puncheon, Barnard and Bart but I would give them a go. Players in would depend largely on who goes up and who goes down. Rhodes, Hoilett, Rodallega... Just a couple of ideas.

I laughed my tits off at 4 Lions, although it's not really what you'd call uplifting. Blades of Glory was on a couple of weeks ago. Good for a giggle.

Lee has earnt his starting place on merit. Whenever he plays his movement is fantastic, he brings much needed pace and he has shown he can't half finish when he wants to. Sharp's reputation alone wont get him into the side. He needs to prove himself in the chances he gets, same as everyone else. So far I can't see a case for starting him ahead of Lee.

I'd go with this team and bench, except for Harding in assuming Fox is injured. I think people should lay off Harding a bit. It's difficult being a defender, because you have to win every battle. If Lambert gives the ball away or f**ks up a shot, no bother he can just try again next time. If a defender loses his man for a second, or gets turned or leaves a yard too much space then that can be enough to concede a goal and suddenly you're the villain. It can't be easy to play consistently well when you are in and out the team all the time. In any case, I don't actually think he was that bad last night.