ScepticalStan

Its difficult isn't it? He's so much of a mercenary that normally you'd assume he is, as has been said, trying to get out of the cup game. Yet on the other hand, he's just so fantastically stupid its a miracle he's capable of getting food-to-mouth let alone plan ahead a week in advance for basically anything.

4 points from our last 8 games (and a reasonably well-balanced selection of fixtures at that). Carry on with that form and we'll pick up 9 points from the remaining 18 fixtures. Pick up 9 more points this season and we'll finish on 35 points, which will quite possibly see us relegated. Its a very genuine concern.

Wasn't too disastrous at the back until the fantastically stupid red card from Vic. JWP once again was woeful and created absolutely nothing. After playing over 100 games, people on here will still say he needs time. Shane Long misses another sitter one-on-one. Not like our main striker will get a shred of blame though as he runs around a lot and works hard. Gaston will likely attract criticism in a match where he's brought on with 5 minutes to try and rescue a game in a team 1-0 down and down to ten men away from home. One silver lining was Bertrand, who was absolutely superb, won everything, looked dangerous going forward and didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

...

Then lay the bet at 1000/1 and take my money. Incidentally, I seem to recall you telling me that I was stupid to suggest that our squad wasn't as strong as last seasons or the season before that. You also told me that I was stupid to suggest that we direct our efforts away from the League Cup as we weren't strong enough to win it (which resulted in us getting ****ted 1-6 by Liverpool before subsequently dropping vital points at home to the bottom club Villa). You don't appear to have a terrific track record here.

They don't, but I could probably lay the bet on Betfair for a ~£30 profit or so. Would rather just let it ride though. £12 is nothing and I just want the peace of mind that insurance brings.

Odds on us to be relegated are now 40/1 with Stan James. We were 200/1 prior to home matches against Spurs, Arsenal and the away match with West Ham. To drop to 40/1 from 200/1 after collecting 3 points from those fixtures (roughly par for the course) is very strange. Honestly, I think SJ must have made a mistake or failed to update their book. Good bet.

We should be two or three up here. This is the best football we've played all season.

Long miles offside and Davis still tries to pass him the ball Intelligent midfielder Other than that, this is very, very good.

Batman once again providing the voice of reason. He's not getting much joy though, so I'll have a go at spelling it out: Look, gents, Shane Long isn't responsible for the fee that we paid for him. Its irrelevant to his ability as a footballer and character as a man. HOWEVER. The BENEFITS of Southampton Football Club securing the services of Mr Shane Long are inextricably linked to the price those services cost. Get it?

He had a good game today but I wouldn't go too nuts! Needs 10+ goals in a season before he matches up to the £12 million price tag. Great job today though. Pace and aggression and some solid finishing as well at last.

Genuinely don't think he (or more-or-less any other player in the world) could repeat that if they tried 100+ times. Un-****ing-believable goal.

Normally you'd surely stick to the same XI that played tonight but obviously the fact that it'll be played less than 48 hours from the Arsenal game might force some changes. Hopefully not though. Stick with the same team if at all possible.

Would bring some much-needed pace and energy to the centre-forward position, whilst also proving that you don't need to be a big, immobile, bully-boy target-man to do a good job of holding up the ball. Very versatile centre-forward and a harder worker than a lot of people might appreciate (you only have to look at how badly his absence hurt Newcastle). Quite. Another defender who was overrated because he was physically a fully-grown man aged 17 and so was playing first-team professional football as a teenager, and therefore presumed to improve to a world-beater. A bit like Micah Richards but worse, and only a few rungs above the infamous 'once-a-6'3"-14-year-old' Cherno Samba.

I've pointed this out for a while. Its a very inconvenient truth for a lot of people on here.

Then lay a bet at 200/1 and claim your free money from idiots like me.

But you're not betting, because like you cleverly said, Saints won't go down. So it doesn't matter if the odds are 200/1 or 1000/1 remember? Just plonk your £10,000 in and help yourself to your completely free £10 from idiots like me who jumped on at 200/1. (Odds suspended with most bookies as the matchweek is still in progress but for what it's worth, we're now at 33/1 with BetVictor.)

Didn't see the game but just seen the goals on the replay. Cedric clearly at fault for both. Far too weak in defence (I realise VVD also made a howler but that's pretty much his first major mistake since joining - Cedric seems to make one mistake per game).

if you bet on something that won't happen whatever the odds maybe. I am unfamiliar with the Betfair system, no doubt because it's an Anglo-Saxon thing that doesn't exist outside of the UK and it's derivatives. I'm saying that if you're certain that our getting relegated is utterly impossible, why not bet against it and effortlessly claim your completely and utterly free money from people like me? As you say, Saints getting relegated won't happen. So you're not taking any sort of risk are you ? We can certainly arrange this without Betfair. We'll find a trusted and accountable third-party here on SaintsWeb to act as treasurer of the 'pot' formed by your and my opposite bets; I'll put in £10 on us to get relegated, you put in £10,000 on us not to get relegated, and whoever wins the bet scoops the lot! You can rest easy safe in the knowledge that not only will you be taking my money, you'll be well and truly outwitting me as well!

I assume this is a moral argument insofar as you're saying that one ought not to bet against their own team's misfortune. If that's the case though, how far do you take it? If someone offered you 50/1 on Tottenham to beat us this weekend should you turn that down too because it would be morally wrong? The fact that I don't want Spurs to beat us doesn't have the slightest effect on the objective chance of whether they will or not, and the chance of them doing so is clearly far, far greater than the 2% represented by odds of 50/1.

Brilliant. Now all you have to do is pop £10,000 into Betfair, bet against Saints to go down at odds of 1000/1, and effortlessly collect the £10 I'll be putting on the opposite bet. Come on then! Its free money after all isn't it? And the odds don't make a difference because we won't go down.

This reminds me of the financially suicidal people who said they'd accept my even--money bet that we wouldn't finish as high as last season, and mysteriously vanished away when I, obviously, made every attempt to take them up on it.

An interesting question would be "how much money would you need to be paid for Saints to be guaranteed relegated? I must admit that the £2400 I'd now stand to win would be a heavy price to essentially pay in order to see us stay up, especially when we've got the financial backing and stability to bob up like a cork if we were to go down. I guess that I've essentially just bought insurance and paid for a bit of peace of mind. This hasn't been an enjoyable season in the slightest and the only emotion that a bet like this is likely to allow me to avoid is one of persistent worry and ever-growing concern. £12 is a small price to pay to dispel that.

Just had a flutter on us to go down at 200/1 with Stan James. Tried to bet £30 but they'd only accept a maximum stake of £12, which still returns £2400 should the unthinkable happen. Either way, I'm quite certain that that price will plummet, giving me the chance to trade out for a neat little profit when we're down to 20/1 or 30/1 or so and limping over the line (which is, I think, how the season will likely pan out). 200/1 really is stark raving mad though.

No chance we can afford his wages.