ScepticalStan

Not at all. Its as good a way as any to see how much of a global outreach we have and are gaining in the globalised world of sport. Much as anyone might not like it, this sort of thing matters. And the potential for our club to achieve this kind of audience and popularity worldwide is a large part of why the Liebherr group bought us in the first place.

They've still taken six points off us this season. Can't complain.

Well Liverpool are going to look awfully silly regardless of how things go in our game.

3-0 Stoke! Its there for the taking!

OK, that's City with nothing to play for. Think that will help us. For some teams having the pressure off can liberate them but for others, especially a bunch of mercenaries like City, they tend to take their foot off the gas. Definitely think this one's winnable now.

Be interesting to see what we do if the game is petering out towards a draw (which would obviously do for Citeh, whilst also giving us the chance to leapfrog Spurs) if the scores in the other games were Stoke 3-0 Liverpool and Everton 1-0 Spurs. Do we gamble catching one (and the guarantee of 6th + Europa) to catch the other?

Looks like the hysterical panic about Swansea catching us is over and done with.

For all the mathematical possibilities its awfully hard to see how it won't finish precisely like that. Still exciting though. Be nice if City beat Swansea today and the only way we could go next Sunday is up.

ha! exactly this! Just eat your humble pie people.

Hahahahaha my goodness are people seriously still criticising Gazza? Outstanding header from Benteke. To win the ball and thump it that hard and accurate in a contested header is unbelievable

I assume I'm not the first person to suggest Leroy Fer? People might well point out that he's been relegated with two clubs but he's been the standout player for both and is exactly the kind of attacking central-midfielder that we don't have.

Bearing in mind that we'll never qualify for the Champions League, I'd absolutely love to see this happen (as with the financial dominance of City/Chelsea, to see at least one of Arsenal/United regularly dropping out of the CL would be quite delightful). Anyway, that's why it won't happen. England is in no danger whatsoever. There's just too much money in the Premiership for them to allow huge clubs to miss out ona regular basis.

For all the praise that Swansea have received for their win, I don't think its chauvinistic to say that compared to our most similar result this season (probably the 0-1 vs United at Old Trafford), its fair to say that they were very lucky and didn't really deserve it. Whereas we locked down United's main goal threats, creative players and restricted them to no shots on target in the entire match, Swansea really did just sit back and hope for the best. There is a difference. When a chance falls for Sanchez 8 yards out and he muffs it, whilst Walcott also manages to fluff a rebound that he'd most likely put away nine times out of ten, you haven't outplayed your opponent so much as simply benefited from a great deal of luck that's gone your way. Swansea have been lucky this season and we could count ourselves justifiably annoyed were they to finish above us, which happily enough I don't think they will, even if we don't pick up another point this season.

It is easy to forget that in the perfectly possible scenario that Spurs (who are playing dreadfully) manage to drop any points against Hull (who will fight for all their worth to get a point), then all we need is a win against Villa and Spurs will have to beat Everton away on the final day to have any chance of catching us even if we do get hammered by City. Likewise, if Swansea were to lose to City they would need to beat Palace away to catch us even if we lose both of our next two games. I think we're just as likely to finish 6th as we are 8th. You can talk about form all you like, but form comes and goes and you can never predict when (besides which, Spurs are doing just as badly as us).

I think the question you've always got to ask about any player that's shone in the lower leagues that you might want to ask before signing him is 'why has no-one taken a chance on him already?' This applied to Jermaine Beckford and sure enough, he struggled when Everton gave him a go. I'd apply the same logic to Jordan Rhodes as well. I'd veer strongly towards proven players rather than risky investments this summer. I'd consider Ings and Austin proven, but be more cautious about Trippier.

Spot on.

This.

Guys? Might need to shout this one down as well. People might find out that our attacking midfielder Steven Davis is a hugely limited player who creates nothing.

Shhhh! The SaintsWeb thought police will be onto you quickly.

Well that was easy.

Don't know if he's been mentioned but does anyone else like the look of Nathaniel Chalobah? He's looked impressive at all of his loan clubs in the Championship and must realise he isn't ever going to be given a chance at Chelsea. I think he can make the step up and would improve us hugely; exactly the type of driving, attacking midfielder that we currently lack.

The Mané goal was deflected I guess (although side-footing in when it's rolled across the face of goal doesn't exactly count as highlighting a willingness to shoot from outside the area or even the edge of the 18-yard box). I'm talking more about a goal similar to the two Arsenal have scored tonight (particularly Ramsey's, where no way would any of our players have swiveled and shot as opposed to holding it up and laying it off). It might sound like a bit of a stereotypical "fans'" complaint to point and say "we never score that goal!" but where there's smoke there's fire and I think there might be a grain of truth in this one.

Good shout (although the first wasn't deflected, it just went straight through Krul (although that could still be chalked up as a bit of fortune)). The most recent one that I could remember was Lambert's FK against Liverpool way back in 2013 damn near two years ago.

Obviously the Hull vs Arsenal game has sparked this, but when was the last time we scored via a deflection? Because if its as long as I think it might be, it doesn't half go to show how rarely we actually shoot from middle-distance.

As the Bompey lot seem to love the idea that being indifferent to them is somehow patronising, we may as well just give them what they want (to the tune of Pompey fan on a string): "Little Bournemouth trying their best Little Bournemouth trying their best" This'll be especially good in response to an approving round of applause for a tough tackle on one of our players (especially if we're a goal or two up at the time).