Saints vs Arsenal - 2000 April 4th

[Midfield_General]

7 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

I've seen Newcastle and Villa fans suggesting going weaker in the European comps (when they were in them) to concentrate on the league, so they could qualify for Europe next season. Make that make sense.

It's why modern professional football is fucked. Most of the people involved at the top end are simply parasitic capitalists out to make as much money as possible out of businesses that happen to be football clubs, so getting the money for being in a particular competition every year is far more important to them than silly secondary concerns like the sporting glory of actually winning them. So they make decisions that reflect that, and put forward convincing-sounding justifications for those opinions, which some fans end up nodding along with. 

While that's sad, if you put yourself in the shoes of those businessmen or agents or whatever who don't give a toss about sport and purely see the opportunity to make millions for themselves or their families, you can sort of understand them doing it, from a purely selfish point of view. 

What's weird though is like you say when the fans start talking like that as well, even though they don't actually see any of that money. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Midfield_General

[St Louis]

I want us to go strong for this, as surely we do have a chance, albeit a slim one. We arent some League One/Two team who are just here for a fun day out and play teams like this once every 100 years. We were in the same division as them (and have been most seasons) until last summer. Only 10 months ago we drew 0-0 at home to Man City and lost narrowly (1-2 to an 89th min Odegaard goal) to Arsenal themselves.
We are probably the best team in the division below them on current form, and definitely have more momentum/confidence than when we last played them, and I dont think our team is much weaker than it was back in May to be honest (certainly not mentally).
I dont expect us to win, but surely we do have a (slim) chance and have to go for it big time. Unfortunately, I think Flynn Downes is eactly the sort of player we need in the middle of the park for a game like this (grit, determination, drive, aggression - we cant be soft and let them play their game), so its such a shame he's missing this one, which makes our chances slimmer.

Edited 20 hours ago by St Louis

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

 

It's not just us, I've seen Newcastle and Villa fans suggesting going weaker in the European comps (when they were in them) to concentrate on the league, so they could qualify for Europe next season. Make that make sense.

 

That’s exactly what we did in 2016 and there were dinlos on here defending it. 
 

 

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, St Louis said:

I want us to go strong for this, as surely we do have a chance, albeit a slim one. We arent some League One/Two team who are just here for a fun day out and play teams like this once every 100 years. We were in the same division as them (and have been most seasons) until last summer. Only 10 months ago we drew 0-0 at home to Man City and lost narrowly (1-2 to an 89th min Odegaard goal) to Arsenal themselves.
We are probably the best team in the division below them on current form, and definitely have more momentum/confidence than when we last played them, and I dont think our team is much weaker than it was back in May to be honest (certainly not mentally).
I dont expect us to win, but surely we do have a (slim) chance and have to go for it big time. Unfortunately, I think Flynn Downes is eactly the sort of player we need in the middle of the park for a game like this (grit, determination, drive, aggression - we cant be soft and let them play their game), so its such a shame he's missing this one, which makes our chances slimmer.

Funny looking back, id expect Welington and Stewart to feature again from that line up. 

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

Only a handful of tickets left for this almost all in the usual Chapel block. Arsenal sold their allocation, clearly a big day out for them….an FA Cup day on the beer on the sunny south coast, what’s not to like?

[Mboto Gorge]

2 hours ago, Football Special said:

Funny looking back, id expect Welington and Stewart to feature again from that line up. 

Scary to be reminded that this was a premier league lineup. Really reminds me of why we only got 12 points 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

2 hours ago, Football Special said:

Funny looking back, id expect Welington and Stewart to feature again from that line up. 

Who is J Sanda? Am I suffering from dementia?

[Football Special]

3 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Who is J Sanda? Am I suffering from dementia?

Shame on you , he's a Saints / Sports Republic legend 

[Football Special]

59 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Scary to be reminded that this was a premier league lineup. Really reminds me of why we only got 12 points 

Its very poor, yet somehow nearly drew with Arsenal 

[ChristopheVAFC]

Hello everyone,

As you know, I'll have the honor of attending this match, and I have a few questions:

- Do you have any good restaurant recommendations?

- What's the most popular pub among Southampton supporters?

- Do you know if a commemorative scarf for this match will be available for purchase?

- Do you have any other places you'd recommend I visit?

Thank you, everyone, and I'm really looking forward to it! 😍

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

2 hours ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

Hello everyone,

As you know, I'll have the honor of attending this match, and I have a few questions:

- Do you have any good restaurant recommendations?

- What's the most popular pub among Southampton supporters?

- Do you know if a commemorative scarf for this match will be available for purchase?

- Do you have any other places you'd recommend I visit?

Thank you, everyone, and I'm really looking forward to it! 😍

Good Morning Christophe,

There's actually a decent selection of restaurants available in the city centre and whether British, Indian, Asian, Italian, French, Greek, Turkish, steak houses, etc and whether you'll be looking for a top-end experience or more wallet-friendly, there's a reasonable choice. There's a good selection at Ocean Village which is a pleasant setting or a good varied choice at Westquay South next door to the shopping centre. There's plenty more scattered about elsewhere, I'll let others make recommendations.

Most pubs and bars will be packed, particularly as there will be around twice as many away fans for this one as it's a cup game and will be in town early and probably take over a few. Again, your choice of drink, real ale, cheap beer, would determine a recommendation. If you eat at Ocean Village on match day you could always drink around there or nearby Oxford Street or a walk back towards West Quay would take you to the Wool House for a nice old building. I would imagine the Fanzone behind the Northam Stand may be suitable for yourself where they also have a live band on before the game.

Half-and-half scarves will be on sale everywhere, unfortunately, most of us detest them.

Southampton is more industrial rather than a tourist destination but the city centre is very green with massive parks through the centre, great when the sun is shining, There's Sea City museum (with the Titanic story), Solent Sky museum (a small aviation display - near Ocean Village), Tudor House, various city walks around the Walls and Vaults (Southampton was once ransacked by the French...take care!). Of course if you'd like to venture further afield then London is little more than an hour on the train (but expensive!) or closer by Winchester is a very nice cathedral city to visit, 15 minutes on the train from Central station.

Hope that helps a bit, others may offer more details.

https://www.visitsouthampton.co.uk/easter/

 

Edited 49 minutes ago by TheAlehouseBrawlers

[trousers]

2 hours ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

Do you have any good restaurant recommendations?

My son and I usually go to one of these two Italian restaurants before a match. Both very good. Need to book well in advance though, especially Piccolo Mondo 👍🏻