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Mate, have an early night and set an alarm, you don't want to miss our first home win against them since 2005!

I don't think JWP should automatically be on free kicks. Manning has been one of the best around for the last couple of years.

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Hack

I don't disagree with any of the comments that point out that staying in the Championship playing like we do is not sustainable in the long term. Isn't this a damning indictment of the sport that we follow? Whilst there has always been a football hierarchy, has it ever been this large? If Man City were to be hammered by the football authorities would this change? Or would the Big 6 just become the Big 5 and still dominate the League? Is there anything that a football regulator could do??

System

Ward-Prowse to score a free kick this weekend

Now being managed by Leicester hate figure Robbie Savage in his second game in charge. Will be a feisty atmosphere, Peterborough are second bottom so really shouldn’t get anything and Savage will be winding up the fans, so if he goes there and beats them it should get lively. Smallbone not yet ready but sounds like he’s not far off.

Agreed. Given Matsuki on the other side isn't a natural wide player he'll more than likely come inside more so we don't want Scienza doing that too.

He was ripping them apart in that position to begin with. Unfortunately their cynical, snidey attempts to injure him had an impact and he became subdued after the second one.

I got hammered in there too

While the idea of perpetually being a shark in the EFL pool of little fish seems enticing it is not sustainable. I can't think of a single club that is run successfully on the lines of being competitive, but not too competitive in the Championship. It is a division you eventually leave in one direction or the other. Within two seasons of not going up we would be stripped of any player of quality with only home defeats to Preston to look forward to. And while I loathe the EPL, Hull and Ipswich are showing that it is possible to give it a decent go. The other factor is that paradoxically, it is cheaper to be an away fan thanks to the price-cap that scandalously we don't have in the Championship.

Not Radio Solent, but another name and voice I always associate with coverage of Saints was David Bobin. This is late 1970’s from Southern ITV. Can still hear it now.

They’ll be parked in the middle of the pitch, defending their box and trying to have no gaps between their defence and midfield. We need to use as much width as we can and Leo on the wing is key to that. Besides, have you forgotten how playing him in the middle went at Watford?

Interesting interview here and him opening up about a health condition which he's not spoken about before which was diagnosed whilst at Southampton.

Linux

Yep this is how I remember it mid to late 80s in my room the Beatles playing on Solent on my hifi stack system and it cuts in at any moment. It was Oct 4th 1986 that I remember the most because I recorded it. (I just looked up the date as I knew it was Newcastle and hammered them and Mark Dennis scored a screamer. My memory was it was always ‘There has been a goal at The Dell, over to John Barratt” and on this occasion it was happy new it was the 84th minute and we were 3-1 up, so of course presumed it would be 3-2, but bedlam preceded in in my room when the words came out of the radio. “Mark Dennis picked the ball up, he ran towards the edge of the area he shot and in it sailed, Southampton 4 Newcastle 1. I had the tape of this for many years and used to play it, amazing how much a short clip on the radio can cheer one up. Sorry late to this thread, but was looking up John Barratt and this thread came up. I still say to this day when on a car journey going to away games with my son and Mark Chapman says there have been a goal at… I say over to John Barratt. My son of course has no idea what his fool of a dad is going on about. I was looking to see if Mr Barratt was still alive but I am presuming not?

Good shout that, they will certainly be looking to chop Sienza at any opportunity but they’ll be a bit more reluctant if he’s cutting inside around the box.

Have to hope this episode and support from those around him at the club will have secured some goodwill. He mentioned Dragan, Johannes, and (more surprisingly perhaps) Phil in his interview, which I hope bodes well. My thought is that the new contract was probably in the pipeline towards the end of last season, but was put back in the drawer after ‘Spygate’ erupted. I’d expect it to be dusted off again soon. Really hope Tonda gets us up and has a crack in the EPL.

Cloud

He interviews well in my book. Comes across as thoughtful, and meticulous in how he approaches things.

Pun intended? Perhaps a JWP masterclass up there in a Saints win will rack it up a bit for them, wondering why ‘Baldy’ saw fit to persecute a good player

Agree. Most would view promotion as a necessity and we all want Saints to compete at the higher level, the EPL leaves me cold to a large degree due to what it has become. And have to question if we can “compete”? Perhaps with more stable management (incl Spors) we will, or at least make a better go at it than the last time. A main attraction for going up (for me anyway) is being able to retain your better players. Would Charles and THB still be with us now for example ?

Not really. Got the ball first but the follow through took out the attacker.

Haaland was indeed eligible to play for England, having been born there. He spent some of his early childhood in England too, I believe. The only person with a fixation in making people be a certain thing, even though you can't give a coherent definition, is yourself. Haaland had the option of picking Norway based on the rest of his upbringing. It was your own definition that said the English are native to England. This example shows things are a bit more fluid in the real world. Also by your definition, Haaland couldn't really be English unless he could trace family back to before the Norman conquest. No one is English, unless they can do that. You should be updating the FA on that.