Nordic Saint

Yes, I'm pretty sure 21,400 is bigger than Pompey's all-time record League Cup gate and it's also considerably bigger than any home gate they've ever had for a cup game v Sunderland in their entire history. So, we hold the south coast record for both just from last night. Pompey's last cup game v Sunderland: Sat 23 Jan 2010 FA Cup 4th Rd. Pompey 2 Sunderland 1 attendance: 10,315

It's probably more than they've ever had for a League Cup game in their entire history although they had 2,700 for League Cup game v Blackburn.

Just had a look. His tweet today is a picture of the Kingsland Stand last night and 'dirty scummers'. His Twitter profile picture with his 2 friends looks like the Inbetweeners only more nerdish. He talks like the one who is always boasting about his non-existent sexual conquests and looks lke the one with glasses. Does anyone really want to bother to tweet this nerd?

What about this from Wikipedia? The 1890 Southampton Dock strike took place in Southampton, England, September, 1890. The closing years of the 1880s saw a resurgence of trade unionism amongst merchant seamen, dockers and other unskilled workers. A notable victory was scored by London dockers during the famous London dock strike in 1889, in which the dockers were able to win a rate of 6d, known colloquially as the 'dockers' tanner'. Later that year, a branch of the Dockers' Union was formed in Southampton. In part this was an effort by the union to prevent Southampton men being used to break strikes in London, as had occurred on a limited basis during the 1889 strike. However, as the local branch grew, pressure mounted to improve wages in Southampton itself and to win the dockers' tanner[clarification needed] for Southampton men. Towards the end of August, the Southampton Dock Company and the various shipping firms agreed to grant wage increases of 1d an hour. However, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which paid lower rates than the other principal firms, refused to bring its rates into line with the other companies. All of the employers, meanwhile, refused to grant official recognition to the Dockers' Union and the National Union of Seamen. Because of these two issues, a strike was declared on 7 September. Unlike the London Dock Strike, the strike in Southampton was marked by a certain amount of public disorder. Blacklegs from Portsmouth arriving at the railway station were attacked and large crowds gathered daily in the streets around the docks and, leading to fears of rioting. In response the Mayor requested assistance from the Home Office.

Sorry to hear that, Horley. I sent off my sample today and have been told to expect a 6-8 week wait for the results. My expectations are quite high too. I was impressed by the testing kit and packaging anyway. What exactly are the bare basics? Did you get any links with other people as they claim and did it help sustantiate links in your Ancestry family tree?

Yes. It used to work well when it was on YouTube but not now. Is there still a YouTube link?

I remember the same hype about Lovren and Alderweireld but the hardest one to replace will be Fonte. The club would be mad to sell him in January although Man United's desperation to sign him will have increased after yesterday's result. Incidentally, most of the best central defenders in Europe are in their 30s. As we can see with Stones, young centre backs are more error-prone.

William Hill make us 10/1 4th favourites to win the cup although with most bookies we're the 5th favourites. Those odds will shorten if we beat Sunderland and get the luck of the draw and one of the Manchester teams ahead of us in the betting has to be knocked out. Although I'm not counting my chickens as I remember Sheffield United in 2014 and, of course, Sunderland in 2013.

In fact, I'm absolutely certain of it.

In fact, I'm absolutely certain of it.

Man City's defence has looked poor since Stones joined them. He is still a work in progress prone to lapses. Austin should get the better of him. So, they are playing an attacking side in order to outscore us. Pity Aguero was rested midweek. He'll be really fired up for this one.

Anyone here done a DNA test? If so, what did you find out? I've just sent off for the Ancestry DNA kit, as I'm interested in my ancestry. They seem quite reasonably priced nowadays, at less than £100. I think it's going to take a while as it has to be sent to the USA. I'll report back later on whether it was worth it (if anyone is interested).

He is still improving but he is going to be worth at least £80m and be up there in the Bale class.

We miss Fonte's composure when Inter attack.

Surprisingly noisy atmosphere. I expected less noise in a big, half-empty stadium. "Southampton's massed ranks of travelling fans are out-singing the Inter crowd."

Yes, we need Austin on the pitch asap.

It just about sums up how bad our divided excuse for a kop is: one half can't even hear the other half singing at the same end of the ground. The numbers and the will are there but the right location and the unity are not.

I don't know if you realized it but when you were singing in Itchen block 1, the Northam were singing a completely different song, presumably because they couldn't hear you. You'd only really get a very loud song if your two separte mobs joined together. The other problem is the corner is about the worst spot in the stadium for acoustics, which is why most clubs stick the away fans there.

Itchen blocks 1 & 2 should be for away fans anyway and the home fans who sing there should be moved into Northm blocks 43 & 44 directly behind the goal, where they could join up with the other home fans in the Northam. That would help improve the atmosphere.

Err, no, he's not. That is exactly what Fonte was doing in the Euros. Maybe you're the one who's confused?

It amazes me how little some of our fans think of most of our players except whoever the latest signing is. Their attitude seems to be if they stay at Southampton they can't be any good but they'll tolerate the ones who they think are just passing through. We finished 6th in the Premier League last seaon and could beat any team in the league. The players who remain from that team are really not that bad. In the last 3 years we've had the best set of players in the history of this club, with the possibly exception of the early 1980s yet some of our fans are of the mindest that they are the same calibre as the relegation strugglers of the 90s. Quite a few of the players from this season and the previous 2 would get into an All-Tme Best Saints XI.

I certainly don't think Portugal would be European champions if they'd played Stones instead of Fonte.

It depends where you rate England alongside teams like Portugal and Serbia. Portugal are the reigning European champions. Forster England 6 caps Cedric Portugal 16 Fonte Portugal 19 van Dijk Netherlands 10 Bertrand England 10 Romeu Hojbjerg Denmark 21 Davis N. Ireland 90 Tadic Serbia 41 Long Ireland 70 Austin

Jose Fonte, the clean sheet king. 19 games for Portugal and 15 clean sheets in them. Also around 100 clean sheets in his games for Saints. In some ways it is a shame that he hasn't had spell at a top club because there are still some Saints fans who don't appreciate just how good he is and feel that the fact he hasn't gone to Man United yet must mean he's not a top player. He's not a flashy individualistic type of player but does what he needs to do for the team, which is why his teams keep so many clean sheets: a true Saints legend who'd certainly be the captain my All-time Best Saints XI.

Was André Valente da Silva ever mentioned? PL clubs will be queueing up to sign him in January. We have an advantage having Fonte in the Portuguese team, who could have a word with him like he did with Cedric. But, if he keeps on scoring the way he is, he might be out of our price range by then.