Nordic Saint

If we'd had Forster instead of McCarthy in goal, it would have been a comfortable victory: "McCarthy started between the sticks for Hasenhuttl’s team but his performance left a lot to be desired. Indeed, his was the lowest match rating awarded to a Southampton player. The 31-year-old was beaten at his near post for both of Norwich’s goals and picked out a team-mate with only 11 of his 17 passes (65%) McCarthy also played just two accurate long balls out of eight, won zero duels and lost possession six times at Carrow Road on Saturday." Norwich 2 - 1 So'ton - Match Report & Highlights (skysports.com)

A match made in hell (or Bradford)

They are an upmarket version of Burnley: horrible to play against but they grind out results. Hopefully, Arsenal have burst their bubble tonight. That's the first time for 3 years Wolves have lost after scoring the opening goal. I channel switched between the Emirates and Ibrox. The Rangers v Dortmund game was much more entertaining. What a brilliant performance from Rangers over the two legs and what an incredible atmosphere at Ibrox.

A section of the front rows in the Itchen south is reserved for staff. You sometimes see young players and coaches sitting in them in their club tracksuits but I guess when they have games, they leave them empty. They also seem to be reserving the front section on the halfway line, at the centre of the Itchen, for corporate tickets (perhaps corporate season tickets), as even though they always appear as unavailable on the ticket site, like Club Wembley, they are mostly left empty nowadays. Unfortunately, like Club Wembley, these empty sections are right in front of the cameras. Then, of course, there are always the hundreds of seats left empty in the Northam for fan segregation. Recently, that little section at the front of the Northam/Itchen corner, behind the corner flag so you really notice it, always appears to be kept empty, and the whole of the block was for the Coventry game so I guess it will be for the West Ham game too. Then for midweek games especially, you get empty seats in the family stands because of school. It's a pity they can't put some of the empty corporate and family stand seats on general sale when the game is 'sold out'. Perhaps we have too many corporate and family seats, and we certainly seem to need more seats kept empty for fan segregation than most other clubs do. Going back to the OP, there was a period in the late 70s when all four sides at the Dell used to sing OWTS very loudly for long periods of games. Winning a trophy definitely had a major impact and probably the high point of home vocal support was reached at a midweek cup replay v Forest in February, 1977. That was the most deafening and intimidating it ever was. It helped that there were almost no Forest fans there. When there are a lot of away fans, as there were for the Coventry game, our home support fades a bit. That's why some people say our vocal support was better when we were in League One: there were very few away fans, so the Northam was almost like a proper home end. But, if we win the cup this year. I'm sure out home support next season will be the best ever at St Mary's.

I think he's right. Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu & Elyounoussi may not be the best individual midfielders in the Premier League but as a unit they are second to none.

If we'd had Forster in goal and a midfield of Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu and Elyounoussi all season, we'd probably be well on course for a European place now. But,as long as they don't get injured, we can still win the FA Cup and that would be a superb season.

I expect it's what Newcastle wanted. They can stay down south for both the Chelsea and Saints games.They also have their rearranged game with Everton on a Thursday. Saturday 5th March PREMIER LEAGUE Newcastle United15:00Brighton & Hove Albion Thursday 10th March PREMIER LEAGUE Southampton19:30Newcastle United Sunday 13th March PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea14:00Newcastle United Thursday 17th March PREMIER LEAGUE Everton19:45Newcastle United

The only passion a Pompey fan is going to feel for Southampton is a passionate hatred. I wonder if The Athletic also has a Millwall fan reporting on West Ham and an Everton fan reporting on Liverpool?

This was another of his recent articles: Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to consider retiring once contract expires in 2024 - The Athletic He sends them to all of the national papers and they do seem to get quite a lot of coverage, as any negative gossip about a football club is always welcome.

Because of a football reporter from Waterlooville, called Dan Sheldon, who seems to be on a campaign against Saints.

Portsmouth's finest reporter on Saints, Dan Sheldon, has had the effect he wanted with his article in The Athletic. He's also circulated it to a lot of national newspapers. Was it also him who spread the recent stories about Ted Bates' statue? "Frank Lampard comments on controversial Southampton move with FA keeping tabs"https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/frank-lampard-southampton-everton-t [Post edited 17 Feb 18:10]

You obviously don't follow football very closely or you'd know that fans who go to games at big clubs don't all come from within a few miles of the stadium or even from the same city. The bigger the stadium, the wider the area you attract fans from. Travelling distances are so small in England that you could develop a big club just about anywhere other than perhaps the extreme south west. You could draw a line diagonally across the country just south of Liverpool, Birmingham and London and see that Saints don't have a lot of competition in the Premier League in our half of the country. I've heard it said that our fans have a 'small club mentality' which is hard to change, but there is really no reason why our club can't grow much bigger.

It's amazing what a difference stadium size makes. It's a pity we didn't start St Mary's with a 40,000 capacity. The difference in cost would have been minimal back then: maybe less than £10 mill. Nobody would ever have called West Ham a big club when they were at Upton Park. In fact, there were seasons when our average home gate was bigger than theirs. But, now they've moved to a big stadium, they've suddenly grown in size as a club in the eyes of the football public and are perceived as a club that could poach any one of our players if they wanted to. Premier League clubs with 30,000 capacity stadiums, even teams that have won major trophies recently, like Leicester, will always be regarded as small by Premier League standards. In fact, I can envisage a time in the futiure, when we follow the American sports model and insist that teams require a minimum stadium capacity of 40,000 or more to even compete in in the Premier League.

Tremendous performance from City and great atmosphere in Lisbon. I'd love to see us in the Europa League again and this time treating it more seriously. On current form, it looks a realistic objective for next year. In fact, if we win the FA Cup this year, it might even be sooner than that.

Yes, opposition players are bemused by that. When McCarthy was in goal, any near post shot was a guaranteed goal for them. How it was before FF: "McCarthy started between the sticks for Hasenhuttl’s team but his performance left a lot to be desired. Indeed, his was the lowest match rating awarded to a Southampton player. The 31-year-old was beaten at his near post for both of Norwich’s goals"

How much did Grobelaar charge for an autograph?

31,252 It's the second half of the season and we're not doing too badly so I'd expect all of our remaining weekend games to be sold out so attendances will depend on how may seats the police want left empty in the Northam.

Fraser Forster. He has a positive effect on the whole team. Also, more recently, with Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu & Elyounoussi we've found the perfect combination in midfield, which is helping us control games.

Pay cut??? He deserves a pay rise! He is one of our most important players. Having him in goal instead of McCarthy is worth millions in terms of points and league positions gained, not to mention the real possibility of winning the FA Cup.

He is the main man and such an inspiration to the rest of the team. If McCarthy had been in goal today, we'd have limped to a 4-1 defeat.

With Fraser Forster in goal it's like the 2015/16 season again. He is such an inspiration to the whole team. It's a sobering thought that if McCarthy had still been in goal, we'd probably have lost 4-1 today. The midfield of Armstorng, Ward-Prowse, Romeu and Elyounoussi is more than a match for any team in the league. Broja and Adams up front are getting better and better too and you expect them to score in every game. Walcott not even on the bench was a relief too. Ralph has got his best XI playing brilliantly and they can beat anyone. This could well be our year to win the FA Cup again, as long as that forst XI doesn't get hit by injuries and suspensions..

Meet the identical twins in our first team squad at Paços de Ferreira | Tottenham Hotspur

Thank you for this thread. I'm sure there are many people grateful to you for things you have done in your life. Good luck with the time you have left.

Our best midfield is Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu & Elyounoussi. When they play, we are a match for anyone. Elyounoussi is a gutsy player and really shows his worth when we are up against it in away games. He played the full 90 minutes and scored goals in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle, the 3-2 win at West Ham and, of course, the 3-2 win at Spurs. He also scored in our away cup games at Newport and Swansea. In fact, he has played in every one of our away wins this season.

Ward-Prowse and Stuart Armstrong just keep getting better and we know that Broja is a great striker but a shout out for two of our unsung heroes tonight: Romeu and Elyounoussi. I'd like to see Elyounoussi regularly ahead of Redmond in our starting lineup with Redmond used instead of Walcott as a sub. Also, Forster was immense in goal. If he hadn't made that early save to stop what looked like a certain goal, the match could have been very different. It seems like we never lose when Forster, Romeu, Stuart Armstrong and Elyounoussi play together. That midfield of Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu and Elyounoussi has the perfect balance. They totally dominated Spurs.