Rut

The King Alf on Old Northam Road is back? Who remembers the after game entertainment they used to put on upstairs? Are pubs still allowed to do that nowadays?

My understanding is that not every team gives the option to sign up to watch every game. If Saints do go for it then I think they don't show the games when they are on ESPN+. You'll still need that as well. We'll have to see what happens...

Current best odds to win the league according to Oddschecker - who's worth a bet then? 6/1 - Leicester 7/1 - Leeds 10/1 - Saints, Middlesbrough (Saints are 8/1 or 9/1 in some places - 10/1 is with SkyBet) 14/1 - Norwich 16/1 - Watford, West Brom 20/1 - Ipswich, Stoke, Sunderland 25/1 - Blackburn, Millwall, Coventry 28/1 - Swansea 33/1 - Sheff Weds, Hull 40/1 - Cardiff, Preston 50/1 - QPR, Huddersfield, Bristol City, Birmingham 100/1 - Rotherham, Plymouth Source: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/winner Note: these are the best odds from the 8 bookies who've currently priced it up. There will be more over the coming weeks so you may be able to get more than 10/1. I doubt much more though...

1/100 & 5000/1 are not what you should be comparing. Has a 1/100 shot ever NOT won? That's we need to happen here.

Arsenal = drum banging CUNTS. Paul Davis jaw breaking CUNTS. Van Cuntie owes me a grand CUNTS. Glory supporting didn't care about 'only winning the FA Cup' in 2003 CUNTS. Bunch of CUNTS. Don't really give a fuck who wins the league but I hope Man City do the CUNTS. Man City are cunts but not total CUNTS like Arsenal. Fuck 'em. And it's 'Man City' - not fuckin 'City'. Do you think Leicester City were happy with our point tonight? New age cunts do my head in.

Strange game. Both teams had lots of chances. That shot from Man Utd that hit the inside of the post looked like it was going in all-day-long. Somehow didn't. Plus very surprised the ref didn't give them the pen for the handball. Seen lots of similar ones given this year. Plus when one of theirs tripped over after getting very close to Bazunu - seen them given many a time up there. It wasn't a pen - but since when does that usually matter? Well played ref - made a pleasant change. Very much all to play for over the last third of the season. Any of the bottom 9 could end up in the bottom 3. Quietly optimistic that one of them will NOT be Saints.

Chelsea (A) - L (no - W)Leeds (A) - D (no - L)Leicester (H) - D (no - W)Man United (A) - L (no - D)Brentford (H) - L Thankfully you went for Saints to lose on Weds. Long may your very shitty predictions continue!

and your zillion team accumulator is busted!

Can imagine Carlos sat at the game tonight nudging the bloke next to him. Southampton - they're the team in yellow right? I thought as the home team they'd be the ones in red.

Brighton are pretty shit. Def in a fake position in the table. They'll drop just as quickly as <insert what you think drops quickly here>. Saints 3 Brighton 0. Early goal and an easy win.

I've just heard that Nathan Jones has been on the blower to Tim Tebow to see if he fancies playing centre forward. Ralph back!

Fuck The Athletic. They never have any real exclusives so make shit up to get some clicks. Who the hell actually pays for their shit? Obviously some cunts do. Fair play to The Athletic for tucking them up.

For all the SFC fans saying shit like 'we will lose guaranteed' - how much have you put on? Currently if you chuck 100 on Spurs you'll get 140 back. Surely the easiest 40 you'll ever earn? Bet you've put fuck all on ain't you? Wankers.

I've got a sneaky feeling we'll do well. Like most people - I've no real idea what our best team is - or where the goals will come from - but nor have Everton. Saints ain't a load of blokes from the pub. Take it to them and we'll win. Everton 1 Saints 3.

Pre-season doesn't mean shit. Who remembers the Branfoot days? Didn't we win every pre-season game when he first took charge? Roll on next Sat.

City did win it. I bet if some Man Utd fan said to you 'there's only one United' you'd call him a twat.

This was more enjoyable than a 6-0 win. If it was the other way round it would have been hailed as a 'Sean Dyche masterclass'. If we'd hit the post 6 times, screwed up when clean-through 8 times & missed 3 penalties - then Burnley scored from their one shot at goal - it would also have been hailed as a 'Sean Dyche masterclass'.

Yeah - if West Ham are 3-0 up he'll be going on about 'can Lpool get the most famous of comebacks here, we know they can, who can forget.... SALAH! what a throw-in that was, could this be the start of the comeback'. Puke. This is a great resource - tells you who the commentators are going to be every week: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2020/02/21/epl-commentator-assignments-on-nbc-sports-gameweek-27/

Another vote for Drury. Unlistenable. If one of the so-called big teams is playing he'll just go on&on&on&on about them and scream out the name of any star player when the ball goes anywhere near them. If they successfully complete a 10 yard pass he'll cream himself. Drury does a lot of the commentaries for the world feed. Thankfully here (USA) this often gets over ridden and we get Arlo White instead. He's fine. *warning* Drury is doing the Lpool v West Ham game today. That'll be shocking.

If you are gonna have a hopeful one then shop around a bit. We were 33/1 in places. Now down to 'only' 30/1: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-southampton/winner If you are going to the game (fair play) then you have to have a fiver at 30/1. You're prob spending a ton anyway. Sure - gun to head - you pick Man City to win. But the prices are getting stupid nowadays. 6/1 used to be the 'no chance' price. Not 30/1. Bleeuuuggghh.

Looking at https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/liverpool-v-southampton/winner I see Saints are 18/1 to win on Sat. Seems like a great price to me. Obviously life-on-line you'd choose Lpool to win but 18/1 seems great value. What has been our longest price then? We were 20/1 to win at Highbury in 2004. I remember it very well as I had 50 quid on and was counting my winnings - then Van Persie scored with literally the last kick of the game to equalise. That was painful. I don't remember ever seeing us longer than 20/1 for a single game. 18/1 - get on it. Or for the pessimist Lpool are 100/1 to win 7-0 ( https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/liverpool-v-southampton/correct-score )

Just to add that Lpool v Saints is a TV game (NBC Sports) Cardiff v Man City is also on TV (CNBC) Man Utd v Wolves is on stream (NBC Sports Gold) You should be in luck at any soccer bar that is open.

Yeah The Globe. Plus Fado (100 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60654 - https://fadoirishpub.com/chicago/ ) is nailed to have the game on* (* see below) ... and any of the pubs listed on here may well be open at 9am for the Lpool v Saints game: https://www.chicago-fire.com/matchday/pubtopitch/map * WARNING - Cardiff v Man City & Man Utd v Wolves are also on at the same time. No way am I googling 'Liverpool pub' but you may want to check what the main game is likely to be at the pub you choose. Having both Manc teams & Liverpool all on at 3pm Sat UK time is rare. This season (so far) only one 3pm game has been on TV (NBC Sports) - the others will require a subscription to NBC Sports Gold (stream). All clued up soccer bars will have the streams on different TV's. Just make sure before going there. USA Lpool fans ain't as bad as non-Scouse UK Lpool fans. Any in the pub at 9am to watch the game have made a bit of effort. Worth chatting to if you get a chance. Most know their stuff. Lpool 1 Saints 3. Enjoy!

So looking at the official FPL site - here is how they price up Saints. Sorted by the % of teams that have chosen the player. Bednarek could be the mythical £4 starting defender. Hence why he is 5.2% of teams. Not much interest - full stop - in most of the players. DEF Cédric £4.5 16.3% DEF Bertrand £5 5.5% DEF Bednarek £4 5.2% MID Oriol Romeu £4.5 2.8% FWD Austin £6 2.6% FWD Long £5 1.8% GKP Forster £4.5 1.5% DEF Yoshida £4.5 1.5% DEF McQueen £4 1.1% GKP McCarthy £4.5 1% DEF Vestergaard £5 0.9% MID Elyounoussi £6.5 0.7% MID Ward-Prowse £5.5 0.6% MID Redmond £5.5 0.6% MID Højbjerg £4.5 0.5% GKP Gunn £4.5 0.4% FWD Gabbiadini £6 0.4% DEF Hoedt £4.5 0.3% MID Armstrong £5.5 0.3% DEF Stephens £4.5 0.2% MID Davis £5 0.2% MID Lemina £5 0.2% DEF Targett £4.5 0.1% MID Sims £4.5 0.1%

http://www.espn.com/watch/search/southampton 10AM ET Sat Aug 4. Saints v Borussia Monchengladbach is live on ESPN3.com (the free one - not ESPN+ that is subscription). I see the Charity Shield is on ESPN+. The Champions League & Europa League are now going to be on B/R Streaming (also subscription). League cup mostly on ESPN+. The FA Cup is TBC. It hasn't taken too long for them to now start fleecing people as much as possible when it comes to streams. We may look back fondly on paying $50 a year to see every Saints game on a mixture of TV & NBC Gold stream... Anyway - currently joint top. We're gonna win the league.