DuncanRG

Good to see the doom's lifted a little!

Saints aren't a physical team? I don't know what you've been watching but we've been in everybody's faces since MP came in. Schneiderlin and especially Cork are very, very tough to push off the ball.

We've scored some great goals from passing moves but we don't shoot from distance, so tend not to score that kind of 'screamer'.

Swansea looking very casual but they're more than capable of scoring if they bother to put enough passes together. Shaun Maloney's a real player, I'd love to have him in our team if Wigan go down

Welcome to the real world, where things are regulated

Great post

My point is they're not really picking up far more points than us. The last two results have been better for them but from what I've seen and heard it sounds like they were lucky to win on Saturday. The difference in form is negligible. Five games is a relevant enough time to be used by most form tables - unlike 20 or 2!

But by all means keep posting about it!

Our five-game form is actually exactly the same, it just so happens that they won last week.

We desperately need some new songs for next season. To the tune of Oh Vegard Forren, Forren He's six foot one Vegard Forren, Forren We don't know where he's gone Oh Vegard Forren, Forren He's got a touch of class He'll win the ball, ball Off of his fat arse

That'll do I suppose. Hope we can keep the ball and calm that crowd down - they were dire for most of the first half but deafening when they got riled up Sunderland's about half the distance for me but takes pretty much the same time because I've got to make two changes. Chances I'll miss one and end up cheering on from Gateshead about 3/1

Do we have any way of knowing how many have been sold so far? Dying for a sellout crowd and good atmosphere

That would be absolutely outstanding

Just sorted myself another ticket after selling my first - had booked tickets for a gig in Manchester that night but I've found a way to get there from the game in time. It's gonna be a hectic day...

^ Seriously this. The bottom half of the table is unbelievably tight and a good team could go down. A team with more realistic ambitions of getting into Europe next season might go down (Newcastle). The Champions League stuff was already a bit much but don't use our current position as justification because we are also very close to the top half. The problem, as always, is fickleness - if we had lost against West Ham and Swansea, then drawn against West Brom and Spurs we might be a bit more positive despite having the exact same points and exact same form as we do now. You can talk about 'upwards momentum' but teams do lose after winning runs, and do win after losing streaks. It happens.

They might do when we win the Premier League title next year!

Would you rather he got a hat trick?

He certainly is - don't be surprised if he enters the England equation ahead of Shaw for the next year or two, especially if he breaks into the first team back at Spurs.

Dodgy dodgy tackle that. If Sunday goes to form with our recent games (tight, tense, not too many chances) then a player like Gardner could have made the difference, taking pens and FKs etc. Lovely!

What the bloody hell's James McClean's playing at there?

I doubt it matters, they won't feel safe even if they win tonight. And besides, they bottled a pretty huge game last week and lost 6-1 - just cause they're desperate for points doesn't mean we can't get a result

Horrendous goal but I'll take it! And I bet Stoke will as well. Sunderland's team is properly threadbare at the moment - only player on their bench with anything resembling PL quality is Phil Bardsley. Any more injuries or suspensions from this game and we've got no excuse not to get a result. Do we not want a Stoke goal? Stoke safe when we play them works for me

I think Adkins could be a great manager but I'm sure that Pochettino will be even better. It just depends whether he does it with us or someone else.

You can't be too sure - what if Cortese's watching and goes for Clint Hill instead of Phil Jagielka?

This is also important to remember. Nobody seems to think we'll walk over Stoke if they've got nothing to play for last day of the season.