Beckenham Saint

Don't hold me to it, but BBC have already put it down as that date on their upcoming fixtures page for us: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/fixtures

Tuesday 16th December. Game before is Burnley away and the game after is Everton at home. Think I could be in line for my first visit to Sheffield here!

PELLLLLEEEE!

Absolutely chuffed for Long, always works his socks off for us and deserves his goal!

What a goal that was, although I am annoyed at Pelle for ending my personal streak of being there for all of his Saints goals! Stoke fans are so quiet!

Think their lineup looks better than what they put out on Saturday! If Vic and Morgan can stop balls getting through to Bojan and Diouf then I think we could get a win. Interested to see how Long gets on, I imagine he'll want to impress to get into the team on saturday to play his old team..

He already played for us for a few years at right back

Explains how Pelle keeps his good shape, then!

Physio room has it as a knee injury with no return date. I think as others have said, Long would play up top instead of Gallagher with Mane and Tadic either side of him. RE Pelle getting 3 yellows, I don't think he has got one since Arsenal in the cup. One of the others came in the cup vs Millwall (so he's due another tonight!) Do cup cards count towards the "5 and you miss a game" rule?

Stoke fans are predicting Sparky to rest a few players, and seem to think that Thomas Sorenson (remember him!?) will be in goal, which none of them seem to be too pleased about... http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/236119/stoke-city-southampton-capitol-cup?page=1 Also, looks like a few of them don't like us at the moment after losing on saturday... Unfortunately, I've just put a couple of quid on us winning 2-0 tonight with Pelle getting one of the goals, so I think we might lose now. Apologies in advance

Watched the Liverpool game on BE IN Sports last night, had to turn the volume off because the American commentator was so annoying. During an advert break they were peddling a programme on Friday with Richard Keys and Andy Gray, who know "More than most about soccer", although sadly not more than most about how to be respectable, decent human beings!

Or bompey and play an old fashioned game of "First to 8 goals wins"

Could be all three! Or perhaps just the latter...

Really enjoyed that, well researched and sensibly written. ESPN are fast becoming my favourite go-to place when I want to read about our club!

When the kit was announced he was part of the campaign and tweeted "Love the new kit, what do you guys think? #thestripesareback" He has done various interviews with us, and appeared on Soccer AM talking about us the first week of the season, has done a lot of saints foundation stuff and has been at most (all?) of the games, including the brief pre-season tour and openly targeted our trip to turf moor as a game he'd like to be back by, being a former claret... Can't really see what more we would expect or want to see from him?

Think whoever wrote this must have spent a bit of time on Saintsweb over the summer, too

I met JWP after Sunderland a few weeks back and thought he seemed a little rude! For all the good things I'd heard about him and all the positive comments about his attitude, he gave me the impression that he wanted to be anywhere in the world except talking to the fans after the game and even felt a little arrogant...

Jan Kluitenberg retweeted this yesterday: And also RE Toby - I think Alex Crook said last week that we've opened up discussions to sign him on a permanent basis in January already.

Targett has played both cup games so far, and, having been at them both, has looked very impressive. I thought at the Arsenal game he built on a solid performance vs Millwal. Think Gardos will come in at the back, as he did with the Arsenal game where he looked very solid and I also think that Vic will start, as he was effective against Stoke when he came on against them on saturday. I think Pelle, Long and Mane will make up the front three with Tadic probably replacing Long at some point in the second half. My team, for what it's worth, would be: Forster Clyne Fonte Gardos Targett Cork Morgan Victor Long Pelle Mane I reckon we could beat Stoke for the second time this week, although being ignorant to their squad and how they play, I'm not sure what changes they are likely to make and what effect they would have. If Arnautavic or Assaidi start they could hurt us, I think that they are both very good players who have a good eye for goal, and I'm sure Bojan will want to get some game time. I wonder if the "next messi" can do it on a cold wednesday night in Stoke...

Not seen this posted, but has some interesting insight from our club captain: http://www.espnfc.com/club/southampton/376/blog/post/2109918/southamptons-summer-of-upheaval-only-made-them-stronger

Personal experience?

Tadic took the pen, even with Pelle on the pitch, so definitely him - I imagine they are both pretty confident from the spot, and Pelle seemed to do well with pens from his feyoonord highlight reels..

Well, someone better change his Wikipedia page back then

Not sure if this has already been posted... http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/10/premier-league-2014-2015-southampton-v.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2800258/southampton-sold-stars-summer-ronald-koeman-bought-shrewdly.html