L_O_Z

Bonkers mad. Never heard of such a ridiculous decision and I hate the guy. There isn't a better manager still in the game and I can only imagine they want Pep, but its not like he's even a step up. Perhaps on par with Jose but not better. All they had to do was cast out the drift wood and replace a few players, bad form is bad form. It happens and I think Chelsea have too much money. Hope their fans are ****ed off

Omg I literally lmfao at that comment. I read it in my head like you had a fed up voice and I couldn't stop laughing. Think its the bit where you put "basically anybody but AT" On a serious note. 1. I can't see us getting 50 million (although Sideshow Bob went to PSG for that, so I suppose it's possible) 2. Due to point 1, I can't see us selling him in January 3. I think if he stays fit and in form, we will prob sell him next summer for 30-35 mil ish 4. It wouldn't surprise me if Mane actually improved. When he got here he couldn't stay on his feet and his running at defenders was pretty poor. From what I remember his comp vid at Salzburg seemed to show him as a bit of a poor finisher. Think he has the ability to improve a few things in his game, whether he does it here or elsewhere remains to be seen.

I watch all televised premier league matches, purely because I love the game and find the prem the most entertaining league in the world. Games like West Brom v Norwhich I might record and watch if there's nothing else on. But games like Sunday (Merseyside derby and Arsenal v United I love watching). I tend to support the side that benefits Saints or hope for a draw, but I do love the "big games and rivalries). I also watch all Real Madrid v Barca matches (el clasico?) and the Madrid derby (Atletico vs Real). I also watch the big teams in the FA Cup and Carling Cup or whatever it is now (League Cup) and el clasico and Madrid derby in the Copa del Rey. Then the Champions League I watch quite reigiously. I usually watch all English teams until they're knocked out and then follow the remaining big teams through the knockout. When ITV and Sky had the English games you had to watch the Sky game first as the ITV idiots used to show the score updates in the top left of the screen and verbally read it out to you. Where as Sky flashes up down the bottom with a blank blue box giving you a few seconds to look away before they showed the score updates along the bottom of the screen. They never verbally read out scores which was really nice. Now the BT lot have control they do what ITV used to do. However as they have all the matches there's no getting away from it... I would write in and ask them to not show the scores as my UCL viewing has been halfed this season. Thanks to BT... I also follow the English teams in the Europa but like the League Cup I can take it or leave it a bit. Football aside I watch F1, Six Nations, Rugby World Cup, Football World Cup, Olympics and UFC (Big Rousey and McGregor fan, though I have great respect for Aldo so not sure what camp I'm in there. Also a Bisping fan. I quite like my sport. Whatever means I dont have to watch Eastenders, Corrie, Emmerdale, Geordie thingy, TOWIE, Big Bruda or Ex Factor.....

Really? Why's that. Both are advertised as killing 99.99% of bacteria. David Lloyd has the db one's

And a bag of minstrels Ooo... We all sweat don't we...

You guys are hilarious I thought it was just me and my mate who loved Alan Partridge

Is that what he meant as that's all I could think of when I read his post. "Well there's no need for that!"

I was wondering why I got hungry when I looked at it...

Chelsea won the Champions League with an interim Manager after being completely dominated by Barca in the semis and playing Bayern in their stadium in the final. As far as I could see, in the semis they relied on disciplined defending, moment of skill (Ramirez goal???) and luck (Messis penalty miss). In the final they relied on the big game player (Drogs header). Anything is possible and anyone can beat anyone on the day, but the chances are, no one will have a team able to go head to head with clubs like Barca/Real/Bayern etc. If a club like Saints ever got there, they'd have to rely on concentration, teamwork, disciplined defending and pace on the break.

Sky sports did a long piece on the top 4 race and Saints were listed above Spurs. They looked at the top 7 and their fixtures, confirming Saints and Spurs had good fixtures. Gary Neville and Thierry Henry seem to be very praising too

I haven't read about this specific case, but thought I'd add my take on the subject. I saw a 12 year old girl get chatted up at a resturant by a guy who thought she was in her late teens/early 20s (I know the girls family). Physically she easily looks 19 maybe 20 but the 30 year old guy made her feel very uncomfortable as she is still 12 from a mental point of view. The waiter was keeping an eye on her as her parents were sat across the room on another table. The waiter told the 30 year old guy to sit back at his table as she was only 12 and the poor guy nearly fainted. It's difficult as part of me says she shouldn't be allowed to wear makeup at 12 but all secondary school girls do nowadays. Part of me says she shouldn't be allowed to have her hair done but all secondary school girls do. Part of me says she shouldn't wear grown up clothes, but she's 5ft 9" and can't fit into childrens clothing. Even if she could get into kids clothing and didn't do her hair and makeup she'd still look 16/17... Girls in general seem to want to dress and act older. When I was 14 I knew dozens of 14 year old girls who would dress up to look 20, get drunk at a pub or club and go home with a random bloke in their 20s. Some of the girls would use their older sisters IDs and some would just flirt with the barman. If you locked up every guy who'd slept with an underage girl (who lied about her age whist drinking alcohol and dressed to look older, or even had a fake/older sisters id on her) then we'd need a lot more prisons. Not to mention most guys are drinking alcohol at pubs and clubs which makes things even more complicated. The whole things messed up but underage girls who drink at pubs/clubs with fake ID's, hair and makeup done, high heels and dressed like uni students chatting up guys have to take most of the blame.

Don't rub ya fanny on me!

I love Rickie. Think he's a great guy, very humble and you can tell he's got where he wanted to go the hard way. Nothing but respect for him. I remember seeing him in Wesy Quay going to buy something for his Mrs. My mate and another few guys wanted photos. He took time out of his day shopping to stand and take photos with fans in the middle of the shopping centre. Think he handled the move very respectfully and I do believe he wants us to continue to do well. Maybe not at Liverpools expense but you can tell he's a Saints fan just by the way he smiles when he talks about us. I think footballers give the impression they're horrible people but Lamberts one of the few who seem to be more humble than even the average fan. With our goal drought recently I think Lambert and Lallana could probably walk into the first team.

Please give them an excuse to use the taser...

You're just a sh1t Rickie Lambert Lmfao

That's how I understood it to.

I used to **** guys like you in prison

Glad they went through, more games they have to play the better for us (although would have been funny to see them lose). Bolton could have been 3-0 up if they'd taken their chances. Liverpool looked average, playing like that they'd probably lose 9 times out of 10 lol

I've got no facts to say either way, it just seems like teams fighting relegation at the end of the season treat every match like a cup game. I don't mean throughout the season, I mean towards the end. Didn't Sunderland pull off an escape act last season? Thought they were the first prem team to beat Mourinhos Chelsea at the bridge? Although I could be getting confused?

I don't see it as one random game, it was what it stood for. Arsenal get in the top 4 every season despite being known for not beating top teams. Wenger completely changed his tactics and found out how to do the one thing his team haven't been able to do. Next season they could go from a top 4 team to a team that could challenge for the title. I'm saying that we lost half our team and manager because we finished 8th. We can't pay them top money and we can't offer them UCL football. If we finish between 5th and 7th you've got to assume we're going to lose top players as 5th to 7th says that the players are better than the last lot and nothings changed in relation to wages/UCL football. The chances of repeating the success from the last transfer window is unlikely. Yes we have an amazing scouting network, the system is possibly the best in the country, but anyone who thinks there was no luck involved is a little deluded. Yes IF we keep winning. But our squad is smaller than those right below us. Chances are sadly we wont keep winning (I hope we do keep winning) but this is the time of year when the deeper squads shine through. Of course I understand that we would temporarily gain ground on the 2 above us if they lose and we win but with or squad size it would be a miracle if we finished 4th let alone 1st/2nd. Not sure why anyone would want to give the teams right below us 3 points that they usually wouldn't get. We are here on merit yes and every season I watch and hope we win the league, but I'd rather get 4th or 3rd this season and push on from there. Sorry you misunderstood me there. Tactically Koeman is sound and we've proved we can beat top teams. My point is Arsenal almost always slip up against them so there was a great chance we'd have some free points over Arsenal. Now they've found some Kryptonite we've got a real battle on. I'd just rather Chelsea and City both stuffed all the teams below us this season to give us a better chance of getting in the UCL. Getting in the UCL would be massive for the club. Let me try and explain why I don't want to risk finishing 5th by hoping the teams below us beat the teams above us in the chance we finish 2nd. Finishing 4th or 3rd means: Lots of money (extra financial stability) More likely to keep current players (UCL football) Increase in wage paying ability (to attract world class players) Encourage world class players with UCL football Boost club profile massively Amazing for us fans possibly seeing saints play teams like Real Madrid Stick 2 fingers up at Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Utd and all the pundits who said we had no chance. Finishing 2nd: As above with a little extra money Finishing 5th: Probably lose key players to top clubs as no UCL football Earn much less money compared with 4th as no UCL football Probably wont attract world class players as no UCL football Pundits will say told you so Less publicity for club as no one really cares about the Europa More games next season which is worth it in UCL but not really in the Europa Some of the defectors will have made the right decision to leave. I'd love 2nd but finishing 5th could be a disaster based on the way the Prem sadly works. There's 4 golden tickets, when one of the big 5 drops out of the top 4 it really doesn't matter too much as they're a "big" club that can pay huge wages and probably offer UCL football next season (plus there's the glamour and fame of playing for a top 5 club). I just think hoping Arsenal, Utd, Liverpool and Spurs beating City and Chelsea could destroy our chances of going down in history for doing the impossible. I almost feel like we would be being greedy by hoping they gain on us so we can try for 2nd :/ which has almost no benefit over 3rd apart from a little extra money and some extra bragging rights.

Teams fighting relegation can be harder to beat than top teams

Don't confuse negativity with being sensible. If you had the power to chose Arsenal, Spurs, Utd and Liverpool's results against Chelsea and City are you telling me you'd give them wins until they were all on equal points? If we finished 6th or even 5th our squad would probably be pulled apart again, pundits would say "told you so, you can't get in the UCL as you're not a big team like Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs" and its extremely unlikely we could do what we did last year where we make a massive profit on signings and all our new signings gel instantly. That was very fortunate. If we can lose a manager and 5 key players after finishing 8th, what do you think will happen if we finish 5th or 6th. The best chance we have of moving forward as a club is to finish 4th. Hoping for the biggest clubs right below us to gain ground on us is crazy. Unless you think we can catch Chelsea and you are 99% sure we will make the UCL then you're mad. Momentum is dangerous and Arsenal have a boost now. What really worries me is that Arsenal are famous for getting in the UCL without beating top teams. If they've finally worked out how to do that then we could really struggle. Finally, how will you feel if Arsenal beat us to 4th by a point or two? Then we lose key players again. If you win the lottery you don't go down the bookies and put it on a horse...

I'd love saints to come 2nd but its pointless really. For any chance of keeping our players we need top 4 (pref top 3, but top 4 would be fantastic). Anyone wanting teams right below us with deeper pockets and bigger squads to take points off the top 2 in a long old season is mad. Hope for 2nd and we could end up 7th. Tbh if Arsenal would have lost yo City I would have put our chances at 40% to make top 4, now they beat City I'd say we were 10% and that's just how I feel.

We had one back in September http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?51186-Defectors-Watch/page8#.VLu-uctFDqB