eelpie

What has happened to Ramirez since his promising last time in the first team?

Koeman brought in his brother

..so far

So much for what we know. We can't argue with the stats. (That was meant for the JWP is better than Pogba quote. But the same applies, doh)

We are not doing so much better than Swansea at all. It is early in the season, and only a few weeks since we trailed Swansea. When we have completed our tough winter matches, and then only if we have substantially increased our current lead over Swansea, can we really begin to ask that question.

or SouthChelsea

A promising group. They could have become decent players if their pants weren't so tight.

Then members who by the nature of why they bought membership can't get to every match would be paying well over the odds for matches with an ST. After ten years of being a season ticket holder I didn't renew this season because living in London it proved impossible to get to the increasing numbers of mainly late midweek matches that had dates changed to fit in with tv broadcasting. Three seasons of missing around five matches a year made my ST very expensive.

The Belles of Saint Mary's? That will be the day.

Agree. And Spurs defensive record supports this, even discounting our first few matches. Though Van D is very good and has terrific potential. Otherwise I think 5string has summed up well.

You're right. I meant and should have said qualifying rounds. Apologies, my mistake, and thanks for pointing that out. But my point still stands.

I said for getting to the competition.

Our European campaign was a resounding success. Why? 1. Because the fact that we were to be in the competition gave us international kudos and made us a more attractive club for talented players to come to. And may have been a factor in our successful team rebuilding. 2. We may have got knocked out quickly, most likely because the new team had not gelled together, but it did give everyone valuable experience to build on, concentrating on English Prem and Cup games. And we now have good team spirit and a strong, still developing squad and first team. So thanks, Europe. No moans.

Contrary to most on here I don't think it is in our interest for ex-players, deserters or whatever, to do badly after they've moved on. Surely the more successful they are with other clubs, having left, the more valuable the reputation for our players becomes. And then we will have more to invest in the best young future talent. We don't want it believed that our players are overpriced. otherwise we will only be able to invest in second best.

Might be bigger if we lose

Only Pompey have the right to call us scummers. Make up your own insult, Bournemouth.

That's a bit high and mighty to say we've grown out of Boruc. He certainly has his off days and brilliant days. But so do Saints as a whole.

Ramirez is doing something right, since everyone is talking about him.

Youngsters in all clubs' academies are finding it more difficult to get playing opportunities, even here. Tonight we want to win and progress in the cup, so it will be revealing how many of our academy stars can be part of that when we need to give game time to our fringe players.

That would be a brave new world, An exciting one if it works too.

Gaston is our new surprise factor

Agree

That's why I think Gaston should play for at least some of the time. We now have two options - Juanmi and Gaston - when Mane, Long and Jayrod aren't available, which is no bad thing. The question is can either of them play well for the full 90 minutes?

Villa will be up for it. A win will work wonders for their morale.

No way. They're not upper case.