Match Day Thread Southampton FC v Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Europa League, Thursday 8th December, KO 8.05pm

Agreed! I had an interesting conversation with some Spud fans in Italy earlier in year on a skiing trip with my son. The weekend we beat Stoke away, 2-1 I recall. I've never put too much importance on the EL, seeing it as a really difficult competition, too many games, virtually no £ reward (until QF / SF). MY plan was always to by-pass EL & unrealistically go straight to CL & I suppose it could have been achieved by some miraculous sequence of near misses last year. Away, enough of that fantasy. My son has always berated me saying EL is a major attraction for players & we need to achieve that level consistently, to attract that level of quality player. Once that's achieved, progressing to the next level becomes a possibility. The Spuds all agreed sighting their advance over the years as a top 6 side, flirting with top 4, back down to 6 & now back up to 4. I must admit after all my years of really seeing the EL as a massive hindrance to the top 6 sides, I do actually agree it's something we need & to achieve on a regular basis. It brings kudos, an acceptance we are a real top (6) side, can compete on multiple fronts including Europe, which is probably the most important. We missed a good opportunity last year (qualifying stages of EL) but maybe that was a moment too soon. Certainly Claude seems to be able to work with a "1st team squad" of 18-19 players including trusted youngsters, whereas Koeman was limited to "his" 13-14, which was always going to end in failure. Apologies for the ramble - just wanted to say I used to hate the EL but I'm a convert now, which my son (who's 24 btw) absolutely loves to remind me that he told me so!

COYS. Let's win & come Friday, we'll be in KO stages of EL, SF EFL & in a relatively good position in the Prem League. Not bad for early Dec.

 

i am already hard for this game

 

really? if it lasts more than 4 hours you should go to A&E (born in 2002?)

 

Well saints need wellcot.well biray shaver are a good team,and club.saints will win I think the score is to Southampton 4 bs1bs1

 

You're going to have to translate that...

 

I thinks it's in Hebrew!

 

I have a feeling my boy is at home typing on my behalf as i am currently travelling from Waterloo to Basingstoke.

Reading loosely, he thinks we will do 'em 4-1 and maybe an impromptu appearance from Walcott !!

 

Brilliant, thanks!

 

what time?

 

ha ha

The old "I think my boy has logged into my account" line... by the way, for my next spat I think I'll have the same problem

 

Just got myself two tickets in the Northam for this one - couldn't miss it! Going to be close though, prepping myself for a mad rush from work.

 

we could probably do with Walcot!

 

Well saints need messy.well biray shaver are a good team,and club.saints will win I think the score is to Southampton 4 bs1bs1

 

damn kids!

 

Nah, we got the Irish version...

 

Time to say hello in the pub to a few of us?

 

The one who couldn't score in a brothel...

 

This one?

 

My 2 favourite Shanes!