RoystonFoote'snephew

Still waiting for JL to communicate the appropriate tribute to Terry Cooper that he promised.

Beware the ides of March.

I know that both sides are without key players due to injury but you can see why both sides are struggling near the foot of the PL. The only winner from the 1st half was the ball as it racked up the air miles

Don't know that I should be surprised as that's QPRs 4th consecutive win at the Gate but this performance was a shocker. All talk of us getting in the play offs was always ridiculous but results like this show why. We struggle against any team that doesn't play open attractive football and our home form is not bloody good enough. Our house is made of straw not bricks.

Belay my last post as SPH is clearly Seb Palmer-Houlden. When I originally saw it I was thinking goalkeepers, not centre forwards.

Thanks but I'm having a brain freeze. Who's SPH?

Starting to look as if height could be a factor in City future goalkeeper. Josey is listed as 6'3"" while new signing Isaac Finch is 6'4"at just 17. Not sure about the heights of Duncan and Boyd but I suspect the latter is under 6' like HWR so that may not bode well if we go by the adage that a good big'un is better than a good littl'un.

In order to make the play offs we'll need to finish above Preston, so it aint gonna happen.

Boro might, we never do.

Far to early to tell but in the short time he was on the pitch he showed excellent judgement of the game situation, played the right passes and never gave the ball away. It hints that he might have a football brain and if so will quickly see him pass Mehmeti who really needs to improve his decision making.

You make a good point about contact, or lack of it, but equally think you got it right on your last sentence that he thought there was contact, hence the booking.

Last night's referee was no worse or better than any other operating these days. In over 60 years of watching professional football I honestly believe today's crop are the worst I've seen. That said, refereeing the modern game is incredibly hard. Today's refs are subjected to frequent law changes by the numpties running football, interference by their own body PGMOL (whose only role is to issue letters of apology for its members), constant haranguing by players and coaches and endless scrutiny by TV voiced by pundits who know less about the laws of the game than I know about the interpretation of modern dance. The expectation of consistency across referees is a fallacy. The laws of the game may be the same for each match but their interpretation varies. Like me or anyone else referees are not robots but individuals with all the inconsistencies inherent in us. We cannot expect one ref to be consistent with another. The most that can be hoped for is that a single ref can be consistent through a game or in his performance throughout a season.

Not bizarre but simply wrong. There was no contact but perhaps from his viewpoint he thought there was in which case the yellow card would have been justified. What's wrong is that, unlike a red card, the yellow card can't be retrospectively overturned.

Is that Hugh Lloyd, Dan Lloyd, John Lloyd etc?

I don't know that Anis was the only player guilty of poor decisions in forward areas but the criticism of him is fair. Over the 90 minutes I would score him a 6.

I think some complaining about the Sky coverage post game are being paranoid. There is no bias. Southampton came into the match in 2nd place and were clear favourites so their defeat warrants analysis and discussion. They've been full of praise for our performance too, which is as it should be.

Pity about the clean sheet because that was SUPERB tonight. Don't know why I feared a St Mary's repeat at half time as we dominated the chances 2nd half. Now to keep that level of performance up against the likes of QPR and Wednesday.

Playing well but again so frustrating with our final cross/ball and we haven't scored. I fear for a St Mary's repeat. The Southampton keepers position is interesting as Bazuna plays further up the pitch than Grobelaar used to. If Max played that high up the pitch I'd be having kittens.

Wonder what Manure fans think about their away shirt looking like a retro Liverpool shirt, particularly the white Standard Chartered one.

Good hold but we couldn't quite manage 2 wins, as Shrewsbury equalised for a 1-1 draw at Derby.

We're winning 2 games now.

Sadly I'm not at the Riverside today but judging from comments on here it seems with Cornick off we'll need to work hard to ensure Ayling doesn't go marauding up the pitch.

Spot on Ange.

Bonkers idea, as was the introduction of cards in the first place! The use of yellow and red cards has done nothing to enhance the game but instead has led to a lowering of standards of behaviour by players officials, supporters, commentators and pundits alike. Back in the day when the referee was the sole arbiter of whether a player was cautioned he took his black book from his pocket and without fuss wrote down the players name. The showiness of cards, held aloft so that everyone can see a player has been sent to the naughty step incites bad behaviours. Prior to their introduction players didn't run around waving their hand in the air like some poor impression of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and crowds weren't incensed by theatrics. Referees have become more inconsistent by the pressures of playing to the crowd and tv audiences either reluctant to get out their cards or hand them around freely like sweeties at Christmas. Some ofcourse decide to do nothing for 75 minutes and then have a buy one get one free offer for the remaining minutes. But if you think referees are inconsistent it's nothing compared to the pundit who screams for a player to be 'carded', not booked (thus lowering English language standards), for an innocuous trip on the halfway line but later seeks to defend the same player who receives a red card for common assault. The introduction of blue cards won't address behaviours or inconsistencies. Some referees will dole out cards for dissent while others will laugh a situation off as their (or their fellow officials) sensitivity threshold has not been breached. 'Professional' fouls will continue to be made as sides weigh up the pros and cons of such actions, particularly in the last 10 minutes of games. Supporters will be left frustrated by what is deemed a 'professional' by one ref but not by another. Heaven help us if VAR is ever to be used to decide as we could all be asked if we can come back next week. Don't introduce blue cards, scrap the yellow and red ones.

Probably stuck his hand up to take one. I doubt that City had 10 volunteers for Manning to put in order.