The9

Yup, me too. We no longer fear relegation as Saints fans, it's not "the unknown" and we've already come back from it once (or more if you're a bit older, but football has changed a lot since the 1970s even so).

So we're STILL going to have a few rows of seats empty on the side opposite the camera 3 matches in ? Jesus, haven't they even got the nous to sell those manually first?

Agreed, with the exception of the shot late on he contributed nothing and basically hung Clyne out to dry. He was far too late in reacting to everything going on around him. The previous week against Man U he was pretty impressive, one good run in particular stood out. He's a bit of an enigma, but without the stellar upside to make him worth the gamble a lot of the time...

Just had a look at a PES 2013 edit mode video (presumably from PS3 as it had lots of "import data" fields on the menus). Blimey, stadium edits aside it hasn't changed much in the past 5 years, has it ? I utterly hate the lack of boot editing as well, they managed to put it into the PS2 WE10 version (still the best PES for editing, even now), the licenses are the only thing stopping them doing that - and I can't stand that you're stuck with the ugly current 3 months' worth of boot choices too, or the crappy WE boots.

I haven't so much as looked at it since 2008 (PES 2009) and that particularly horrible version. From being completely anal about every detail of it back in 2008 including how to work around importing badges etc via a memory card and or Xsata etc I now don't even know if you can do that, but to be honest I used to create faces using the in-game editor much more accurately anyway. It's not even player appearance editing any more, it's kits and badges, and the limited stadium config compared to the PS3 version where you can change all the adboards, directly import shirts and badges without endless faffing, etc. Haven't even downloaded the demo yet, same for FIFA. Haven't actually played a game on it since Jan 1st and that was a New Year's Eve party Kinect thing. As for "patch", if you mean memory card download, there's usually one (but there used to be and maybe still is all that faffing with the code so MS can ensure you're not cheating with achievements, etc. Also, I can usually do better than the people who put those together, and not being able to import PART of an Option File was a massive pain in the bum last time I wasted any time on it. Long and short of it, I'd play PES if I thought I could genuinely recreate teams accurately in their own, accurate stadiums with the right ads and badges etc. I barely used to play the game other than a "Tournoi" every 6 months at my old flat anyway, and I stopped doing that in 2006... couldn't care less about the licensing as long as it doesn't restrict the editing.

Due to the lockdown on the picture import facility for PES on the 360, I haven't bought it since 2008. Short of me getting a PS3 (not going to happen), it'll need a rethink from MS before I buy another one too.

I said "not Lambert"; "Ramirez and Lallana maybe". As in one of them is not likely to be a regular beyond this season due to his age, the other two are. I wish I didn't know too.

Scholes didn't play a pass that wasn't from within 5 yards of the centre circle, and Fonte was one of the most knackered players - I can't see him either lasting the distance to have coped with Scholes or seeing him being comfortable pressing 20 yards further up the pitch than he's used to. S Davis' passing in the latter stages showed he was knackered too, even 10 yarders were going awry - that's why Scholes got space. Also, if you've just got a bloke hitting 30 yard passes from the halfway line, in normal circumstances that should suit the defence just fine.

Because Roger is. I don't think Rodriguez has had much of a chance, plenty of potential though. I definitely don't think we should build around Lambert. Ramirez and Lallana, maybe.

As I said, he's doing a lot better than I thought he would. I never said he wouldn't score goals, I said the type of goals he scores (pens aside) are less easy to come by in the Prem, which I still think is a valid point, even though he's scored against last season's top 2. Anyway, this is about the Prem generally, not Lambert specifically. When Wigan destroy your 442 you have to believe the Prem generally is a better standard than when we left it. I'd say the team in 15th now is around the ability of the team which was in 8th was 10 years ago, the games are much more tactical due to the extended benches, fitness is higher, the tempo generally is higher for longer. I'd also say we're making more basic errors than any Saints Prem team this millennium as well so it's making us look relatively worse.

He's doing better than I thought he would, but that's mainly because I've been surprised at our ability to gain turnovers in advanced areas and (at least in the two Manchester matches) break at pace. I've also said I'll be surprised if he's the chosen option alongside Ramirez by the end of the season, but that will depend on what Nige chooses to do with our new golden boy and if he wants us to suddenly start with the through balls (doesn't suit Lambert) or maintain possession and build to crosses (obviously does). I think the goal is to have 4 strikers with different strengths and use them appropriately for the weaknesses of the opposition. What I didn't expect was Man U to get done from far post headers.

You're not Lambert's number 1 fan. I've said since last April that he won't be suitable for certain situations in the Prem, and last Saturday was reminiscent of the main one I described - blanket defending and immobile up front offering no outlet. We've already showed with Lallana and Rodriguez that we can hold onto it and get forward. His 2 goals were not unexpected - our ability to get possession high enough up the pitch to put the ball into the box with him already in there has been - to me at least.

He only won one header in the half hour against Kompany, just for the record, but we were much better at playing it on the floor in that half hour than at any point since this season. He didn't get anywhere near the ball generally against Arsenal, and I thought it was more because the Arsenal players focused on stopping him bringing it down (as well as him getting less service). Against Man U, Vidic competed for the headers, but Ferdinand defending a non-existent flick on, whilst Arsenal's defenders mopped up anything that he managed to get anything on by defending his feet, not his flicks - with the notable exception of the time he got space and played Puncheon in for our keeper-assisted goal. My question would be "should we expect a striker not getting any service to drop deeper and get more involved" ? There's plenty of space in the midfield if you know where to find it - we've seen that plenty so far this season. The Prem's obviously going to look better overall to us at the moment, we haven't come up against anyone we're better than... yet.

Not at all. I'm just not as reluctant to criticise him as some others because I'm judging him by Prem standards not Championship ones. It's not me spouting gash like "Lallana should be dropped", like Lambert's #1 fan, is it ?

And the difference against Vermaelen and Mertesacker ?

Nice touch.

Not sure how you'd explain Lambert against Man U then ?

This is also from the ambulance report and supports some of the discussion above : The p o l i c e were working extremely hard and i f I had a problem a policeman i n the area Intervened and allowed me t o get on w i t h the job i n hand and the p o l i ce comforted and d e a l t s y m p a t h e t i c a l l y w i t h the many d i s t r e s s ed people i n my immediate area. I was always conscious that eunbulances were being stripped I t r i e d to e s t a b l i s h a r o u t i n e and assess the s e v e r i t y of 10 of t h e i r equipment as soon as the crews had l e f t to attend to the i n j ured.

You've mixed up my two separate points - the police cordon didn't impede ambulances, the police cordon was across the middle of the pitch, a bunch of officers who could have been saving lives were trying to prevent a fight that wasn't happening or likely to happen in the circumstances. It was reported that the ambulances were held outside by police refusing to give them access to the pitch "because there was fighting". Actually, I'm surprised to see this is the link you've mentioned : 14. The s p e c t a t o r s , some o f whom were d i s t r a u g h t were p h y s i c a l l y manhandling me and around me there was f i g h t i ng between the supporters w h i l s t v e h i c l e s were moving i n and out of the ground. I c o u l d see a l o t of people moving to the north stand c a r r y i n g i n j u r e d and dead people. Incidentally, the "Heysel" thing above looks like some particularly tasteless hoolie lit and comes across as a work of fantasy to me.

Arsenal had an interesting perspective on it, at one point they had the bloke with the ball in midfield, and 5 people in attacking positions in the "line" between our midfield 5 and defensive 4, it was like W formation at times.

I thought his major failing was the lack of support for Clyne in monitoring Gibbs - funnily enough his "head down running" was hugely successful the week before against Man Utd.

Point taken, you can prove anything with coincidence. However... v Man City - Rodriguez both strengthened the defence and gave us an outlet (dribbling down the left with Lallana) v Man Utd - tired defence spent 15 minutes hoofing at not-Lambert, Rodriguez was the only player to keep possession from an aerial ball in this timescale v Arsenal - Lambert massively isolated due to no linking with the midfield (eg the outlet that Rodriguez provided v Man City)

As I don't know who Nigel Adkin is, should I be worried about this ?

But he's a local hero ! The fans love him ! Etc.

Mancini responded: "I agree but I think Joe Hart should do his job. I can criticise the team not Joe Hart." The Italian added: "Joe Hart should stay as goalie. I am the judge, not Joe Hart."