The9

Well, I was slagging him off for not getting in the box enough last season so it's possible , but I think there's been a shift in his role (based only on watching us against Leeds and highlights of Torquay) because last season he was holding positions in line with the defensive line to win headers from open play, whilst this season - so far - our build-up has been a lot less airborne in the opposing half so he's dropped deep without expecting to have to win the ball in the air. I think much of it is down to what Richardson has been asked to do, last year he would always chip one at Rickie, this season (inc his impressive pre-season) he pushes forward himself and exchanges passes with Lallana / Guly / De Ridder which brings Lambert in as a ground-based creator - though Lambert was in the hole sometimes last season I think there's a conscious decision to keep it low into the attacking third now and the space he leaves is being filled by the wide men centrally to finish it themselves, whilst last season when he came deep it was to hit a wide ball to them for a cross. It might vary based on the defences we're facing, but it was noticeable on the Torquay highlights that we had midfielders ahead of Lambert (attacking the box not the touchline) almost every chance we made.

I have a copy on DVD but I think it may be in storage - and of the 7 goals scored I think only about 3 or 4 are actually on the video. PS you did ask me for it once before on Saints Forever...

Yeah, the majority of squad numbers are based on the traditional numbers for that position : Goalkeepers are numbers 1, 21 and 31 Left backs are numbers 3, 13 (apparently) and 23 Centre backs are (5 vacant), 6, 15, 16, and 25. Right backs 2, 12 and 32 Our Centre midfielders have 4, 8, 14, 18. Creative/Attacking midfielders 10 and 20 Wingers (11 - now sold), 17 (and 33 because De Ridder wanted 3x 11) and strikers have 9, (19 vacant) and 29 (plus Lambert and Connolly have kept last years' numbers 7 and 22) The only really weird one is Holmes getting 24, which I assume he got because Bart swapped with him to get the GK numbers to end in 1. Reeves has 28 but is unlikely to feature, and there's some rumour of other kids getting the numbers from 34+ in no particular order but it's not confirmed in the programme or on the web.

That goal should have it's own website. Plus it was scored in a Football League ground with at least one former pro playing (Jimmy Glass). You'll note I only namechecked the assister, not the scorer...

Of course, perfectly in line with Nigel's OCD numbering scheme.

I prefer this one (though I'm not expecting the embed to work surprisingly it does) : Saints Forever v Red N Black. Minty with the cross...

Changed my mind... Delap's was more powerful and they were both pretty scissory-overheadish.

Source?

Absolutely he did, and I'm surprised Lambert's withdrawn role all match long hasn't prompted more discussion - he's playing a completely different role to the target man who occasionally dropped deep that he was last season, presumably the idea being to get Lallana and De Ridder/Guly bombing on from out wide as Lambert in the hole drops deep and creates space for the midfield runners to exploit. Certainly worked against Leeds for Lallana and to an extent Connolly's goals, and I'll be giving him more leeway for his lack of scoring exploits this season as a result. Difficult to score from 30 yards from the goal. The only downside of that game for me was to see De Ridder not in his preferred position getting the crap booted out of him whilst facing his own goal, but as Chaplow was supporting Richardson against Gradel, who was the only Leeds player offering a threat, I wasn't going to have too much of a problem with it. One thing's for sure, if we go with a narrow midfield like we did against Rochdale (and Leyton Orient a few days before) towards the end of last season, their manager will have someone who can exploit the space, just as they did last season.

My missus says only Jack Cork comes into that category.

Spot on. Some of us would just like the petty charges and generally inconveniences that have suddenly raised their heads to go away so that we can completely enjoy the experience of what the club is achieving due to investing Markus' money on the pitch. I could also do without the Chairman slapping himself on the programme looking like he's after a fight because it's frankly a bit weird, but as long as his involvement leads to us having access to shedloads of cash I'll cope. It's the jumping through hoops to do the simple stuff and failure to spread the word and sell the empty seats that would negate the need for the stealth taxes that annoys me, especially as it's extremely arguable that the fans are funding the players we're getting in anyway - though of course the argument for the next 2 years will be that the Chamberlain money is paying for it. Even though paying 25 players at a conservative £5k per week annually is about £6.5m in wages alone, without transfer fees included.

Actually if you read the details in the fine print of either the Season Ticket or Match Ticket (can't remember which) it specifies that as a ticket holder you agree not to use your mobile phone for any digital updates (or for anything other than "being a phone"), which implies accessing the web to read OR send information - so "officially" they can chuck you out for it, just as they can prevent a media person doing so. Don't ask me why I was reading this, I just was. This is nevertheless NOT the same argument as Cortese was having last year, it's another one which also involves the media and rights.

I think you underestimate their starting XI, which is reasonably decent - though as soon as they get injuries and suspensions they're screwed at the moment.

Based on Adkins' anally retentive numbering system so far, I'm expecting him to be given the number 13 shirt as a left back (Dickson has 23, de Ridder bucks the system as a bolted-on 33 as it's 3 times his preferred number, but all the back up CBs have numbers ending in 5 or 6, and the right backs are 12 and 32 - Connolly at 22 has just retained his previous season's number). Or maybe Fox might luck into 11 - though like you I'm hoping it's kept free for someone else.

For precisely nowt you can watch all of that for nothing via streams on the web. I dropped Sky HD altogether in 2009 and aside from having saved myself about £1700 in the meantime (I was paying about £70 pcm) I haven't missed anything I want to watch. HD is fine but adds pretty much nothing to the experience other than the ability to see whether players have hair gel or wax, and 3D is a total gimmick that hardly lends itself to football anyway. Best of all, I'm not watching so much tv, because I no longer have the Planner recording everything and don't need to find hours to watch stuff I'm only saving in case I get bored anyway. As it happens I also had BT Vision from 2007-2009 for the spare room, and the bloody box spent 50% of the time failing to switch itself on with BT's tech staff possibly the rudest IT staff ever (and I used to manage a team of them), though I did like their power cable based network boosters.

Which is exactly what we don't want from any players who aren't up to the task, which he certainly hasn't been in pre-season. Difficult to find the balance between keeping players on improved wages and keeping too many that we don't need. If we actually got into the Prem possibly half the current squad would be completely out of their depth - and some of them have just got new deals. Not that having a new contract means anything much in football other than more pay for as long as you stick around.

I've always wondered if years 3-5 were intended to be either "Championship Promotion, Premier League relegation, Championship Promotion with mid-table Prem players" or "Championship Promotion, Prem struggle but survive, Prem strengthen"

That ball at the bottom of the front cover is a minimum of 2 years out of date...

Relying on poor quality live streaming is financially prudent...

In case anyone's wondering, Sheff Wed v Blackpool is about 5 mins from the end of extra time, hence the delay in making the draw... I guess.

I honestly could not care less. Home draw would be nice just because of our mental successive home draw record.

He's about 5th choice in midfield on current form, I'm not sure how you can come to that conclusion.

Do people SERIOUSLY think the club is self-funding at the moment ?

On Saturday at 3:30pm I noted that there were shedloads of games in League One that had already seen a goal, and noted that nevertheless "I couldn't care less anymore". It was great to realise that I'd completely forgotten Bury had been promoted from League Two, and that this was because I no longer needed to know, or gave a spattering shart about the bottom two divisions. Hopefully we've put all of that behind us. You may note this might be part of the reason I wasn't familiar with the likes of Lambert and Hammond when we signed them.

Source ?