Chez

brilliant, love the cup, love the draw, great chance of "giant killing".

Boy was it cold. Once again the Kingsland was closed and that just makes the place seem barren. The atmosphere was as you would expect. Having home and away fans so far apart all but destroys the atmosphere IMO.With the amount of stewards and POlice we have at our games these days I don't see how it saves money so why not reduce the gap? The game itself was no where near the intense game we had during the week but it did allow one or two of our players to show their stuff. Lallana was head and shoulder above the rest and he had his best game this season for me. Everything came off and he looked a player at the top of his game. The early goal made it very easy and we strolled to victory helped by a lot of good passing. Hammond ran the show and he had another excellent game. Bart 8 Not a lot to do but what he did have to do he did well. Some very good kicking despite the bobbles. A couple of excellent saves, one at the feet of a striker. Looks to have injured his shoulder as he struggled with throw outs in the second half. Might have come from the heavy knock he took rather a pull. Richardson injured early, went straight down the tunnel when subbed. SOlid enugh before that. Jaidi 8 another solid display, the replacement striker caused a few problems late on pace wise but you have to expect that. Won everything in the air as usual, passing was neat and tidy. They had very few chances. Fonte 8 dominated the striker, except got caught flat footed inj second half and rightly booked for cynical challenge. Very decent last ditch block when striker finally got in - helped by him taking ages. We win games easily because we have players domintaing their oponents like Fonte does. Dickson 8 a fine display in both positions (Harding came on and played at left back). Willing runner, decent passing, and I think more and more are coming round to my way of thinking that he's quality. Hammond 9 Another very good display. Everywhere and hardly ever gave the ball away Gobern 6 some woeful control early on (he looked nervous) but improved as the game went on and won some decent headers and tackles. He's better on the ball than Wotton, but he didn't show enough to earn a place ahead of Morgan. He needs game to improve. Holmes 5 Went up for one header, actually he kind of jumped but never really went for the ball. From this he got injured. Very tough on him. Before that it was the same old same old IMO. Neat and tidy, but he offered absolutely no threat whatsever and more often than not passed square rather than take on the fullback. He doesn''t have the pace and he knows it so plays it safe. Our whole right side became quickly predictable. IIn a way was kind if happy he got injured as I knew Chamberlain would pose more threat. Lallana 10 Hard to pick a fault. The bag of tricks is massive. Lambert 7 Coming from someone that has been slating Lambert for a long time now, I thought he looked pretty good to be honest. Lots of headers won, nice interplay with Lallana and showed a much better touch. He had lots of room mind you and the defender was small. Possibly his best half of the season (notnsaying much I know). Sadly he went off at half time. The team didn't miss him though. Guly 6 Poor first half, far too casual and passing poor. Improved after his goal. Confidence increased and so did his performance. Flashes of genuine quality and plays the game in the right way, just needs to be a little more `on it' right from the off. Chamberlain 6 A poor start, a hangover from Tuesday in terms of lost confidence perhaps, but improved quickly and caused them plenty of problems. Hopefully has got Tuesday out of his system. Butterfield 7 Sold display some nice passing and crossing Harding 6 Took a while to find his feet and never looked as comfortable as Dickson, but what an excellent sub to bring on.

The day I let stats like those determine whether a midfielder is decent or not us the day I give up watching football. Were Safri's stats any good, I doubt it, but I'd happily have him in my side. Were Makalale's stats any good? Of course not. The game is not just about stats.

each to their own, but personally I have no idea why any Saints fans would be happy to see us go out of the FA cup. Two or three extra games won't make or break our season. The FA Cup third round draw without us tomorrow, no thank you.

Number 24 in case anyone wants to join in my chorus of you skate bastard

He is a terrific player. He has Scholes-like abilities in terms of technique on the ball. He's still learning the game and we should do everything in our powers to keep him at the club. A few poor games does not make him a poor player. Hopefully five year deals have been put under his nose.

Glad Fallon has left Plymouth as well as he always causes us problems.

Agreed. Excellent play from the guy and as soon as it went out wide all I wanted was a lofted cross and you just knew he'd get his head on it.

likewise, but it din't half put him off and get the Saints side pumped up. More of that hostile abuse of oponents required at SMS IMO. The number skates that get away with no abuse amazes me. There is either apathy or a complete lack of knowledge about our oponents.

Chamberlin has set extremely high standards since he has joined the first team and I refuse to score players making allowances for age or inury or anything really. What I saw was a player that cracked under pressure a little. He was tightly marked in the first half, but I lost count of the number of times he miscontrolled. Also pretty much every single run he went on he lost the ball, either runing straight into the fullback or miscontrolling. He had much more room in the second half, but failed to use it. Again his first touch let him down on several occasions, and there were times when I felt he should have been sharper when the ball was bouncing. He did tire very quickly and shoudk have bene subbed earlier. Jardi gets so much stick for poor passing from the back yet on Tuesday he only gave it away badly once IMO. Fonte made a much bigger mistake in the second half, when dribblimg out from the back that could have lead to him being sent off, but his reputation as a `great' player means people ignore his mistakes. I thought Jaidi's control and passing was spot on. He was very calm and kept it short all the time. Richardson, for example dinked little balls forward aimlessly on two or three occassions, but no one points to that. Jaidi just has a bad reputation as a poor ball player. OK so he not a natural, but judge him on each game not what has gone before. Each to their own of course.

the "**** off to Scotland" chant made me chuckle. Very good.

they are not exactly the most mobile of players, but in Jardi at least we've got a player that wins more headers than any other centre back I have ever seen, Killer included.

Very very good game last night. Despite losing Chaplow the intensity of our play in the first half was excellent. They tried to overplay it out ofrom the back like we did at Huddersfield and we swarmed all over them. If the ref had given us the pen we would have been deservedly in front at half time. The second half was much more of a struggle at Brighton grabbed hold of the game. We struggled to put two passes together and then tired badly towards the end. I didn't think there's was a pen, but I'd like to see a replay. The linesman gave it, not the ref. A draw was about right, but Lambert shoud really have won it with a guilt edge chance. He is so low on cofidence its not true. Davis 9 caught crosses, swept well and saved the pen. Distribution choices good. Richardson 8 a few eye of the needle balls when a simpler pass would have been better, but very strong. He is a winner. Fonte 7 given a tough time, and lost a few big headers to their number 17. Lucky not to be sent off for two footed tackle, also there were several slaps thrown when he tangled with Brightonplayers in the box Jaidi 8 very solid and won everything and was a threat at other end Dickson 8 solid display, very adventurous in the first half and a couple of lovely turns in the box almost had him in. Hopefully the doubters can see what he is trying to do now. Lallana 8 some excellent runs, tricks, the usual stuff. Hammond 9 My MOTM. First half display was brilliant. He was everywhere and all over them. Faded a little towards the end Schnerlin 5 Poor first half, looked a little lost and doesn't get goal side enough for me. Was improving when subbed. Lucky not to see red with a blatent tug when already on a yellow Chamberlin 2 Very poor display. Never at the races at all. Not sure if it was nerves or the tight marking, but he miscontrolled time after time. None of his runs came off (that happens sometimes I suppose). Got cramp, which is a worry, and tired after about an hour. Should have been subbed 20 minutes earlier IMO. By his standards this was a nightmare game. Lambert 4 one delightfully weight pass to Lallana in the first half showed his class, but miscontrols and a big missed chance summed his game up right now. He won more headers than he has recently, especially in the first half, but no where near last season's best. Barnard 7 Great pressing and workrate. Offers himself for throws all the time. When he goes off that option goes and we give posession away much more cheaply. We need to get more than an hour out of him, especially as we are carryign Lambert Gully no significant impact, when badly needed as Brighton took charge Holmes - tiredness from the whole side meant we were not closing them down quick enough, Holnme's lack of pace didn't help that situation Butterfield - only on a few minutes I thought Adkins made the wrong subs. Chamberlain should have gone off with Holmes replacing him not Morgan. If Morgan had to come off then Gobern should have got his chance. I have to say Poyet's comments on the BBC website seem a little arrogant to me. "They tried to press us high, but not team can do that to Brighton for 90 minutes". He might be right, but we didn't just try to press we totally murdered them by our pressing in the first half and they were extremely lucky to get to half time on level terms. Whether we could do that for 90 minutes or not would not have mattered if we'd been a goal or two in front. He suggests the dealt with our shots easily when in fact they had to chuck everything in the way to prevent Lallana etc scoring. He's right though that their subs changed the game for them. Great game. This won't have set us back at all.

did you see the Tranmere game? In that game he was unbelievably good. One of the best displays from a player I haev seen for a long long time. Anyone that did see that game will have a totally different opinion of him to those that didn't. That said he has struggled a little in the other games, but its not always easy coming on as a sub, especially in a high intensity game like last night.

Henri's debut was away at Brum when he came on for Kenwyne Jones at half time. He scored pretty much straight away. Jones' display was one of the worst I have ever seen in a Saints shirt, right up there with Steve Baker's nightmare.

We haven't really seen a lot of the Chaplow Schneiderlin partnertship, and possibly won't, but the amount of running Chaplow does he can make the other CM player look good. I liked the balance of Hamond and Chaplow yesterday, but there were still odd occsasions when both get caught going forward leaving a big gap/space down the middle to attack on the break. That problem occured a lot with Hammond/Schneiderlin partnership. I guess this is always going to be the price of have both willing to attack. Personally I prefer having two box to box CM rather than one holding and one pushing on (which can become easy to mark). I wonder if this will ensure we get the goals we need to win against defensive sides, or will it lave us vunerable against the better teams?

Just so you know we get about 50 letters a year asking for exactly the same thing, but despite you and your like offering free labour it actually can be very difficult to find work within the agency that you are capable of doing without someone pretty much holding your hand the whole time - so it simply is not worth while. I say this simply to explain why you may find it tough to find a company willing to offer you work experience. Keep your chin up, and keep trying. One thing thoughm If you do get work you may find that it is rudimentary admin. Again take it on the chin as we all start down the bottom. PR is very much about experience, you simly have to out the time in. Best of luck though.

was that the 125 year celebrations? I thought it was just Saints FC showing its work in the community through the Saints Foundation. If it was to celebrate 125 years it was, well, quite strange really. I guess I needed to waste my money on a programme and then it might have allmade sense as the public address system is so **** I didn't have a clue what was going on. Not that I think 125 is a significant milestone.

I have slated him for being so**** in the air this season, but he was much much better today, probably his best game in terms if headers won and direction or flick ins. However his first touch and passing was still well below what we have come to expect of him. He badly needs a goal or two from open play to boost his confidence and then perhaps we will see the SUPER Ricky again. If not Craig Davies looks a talent.

if every ex-saints scores against the Saints I'll cope better with allowing the better to leave us.

Christ, Hammond plays really well and suddenly Schneiderlin is the worst player we have. ********. Both are decent footballers. The difference between the two for me is that Schneiderlin covers the ground much quicker than Hammond. At the moment though Schneiderlin has just lost his way a little, which he does so often after going out on French duty. Great to have some class in reserve. Yje question is, will Furguson get the sack before we buy Chaplow?

Cranie - judas ****

I never understood why Gobern was played out wide. Quite clearly a central midfielder. Reminded me Carlton Palmer. Much rather see him on the bench than Wotton. Going back to Adkins' comments about Puncheon, it doesn't add up. He didn't want to go, but Adkins left the door open. Why on earth would a manager allow a very decent reserve to leave unless he had to reduce costs? Managers always want good options off the bench and a large squad.

That Linus Hallenius goal is unbelievable.

I thought this thread was going to be about Wigan getting some sort of prize for their meat and potatoe...