John Boy Saint

Dont be silly its that shandy pants big girls blouse Richarlison, Gladys in the Goodison tea room could let out a little botty squeak and that bugger would go down.

Jack Stephens takes no prisoners!

It’s clearly all a shower of $h!T from top to bottom. And it’s been heading that way since Cortese was shown the door, Poch was over the wall as soon as the season was over, Koeman was the thumb in the dyke, manager with a glittering playing career who’s reputation opened the door before he walked in, so easy to maintain some of the momentum Poch left behind. There was a piece linked from these pages, that talked about Mr Liebherrs very successful engineering company that allowed him to buy the club, Mali. Cortese was, possibly, CEO there too and some time after Markus passed away Katherina removed him from his position. Senior engineers working in the Swiss factory commented that since Cortese was removed the business became directionless and was just coasting. This ain’t putting Cortese up on a pedestal because the bloke was a bit unlikeable. I know someone who worked at Saints and they said he would waft in to the building of a morning and not say hello to anyone if he did it was a subject of conversation. But like Mali we have become directionless and are coasting, five year plans have evaporated, there was some waffle from Kruger about 5 point strategy (so wishy washy that I can’t remember the detail). Talking of Kruger we have a Director who makes most of us cringe when he opens his mouth. He may be mister ice hockey motivational speaker, but where Hughes is concerned are we back to where we were with Souness who famously commented “you tell me if there is anyone else in football by the name of Rupert?!!” If there was a heated argument between them is Hughes questioning being told what to do by his boss who has no previous affiliation to Football - or Soccer?! I was all for giving Hughes a chance but when you can see the glaringly obvious in lacking player performances from the stand or from behind the keyboard, and he comes out and says in a live interview about tonight’s game v Everton that the squad will be rotated and that MAYBE and POSSIBLY some of those players will put in a performance to be considered for Sunday that sounds as directionless as we have become. Are those players going to be convinced and perform: l Yoshida maybe as he seems an honourable man. For those of us working in the real world if we don’t perform in our jobs expect to be shown the door, in Football you can’t sack a player unless he pretty much kills someone even then his contract will be paid up, you can’t just bin the manager without having to pay up his contract what a great job paid handsomely for failure. As for the players Cedric and Bertrand have made no secret of wanting away (maybe that’s agent talk) but it seems no one has come calling for them........which is pretty damning especially when bang average players like Walker and Stones can be bought by City for mega bucks. When Gabbi arrived he came out of the blocks like his backside was on fire he looked like an absolute steal, then he fizzled out, I commented about him to a chap who knows quite a bit inside football and he said that’s why he is at Southampton and didn’t cost you a lot, all through his career he has scored in phases. You can expand that train of thought through much of the squad - bit like Michael Owen still being Newcastle’s record signing! I have said before I am a glass half full kind of chap - but right now the glass is looking rather empty. More empty than when we were tumbling down to league one!!! If these clowns ARE airing their dirty washing in public on the touch line of an away ground at the end of September, we are obviously in a pretty sorry state which is going to spread like an epidemic, looking at the overall performance on Saturday afternoon the place is pretty much infected. What fun!

Anyone who thinks teams like Wolves, Brighton etc are there for the taking are fooling themselves, Saints are the team who are there for the taking. We are weak feeble and bloody slow. I sit up in row EE behind the goal at SMS and you have a fairly good overview of the game before my eyes, today I was in row D pretty much at pitch level with a side view of the game, boy do we look like a bunch of blokes running about taking a hefty wage for a pretty average (being generous) performance. There is a term in Sales which normally goes hand in hand with under performance “telling not selling”. Saints are just going through the motions nice little triangles of passes showing they can play football, putting the ball in the back of the net seems a million miles away from that. Playing a decent simple pass over distance to a team mate does seem an effort. Folks have said Wolves were poor, sorry I didn’t see that, when they attacked they looked promising, when they didn’t have the ball they looked disciplined and tidy in their chores. Their subs definitely changed the game the number 7 when he came on had the body language of “I am going to score a goal”, Traore was instantly a handful. We had run about Gabbiadini and Armstrong neither looked a patch on the Wolves subs if you ran a head to head. Heodt and Vestergaard need sorting out, they both show flashes of ability but as a pairing they are shocking and glaringly show that they are very very immature as a central defensive partnership. Charlie Austin may be a Fox in the box but if he ain’t getting the ball fed to him, then nowt is going to happen from him, Carthorse sprung to mind today offers little to the team dynamic. Redmond was back to his run up to the 18 yard box slow down, Stop, um and err, most opposition teams have obviously said to their defenders, if Redmond is running at you stand up, make yourself look big and your job is done. Just watching MOTD and their first goal WTF is Bertrand our Captain!!! doing casually trotting back into the defence. At least the Inert Long should be back v Chelsea to save the day. Worrying times......... that other thread 5 wins in last 38 league games can’t see that improving much.

Bloody feels like it

You have a PM

I have a spare too now!

I had a plan to meet up with a Customer/Friend from those parts who is a Wolves ST holder, despite all the planning and despite being the boss he has to work Saturday so thats out the window. Reading the Away fans websites etc, talking to the bloke over the road who is a Leeds fan and goes to many away games, seems the original plan failing might not be a bad thing as it appears to be the most away fan un-friendly destination on the fixture list. Leeds fan over the road said that they ended up hanging around for the ground to open just to get a relaxed beer.

84 minutes - “Leganes have a free kick, two players stand over it - and they still send five men forward, While six minutes from a famous win” blimey what’s going on there??!!!!!!

Wow this must be one of the oldest threads on this board, NINE years old!! I only fished out from half way down page 2 of the thread list to ask a question for my daughter, and it’s grown another page!

Creme Eggs will be in the shops soon:D Seems to be a recent phenomena - folks wishing their lives away.

The whole demeanour surrounding this game made me think of an interview with Chris Marsden when Hoddle was our manager. CMFG said that until Hoddle came in the team went into games with no belief that they were going win, when they did it was a pleasant surprise. He said Hoddle made the team believe they were going to win every game. The whole approach to this game was “we are not likely win” “so let’s go play and come home”. Bizarre

Trouble is not hard to disbelieve, Chinese can be stubborn buggers. if it does turn out to be true they can kiss goodbye to my £1000+ next season. Vestergaard and Hoedt are too immature to run the centre of defence by themselves.

Was that one or two bottles tonight?

Not a defector really: Gazza between the sticks for Spurs this evening

Liverpool were on tick over, we ran about the pass % must be pretty damn shocking from us. Our defence needs to have an experienced head in there, Vestergaard and Hoedt both look immature as defenders, Bertrand doesn’t offer any guidance as a senior player. Whatever the issue with Yoshida is its needs sorting one way or the other.

Cheers my Cool Dad status just went stratospheric!

I see Liverpool could have what, to some, might be considered a Home Referee. Apparently its Mr Paul Tierney on the whistle for this one, comes from Wigan and came through the Lancashire FA, so Mrs T will be delighted to have Paul home home nice and early for his tea on Saturday night.

RATHER THAN START A NEW THREAD My daughter has asked what the walk out music is this season? If anyone knows I can retain my Super Dad status

Think that might have been Stern John - seemed a bum deal at the time one was young and eager the other was an old journeyman. That said young and eager ran along the edge of thinking above his station and being a pain in the backside! Hope that's right - otherwise I have jumped in with my question!i!! What was notable about Saints goal scorers in the 1979 League Cup Final v Nottingham Forest?

2.5 out of 10 Not to acquire splinters in my bum from on top of the fence, I am normally a glass half full kind of chap. But games like Monday night when we looked a proper cohesive football team first half, then second a bunch of blokes who had been knocked over the head walking out of a p*rtsm*uth Inn, waking up with the Kings shilling in their hand miles from land on the deck HMS Southampton FC, my glass is beginning to look half empty. I just cant believe the fragility of the players - I've watched Saints for years, seen the highs seen even more lows and rolled with them, but this is becoming a chore!

Band

is that Talkshoite err Talking $H1te?

First half I thought here we go, probably the best first half of football I have seen Saints churn out for quite a while, we were scrapping and pressing and Brighton were all over the place, that Murray’s head must weigh about 18stone because he seemed to be toppling over even when a Saints player was nowhere near him first half. As for the referee how the chuff can you play advantage when Redmond cynically had his feet swept from under him, and was the only Saints player near the dead ball and yet still on his hands and knees, that threw us for a moment in the first half. Second half they must have had their tummy’s tickled over a lovely cup of hot chocolate in our dressing room, we just let Brighton play and run about at will and we got deeper and deeper into our own half and meandered out up the pitch but only to the edge of the 18 yard box mind as it was coming straight back at us. There were balls running dead in space we all looked at each other as if to say “oh are you running after that”..............”oh they have it again best stand here”. We just look so fragile if we concede, you can point the finger at Sparky but there is just something in our DNA that just makes us go into our shell. What you can question is how can you bring on midget midfielders when they still have a couple of giants out on the pitch! If Charlie Austin is struggling with fitness why waste his space on the bench when you have an unknown quantity to the oppos in Gallagher who is big quick mobile and a presence, if you are going to punt long balls up field at least have someone up the field who stands a better chance of winning the ball rather than relying on the Spring in Longs legs to outjump a defender who already has a 5/6” advantage with his feet planted on the ground. All very frustrating, probably won’t be staying up late Saturday night either as we are likely to be on MOTD first, unless someone finds a bit of back bone down the back of the sofa. As for the pre match lightshow, I can’t see why some folks are getting so wound up and precious about it, alas it’s the razzmatazz way of the world these days. From my position in the ground I thought it was better than expected but also thought being on live TV beamed into millions of homes around the world I thought it was more of a free advert for the guys who installed the new LED floodlights........I was waiting for the fuse to go: how many times were you told off by your Mum when creating your own disco in the living room flicking the light switch on and off?

Surely you will be getting the best view of the fireworks from outside the ground if you are not in the front 10 rows.