John Boy Saint

Just about every defender who he comes up against (or has)says he is horrible to play against

Oldknow was known around St Marys as Oh-know his way was the only way.......... which is probably why Nik-Nak saw him off: 2 Ko You also wonder if Cortese's presence around the club was too much of a reminder of her father. Also Cortese was also a senior director of Mali - Markus's source of wealth, pretty certain that he had an even bigger hand in stuff there when Markus was gone. I swear I read something somewhere that the atmosphere in Mali wasn't too pleasant when he was strutting about (bit like stories that seeped out of SMS). Maybe he also started getting too big for his Cuban Heels where Ms Liebherr was concerned.

The way we stumbled around on Saturday that thought cantered through my mind.

A factor in that could be Dave Watson once saying that he would stay as long as Fraser was still with us............ very cosy comfy slippers!

He did make me and my mate smile at half time when he was warming up got the ball just outside the centre circle and ran at goal jinking, weaving, stepping over, dribbling past mesmerised worms in the St Mary's pitch, who offered no challenge, to tap home!! On the flip side he lashed one into the Chapel stand without even holding his hand up in apology, folks he aimed at obviously weren't paying enough attention to his warm up!!

I will add to that the observation made in the Huddersfield game, Davis has anticipation, a moment in the game Saturday he snuffed out a potentially dangerous forward Watford pass, a voice behind behind me said "great anticipation" and those in the crowd who saw it too gave a smattering of applause. Back at the Huddersfield game; by comparison Redmond has reaction the only trouble is his reaction is made 10yrds away from where it should be! Something again that stood out from Saturday as a team we have fallen into a nasty habit of waiting for the ball to come to us, instead of going to meet the ball, resulting in the oppo player tossing a coin and going after the ball and invariably them getting Heads yet again........ Saints player is then only seeing their tails.

Not calling for his head, but slightly concerned that the summer was just a prolonged mid season break as aside from the Wolves experiment, we seem to be managed by a goldfish, 4-2-3-1, this Saturday we are going to play 4-2-3-1, this Saturday for a change we are going to play 4-2-3-1. Listening to the post match interview on Solent, was a tad concerning: it was like a weak swimmer had been thrown in the deep end of a very big swimming pool and then the lights had been turned out over an hour ago!!! As has been said already it's only 4 games......... But no goals from 8 of the last 9 home games!?!! Seems like we are sat in an M C Escher optical illusion painting!

First goal he was definitely napping, slightly in his defence it was curling away from him, that said when matey kicked it I thought that's going in!

I did actually think about firing up my cobweb covered Twitter account to send a message of instruction out to the team on the pitch........... thought it would be amusing if it got up on the screen.

Whats with the dicking about with the defence in reality thats not the problem, bizarrely our biggest attacking threat has come from defence in recent games!!! The bloody Benny Hill show in front of them is what needs sorting out.

Nope no deflection, I was right in line of sight of it. Forster was snoozing defence was clustered in a lump, matey took a swing at the ball at what was pretty much half an open goal. Quite honestly if you could apply a soundtrack to today's game, Saints played with Acker Bilk Stranger on the Shore as their backing track all game, Watfords soundtrack was pure Ron Godwin, first half 633 Squadron, second half Battle of Britain theme!! (Spotify it kids) Someone needs to break Tadic in training so that Pellegino has absolutely zero chance if using him as an option, him falling over in the box holding his knee was fûçkîñg pathetic. Redmond needs to be given similar treatment, he takes no fecker on, bottles it and passes backwards then moans at everyone on the pitch, second half plenty of options in the box and the fool just stops. The only players who seeming put in a shift were Stephens, Wesley, Cedric, Bertrand, and Davis who put in a mega shift in the internationals over the past week yet still plays a full 90 mins armed with his broom and fire extinguisher. Today's game was crying out for Lemina who was pulled off on 60 mins (?) midweek to replace JWP (who as much as I like him was a fish up a tree today) slide Davo further up towards the front. Listening to Solent and the Pellegrino interview, last year the "interesting possibilities" drove you up the wall, but he held his hand up to the deficiencies and failings, Pellegrino just made you think......... What??????!!!!!!!!!!!! The day was summed up nicely by Mrs JBS when we got home and she asked for a G&T without the usual instruction for me not to use too much gin.

Only after her wily old agent Liz Windsor has advised her to go on strike, after being found out for being tapped up in the Savoy Grill!!

Don't worry you'll be feeling right as rain from about 3pm on Saturday afternoon!!

Shocker of the night has to be France being held by little Luxembourg!! :eek:

Tale I heard from a "Little Mouse with clogs on in Old Amsterdam" When van Gaal said he was stepping down from the national team after the 2014 World Cup. Koeman had apparently positioned himself with the ending of his Feynoord contract to step into the role as on paper he was the "next man up". Allegedly the KNVB pretty much snubbed him having already sounded out a repeat of Guus Hiddink. Talking to Dutch friends they reckon Koeman would only be slightly tempted if the KNVB crawled over broken glass and begged him. but while he is earning a good living from club management no matter how crap the national side are doing he is happy to see them scraping the barrel.

West Ham have turned out the lights at the training ground,............. or the boys batteries have run out!

Did Barkley have a quick peek on Cobham Zoopla while having his medical and think "flipping heck you can buy a postcode round where I come from for that money!!". Ronald won't be happy!!

Thought the same, even more so after watching the Koeman Feynoord departure video when he came to us and a very tearful Clasie on the pitch. As it says on the tin # We March On.

Just to stir the muddy puddle some more, I don't think the 3 at the back v Wolves was an experiment, we are going to go all Chelsea with Jack, Wesley, Maya at the back. giving Bertrand and Cedric more licence up the wings.

Don't think he was actually given a chance in the prem, least not with us. Always puzzled me that there were big question marks and doubts bouncing about whether SRL could make it in the Premier League. Billy Sharp like Rickie knew where the goal was and how to get the ball into it, yet we never even tried to find out if he was just as capable.

Wait till you are an old-timer and the penny might eventually drop.

Just pepper Gomez with hard long range shots and make sure at least 2 players are steaming in to mop up his usual parries, job done.

I have to say Redmond has reached the peak of his potential, what you see is all you are going to get. Any moments of brilliance are more luck than of his own making. Since he has been with us he has indeed picked up the ball and run with it get to the box 2 defenders double up on him and he stops. Sitting in the crowd you hear folks crying out for him to take the defender on but 99 times out of hundred he either just off loads the ball or loses it. As I said on the Steven Davis thread, Davo has anticipation in his game, Redmond has reaction the only trouble is Redmond is 10 yards away from where he is needing to be reacting. Stood watching the Huddersfield game it was astounding just how true this observation was. Hand on heart for a young player some in Saintsweb land please tell me what actual improvement to his game he has shown since being here. Tadic thought when Puel said he wanted to build the team round him thought he had landed, he thought he was untouchable, hence throwing the toys out of the pram when subbed. Yup there are moments but a handful at most in each game is pretty poor show. Tadic and Redmond on the pitch at the same time is like having 2 Luxury players on the pitch at the same time: trouble is they are Lidl luxury not Fortnum & Mason luxury. Think I am talking hollyhocks? Just watch them both when they lose the ball for the umpteenth time in a game, they both blame every other player on the pitch.

Again it's nothing new, Lawrie McMenemy always said that we were a quiet bunch, but get us going and we are pretty noisy. He told the players don't wait for the crowd to get you going you have to get the crowd going, because overall they are a knowledgable lot. The comparisons to the League one Championship days support back this up, we all watched swashbuckling marauding football overall, that's how we got promoted 2 seasons running, the team played with a purpose we had goals raining in from all over the pitch. The second half of Koemans last season we were up and at teams and the crowd responded. Once dear old Claude got his feet under the table we have played almost going through the motions football, with very little pazzazz it's almost predictable which is no doubt why the goals have dried up. At the moment Pellegrino is trying to get the players to move the ball quicker from the side lines but yet the players still seem to be playing the inert football we were for big chunks of last season, there is no little or no spark it ignite the fans. On Saturday Huddersfield fans were noisy with the drummer banging away, and the bloke down the front with the loud hailer orchestrating the songs. But the Saints fans were not watching much of a huff and puff from the team more of the usual wheeze. And that was reflected pretty much across our small crowd. Driving "home" in the car Mrs JBS, my Sister and Bro in Law all commented on how quiet I was throughout the game, I guess I have gotten use to watching Saints players going through the motions and not playing how they could and should, no one is taking the game by the scruff of the neck to enthuse me right now, and going by the lack of noise I am not alone. What's worrying is if I feel like that, and I am part of the hardcore support of many years, then that is a concerning situation we find ourselves in.

For all of you pontificating about the value of Davis based only on your exceptional view on a tiny screen, you might as well step out of the conversation about having an opinion about him, if you physically pay your pennies and sit stand and watch Saints games with you own eyes then you are in a better position to comment on his contribution of the team. If you were at the game yesterday, you would have seen that he worked tirelessly mopping up stuff most other players couldn't be bothered to or could see would prevent an issue occurring. Next time you watch a game live in person, take the time to watch Davis and Redmond in isolation, Steven Davis has anticipation, Nathan Redmond has reaction trouble is Redmond is often 10 yards away from where he needs to be reacting. Fill you team up with Redmonds, hello Championship,sprinkle the team with the odd Davis you might have a chance to succeed.