um pahars

Au contraire. I am one person who has spelt out how I preferred Lowe's approach to giving it a go during the parachute period compared to your noddy approach. You must have missed my post, so please refer to post 144 LOL.

I predict some serious bouncebackability and a 3-2 win (was it 2 seasons ago that we won by 3-2 up there???).

And you are absolutely right with that as well, but you are also confirming my belief that we did have (and still do have) choices. Lowe took a conscious decision to go down this route, there were other potential strategies he could have adopted, but rightly or wrongly this is the route he has taken us down. All I was stating was that it was ridiculous to suggest there was no alternative to the current strategy and we have been forced into making every decision we did!!!! I am more than happy to judge him by the success of this strategy and I also agree that we need to give this strategy time (although there may well come a time when we someone calls time, just as they did when it was clear Wigley was out of his depth).

Absolutely (although I'm not overly sure of the OP's rant). I think there are very few supporters who don't appreciate the financial climate within which the Club is operating, but it is ludicrous to suggest that within these confines everything that has been done will have been the best decision possible. As you correctly say, even given these tough conditions, it is still possible to make the wrong decisions, whilst pursuing a policy of economic prudence. As was the case when we had money in the Premiership, it's as much to do with how that limited money is spent, rather than purely how much is spent. To suggest things have to be done this way is ridiculous. The majority agree on the need to tighten things up financially, but there is more than one way to skin a cat!!!!! IMHO, in the grand scheme of things, there are two pieces of minor expenditure which could have been used much better, and they would be the wages for a manager and the salary for a CEO.

Were you berating Lowe when he spent £2m on Rasiak, with a further £4m committed on wages over the 4 year deal??? Were you berating Lowe when he was promising to fund Burley in the summer two seasons ago (remember the warchest)??? You must be the only person who advocated implementing Plan B before the parachute payments ran out. Even Lowe was up for giving it a push in the parachute period as he knew the only place to be was the Prem. You must be really stupid if I'm advocating Lowe's strategy over yours:smt119:smt119:smt119

Up and Away doesn't like facts, instead he likes to quote things that are totally wrong (often by 50%:rolleyes:) and then disappears for a bit. I put an analysis of points per game on another thread, but i won't put a link because he'll have a heart attack LMFAO!!!!!

Of course I'm right , here's the comparison lifted straight from the stats site: Southampton - 21st, The Championship Factfile League Record 2008-2009 Pld W D L F A GD GFA GAA PpG Pts Rank Home Record -------------11 1 5 5 8 13 -5 0.72 1.18 0.72 8 24 Away Record -------------11 4 2 5 11 19 -8 1.00 1.72 1.27 14 11 Overall Record ------------22 5 7 10 19 32 -13 0.86 1.45 1.00 22 21 League Record 2007-2008 [for the same period]PldWDLFAGDGFAGAAPpGPtsRank Home Record ---------------------------------11 5 3 3 16 13 3 1.45 1.18 1.63 18 6 Away Record ---------------------------------10 4 0 6 15 23 -8 1.50 2.30 1.20 12 13 Overall Record --------------------------------21 9 3 9 31 36 -5 1.47 1.71 1.42 30 10 And what is interesting is that: a) In 21 games we gained 1.4 points per game in the same period last season (up until 11/11/07). A pretty decent return. b) In Pearson's 13 real games we managed 16 points, which works out at 1.23 points per game. A not bad return, particular considering he inherited the following: c) Which means the bit in the middle from 11/11/07 until Pearson' s appointment we must have got 8 points from 12 games!!!! (that's even worse than our Jan!!!).

I'm always fairly optimistic if you take one game at a time!!! The problem comes when you step back and look at things in a realistic manner, because then all of a sudden it ll starts to look pretty desperate!!!! IMHO I don't really think we will "turn things around", but instead we'll just plod along and only survive if the three teams below us just perform worse than us, or if another team goes into freefall. PS Any press over in Holland about our Dutch Total Football attacking and exciting revolutionary coaching set up with shades of how Cruyff used to ply?????

I must say I'm not overly sure about the relevance of this to Saints, but had to chuckle at the piece in bold above. If only Lowe was tenuously connected to this Club;)

Was he a cricketer from NZ????

I was thinking the same. Surely their defence will be I was just lipsynching and no noise came out. Impossible to prove, surely????

The only bad result out of four that affected us in this bunch of midweek games, so although not catastrophic, one team has leapfrogged us. On to Saturday. Away to Burnley looks tough, but our away form is good. Charlton at home to Derby, could be dodgy for us, but Charlton have been shiyte. Forest at home to Blackpool, so possibility of closing the gap. Doncaster away at Palace, so should be no worries. Norwich away at Reading so we could overhaul. Watford at home to Coventry, so maybe a problem. Not the best set of fixtures for us, but who knows.

But isn't that the problem we are now faced with, in that we have boxed ourselves in with the current system and personnel brought in??? We set our stall out believing that DMG was the next big thing and we haven't really got a back up, particularly if we're going to play with only one up front??? I don't think Lallana is effective in the hole, then again I don't think we have really managed with anyone in that position this season, so what's the alternative??? Two up front???? Robertson and Paterson, recall White to play up there alongside one of the taller lads, Robertson & Pekhart, Pekhart & Paterson. I don't just see we have any alternative.

That was probably to do with the fact that he inherited a side that was falling apart and realised we were in a real battle to stay in this division. I think times like that call for experience, grit and mettle (our current experience of a point a game is testament to the problems of throwing kids in at the deep end). Quite frankly, that part of the season was a one off where it was a case of needs must, with the priority being surviving relegation as opposed to building for the future. pearson said as much not long after he took over: "A lot of my background is working with youngsters. I worked with the England youth teams for three years and I see the Academy as a massive part of the club. "It cannot be my priority at the moment, but it will get my total support in terms of fitting in with the philosphy of the Club". As has been said above he inherited a mess that needed a short term solution. He probably recognised that for a 12 game run where we had to battle to stay up, it wasn't the best idea to start blooding youngsters such as Mills, Lancashire, James and giving debuts to more than the odd player. That was not his long term aim though, as he also said the following not long after taking over: "A lot of my background is working with youngsters. I worked with the England youth teams for three years and I see the Academy as a massive part of the club. I have worked at clubs where the academy and first-team are separate entities and not integrated at all and those clubs are the poorer for it. If you put the right effort into recruiting and developing the right players then it can save the club a lot of money on transfer fees."

Juat a couple of quick points about some issues I majr issues with: Firstly, I really do not buy into this at all. Just because you are shareholders and have a financial interest in a company (or club) does in no way mean you are therefore the best person to run such an enterprise. Of course you have a vested interest and a desire for the Club to do well, but there is simply no rationale for saying that you will therefore you will be the best person to deliver this. Quite simply the best CEO should be appointed to run the Club. Pearson has great experience of working with youngsters and throughout his career has always spoken positively of the need and his desire to ue youngsters. I have often put a number of quotes up here showing how much Pearson believed in the youth team players coming through the ranks.

I find it rather patronising, and also somewhat naive, to be continually told we are playing exciting and attacking football, only to look at the table to see we're in a relegation battle and a point a game!!!! For every win we have managed (and there's only been 5!!!), we have lost double that amount. In some ways, if people really believe this then they have lost sight of how much trouble we are in. As Lowe himself would say, watch what the hands are doing and this is a results driven business. And for those that compare it to last season, well two facts stand out for me: 1. At the same date in last season we were 10th. 2. In the second half of last season, which I think all sides agree was poor, our points tally was comparable to the start of this season. There's a time for the best football we have ever had and there's a time for getting results.

After 22 games you start to get a feel for where you should be, and we are involved in a relegation battle having only earned a point a game so far. The full season is the time when teams are judged, so we still have some way to go, but I wouldn't call it reactionary to review our position and base your view on how we have performed at the halfway point of the season.

I agree, and just imagine how much losing 3-1 to Rotherham would hurt!!!!!

Take the money, take the spanking and forget about it. Getting thumped by Rotherham should be more worrying than being thumped by the best team in the land.

Even Barnsley got pegged back right at the end. Only Coventry just above us won, which is no bad thing considering they beat Charlton. Draw tomorrow or Norwich win I suppose.

I don't doubt that he has some talent, after all he has shown glimpses on a number of occasions and he scored shedloads in the youth team. However, like many youngsters, the big question is can he replicate that form in the first team on a regular basis (and it is that conversion failure rate that worries me in this revolutionary coaching total dutch football attacking and exciting set up).

Think positive. It is this type of negative comment that will take us down:smt069

Stop being so negative:rolleyes:

So far, so good. Charlton losing 1-0 at home to Coventry. Forest losing 1-0 at home to Sheffield Utd Doncaster 0-0 away to Preston. Watford at home to Norwich tomorrow (maybe a draw would be best there).

From about this time last year until the end of the season we managed about a point a game, and only stayed up because last seasons start was pretty good with 30 pts from 21 games and sitting 10th. I think a point a game from here on in will not be enough. (so arguably the latter part of last season was as good/bad as the first half this season!!!)