Mowgli

Hmmm... ...did you actually follow the link? Was the best player on the pitch Saturday. The key phrase in the articles is this - "teams don’t pay for his current ability, they are paying a lot of it for what the player may become..."

haha. I suspect you are being in tongue in cheek here and a little mischevious because you've picked on some pretty poor examples and some very selective so called facts to boot. Two penalties that were saved. Two alleged mistakes in bad losses so did not affect the result. Two in matches we won anyway so did not affect the result. And the fulham game where he was probably our most effective defender. 2 interceptions, 6 clearances, 1 blocked shot. Only gave away 1 foul the whole game. It's easy to avoid mistakes - you just don't put the tackles in. If you want facts you need to include players that go completely missing when we concede goals and look at the positive contribution as well as the negative. Players who regularly throw themselves in the way of the ball will save more goals than they give away. I notice you failed to mention the awesome block he made in the first half Saturday. A certain goal had he not blocked it. Incidentally he won more aerial duels than any player on the pitch Saturday. He won more offside decisions than any other player on the pitch. 10 clearances compared to 12 in total for the rest of the back 4. And he still managed to get up the other end and get a shot on target.

It's not going to bring them back though is it? We need to learn from the tragedy not seek someone to blame. It would be very hard anyway becasue so many people were sucked into the cover up. Like others on here, I assumed it was fans causing trouble and was horrified when the true facts came to light. so why sohlud be blame people on the scene for having similar thoughts? There were one or two who made some very poor decisions on the day - opening the gates was the trigger. The alternative was a crush outside the ground which could have been equally horrific. In truth we will never know. If you see fans trying to scale the fences to get on the pitch, the decision to send them back was equally misguided but in the heat of the moment I suspect many of us would have reacted the same. Once the lie started to gain momentum it took one or two very brave people to break ranks and expose the lie. If you can really pin that lie down to one person good luck to you. The lie itself - the worst offence IMO - did not cause the deaths- although it did cause untold anguish to the families who did not get closure for many years. Even though it is now unlikely people will be jailed it is clear they will live with this for the rest of their lives. It wasn't just the grieving families whose lives were destroyed that day. A very sad day that finished football for so many. For some of us it united us in grief which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Probably his best game yet in a saints shirt. Rickie's free kicks got a it wild and wooly just before he scored two crackers against Liverpool and Chelsea so here's hoping....

You didn't see last weeks game then?

Not what MP said. He said they had viruses and would need to be monitored. Actually punch even made it to he training gallery so looks like he ill be ok for sure. Expect the others to be ok too. But may not risk Shaw

So are you suggesting we go back to the old badge before it was changed? I think the new one is OK (better than the old one). Consequently, it's difficult for me to say we should or should not change it without seeing what is proposed!

I'm not too worried about the illness scares although it would be sad if JRod can't continue his fine run of form. Fox will be fine as will guly if he stands in for Puncheon. The big match up is Rickie (£1m) -v- Carroll (£35m). No contest really. Fancy 2-0 forth this.

He's a brave man if he tries it on Boruc lol Or stoke city...

People need to realise that under Cortese contracts actually mean something. If we expect Shaw, Clyne and Lallana to honour their contracts to us then we need to honour our contracts to the likes of Fox, De Ridder, lee and others. Some of those in the list are out of contract this summer. Others may choose to move providing the fee is right. But as we saw with Dickson, he may not want to take the drop in wages so he will see out his contract. Nothing wrong with that (although personally I would rather be playing football). For others (I guerss Puncheon is the role model) they can get their heads to gether, work hard, and produce the football we knew they were capable of when we first signed them. Mayuka and Lee please note! Have said before about Astori and Sinclair being adequate for the summer IMO. After this weekends games, I might add Ilicic (Palermo) to that!!

I don't think it is that daft a comment. The incident warranted some debate. Le Fondre must have seen it on TV as he was nowhere near the incident. He's right in the sense that if you go studs up in the middle of the pitch then the intent warrants a red card irrespective of whether contact is made. The difference here was that he was using the sole of his boot to bring the ball down away from the keeper and he did that quite successfully before the goalkeeper got there. As others have said, the goal keeper looked very nervous coming out and so slow he was never really in danger from the studs. A perfectly time tackle IMO.

Absolutely. We've moved so far since then. Do you realise it was less than 3 years ago we were salivating over the idea of Chris Lines and Brian Stock coming to St Mary's? Astori and Sincalir from City is all we need in the Summer (and resign Boruc)

It's called plan B. designed to cope with the long ball game utilised by some the lesser tams in the league. MP's set up was spot on. The criticism about our game only suited to the football playing sides like Chelsea and Liverpool has hopefully been put to bed. Take another look at the stats and you will see we were a class apart.

Spot on. Thought he was poor today. It was not until I saw the taped game I saw how influential he was. Started the move for the first goal and a sublime pass when JRod hit he bar. Was played in a different role today. Will get better and better.

Never said that. Poor translation.

Moyes for me

I found myself thinking back to that Channon goal against Liverpool on Saturday. Rodriguez goal had similarities but I only counted 10 passes leading to the goal rather than the 15 against Liverpool. But somehow, I thought the ball control for the Rodriguez goal was of a higher standard.

There's a few I've been impressed with this season. What makes it interesting is that they are trying them out in a variety of positions which could be that they are being redeployed or it is just part of their development (remember Dabvid Jones employed Wayne Bridge left midfield to start so that he understood what was expected from a left back). Stephens has similarly been moved between midfield and defence (if I remember rightly he started as a full back but has developed into a very effective centre back too). They have some way to go to develop themselves physically and nature has its own way of determining the pace of that! That aside I think the real standout players, apart from Chambers are Targett (left back, maybe allowing Shaw to move left midfield), Sinclair, Rowe, Gape and Reed. On a personal level (and looking at a few wildcards) I've been impressed with Turnbull (he reminds me of Chris Nicholl - and not just the beard!) and I think Alberto Seidi is one to keep an eye on too. Seems to excel coming of the bench late in games but definately an awkward player to deal with.

He had been doing it regularly for Gillingham. It's a great skill. Still think he will be our number 1 in a couple of years and will stay there for many years. Just needs to develop his shot stopping along with his command of the players in front of him.

Credit where credit is due Nigel always had faith in him and playing him on the wing was not really the issue. He played there very effectively for Burnley. He was starting to come good under Nigel those last few games. The big difference under MP is that he is given freedom to express himself. One minute you see him as a centre forward and the next he is hugging the sideline. Same goes for lambo and puncheon who swaps sides much more than under Nigel. Reading the tweets and os it is clear the players a really looking forward to next weeks game. I think a few have a point to make!

Astori would be a great signing. I thought Fonte would not make the step up this year but he has proved me wrong and still getting better each game. Yoshida is very solid and can (to varying degrees of success!!) play right acrosss the four defensive positions. Jos is OK - bit unlucky with the og's. Despite all that, we do not have anyone that makes you go wow! I still hold my breath a bit when the centre backs are exposed (less so recently I admit). Forren still needs time to get up to speed. Probably not see the best of him till next year. So on that basis I still think this is the area most likely to need strengthening - primarily to take us to that 'next level'.

If they are correct with us rising to 12th after beating West Ham I don't really see us sliding back down after that tbh.

Starting to pick itself really. But don't underestimate the impact from the bench for people like Puncheon, JWP and Davis

Interesting swipe from Stuart Pearce on ESPN. Saying that's twice they've selected Shaw and twice he's pulled out with injury. Wants others to step up and claim the slot as their own.

I would - after his remarks when he signed the new contract.