Verbal Kint

Bit of an overreaction on both sides here i think. Celtic are a massive club. No disputing that but the standard of SPL football is quite poor outside of the old firm and even though he has a better chance of winning medals at Celtic he will want to play in the premier league. I doubt there is a huge disparity in terms of wages on offer but if he wants to get into the England squad he needs to play in the Premier league, whether that is right or wrong it is simply a fact that very very few players have been considered for the England squad whilst playing in Scotland. We have a genuine chance of being in the prem next year and that may be enough to persuade him. We wouldn't have got to the stage of making bids if we didn't think/know Hooper would consider the move.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2426115,00.html

Richardson, Butterfield, De Ridder. Maybe Connolly as well possibly. I think we may see a rare start for Holmes... Educated guess at team: Davis Harding Jos Martin Fox Cork Morgan Hammond Holmes Lallana Guly

Thanks, that isn't too surprising given who's available. Do you know if Ben Reeves is involved? Or Hoskins?

Any indication of who we are starting with up front?

Combination of both, but mainly the latter. He looked back to his old self in the first half at Brighton playing with Harding behind him

After today there isn't another league game until 14th jan. I'd hope Adkins would have spent yesterday preparing for today, not worried about transfers. We then have a nice little day break from the league which seems like a better time to be trying to bring in players and letting them settle in before the Forest game. If you engaged your brain, you may have been able to see that as well rather than rushing to post just one day after the window has opened...

Seriously, the sort of posts you're making should be made on the 1st Feb after the window has closed. You are pre judging what will happen. If we haven't signed anyone by then or you don't think we've got the right players then fine, but give them more than a day of the window to make their move...

It's the 2nd of January. Get a grip

They ARE doing everything they can. Can't you see that??!!

Nail. On. Head

Why are you so negative about this team? Genuine question. I've enjoyed the first half of this season more than any ever i can remember. We play some fantastic football, we get to watch some very talented footballers and we're winning far more than we're losing. I think if you were able to go to games you might have a differing view on the club... We're a newly promoted team and only brought in a couple of additions over the summer and the players have stepped up to the mark and delivered for us. I don't know if we'll go up, and i don't know if we'll sign anyone in January, but i find it quite sad that a squad of players that have given absolutely everything they've got over the last 12 months or so still get criticised on here when we lose a game. You know Cortese and Adkins are ambitious and will be doing everything to bring players in on the right terms. Have a little faith and stop acting like a spoilt little brat. Congratulations to the players and manager for a fantastic 2011 and particularly for the the last 6 months. As long as they give everything they have you can't ask for more, and that's exactly what they've given. If that isn't enough for some fan then you really are supporting the wrong team. I sometimes wonder what happened to our fans, when did they suddenly think we had become Man United?

regarding him not being brought on at pompey, surely this was purely because Adkins wanted to keep the taller players on the pitch considering the only threat they offered was from lumping it forward to their big centre forwards?

Isn't he left footed? Don't really see why he's necesarily a right sided player when he's all left foot...

Fox has a better cross on him, but never gets himself into a position to utilise it. You NEVER see him getting down on the overlap, and thus defenders are able to mark Lallana closely, knowing full well no one is going to make the run in behind them. Whenever Harding plays, you get the best out of Lallana...

Hollow Hollow Hollow Your FA Cup was ****ing hollow All that money you took From that bent Russian crook And now the skates are sat on death row We're sending you down, we're sending you dooowwwwwwnnn At St Mary's in April, we're sending you down Why's there silence down in portsmouth Why are there so many empty seats. They're cheats and they're a joke And now the skates are ****ing broke And the saints are going to the premier leaaaague

Disagree. Our away form is won 3 drawn 3 lost 3. It is a long way from 'cack'. It's decent but it is probably something we need to pimprove on if we have aspirations of winning the leage. However, in a normal season getting to about 85 points is enough for automatic promotion. If our away form continued as it is through the season we would pick up another 18 points roughly on the road which would leave us needing about 9 wins from our 14 remaining home games. Very achievable When you look at it that way it gives a bit of perspective. This is the Championship, you are not going to win every game and our players are going to have off days. So will West ham, and Boro and Cardiff etc etc If we take anything from today then maybe it's that we are still lacking that bit of quality up front with pace to play with Lambert. Every time i see Maynard play he looks more and more like a premier league player to me. Hope we go in for him in January

A game of opinions. I think all those players listed are superior to Jos. And with the exception of Titus i think they're all vastly superior...

The obvious answer is the gap between the championship and the prem is huge. Just think he will get badly undone in the prem against better and quicker forwards. Afterall, watching him against Ishmael Miller was frightening enough. He's been a fantastic loan when we needed a body to come in, and he's shown he's good enough to play in the championship, but i think that is his level and i don't see any point in buying players anymore who won't be able to step up. Who did he play in the champions league for?

Would cost too much for a player who looks as though he would be hopelessly out of depth in the prem (he's so slow when turning it's like watching jaidi again). Save the money and invest in a top class centre back in the summer, when we know what league we will be in

Disagree. Plays far too many long balls and doesn't get forward enough for someone with his crossing ability. He needs to start overlapping the way Frazer does. His defensive play has got better though. What a ball in that was today for the goal. Just wish he would get himself into attacking positions a bit more often

That's the poorest we've been all season. Never got a grip of the game and we just weren't at the races. 1 down, down to 10 men and we STILL got something from the game. It's a very positive result, i doubt we'll play as poorly again this season. Be a bit more positive

You don't get to choose where your tickets are for an away game. Like i said before, i do prefer standing but i always feel sorry for the elderly, more frail supporters and also the children whose afternoon is completely ruined because they're unable to see any of the game. If you don't mind ruining other people's enjoyment of their afternoon, then i guess that just makes you selfish. I personally would rather not be in that category

Because it's against ground regulations maybe...? I personally would rather stand but it is amazing how selfish some people can be. We have some fans who struggle physically to stand all game and considering stadiums are 'all seater' these days it's hard to argue they are in the wrong for believing they have a right to watch the game whilst seated. The atmosphere may be inferior as a result, but the regulations are what they are...

I don't disagree. Just thought we weren't quite our fluid selves and you have to credit Burnley for that. I thought they worked their socks off and we had to show a bit of patience. On another day Lambert would have buried that header and Lallana would have put one of his headers away and we win the game comfortably. Afterall, how many clear cut chances did Burnley have? I can't think of one other than their goal. I always find it irritating that the football world are trying to stamp out diving in this country but yet when a player is fouled and stays on his feet they never get given the decision. Surely if referees were a bit more proactive in giving fouls regardless of whether or not they go down then players wouldn't feel the need to fall over so easily. I credit Adam for staying on his feet at the end as i don't want a team full of divers. The ref should have given the penalty anyway.