swedish dave

Not for the first time, I find myself in the minority compared to those who regularly dissed him even when he was playing regularly for Saints. Although not the first role model for Saints Academy, his contribution to the club in terms of service, and appearances puts him in a class of his own. There have been those on this site who condemned him for his "sideways passing" whilst denying the prestige of his (16) ? free-kick goals (second on to Beckham) at Prem. level. His club tally was more than "just freekicks" , and in his last season with Saints he was our top scorer with 10 goals. JWP played his best games as attacking MF, although it was clear that at the worst times our successive managers had little alternative than playing in a more defensive roles, where he excelled alongside Romeu at his best. I am sure that his "defection " (as some might term it), was reluctant as after Saints' first relegation he still harboured hopes of making an England World Cup squad and needed to be a Prem. League player, but was sadly discarded whilst others who travelled could rarely take a good corner, or put a freekick into the 6 yard box. For this oversight, I blame Gareth Southgate who (as U21 manager) played James over 20 times and even made him captain. After gaining the England managerial post, GS ignored Prowsey in favour of TV / media favourites who pushed for other "big club" names. David Moyes recognised James' qualities and his first season with WHam yielded 8 goals and 8 assists, only then to be disgarded by Moyes successors. No-one should expect a 30 year old to show the same quality as he was as a 20 year old, but JWP was always the epitome of fitness and has a good footballing brain. His vast experience is needed now - more than ever - in a side that looks like imploding, when all are expecting a promotion push. Time will tell, but I hope than his (potential) return will help steady the ship in the season to come.

....and that surprises you ?

......bit late for that -isn't it ? BIG QUESTION ....Why on Earth didn't we buy him back in the summer?.

If we are looking for "strong points " in our squad there are quite a few, but Charles and Stewart played key roles in games last season. A quick analysis of their joint goal-scoring tallies shows that most of their efforts were match-winning, or at least contributed to important points won. Whoever replaces them needs to contribute goals of that importance. (can't see anyone at present). Jander may still head back to his homeland and IF... THB does finally move on , it needs key positions to fill and I don't see that quality from those remaining. We are talking about a squad good enough for automatic promotion, and the opening games haven't excited, except that (like last season's opening home game).. we finally won the points " at the death ". Watford was a poor showing, and we certainly didn't look like match-winners.. at 87 minutes on Saturday. Verdict. must do (a lot better), especially in the first half of games.

with a week to go...I'm not overly convinced that the squad is anywhere near good enough as we seem to be overly-dependent on a few key players, who may suffer form-loss or worse--significant injuries may put them out for longer periods. THB will eventually go, and those others still on the books who have had the "thumbs-down" from Tonda will be leaving, one way or another. NOW ..another quality CB is essential. Impressive though they were Larin and Mubama are the only strikers likely to score on a regular basis and good as he has shown up so far Flynn Downes (2 yellows in 2 games) is already on his way to longer suspensions unless he can control his emotions. IMO Bragg is looking better but he can't be expected to lead the midfield burden alone. Scienza's reputation has preceded him and as "the most-fouled Championship player" last season it was ominous to note that three Watford players were yellow-carded in their clumsy attempts to stop him last week. Losing him - even for a short time - will unbalance the attacking strategy. I don't expect any big money buys, but we need find several suitable experienced additions to the squad if we are to consider ourselves promotion candidates.

finally got it over the line. Good late substitutions by Tonda, after a poor first half. Mubama took his chance well, and Sam Edozie DAJFU to win the penalty. 3 points at home. good stuff.

.as if starting - 4 points wasn't bad enough, we must start pulling back those points PDQ before we stay stranded in the drop zone.

Was he that bad ?. I thought he did well given the circumstances, although Downes did show up well (IMO) but still managed to pick up his statutory yellow card. A rule he hasn't leaned yet ...Getting booked for a foul may be expected, but squaring up to an opponent, or (worse) arguing with a referee is a sure-fire booking. I wouldn't condemn Bragg on the basis of one game, there were other (more experienced ) who did far worse.

I was at St. Mary's to see that fixture last season. We had 65% possession and 18 shots to their 12. Stoke didn't look that good on the day, but we made defensive errors and gifted them the game ...losing 1-2 Can't afford those sort of errors again, and the shambles at Watford didn't inspire on the first game of the season.

and was a good, old-fashioned CF of the best sort...back in the day. Got the weirdest pre-season injury, when running in the forest he stepped into ...a rabbit-hole and injured his foot badly. Never made a proper recovery and lost the pace and aggression he had shown in the previous season. Move on some time later.

My opening comment was an historical observation. As memory serves we haven't won opening games more than once or twice in the last decade...or two ? I watched the match online here, hence my comments on the two offenders. With 60% possession and zero shots in the first half we handed them the game whilst they put most of their other shots into the crowd. THB has one foot out of the door and didn't look anything like the player we had last season. Think (maybe) father-in-law has persuaded him to jump ship ASAP. Puts him in the Defectors category, but at the end of the day, we are better off without those who don't honour the badge. I was surprised that Capt. Jack turned in those good performances last season, as I had him down to leave last August. Maybe Plymouth need some experienced heads to get them back up out of L1 ?.

first game of the season on a warm August day - what did you expect? After the lessons learned from the pre-season, Tonda started with "the usual suspects" but the side looked a bit unbalanced. I like Matsuki, but he's better in midfield (although not taking anything away from Bragg and Downes (my MoM). Scienza is better left side, and Dobbin got no action stranded out there. Second half looked better but we missed good chances that might have been converted on another day. The game was lost by those suicidal passes, from two of our most experienced /normally reliable players, with no-one available to back-track ..both goals were almost inevitable. Still it was only the first game .with 45 to go, but hopefully Tonda will find a better / alternative formation for the coming matches. Larin scored the type of goal that we (hopefully) expect to see more of, but otherwise we were woefully short of anyone else capable of taking even half-chances. Reverting to my ..annually-quoted early season comment.. I don't take a serious look at the table, until around game 7 or 8. That's still a long way to go yet, and until Tonda's " fate" has been revealed it will be hard for anyone to predict, and the critics on this site will continue to moan after every game.

Interesting recent survey showed that Swansea had one of the lowest salary bills in the Championship. If they've given RS ´...a 3 year deal (!) regardless of the salary, they ought to hope that he stays fit enough to go the course. Bearing in mind that Saints spent 2 years trying to get him fully fit. Swansea may have got him for free (as against our investment ) but it's also a warning ...as we've been down that road with him before......

Is this a reflection of the fact that he played well in a lower standard Turkish League ? (no not you, Turkish) OR . the fact that as 6'6" striker . ..he was given service by wingers who provided centres almost on demand ? IF.. he gets any sort of goal tally in the Prem. it will be a terrible condemnation of the Saints manager(s) who ignored his talent whilst he was with us (at a huge buy-in price, and the catastrophic deal to get rid of him).

such maybe the case, but many still condemn him when he had little choice after the club failed to take advantage of the extension clause in his original contract. Not sure he wanted to leave ..or ?