SFKA South Woodford

Because he said to whoever it was, 'you're at home tomorrow aren't you, who you playing? Oh Orient, then he asked him how training went. I don't know if he was just showing off to his mates, but he appears to be in demand now, as he also said to one of his mates 'that his phone had been ringing all day and he'd had hundreds of text messages' From what he was saying to the various callers, it sounded as though he was still hoping a better offer would come his way tomorrow or early on Sunday, otherwise he'll be going to Brizzle.

Well, for once i can say that I am in the know on this one, as heard it from Mr Pitmans mouth. I was just sitting on a cross country train just behind him, and his mates including a Saints player (Lallana?) kept phoning him to see what was happening, he said that at the moment it looks like he will join Brizzle City on Sunday evening, but that the skates were also interested in talking to him and had made a decent offer, but he's unsure of whether they have the cash to back it up. Also said that Brizzle had made a good offer but that with add ons it was a very good offer. Shows he made the right choice where Blackpool were concerned if they made him go home on the train. Holloway throwing a strop perhaps!

Like that, nice and uplifting 'which is what he did for our club, seems right that we should remember him that way', with the whole ground getting involved it would sound fantastic and bring a tear to the eye. Or possibly changing the lyrics to 'You take me up' by the Thompson twins to something more fitting.

Agree with a lot of what you say there Chez, however do not agree that he is going to come good. Puncheon was poor today, and the 'frustration' that the previous poster mentioned, was actually his attitude, he lets his head drop far too easily and is spineless, he bottled at least two challenges where he would have come away with the ball had he shown more commitment. I don't want to see any of our players pulling out of challenges, and if they do, I want to see them out of the team and replaced by someone who is more committed. I was also concerned by Pardews program notes, in which he makes no mention of signing further players and actually says he is happy with the squad we have. If that is really how he feels, then I would suggest that the bloke is losing the plot, we can all see the weaknesses in the squad, and if confirmation was needed, then surely today was it. We do not have any cutting edge without Lambert in the team and shows just how one dimensional we are. Just as some of us have been saying for the last three months. Pardew pull your finger out of your arse, and get plugging the gaps in the squad!

Alanh, am not disagreeing with your points above, but Norwich last season showed that a squad can be built in a short space of time, as they signed four players on one day and two others in the same week. So these things do not have to take three months to sort out, especially as we have an expensively put together scouting system to do most of the work for Pardew. Two questions can be asked in relation to this: 1.Did Cortese tell Pardew not to make any transfer approaches while he was on holiday, and 2. Does Pardew have any faith in the scouting reports he is receiving? If No1 is anywhere near the truth, then perhaps Mr Cortese should be taking his holiday earlier in line with when AP and the players did. And if the second is true then one of AP or the scouting system needs Changing. We still lack experienced players with pace, and it's no good getting just one either, we have already got enough injuries to key players to show that we need depth in the squad. Last season when Antonio got injured we still had Papa to give us that pace, at the moment if Chamberlain gets crocked we have no one to replace a player who isn't ready and shouldn't have the pressure on him to play every game.

Hey Mr Kraken, why don't you try actually reading what I had written before you have a go! Where did I say that he had played every minute of every game? I know he has been coming off of the bench, my point is though, that he is now getting first team action at Reading whereas before he came to us he was no where near even the bench at the Majedski, so obviously Mcdermott has seen enough progression in him to think he has a place in their first 16 now, at a club which is a division higher than ours! The game he was subbed in, he only came off as he had picked up a strain which then kept him out of their next friendly. I admit that I may have been wrong about the amount of goals he has scored, but I am sure that I read somewhere that he had scored a goal in one of their local friendlies, so apologies if I got that wrong. My point though is that he is obviously consistently showing Mcdermott enough to be considered a part of a first team squad which will be playing at a higher level than us next season, so that shows a large progression from where he was 12 months ago. But I agree he is not the finished product yet. I can also see Turkish's point re Puncheon, but think the analogy is flawed as Puncheon isn't fit to lace Matty's boots in terms of ability. Whereas when Matt wasn't playing well he could turn a game with one kick, Puncheon is no where near his level of ability and when he is playing badly, he just doesn't seem to want to try. Plus he bottles out of way too many 50/50's and even some 60/40's, something that the coaching staff put right where Antonio was concerned. I only hope we can still work out a deal with Reading for him and would pay what they ask within reason. The same goes for Papa, as I think they would both be very useful assets in the championship as well as this division.

Antonio has ben a sub, but is now figuring regularly for Reading where as before he didn't even make the bench for them. In return he has found the net regularly in those games, I know for sure that he has scored three times and am pretty sure he has also got another one as well, four goals from five possibly six games is an impressive return especially given the level of opposition that they have been playing against, who in your definition of our first team let alone squad can match that, even against the lower level of opposition which we have been playing? I think you'll find that there are very few of us championing Antonio who weren't also saying the same things last season about him and to a certain extent Papa. So please don't think i'm romanticising his performances or make the mistake of thinking that I didn't go to many games, as I only missed four home league games all season, so can compare Antonio's performances against Puncheon's fairly well thank you.

'First eleven' as in what you call the first eleven, i'd agree is stronger, but only down to the acquisition of the fall backs. My first eleven would not have Puncheon in it, but Antonio, so from that point I think we are weaker in the midfield than last season. I know that you'll say that Antonio is unproven and goes missing in matches, but from what I saw of Puncheon he is equally guilty of going missing in matches, he was f*cking dogsh*t against both Swindon and Oldham at St Marys but brilliant against Walsall and Huddersfield, and average in most of his other games. Antonio always looked capable of scaring the opposition player and causing a slip or chasing down a ball that Puncheon wouldn't have a hope of getting too. The fact that Antonio is now consistently producing the goods at a higher level with Reading says to me that a lot of people weren't really paying attention to his abilities last season and don't give him the credit his performances deserve, the same goes for Waigo, without the two of them we wouldn't have won the JPT and I doubt very much whether only being able to finish in sixth place with two games left to play would have been enough to keep Pardew in his job. Without the two of them we would have had many more Oldham's, such as the Stockport game where it was only Papa's introduction that saw us get the points, and without adequate replacements for them there'll be a lot more frustration this season. So when exactly will some of you start to worry about dropping points if for the first few months of the season you say you wont be worried? We don't have an easy start to the season, playing teams who will be expecting to be in the play offs and those that have something to prove having come up a division especially against a perceived 'big' team such as Saints, so dropping points against those sides could be damaging both in terms of surrendering ground and the belief in the squad. Make no mistake we will need every point and have to fight for every one of them, and I for one agree with Alpine when he says that we are not currently strong enough to achieve that.

The style will be everyone on their knees praying! We are at present a limited team, get the ball to Lallana or Puncheon and hope that they can make something happen, or hope that Morgan and Rickie will have been told to let fly more often. I think as one of the other posters alluded to, there will be a lot of 85 minute frustrations as teams stifle Lallana and Puncheon which effectively means that the entire attack is stifled. Until Pardew removes his finger from his a*se and gets the impact players the squad is crying out for, we are going to be a one trick side, and as i've said before there will be a good few occassions where that one trick will not be enough to get even a point let alone all three. We had never finished a season so well, in my years of watching Saints and there was a real feeling of excitement that we would kick on this season and take the division by storm, but with the impact players we have lost this summer not having been replaced, that excitement and optimism has disappeared. Take today for example, if there had of been a decent player signing this week, they could of added a few thousand on to the gate and cranked the optimism up a few notches, with better opposition they could of added a few thousand more and generated more excitement, so let's hope and assume the 'Southampton style' that this season isn't going to be the same as this pre-season and be one of missed opportunities.

I worked with a guy who had previously worked for the CSA, and this was far from the case, he was actually a really nice bloke, who left the CSA when he didn't tow the line of bashing the fathers into submission. He told me some intresting things about how they operate, with monetary targets being set and consequences for not meeting them, a tittle tattle culture among their staff, and his partner who is a manager there, getting into trouble for telling fathers to come to amicable arrangements with the mothers as it would probably cost them less in the long run.

Whoopy do, so this is the kind of player that Pardew has been letting the so called 'Chaff' pass him by, to procure for us. Or is this a panic procurement to placate Alpine? Much rather we went for what we already know and got Papa back.

I cannot believe that there are those on here who think that Pardew doesn't know the capabilities of each of the players in our squad. What the hell has he been doing while the squad is training?, if after working with them all for a year he doesn't know the chaff from the wheat, then I would say that the guy is not fit to be our manager. The way some of you make excuses for him, you make it sound as though Pardew is doing everything at the club himself, from washing the kit, to cooking the players lunches and then fitting in five minutes of training when he can find the time. When in reality he has a large staff to back him up and do almost everything for him.

I think that Lisbie could do a very good job for us, either deputising for Lambert or playing alongside him, as he has both the power and pace that we need and since Keane doesn't seem to want to give him a chance at Ipswich, he could be a bargain to be had. He had a good season at Colchester last year, 13 goals in a team that didn't create half the amount of chances we did. Couple him and Lambert with a pacy winger and combative mifielder and I think we'd be unstoppable.

It's a very big insult to all those that gave, and laid their lives on the line to defend not only our country but the spirit of freedom in europe, when our nation stood alone against facism. Please remember this was a time when the US policy was isolationism, the US ambassador in England called Churchill a bafoon for not suing for peace with Hitler and reported back to Roosvelt that Britain could only hope to hold out for four days against the might of Germany. So calamity Cameron, should take a history lesson before he opens his smug gob again. Politicians are supposedly accountable to the electorate, so it would be nice to see Cameron make a public apology for insulting all of those brave men and women.

I share Alpine's worry, and I think you'll find that it's down to the fact that we have no plan b. We have an impressive starting 11, but then so do other teams and they also have the ability to change things when plan a is not working, we don't. Perhaps we are putting too much store in our oppositions negativity, in that we are expecting most teams to park a bus in the goalmouth when playing us at St Mary's and even in some cases on their home pitch, which will mean attempting to draw them out and then having the pace to get in behind them or using the ball that much better to create openings and cut out opposition players which we didn't do last season. Another thing we disagree on is Puncheon, I have grave doubts about his ability, but the way some of you are talking about him, you make him sound like Le God or Beckham. I would much rather be seeing Antonio playing in his position this season. I know Pardew can't make Reading sell him to us, before anyone points that out, but given the fact that one of the first things Pardew did last season was to expensively assemble a scouting system, is it wrong to expect them to earn their wages by being able to identify a replacement for him especially having had three months to do so? Or is that just a waste of our resources, after all two of our three signings so far were in the League one team of the season, so it hardly took much to identify them did it! I suppose the pertinent questions are: is the assembled scouting system any good, and: is Pardew listening to his scouts? As they must be identifying players to him!

The simple truth is that without Papa, we would have had nothing at all to show for last season, no trip to Wembley, and would either be looking for or have a new manager now, he and Antonio only just saved Pardews bacon with the cup win as it was. Our play off hopes would also have been dead long before they actually were, as both Papa and Antonio were the difference between winning and only drawing on several occasions, and without them we would of had what we do now, a one trick pony of team. Yes, there will be a good few matches where that one trick will get us the points, but there will also be a fair number where we will be lucky to get a point let alone all of the three that we will need to achieve this seasons goal. I've seen enough of Puncheon to know that he doesn't have the speed that both Antonio and Papa brought to the team last season, so he is not the answer, however I saw most of Ox Chamberlains performances and was very impressed with him, other than him missing an almost open goal with his second or third touch against Huddersfield. His inexperience will be a problem and in my view Pardew will be making a mistake by playing him from the start of matches which is looking likely from the pre season games so far, rather than easing him in and boosting his confidence by allowing him to take on players who are already tired. So in my view the squad desperately needs two wide players with pace, preferably with the ability to play on either wing or up front just as Papa gave us. Without them my belief in the squads ability to deliver this season has been dented, with them and especially Papa and Antonio, I would be very confident of Automatic promotion.

Where exactly has Alpine said that he just wants players in and anyone will do? He's absolutely right about Schneiderlin, Pardew should have known that he needed cover when Schneiderlin got that red card and the team had next to no creativity for the next few matches as a result. So more than three months is ample time to procure some cover for him, especially with Pardews expensively assembled scouting network, meaning that most of the work is already done for him. We all know that it will be a disaster if we aren't promoted at the end of the season, and Pardew knows that he will not have a job if we haven't gone up in the top two let alone via the play offs, so seeing as Cortese has put the resources at his disposal, is it not prudent on his part for him to have done his homework and with the aid of his scouts, have lined up more than two players who always looked likely to play at a higher level, as possible midfield recruits? If Pardew waits until the end of the transfer window to get the players the team needs, I will be very angry with anyone who then comes out and says 'but the new players need time to gel and settle in' the team need to make hay whilst the sun is shining and pick up maximum points before the weather and pitches turn against them and matches turn into a hard slog on mud baths. BTW, are you seriously saying that you would be happy to see a Saints centre midfield pairing of Wotton and Puncheon at any point next season, let alone for a run of matches?

And the reasons given for that failiure to win any of those games being acceptable, no longer hold any water. So if anyone trots them out at any point during next season, they will be talking effluent! Yes we had automatic promotion form after those ten games, but we also had genuine pace in the squad which we don't have now. Teams are going to sit back and try to hit us on the counter, and most of the opposition we face in this division will have the pace to exploit that lack in ours, so without addressing that, I can see more performances like that at Swindon and more teams being able to nick not just one but all three points off of us. I really think that there are quite a few posters on here, that don't realise the value that Papa and Antonio gave to the team, yes Puncheon had more assists but both Papa and Antonio had assists and scored more goals than Puncheon. Ox Chamberlain looks a pretty good prospect, but needs to be eased in gently, besides wouldn't it be great if he was brought on to replace someone who had already run the full back ragged and tired him out? So we still need two players with pace, ideally one of whom is able to play on either wing or up front when needed. As far as Centre Mid goes, we need back up for Morgan, and that type of player is not going to be available on loan, and also someone who is better than Hammond, who is far too inconsistent in my opinion, someone who as others have said is a no nonsense stopper and ball winner. Then if Bart has gone, can anyone who has seen Forecast play, seriously say that they would be pleased for him to be Kelvins back up? I doubt it, so that needs to be addressed as well. So like Alps and a few others on here, I am getting concerned that we haven't sufficently strengthened our squad, unlike Wednesday and in particular Huddersfield who haven't lost any of their squad and have added some more quality to it in Crofts, who will be an excellent signing. I certainly wouldn't want to play them with our current squad if I was in Pardews position.

We are weaker this season, because we are back to having the same type of paceless team that put in such a great showing at Swindon last season. Basically we have one player with pace in Dickson who is our left back. We still need pace in midfield and attack which were both provided for by Papa and Antonio last season, so until they are replaced we are a weaker team than last season. The way I see us being stronger is to add to that the urgently needed midfield general and some creative backup for Morgan, and i'd still like us to sign Lisbie from Ipswich as in my opinion he can play the target role instead of Lambert when needed, and also compliment Lambert with his pace. Anyone else watch the match last night and think that Seedorf would do the midfield general job for us nicely, pie in the sky I know, but he's just what we need. With the squad now away for ten days and unlikely to have any additions made to it during this time, Pardew is not leaving himself much time to work with any further additions before the kick off in less than four weeks. What would people prefer, playing a little less financial hard ball and getting our transfer targets now and possibly recouping that extra outlay through better preparation leading to promotion, or sticking to our guns and not paying a penny more than Pardew and Corteses valuation of the player, leaving less preparation time for what for us fans and particularly for Pardew is a crucial season?

I don't agree with violent disorder of any kind, but do have sympathy for those punished in this instance as the punishment far outweighs the crime. To those of you that don't, I suggest that you stay away from games against teams where the atmosphere may get a bit heated especially against any of our local rivals, as by the letter or rather inference of the violent disorder law all of us in the ground are guilty by association and seeing as you are all whiter than white, you cannot have your good names besmirched by the actions of the rest of the crowd.

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with Puncheon other than in the Walsall and Huddersfield matches, he wasn't very good in all the others, and i'm willing to bet that both Waigo and Antonio did more for the team over the same period of games than Puncheon did. Can anyone gaurantee that we wont pick up two or three major injuries in the first couple of games? No, so surely it is important to bolster the squad in key areas at the earliset possible opportunity, let alone the right back and at least one player with some real pace, that the first team needs. We and especially Pardew don't have the time to allow players to gel and bed in once the season has started. Remember nothing less than automatic promotion will be tolerated and their are no excuses if it isn't achieved.

Think you'll find Pilch, that he'll be out at Xmas if we aren't in the top 2, any hint of failiure to Cortese and Pardew will be given his marching orders, and no one will be able to deny he deserves them. He has absolutely no reason for not getting Saints automatically promoted this season and really should be disappointed if we are not Champions. Understand that Transfers cannot be rushed, but the window has been open for almost two months, no excuse for not signing out of contract players on pre contract deals, they have exclusive contracts with their previous club who were paying their wages up to June 30th, so the argument about saving money on pay by delaying the signing only comes into play from July 1st when our other players are already back in training, so any delay would be a bigger negative, than any financial gain. I give Pardew two weeks to get the signings made and have enough time to bed them into the team ready for the quick start that we and more importantly for himself, Pardew needs.

Agree with almost all you say there Frank. The exceptions being with reference to passing and fast attacking football. If you look at the way all of the good teams in this World Cup and most of the South American sides pass, they are very precise with their passes and do not have to pass with pace as a result. One of the downfalls of the England squad is that they whack the ball at each other when they are trying to pass precisely, meaning that the effectiveness of any pass is lost because of the recipients inability to then control the ball. Coaches in this country need to preach precise passing with a stroke of the boot, rather than a blast. If you look at Tiss for example he never whacked the ball, but stroked it around the pitch, as does David Beckham, and they are the only two English players of recent years that could also take a decent corner, which is no coincedence. Threading passes properley keeps possesion and usually creates goals, something that this England team have been found wanting for. As for fast attacking football, it can sometimes be the only way to break down a stubborn opposition, but again the quality of the passing is is the key to it's effectiveness, even a pass into space needs to be accurate for a pacy winger or striker to get to it before the opposition defender does. If you look at Arsenal and Barcelona, they both play fast attcking football and one is regarded as the best and most entertaining club team in the world, and the other is widely regarded as the most entertaining team to watch in what is regarded as the most exciting league in the world. The most glaring thing that has come out of Engands dismal performances for me though, is the inability of any of our players to turn on the ball, the only player I can remember even attempting to do so was Heskey, who then promptly fell over it. This urgently needs to be addressed in my opinion especially if our national team sticks with the counter attacking style of play, as any momentum is lost playing the ball 30 yards back to a central defender as Lampard did so many times in those four games.

Have to say well played Germany, head, shoulders and chest above our shower of sh*te. Will deffo be supporting the Germans for the rest of the tournament, regardless of how bad England were, the Germans were superb, they had good passing, movement and clinical finishing, so fair play to them. Glad I have five of them in my Metro fanatasy team. As for England, total clear out is needed, Capello for thinking that the answer to their troubles was Heskey and for sticking with Lampard which made our midfield weak. And for now talking absolute b*llocks in his interview. Of that team, I would only give a place to a fully fit Rooney and give Defoe more of a chance with someone alongside him who he can feed off of. The rest of them can F*ck off. Now bagpuss is talking his usual c*ap, how the f*ck can he say our players gave it their all, surely if that's the case then none of them will be playing for the biggest clubs in the world next season! Finally why did anyone think we had a realistic chance of winning against Germany, we as a nation seem to lack that bit of self belief when it comes to the big occassion, all english sportsmen bar one seem to bottle it.

The Donal Mcintyre episode with the 657 boys was on Bravo last night, it was filmed on their visit when we beat them 2-1 in the cup, and finished with some very eloquent renditions of we hate scummers or we hate scum, with one W******d wannabe bellend showing of his fat gut with 'Play up Pompey' tattooed on it. Finished with another myth perpetuation from Mcintyre where he said that they were passionate about their team and showed fanatical support, shame he hadn't revisited them last season then.