Alain Perrin

I think Saints' business model is more sustainable than most. We have a strong academy production line which, to some extent, is self sustaining (the more good players we bring through, the more attractive we are to young good players etc.). That production line provides an income stream that other clubs don't necessarily have (at least consistently), it also means that we should have lower salary bills because young players cost less. Investing in the squad now is key for several reasons, not least because it helps retain our Premiership status which is good for revenue, academy player attraction and young player retention (the longer we keep players like Shaw, the more he's worth). I'm no expert, but I look at Everton and I see they have the drain of high salaries, a stadium they need to replace, an academy based more on luck than judgement and (as far as I know) have significant debts to service. Structurally I'd much rather be us; that said if Everton make the Champions League anytime soon then they may find a route out - but that depends on continued qualification which is a risky proposition. With Saint's stated aim of 50% academy products in the team we should have a model that is potentially more sustainable than Everton's - but it still relies on success on the pitch and in the academy.

Linked to Belgian international "Mboy" according to a poster on the Sky transfer clockwatch; they said it was reported in Belgium. I assume this is Mboyo - who has a contraversial past to say the least.

It's a well known fact that NC is half Italian, half Swiss and half Brazilian - therefore clearly he is behind this signing.... I'd argue that a wide forward is just what we've been after (hence pursuit of Matt Phillips)

Sorry that just isn't true,. He was blinded for the second and it went through someone's legs. Many a keeper would let that in - and those that didn't would have just got lucky. I don't think he's the best keeper in the Premiership and agree he doesn't control his box well, but many a team has struggled against the strength of Stoke up front - that's what they're good at.

It's certainly not an IQ test.... Seriously though, what did you expect? An unbeaten run that propelled us to the Champion's League? If you did, sadly you are deluded - forget what the club said about pushing for Europe, that's all about building confidence, this season was all about building a Premiership squad (and surviving). Adkins made significant changes to the team this year after being promoted ahead of schedule. For the starting eleven this has effectively meant two changes to the back four (Shaw, Clyne, Yoshida) and two changes to midfield (from Punch, Gaston and Davis). That's pretty major surgery on what was a League 1 side promoted ahead of schedule, and, after a bedding in period, they seem to be playing well together. Are we the finished deal, no. Will we get there? It depends on the January sales and injuries (including Lallana's). Has Adkins done everything right, no. Could you have expected him to? No. He's learning like the players and has and will make mistakes. His mistakes so far: - Not signing a Keeper when he clearly wanted one. - Persisting with Fox when he had doubts (hence trying to sign a LB in the summer - fortunately Shaw has stepped up) - You can point to subs and tactics but generally his tactics have been pretty good (foiled by individual mistakes more than anything) I really don't think you can expect much more from this season than what has been achieved.

This is clearly unacceptable. They should have had someone in monitoring the server logs 24/7 for errors over Christmas Day and Boxing Day to prevent these technical issues from occurring. To pay for this additional support I am sure we will all happily pay an increase in the ticket tax....

Sounds like the system had a problem on Boxing Day and no one has fixed it yet. I doubt very much if your account has been wiped. Suggest you report it to the club and hopefully they'll fix it. HTH.

It may not bother you, but I've not been impressed with the quality of the football since we moved to the Amex.

Either Sky or BBC (can't remember which) commented on what a good game he had - and he made team of the week in one of the reports I read. Fonte is the one who scares me. He is prone to one major mistake a game and this year we are getting punished for it more than last season. I wonder though whether our centre backs are too similar (in the Claus mould) and they both really need a Svenson style partner to see the best of them.

Mo. We had mo at the beginning of the season, they had it at the end. Their relatively kind start to the season enabled them to continue their mo. We had limited mo coming in to this year and this wasn't helped by close but no cigar games like ManU. Plus they'd only been out of the PL for a season and BFS' style is better suited togrinding out results. Would I rather be a Hammer? No.

This is a typical journalist, every answer is a winner kind of question. It's the kind of thing they get up to when they're not hacking into the phones of murdered children. There are two possible answers to the question "is Nigel Adkins' future safe", both can be spun by a newspaper. As it is, "No comment" can equally be spun to mean anything you want....

Who said that....?

Pahars - Latvian sicknote trading on past glories.

AFIK they all have two feet.

JRod needs a goal and I think that will make a difference to him. People saying the substitutions cost us are grasping at straws. Individual errors, willingness to sit back, not biting ankles hard enough and Fulham stepping up cost us the game. Arguably Fulham did to us what we did to them in the first half, they pressed us hard and we folded.

Excellent Mr Bond, but I think they've forgot Gaston and Yoshida and hopefully will be punished for it...

Should and will are two different things. Gazza will be in goal (although I think he - at the moment - has as many issues with his game as Davis does). He didn't inspire confidence in me on Tuesday night and I fear against a far more clinical side his rooted to the line-ness might be an issue. Boruc will be the long term choice but fitness appears to be an issue.

Jeez. I hate to see you on Xmas morning. Solid performance with a makeshift team (by my count only two of which started on Saturday). SDR was guilty of overplaying but he terrorised them in the first half (beating them on numerous occasions). Cork was good, Richardson solid and Yoshida impresses me more and more. I thought Gazza looked suspect though. Mucked up one take early on and dented his confidence, stayed routed to his line from then on. A couple of good saves late on though, and great distribution. I'd be worried if he starts against Everton. I think he will be great, but looks a bit green to me.

PS. what was the name of the GK we got mid season during and injury crisis who had been selling double glazing? Nigel someone?

If Boruc starts against Wednesday then I think he will stand a chance starting against Everton. If not, then there's no way. Boruc will need time to get to know the back four and where the runs come from. And there's the match sharpness question. I've alway been a fan of KD as a shot stopper but some of his distribution in the first few games has been woeful (resulting in the pen vs. Man Utd as one example). Well as Gazza did, he didn't get peppered by Aston Villa and that was as easy an intro to the Premiership as he could have hoped. Impressed by his distribution though, certainly an improvement and relieves the pressure. So if Boruc doesn't start tomorrow, then KD will and Gazza will go as No. 1 to Everton.

Burley was a busted flush after Ipswich. Lots of fans thought he was a good appointment at the time though.

Is Cork Matt Oakley?

The first few games of a season are no indication of what will pan out (and on the plus side we've had as tough a start as I can remember). So on that basis having the big 3 in our first few games is a good thing.... Also, I find it ironic that those fans who used to rail against us having 10 managers in 3 weeks (or whatever the statistic was) also have itchy trigger fingers (as they did during the 10, they just conveniently forget about it now). If _we_ get rid of Adkins before 10 games I think we'll a) be a laughing stock and b) not be giving him a fair crack. In fact, we'd have to be cut adrift to consider it, if we're still within +/-3pts of relegation by then I wouldn't support it at all. Savage made a good point on 606 yesterday. If we do go down, NA is probably the best man out there to get us back up again. [That's not saying NA isn't beyond criticism, there are plenty of things to do better, but he is on a learning curve, just like the players.] COYR

I disagree - you wrote moron, I'd say ****ing bellend.

To be honest, football fans in general (and a number of Brighton examples spring to mind) often fail to see the other persons side. Adkins - "Can they keep up with us" comment - analysed ad infinitum when it was just a throwaway comment - is that really reason to despise someone? Us "refusing" to give them a guard of honour when the game was very important to us (needing to focus on our promotion, not yours). Saints fans aren't immune to being dicks either mind you. For example Hammond celebrating against Brighton - no one knows what happened, what was said, shouted, chanted, emailed or twittered to him leading up to that celebration. It happened. Get over it. He's a great player and will do his best for Brighton, like he did for Saints. ps. I still think Poyet's a ****.