Alain Perrin

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 ****.

Change always brings errors, it's whether you learn from them and correct them that matters. Judging by the avalanche of responses to this thread it appears this is an unfortunate, but isolated, issue.

I posted a link to Saintsweb on the comments of that article. It's gratifying to know that 4.7 billion people will soon know there are some cocks who judge a player after 15 minutes!

Firstly people should stopping airing their dirty laundry in public. Secondly, how much of this is hearsay? I'm no expert in TV but IIRC MLT can't be on live TV and in the boardroom at the same time.... so hearsay. There might be other reasons why the TV needs to go off - perhaps NC was on the phone to his sick granny and couldn't hear what she was saying? (something about Dolmio probably). Was this a deliberate attempt by NC to bar MLT by blocking him on the database (which sounds like a lot of effort) or an over zealous steward acting independently? Point is MLT can't know firsthand. Airing stuff on Twitter causes problems and isn't going to make problem any better. #rantover would be better as #rantnotstarted

Everyone is learning at this level and if you ask Adkins he would probably say it was a mistake too. However you can see the logic in what he did (fresh legs etc.), it just didn't work out. A manager is only as good as his last substitutions (if you look at Man City they made a difference there - and who can forget Jonno Quick's only meaningful contribution to Saints vs. MK Dons). Blame Adkins, but we won't be the first or last team to concede late against Man Utd. We can only hope that he uses the experience positively and maybe does something different next time. Gutted, but we've got to hold our heads up. We've matched in large parts the big boys and this can only bode well for more winnable games.

All bull****, especially the bold bit. You've posted a number of times about Adkins being "out of his depth" etc. yet after Man City you were praising his tactical nous. Which is it? I do think there is a conflict between NA and NC but I think this is down to style rather than substance. NA I think wants to build with young talent, NC favours marquee signings - hopefully they can find a happy medium. I am not convinced by NA's 'spotting a good player'-ibility as historically he has tended to go for what he knows (Forte, Hooper etc.), that said I think he is tactically bold and not afraid to change things. Adkins is similar I would suggest to Hoddle in that, if you went in at halftime behind, generally things would be shaken up in the second half - but he couldn't spot a player to save his life. Strachan on the other hand, reasonable nose for a player but tactically naive (65mins change Fernandez was his only tactic). Adkins is a good manager. Will he be given time? Only NC knows - but either way Redknapp is not the answer (I am sure it suits him though. Commutable from Sandbanks and lots of fat transfers to get a cut of).

If by one man you mean a CB, a winger, a CM, a CF and a keeper then I agree. **** window.

Lesson 3: Some people are never happy. Anyone who sees this transfer window as anything other than spectacular is a bit unhinged. Remember we can only name a 25 man squad so having people in triplicate (eg 3 keepers) doesn't make sense. Only area is CB but we obviously tried there without joy. Maya gives us cover and we have others who can step into the breach if critically required (Cork for example)

You sick pervert.