Professor

Just making an assumption to suit your own pre-conceived ideas. Carter has gone on a short-term 93 day loan to Millwall which means he stays on his existing wages and Millwall get time to decide if they want him. The gratitude of PNE fans that he was likely to be leaving raised a lot of doubts about him, which is more likely to be why Pardew did not make an offer he couldn't refuse. Evidence for that - if an offer had been made that was too good to refuse he would have accepted it. This has no bearing on Saint's ability to sign players that they want, by making an attractive offer if the player is judged to be needed.

Gambling is not the way to win but if thats what it is, and it doesn't work out, the betting will be on whether or not Pardew keeps his job.

I hope we will win on Saturday, but for the club that is favorite to win the league, I feel I should be going to the SMS with more confidence. Two new FBs, one of whom may have to play out of position and a 16-yr old at wide MF. When last season ended, I had higher expectations than this for Week 1 of the new season, so now its down to results to see if the anxiety is misplaced.

Well, thats OK then, the manager wants 3 more players but he may not sign them until September. Thats what he did last year .... and the team didn't win a game until October. I don't expect it to be that bad this year and we all know the first chpoce 11 is stronger than last autumn, but Pardew himself says the squad is not strong enough. Last year he had no choice but to do the best he could with late signings, and that provided a justifiable reason for finishing 7th (5th if not for the points deduction). But this year the target is not top six, it is automatic promotion, which as Leeds discovered last year is not an easy task. Fans should remind both Chairman and Manager of their expectations at every opportunity, because it was Pardew and Corteses who set the target for themselves. If we win on Saturday, I'll come away over the proverbial moon, but I wish I had more confidence.

My guess is that Pardew is popular with the fans who largely think he did well last year. Obviously he has strengths and weaknesses and it is easy if you dwell on the weaknesses to decide you don't rate him too highly, but the same could apply to any replacement. The limited team strengthening this close season is a concern, but we can't know if that is entirely down to Pardew, or whether it is also caused by the Chairman. But I agree with others, its results on the field that count, and its the Chairman who has the power to sack the manager, not the other way round, so it will be Pardew who will get the credit if the team does well, and his neck will be on the line if it doesn't, even if Cortese should have shared the blame. As for posting rumours, of course people should - thats all they are, rumours that sometimes will be substantiated but more often, not.

Its hard to see why Turkish is constantly posting comments against the 'not good enough' proposition but is then agreeing with it. If everyone accepts, as Turkish does, that we need three players, that shows the squad is not as good as it needs to be. What I have commented on is that this has been known since the end of last season and after 3 months it hasn't been dealt with. This has two consequences (1) that when these players are brought in they will take time to settle because they haven't had pre-season with us, something Pardew said was a weakness of the team last autumn, and (2) if we are looking at loans is that indicative that the club is not as well financed as well thought it was.

To recognise that Jaidi and Connolly are both a year older, which at 33 and 35 can mean more time out with injuries, and that the two wide MFs have not been replaced is not being negative it is just stating as facts, things that Pardew has also said. To pretend it doesn't matter, and that dropping points doesn't matter, is simply complacent and whilst that doesn't matter when its people on here posting complacent replies, it does matter if the club management are behaving in the same way. One niggling worry is whether the club does have as much money available as we might have thought. All the released players must have saved a large sum on the wage bill but what about the transfer budget? Richardson may have cost £450K, Dickson between £100K-£300K, (subject to the Tribunal decision) and no fee for Butterfield, so the spend is something over £500K. If Pardew is having to look at loans now, perhaps his budget has gone. We must hope not, but it could account for the lack of activity.

This thread was started at the beginning of the game, not after it. The words used are "The midfield looks weak and there is no real cover for the strikers." You'd have to be a long way up Pardew's arse to describe that as 'slagging off'. The result yesterday is not the point, it's the fact that Pardew thinks his squad is not complete and we are less than one week from the opening game. He's had three months to build his squad and the suggestion now is that he will finish the job after the season is under way. By then we may have already dropped points that we should not have dropped. If that happens and we miss automatic promotion by 1 or 2 points, what will the excuse be then? Excuses are not good enough.

You'll have to remind me, Turkish, of when I've slagged the team off, because I can't remember. I've supported the Saints since they came out of the 3rd South, so no lectures from you thanks. What I want to see, is what we were promiosed, not just promotion this year, but promotion with a team that will immediately challenge in the nPC. If the midfield wasn't weak today, are you saying we don't need Morgan, or Puncheon and that Wotton is the answer? If you are, Pardew doesn't agree with you, because he says he needs 2 or 3 more players, so is he slagging his players off by saying that? What I say is that he should have got them already, not after we've already started to drop points.

Pardew has managed to bring in 3 full backs so this idea that you can't sign players is patently ridiculous. He's had 3 months to sign the other 3 players that he says he needs and hasn't done so, or maybe isn't being alowed . If Corteses has been insisting on waiting for loans, maybe there isn't as much money available as fans thoughts because that's a budget reason, not a football reason.

In that case, why is Pardew saying he wants 2 or 3 players to add to the squad. Its all very well to want to show loyalty to the Manager but you can't have it both ways. He hasn't got those players in soon enough and we risk losing early points because of it. Points missed in August can be the points that make the difference in April.

The outcome of today's game with Reading is not that important as long as the team don't get outplayed but starting without four senior players demonstrates exactly why it was right to question the transfer-in activity. The midfield looks weak and there is no real cover for the strikers. Even bringing someone in before next Saturday is already too late to give us the best chance of maximum points in the early games, because whoever is signed now has not had pre-season with the squad. We've heard all the excuses, and no doubt Pardew will be getting some more ready, but from a fan's point of view this squad doesn't look good enough because it's too thin in key positions.

Lallana likely to be out until September. Makes the need for a left sided Midfielder more crucial. True we have Dickson able to cover but the gap needs filling.

If we have 10 points out of a possible 12 by the end of August, I'll accept that people who have defended the lack of signings other than the FBs will have been right. If we only have 6 out of 12, will others accept that they were wrong? Points dropped in August can never be recovered so a home draw against Plymouth could be the two points that drop us down a crucial place at the end of the season. Loyalty to the manager is all very well but criticism by critical friends is sometimes more valuable than just listening to 'Yes' men.

You're quite right Sue. The chidren are getting really irritating.

PNE forums say Pardew was impressed by Carter in the Barnet game and that Saints are in negotiations, with wages the possible stumbling block. Although he was a promising player a few years back, and is still only 26, he doesn't seem to have impressed at Preston, either the management or the fans. A common suggestion is that he has the ability but is lazy or lacks commitment. This could be just the sort of test Pardew and the coaching staff could take on, to breathe life into a failing career.

They all are. The perfect player doesn't exist, even at World Cup level. Wotton is subect to constant assessment by the coaching staff so surely their decision to play him is based on better knowledge and better evidence than fans who are not qualified coaches and see players for no more than 90 minutes every couple of weeks.

Have my ticket for the game and just 8 days to go, but I can't predict a starting 11 with any confidence as I don't know who might have joined the squad by then. My guess is that AP would like to make a cautious start with 4-5-1 but without speed on the wings I feel he might settle for 4-4-2. This isn't a predicted side,as for all I know Carter, or someone else might be here by then, but my choice would be:- Davis Butterfield Fonte Jaidi Harding Puncheon Morgan Hammond Dickson Connolly Lambert No place for Lallana due to injury and not match fit.

Carter cost PNE £750,000 when they signed him fron WBA at the beginning of 2007/08. Wouldn't have thought his value has gone up since then, and PNE want to offload him. Millwall were looking at a six-months loan and either Jackett didn't like him or the loan fee was too high. If that leaves Saints as the best option available, around £500-£700K might be enough to get him. He doesn't seem to have played a lot over the last 3 years but Saints are looking for competition and cover in midfield rather than a replacement, so this looks a good move. Carter seems to have the ability but the PNE fans comments suggest he needs to be motivated. Other than the fee it does now depend on what Pardew and the Saints coaches think of him.

This does look like an interesting development and it's possible to imagine nPC and L1 clubs like pigs at the trough competing for loans. But Saints won't be the only club trying to pick up some quality, either directly from a Prem club, or by trickle down from the nPC. As the players will have a say as to where they go, Saints position as favourites to win L1 is a positive, but it will help attract quality players if that rating is confirmed by good results in the first few games.

I don't disagree with the main sentiment. I'm happy with Pardew although not perfectly happy. I do think he could have done better after Xmas last season and I am worried about the limited transfer activity. He is a good manager and has made some excellent signings but unless he takes Saints upwards this year, his chances of getting back to the Prem with us or anyone else will fade. In praising his strengths, some people may be reluctant to examine his weaknesses, but ultimately it will be building on his strengths and overcoming his weaknesses that will determine how well he and his team does. All of us who are lifetime Sainst fans will want him to do well, but because managers do come and go, maybe some of us suspect that no manager can love our club quite as much as we do.

Since leaving Southampton, where he was obliged by the club's board to field a team of players just out of the youth team, Jan Poortvliet has made considerable strides at resurrecting his career. In the second division in The Netherlands he took his team, FC Eindhoven to the promotion playoffs. (FC is not to be confused with PSV Einhoven for whom Jan played in the 1970s, when he was also Left Back in the Dutch side that were runners up after extra time to the home team, Argentina, in the 1978 World Cup Final). Jan is now employed by the Dutch first division club, AZ Alkamaar, for whom the second division club, Telstar is a feeder club. Jan's current role is to manage the Telstar club. Whilst Jan may well disapprove of the tactics employed by the Dutch national team in the 2010 World Cup Final, there is every indication that football in The Netherlands is currently producing a more reliable national side than in England.

But surely, if you agree signings are blindingly obvious how can you take issue with the comment by Alpine_saint? He was just saying that the signings which Pardew admits are needed should have already been made. I've made the same point, that signings after the pre-season or once the season is underway, welcome as they will be, may leave us with fewer points by the end of August than could have been the case. Pardew's reasoning is that if you wait, you might get a better player than one signed earlier. That seems to be something of a risk, and surely if a better player comes up, the club could still go for him and release someone else or loan a surplus player out.

Lallana is a key player and more than ever this shows why two players for every position are crucial, not just for competition and impact sub but so that the team is not weaker when there are injuries. Wide midfield has been the obvious position to strengthen since Antonio and Papa left, which Pardew has said himself and is still saying, but bringing someone in over the next couple of weeks could still mean that we don't perform to maximum ability in the the first few games. Games in August are worth just as many points as games in April so there is already a risk that we could be damaged by the error of this delay.

Dickson came off injured in the 20th minute against Sutton. The match report said it looked like a groin strain but we don't know anything more because the OS isn't posting any injury reports.