Professor

It looked to me as if the two games a week was beginning to show. After about 20 minutes and once we were one up, the momentum seemed to be with Millwall. Adkins may have realised that he needed to utilised the squad more as he did make his substitutions earlier in this game or perhaps he was just reacting to the way things were going. With Jaidi and LB not back from injury byet, his options are limited in soem positions, but I think he could have played Fox, Morgan and de Ridder from the start, only subbing them if necessary. Rested could have been Harding, Hammond, and Lambert, with Guly playing up front.

Did enjoy Guly's part in the 3rd goal at Portman Road. When he overran the keeper he immediately thought of the team, not himself and set it up for DC - although I think DC was screaming at him to do it! But he did, and then just strolled off very casually across the area until DC met him to say thanks.

I've only seen Seaborne against Torquay but I thought he was looking quality. Adkins has since preferred him to Martin and at Ipswichy, wasn't it Seaborne's pass to Lallana that led to the second goal so what Adkins has said about passing football and playing out from the back seems to be what Seaborne is doing and doing well. With two championship wins under his belt, both away from home, its hardly right to say he's still just a L1 player and time to asses him as he is now, what he was when he was a year younger and a year less experienced. Kilgannon might be a good signing as cover but I'm not sure we need him to be a replacement.

Thanks for the history - it makes genuinely interesting reading - as a Saint's supporter since boyhood in 1958, I've lived through a lot of it, including the struggles of the late 1990's. I would just say that statistically its not really relevant to take account of last season's year end results as it was in a lower division against, theoretically, weaker teams. It's also a warning when you see the three-win start in 1957 being followed by 2 draws and a defeat. On the other hand, the fact of our 3-win start being in a higher league is a definite positive that will have boosted player confidence. It will have to end but wouldn't six games be great to go into September, especially as that would include Leicester! Still, one at a time, so bring on Millwall.

This is spot on. It was fuelled by a couple of things - that a lot of South Londoners live in the Brighton area so a fair number of Palace fans could wind up the locals, plus Palace had a high profile in the media due to Malcolm Alison being the manager - so quite a bit of envy. It actually gave rise to Brighton's artificial 'nickname' of seagulls. In the 70s, Palace were being called Alison's Eagles, so Brighton tried to copy and said if Palace were Eagles, they were seagulls. So not even a true club nickname, not created by fans long ago like, like 'Baggies' or ' the Addicks' but an artificial name copied from their so-called rivals. By the way - 'Baggies' most people will know came from the shorts they wore. Fewer people will know that 'Addicks' comes from a corruption of the word 'Haddocks' named after a fish and chip shop in the Charlton area of SE London. Whereas Brighton's self-styled name is from another club! As someone now living in Sussex, I find Brighton quite an unpleasant town and go there as little as possible. As for Brighton people, I'm not sure many really know Southampton as its not in their local travel zone. I don't hear any local rivalry, just an awareness that Saints have long been a more successful club and because Brighton gets some of its TV from Southampton a bit of reaction against having Saints' news on their screens. Currently, it's Adkins' interview last autumn that upset a lot of them but in the end - does it matter. They are irrelevant to us except as just one of 23 teams in this league that we want to beat.

Beckford might come if Adkins sent Puncheon up to Merseyside to have a word with him. They could be new best friends.

So it was a goal - majority verdict, but should Saint's second goal have been disallowed? From all this close scrutiny of the video, it looks like Lallana was offside when Dan Seaborne played the pass forward to him, from which Adam put Rickie through to score. More close study needed....

Agree with Danish Saint that a signing from a European club feels more likely at CB. SAs for striker, appreciate we have to worry about LB and that he's not getting a game but can't see Rickie and DC being left out at the moment, so how do you keep a new striker happy. Maybe by not going for the high profile names we've had bandied about but someone younger who will be willing to wait for an opportunity and again, maybe from Europe.

Spot on. Might be harder for Brighton to stay there as their squad is quite small so they will take more of a hit from injuries or suspensions but maybe they will still bring players in. Feels nicer having a 'local' side there than Cardiff and very nice to see 'promotion favourites' Leicester losing at home - - again.

Apart from Saints fans who are understandably a bit biased, most neutrals would probably say that Scott Parker is the best player outside the Prem. It will certainly be a help if he moves on from WHU before we play them in October.

One paper is saying - The Times, I think - that Saints turned down £750K and are asking for £1m. If thats true, its even worth waiting until Jan if the club gets an extra £250,000 by holding up for 4 months but the odds must be on a sale before the window closes as Puncheon must know his wage value will decline the longer he isn't playing so I'd imagine his agent is trying hard to sell him.

Doubt that Cortese will be concerned about the price if a player is better than what we have and he can agree with the valuation. But when you look at the suggested price of £5m+ against the quoted £4m for Liverpool reserve striker David Ngog you can imagine that Cortese might question J Rod's value by comparison. Ngog will find a first team spot in the Prem once Liverpool have a replacement, whereas J Rod is still Championship level. Then you have the form of DC to consider and whether J Rod is an improvement. He will be better than DC in time but is he now?

A doubter but without much logical reason. He hasn't played 'countless' times and many of the times he has played, more balanced assessments have sometimes found him strong and sometimes weak, but the assessment that really counts, more than any ad hoc fan on the terrace is that NA and AC have found him good enough on plenty of occasions. But I'm afraid SSotN, when you say in effect that even if he was MoM 10 or 15 times you'd still not rate him, then surely you must start to doubt your own judgement.

Surprised you should ask a question with such an obvious answer, but as you have -- DC showed brilliant form at the end of last season, and in pre-season and has gone on to score in both opening games. If he hadn't put that clever header away at Barnsley we would be regretting the misses by Lallana and Guly and we would be on 4 points instead of 6. His previous goal against Leeds was equally clever, as he played the one-two to set himself up for the shot. DC is only with us because of the groin injury that could have ended his career but he has had the surgey to put that right and is supremely fit giving us a former international, Prem standard striker by ther back door. If he goes a few games without scoring, then by all means drop him but at the moment he is undroppable and if he keeps finding the net, why on earth would anyone change that?? Fox, I agree, we haven't paid £1.8m for him to be second choice, but is he £1.8m better than Harding and maybe a CB would have been a higher priority?

Jay Rod excellent player, but how do we fit him in? DC is undroppable. Danny Fox , excellent player but is he better than Harding? If these guys are coming as cover and for competition if the player with the shirt goes off boil, then that is great, great that such good players would come here and not be automatic selections, but if we unsettle players who are performing well, it might not look so good. Difficult decisions for the manager and I'd still like a CB please.....

Agree with majority, a dangerous challenge is a dangeroiuys challenge, regardless of whether the player makes contact with the ball. Not the first time Chaplow has been guilty of a reckless challenge and he needs to remove it from his game altogether for the obvious reason that a fellow professional footballer could suffer a severe injury as a result. Of less importance is the fact that it could easily have cost Saints 2 points but I wouldn't argue if he is punished by the club more severely than the suspended games as he needs to learn the lesson.

Chaplow might be due an uncomfortable interview. Can see him sitting out more games than the enforced suspension. de Ridder needs some words of advice and suddenly isn't looking quite the replacement for AOC that he seemed, but if he takes the advice on board that could turn round. Then there's Guly missing a sitter. Again. So much for the negatives from what was still a great result. Positives: Dan Seaborne - the Peterborough error is almost forgotten. Richardson, looking like he's got RB sown up and up front, Connolly, what a scoring streak. Midfield and defence holding out when Barnsley came back at them, and in those final minutes with only 10 men. Conclusions: A striker to cover and compete with Lambert and Connolly is looking a higher priority than a CB. In fact, is the CB that important after all? We have three excellent players for CMF but can't play all three at once and we haven't yet found a place for the new £1.8m man, who at that price must get in the side. NA will be earning his money in deciding the team for Ipswich...not at all easy, but with this squad, it will be a strong side.

Au contraire, mon ami. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that two months later you are able to post your insult. The two signings, and hopefully the CB to come give the lie to those whose faith was so strong that they thought no signings meant none were needed. Oh, and this won't be news for many people, but many deals are agreed before the transfer window opens! Incroyable, je sais!

It requires evidence to convince. Belief without evidence is not science it is Faith. Many fans have faith in their clubs and much of that faith is not rewarded. Before the signing of Cork, there was no evidence of SFC's ambition for the coming year. Since then, the evidence has mounted with the signings of de Ridder and Fox. Chamberlain going the other way can be discounted as it was clearly enforced. I make no apology for questioning why there was a lack of activity in the early close season but I am convinced now, that the ambition is clearly being demonstrated, that the club did now they needed to strengthen, and very pleased to see it.

Calm down dears. We haven't signed ether of these players yet and both their clubs say that neither player is for sale. In the meantime we have a great pairing of Lambert and Connolly with LB and Guly in reserve. Seven goals in two games doesn't suggest there is a problem in finding the net. A CB will do and a back up striker, but you can only have so many people standing on the bus after all the seats have been taken.

Three LBs seems about correct so do we have Fish for sale? Harding is a capable player but this does look like a team strengthening and so is definitely a welcome move. No reason to think it closes off other moves, and if anything confirms the willingness to spend the Chamberlain money. CB and Striker, please, ideally in time to play against Ipswich and Leicester.

This substantial fee is only worth having if it is used immediately to increase the quality on the field. In the bank until January it does no good at all. That doesn't mean it's easy to spend it well because it would be easier to spend it badly. So unless the targets are already known the club is going to have to handle this very carefully. Maybe they should now take the rest of the month to reappriase who they bring in to ensure we move up a level.

This is always going to happen as long as English football has a small clique of "top clubs". The super rich 5 or 6 can monopolkise the European League places, they will always be able to poach the best players from elsewhere and its happening to other prem clubs, such as Villa and Newcastle, as well as FL clubs. As long as the financial rewards are so massively out-of-step, players like AOC will put the money ahead of everything else. Alex is a good player but you have to ask how much of the value is due to press hype. I'd say the transfer fee is worth a lot more to Saints than is Alex and de Ridder has already shown that. Good job, NC.

Martin looked entirely the part at CB. If another is bought in, surely Martin still to be the main understudy because NA and AC have assessed their defenders and have him ahead of Dan Seaborne. When the Lino gave the penalty I thought the Assistant must have seen Martin control the ball with his chest and arm but when you see it on TV you can see he chested it with his arms up out of the way as you naturally would. The Lino could not have seen a deliberate handball - which it has to be for a penalty - because there wasn't one. Obviously, officials make mistakes and are encouraged not to admit them, but he should be embarrassed this morning.

Some of the Leeds players displayed a level of nastyness and intention to cheat that looked as if it was planned. The yellow cards came late in the game, whereas at least two cautions could have been given for serious fouls in the first 5 minutes and later for diving and persistent dissent. Ironically, Leeds might have played better if yellow cards had been shown earlier but it couldn't have changed one obvious fact, that Saints were by far a better team. The penalty? My impression at the time was that it was deliberate handball because Martin had his arm up and seemed to control the ball between chest and arm but we should know soon if the BBC show it.