dubai_phil

Agree with that at least around their box he moved around rather than watching nervously over his shoulder all rthe time

Seemed to be played as the 1 in a 4-4-1-1 when he came on. Other MF seemed unsure what they were supposed to do. He moved around, he looked for the ball and gave the passes. He had a good chance at the ednge of the box, shot over the bar - difference between hero & villain there, but was closer than many other players's shots Think he will be a useful squad player, when the rest understand where the coach has asked him to play he might start to look a good buy sure was more mobile than the other choice in CM = Wotton

Well been here all week and have heard every rumour from every source. So apparently it is going to be some Martian running us. So my guess will be Eddie Howe. Works for me he built a repustation we can all understand from watching so closely

How the hell did we lose that game yesterday? Seriously. We played magnificent technical quality football throughout the game. Precision, at pace and with movement. It was played to a standard that made one think of the style of most teams at the WC (careful neat patient possession football), even playing football in an Arsenal way came to mind. Technically superb. And there is the problem. Technical quality football of an International style being played against kick and rush teams aand teams with limited technical ability compared to our players but with far more PASSION. That was the thing. It was Passionless. It was scientific football to satisfy technical purists. It was everything the coaching manual says you must do to be a wonderful coach. And it had Sod all to do with winning a football match in League 1 They aren't good enough when it comes down to that final split decision, to shoot or pass. Very neat and tidy when they have space, just llike training, but when they get close to the box or pressured, pop the opposition are up the field and scored in less than 14 seconds. It is not the tactics it is not who plays where, it is the ingrained technical style of football thgey want to play. It will be fantastic if we were in the PL with PL players, but it is NOT WHAT IS NEEDED in League 1. Too technical too passionless and ultimately BORING

MAradona Hart Brown Davies DOwie ANyone we had before Off line until Monday have fun and wave at me in The Chapel on Saturday

Hmm but how can the meeting with the players have just finished if NC is in London having lunch with a PL Manager on his way to Italy to meet someone just been seen at Eastleigh on a FlyBE to Glasgow I love txt msgs from mates about what is going on

Perhaps the rest of the lads blame him for the AP NC bust up (IF he was an NC signing), so rather like ENgland in the WC they decided not to pass to him (as happened with SWP allegedly)

Oh alright then, if you insist. D_P & nickh dream team it is. We'll have Granty as player coach. Minty will get the photo contract and Scudamore gets the programme contract. I'll get down and sort NC out hopefully Saturday before the game. I know we'll be a success as the first task will be to cancel Pulis's contract and then show our wide men where the bye-line is and how to cross a football from nearer to the corner flag than the half way line. HTH

Woo hoo! Thank heavens I was in some obscure tiny Scottish Market Town last night in a skanky hotel with no internet. Otherwise I'd have stayed up late and listened to the match on Saintsplayer and wouldn't have sampled a pleasant dinner and a couple of nice Lowland Malts. But now very worried about having to be at SMS on Saturday if they turn out and play like you lot say they did. Anyway back to work and meetings

Agree with the thoughts JS But the last bit. Think many on here or listening to "that bloke behind them" would like to see the moaners without cause get sacked.

Good call TT. Didn't see it coming. You can now add the "I wrote something and the manager got fired" club

Maybe we found out why today

Oh my GOD. BBC I-player really exists. 1st time for everything

[quote=ericofarabia; introducing Mr No Eyed Deer ... our new manager. Phil you are so ITK!! Actually I am so full of Real Ale right now thanks very much. Only Greene King Abbot but ahhhh. Bloomin chilly wind out there.Will wave as I fly over your head on the way down during the week from my command post up here in the frozen north

Blimey, That's Ferguson isn't it? Damn left my glasses at home for the small laptop screen

Anybody except Diego Maradona. My guess someone who has managed for a while & understands the whole integrated club style I thgink we are trying to build. Coannot see NC wanting someone new unless we see the DOF role. No ideas at all

Well, my gut feeling going way back is that WGS was first choice. The scuttlebutt I heard was that he did not want to work with Oldknow. No idea if it was anywhere near true, but. IF Pardew was second choice then I suppose that explains some of the end of season pressure and what happened today. Now the decision has been taken. I was shocked to get all the txts telling me, but in reality I don't think I am actually surprised. I was fully behind anyone associated wiith our renewed club and that included AP, but respect to those who did (constructively) criticize him, something somewhere wasn't right. Let's see what happens next hopefully I'll be able to welcome the new manager aat SMS on Saturday. Just hope it isn't Maradona

Bloody hell. I leave you lot alone for 8 hours to catch a flight, land in sunny Jockland and get a huge roaming bill for the 8,972 text msgs sent to me while in the air. Whatever the reasons, motoivations, personalities, a very strange time to do it. Not surprised, nothing in football can do that these days. Off we go then scrap the structure style and start again

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/7971107/Cricket-match-fixing-suspicion-falls-on-80-games.html 80 matches being investigated. Team coach pelted with tomatoes. Safety of the players at risk now? Looks less likely they can play the ODI's, which will open up more cans of worms as Counties and lawyers seek damages....

PR can often be used for more than one reason. It can send a message to the fans or to a selling club. Unfortunately that doesn't fit into the world of those who only have Black or White tunnel vision. Off to the airport time. Looking forward to wearing my Saints shirt in downtown Glasgow tomorrow afternoon yeah right

Well, apart from golf, they have feck all else to be interested in :-) But the big decision looms. Do I really want to try a Deep Fried Mars Bar

Oh if only that were true/ Without attacking you personally, the way you have worded your post shows the "Western View" of the way things are developing in the world. They are idiots - By WESTERN standards of Humanity, decency and the Christian values of the sanctity of life. Unfortunately, within Islam there exists groups who wish the entire planet to live in mud huts without technology and who's only task each day is to pray 5 times and rely on handouts from "The Charity". Thos epeople are very very far from being idiots. Many of them were educated by your taxes. This radicalism as I have ranted on before was expelled from moderate countries and even those now considered more radical (like Sauid & Yemen) and landed in the UK to preach their hatred. That influence has spread across all walks of life and into prisons where young moderate Muslim offenders are targetted. Whether you know it or not, the World (including moderate Islam) is at war with these people. They make the Fascists of Europe seem like a Sunday School in their views. The West thinks Left & Right. They'll be looking Left when the world changes from the centre

Think TSW could help out. We seem to have a number of experts on Depression in our midst. Good luck to them, what a nightmare for them and their families, as we found, it can be the Hope that kills you but in this case it is the one thing that has to be kept going

Only because I'm flying to Glasgow tomorrow morning for a week and I needed to do something to lift the gloom :-)

Back in Mick Channon's days he talked when he retired and his knees went of playing on with pain killing injections and being totally unaware of the effect of them. Today we know the impact of sustained Cortizone injections. When you have a footballer (today) who could eventually be worth up to something like 10 million pounds and you have clubs with (as posted elsewhere) entire teams of Sports Scientists AND medical specialists, then I don't think anyone is likely to do the old quick jab and get on with it trick. Too many Ambulance chaser lawyers around these days. In my case having heard all the stories I was concerned but as the (Sports Injury) Specialist I had been referred to said it was fine and would get me on the plane I did it, it worked. In AL's case it may simply have been one of those growing and settling down things or it may have been a strain. Clearly with AL, RL, Hammond, MS & Puncheon all getting strains in pre-season we tried to do something more. Perhaps we should be calling for the sacking of our Physical Fitness coach Nick Harvey rather than AP as he obviously TRIED to push the players and we have so many who were not match fit at the start of the season. But then the injuries and getting over them didn't fit the Band-Wagon, although FINALLY questions were asked about RL on Saturday. Therein lay our problems not in AP alone