dubai_phil

THEY.................LIVE...............IN.................SWINDON HTH :cool: Caps for emphasis MM

Ah ha so we CAN still do it....... But that was a long time ago!

Mind you, even when I played in Salisbury & District Div 7, I had enough time to "upset the CF" when the ball was pumped up to him from 60 yards away But boy did I look slow when the ball was passed short to him......

Ah ha revenge! Technically two down in the midfield stakes... Hammond & Mellis (who would have been brought in for a reason) :cool:

lol nice one..... Ah if only.........

Let's think of other players that didn't fit conventional roles... MLT, Theo.... Not saying he is in their class one iota, but at this level IF the midfield is set up right with the right players in the right places, then he can be accomodated. I'm not sure though if it will happen, but he shouldn't go yet

Nope if you can get a second copy, I hope to pass through Salisbury in mid September so can buy you a beer and pick it up. Meanwhile I am sure it isn't connected but I noted in the middle of the article a specific figure that is Aed 600mil, which co-incidentally is just about GBP100mil, which co-incidentally is the same figure as an alleged bonus cheque. I love co-incidences to keep our friends awake at night. As I said, how can a CEO make money out of "Flipping" a property deal? http://business.maktoob.com/20090000365918/Dubai_probing_fraud_totalling_$950_mln/Article.htm?utm_campaign=Night-Newsletter&utm_medium=Main-News1&utm_source=Night-Newsletter&utm_content= Totally not stated as, impied as or related to SBT of course and certainly not alleging anything of the sort. Just interesting general reading

Excellent news NEXT

Now THOSE were the days.... But why can't they do it NOW?

Thanks Darren for a useful contribution to the debate. Kindly keep your (apparently valid) vendetta to other threads if you would be so kind

Well, forgive me for my memory, it was 17 years ago that I last played, but isn't the overlapping full-back a simple and fundamental way of bringing the extra man into a game to get a ball played in to an attacker from less than 50 yards? I sort of recall watching Arsenal use it to some effect last weekend, so can ANYONE tell me why we don't seem to have done this for the past 3 years or so? Wasn't it Sir Alf's wingless wonders that brought this to the game? Have there been some sort of UEFA Pro training courses where coaches are told overlaps are non-PC or is it simply that the players we have are ALL CM's and have never heard of the tactic.....

Here's a question Can anyone remember two consecutive games in the past 3/4 years where one of our fullbacks interacted with a wide midfielder to run a proper overlap and cross more than once? Other than CMFG & Bridgey?

It was interesting, the way the information was discovered and strangely "hidden" was interesting, but you cannot build a jigsaw from only one piece. It may be crucial to building the picture, but it may be a piece of a background

We need to survive this year and hit next season running - my sentiments exactly. But I think the truth needs to come out so we fans understand better the problems and why it appears as if the players are terrified of making mistakes and seem to freeze. The only places it can come from are the club who will have about half the facts.... unless the shredders worked overtime but someone needs to make the start

Lol - then I would be making the OP irrelevant! This thread per se isn't about our opinions or perceived knowledge, they've been posted by all of us until even we get bored. My point is really is that it would be helpful to the fans to know what really went on. Perhaps it is the tructh, was deliberate, perhaps it was outside interference, perhaps he was waiting for Godot, perhaps his return and the Dutch was his revenge on all of us, perhaps it was an inspired choice that was unlucky. I just used it as an example of part of the WHOLE story that needs to be told The people involved will know the story, time to write the book, sell it to the NotW or whatever

Again FC my point assumed knowledge vs The Real Story - DID Crouch actually front up the cash? The battle scars are still very new, the lack of trust by the fans in the club is still very real, and the pain of continual glossing over another worst ever performance is still there. So, rather than more ITK leaks, what REALLY happened?

Pinning the blame for last night's display on Saga & Rasiak wanting away isn't fully right IMHO. BUT you have a bunch of kids who have been pushed before they were ready and are struggling mentally. Then you take the two "so called superstars" who are on around 3x the wages of many of the kids who have the negative attitude body language and don't care about the group, then that becomes a drain on the morale and motivation of the group.... It shouldn't do, but it will

The perfect example of why the FACTS should be made public. This is the perceived wisdom, (by all of us) but is it actually all true?

Another critical question to ask is WTF does the Academy TEACH these players? We were told they play a fluid system 4-2-3-1 or something (you cannot pigeonhole young kids etc) And yet 75% of all football is still played 4-4-2 It is clear we lack any width in the team, yet the kids have had 6+ years of intensive coaching in a style that doesn't use wide players? The Academy should be a production line for the players the TEAM needs trained in the formation the TEAM needs. Not used as it has been as a profit earning share dividend creating "incremental revenue stream"

It isn't simply about the players, it is as much about the fact that we have a collection of footballers who all play in midfield. Burley signed what seemed thousands of them, but in reality what is wrong is that the midfield has no balance, shape or system or style. All of the players on the pitch last night do not FIT together. MS - is he a DM? no he doesn't seem to have the bottle, but he can pass and create, yet he sits so deep he has to play Hoddle esque passes to reach a forward or a "wide man" Lallana - an AM playing where? with the coaching pace and wisdom to beat his full back on the outside? How often does he help the FB overlap? Wotton - DM who can't pass and lacks pace to get to the tackle in the first place Patterson - a young run legs off striker put on the wing.... and so on and so on The PROBLEM is that AP doesn't have the players to fit a system, all he can do is set the side up to play narrow especially if the players don't really know what they are doing So the defence gets over-run, they lose faith in the midfield and resort to hoof-ball to one forward who has no choice but to take on 4 or 5 defenders and try to hold the ball up for the 5 minutes it takes the zero pace midfield to come up in support. Of all the players lost in the summer, Dyer would have given some SHAPE to the midfield and the THREAT of pace. But even he would not have been consistent at his age and body size. Major attention needed to midfield without a doubt.

OK MM - as I mentioned before I was helping MJ's bid, so I did not have a one day conversion to understand how BIG a mess the club was in BEFORE Admin, or the panic during the Pinnacle phase. That is why I have been preaching that the recovery will take time. My "CONVERSION" is now that I feel it is time that the story is told by the CLUB, not by leaks, nudges or winks from NDA supplied information. Others mention the damage done to the youngsters by being pushed to play before they were mentally, emotionally, tactically and even physically ready Others mention the delay to pre-season caused by Pinnacle Others mention the mess of our scouting system. I would add to that the shortage of FOOTBALL people in the club Others have mentioned the issues NC is having with credit lines etc So, this is NOT about putting forward my own pet solutions, I am actually EXTREMELY impressed by how the new management are pulling the club BACK together. But I think that a lot of the knee-jerk reactions by fans would be eased, and a lot of the pressure on the players (which seems to be scaring them to death) could be alleviated by our own equivalent of a "Truth & Reconciliation" Commission. Everyone of us knows that the club is recovering from a near terminal illness. One thing about being a fan of House is that it is always helpful to know WHAT the whole extent of the disease and it's symptoms really was. So - my opinion is the same, recovery from ALL the damage done in the past 6 years will take at least one year, and we should be ECSTATIC that this will be the case. Rather than as now, many fans being in a state of shock that we are not already top of the table ready for automatic promotion. Some information will go a long way to help. The interim accounts and the destruction of the backroom staff up to Admin may be a start. It may be Lowe's fault, it may not, but at LEAST we will understand how much surgery/physio/care and TLC we all need. In plain English - NC give all the fans all the facts Please

FF, as I am sure you are aware by now, the Pinnacle debale is an excuse, not the reason. We dodn't have a close season and we lost Surman & DMG as a result, but my point is not JUST about them. From what I HEAR, the players are scared to death, the 1st half today was sideways football which ahsn't worked for the past 5 years. There is FAR more that WAS wrong than Pinnacle & Admin and somehow it has affected every fibre of the club. The new team need HELP to get us out the rut. We are here, we are fans, we are ready to help, but we need to know the facts and talk about it

We're a mess. The squad is a mess. There are many "motivational management" reasons to keep quiet, especially in sport. However I think it is time that the new owners should start to let the fans know some of the reality of the mess that they inherited. Tell us about the never published accounts before Admin. Let us know WHY the players we have left seem to be terrified The healing process is always said to begin when you start accepting the truth and talking about things We're Saints fans, we know much of it. trust us and tell us the truth. Just how bad WAS it on the day you walked in and what the plans really are. The ST sales are in the bank, just for once, we might just understand and may just stop whingeing and start coming in more numbers. Are the kids REALLY that bad? Are they REALLY that naive? How many players do you think we REALLY need? Where are we REALLY hoping to end up this season? The truth is in there. Time to do an X files and get the truth OUT HERE so we AND the players can move on.

Well, come on, at least we've had about 12 years experience of being divisive and argumentative... And AP has only had a few weeks to get up to speed He will turn it round, we don't have to show patience, we just have to simply understand HOW bad things have really been It's only CM09 or House where the critically ill patient can be cured in 90 minutes

Ummmm Actually some of us did, but we got pulled up for trying to get our point across and emphasising certain critical points