sandwichsaint

Morgan is the same age as Bale and Walcott b1989- make of that what you will but I doubt the other two would struggle in the third division!

Massively disappointing so far! I saw nearly 20 games last year home and away and I really enjoyed it; I've only been to MK, Notts Co and Brighton so far this year. At the end of last season I was really looking fd to this season but the endless PR gaffes and negative vibes through the summer really knocked my enthusiasm for it; chuck in the carp pre-season, ant and dec moved on and not replaced, carp start, the AP fiasco, individual players under-performing .... all a bit lame thus far but hopefully NA can pull it out of the bag and 'January' might bring some improvement. I also hate the sash shirt and the endless talk of a 50,000 seater stadium! I'm sure I'll see 10-12 games by the end of the season but there's a constant feeling that we 'ought' to be doing a little bit better!

Good things: a decent first half for Saints, plenty of tempo and bite, plenty of variation in our attacks. Dickson looked good. Hammond really up for it and put himself about well. 26k in the third division on a Tuesday evening. Clean sheet, we rode our luck and were a bit last-ditch at times but we shut out the division's leading scorers. Medium things: we created lots of half chances and bits and pieces (we only needed one to go in) but we failed to create too many really clear openings, don't be fooled by the 11-shots-on-target stats, I can't recall Ankergan(sp) making a meaningful save? Not very good things: Gully was shocking, my first sight and he was truly awful on that 15 minute showing. Brighton's 'professional' attitude, timewasting and ref-baiting, it's obviously a winning style but I'm not sure I'd want to watch that everyweek. Atmosphere was carp where I was (third of the way up block 42) - the 'boyfriend' chants are just about the naffest thing in football, we failed to get any of our songs going properly and were easily outsung by the oppo (Saints fans at home really aren't anywhere near as 'good' as they used to be). M25 closed for 'maintainance' on the way home so a 30 minute detour through the very scenic Surrey hills and home at 00.45 ... gggrrrhhhh! Onwards and upwards, we have a run of 'easier' games ahead and we really do need to get on a good run, I think we will be all right and I'm very much looking forward to 'January' as Adkins referred to it three or four times in his post-match comments on Solent.

I'll see your Forbes Phillipson-Masters and raise you a Manny Andreszeski (sp?)

Martin (or Gurr) Hollywood Kirkup McGrath Walker O'Neil Fisher Gabriel Paine Big Ron!!!! Channon Jenkins A sort of a hybrid team that I grew up with from the age of about 5-8, it may not be entirely chronologically accurate but they would walk this league (and the one above too).

shouldn't we be deleting the above post pdq?

I thought, given where he started from, that he had a 50-50 chance of getting us up this season, and if he didn't do that (barring any spectacular foul ups this season) he would be the man to take us up next season. I also thought that there would be a measurable improvement in results and hopefully alongside that an improvement in playing style. I also thought his appointment was generally well-received and that he may start to win over the doubters who thought he wasn't a big enough name for us. So far he appears to be delivering on his side of the bargain - results are demonstrably better and we are in a much more realistic position for promotion than when he took over, we have also played some good football in parts but perhaps not as much as people were expecting (?). Maybe when we get to the other side of the January window he will have shuffled the pack and he will be developing his own team (rather than managing the one he was given). I would say he's very much on track to meet my (realistic) expectations but I am under no illusions that he is unlikely to get a second season if we don't go up this season ....

It wasn't - we ended last season as red-hot favourites to walk the league this season, and justifiably so! Somewhere between Wembley and Plymouth we managed to lose the plot completely (including two of last year's better players). We are where we are, new manager but same old under-performance; I don't think NC is planning to spend a shed load of cash on more players, NA will obviously have to shuffle his pack if he can't get anymore out of what he has inherited.

Yes. If NA has been told to sell before he can buy then he will obviously be considering the position of one of his most expensive and least productive players.

Not quite the end of the world tho is it? Decent player but one who has never settled or achieved very much anywhere he's been - if he had the right attitude/temperment he is prob good enough to have been playing in the next lge up (as we will no doubt see in the coming weeks!). It's fairly clear reading between the lines that 'something' isn't right behind the scenes (and hasn't been right since Wembley) and if this is the first of NA's steps to clean the place up and re-calibrate our sights for the middle third of the season then I am right behind him, I don't think 'ambition' really comes into it - we all want to go up this year and NA is the man who has to plot the best way of doing that (wait for the solids to hit the ventilation when he moves RL on, for the same sort of reasons!)

Lambert will do well to get 25+ this season; on current form he will get 10-12 tops. Genuine question, has a side ever got auto promotion and their leading scorer has got 10-ish goals? I don't know the answer but I would suggest that every team in the auto slots for the last 'x' seasons has fielded a 20-a-season man? Do we have such a player? I'm sure NA has ideas where he could get one from (STFC or P'boro) or manufacture one himself, tho that could take time that he hasn't really got.... MS, the real deal or just a fancy foreign dan? He showed some real form and consistency in the second half of last season but it's all gone a bit PeteTong (again) this year. One goal in two years? He is the same age as BALE and WALCOTT FFS (all b 1989).... those two are both ripping up the Champions Lge while he is still struggling at Notts County and Carlisle... Premier League? Ur 'aving a larf! So he's disaffected/disillusioned/waiting to move, or perhaps he's just 'too good for this lge' ... why keep a player who doesn't want to be here, or isn't much use to us? Cashback for the pair of them, neither have shown NA enough and I'm sure he has plenty of targets he could get here with a cool 2m burning a hole in the back pocket of his Farrah's. The target has to be get out of this league, this season (no promo = no Adam, no Fonte, no NA, no chance next year either, ...). If we are to get top-two this season then we simply 'must' sign a proven goal scorer and a centre-mid who is better than the three we already have .... I don't think that NC will want to spend big in Jan (assuming that he's got the money anyway?), once bitten, twice shy and all that.... therefore NA has to wheel and deal to improve the squad.... only a limited number of his players have any real value at this level .... it would be commercial and footballing suicide to sell Lallana ... who else does that leave? We could of course get rid of Gobern, Pulis, Forecast, Wotton, but that wouldn't really finance the mini-rebuild we are all looking for. Of course he doesn't 'have' to do anything, we have one of the strongest squads in the league, we are on a decent run, albeit not playing particularly well, two good results this week and a bit of fine tuning and we would be well on our way... who'd be a manager eh? And one that had to answer to NC every Monday morning! If it was my arse on the line I would be searching my contacts for a proven in-form striker and a next-level CM now!

Shame - he looked the real deal in the 5-0 v Hudds last year - guess he doesn't do it often enough? Onwards and upwards, a decent wage off the books and I'm sure NA will have a loan lined up or a pretty clear target for Jan?

Look at the youtube link in post number 9. Def in there, saw it last night, Saints playing in the Blue away FP kit.

Lallana away at West Brom, the coolest of finishes in a pressure-cooker atmosphere to grab a point that helped to keep us up and cap an outstanding 10 minute cameo.... great game that one!

A Jason Dodd 20 yd screamer at the Milton end v West Ham, pure strike from a very unlikely source. Rasiak's equaliser at Derby in the play-off semi, as good as you will see anywhere. Lambert's 35 yarder away at MK last season, knew exactly what he was going to do and executed it perfectly.

Why Harding evey game when he's not been very consistent and we have last year's LB of the season sat on the bench? Dropping Hammond? One of our more consistent players over the recent games and a goal yesterday? Your front two show the lack of realistic options that NA has there.... I think we need to find a regular spot for Gully (if he is as good as some on here say he is).

Let me see, the manager has a squad of 14-16 potential 'starters' and three 'vital' games in 10 days. We are on a good run but not playing particularly well; tricky away game to a top-6 side. Manager changes a couple of players (Jaidi/AOC) and the formation to 4-5-1 (following poor performance at Notts and a formation the same players did well with on a number of times last year), and enables him to include fans' favourite MS (the 'best midfielder in Lge 1'). Saints have 54% of the game and create more chances and have more shots on target than the home team. Has the manager done very much wrong up to this point? Saints concede three carp goals, score two and coulda/shoulda had more (Chaplow 1 on 1) ..... the 'players' or the 'manager' ... ? I wouldn't be averse to giving Bart the next 6 games in goal ... I love KD to bits but Bart did v well in his mini-spell last year. Harding: his head hasn't been right since the completely pointless signing and subsequent non-playing of Dickson ... give Dickson next 6 games at LB. Don't mess with the CH pairing ... Fonte and Seaborne every game they are available. There are no obvious answers up front (hence RL playing ever game), people rave about LB (I like him) but he doesn't score lots of goals. Is Gully any good? I haven't seen him, 50% of people on here rate him as the best thing in a Saints shirt in the last 5 years, 50% would be happy if he never played again. Possiility of Holmes (or Puncheon) on the left and Lallana, our most consistent finisher, in the 'number 10' position? Anyway, onwards and upwards: I haven't yet wet my bed and I'm not calling for a new manager tonight. Six points from Carlisle a, P'boro h, Brighton h, will be a good return! COYRS!

Who cares - he was a 3rd rate, billy big B*****s manager and we now have an articulate, potentially excellent manager who has turned this team round. Could not care less about Pardew - he's history (and a good job too) Have a word with yourself!

Can't see elsewhere: The man who stood in the corner by the tunnel at the Dell and collected the warm-up balls in a big brown sack . Boyer-and-MacDougal Fielding six England captains in the same team (we didn't quite, but it's a great urban myth!)

How bizarre.

See further up the thread .... 'all' must pay for FA Cup games (I use the word 'all' advisedly but you get the drift).

Dover/Saints, Saints/Dover will have to wait for the third round then (Dover are home to Aldershot or Brentford in round 2, tricky but definitely 'winnable' if they play like they did yesterday).

I went yesterday - fantastic day out - Dover filled the away end at Priestfield and a really good atmosphere. Thought it might all be a bit bingo-bus but the away fans really got into it. Good game and Dover comfortably better than the Gills who have real problems at the moment. Loving the Saints - East Kent connections; I wore a Saints shirt yesterday and there were three seperate Saints fans who all came up to talk in the Livingstone Circus/Pub away area, then in the ground I spoke to two more peeps wearing Saints top/badges etc.

Rather depends on what level we want to compete at, five-year plan and all that? I don't think that's a top 6 side, question marks for me over Davis, and possibly MS too? Is that last year's RL or this year's? Anybody know where we can find last year's Lambert, or do we cash in and shuffle the pack? Would we really start games in the next lge up with AL/OC/Guly all at once? We don't do that at this level. Having said that it's as much about playing with a method, a blend and a togetherness as it is about the individuals you have available. I don't think Watford or Norwich have the 'best' squads in the lge but they are both doing well -I think this will be Adkin's way too. I wouldn't expect us to be signing loads of players if we go up, but my hope would be that the players we do sign are a level above those we already have (as Pardew did with Fonte). The players we've got could do well in the league above with a few top quality reinforcements - another Fonte (!), a centre mid a level above MS/Hamm, and a top line striker and we could do very well, we've certainly got the manager for it, are the players up for it? Absolute top priority to keep AL though ... irreplacable at this level!!!!

WTF is Daybreak?