sandwichsaint

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?

Well done for knocking that open goal in. When was the two-players-for-every-position mantra withdrawn? I have nothing against young AOC; I have only seen bits and pieces and he certainly looks 'OK' but I haven't seen anything yet for some posters to be putting him in the same sentence as Walcott and Bale. Perhaps he will be that good, who knows? Don't think many people on here during the close season thought we had another Bale/Walcott on out hands? Love the fact that almost everyone on here wants more 'pace' in the team (the one thing you can't coach) yet at the end of the season we release our two quickest players, both of whom were decent. And some of 'the fans' say 'no problrm, we can do better', really? Reminds me of those that wanted Nathan Dyer out, only to see him move up a league and have a really good season in the league above. Of course we all move on, Antonio has gone, we have a great new manager and in terms of 'hitting the bottom' we are now in our best position since relegation from the Prem. The only way is up and I trust NA to buy the players we need, I don't think he will buy too many (he doesn't need very many), but I do think he will at least consider RL's position in Jan if there is no obvious improvement - he bred CFs for fun at Scunny- and he will surely be tempted to roll his big-money dice and shuffle his pack unless he can coax some form from Rickie in the next 10 games? Not necessarily what I would do but what I think NA might do, flame away!

Personally I would have paid Reading what they wanted for Antonio, he has been (or could have been) the 'missing link' in this squad. Young, fit, pacey, direct, made goals, scored goals, used as a starter, or as an impact sub. Very young, very raw, only ever going to get better. Yes, we were quoted silly money, but that doesn't take account of his value to us, nor any subsequent profit, or the delay and expanse of finding a suitable replacement. And you can discount the money spent on Dickson (££ ??) from the asking price when you consider we already had Harding/Mills/AL to play left side..... IMHO obviously.

I'm going to see Dover away at Gillingham, that's a proper Cup tie (that's £15 too before anyone asks),

I quite enjoy your posts usually but you are making yourself look a bit of a strudel over this one; when in a hole .... stop digging.

Really looking forward to seeing him playing against England - Glenn Johnson (pmsl) has probably already pre-booked his 'slight groin strain', for both of those dates. Big shame we will never see Bale play in a World Cup Finals tho.

Never in doubt for me, I've thought for a long time he would be a good fit for Saints and so far so splendid. Look at where we are now and where we were when he took over - hopefully he'll be our manager all the way back to the Prem!

Bale = Beckham with wheels (and more goals too)

Any one except Scooby help me? I'm still looking for 2 tkts, thanks to anyone that can help (promise I won't sit next to you, I'm quite happy to wander off to the nether regions once I'm in).

Looked rusty but hopefully lots to come. He's tall, pacey and pretty mobile but he struggled to get much going with JP (who himself had a poor game). His distribution looked shakey at times but that was par for a lot of the players yesterday; we appeared to struggle with both Notts physical approach and a difficult (very wet/slippery) surface, particularly in the first half. The post above - Hammond had a decent game yesterday, he covered a lot of ground, got stuck in, won his tackles, and his passing was better than most yesterday. I would go: 8 - Fonte / Barnard / Lallana 7 - Hammond 6 - Davis / Harding / Lambert /Seaborne 5 - Richardson 4 - MS / JP

And me, I am looking for two for Daggers game, pm me if you can help, thnx,

Megson?

That's hardly the refs fault though is it? He's merely enforcing a law on which he has no discretion - open cut or blooded shirt = player leaves the field. We have a whole thread about him not enforcing the laws and you still moan when he does!

A sort of thinking man's Strachan (but with tactics). That Charlie Adam is a helluva player.

Dover are one of four Kent-based non-league sides left in the comp, they are away to Farnboro on Saturday but have a dreadful record having reached the first round just twice in 28 years. Since the last round our local rag and the Kent Sunday freebie have been full of 'cup fever' - these four minnows are all just one game away from a 'dream tie' against 'footballing giants Southampton or Sheffield Wednesday'. Good to know however fall we have fallen there are still those that look up to us a 'footballing giant' and look forward to a day out at 'Saint Mary's Stadium' - are you watching Bompey?