sandwichsaint

Were you there last night? I went for the first time this season and was horrified by what I saw! I am fully backing NA but clearly in terms of timescale and budget a complete rebuild is impossible at this stage but on last night's showing I would expect to see several changes for Saturday, this team is in urgent need of a shot of footballing Viagra but where we get that who knows?

What an absolute shocker! First game I’ve seen this season and I don’t think anything I’ve seen or read on here had quite prepared me for how poor we were. Call me naïve but I was expecting to see some sort of ‘new manager reaction’, I’ve seen a dead cat bounce higher. All the usual factors were there in spades: lack of FITNESS, lack of pace, lack of desire, lack of leadership, lack of communication, lack of cohesion. An absolutely clueless, rudderless performance and we looked genuinely nearer to relegation than promotion on that sort of form. Shocking legacy from AP and NA clearly has his work cut out and I just hope he is given time to do the job properly. He had absolutely nothing to work with last night, the players he has inherited are not fit and a lot of them look completely disinterested. I’m not sure when the loan window opens or where we go from here but I would expect some big changes on Saturday – Dickson surely has to play LB, Harding very poor (again) and seems to have, unsurprisingly(?) completely lost all confidence since we bought Dickson. Centre-mid was a disgrace yesterday, we barely won a tackle all night, created nothing, and both their goals started from mistakes in that area of the pitch – hopefully we will have a look at Guly in there and spin a coin as to which one of the current misfits goes to the bench. Oxo did OK for 20 minutes but it was real men against boys stuff and he was constantly hassled out of things, needs to be coming on from the bench rather than starting. I didn’t think Punch was as bad as some people said, he looked reasonably mobile and willing but often let down by his decision making and his final ball – is this the same player who took Huddersfield apart last season? Maybe Holmes left side if fit and Punch to strengthen the bench options? Front two were **** poor from start to finish, Connoly huffed and puffed but never looked like scoring, Lambert didn’t even do that! Lambert needs to come out of the first team until he is physically and mentally ready to play for us, whether that’s 2 weeks, 4 weeks or 6 weeks, and if he’s still not up for it after that then we need to get shot in Jan and start again. NA has got a massive job on and he knows it, Pardew’s complacency culture and his old pals starting X1 is now broke and completely unfit for purpose and no amount of ‘we were unlucky’, ‘we only need a break’, ‘win the next one and we are X points behind’, will fix that. Hopefully NA can get it fixed in time but don’t hold your breath – on last night’s showing ‘events’ have pretty much wrecked the 125 party season before it’s even begun – shame really.

Two closely related areas he needs to get to grips with asap are the state of Lambert's groin and the size of his gut. On these two animate objects rest about 75% of our promotion chances.

Good of him to leaflet the neighbourhood with copies of his new contract before he moved out ....

You forgot to mention those, it's probably the same people, who said we would 'easily' replace Antonio and/or Waigo, they weren't that good, and there would be plenty of opportunities to buy or rent suitable replacements. That's turned out well too hasn't it?

started with a 3-3 H v Ipswich IIRC?

Did they have to pay to park?

Looks like NC is not quite as good a judge of a 'yes man' as he thought he was?

Corrected it for you.

A rare glimmer of light on another cr8p Saints day!

Wilkins next? Gutted ... I've followed Adkins for a good few seasons and he ticked all my boxes! NC better have a decent plan C! (or are we onto plan Z yet?) 'kin shambles!

This! Hands up all those that REEAALLLYYY thought we were going to get one of M O'Neil, Leonardo, Martinez, Cantona, Shearer, Erikson .....

pmsl

More excellent PR from our very own Prince of Darkness.

Five gears in reverse, Alpine's new Italian job or Elvis Capello?

Or: player approached to play for Saints - thinks... Pros - decent money (presumably), decent facilities, decent crowds to play in front of, good chance to move up a league/secure bonuses etc. Against - the manager (whoever it is) will quite possibly only be there for 12 months max Decides - go for it ... more money etc... I'll deal with the manager situation when it happens.

This. I have to say when I saw on here that Pardew had gone the first three names that came into my head were, make of it what you will, were Adkins, Mowbray, Keegan. Adkins has done a very tidy job at Scunny and deserves the chance at a 'big club', albeit one that is playing a league lower than he is currently operating in (shades of Grayson going from Blackpool to Leeds, that one didn't work out too badly). Certainly think 'the project' would be further on now if he had been appointed rather than AP at the start of last season.

Jonny Foreigner = Toshack Wow = Zola More likely we'll end up with = Howe My realistic 'wants' would be = Adkins or Mowbray

Three red cards and one sore ****, dooh dah, dooh dah.

Has Capello gone cold on NC after Friday night?

Next season's sponsor? Toys-R-Us should do nicely.

I would take any of the following (however unlikely!): MO'N!! Zola Adkins Mowbray Davies Warnock Peirce Lukewarm but would accept: McClaren Tisdale Howe Southgate Brown No thanks: Shearer Hart(!) Not saying whether I like or I don't like, and judged purely on a HCDAJFU basis. What is it with people thinking Alan 'interesting' Shearer would leave a highly paid TV job to stick his whole reputation on the line with a third division team?

A nasty little run of games; lucky we've already banked 6 points from our two relatively 'easy' home games so far or we could be playing catch-up for quite some time ..... Best case W4 D2 L1 .... gives 16 points from 9 games.... would put us in the top half but would it be enough? Absolute worst case W2 D2 L3 ..... 10 points from 9 games ... bye, bye AP?

For those that want a reason/excuse for everything - it must be pretty unusual (unique-ish even?) to play your first four games of the season at home (more likely to play 4 away if your ground wasn't ready etc). Agree it will be good for the players to play an away game for a change of scene - hopefully we can win and come back to SMS with renewed confidence. AP could be building a pretty large albatross though if he is going to refer to 'the crowd' in his interviews every week - footballers play in front of crowds - deal with it!

This!!! (and for about the last 5 seasons too!) With our relative 'strength' and 'depth' surely we are strong enough to be playing Lallana in the middle, either in the middle two, or in the hole? Hammond and Schneiderlin = negative manager! Move AL into the middle or splash the cash ... before it's too late!!!