sandwichsaint

DAVIS JAMES FONTE JAIDI HARDING HAMMOND WAIGO PUNCHEON MS LALLANA LAMBERT Bart Perry Mills Connelly Barnard Antonio That side is way too good for L1! Neither Otsemobor or Seaborne are currently in our best 17 players!

Duck Off? Love to see that one again.

I've slept at the box office, complete with newspapers, sleeping bag and flask. Had to get tkts for Derby home and away, can't remember how it came about but they went to general sale (probably after selling 2 per ST holder or some such), drove down on the Thu pm at 7-00, camped out at the ground from 10-00 Thu night, grabbed tickets at 9-00(?) the next day - back in work for 12-00 Friday - then drove back down to Soton the next day for the Saturday lunchtime kick off, and then to the away leg on the following Tue(?). A few Saints miles that week! Also slept out overnight at the Dell for '76 semi tickets; considering that there were only 4 of us that slept out properly for the Derby game and they were all younger than me I could quite possibly be the 'only' person who has slept out for tickets at both the Dell and at SMS. I assume that nobody has slept over for any other SMS games?

Excellent, at the 'club's discretion' I'd like to nominate my 'linked purchase' to: Swindon, Leeds, Colchester, Millwall, Brentford, and Charlton all away, and Gillingham, Exeter, Wycombe, Brighton and MK home. Is this what they mean? (I'm sure it's not so I've go to buy a ticket for a game I can't go to!) Hopefully I will be able to link it to an upcoming midweek (eg Swindon or H'pool). Why do they always **** about .... what's so hard about saying 'ST's 1 each, then 1 each for anybody with 5 games against their number?'

Frustrating night all round; another dodgy selection (Otsemobor over Thomas? Seaborne over Jaidi? No MS?) and in all honesty a pretty dodgy performance from the team. We started off nice and bright and took a deserved early lead but never looked comfortable in midfield and conceded lots of space and possession from the time James went off. We were particularly poor down the r/hand side with Antonio and Otsemobor all at sea against their pace and movement. Fortunately the combined efforts of Fonte (class) Seaborne (much better than last time) and DAVIS(!) was enough to keep us in front till half time, and we also had our share of chances and half chances, mainly playing on the break. We could, probably should, have been 2-0 at half time and we may well have got the 3 points. Second half was a completely different story; Brentford stepped up and Saints shrank back into their collective shells; we just stopped playing all over the pitch and conceded pretty much every 50/50 and second ball for the whole of the 45. KD to thank for keeping it respectable as Brentford had way too much pace, movement and desire for our lot. Rubbish hoof ball from the whole of the back 4 (including Fonte who was launching up-and-unders in the first half too) which only brought pressure straight back on us. You have to question AP’s tactics when you see players like Lambert and Morgan blindly hitting it first time from the centre circle in the vague direction of the corner flag, second half we could have moved 5 miles down the road and played it at Twickenham. Isn’t the first thing you coach 9 year olds ‘take a touch’ and ‘take two’? Hopeless football; for the first time last night the thought crossed my mind that we might not actually walk out of this league next season either … something has to change to turn this team into a Leeds or a Norwich… I’ve LOL’ed all season at those who say this team would be in the top half of the CCC… on last night’s form we would struggle to make the top half of this league. Things we learnt (or as it Saints, things we never learn ….) We defend too deep We don’t retain the ball from the back or midfield We have no real pace (bar Antonio) throughout the team Otsemobor is not an option at RB, really poor player MS is an attacking midfielder in a 4-5-1 Wotton does a job in a 4-5-1 but can’t play in a 4-4-2 Lallana can’t play anywhere near as effectively in 4-4-2 and is a much better player in a 4-5-1 Route one to Lambert has been sussed by other teams, he looks as bored with it as we do. Waigo is a decent player at this level and with a good goal scoring record, why can’t he get near the team at the moment? Davis 10! Outstanding individual performance Otsemobor 3 Hope he can turn it around but don’t hold your breath; limited defensively and creates nothing going forward Fonte 8 Class player but got caught up in the hoof-ball as much as anyone else (presumably playing to orders) Seaborne 7 Much better than last time but struggles in the air at times for a big fellow (just what we need in this league – a non-heading centre back)… Jaidi Mills 6 Started brightly but faded with the rest of the team …. Harding Antonio 7 Lively and committed, wish people would get off his case a bit; he’s doing the job he’s asked to do and making a decent go of it. He’s got good pace, a decent shot and runs at defenders ….. would be an ideal sub at this level, not sure why he’s getting a regular 80 mins-plus over Papa? James got stuck in and scored a really good goal, missed him when he went off. Wotton 5 I’ve stuck up for him in the past and as ever you couldn’t fault his effort but not his best game, all hoof and Brentford easily by-passed him in midfield, shouldn’t ever be asked to play in a 4, just not up to it physically or technically. Morgan 4 Back to his inconsistent worst after showing some decent form in the last couple of months. Ineffective in defence and attack and too often hoofed it when he did get it. If we are going to go a rigid 4-4-2 and play hoofball not sure he is the player for us or we are the club for him (which is a great pity both ways round). Lallana 4 Lively link up in the first 20 minutes, can’t fault his effort beyond that but nil impact from there on. What a waste of a talented player, let’s get him in the middle in a 5 and get him on the ball every opportunity we get. Barnard 7 My first sight (in a Saints shirt) and very promising he looked. Worked hard, decent movement and very tidy link up; did fantastic to beat both centre halves then fluffed a really straightfd chance (he only had to tuck it in the near post but had too much time and changed his mind). Will score loads of goals at this level. Lambert 5 something not quite right, too often he just looks like he’s going through the motions rather than he wants to be out there playing and he wants to be playing for us. Could be tiredness (I don’t think it is), more likely he is completely demoralised having to chase lost causes for 90 minutes and playing in a team that creates very few scoring opportunities, worrying. Draw probably a fair result, we should have gone 2 ahead in the first half and Barnard’s miss for 2-0 was the turning point; KD saved it from being a rout in the second half. Fans watch; good numbers and lively atmosphere but do we have to sing quite so many P. songs? We sing far more songs about them than we ever do about us; it must have been totally bewildering for the home fans and must make us seem rather OBSESSED and INSECURE (which hopefully most of us aren’t).

Apparently not ... my mate tried to do this yesterday evening (from Devon) ... and was told not possible... 'Brentford don't offer this facility' ... whatever that means?

Am I missing something with Jaidi? He has played once in 4 weeks, have we said he needs resting? Surely if he's easing himself back then he plays tonight and misses Saturday? Tonite's game is considerably 'harder' than Saturday's and I hope we go with our strongest available team (which isn't Seaborne over Jaidi... ever!) I would expect it to be Davis Thomas Fonte Jaidi Mills Antonio James MS Lallana Lambert Barnard (possibly Wotton for Antonio and LJ right-mid) Looks a decent side and we will need to be right on our game if we are to win. LOL at those who say Lambert 'looks tired'; I've come to the conclusion that this is his default state of being, to me he doesn't look and play very much different to when we first saw him at Swindon ... he looked 'tired' that night. I'm fairly sure he will play every game till he drops; AP seems to be that sort of manager.

Do people really think this won't sell out? Written by a ST holder one can only presume? I'm bricking it on getting tickets: I've been to 6 homes and 6 aways so far (including tonight!) and around a dozen games a season since relegation ('Where were you when we were 5hit?'). If the club do go down the route of ST+1 and then count back on the FA Cup games (I haven't been to any) then I can't see myself getting anywhere near a ticket; a lot of people will be pretty ****ed if it is ST+1 as loads of regular fans will have to watch on telly as we have a stadium that is 50% full of: partners/hangers-on/plastics/JCLs/best-mates-never-been-to-a-game/neutrals (the number of posts on here saying 'My Man U mate has asked me to get him a ticket' is a joke). Come on ticket office: do the decent thing! STs = 1 Next dibs: STs who have brough extra tickets for family or friends = extra PFC tickets proportional to those they have already bought (1 ticket for every 10? seats bought) Database = work the numbers out ( I would have thought 1 ticket for 6 games home or away might be somewhere near). Difficult one for the club whichever way they call it but I do hope they find a way to get tickets to those who have seen 8-10 games this year over those who potentially haven't seen any! Not selling out? Your 'aving a giraffe aren't you? It's the tie of the round and the biggest game at SMS for quite some time!

Roll out the Union Jacks: that's probably the first time I've ever agreed with anthing GS has ever posted on here! It looks excellent on paper, we just have to turn it into a winning combo on grass now; guess we're back to a permanent 4-4-2 (4-2-4) type situation, we really need to sort out which of Morgan and Hammo is going to be 'holding' and which is going to have the free-er role, my vote is for Hammo to hold and MS to have the free role! COYRs

I've just bought 2 each for Brentford and MK this morning so unfortunately 'I'm out'. Not over-fussed about Saturday's game either way really but I would probably go to a replay if it comes to that; my main hope is for for no silly bookings or injuries on Saturday.

Gravesend, was that you on the train out of London Bridge at 18-04 on Saturday after the Millwall game? The guy that drives govt. cars? If it was you I was the the one that had a bit of a Saints chat with you, anyways, well done with the link tonight. Is there anything on interweb for Ipswich on Saturday?

One word: fourfiveone! Wot a difference from Saturday! We looked very comfortable first half and the man on the ball always had a pass; all the front five had licence to go fd and it was very effective, we also got Fonte fd regularly with Wotton sitting in and holding with Perry. Another one of MS's better games and again it comes in a '5' rather than in 4-4-2. Excellent games for Antonio and James tonight. We should have been 3-0 and out of sight at HT, but at least we should see a decent second leg now. In terms of injuries and suspensions I'm pretty sure we will buy, this has just forced our hand that bit further. Anybody want to review their play-off predictions in light of tonight's performance? We have just won relatively comfortably away at one of the better teams in the division and a team coming off the back of a 5-0 away win. Nice work all, and a big up to the travelling fans tonight.

Eastwood was awesome for a couple of seasons at Southend but has rather lost his way at Wolves and then Cov. Saw him on the telly the other night (Pompey game) and he was dire, admitedly playing out of position. If AP could get him firing again he could be a v useful addition at this level. (I can't believe we can't prise Barnard away from S'arfend before the end of the window, they're virtually skint, we aren't short).

Are the play-offs still achievable? Emphatically ‘Yes!’ … but it will be tight! In the first round of games we gained 10 wins, 8 draws, 5 defeats (38 points gained but equal to a net 28 points with the -10 deduction). If we were to exactly repeat our results (of course we won’t) we would then have 66 points (76 gained minus the 10 point deduction); not enough for the play-offs by some distance. If we take the play-off target as 78 points we need to repeat every point we gained in the first round PLUS a further 12 ‘bonus’ points in the second round – we have now played two reverse fixturse, Colchester, where we needed 1 point (or more) to stay on track; we lost that one; Millwall we needed one point to stay on track or 3 points to move forward, we got one point. Over those two games therefore a net -1 and we now need 13 ‘bonus points’ to reach the magic 78 (the original 12 plus the minus 1 for Colchester). First round of games Win Exeter City_Home_Win Win Gillingham_Home_Win Win Hartlepool United_Away_Win Win Milton Keynes Dons_Home_Win Win Oldham Athletic_Away_Win Win Southend United_Away_Win Win Tranmere Rovers_Home_Win Win Walsall_Away_Win Win Wycombe Wanderers_Home_Win Win Yeovil Town_Home_Win Draw Brentford_Home_Draw Draw Carlisle United_Away_Draw Draw Charlton Athletic_Away_Draw Draw Colchester United_Home_Draw Draw Leyton Orient_Away_Draw Draw Millwall_Home_Draw Draw Norwich City_Home_Draw Draw Stockport County_Away_Draw Lose Brighton & Hove Albion_Home_Lose Lose Bristol Rovers_Home_Lose Lose Huddersfield Town_Away_Lose Lose Leeds United_Away_Lose Lose Swindon Town_Away_Lose Second round of games -1 Colchester United_Away_Draw - actual result was a loss equals minus 1 point 1 Millwall_Away_Draw – actual result draw, no gain or loss GAMES WE NEED TO WIN: 3 Exeter City_Away_ 3 Gillingham_Away_ 3 Hartlepool United_Home_ 3 Milton Keynes Dons_Away_ 3 Oldham Athletic_Home_ 3 Southend United_Home_ 3 Tranmere Rovers_Away_ 3 Walsall_Home_ 3 Wycombe Wanderers_Away_ 3 Yeovil Town_Away_ GAMES WE CAN PICK UP 2 EXTRA POIONTS: 1 Brentford_Away_ 1 Carlisle United_Home_ 1 Charlton Athletic_Home_ 1 Leyton Orient_Home_ 1 Norwich City_Away_ 1 Stockport County_Home_ GAMES WE CAN PICK UP 3 (or 1) EXTRA POINTS: 0 Brighton & Hove Albion_Away_ 0 Bristol Rovers_Away_ 0 Huddersfield Town_Home_ 0 Leeds United_Home_ 0 Swindon Town_Home_ The target is to reach 78 points: We will ideally need to double all of our 10 previous wins, this looks very do-able (with potentially the biggest banana skins at MK away, and perhaps v Walsall or H’pool at home) We have the potential to pick up two bonus points if we can turn any of our 8 draws into wins (Millwall was a big target, as will be B’ford away; Stockport home looks a banker and Carlisle or Orient at home also look winnable) We have the potential to pick up three (or one) bonus points if we can reverse any of our five losses (Brighton and Bristol away and Hudds and Swindon at home are the massive games and all potentially do-able) To re-iterate; we need all of the first round points PLUS an extra 13 bonus points from the remaining 21 games. What happens in the other games is of no real concern to us at this stage, if we get OUR 78 points WE will be in the play-offs (hopefully!). Not impossible but the above shows the size of the task in front of us. I agree our recent form hasn’t been good but on the plus side you have to factor in that our last 4 games have included two of the top 4 away, and also away to Millwall who have one of the best home records in the division. We have loads of games left against middle and bottom sides and we are clearly capable of going on a run if AP starts picking the right sides! AP missed several tricks on Saturday even allowing for the ‘peculiar’ starting line up; he should have pushed LJ inside when Hammond came off and played Waigo, he should have made his 2nd half subs on 60 minutes, he should have taken Otsemobor off (who had completely lost focus/concentration after 60 mins, it was absolutely no surprise when they scored down his side) and moved LJ to RB and played a proper RW. Why not drop Holmes out for the last 20 mins (who had played very well but was obviously tiring) and push AL out to the left? Hopefully we have learnt the lessons from now on … no more defensive line-ups! We are full of goals when we play 4-5-1 (4-3-3) and generally pretty limited when we play 4-4-2! We have to use our pace (no other side in this league would start with both Antonio and Papa on the bench, either at home or away), play Lallana either wide left or in a 4-4-‘1’-1, no way is he a 4-4-‘2’ striker. Can we see less (a lot less) of LJ in midfield? If that’s all Otsemobor’s got to offer I really hope he had a bad day, he offered no more than LJ does at RB and if that’s the case then LJ can safely go back to RB for the remainder of the season. Despite all that I’d give the Millwall result 2 cheers, we didn’t lose and turn our form into LWLL; most of us would have taken a draw before the game and our performance (nor selection) didn’t warrant the full 3 points. In the big picture it was obviously the chance to gain 2 extra points but there are plenty more opportunities for that! The ‘maths’ is difficult but certainly not impossible and I hope we can find form quickly enough to stay in touch and not tail off and leave 10 dead games at the end of the season….. I’m definitely still half-full on the play-off front, there’s certainly no harm in trying for it from where we are, and nothing lost if we don’t make it. Watch the mood swing back from ‘impossible’ to ‘certainties’ when we beat Brentford and Stockport (that would be four ‘bonus points’ and would leave us looking at just 9 more ‘extras’ from the last 19 games). Tight, tight, tight, but surely this team has enough about it to beat Brentford and Stockport for starters?

Are the play-offs still achievable? Emphatically ‘Yes!’ … but it will be tight! In the first round of games we gained 10 wins, 8 draws, 5 defeats (38 points gained but equal to a net 28 points with the -10 deduction). If we exactly repeat our results (of course we won’t) we would have 76 points which is a borderline play off position so add two more points for 78 points which should be enough. To reach 78 points we need to repeat every point we gained in the first round PLUS a further 12 ‘bonus’ points – we have already played our first reverse fixture, Colchester, where we needed 1 point (or more) to stay on track; we lost therefore a net -1 and we now need 13 ‘bonus points’ to reach 78 (the original 12 plus minus 1 for Colchester). First round of games Win Exeter City_Home_Win Win Gillingham_Home_Win Win Hartlepool United_Away_Win Win Milton Keynes Dons_Home_Win Win Oldham Athletic_Away_Win Win Southend United_Away_Win Win Tranmere Rovers_Home_Win Win Walsall_Away_Win Win Wycombe Wanderers_Home_Win Win Yeovil Town_Home_Win Draw Brentford_Home_Draw Draw Carlisle United_Away_Draw Draw Charlton Athletic_Away_Draw Draw Colchester United_Home_Draw Draw Leyton Orient_Away_Draw Draw Millwall_Home_Draw Draw Norwich City_Home_Draw Draw Stockport County_Away_Draw Lose Brighton & Hove Albion_Home_Lose Lose Bristol Rovers_Home_Lose Lose Huddersfield Town_Away_Lose Lose Leeds United_Away_Lose Lose Swindon Town_Away_Lose Second round of games -1 Colchester United_Away_Draw - actual result was a loss equals minus 1 point 3 Exeter City_Away_Win 3 Gillingham_Away_Win 3 Hartlepool United_Home_Win 3 Milton Keynes Dons_Away_Win 3 Oldham Athletic_Home_Win 3 Southend United_Home_Win 3 Tranmere Rovers_Away_Win 3 Walsall_Home_Win 3 Wycombe Wanderers_Away_Win 3 Yeovil Town_Away_Win 1 Brentford_Away_Draw 1 Carlisle United_Home_Draw 1 Charlton Athletic_Home_Draw 1 Leyton Orient_Home_Draw 1 Millwall_Away_Draw 1 Norwich City_Away_Draw 1 Stockport County_Home_Draw 0 Brighton & Hove Albion_Away_Lose 0 Bristol Rovers_Away_Lose 0 Huddersfield Town_Home_Lose 0 Leeds United_Home_Lose 0 Swindon Town_Home_Lose To reach 78 points: We ideally need to double all of our wins, this looks very do-able (with potential banana skins at MK away, and perhaps Walsall or H’pool at home) We have the potential to pick up two bonus points if we can turn any of those draws into wins (Millwall is a big target, as is B’ford away and Carlisle or Orient at home) We have the potential to pick up three (or one) bonus points if we can reverse any of our five losses (Brighton and Bristol away and Hudds and Swindon at home are massive) To re-iterate; we need all of the first round points PLUS an extra 13 bonus points from the remaining 22 games. What happens in the other games is of no real concern to us at this stage, if we get our 78 points we will be in the play-offs (hopefully!). Not impossible but the above shows the size of the task in front of us; fasten your seat belts and get on board! COYRs

Mifsud, someone I've flagged up in the past. Would be quality at this level, technically very good, intelligent movement and the sort of 'creative' player we lack. Not sure he is desperately pacey (as some seem to think) nor is his goal scoring record as good as it might be. I would see him as cover for Lallana/Connelly and would think if he is fit and interested he could be a very useful addition, sorry to those that think he's not good enough and that we should aim higher; perhaps you could all pm ML and tell him to spend more of his own money on your football team. I think if we had 11 1m-pound-players (in the 3rd Division!) there would still be people on here moaning.

'This' will get the job done: a sort of Fonte'd-up version of Southend away where we were excellent. That was probably one of our best midfield and attacking displays all season.

Was it a Gary Glitter night?

Take the telly money and bu88er the travelling fans: Franchise's master plan is coming together nicely then? If they had given us a decent allocation over Xmas I'm sure we would have sold up to maybe 1500 by now. I haven't got mine and if I do decide to go I'll prob just buy on the day (behind the goal hopefully!)

Whooossshhh! (You couldn't make it up could you!) I'm sure AP hangs on your every post: have you offered your talent-spotting skills to the club yet? Just out of interest, what doesn't Mellis have enough of?, and what sort of future do you foresee for him?

Have you seen a game this year? Do you know anything about football? Do you troll on here all day to get reactions like this one? Very few players look 'amazing' in Lge 1, for the very simple reason that it is the third tier of organised league football and if they were 'that' good they would be playing in the second or even the first tier. Mellis looked exactly what he was: a young Premier Lge 'club' player, as opposed to a Premier league 'squad' player, sent out on loan to gain experience. I doubt he will break through at Chelsk though they will no doubt keep hold of him while their transfer future is uncertain; he will assuredly go on to have a solid pro career somewhere in the top two divisions (a la Baird/Surman). He was far from 'useless', only idiots would have expected him to be 'amazing' in his first dozen pro games. Remind me Glasgow, which Lge 1 club did Wayne Rooney go to on loan to when he was a similar age?

Some of us said this at the time but we were drowned out by what used to be known as 'happy clappies' who considered finishing 6th on the last day of the season a very acceptable outcome. Apparently in Saint George-give-him-five-years-Burley they trusted.... for me GB is right up there with RL in the decline and fall of our club... all water under the bridge now and I am quite enjoying the present and looking fd very much to the next 5 years, loved the 80's clips posted up on the other thread. Remind me who was 'Alex' reffered to further up the thread, sorry I'm a complete blank on that one.

With him, Jaidi and Ward as our three main CBs, and Perry and Thomas as backup, our squad would look immense....... OR MERELY BLOATED? What do we need 5 CH's for? If we sign Ward and new boy it's a (reluctant) good-bye to Perry and WT is neither fish at CH or fowl at RB.

I presume they will cover the pitch in heavy sheets and then have 'the fans' and the 'yoof team' shovelling it off on Friday and Saturday morning, in traditional stylee? Unless anybody has got any better ideas, in which case they need to mail the groundstaff pronto. (also need to check where Hudders are staying and arrange a 2.00am fire alarm on Sat morning)

I goosed a bird at the office works do and she said, "Get your hands off my higgin bottom", at least I think she said 'higgin'.