VectisSaint

Bit optimistic for you Alpine, 2 draws in next 5 games. Surely in your world we will lose both. I think if we can get a win against QPR which we should, because they are rubbish, we could get a win against the Barcodes as well. They are not as good as some think. However we will have to score at least twice because Mike Williamson will score against us. No reason to suppose we can't beat Norwich. A draw against Liverpool is a reasonable expectation and a win against Reading is surely a real possibility. Of course not all of that will happen, but I seriously believe all 5 games are winnable, but we will probably end up with 8 or 9 points from them in total which would be acceptable.

I was saying to a mate the other day that he has hardly made any saves that I can remember. He pushed one round the post against Swansea (one of KD's weak areas of course) but it is quite amazing how little he has had to do considering he is behind the worst defence in the history of the first 11 weeks of the PL. This is why for me the jury is still out on him, obviously he can only make saves if shots are on target (or close) but I would worry what might happen against more attacking teams. He looked nervous on Saturday, he made a dreadful error earlier on when he basically patted the ball up in the air, and one of our defenders (Fonte?) stood and looked at the ball on the ground for what seemed like an age before he eventually booted it away. I would have to say I have more faith in Boruc longer term.

This Apart from the bit about the gangway, Charlie has answered the question in the most enlightened way. I don't often agree with Charlie but on this occasion his answer is almost spot on. It is alarming that so many people here in the UK have such narrow minded views about how other nations (our allies and former enemies alike) view the conflicts that we choose to remember, it is refreshing when someone actually posts something that shows some of this understanding and seeks to redress the balance with the bigots. Well done Charlie.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?41129-Beattie-to-Accrington-(player-coach)

No idea why you picked Barnsley, its the same as dozens of other clubs, including some PL teams (mainly but not completely recently promoted ones). The only difference is really the colour scheme. You are right its ****, but **** happens.

I didn't notice Cork was knackered, but it was certainly his poor decision-making that lead to the goal. If that poor decision-making was caused by fatigue then it is understandable. But I'm certainly not going to blame Adkins for not substituting him. Sure Gazza ****ed up but he and Yoshi should never have been put into the position in the first place. Midfield defending has been poor on several occasions this season, unfortunately Cork who was probably man of the match apart from this did screw up in this regard. Harsh but true. Too many people see the end result and fail to look for the root cause.

Problem that seems to be coming up though is that we are gradually getting better in defence, rarely looked troubled in our last 2 games in terms of organisation or penetration from opposition, but silly mistakes creep in. BUT, we seem to have forgotten how to score now. Its weeks since Rickie last netted, none of our other forward players are hitting the net (OK, J-Rod scored 1), our goals are drying up and only our defensive midfielders and CBs seem to be able to score now.

Should never have been put under pressure by Cork messing around in midfield and eventually passing back when there was no need. When you defence is nervous don't put them under unnecessary pressure, otherwise they might cock it up. Yoshida did very little wrong, Gazza's pass was poor, but it should never have happened. Given that Yoshi also was instrumental in our goal and also saved us from defeat by a brilliantly timed tackle near the end shows that he is actually a very good player when he plays at CB (he is **** when he plays at RB or LB though).

The 2nd goal was initially credited to Seaborne, but I see on the Beeb that it was later changed to Morrison.

The irony of Mr T suggesting that something posted by another poster that contradicts his rumours and bull**** should not be believed.

These 2 comments are not necessarily contradictory though. Nowhere in the 2nd part does Reed say he has anything to do with 1st team tactics or selection, only an overarching responsibility for coaching, scouting and recruitment for all teams (1st, u21, u18, u16 Academy kids). Almost certainly he delegates the responsibility for each team/group to coaches, scouts and recruitment specifically for that team, in the case of the 1st team to Adkins.

Agree, quality wise on an individual basis we are better than them, but they are better organised in general, though they looked very shaky at the back yesterday. Pity we did not test their keeper more, I suspect he may not be the best, certainly not compared to Vorm.

If so why have Reading not dismissed McDermott, exactly same situation as us, and they have not even won a game so far, and even conceded 7 against Arsenal Reserves. How about QPR, less points than us, no wins, still have hung on to Hughes, agreed Hughes did not get them promoted?

So it seems that the main reason for the exodus before half time is that many of our supporters are incontinent. Debunks the notion that the bed wetters don't go to games. Clearly some of them do.

Agreed, most round me thought he was one of the worst seen and that he was probably going out for dinner with some of the Swansea lads afterwards to celebrate. Didn't realise until after the game it was Andre Mariner, what happened to Dowd who was supposed to be in charge?

Sorry, but it was not Yoshi's howler that caused the goal, it was a poor pass back after a complete cock up by Gazza with this awful pass out, and quick thinking by Dyer. Unfortunately though the real problem was the lead up to the goal in the first place. Jack Cork had a very good game, but he was squarely to blame for fannying about with the ball in the middle of the park and then making a completely unnecessary pass back to Yoshi. Puts a defence under pressure when there is no need. When you are slightly nervous at the back the last thing you need is dodgy balls back from midfield. Shocking decision making by Corky, for me otherwise he would probably have been man of the match. I agree Yoshi and Gazza should have dealt with it, but the root cause of the problem was not with either of them. We play the ball back into defence far too often in my opinion, sometimes the better option is simply to turn and belt it up field, when who knows what might happen.

Agree with you completely on the 2nd half. Like you I was too far away at the match for the one in the first half, but having just watched Match Choice on Sky it was a bit lame, but I still wouldn't class it as a dive. 1st one in the 2nd half the pundit on Sky was sucked in and thought it was a dive because AL was alreay falling when the foul came in, not true, AL was turning to go left, when Williams clattered him. Last one was just blatant body check by Monk, only doubt with that one was whether it was in the area, but I believe it was. Lallana proved time and again in the game that he is not a diver, staying on his feet many times when he was clattered.

Mike Williamson

Careful, you cannot spout logic on here and get away with debunking Mr T's conspiracy theories that he likes to make up in between his telesalesist life. Mr T has told us that Don Cortese picks the team, chooses the players, inserts clauses into contracts, decides on the formation to be used, and the times of the substitutions. There is no doubt about the factual content of Mr T's posts, so you of course must be imagining things, like the rest of us. Looked very much like the same way we have played more often that not this season, albeit with Jack Cork making a noticeable difference, and Luke Ward knowing how to play at left back.

Comedy defending, but the goal was caused by the midfield, I think it was Cork, fannying around with the ball and eventually passing it back and putting Yoshi and gazza under unneccessary pressure. Sure thy should have done better, but we shot ourselves in the foot by schoolboy error in the middle of the park. Lucky we didn't get caught a few more times when Gaston gave the ball away cheaply on 2 or 3 occassions.

This is just absolute crap. We go tin behind them loads of times today, on both sides. Also it was great seeing NA not making subs for the sake of it. None were needed today (apart from Fox for Shaw) and NA called it absolutely right. Still easy for TDD to have a pop on the basis of nothing.

No, what they do instead is trot out the "Adkins is under pressure from the board" line, even though they have no idea whether he is or is not. It then becomes self-fulfilling.

I hope this is a joke. I wasn't convinced it was until I got to the Chaplow remark.

Trouble is Glasgow is not the only one, the BBC seem to have the same trouble: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20237630 2006: Following Brian Laws's departure to Sheffield Wednesday, Atkins is named S****horpe manager.