Arizona

From what I've heard, i.e. having very little possesion, nothing sticking up front and being under the cosh for large parts, Saga was exactly what we needed up front today. Someone to work hard and put pressure on the defence. We never lost a game Saga started under Pearson. I know we have to cut costs, but if we are still losing money now, something somewhere is seriously f*cked up. If we lose John, Rasiak, Skacel, Euell and Davis we are practically playing the youth team, plus a couple of old freebies who surely must be at the lower end of the CCC wage bill. I know we could never afford a squad full of IIs, Powells, BWPs, Claus' etc filling up the wage bill without delivering on the pitch, but f*ck me surely having more than 5 players on more than a youth contract isn't going to bankrupt us.

So the 5 or 6 blinding saves he pulled off to keep us in it first half count for nothing? P.S. Not only are you saying Davis was at fault for the goal, but he somehow prevented us from scoring aswell?

By the sounds of it they were all over us for much of the game. Sitting back and defending never works, especially when we don't have possesion. Only hope we can improve before the Brummies come to town. Sounds like a good effort though. Losing in the last minute, whilst gutting, is a lot better than what could have happened. Nice to hear Killer lasting the whole game.

Vokes scores for Wolves.

So nobody who hasn't seen a handful of friendlies against lower league teams is allowed an oppinion? I have seen most of the players in action to various extents and many of them have been far from impressive. Anyway, Saints have done worse than I have predicted for the last 5 years running.

I want Saints to win as much as anyone and am p*ssed off I could make the 10 hour round trip to Cardiff today. I just don't think we are very good. Maybe Sky are biased against us, who knows, but I don't think ou can make up about 5 top class saves to keep us in it. Let's agree on one thing: lol@Derby.

COYR etc.

It is possible however that Cardiff are infact a lot better than us. Just a thought. Personally I'd take Sky's neutral coverage as opposed to the audio OS.

Under the cosh for pretty much the whole first half, then scoring in the last minute. It's like Saints in a parallel universe. Hope they can keep it up. Sounds like we will need a much better performance second half to get anything from this though.

Dmg!!!!

That was always on the cards I guess. Let's see how our youngsters react to this setback.

So my librarian, stamp collecting club, gynaecologist, the National Morris Dancers Association and the chairman of the Caravan Club keep telling me.

Better than the off season any day. I can't stand the annual 3 months of Lowe/Allen/Crouch/Wayne Bridge/Skacel/alpine/Burley/fake sheiks/MLT/SISU CDAJFU

Early days indeed. This time last season Licka was scoring for fun in preseason, Hammill looked a class apart and we beat someone 12-0. That didn't exaclty set the trend for the season. I'd have Vignal over Surman anyday of the week at LB. He is far superior both offensively and defensively. All IMHO of course. I am going for 3-0 to Cardiff. I just hope I don't get outed as being "overly optimistic" come 5pm.

I think in this side, age is really going to hinder players like Schneiderlin. I am thinking Jelle Van Damme here. Like a fish up a tree. I don't mean to sound derogatory, but he has very little experience and none what-so-ever of English football. If he were in a team surrounded by quality players, with years of experience in this league, then he I would be more optimistic of him fitting in seamlessley. However he is likely to be in a midfielder with Gillett, Thomson, Dyer and Lallana. Who is he going to look to for help when the going gets tough? I think our style of football suits Surman's strenghts, if he were in midfield. The trouble with being a fullback is that you have to deal with opposing teams styles too. What is going to happen when Surman comes up against someone like Dyer or Thomson with a bit of pace or trickery about them? Bale did lack defensive ability, which was a factor in our poor defence in the playoff season. However Bale did have Skacel in front of him, who at least did a half decent job of covering for him when he went forwards. Looking at our new system, I am not entirely sure Surman will have someone infront of him at all, assuming the wide left man is playing just off the strikers, rather than as a traditional left midfielder.

How many games did Bale play at LW for us? Anway, I don't care what BB&B have done in the past, Surman is a different player and I think his strengths (i.e. passing and shooting) are far better suited to a midfield role. His weakness's I feel are tackling, pace and physical presence, all of which you need to be a decent full back. If you also disagree with that, then fair enough. However is our new-found world-class left back really going to cover for the other inadequacies all over the pitch? RE: Ronaldo. It seems Redknapp and myself at least agree on one issue. If you are good enough, you are old enough. Ronaldo was good enough, as were Rooney, Walcott, Bale etc. However 5 of the players in that line-up we're good enough to even make the bench for the large part of last season.

Can't see us ending our opening day blues this season. We always lose in Cardiff and this season we've taken a squad which was pretty much relegation standard and made it a whole lot worse. I don't think replacing Rasiak, John, Skacel, Saga, Vignal and even Licka and Viafara with accademy hopefulls is going to stand us in good stead.

How many friendlies against lower league opposition have I seen to get my hopes up over? None. I was basing my oppinion more on the fact that 5 of those players weren't good enough to get beatten by Bristol Rovers 5 months ago. They are joined by a French teenager, a youngster who hardly set League 1 alight, a midfielder playing at LB, a 36 year old CB, another who has played all of 6 games in the last 4 years and Davis.

That starting 11 would get steamrollered by most teams in this league. I have to say I think our squad looks dreadful. The OS spin is just plain shameful at times. DMG and England prospect? The same DMG that has scored 1 LC goal in 2 years of scattered appearances?

Possibly because John, Saga and Rasiak are all off and BWP is garbage. Could be wrong though. You're right, 25 when we signed him. For some reason I thought he was younger than that.

Sorry guys, I think I must have missed that particular interview, anyone got a link? Or are we just making baseless accusations on the assumption that none of our other players would ever dream of playing in the Bundesliga, rather than sitting on the bench in CCC?

Gutted.

They finished above us last season and we have a weaker squad than last season. What makes you think they will do worse that us this year?

I wouldn't say they took us to the cleaners. It was a very scrappy game from both teams, with no real chances until Skacel came on. Neither team was the better, but at the end of the day Bury couldn't score against a poor Saints side. They overran the midfield, but never really created any chance. Hull, Preston and The Owls took us to the cleaners. Not Bury.

Absolutely not. That would leave us with an unfit Davies, a dodgy Svensson and an ancient Perry. The chances that none of those 3 will be injured at the same time, for some period during the season, are zero. Added to that we have no fullbacks and it would be suicidal to lose any defenders IMO.