the saint in winchester

Itchen? okay, it's a river rather than a stream.

Pepe Reina for me. Yes, I have inside information. Or, do I ? Seriously, can't believe this gets asked each month now. My answer won't change. My answer was is and will be GAZZANIGA. The *uck-up on Sunday wasn't all Gazza's fault. I would say Cork, Yoshida and Gazza take a third each. But as I rate Cork and Gazza, I'm going to give all the blame to Yoshida. Come back, Jos - your club needs you.

--------Gazza Clyne-Fonte-Jos the Boss-Shaw ----Morgan--Cork Punch----------Tadanari Leeeeeee -------Ramirez -------Lambert

They can all share the blame. There was no need to go backwards, and Yoshida was foolish to kick it back to Gazza, knowing he can't pick it up. Yes, he could have hoofed it into Row Z but so could Yoshida, so could Cork ... etc.

Yes, I agree with this. They EXPECT you to get out of the way and look at you like you are subhuman if you don't get up or move yourself aside to let them through. Like the man says, wait til there is a break in the play.

Loved this line from Lawro : I hate to say this, because it is only the start of November, but he probably needs to pick up at least four points from this game.... okay, he actually said this game and the next, but I only read to the above point and thought Lawro was being whimsical. 4 points tomorrow WOULD be useful.

Even Hoddle's biggest fan, his agent, Lord Dalek, recently conceded that Hoddle has been away from management too long now to be able to add value to any top flight side.

Yeah, agree. It's pretty much the same players but not playing to anything like the level of last year. What happened? Was it having to face Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd before they were ready? Yep, confidence is gone and I don't know why. Some say it's that they have lost confidence in Adkins. I doubt that. But - in the words of Louis Walsh - "I don't know what it is, but there's something missing."

And that's the problem we face. Do we twist, get in a more experienced Prem manager who MAY (only may, note) be able to get more out of our players? Or do we stick with Adkins who MAY (admittedly looking unlikely) be able to get more out of our players and keep us up? If we stick with Adkins, and we do go down, we have the BEST manager for the Championship there is. Is this a possibility? Would Adkins consider taking a DoF role until the end of the season, allowing us to hire an experienced manager (im gonna say Redknapp, sorry for the language) on a 9 month contract? Could they work together?

Well, I was keen to play Sunderland anyway (one goal scorer all season! S.Fletcher) - in Burkina Faso it is then.

Yeah I saw that on Friday and nearly coughed the coffee I was drinking over the laptop! I had looked down to the prediction of 0-3 before reading she was a Saints fan! An optimimistic one at that. Heck, I'll take 0-1 and dance in the street at that.

Hmm, Daily Mirror, not the most reliable of sources. As for the content ... I hope he is a defensive combative midfielder, not another attacking midfielder. I don't want to hear he scores 15 goals a season. Rather hear he picked up a dozen yellow cards and is a Robbie Savage type player.

I honestly think if we can get 4 points from the next two games, then things will look a lot brighter, Adkins will be given time and hopefully posters on here will be happier and stop biting each other's heads off. However, if we can't get a win either tomorrow or the weekend, then I accept something will have to give. Until matchday 11 is over, I am still optimistic.

"Solution" is an overstatement, you used that word, not me. I would say he would be a piece in the jigsaw. I was surprised he was sent out on loan. I would have given him a pass rating in the Championship. If anyone was to go out on loan, I would have sent Seaborne. Martin I would have kept here. I would also have recruited an experienced CB with Prem experience. If you can delve that into summer postings, I made that point more than once.

We've got Jason Dodd and Graeme Murty on the staff. I know they have other responsibilities, but we could maybe use them part time to work with the defence. But I do agree defending is a team unit responsibility, and particularly that we need the midfielders to screen the back 4, not just spray passes to the wings.

He is on a season long loan. It's likely we received a loan fee, but if we can repay that and cancel the loan deal on the grounds it was never "consummated" (if you get my meaning) and have him back here, I would add him to the squad immediately.

How long is the loan deal? Any chance we could take up that opportunity if it comes up in Jan? I'd be happy for the club to pay over £10k a week for him, if Man City would approve that? (Is he still owned ny Man City? Or is it West Ham? completely lost track of his ownership)

Like many of you, I watched the Reading v Arsenal game tonight. First half, Reading ran amok. Wenger told them at HT that their performance was unacceptable for an Arsenal shirt. Add a few first choicers like Giroud and they dragged themselves up to and then past Reading. If Adkins can't breathe life into our fringe players in the way Wenger can, then his future with us is bleak. This is sad, but I fear we are near the end stage.

yeah, noted - but why? There wasn't a Prem game for another six days, and to take NO first teamers at all to try to win the game says "I don't care about this game." No wonder the players weren't up for it. Usually he puts a few first choicers on the bench to come on and save our bacon. But his squad selection was defeatist. Having said that ... hey ... win next Monday and this will be forgotten.

In the post-match interview, Adkins said (about this game) "it's a chance to use the squad." So, those hoping for a strong side will be disappointed. More squad rotation. Fair enough. Yeah, I expect us to lose, but would like to be proven wrong.

Agree with the view that Mayuka should START. I know Adkins likes to hold back one impact player, but I honestly am getting tired of having to come back from one or two goals down before Mayuka comes on. What's wrong with playing your best team from the start?! I wouldn't be averse to having De Ridder as the impact player. And Guly, well, he just just go out on loan today. He is far too slow for the Prem.

Don't know anything about this incident .... but he looks and sounds a poor keeper. Why can't we have Gazzaniga back in goal?

I was with a Spurs fan this morning, and he tells me Bale is NOT PLAYING due to injury - 2 weeks out. We'll see if that is true, won't we?

Agree with that comment. BBC site game preview says Tadanari Lee is available for selection. However, it also says Luke Shaw is in line for his first start .... so may be conjecture all round.

Exactly. NA : "Listen - great bunch of lads - together as one - how would you like to come and help us in our battle against relegation? Come on, we're only 18 points adrift from 17th place." Player - "er, thanks, but no thanks."