Golac's Iron Gonads

It was that season, we also briefly had Ali Dia in the squad. I'd only take Le Tissier and Monkou from that squad, even then Monkou only played well when his contract was up for renewal. Oakley, Venison, Slater > Cork, Schneiderlin, Puncheon??? Nahhhhh. That's my post quota done. I won't be able to post depondently in the match thread later.

boolaks ya dirty pessimist 1996/97 1 GK Dave Beasant 2 DF Jason Dodd 3 DF Francis Benali 4 MF Jim Magilton 5 DF Barry Venison 6 DF Ken Monkou 7 MF Matt Le Tissier (captain) 8 FW Mickey Evans 10 MF Neil Maddison 13 GK Neil Moss 14 DF Simon Charlton 15 DF Alan Neilson 16 MF David Hughes 17 MF Paul Tisdale 18 MF Matt Oakley 19 DF Richard Dryden 20 MF Robbie Slater 22 DF Claus Lundekvam 23 GK Darryl Flahavan 24 MF Christer Warren (on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham during playing season) 25 MF Paul Sheerin 26 DF Matthew Robinson 27 FW Steve Basham 28 MF Russell Watkinson 29 MF Eyal Berkovic 30 FW Egil Østenstad 32 DF Ulrich van Gobbel 33 GK Maik Taylor

I'm always hopeful we'll get a result, sometimes I know we'll get a result. I know we'll stay up. I'm an optimist. I suppose for some it's fun to point out every fault or mistake a player or the club makes, and to point out every difference between us and Barcelona. Those people do seem to have a higher post rate than the optimists though. 'absolutely horrfic result....that is why we are going down IMO'

I imagine at this very moment Pochettino is red in the face, yeling and spitting, ranting and raving, then 30 seconds later the players get a monotone translation.

Gazza against Newcastle clean sheet. Boruc against Newcastle four conceded.

Transfer news! From the Guardian's live F.A feed Within the last 10 minutes La Gazzetta dello Sport have reported that Philippe Coutinho is on the verge of a move to Liverpool after Internazionale accepted a €13m offer, and that representatives of the Premier League side will be in Milan on Monday to seal the deal. I do like the phrase "Verso la fumata bianca" – "approaches the white smoke", which followers of papal election thingies – Italians, in other words – will understand.

I've had a feeling for the last month that we'll win this one. Almost had a spend up on a trip up there I'm so convinced. Expected a loss at Stoke, Chelsea and home to Arsenal but have seen that we can give anyone a bloody good game!

Apparently they are as likely as man utd to go down though.

having been at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, sitting among Chelsea fans venting vitriol towards their mananger and players I really hope there's no protest as you can see the affect it's having on their home performances. I'm sick to the stomach at what's been done to Adkins and potentionally to our chances of staying up, but stay up we must, and we must get behind the team during the game!

I remember he said he would take Collins just before we played them.

West Ham must be big odds, I'd have a punt on them if only Reading, QPR and Villa weren't so bloody awful. Really don't think QPR have turned a corner, battered by Spurs and battered by a half strength Chelsea outfit, very very fortunate to pick up 4 points. That luck won't last.

Yep, certainly no better than Gazzaniga

QPR, Villa, and Reading are all weaker than us, I think they are the prime candidates to take the bottom 3 places. Fulham, Newcastle, Wigan are of a similar level to us and I don't think West Ham or Norwich are completely safe from being dragged into a relegation scrap. Really think we will be safe.

He actually managed to play worse than I expected him to. I thought he'd be slow and flappy but I din't expect his kicking to be woeful aswell. If that had been Białkowski, Gazzaniga or Davis many of you would be saying he should never wear a (specially widened) Saints shirt again. But as many of you are convinced that he must be good because he's an international keeper who's played for big teams in big games you make ridiculous excuses, he's rusty, not match fit yet he's a goalkeeper who's been at the club for 2 months now! I'm sure he's been training.

I hope Boruc does play so we can see exactly how bloody wonderful he is, a lot of you must avidly follow the fortunes of Fiorentina and the Polish national team because, to me in the 2 Saints games I've seen him play, he's looked no better than what we've got. I feel it'll go the same way as Davis, there was plenty of clamour on here for Kelvin to be given another shot in goal, and that went really well! People seemed to suffer early season amnesia, because he was bad then and he was bad when he came back. I don't expect Boruc to be any better than he was against WHU and Spurs. Gazzaniga if he's fit, and in January get some experience in. If Gazzaniga's still injured play the Pole and let me enjoy seeing a 'seasoned, experienced, international' one last time.

Can anyone give a reasoned explanation why Adkins took off and attacker for a 5th defender when 3-2 up against 10 men?

Who of the current squad do you consider the most effeminate? If the 'men with guns' showed up and forced you to sodomise one of our boys whose cheeks would you reluctantly part? (Though statistically 1 out of 10 of you wouldn't be too reluctant). Of course it's entirely possible that you would not select the most effeminate Saint for a forced bumming, perhaps you'd use the unpleasant opportunity in order to exert some sort of power trip fantasy by electing to fill the backside of one of the more rugged squad members. Thoughts? Merry Christmas.

Bloody hell, even a thread about a mildly amusing picture has turned into something as depressing, bitter and turgid as an Eastenders Christmas Special. Is this what being in the Premiership does to people? like just love one another maaaan

Nowt wrong with the NFL, the sport is great. On top of that most players are educated and can string a series of lucid sentences together without resorting to cliches, the commentators are well informed, impartial and willing to admit mistakes, and the referees rarely get things wrong and if they do the sport has embraced modern technology to the extent that wrong calls are pretty much eliminated. I'd like to have seen that plank at the City/United game run on the pitch at an NFL game.

I was looking forward to seeing Michu when we played Swansea, was dissapointed in what I saw, played like a lazy Berbatov but with half the skill, he spent more energy with his exasperated arm waving at his team mates. Spoke to a Swansea fan on the out of the stadium he said Michu had been blinding at the start of the season but had really dropped off after being moved into a more forward position. I promptly transferred Michu out of my fanstasy team and he's been banging in the goals ever since. Thought Ki was the better player when we played Swansea. Though I'd take their CB too.

He hasn't looked good in the 2 games I've seen him, and the poor attitude doesn't fit in with the 'together as one' Adkins mantra. The missus says I fullfil all her out of shape, slow reacting, wierdo needs.

Terrible mistake yesterday, but I'd still stick with Gazzaniga over Davis or Boruc. 1: Despite many on the forum stating Gazzaniga is a calamity waiting to happen/already cost us 4 points due to calamities, the defence still looks far more comfortable playing in front of him than in front of Davis, I include last season when we still looked suspect at the back. 2: I prefer Gazzaniga's attitude to what I've seen of Boruc's, who took it upon himself to sarcastically applaud 'fans' who had the temerity to boo a pretty poor 1st half performance against Spurs. Who the **** is Boruc to walk in here, conceed 4 at West Ham, follow it up with 2 in the first half and then disrespect some fans opinion of his ability. Looks a total tosser to me and I hope to never see him in a Saints shirt again. I'd prefer to stick with Gazzaniga until January and strengthen the position then, also letting Boruc **** off back to whence he came. Did Paul Jones get all this stick when he was making mistakes every other week?

What concerns me is that neither Huth/Shawcross/Gallas/Dawson/Turner would attract as many lovely Japanese women to St Mary's. I agree that Yoshida doesn't appear to play like a conventional Prem centre-back, but I like the fella, he can play the ball around, almost scored a wonderful scissors kick at QPR, and moves into positions that allow an out pass for players being closed down, which is a boon for our keep the ball way of playing.

Clean sheet,3 points, Gazza magnifcent save, Lallana a bag of tricks, I love everyone of these players. One Nigel Adkins!

That's the trouble with watching MOTD highlights, you don't get to see Gazzaniga snuffing out attacks by quick decision making and coming out to take the ball*, you don't see him organizing his defence, you won't see the way he eats up 40+ seconds taking a goal kick and killing any momentum QPR or Villa have managed to muster, you won't see him remonstrating with the midfield for allowing a shot on goal from 25 yards, you won't see how much it means to him when the goals go in (he was hitting his own head after Puncheon's and then took it out on the crossbar), I don't think you can see the self-confidence he exudes that is beginning to creep into the back 4. I think this bloke is going to be superb, maybe Boruc is not match fit but he was the antithesis of all that Gazzaniga has shown in the Spurs game. *Not so much for the QPR goal, but it was a difficult cross to collect and Hoilett was unmarked. On the plus side he has learnt from last week and when in doubt he booted passbacks upfield.