The Kraken

I'd be amazed if we signed 3 new players in January. I can definitely see a striker, but the only extra addition I'd expect would be Hooiveld, and I wouldn't count that as a new signing. If we do go up then yes, I'd expect us to lose the likes of Dickson, Forte, Holmes and Jaidi. But we don't rely on them anyway; they're not first teamers right now, some are not even first reserves. If we do sign a striker in the window it will be with the Premier League in mind; and from then onwards I just can't see us needing or signing another 6 players. Lets hope we find out which one of us is right or wrong.

7? You think 7 of our current first team players are incapable of stepping up? Which ones do you think? I think it would be totally against Adkins' way of thinking "together as one" to make that many sudden changes. 3 or 4 new signings at maximum is what I'd imagine.

Nice to see one of ours appear on an opposition site and appear eloquent and not in search on winding them up and taking the p*ss. But I think he does gloss over our takeover a little, as if administration is a definite answer. It isn't. We should never, ever forget that we got massively lucky by being taken over by a billionaire. The Pinnacle debacle highlights the chancers that are out there; there was absolutely no guarantee we would get new owners as good as the ones we have. Look at that lot down the road, they've been in admin a couple of times and have a rag tag collection of crooks and shady characters in control of them. Of course, Coventry have far better facilities than them, but not having ownership of the stadium is a massive disadvantage to them. Administration doesn't always bring the owners you hope for; it's a roll of the dice and is no guarantee of an upturn in fortunes.

Yeah, I was agreeing with you, if that didn't come across! There are some positions where I think we might need to improve (jury out on Richardson, Connolly, Hammond, Schneiderlin, Davis and still Hooiveld IMO) but I think at least half might actually surprise a few people and make a seamless step up. Even still I don't think the side we have right now would be terrible, certainly not any worse than the bottom 5 or 6 Premier League sides right now. And with the obvious few improvements we would make I don't think it would be an enormous step up to hit mid-table. But obviously that's a long way away yet, and there's still lots of hard work to be done in this division.

I think what Norwich and Swansea are doing in the Premier League show that you don't necessarily need to make wholesale changes to survive; those two are doing ok despite keeping the nucleus of their sides and improving in a select few positions. As much as the PL is a closed shop for the Champions League places, the bottom half is much of a muchness. Wolves, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, West Brom, Stoke etc, mediocre sides who play for survival every year. And I believe we have a spine of a side who, while would need adding to, could still compete with a small number of additions.

Thankfully I don't think the scenario would actually happen; if we were unfortunate enough to lose both Lambert and Lallana for an extended period I do believe we would look to replace one or both of them with a new/loan signing.

It all depends how you'd classify "f**ked", really. I think it would scupper our automatic promotion potential, for sure. I also think it would impact massively on our play-off potential. So in a sense, yes, I do agree. It wouldn't of course, turn us into a poor team; but I think it would take us right out of the running as one of the top 4 or 5 sides without those two and with Guly and Connolly/Barnard up front.

Ultimately of course, we all hope that we'll never find out, in which case it's just a subjective opinion. I think we can agree that in Lallana and Lambert we have two players who any side in the division would welcome into their side. And you're right that Adkins would certainly look to change things around if we lost them; I just genuinely disagree that a forward line of Guly and Connolly would have anywhere near the effect we currently have, and especially without Lallana weighing in.

IMO you very much under-estimate the impact that Lallana and Lambert have on us. Lallana is earning more and more plaudits this year than ever before, the BBC yesterday classified him as "by some distance the best midfielder in the division", and I see no reason to disagree with that. Its a statitstical fact that we are significantly worse off without him. And as for Lambert, he completely dictates the way that we play and would be an enormous loss; he wins most headers played up to him, but most of all he holds the ball up and brings the rest of the team into our attacking play. I think without those two we might struggle to hit the top 6.

I feel a bit sorry for Kean; he's clearly massively out of his depth as a manager and a stooge for the owners. The parallels between him and Wigley/Gray are obvious, but I always find it a bit sad when there are such focussed campaigns intent on having a seemingly reasonable enough man fired from his job. Saying that, the decision to hire him (and put him on a five year contract) was just a disaster waiting to happen, and I suppose he'll be well compensated if he does get the gun.

Together as one. We're all on the bus. It's as simple as that.

Wow, 3 players in 12 years, we're a really unforgiving bunch aren't we? And none of those were under Adkins' stewardship, which was the point of the original comment.

Really? Aside from Hooiveld (who has clearly proved a few people wrong) who else was this true for?

It's probably a conspiracy. Or something else. Get over it. We were the main game for the previous 2 weeks. And tonight the second game. Stop bleating.

Always said he would be a class addition; Harding is decent, but Fox is a step up. Great signing.

I truly don't believe that anything you've said in the past about Saints would lead other fans to think you're a loonie...... Certainly not the bit where you promised that, upon Nigel Adkins' appointment, you would stop supporting the side as it was the biggest mistake ever. And also that you promised you would stop frequenting this board. How did that work out? Your "wind-ups" are so sh*t, I do wonder why you actually put the effort in. Is that really the best you can do?

I'm not sure what he could do that Rickie Lambert couldn't. And being as RL is so important to us, in that we play through him and he will therefore not miss many games through choice, I don't see the point in signing someone similar but less good. If we do sign a striker (and I do think we will in January) it will, I imagine, be someone very different from the options we have right now.

Does it? Wow. But then you do seem rather odd and contrary, so you carry on and I'll do the same.

I don't see anything wrong with getting a view from the other side for a game; especially if you can't make it to the game. It's part of getting the bigger picture; Radio Solent is bound to be skewed towards a Saints perspective. Also, I've never heard Saints being talked about like this by neutrals for a very long time. So excuse me if I actually want to enjoy the moment and revel in it, rather than let it pass me by and instead pontificate on when it might all fall apart.

That, and you have to feel sorry for them that they haven't finished in the top 6 of their league in any of the past 40 seasons. That is thoroughly depressing.

Just had a quick flick through the match thread on Coventry's forum, the very last post was very flattering of us. As much as the results are amazing at the moment, the fact we're doing it in such a pleasing footballing style is completely unprecedented for us as a club in recent years, and makes you feel very proud to be a fan right now. EDIT: I'm an idiot and don't read threads properly.....

Yep, terrible foul though, his leg was around Pearce's chest! To be fair to Pearce he did just get straight up, dusted himself off and got on with it without any sort of complaint.

Having him with Shearer as "The Bruise Brothers", heady days indeed.

Championship survival day against Sheffield United and the pitch invasion afterwards.

DellDays. Because he is clearly massively stupid, yet tries to appear clever. Because he is ill-informed, yet tries to appear knowledgable. Because he thinks he's a WUM but is actually just pig-sh*t thick and childlike. But mainly because he's just thoroughly boring.