The Kraken

Sven and Lolcester have signed a lot of players; it will remain to be seen whether they have actually bought a team.

I think scoring 2 goals and having a hand in the other 3 during a championship game just might have more to do with getting attention from the national press, if I'm honest.

And 138 points. Nice and symmetrical.

It may be a predictable answer but it's entirely the correct one. It's hard to justify that any player is "worth" the vast sums of money that they are going for, yet transfer fees continue to go up and up purely because of the factors outlined above.

Cheers for the response. In truth, we all shouldn't really be getting too upset it all. I'm sure it's frustrating for the people that want to use the match threads though; so if the next form of changes fix it all, great. But it's not as if this is the only scoreline service on the web, Saints Twitter is proving to be a very popular resource. As I said before, I don't use the match threads, so it doesn't really affect me too much. In restrospect though, I'm quite happy to keep paying the fiver. It's worth us all remembering something; back when Saints Forever was in operation it wasn't exactly a free site. I was among many posters who donated towards the site to keep up with the ever increasing costs that were being incurred as the site got more popular. We should just see the £5 a year as an extension of that. But if the server problems can be fixed, all the better!

It would seem a shame if the club just scrap that kit altogether; it's a timeless design. Hopefully what they've done is remove it from sale while the new kits are flying out the door and will re-instate it for good in a couple of months time.

I don't use the match thread facility so I'm fairly new to the failing server experiences that many others have seen. However, it seems to be a common theme that many have suggested the forum only be open for Full Members during match time. Is this not a viable solution? Or would it make little difference?

So is there actually any chance of the site owners addressing this issue? A fair few people pay £5 for a service which doesn't actually work. A lot more people (myself included) don't use the match threads yet also pay the £5, as I potentially may want to post more than 3 times a day. Either way, a lot of people are handing over cash for a service they either don't want or can't get. So what's the next solution?

Edit: Wrong thread.

St. Lard is in 10th place in the SWF predictions league. He has (correctly) predicted Saints to win for each of the last 4 games. Make of that what this will. In any case, this baiting is childish and needless.

View from the home end for it. The language is, er, industrial!

Connolly's movement leading up to that, and Lallana's skill before playing him in were absolutely superb.

I don't agree that it would. Cork has slotted in seamlessly. I get the idea that NA has concerns about the defensive side of de Ridder's game, and also maybe his fitness, which is why he's not starting yet. I do expect him to push in front of Guly in the next few games though. And we'll see with Fox, but he was involved tonight and £1.8M is a lot to spend on a reserve LB with Dickson, Reeves, Mills already behind Harding in the pecking order. As others have said there seems to be a real vetting process to new signings, and I just couldn't envisage the arrival of an ego that would upset the equilibrium.

This exactly. There was a thread on here a few days ago suggesting he might get found out, we should be looking for someone quicker etc. For me, Ricky defines the way the whole team play, we mould our game around him. In the air he's the best we've had since Beattie was here. In fact he's perhaps even more dominant at times. On the ground he has great awareness, and what he does lack in flat out speed he more than makes up for in technique. I'm really happy with him leading the line, and only hope it furthers adds to his confidence that he can completely boss it at this level as he has done in League 1.

That's all very well, but Jack Cork has come in and been a stand out performer for us right from the get-go. Yes, your point about a settled side is a valid one, and the cohesion within the squad seems very good. But I still think the club has designs on bringing in a defender and striker before the window closes, and I don't think it would be a mistake to do so.

Dalek might even tone down his comments if this continues.

What a ball from Schneiderlin for Lallana's first goal! Five really good goals actually; quick passing and great movement that their defence just couldn't deal with. Ipswich's first goal was a decent strike, the second was not a great one to concede.

I really don't think I would. If it was offered at the start of the season then I'm sure I would have said yes. But I have never heard opposition commentators and opposition fans speak in awe about the footballing credentials of our side. Last year I think we were a bit functional at times; efficient I think is probably the best word, our results were amazing but I don't think we blew anyone away with our style and the whole "Southampton way" seemed like just rhetoric. This year seems different, and I know its early days so I'm conscious of not getting carried away just yet. But hearing other fans and pundits purr over our players' movement and the way we play the games suggests that NA may really be on his way to creating something special here. We finished 6th in this league with Burley and i was witness to some shocking performances in that season amongst the good stuff. This year just seems like it might hold something different to that.

That is a real marker put down. Ipswich will, IMO, be a very good team this year and we've just over-run them in all departments. Dominated posession, too, which is a real something away from home. It's still almost unbelievable to watch a Saints start a season in such impressive fashion. I'm loving it the team ethos NA has created in the squad.

I assume you mean no MORE new signings, being as we've brought in 3 already? I still believe the club want to bring in two more; a striker and a CB. Whether it will happen in this transfer window, we'll see, but I do think that is the intent. But so long as the team/squad keep performing on the pitch any clamour for new players will only diminish. Personally, I'd still like to see a younger Jaidi-type player as a first choice alongside Fonte. And with Barney injured it's clear to see that we're a little short of options up front.

It would seem that the team and this server are at complete opposite ends of the performance scale. A shameful effort. And I've only logged on for half time, christ knows how bad this is when everyone is refreshing during the game!

Today's Echo thinks it would be £6M that would get him. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/9196639.Burnley_holding_out_for___6m_for_Rodriguez/

Yes, nicely done. The news is there is no new news.

I don't mind NI being on the radio per se; he seems to love the publicity but I have no major issue with that at all. It was when he was peddling the myth of still being "Chairman of the Saints Trust" when that organisation had pretty much imploded that I took issue with his actions; declaring that previous members did not need to re-new their annual memberships, that had now changed so that they were "life-members", just to keep up appearances of having enough numbers to still be considered a worthwhile organisiation. It's exactly the same reason I take issue with SISA when they are labelled as a "Fans Chief" or whatever in the Echo, trying to dictate their own version of fans opinions. The Solent interview with NI was clearly stated as being with "Nick Illingsworth, editor of the Ugly Inside web fanzine", so I have no bother with that.

No they won't. A big football club in this country will never go out of business in the current footballing climate. They damn well should, and lots of people predict it will happen but it just won't, for a number of reasons. The Premier League is far too awash with potentially enormous revenues to put off investors looking for a short to medium term investment opportunity, no matter how bad the starting point seems to be. Get to the Premier League, sell the club, you've made a fortune. It's why you'll consistently see the likes of Leicester, West Ham and in previous years Pompey, Cardiff etc etc all completely ignore good business practise and gamble on promotion by paying wages and fees they simply can't afford in the short term. The penalties for clubs incurring massive amounts of debt and then falling into administration are just a joke, an absolute joke. They are no deterrent to owners in the slightest. Pompey completely abused the system and ripped off the Revenue and local companies to tens of millions of pounds, we even got away with it to some extent. And if it all goes t*ts up for one set of owners there are absolutely plenty out there williing to take a shot at lining up for a chance on English football's gravy train. Clubs will make deals like Pompey's 4% payback per annum (a scandal in itself) yet all the while go and spend millions on transfers fees. It is no deterrent at all, and while deals like Pompey's in particular will be accepted by creditors (and they always will), then no club will see itself go completely out of business. It is a sh*t system of ownership we have here. But while the rewards are so great and the punishments so ineffective, no big football club will go to the wall.