The Kraken

I agree with the sentiments, but not the complete extent of it. In Davis and Bart we have two top end goalkeepers for this division, and I'm not sure if we could get someone in for a low price who would be significant'y better than them. Jaidi is looking like age is against him; perhaps also being unfit is highlighting this, maybe he will be judged when (if) he makes it to full fitness. Hammond, agree totally, he is indicative of the current malaise of the whole team. We desperately need a new CM to come in and invigorate the team. Morgan, I disagree. He is a class act and even off colour is better than pretty much anything else in this division. If he needs an arm around him / kick up he arse then I expect Adkins to persevere with him. We do still need at least one winger; with Lallana out we're starved of creativity and Puncheon has been largely under par. However, I think there's much more to come from Puncheon with a bit of management. Chamberlain has bags of promise but is young so the end product is not there yet. An Antonio replacement is an absolute must. As for strikers, I've always believed we need one more to give Lambert a break now and again and provide a new angle. But I think Barnard has been very lively this year and I'm hopeful his return with Lambert will reap dividends.

I admire your optimism, but we're not having a bad period. We're having a bad season. Unfortunately this is no temporary slight dip in the form, and much hard work is needed to turn it around. Making light of it doesn't change how much of a hole we're in right now.

I disagree. I think this team is as good as we think it is; or at least it can be. We're just massively out of sorts at the moment in terms of fitness and confidence. Jaidi is showing his age perhaps, but the others you mention are all capable of sorting themselves out and proving to be the players we know they can be, at least at this level. NA has a big job to do, no doubt. But it's not as big a job as Pardew had when he first came here. I do think that Hammond is on thin ice, as the leader and driving force oin midfield he has been poor and a perfect example of how under par we are compared to last term. I think Adkins will already be looking for 2 or 3 loan signings who can come in playing at a high level and inject some belief into this demoralised squad. Maybe the weight of expectation was managed badly; maybe the poor pre-season was the factor; maybe Lambert being off colour and Lallana's injury are affecting us more than they should. But I'm confident Adkins can be thespark to turn us around, I just hope he can do it sooner rather than later so that we can stay in the mix for something this season. The comparisons to last season are already massively evident, like then I don't want to have to wait until we're into October before we find our feet.

Hmmm; not sure I agree with that, to be honest. The signings of Richardson and Butterfield were good, and necessary. Semi wasn't good enough, neither was Lloyd James at RB, so it made perfect sense to buy League 1's leading right back plus a player who operates as mainly a RB and also other positions, and who graced the Championship last season. That said, we needed to fill other positions on the pitch too. The signing of Dickson was a bit strange for me; no doubt he's a good player, but in Harding and Mills we already have two very good players for this level in that position. For an initial outlay of just £125K we've certainly got a good, young player in quite cheaply, but he doesn't really add too much to the capabilities of the squad other than to give an extra dimension at LM. But I just can't agree with your assumption that it was a tactical choice not to bring in replacements for Waigo and Antonio. Not least for the fact that Pardew highlighted the need for replacements there in pre-season himself. Also, Dean Wilkins recently said that they tried to bring in players "but it just didn't happen". Until I see evidence to have it disproven, I believe that Pardew knew he needed to bring in players but, for whatever reason, the right players were either not identified by Pardew or were denied to him by the transfer committee. So we started the season 3 players short of where we needed to be. It's a total club failing in my eyes.

Oh dear; you seem to have a rather tinted view of history. I feel embarrassed that I have to point this out time and again when idiots come up with this "told you so" nonsense over the lack of transfer activity. Go and have another read of Alipne's "Where are the transfers" threads that he made in the summer. Go on, go have a read. Do that and you'll notice a few things: Hardly anyone disagreed that we were at least 3 players short of where we needed, with pretty much everyone hoping for a CM to challenge Hammond & Schneiderlin, a replacement RM for Antonio/Waigo, and a CF as backup for Lambert. Alipne's contention was that these signings should have been made early in the summer. Others were prepared to more patient, on the condition that the players would arrive in good time. Most people agreed that if those players did not arrive by the start of the season, it would be a bad thing. However, some argued that the squad in its current state should have been good enough to get through the first few games in good shape. Most people agreed that if those 3 players hadn't arrived by the end of the transfer window, then we wouldn't have a squad strong enough to give confidence to a top 2 finish and we may have to rely on loans. Pretty much everyone agreed that, without those 3 players as signings or loans, this squad is not deep enough over the course of a season to secure a top 2 finish. Now, you can try and carry on your "I told you so" routine if you wish, if you want to try and portray yourself as some form of visionary. But it just won't be the case, I'm afraid. Alpine was proved right in his "where are the players" threads; however, so was pretty much everyone else, as they didn't disagree with the fact we were players short, simply that it was expected for the club to not implode and fail to bring in the players needed.

Well put. If the club had simply said "Alan Pardew, Wally Downes and Stuart Murdoch have been relieved of their duties with immediate effect" and left it at that, then there may be something to all the conspiracy theories being thrown around. They didn't. They chose to explain that a breakdown in working relationship between the first team and development centre was the only reason for their dismissal. What Warsash is asking fans to do is completely disregard the official line given by the club (when they were under no obligation to give any reason whatsoever) and believe instead a portion of hysteria and conjecture that has arisen from this message board. No, I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon, thanks. Besides, it makes no sense that all 3 were sacked for the same "non-footballing reasons".

They absolutely can. Whether they will is another matter.

Talk is cheap. Pardew was saying exactly the same thing last year while we were stuttering our way towards October still without a league win. Adkins will be forgiven this result; he will not be forgiven a defeat on Saturday. We really, really need a win to get things going but that's going to be very tough, he still won't have had a proper coupls of days on the training ground to really get into the players' heads.

We need our players to stop shirking responsibility and step up to the plate. Less talk on the OS, more talk on the pitch.

So true; the comparisons with last season are just incredible. A poor pre-season, lack of fitness amongst the players, a poor start to the seasson, being massively off the pace by the end of August. I only hope Adkins is able to turn this around, and quickly. We haven't got the kindest set of fixtures coming up (not that that should worry us normally), but at the moment I can't even see us winning 1 game in a row, let alone the 9 you suggest we need.

What have Semi and James got to do with not replacing Waigo and Antonio? Pardew clearly identified Antonio as one to bring back; clearly that didn't happen. You have absolutely no idea whether Pardew was blocked from bringing in players or not, so stating is as fact is clearly disingenuous on your behalf. Wilkins has even said that they tried to bring in players but "it didn't happen". But you carry on ignoring that to make your petty your argument if you like.

Where will promotion from the Premier League in 2014 take us to then?

Phil; the sad thing is I didn't even mean to post that here, it was supposed to go in the match thread when we went 1 down! I was too p1ssed off to realise I was typing in the wrong thread, and too p1ssed off to edit it.

All very true, but only gives half the story. This group of players should still be capable of putting a set of results together; they proved last year they're good enough and are (still) massively underperforming. They are shirking responsibility; too many excuses, too much talking themselves up on the OS and not delivering on the pitch. Adkins needs to bring in the 3 players we're still short of (CM, RM, CF) and give the rest of them a bloody good kick up the arse; it's shape up or ship out, no time for passengers.

Not this again delldays. Does it need pointing out to you every time that almost everyone agreed in the summer that we were short of 3 players? Blaming Pardew is far too easy; it's perfectly feasible (as has been posted by others) that he identified the players he wanted and was denied them.

Pardew makes a convenient scapegoat I guess. I think our current malaise is the fault of everyone at the club. Pardew for overseeing a very sub-standard pre-season and early season. Questions asked about Cortese not allowing the manager to bring in players he identified. Fitness/Sports Science staff not doing their job and leaving us with a clearly unfit squad. Players shirking responsibility and not stepping up to the plate as favourites. If Adkins didn't know what a tough task he has, he does now. Major surgery required; we're not scoring any more and are leaking goals at the other end.

Absolute ****ing garbage.

Here we go again....

With no forwards on the bench and Lallana crocked; we really have no options to change things around up front, do we?

And another free header from a set piece.

We sound so vulnerable from crosses into the box.

Punch on the left then. Good.

"Let's just hope the new man gets off to a good start. That's what we want" Cheers for pointing that out Dave!

Possibly because it's a forum for them to speak to fans and honestly answer any and all questions that are posed to them. I'm pretty sure it's not a pre-requisite of hosting such an event that they should have declined to answer any controversial questions lest they upset your clearly over-sensitive nature.

Seaborne has hardly featured so maybe him too. Lee Holmes is always unfit so throw him in. Wouldn't be surprised if Connolly is being nursed with minimal training so maybe off the pace. It's too long a list at 5, to be fair.