SNSUN

Roll on deadline day. Now it means something. Something big. Pardew now knows the extent of the job on his hands. Two points is shyte. By September 2nd we MUST have AT LEAST one more centre back, a right winger and a pacy forward. No excuses now, or this will once again be a long hard season of struggle.

I'm extremely optimistic of a resounding win for Saints today. Both signings this week will be key. Roll on 3pm!

I disagree with this line up. By the time Davis calls to claim the ball, it'll be in the back of our net!

So to summarise: 1: There have been numerous mentions of us signing Sol Campbell by posters, no less than in the HCDAJFU thread at the top of the main page. 2: Despite League Two Notts County's interest, he'd still command a hefty wage. What we're doing with our club is different to what they're doing with theirs. We're being sensible with signings for the future, they're signing for immediate promotion and column inches. 3: Sol Campbell WAS a good footballer, but his golden years are behind him. There are many better defenders, more agile and younger, out there. 4: Skate cast off. We've got a good couple of years worth of rumours out of Campbell since he signed for the Skates. We don't want those.

Brentford shouldn't be underestimated but with two key signings this week we'll be too strong. 3-0 and a Lambert hattrick.

To put it bluntly, I said I'd've been immensely suprised if Pardew didn't bring a CB before Saturday. We've been screaming out for it, even if this is a temporary measure. I don't know how good this guy is, but in all honesty, he must be better than what we have. Must be. Now another CB before September 1st and we'll be all set. (Oh, and AP, please loan Lancashire out to whomever will take him...)

Tiny Cox. Lol'd at that. I can see the Northam singing "We've got Tiny Cox"!

Add Kayne McLaggon to that and I'd agree with you. There's a lot of youngsters in there that I just cannot see breaking into the first team squad, especially now we are financially solvent and can sign players to strengthen positions. Keep the ones in bold, and McLaggon, and either let the rest out on loan or frees.

Technically at the club we have five Centre backs, or players that can play centre back, who are in or around the first team squad, thats Perry, Thomas, Lancashire, Wotton and Mellis (alledgedly). I wouldn't have any in my first team to be perfectly truthful, hence the need for two newbies. Perry started his career as a right back, but despite his height was converted to centre back. Thomas, as I've said before, would've been shot if he'd been a horse and would now be Pritt Stick. Wotton should be shot full stop if what I read on here is to be believed. Lancashire is not a League One player, a red card waiting to happen, and Mellis is, as yet, untried and perhaps best suited to being outfield. Whilst we have this set of centre backs, it's hard to know what to do. Thomas, I suppose, is our best centre back, so long as he stays fit, but I wouldn't partner any of them with him. Could Harding play centre back? Having not seen him play, people say he's very good defensively... Just wondering. Then we'd have Mills at left back when fit. Hey ho, stick with the familiar until we get the new centre back. Thomas and Perry.

I've never been happy having a keeper as a captain. You need your captain to be mobile - if an incident happens near the opposition corner flag, a keeper captain is beyond useless. Now that's not to say Kelvin is. I'm sure he does his job, as a man with his experience would, but as it stands he is having to deal with enough as it is already. Now, with Hammond on board, I reckon we have a player who can potentially oust Kelvin from the captaincy. We shall see.

IMO we'll win the next 4 out of 5 games (Not the Charlton game, loss there), and by the first of October we'll have +9 points. Then we can really start attacking the top half of the table. I think Saturday's game vs Brentford is the day we turn it around, and show we have undoubted quality in the team. We still two CB's, a RW and a pacy striker short, but we'll get there by deadline day 5pm IMO.

I'd better not, I only just paid my £5 today after three weeks of putting it off...

Jack Cork I'd welcome back, but I don't think he'd drop below the CCC, even with our powers of persuasion. Quashie is very unlikely indeed, and carries that relegation tag around with him like a gravestone. I wouldn't be suprised if he joined Burnley, to add another team to his collection!

Had to go one too far, didn't ya! (Would Rule One get a banning...)

While on the face of it, the OP's idea seems to be good, it would undoubtedly cause trouble in the team for unfavourable treatment. Besides which, we can all see who should be playing up front with Lambert, and he hasn't signed yet - someone with pace.

That'd be a great pair up front. I hope she has the legs for it. If she leads by example, she could be a model pro. I hope she Nuts the keeper.

Award for the most misleading thread title of the year goes to... I thought you were going to suggest a 'guest manager' situation for a second, like Have I Got News for You, a new manager each and every game. Interesting... I think it's pretty obvious by now who we need. First and foremost, more than anything, is a CB! The current team is nearly good enough, just needs confidence.

In my embarrassment, when i first heard about this signing i thought we were signing an aging ex-Fulham striker, but that was Elvis.

I'm pretty sure that if Morgan keeps trying to lob the keeper from distance as he did twice against Millwall, then one day one of them will go in. ;-)

I was watching SSN last night, waiting for the whistle to blow for what seemed like an eternity. It'd've been nice to have actually done something with this gift...

I'd be suprised if Pardew hasn't secured at least one CB by Saturday, but assuming Perry is knackered enought to play, I still think we can put this behind us and beat Brentford.

For 400k I think it is a very good piece of business, especially as we've been crying out for a midfielder with presence since the whistle blew at the start of the Millwall game. One thing I don't understand is, if we can pick up a player of his quality in League One for £400k, or even a player of Lambert's quality for £1mill, why the hell did we blow our transfer budget last season on a French unproven 17 year old? Actually, having said that, I do completely understand. >

Tis all a bit knee jerk for me TBH. He's still a kid, still learning the game, is at the start of only his second full season, having played his first full season in a team full of crud duds with the responsibility of people's hopes resting on his shoulders, and having played the first 3 games of this second season in an unfamiliar position. If you lot really do want him sold, in your heart of hearts, surely we should let him showboat around for a season and sell him at a greatly inflated price?!?!?! IMO as soon as the team comes good, he (and to my mind Morgan) will come good.

Looking at the fixtures, I think 4 wins from the next 5 league games is entirely possible, even despite capitulation last night. Charlton away aside, there's a good mix of middling difficulty home games and easier away games to come. Assuming we sign a couple of CB's by the end of this month (or one perhaps even before Saturday), I think September could prove to be a very good month for us. Two defeats and a draw is unacceptable, but I'd rather we got them out of our system now than towards the end of the season. The second we put any kind of run together, we have the quality to sustain it and march up this league. I think by the start of October, we could well be on +7 to +9 points, it's just a case of the players we have, and the players we sign, pulling their fingers out their buttcracks and playing well for the club. As Pardew said last night, all our goals have come from poor/no defending at set pieces. Rectify it (as we have done partially with Hammond in the midfield engine role), and we'll have a tighter defence than a ducks anus. I'm remaining positive. Sure, the elements of panic set in, but that's just what we've (wrongfully) become used to. The future of the club is now stable, set to the back of your mind what might happen in the future, and let's concentrate on getting the 3 points against Brentford! (If only because 3 of my colleagues are Brentford fans.) I personally cannot wait until September 1st. I'm not working, and I love watching SSN on transfer deadline day. I get the inkling that we might be seeing a fair bit of activity that day, roll on the 5 pm deadline! (Although I do prefer the deadlines at midnight, but that's the bank holiday for you!)

I'm glad i only had to put up with the game tonight by reading what was on here, but from the sounds of it we were shyte, with not even attempts to get back into it. It's now blindingly obvious to everyone we need two centre backs. Thomas has more injury problems than A&E, Perry is so old i'm suprised he hasn't been turned into glue yet, and Lancashire is a red card waiting to happen. I'm hoping Hammond steels up the midfield a bit, a lot rather, as it needs it. As has been said before, without pace in the side we'll never threaten anyone. This loss is the worse of the two, especially after Huddersfield romped home 7-1 tonight, but I still think Pardew will have brought in at least one centre back by Saturday. He surely has to. If he doesn't, well I still think we'll win on Saturday, but we'd all sleep better in our beds knowing Lancs and Wots weren't in the first XI!