saint1977

Ironically a mate of mine is a Norwich fan so his stag weekend meant a visit to Norwich V Colchester at Carrow and his wedding was whilst Colchester came to St Mary's! They were obviously awesome at Carrow (although Norwich are now a transformed outfit with a proper manager in charge, proves these internal mates of mates appointments are a joke). Here's the key men: Hackney - left-sided winger, full of pace and tricks and puts a very decent ball in. James won't be charging forward like he was on Saturday. Pardew needs to help Lloyd out. Platt - just huge but can play as well, a bit like Adebola in his prime. Very dangerous from Hackney's deliveries. Jaidi needs to be careful as Boothroyd will get us to try and mix up the markers from dead ball situations. Lisbie - quick and direct, if we play Perry today we will struggle to contain him. I forget the name of their other CM but he scored a superb free-kick that day and repeated it on Saturday V Southend. The other CM played well that day but he is now our skipper (Dean Hammond). Perkins is dangerous from long-range and Vernon is a very handy sub for this level. We will cause them problems going forward as well. We have to beat Boothroyd some time so let's hope it's today.

We are up against the latter today in Hackney from Colchester. Well regarded by both Colchester and Carlisle fans and has destroyed many RBs this year. Hope Lloyd has a good game today as he did against Exeter as he will need to.

Spot on in what you have said but I would go further if Trotman does have to go back to PNE and they can't be tempted to sell. We will need bare minimum another 2 CBs in that scenario - Thomas doesn't seem to be rated by Pardew and Jaidi (whilst having done very well for us) and Perry are 35 and 38 respectively. Throwing Martin in would be a big risk. Jaidi will still be first choice with a new partner but Perry is emergency only really. Agree with you that we need another RB - I think James should be pushing Hammond for a CM berth - and a CF with height as we are very reliant on Lambert and he can look a bit stale occasionally.

Spot on. I think Hammond is fine for League 1 but James may well replace him as DMC longer-term. I like Hammond but today was another of his less effective displays rather like the Brighton game. We need a RB and new CBs urgently and need to cut 12 or so of last year's squad/academy rejects out on frees. I'd try a £750k bid for Trotmaan as PNE seem to be a bit unsettled and see if they take it.

Pleased with the win and after the mess Markus, Cortese and Pardew inherited they are showing the cretins from the last 5 years (both Board and Managers) what a professional set-up looks like. Mixed performance today - Lallana, Trotman, James all played well today. If Trotman is going back to PNE (he'll be missed if so) we need to sign 2 new CBs next week as Perry is miles past it (although terrific player for Spurs and Wimbledon in his prime) and Pardew doesn't seem to rate Thomas so that only leaves Jaidi. We also need full-back cover, particularly at RB as Murty looks unlikely to be fit again and a second striker (Barnard of Southend perhaps?). Connolly and Harding were unusually off-colour, Lambert produced bits of magic as ever but doesn't offer anywhere near enough from open play, Antonio kept falling over. Waigo was terrific as a sub though and helped us seal the win.

Idiotic from the Echo, Cortese may have over-reacted slightly but given the past problems this club has had with planning issues (not least Stoneham), I can see the reason for caution. The Echo could have sorted this out easily but as ever, choose to pick a stupid spat. There will only be one winner here and that is Cortese. I mean for pity's sake, but for Cortese we wouldn't even exist!

Great to be out of the bottom 4 at last and a win is a win. Sounds like we played well either side of half-time and should have scored a hatful but pretty poor after that. When Connolly is injured it does take a lot away from the side and we need to be a lot, lot more clinical - signing Lee Barnard from Southend would help with that and give Lambert some competition. We still need a commanding centre-half that leads as well. This is a side that is decent for L1 and would be halfway up the CCC as well so things will continue to improve but we really have to kill teams off faster. Saturday was an example - we should have scored another 3 or 4 after Hammond scored as Northampton deflated but we just stopped working and got the cigars out.

Come on Saints, want to see us really put a side to the sword although sounds like we have started well again. Bit frustrated at missing midweek games but that's one of the few drawbacks to having a job I enjoy. Jake Thomson has scored Torquay's third, hope Paul Buckle has been able to improve him.

Got back half-an-hour ago. Did the job quite well today and we had extra in the tank if we needed it but do want to see more ruthlessness if we are going to kick on and build towards being L1 Champions next year, Leeds and Norwich would have killed it off earlier. Murty was excellent and a quantom leap improvement over the hapless James at RB (James is far better in CM) and Lallana was a treat to watch again. No-one had a poor game although Perry is clearly in the final embers of his career and should be emergency cover only really. This is a game we would have lost 2-0 last season so let's be pleased and look forward to the Third Round draw.

I was thinking that as well. Warne, Mendis and Lee - that'd fill the Rose Bowl. Particularly V Middlesex who have recruited Gilchrist and look likely to get Tendulkar. Notts have signed Nannes who has a fantastic record in T20.

Great post, very enjoyable fayre and a million times better than Brighton game. Connolly and Lallana were tremendous, Hammond back to his normal decent standards after a horror show last week, Harding good. Lambert doesn't look fit and Trotman is struggling against movement. James is not and never will be a full back and the foul for their penalty was pathetic. Lloyd should be loaned to a L2 club in January to get midfield experience as I can't see him getting ahead of Hammond, Morgan or even Wotton for a CM berth. That said, Pardew seems to rate him so will have to see what happens but thank God Murty is fit again. I think the January buying needs to be at the back - at least one good quality CB with a turn of pace and a right-back to compete with Murty. We need to offload a dozen or so at least - Saga plus a lot of last year's below average kids like Molyneux, Lancashire and Pulis. That will help Pardew as it can't be good for the club's atmosphere having that many players nowhere near the first XI. Hopefully after January's cull that will put an end to years of bloated SFC squads full of poor players - quality not quantity from now on, no more "one for the future players" - if they aren't good enough to get in the first XI straight away, unless they come from the Academy we don't sign them. Pardew's judgement has been excellent in spotting players thus far so we should trust him.

Guy Askham - top of the list by a distance Rupert Lowe Mike Richards Keith Wiseman David Jones (Teflon FD, not our ex-manager) Steve Wigley Kevin Phillips Roy Keane David Howells Stuart Ripley (same reasons as Howells) Lenny Pidgeley (what an idiot he was at Carlisle, deserved to drop one on Jaidi's head in injury time) Keiron Dyer Jonathan Barnett - it could be any agent but Barnett is just that bit more of a spiv.. erm actually... Willie McKay Peter Storrie Harry Redknapp George Burley Milan Mandaric Paul Davis Steve Dunn (cheating little Man U-supporting scum disallowed Shipp's OT goal in the FA Cup QF. NOW there was a fat ref) Peter Ridsdale David Lee (ex heap of ****e winger from Bury) David Speedie Ian Branfoot Callum Davenport - for the 2nd half Vs Villa alone Ben Thatcher Paul Dickov Alan Smith Diego Maradona Cristiano Ronaldo - brilliant player though Bryan Robson - getting Case sent off at OT

It'll be more than that - Solent has really grown it's Undegrad numbers in the last few years so that must be c15-17k and Soton Uni is huge - probably the best part of 20k Undergs. That's without Post Grads as well. That number will plateau with the Government restrictions on fully funded student places and the number of 18 year olds will fall in the next few years but I would have to agree with those that say the Universities make a key contribution to the local economy. After all, what else does Soton do now?

What did he do when it was Saints V Pompey or Pompey V Saints? Sat in the home end I suppose. Actually, years ago at school I knew a kid whose Stepdad took him to the Dell and Farton on alternate weeks and he even had Saints and Pompey shirts he wore. Can't quite understand it myself as I'm never as interested in a match when Saints aren't involved, even if you take away the obvious dislike between the two clubs and sets of fans.

I agree with some of your points but actually Brighton had 53% possession as well. We were poor and got a deserved hiding, Brighton should have been 4 or 5 up by the time we got the penalty. Brighton were far better today and their first goal was a result of the high quality of football we've been used to watching from Saints recently. Murray was excellent and should be on our scouting list for January. Not surprised to find out Lambert had flu, he was awful and very slow but not sure what Trotman's excuse was, played like he'd been drinking all day. Jaidi was shocking and not his usual self. Hammond - I've been very impressed until now but today he should have just pulled on a Brighton shirt, it was 12 v 10. Awful miss and even the Brighton fans chanted his name as they knew he didn't really want to play against his old club. Morgan S - nice bits of skill but what's the point?

The Charlton comments should be taken with a pinch of salt - we are probably reading similar comments to those that Spurs fans would have read when Hoddle went there. I don't think too many Saints fans - me included - particularly wanted Hoddle to succeed and Charlton fans' view of Pardew is far worse than the view we had of Hoddle as at least Hoddle was successful. So I would hardly expect to see lots of "well played Southampton" comments on that site. Charlton fans hate Pardew, I don't think it is particularly anti-SFC. That said, a minority of the comments do show staggering ignorance of the facts. I think Parkinson might be under pressure if MK Dons - who thought were poor at St Mary's - beat them on Saturday hence why a few of their posters are a bit touchy. Our fans going on there is a bit unneccessary in that context.

Agree with this post, Barnard from Southend would be handy as if Lambert and Connolly get injured, we are in trouble although Waigo knows where the back of the net is. No idea what Rooney's brother is like. Pele has signed for Falkirk by the way. We are light on CM cover but James showed promise second-half last night there.

I've not been a fan of James but thought he did well at RB first half and was good in CM second half - reminded me of Phil Neville a bit and really subjected Shelvey to a couple of bone-jarring but fair tackles which I liked to see. Our final ball wasn't as good as recent games but great to see Antonio and Waigo on the same pitch and considering that Charlton are second: - Scored twice - Hit the post after a good save from their goalie - Had a blatant handball turned down - had that been a league game and we'd had fans in the Chapel going beserk that would have been given as well - Bart had little to do before the last 15 minutes The fact we can play 20% better and still dominate a side like Charlton who would do alright in the CCC shows you how far we've travelled since August IMO.

Perhaps I'm missing something at games but I don't think we really have an unpopular player with the fans this season. I mean Waigo being offside gets frustrating but he is still backed by the fans although Antonio has put him in the shade slightly and Wotton has found a better role in the side and has been tidy of late. Lloyd James frustrated me earlier in the season but is improving at last. Harding, Hammond and Lambert have settled wonderfully, Jaidi has improved us no end and we'd sign Trotman like a shot if Irvine would sell. Kelvin is the best keeper in L1 and Connolly is a firm favourite already. In fact Saganowski would probably be the whipping boy but he's not close to first team contention at present it seems.

Awful to hear, very committed centre-half and always a threat to the opposition at set pieces. Remember him scoring twice V Everton in 89/90 which was a successful and entertaining season. Perhaps some of the Saints players from the late 80s and early 90s - Shearer, MLT, Ruddock, Dowie, Flowers et al be interested in participating and headlining an event - be it football, golf or something else?

Lancashire is one of the relics of the old era, see if Iain Baird at Eastleigh can improve him and include him in the deal for Martin. Conference South might be a more competitive level for Ollie. In my worst XI squad for Saints.

Good point in the end and had we anyone other than Lambert with their shooting boots on, we'd have won comfortably. Poor from Pardew though, 4-4-2 and we'd have given them a hiding and he has to put his hand up and it was not good enough first half with 4-5-1. Still, if Pardew can match his excellent purchasing of players with a more positive outlook in the way we set up, we will win a lot of games. We DO NOT NEED 4-5-1 as there is not a side in this league that should worry us, let's get on the front foot from the start of every game for the rest of the season from minute one.

Think it might have been Dodd actually in the first couple of minutes. BFR blew his top as Richard Keys and Andy Gray stuck into him a bit and said Beasant was MOTM. Big win though and had to laugh as BFR threw his earphones down at the end of the interview!

The deluded comments from MK's Asst Mgr tell you how outclassed they were in every regard - fans support, players, skill, pace, thought process. We were faster in thought and execution for our first 2 goals and should have scored long before that. I think MK got rumbled today, watch them fall like a house of cards. As for Saints - CBs were excellent, Harding got great delivery in, Lallana troubled MK, Antonio and Connolly were superb as subs. If they are third in the table, we are going to win a lot of games because it was a very one-sided game. Well done to Pardew, thought all of his signings were excellent today and great desire and thought we out-footballed them as well.

I can see MK getting dragged into a relegation battle actually. Horrible club, no wonder they are so hated across the land. Hope AFC Wimbledon - the real club - draw them in the FA Cup and beat them. Delighted with Saints today but wish we'd been really ruthless and got the 6 or 7 goals which we richly deserved.