SaintBobby

Pretty much agree with this. I have been disappointed with how thin our signings have been this Summer, but there may be very good reasons. It's also worth saying that its not quite three full backs plus Guly. Butterfield is cover for full back and CM rather than just an RB. Dickson can also do a good job at LM. Nevertheless, I was expecting a bit more "stardust" and had hoped/assumed that Papa and Antonio were both likely to be retained. Overall, I think the squad we have today is a tad weaker than the squad we had in May. But only a tad. And I still hold out some hope that it will look much stronger in 48 hours time.

Last season, I was well up for the JPT from the start, as I reckoned we had a great chance of winning it and was sceptical about our promotion chances. For me, it comes a distant second behind the League, but is way ahead of the Carling Cup and FA Cup. I might care about a single prestige FA Cup game, but not teh competition as a whole at the moment. I dont think we should just use the reserves. But I think we should exploit it to develop the first team. If a top player is nursing a minor niggle, I wouldnt play them vs Swindon. Similarly, we might want to bleed in some players (e.g. start with Guly) I absolutely loved going to Wembley in March. I'm too young to remember 1976. But I think I would be less excited about us getting there in 2011 than I was in 2010.

I may just have a blind spot here. He just frustrates me. Which is weird because I always liked Fabrice Fernandes who had similar upsides and downsides.

I was gobsmacked to see Puncheon listed at MotM in News of the World. I thought he was very average. His shots on target were very weak and his decision making dubious. He did try hard though and his corners werent bad. But I'd give him a 6/10. To give him a 9 and Barnard a 7 seems barking mad.

Yeah, agree with much of this. Although I still say we were not at all good against Plymouth and Orient (whatever Claridge thinks). I suppose I was just saying what a shame it is that there are a handful of posters on here who seem to enjoy the negatives much more than the positives. Their loss, really.

I think that's the problem. Those who are just missing the 25 cut at Premiership clubs are probably in the sights of high end championship clubs.

No. I sometimes fear you act in a way that seeks to gain attention, so I'm not going to count up all your posts if thats okay. I think my point stands though - although perhaps its better to say "very, very few" positive thoughts rather than none. Certainly, the overwhelming balance of your posts is negative.

I dont think anyone thinks otherwise on the entitlement of posters to hold - and voice - an opinion. But it's also reasonable for others to ask why the opinions seem to be relentlessly negative. And no positive thoughts are voiced even in the face of very positive news.

We really, really need another winger then.

Laughable response (Im assuming its a spoof?) Lots or people have a range of reservations about the club. Check out some of my posts on the media policy, for example. What is surprising is that those who seem to have reservations or complaints about nearly everything seem to nearly disappear from view when Saints score an impressive victory. Why is that? Why arent any of the usual suspects posting, positive comemnts on a thread about a 4-0 away win FFS. They can't find anything positive to say even about a handsome victory. That's bewildering. Especially as many of them do seem to have the time to post endlessly on negative threads. I'm afraid it can give the impression that such people aren't genuine Saints fans, even if this impression is actually inacurrate.

Is Lee Holmes still alive and on our books? Does he perhaps play a more involved role until we get Lallana back? At least on the subs bench?

Is that really true? Do you have any names in mind? I'm not persuaded there will be rich pickings from the 25 rule, but hope I'm wrong. I know some f***wit on here argued we might get Craig Bellamy a few weeks back. Are there any more credible targets though?

Where are the whingers btw? Have Alpine saint and the other loons failed even post a "wow...what a brilliant result...that's utterly fantastic" sort of comment? If not, why not?

I would say the manager's job is to get the best out of his playing squad. If the players look unmotivated or unfit, I would blame the management.

Immense performance. Some exceptional displays. Particular mention to Lee Barnard who was titanic. If we keep playing that well, we will win this league with room to spare.

Puncheon. And play 4-3-1-2 with Lallana or Guly in the hole.

I'm open minded on Martin - no strong feelings either way at this stage. Would have voted for Ian Harte if he was an option...

I'm surprised people are so anti-Harte. I think he'd be a great signing. I'm not wholly convinced by Seabourne, Martin or Jaidi at centre back and woudl prefer Harte-Fonte as the starting CBs. Also, don't see why it won't happen. It's not like us being linked to Benjani et al. Sounds like a plausible signing, although one vague report on Sky Sports hardly makes it a racing certainty.

Le Fondre would be a great signing. Didn't he score 4 goals for Rotherham last Saturday? He ticks the winger box, but not the back-up to Rickie box (he's about 5'6" isn't he?) This is why I thought Antonio was a good move - he ticked three boxes; winger, impact sub and possible CF. Sounds like the injury rules him out though. Although am not sure he was a real target anyway, just a fanbase desire.

I can't explain why I dislike Puncheon so much. Maybe he flatters to deceive. Might also be because in our present starting XI I assume he's the one supposed to have electric pace. He has some pace, but low voltage.

I'm so conflicted on this one. I still have a bias to what are now called "marquee signings" (I don't know why they are called this...do we erect a tent when they arrive?). I remember wanting us to sign Rene Haguita, that mental Columbian goalie. Partly cos he was quite good, but mainly cos he was great fun. I don't think we should sign Nicky Butt for a totally hypothetical £80,000 a month, however: 1. If this was on a one season deal, it's a salary of 8 1/2 months from September to mid-May. That's £680K. Or as a weekly wage about £13k. 2. If it doesn't work out at all, we lose £680K. That's annoying, but not a complete catastrophe. If it's the difference between promotion and non-promotion, it's well worth it. 3. By comparison, signing - say- Brian Stock at a transfer fee of £1.2m and on a salary of £8K a week on a three year deal involves an outlay of up to £2.5m. I'd prefer to do this, but it might be 4 times as expensive as signing Butt. 4. Butt is 35 - turns 36 in January. That's not too old to turn in a good run of games in League One. I still lean against because: 1. He doesn't obviously fill a slot we desperately need. If our defensive midfielders were Pulis and Wotton, I'd be very keen. But he's not obviously miles better than Schneiderlin or Hammond. 2. The main thing we lack in the team at the moment is pace. If we gamble £700K on pace, fair enough. One thing Butt clearly ain't is pacey. 3. There may be prima donna problems (would he want to be captain and would Rickie et al resent him being a higher earner?)

Listened on Saints player. Sounded like it was easily our best performance of the 4 games so far this season. Am not overly bothered that we lost, was pleased to hear that we seemed to play well. Still keen to see us go on a winning run, as we are in some danger of falling into a cycle of "unlucky" draws and defeats. I think we still need some more options from the bench (again, Connolly and Chamberlain are our only gamechangers). I think I'm going to start to hate Jason Puncheon as well.

To Colonel Bogey: Guly's only got one ball The other's in your f-ing goal..... (insert next cpl of lines...) Suspect it will be "Guly...there's only one Guly"...

High risk - in football, not financial terms - but exciting. I'd just sort of assumed he was a winger, so seems that's the other slot we need filled. Never heard of the bloke before, but this smacks of real ambition by the club. (same sort of reaction as when we got Papa. I'd neevr heard of him, but his record sounded very good for a L1 side) Chuffed.

I think Puncheon is our most over-rated player. Not our worst player, but not as good as either Antonio or Waigo. His decision making can be wretched and he doesn't have the pace that you expect him to have. Hope he goes on a great run and proves me wrong, of course. Maybe it's a bad patch of form, not an absence of talent.