Turkish

Agree with most of that. As I've said many times, teams that stay up and do well have a solid back four and keeper. Who remembers our relegation season in 2005 when we could score but couldn't defend and failed to sign a centre half good enough. Lots of late and sloppy goals conceded then as well.

He said on a couple of occasions we will bring in one or two centre halves and one maybe two goal keepers. I can't be arsed to find the quote, it suggests he was after two in each position as well as the fact we loaned Martin and Jaidi retired and Seaborne not the man for the job as well as the left back we were clearly trying to get. The committee clearly agreed awe were linked with loads of defenders and keepers yet only managed to sign one. So for whatever reason the positions the manager identified as strengthening haven't been adequately.

So was Adkins lying then? He said what he wanted on numerous occasions, either lied to the media or he wasnt backedby the chairman with bringing in the players he wanted. It can't be finance because we spent £20m in the last two weeks of the window. Time has proven Adkins to be right, has it not? we do need a keeper, left back and another centre back and now were looking at free agents as a a sticky plaster because we've failed to address it in the window.

Cortese was also telling every new player (and making MLG jizz in his pants) that we'd be challenging for the champions league in three years and Nige was on about Europe. I'm sure they haven't factored in a relegation, likely rebuilding and another promotion into the equation to get there. All this nonsense about being ahead of schedule so relegation this season doesn't matter is ridiculous talk. We keep being told how ambitious Cortese is so if anyone thinks he is going to stand by and watch us be relegated they are mental.

I think we all know who is to blame If we are honest with ourselves. The manager has been saying all summer that he wanted two centre halves, 1 or 2 goalkeepers, I'm sure he wasnt referring to an under 20 for the development squad as his second and we were clearly trying to sign a left back. The fact we managed to get two of those five and spent a lot of time chasing strikers and marquee signings suggests that the managers requests were by and large ignored by those the club responsible for bringing gthe players in. Unless of course Nige was lying all summer and telling the media one thing whilst saying something different behind closed doors.

That was just to motivate him. He's a great man manager is Arry. It worked as well. And just look how he turned Spurs around.

Apologies, I miss read your post.

If he was out of his depth against Steveage, why would you play him against Villa?

* takes note of new excuse for not selling out *

Obviously waiting for the right time to bring him in.

It wasn't just him though was it. Appointing then sacking Sturrock, appointing then sacking Wigley, injuries to key players, lack of investment in quality players, an ageing team and no bottle all played a major part.

Don't forget it was him that made Gareth Bale what he is after converting him from a full back and gave Theo his debut.

I don't disagree with you, but I find him a very odd signing. In many ways what we were crying out for, with pace up front, but in the new formation I just can't see where he'll playor how he'll fit in. Lambert is, rightly so our first choice up top, with Rodriguez been signed as his long term successor IMO. There is nothing to suggest he can play wide, which with our formation and the need to provide protection for the full backs will involve lots of tracking back. So unless we are planning to start playing two up front again or are going to convert him into a wide player it seems an odd signing.

I seem to recall a lot of people saying he was a sh*t manager before our game up there last season.

Utterly insane. You'd throw a 17 year old for his debut that everyone has decided is the new Gareth Bale despite only a few hundred people have actually seen play, In a game, which in reality is very important we get something from? Like a lot of fnas you're just reacting to the hype around him and not any logical reasoning. There is nothing at all to suggest Mayuka can play out wide, everything seems to point to him being a central striker, including where Nige played him when he came on against Man U. another square peg in around hole if he plays in your formation. I agree Ramirez will start and Yoshida because he has too. However, You're suggesting with give 4 debuts to players one a 17 year old and the other to someone out of position. We have little to no pace at the back so a high line will leave us exposed to being done on th counter attack by pace, Lamberts villa have been described as having youth and Vitality, ie pace and enery, hold a high line we'll be done by that. We need to Streach the game and try to get our passing game going, let them use their energy chasing the ball down and get Lallana and Ramirez on the ball as much as possible.

So this fair to say Les was talking uninformed bo*llocks as usual then?

It wasnt aimed at you. I knew what you meant.More of the clowns who claim he doesn't have a clue and is a crap manager when his record is pretty decent and has been over about 15 years.

Back tracking nicely Les. Good work.

Lets hear from those fans that were calling for 'Davis for England' only 3 months ago. Give us your view here http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/kelvinDavis Do you agree with this or do you think he is still the man to be the first choice glovesman for our national side?

I find it hilarious how many people slate Sam Allerdyce on here yet he's got a very good record. Took Bolton to top half finishes, and had Newcastle and Blackburn in midtable when he was sacked, both went down the following season. He maybe a knob as a bloke but he knows how to make teams competitve at this level.

Reading were solid when they needed to be, im sure they rode their luck at times as well but the fact of the matter is we gave away a lot of goals last season due to individual errors and switching off. We were great at defending when we had lots of the ball and were dominating teams, not so good when we had less than 50% posession and had to dig in. The warning signs were there to see im afraid.

I agree with you on this Alps. Middlesborough, Blackpool, Reading, pompey, all games of the top of my head in our run in where we conceded sloppy goals due to poor defending.

It wasn't though was it. It was a tremendous goalkeeping display and some poor finishing, to say we defended brilliant isn't how the game panned out. They had 22 shots at goal FFS!! How many misses were there when the player really should have scored? How many great saves did Davis make?

Quite. Probably the team i'd pick as well out of the best of XI. Hilarious comment about Les not having heard of most of QPRs players until they joined. Im sure he knows all there was to know about Ramirez, Yoshida, Mayaka, Gazzaniga & Hooliveld. As for time will tell if their foreign players adjust, weren't 3 of our 4 biggest signings on the window foreigns who will also need to adapt? But then what else can we expect from a self titled intelligent poster though?

Depsite how popular Hooliveld is with the fans Fonte hasn't been the same player since he joined. For whatever reason they dont look comfortable together. I said many time last season we were flat track bullies, most of our clean sheets came when we had a lot of the ball and were dominating teams. We didn't get many points from tremendous defensives displays and being solid when under pressure. More often than not we'd conside a sloppy goal due to an individual error. The writing was on the wall sadly as this season we will see far less of the ball and have to be solid if we want to survive.