Saint Charlie

Just spoken to my mate and we were discussing best Saints XI's made up of players with the same features ie 'Black Boots XI' or 'Name beginning with M XI'. We got stuck on one though so lets see if we can put together the Best Saints XI from the 1999-present day era made up of players with Brown hair and a solid amount of facial hair ie more than a bit of stubble or fluff - looking for fine designer stubble to a full grown beard. I have the following pencilled in but need you to help fill the gaps or replace some poor suggestions I have made: GK:Kelvin Davis RB: Alex Ostlund CB: Andreas Jakobsson CB: Claus Lundekvam LB: Francis Benali RM: Hassan kachloul CM: CM: Paul Wotton LM: CF:Marek Saganowski CF:

We will probably find out about his future from whether he is in the team tomorrow IMO. Fully expect him to be benched.

Under Cortese Saints have gone from League 1 to Prem in three years. What a dispicable man. As a 25 year old the last two seasons were the most enjoyable as a Saints fan.

Back to the OP's suggestion: you must be mad or a Skate you moong.

Suppose Dig Dig wishes we signed Brian Stock or Brian Howard instead? Moronic.

Mwahahaha what a ridiculous idea, he is our best player. BIZARRE.

Squad doesnt meet til after Saturdays game anyway so thats irrelevant

Hopefully he will see this thread and comment on Adkins position - all IHHO of course.

Thanks!

Yes - but Clyne is with the U21s and Mayuka, Yoshida etc are also away with their teams. Maybe this is why - they are worried about injuries, or effective training and need the bodies at the training ground.

Interesting - wonder why with no Cup games.

Yep - that was it I think. He used to make endless cryptic comments and always signoff with: All IMHO of course Morph This was the day of St David and helpmerhonda

At the back I agree, but feel Morgan is a good player - certainly the best central midfielder we have. If we could bring in our own Cheick Tiote in Jan that would be ideal. Harsh to judge Cork on his only appearance of the season - he is a decent player and capable of getting a foot in.

Where did this guy go? If I remember right wasn't he in there with one of the potential owners? All IMHO of course.

I wouldn't play both him and Gaston there, but a front 3 of Lallana, Ramirez and Lambert isn't exactly pacy so if Mayuka comes in there still needs to be a place for Lallana so he would act as a Carillero. Agree that for me a good 4-2-3-1 would be best with Gaston the central one of the 3, but Derrys formation could also be interesting to test...

The current Uruguay team do play something similar as well as they have a wealth of attacking talent and just chuck in some midfield water carriers. With the current Saints team ultimately where do our strenghts lie? Surely the formation should be built to utilise these? For me, when we have played well this season it has been when there has been clear midfield rotation ie nobody fixed to certain areas of the pitch. In the 4-1-2-3 the '2' need to hold their shape or you become too open - that is why I don't think Lallana and Ramirez - our most able players are suited there. To stick with that formation I would play something more like this: - Morgan to pretty much never go past halfway and Lallana and Cork to be disciplined out of possession. - Another option would be to add Davis for Mayuka and switch AL to the more advanced role. ----------------------------Boruc-------------------------- Clyne------------Fonte----------------Yoshida------------Shaw >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -----------------Cork--------------------Lallana--------------- -------Ramirez---------------------------------------Mayuka ---------------------------RL/JR-------------------------------

Pretty sure that role is usually referred to as the no 10, which Gaston is made for.

Read Derry's post. he is suggesting 4-1-2-3 not 5-0-5. The question is, could Lallana and Ramirez be our carrileros? For those who haven't done a coaching badge (I have FA Level 1 but this didn't come up) the definition is below: Carilleros Literally ’shuttlers’, this refers to the two widest players in a diamond midfield, inbetween a holding midfielder and an attacking playmaker. Now, IMO this role isn't for Ramirez or Lallana, as they are the attacking midfielders - not sure we have the personnel for a "shuttler" role? Also - within the 4-1-2-3 Mayuka and Jay Rod out would be Mezzalas for me.

Add to that even less protection for the full backs unless the defensive sweeper is expected to cover the whole width of the pitch defensively at one time? Interesting idea though - and agree it might be time to try something new.

As Gary Neville said on Monday Night, our defensive setup is adequate, there is little wrong with it. Teams are not steamrollering us - how many shots did Gazza have to save on Monday? The problem is individual errors because the defenders aren't good enough, a midfield sweeper wouldnt have made Fox beat Odemwingie to tha ball, Fonte shrug of Long, Fox mark his winger, Jos not deflect balls into his own net, van Persie/Rio to have been marked at corners etc. The idea that we tighten up by playing 5 attackers is ludicrous, and that is the reason NA wont use that formation.

--------------------------Gazza--------------------- Clyne-----------Fonte----------------Yoshida---------Shaw Puncheon-----------Davis---------Schneiderlin-------Lallana ------------------------ Ramirez------------------------- -------------------------Lambert-------------------------

We wouldn't be able to join another league this year as they are all full. The point of the idea is we forfeit for this year and join the Championship next year which is where we will be anyway, only this avoids humiliation. We could play friendlies between our U21s and first team and maybe some challenge matches vs teams who get knocked out of the FA Cup early.

Quite like the sound of this tbh. We could also retain NA this way which would be a bonus as long as the PR was played right.

Hammond wad a good servant but isnt good enough at this level...by some distance.

Just don't want to be misinterpreted. I am suggesting that we drop out of the Prem, not that we go out of business. HTH - maybe a poll would be good, seems opinion is largely negative to the idea but there might be lurkers who agree and are afraid of being shouted down like I have.