saintant

What an odious little man Manji comes across as. He snipes at Mike Osman as though he knows him personally. The guy obviously has a huge chip on his shoulder. Mike is a local lad and a life-long supporter of the Saints. To describe him as a freeloader just demonstrates how little Manji knows about him. The number of unpaid charity jobs he does when he gives up his time to help raise money for good causes is substantial to say the least. Also to question Mike's ability as a comedian and entertainer just proves that this Manji moron hasn't seen him work much if at all. It seems there are people on this site who begrudge seeing a local borne and bred guy getting a slice of the limelight - could it be they are jealous? Cut him some slack Manji, give a little credit instead of criticising when you have no idea about Mike as a person. Why is it every time he is mentioned on this forum you are the first one to post one of your nasty, insulting, illinformed and childish digs. Crawl back under your stone you moron.

But the manager takes the flack if the team don't perform so he must know if some of it is down to fitness. He should know straight away if there is a fitness problem and make sure it is sorted - ultimately it affects team perfomance which is down to the manager. Pardew seems not to have been bothered enough to make this an issue whereas Adkins has gone straight in and identified a problem. It adds up because we seem to start each half strongly but then fade.

So Adkins has taken just one day to establish that the team are not fit enough - makes you wonder what Pardew was being paid for..

0-3 0-2 0-1 Can nobody else see that Wilkins is starting to get it right - he's heading in the right direction. Give him the job :0) Seriously, this again underlines that we don't have a squad that is the envy of anyone and it is certainly not the best in our division. Too many plodders who offer nothing creative. Let's get a new manager in quick and make some loan signings because that is the only way we'll get a squad that can mount a serious promotion challenge. The current bunch with a few exceptions just aint got it I'm afraid.

Is it time to dispel the myth that we have a squad which is the envy of the other teams in our division? Who have we got apart from Lambert (not fit), Lalana (injured) and Fonte? The rest are just a bunch of average players for this league who, in the main, fail to perform. Let's face it, we are no great shakes and by no means odds-on to get promoted whoever the new manager might be. Plymouth, Swindon and now the might of Rochdale have all come to St Marys and not had to work too hard to go away with victories - in each of these games we failed to score. Most teams have one or two decent players and maybe we don't give them the respect they deserve - the guy who scored the second goal today was arguably the best player on the pitch by a long way. We are not head and shoulders above the rest or we would be beating these sides comfortably week in week out not labouring for the odd win. The transfer window has come and gone and we failed to get in the minimum three quality signings needed to galvanise this squad. Now we need a competent manager who is allowed to manage with no interference, some decent loan signings to get us through to the next transfer window and a club where everyone is pulling in the same direction. Without those things I fear dark days lie ahead. By the way, has the pitch at St Marys been narrowed - it looks as though there is never any room on the flanks. It it has I think somebody has made a major ****-up.

Watched first half online. Wilkins makes the same mistake as Pardew against blanket defence by getting us playing too narrow. We need Puncheon to hug the left touchline and OC wide right - they must be told to stay there so that Rochdale fullbacks have no choice but to go out wide to cover them. This will create space for runners and Lambert. Keep huffing and puffing up the middle with nobody wide and we'll get nowhere. It aint rocket science.

Paul Hart now even money on Skybet!

Regarding the question of us needing luck to start winning....as Gary Player once said, 'The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get'.

Having lost at home on Saturday I think it will be a major mistake not to pick a first choice starting line-up for this game. Yes, cup matches can get in the way of promotion and had we won our first league game I would have agreed on some changes. However, we really need the first choice team to play in as many games as possible starting Tuesday. We failed to do this in pre-season games so it is no surprise that the team did not hit the ground running. Now they need to be playing together so that they gel. Future progress in this cup is unimportant but I feel we should make the most of the Bournemouth game, put out as strong a starting line-up as possible and try to beat them comfortably with a few goals. That will generate the confidence and momentum we missed out on by starting so poorly. Playing games at this stage of the season builds fitness and understanding so every game is vital. However, I fear AP will take the soft option and ring the changes then expect us to somehow crank it up against MK Dons - might backfire on him.

Theo does not have a football brain so I doubt he will ever improve beyond what we see from him for Arsenal and England. He is largely anonymous in most games and fails to take up good positions to receive the ball. With his pace he will always do the odd spectacular thing but you have to weigh that aginst the dross. He makes poor decisions about whether to run his full back or pass the ball. Time and again he ducks his responsibility by playing a nothing pass of five yards. His crossing is poor and he lacks the killer instinct to tease and torment his opponents. He does track back but really when you watch him he doesn't mark anyone or put in many tackles he tends to just stand in space. For large parts of games you will see him gently jogging forwards and back but not contributing a great deal. No way he deserved to be picked in the final 23 I'm afraid.

Hitting the woodwork is not classed as on target. Think Huddersfield now only need a win and two draws from their last three games even if we win all five of ours.

Millwall were shocking. How could they fail to get a single shot on target against a side who conceded 3 goals to ten man Walsall?

Huddersfield want it more. Millwall are just hoofing it. Nothing like their performance against Leeds. Jacket needs to read the riot act at half time because they've been shocking. Huddersfield are not great so if Millwall give it a real go second half they could get back into it but need to cut out the big boot stuff, get the ball down and play.

Great effort from all our players who could not have given more. The only thing you could accuse us of is wanting to win it a little too much as the match wore on and throwing caution to the wind. Inevitable that they would hit us on the counter with their pace after 75 minutes against a tiring and generally slow back four. Had we taken our chances we would have won because we'd not have needed to chase the game. All in all a very good performance but as others have said a totally unrealistic scoreline.

Leading scorers in the division away from home, long time since we were banging in goals on the road. Superb win today, well done the lads.

Partly Wotton but only because it allows Morgan to get forward. I find it staggering that it has taken this long to get Morgan playing in an advanced position where he can do damage with his undoubted quality. For a long time he has been completely wasted by being given too deep a role - can't understand why it has taken til now for professional coaches to realise the obvious.

Nah, don't create enough. All teams miss chances but if you make enough you'll get some goals. How many real chances have we had today?

And that in a nutshell is our problem - we do not trouble keepers. No width, no pace and no creativity.

But has their keeper made a save yet?

Excuses I don't want to hear. 1) Pardew hasn't been here long, 2) We had no pre-season, 3) The club nearly went out of existence, 4) The ref done it, 5) We were unlucky, 6) We've got better players coming in. Quite simply none of the above can possibly justify zero victories in 6 fixtures in this lowly league. Now we can't even beat a side down to ten men for most of the game. Forget the ten points deduction, even without that we would be sitting proudly second to bottom of the table just ahead of Tranmere on goal difference. Unacceptable!

Have always thought Lallana is in the mould of Peter Beardsley. He is not quick but can take his man on with trickery, has a good eye for a pass and with practice I think his shooting will improve. In my book he should only ever be used just off the front man as a lnk between midfield and attack. He is not a midfielder or a wide man and I don't believe we are getting the best out of him by not playing him in a role he is suited to. A good player being wasted.

Nowhere near good enough. Even without the minus 10 we'd still be 3rd from bottom! Absolute rubbish. Needed to hit the ground running but we've done the opposite. Pardew has been here long enough to have influenced things but we seem to be going backwards if that is possible.

Alan Pardew has just a week to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse and I don't envy him his task. I hope he has earmarked at least four players who will be brought in immediately because if not we could be heading for another season of struggle. The fact that we start 10 points behind means that it is imperative we hit the gound running and get off to a strong start. If not we will be falling further behind the rest and that heaps more pressure on the team to produce results. To those who believe Pardew does not need to be in a hurry I would have agreed had we not been hit with the ten point penalty. That is a lot to make up especially if you do not start well. The current squad would struggle to keep its head above water even without the minus ten. Signings this week please Alan.

An earlier poster stated he was appalled and asked if this was the reward for loyaly. No, it was actually the reward for being incompetent.

You are a billionaire taking over a new business. The current manager paid to extract himself from a contact and was a very cheap option at the time of his original appointment. He has proved himself less than competent up to now. You are starting the season with a ten point defecit so need to hit the ground running. Are people serious when they say that Wotte should be given a chance? Think about it. Markus Liebherr is obviously successful so I cannot believe he will hand the most important job at the football club to someone who has never exactly acheived anything. It's not about sentiment and giving someone a chance. It's about a hard headed business decision and bringing in the very best man you can afford. If that's Wotte then we are in trouble. Forget continuity, we need a manager with a bit of nous who can inspire the players and fans and that is what will put bums on seats and get revenue flowing back into this great club. Let's set the bar high not settle for the same old same old. We need a rapid rise back to the Premier League and I'm afraid Wotte is not the guy to generate that intensity and passion. He was a makeshift during exteremely hard times. Someone new please or we are showing a complete lack of ambition.