saintant

Think he is just what we need - a dominant centre half to play alongside Fonte and he'd make a great captain. Accept that he is probably holding out for more money than we'd be prepared to offer but would certainly bolster our defence and be a strong leader on the pitch.

Well, I thought Lambert was one of our better players today and I'd be surprised if Adkins took him off for any other reason than he wasn't fit after last week's head injury. Oxo must start on tuesday - Chaplow looked very poor today. Andy Durso as usual tried to do all he could to get Oldham back in the game - 5 minutes stoppage time when there was nowhere near that and also giving them free kicks but denying blatant fouls on Barnard. Lallana was superb and needs to be given the ball more. Still think we need a couple of signings as too many give less than average performance. Not convinced by Seabourne I'm afraid and would prefer Martin. Great save by Kelvin to make sure we got the three points.

He has only just arrived but I fear Nigel Adkins isn't going to get the luxury of a honeymoon period. He needs to sit the players down and read the riot act to them. This just isn't good enough - they are professional, paid a lot of money and they are currently cheating the fans who's hard earned pays those huge salaries. If that upsets a few eggshell egos then tough - you take the big money and with that goes responsibility. Too many of them are in some sort of comfort zone and need a harsh wake-up call. ML came in and saved this proud club from near extinction but this group of players can't even be bothered to put in a shift once they cross the white let alone in training. They are lazy, unfit and don't appear to give a toss. NA must sort out those who do want to play for the club and replace the rest. He can't afford to be Mr Nice Guy I'm afraid because this lot will just take advantage. Show us you've got a pair Nige and wade into this bunch of under-achievers. Oh and can we get someone on loan with some leadership qualities quick so that Hammond can be relieved of the captaincy cos this guy doesn't lead by example and shouldn't even be in the team on current form. Better still, if Jay DeMerit is still a free agent try getting him to sign, make him skipper and we just might see some passion on the pitch.

He has only just arrived but I fear Nigel Adkins needs to sit the players down and read the riot act to them. This just isn't good enough - they are professional paid a lot of money and they are currently cheating the fans who's hard earned pays those huge salaries. Too many of them are in some sort of comfort zone and need a harsh wake-up call. ML came in and saved this proud club from near extinction but this group of players can't even be bothered to put in a shift once they cross the white let alone in training. They are lazy, unfit and don't appear to give a toss. NA must sort out those who do want to play for the club and replace the rest. He can't afford to be Mr Nice Guy I'm afraid because this lot will just take advantage. Show us you've got a pair Nige and wade into this bunch of under-achievers. Oh and can we get someone on loan with some leadership qualities quick so that Hammond can be relieved of the captaincy cos this guy doesn't lead by example and shouldn't even be in the team on current form.

By the way Manji, still on the Mike Osman thread - you ever filled a theatre? No, but I suspect you've emptied a few pubs in your time.

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!