NickG

lol

not convinced he would have started even if we had signed him

positives -new signings looked good fonte most of 1st half one of harder games without our two better player -ves lack of CM to grab hold of the game -still not convinced with Hammond back up to RL Jaidi's 2nd half very poor would have rathered Seaborne Harding didn't look good 2nd half but think Dickson will be first choice when Lallana plays Lack of Antonio wasn't the big problem to me today.

wing wasn't our weakness

no think he bought him as he is a better player

if he is better than Puncheon why do you think Pardew started Puncheon every game after signing him and pretty much consigned Antonio to bench - and couple of games not the squad (from memory not sure about that bit)?

Solent @7.30 today, RL late fitness test.

stuck to twitter - which usually gives notice of announcement in next hour or something - nothing! giving up now. can't see they could have completed it before 12 and not announced it/leaked it.

there was update a week or two ago saying sales beaten last years - which included the half season ticket sales at Christmas

lol! Most I can ever recall is commenting that I reserve judgement on some of these rumour as I haven't seen the facts - clearly happy for others to view my posts in the same way.

as I do not recall ever demanding people reveal and therefore dispute the rest of this post, could you kindly remind me when I said that? I believe you have got it wrong and therefore should recind the heavy handed punishment given out for disagreeing with your statement. If I have said that but forgotten then will happily apologise for getting it wrong - will you do the same?

not sure why when an administrator posts a lie about me (stating I have posted something I haven't) and I point that out - I get an infraction? Suggest no-one disagrees with stevegrant.

admin should know better than trolling and lying

do have concerns about content control.

yes

update from press.. echo reasonably happy with this arrangement, but having pressure from other locals - who will only be effected once a year - not to agree.

looks like the echo are paying, we hardly ever have match photos in any national. Only losers likely to be away teams local rag - choice of paying or missing photos at one game a year. Hardly a problem.

Heard this few days ago from a journo. Said press were annoyed but that it makes sense and surprised others not done it before.

bbc blog Shortly after the end of last season, it was widely reported that Alan Pardew was facing the sack as manager of Southampton. His team had started the campaign on minus 10 points but eventually finished in seventh place, just missing out on the play-offs. It was a noble effort by Saints, whose challenge was undermined by their inability to reproduce their dominant home form away from St Mary's. For example, they scored five goals in consecutive home games in late February but lost at struggling Tranmere in their next away fixture. But was it enough for chairman Nicola Cortese, who had sanctioned a multi-million pound spend in January? When he demanded a meeting with Pardew after the season was over, it was widely assumed the manager was on his way. But Pardew survived. That said, I would be extremely surprised if Cortese settled for anything less than automatic promotion this season. I met the former banker last year and found him to be considered, intelligent and calm. But it's fair to say he's also unaccustomed to failure. Southampton certainly have the personnel to win League One. In Rickie Lambert, they have a striker who scored 37 goals last season, while David Connolly and Lee Barnard supplement the attacking options. The spine of the side is solid, with Kelvin Davis in goal, Jose Fonte in the centre of defence and the ever-improving Morgan Schneiderlin in midfield. Saints have kept hold of Adam Lallana, while the likes of Ryan Dickson, Danny Butterfield and Frazer Richardson have bolstered an already impressive squad. Saints took four points off last season's champions Norwich, including a 2-0 win at Carrow Road - and Canaries defender Russell Martin believes Pardew's team are equipped to emulate his team's achievement. "If you look at it on paper, they have the strongest squad by quite some distance," Martin told me. "I think they have a group of players who can handle the pressure of expectation and their manager definitely can. I would expect them to be up there with the likes of Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday, while Plymouth have kept quite a strong squad and Peterborough have made a lot of changes."

looks ideal squad player, young, can play either side, would be happy to prove himself as back up and from bench, potential etc

quick summary - most of my lifetime in our shadow, and will continue to be there.

Hard to value +ve's young, decent player -ve's only year on contract, wanted to stay here, before us was basically non-league 20 year old, not likely to be regular first 11 Guess we would not want to pay £500k or more

England U19

I heard Antonio asked by a fan at weekend if he was coming back, he said he didn't know, smiling. I don't expect him to openly update fans - but if he was definately staying I guess he would easily say no.

I would suggest that every club in league 1 would take: Pardew as manager and these straight into their first 11: Kelvin Richardson or Butterfield Fonte Harding or Dickson Schniederlin Lallana Puncheon Lambert Connolly or Barnard most would also take Jaidi and Hammond. I believe we have the best manager and best players therefore should win promotion. The bookies, who are rarely totally wrong in these things, have us as hottest favourites of any league. It is ours to lose. How we have previously started is not relevant - different personnel. The other points are just random collections of stats and coincidences.