CHAPEL END CHARLIE

You can agrue about formations from now to kingdom come but the real difference was we took more of our chances last Saturday .

That story was on Talk Sport last Monday . The dim Pompeyite in question said it would have been cheaper to fly home , pick up his ST , watch the game at Fratton Park , and then fly back out to Egypt again . You shouldn't laugh at others misfortunes but ........

We've plenty of players who you could easily see earning a living in the CCC - in some respects we are now almost a Championship quality team playing in L1. But we've only one who has a great chance of going further than the CCC anytime soon - his name is Adam Lallana . We're going to get serious interest in AL from the Premier League next summer , I hate to say it but we'll probably have to let him go .

I've decided in the spirit of equality to insult , libel and stereotype everyone except the Chapelenders - who are of course all learned scholars of the game and quite above reproach . Itchenites - A malodorous bunch so two-faced one wonders why on earth they stick with the one they're waring . Kingslanders - An in-breed sub species of Homo Sapiens with the intellectual development expected of a moderately bright Tortoise . Northamorons - Smug loud mouths only tolerated at St Marys because the club view it as social work and attending football matches is a condition of their ASBO's . Executive Box Denizens - Fraudsters ! Stewards - Unemployable in any proper job . Ground Staff - Overpaid gardeners on a ego trip . Players - So dim and talentless that as a group they'd struggle to complete the Beano crossword . Mr Leibheer - Here only in futile attempt to avoid a potential UN War Crimes Tribunal . Nicola Cortese - A serial bigamist with a chain of mistresses that stretches from here to Monte Carlo .

You're just being silly now :mad:

I think we should kick towards the Itchen in the first half when there's a R in the month and to the Kingsland every other leap year . Any player who can kick a ball over the Northam End gas holders gets a special prize . Chapel end goals count double and Papa Waigo can be used as our joker . Beach volleyball competitions to be held in the executive boxes . Sensible policys for a modern Britain - vote CEC .

Make that 81%

What percentage of your contributions on here are repeated criticisms of others fans opinions rather than any worthwhile observation of your own ? I'm guessing about 80% . The irony of accusing others of being 'small minded' when the chip on your shoulder is obvious for all to see seems to have escaped you entirly .

Being completely knackered after running his legs off for the team may have had something to do with it .

My ratings for Saints v Gillingham (4-1) K Davis 6.5 - Not much of a chance with the (top quality) conceded goal and did nothing wrong subsequently . Stay fit Kelvin please . L James 6 - Makeshift RB really but did OK after a rather dodgy start . He improved steadily as the game progressed - like the team . N Trotman 6 - Big quick useful defender , worth buying if the price is right . R Jaidi 7 - He's got it all at this level but still missing in action on occasion . Lets fuse his body with Perrys head . D Harding 6.5 - Might have done better with their goal but made up for it later . Good player . PWN - 7 Alternatively great and then comedy bad , at least he makes things happen so he's a good signing in my book . P Wotton 6 - He did his best bless him but a very limited player . D Hammond 7 - The heart of the team , leads by example & should probably be captain . J Mellis 5 - Lightweight but quick and a occasional goal threat . I don't really rate him however . A Lallana 8 MOTM - He's always been a good technical ball player but now starting to turn that potential into real match winning performances . The best player on the pitch by a country mile . R Lambert 7.5 - Great game great goal , one of the very best strikers in this league for sure . Substitutes : S Gillett 5 - Good to see him but not much of a chance to show his worth L Holmes - late sub , looked a bit slow to me . M Paterson - Only on for a few minutes . Conclusion : Obviously the best win of the season by far this will go a long way towards restoring your reviewers faltering moral if we can sustain this level of performance over the coming weeks/months . We didn't seem to be playing a rigid 4-4-2 today (It looked something like last seasons 4-3-3) and it did change us from a solid but goal-shy team into a more open and threatening attacking force . It must be said we looked more vulnerable in defence during the opening stages as well - make of that what you will . What really made a difference today is that our attackers converted a much higher percentage of their chances today - long may that continue I hear you say . Best moment of the day - Walking out of SMS after the final whistle I overheard a excited little lad telling his father "this is the best day of my life dad" - lets hope he gets many more like it !

That would be because he didn't . I don't remember walking on the surface of the Moon in 1971 - true story .

He said he remembered it , not that he played in it . HTH .

The trouble with playing and beating other struggling clubs is that with regarding to our place at the foot of the table these games become a 'must win' for our desperate opposition as well - sometimes you're better off playing mid table teams . Just to reiterate , I'm not calling for Pardew to go at this time (very few are) but lets be absolutely clear on this , we have to avoid relegation this season as a minimal requirement . Who knows we could win 3 of the next 4 and everyone will be happy , that just doesn't look very likely at the moment though .

That's pretty much as I see it too . I expect many will disagree with you - I don't know why because it's all fair comment and a pragmatic take on the realities of the modern game .

You really are a stuck record aren't you - are you still arguing that Ian Pearce's one month loan was a crucial development in forcing the club into Administration

Titanic/deckchairs - you fill in the rest . It doesn't really effect me so I don't actually care that much in all honesty but it's vaguely worrying that such woolly thinking has been allowed to permeate all the way up to the boardroom . I'd prefer the club concentrate its energies on what's going on inside our players heads rather than on fussing about where our fans happen to park their backsides - should they ever actually bother to sit in their seats that is .

Good post and I tend to agree with you , many 'hard liners' won't however .

You're so right SM . Incidents like this are tragedies for everyone involved - I'm sure this young man didn't set out to kill anybody and no punishment imposed can ever bring back the innocent victims and make things 'right' again somehow . I know one thing for sure , I wouldn't want to live the rest of my life with something like this on my conscience - I'd rather swap places with the dead rather than suffer that fate .

Forget it mate , just call me Mr Grumpy .

The above is a true collectors piece , I've seldom before seen the employment of perfectly valid facts used as a basis for criticism . The context for our underachievement this season is well know and needs no repetition here but irrespective of our handicapped pre season preparations and last seasons disaster the brutal truth is that a long list of excuses will count for precious little next May . To answer your question at the start of the season I regarded us as fundamentally a mid-table side with an outside chance of a play-off place if we got a good start - how embarrassingly wrong I was in hindsight I'm sure we can both agree . Mea culpa . My ambitions for this season have now be forced to undergo an emergency reassessment , if you offered me 20th place right now I'd take that in a New York minute to be frank and regard it as some sort of success . However based on what I've seen so far even that mediocre target seems like a 'big ask' at this time I'm sorry to say . I'm far from confident our management , players or fans have yet grasped the scale of the task in front of them or even truly comprehend that they're in a battle yet , wake up and smell the coffee as they say because (if I may mix my metaphors) we're in it up to our necks . There's far too much of the 'We are to good to go down' about this forum lately - I can assure anyone reading this that is not necessarily true .

Logic seems to have very little connection with this nonsense 'Groundhog Day' debate we had on here every month since 1792 . How do you purpose to clear us inferior fans out of the Chapel by the way - are we to be ethnically cleansed at gun point ?

.... and Jesus wept .

Objective assessments are easier said than done because when it comes to Southampton Football Club few if any of us on here can be truly objective - we're too close to the subject . Baring that limitation in mind lets look at the facts that can't be manipulated by interpretation : Played - 10 Won - 1 Drawn - 6 Lost - 3 We started the season in 24th place 10 points away from safety , two months later we find ourselves still rooted to the bottom of the table 10 points adrift of safety . For the life of me I can't see how/why so many on here seem to be satisfied with this level of performance . However inventively you try and twist and turn the stats , whatever excuses you care to buy into the plain fact of the matter is that we've made a pretty poor start to the season - and that my friends is the simple (and objective) truth .

If the purpose of this thread is to seek praise/attention or to establish the OP's working class credentials then it's a outstanding success , any more meaningful insights (or indeed a point) is somewhat harder to discern however . Yes Markus Leibherr and Nicola Cortese have saved this club from oblivion - I'm not aware that obvious truth was subject to serious debate or that these two widely respected gentlemen were in need of some defence :confused:

I would be interested to see the details of this study you are using - please either provide a link so that we can all reference it or stop 'quoting' from it . You have no more idea as to Pardew's future success (or lack of) than anybody else on here , all we do have to go on his what he has achieved so far . The record shows that (at this time) he and his team are performing at less than one point per game level , with more than a 5th of the season already gone this is certain relegation form . I view another relegation as unacceptable , don't you ? You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that I've called for Pardew's instant dismissal , I have said no such thing - what I do say is that he has to improve the teams results in short order or face the consequences . As for sprinkling your posts with pseudo obscenities such as 'ferking' for instance I suggest you try and calm down a bit .