CHAPEL END CHARLIE

Then = no :mad: Now = yes

Marek Ormerodski .

I inwardly groan every time I hear his name announced in the starting 11 , a poor to average striker long past his (criminally inconsistent) best I'm sorry to say . Looking at his recent home performances (I didn't see his supposed good game against Brum City) he looks like he's weeks if not months away from his next Saints goal . Having said all that no honest observer could say the blokes not trying his best for us but to be brutally frank his best just doesn't cut it anymore . If Papa Waigo is half as good as his brief cameo appearances suggests he might be then Saga's playing days here may well be numbered . What really rubs it in is that he's quite probably the best paid member of the squad , while that's not his fault in value for money terms he must represent an atrocious investment for this club .

A very astute observation if I may say so , the very same thought had occurred to me so we must both be right then . - Simon Gillett to partner Hammond in centre midfield methinks .

What ever happened to our small shoal of tame Pompyites that used to post on this thread ? - let's call it 'The Silence of the Fish' .

My rating policy is to make 5/10 the starting point , do a bit better than average and I give more , a little less than average gets marked down obviously . When you think about it most players can be expected to fall into the 4-6 range . You could well argue that we're all guilty (myself included) of being too generous with marking Saints players as most normally are rated well above 5 - which is quite illogical really . On more than one occasion I've found myself giving everyone above average marks when the teams performed terribly !

Agreed on that specific point - 'Fish' Mills can take a notably better corner kick .

My ratings for Saints v Yeovil Town (2-0) Kelvin Davis 7 - Plenty to do here and he did all that was required of him perfectly as usual . W Thomas 5.5 - Tank's just not an attacking full back and it shows , he did his very best impersonation though . R Jaidi 6.5 - A big capable CB I'll be surprised if he doesn't do well for us , caught up-field out of position too often for my liking . N Trotman 6 - A good player already but when he gains experience and learns to concentrate a tad more he'll be quality . D Harding 6.5 - I like this lad so much , not only a very decent full back but consistent with it . L James 5 - Hard worker but I can't see what he offers us really as inherently better midfield players are available . D Hammond 7.5 MOTM - The best I've seen him play for us , the commanding midfield hardman we'd hoped for . M Schneiderlin 6 - Good vision and creative , but I can't say he's a game winning force as yet TBH . A Lallana 7 - Only just beaten for MOTM here , super work rate matched with real ability on the ball - what more can you ask ? M Saganowski 4.5 - Mr Nearly Man . Nothing ever quite works out for him does it , honest player but his 'touch' is just gone . R Lambert 7 - Excellent target man but needs the proper service , he sure knows how to take a penalty too (two) :-D Substitutes : PW N'diaye - 7 Offside too often but an instant improvement on Saga , there was a Camera like air of excitement when he gets on the ball . J Mills 7 - Another player who should be starting IMO , smashing little winger . P Wotton 4 - he came on , he ran about a bit . Conclusion : We demanded a win and that's just what we got so well done to Alan Pardrew and the team . If you want to know how we won this odd game the picture's not quite so rosy however , we didn't play that well for long periods in all honesty and were it not for two 'debatable' penalty decisions I'm far from confident the match wouldn't have ended in a draw again . We won because for the first time for ages we found an opposition that didn't have the gumption to mount a real counter attack after we went ahead - there a few teams as weak as Yeovil in this division so if we want to repeat this result consistently we'll have to play much better than this to be frank . I'm quite sure AP realises this . The 3 points are most welcome but has a corner been turned ? we'll see .

I'm insanely jealous You mean your can book the specific seat you want and it doesn't spit back your booking attempt at the very last stage after you've just wasted 10 minutes on the bloody thing !

The on-line booking system has been a farce ever since it was set up , I gave up trying to use it years ago . The best thing to do with it would be to close it down and start again with a new system that actually works properly for a change .

Well done John ! that's quite the most entertaining thing I've ever seen on here . But where was Mr Chumley-Warner ?

This reads eerily like a 'cut & paste' from every other home game prediction thread we've had this season - only the names have changed . All those other home games have ended in draws , we're getting to the stage where that just won't be good enough anymore . No more excuses please . Saints 1 Yeovil 0 .

Jason Euell had lost any pretension to centre forward status long before he arrived at SFC , the lack of any real pace or reliable finishing ability generally being considered a handicap in a striker . An OK (in the main) but massively overpaid centre midfielder sums him up nicely .

I predict (with a high degree of confidence) that I'm going to be monumentally p*ssed off if we don't win this one - the cat's packing his bags and phoning for a Taxi as I write this .

In my very non expert opinion a 6 weeks recovery from serious knee ligament damage sounds a tad optimistic - indeed I'd like to see the quote where Pardew actually said that . I was under the impression that injures of this nature take time to settle before they can be properly accessed even . Didn't someone say a week ago they'd seen him still on crutches ?

How do you explain the simple truth that other clubs with problems quite the equal of ours have made much better starts to their seasons than we have - Newcastle Utd & AFC Bournemouth spring to mind . This suggests to me we are underperforming again even taking the disrupted preseason into account . It's always later than you thing , Alan Pardrew and his team need to start winning football matches pretty damn quick - Yeovil Town on Saturday would be a (very) welcome start .

The alternative school of thought is that you pick your best players and find a way of making it work - at a much higher level Fabio Capello has found a way of combining Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard together in the same midfield for instance . I've never seen anything to suggest that SG can play anywhere else than Centre Midfield however , in that position Schneiderlin is more creative and Hammond is probably a better choice so maybe Alan Pardew has a valid reason for omitting Gillett - but as I've said if Lloyd James is good enough I really can't see why Simon Gillett isn't . It will be interesting to see who would 'get the nod' if Hammond were missing for any reason , something tells me Wotton would make an (unwelcome) reappearance . We pay the manager to make these choices and we have to support him in his decisions . If he gets it right no one will complain , if he gets it wrong it could be his (football) funeral .

There's more to it than that - Gillett had a poor 20 minutes (against Millwall was it ?) Melis on the other hand has been so bad - at St Marys anyway - that he's been substituted at half time , twice IIRC . The only explanation as to why bog standard players such as Paul Wotton or Lloyd James secure midfield berths ahead of Simon Gillett is surly that the manager just doesn't rate him - that's his choice of course but it's not a view many on here seem to share .

Can't really disagree with this . If we ultimately improve enough to finish in your safe mid-table prediction (or even anywhere above the bottom four) then most reasonable fans on here would be content enough for this initial season . But let's be absolutely clear on this - that is the bare minimal result required from Alan Pardrew and his team . Until we start to perform like a team that's capable of achieving that aim then it has to be said the jury's still out on Mr Pardrew - you can rest assured he's been in this game long enough to realise that . As for the benefits of patience it all rather depends on the level of responsibility the job entails does it not ? An airline pilot who crashes his jet twice during his first six weeks on the job might well be considered a fair choice for redundancy !

He'll have to elbow Mills out of the way first .

Don't really understand such anger towards a perfectly reasonable post :confused: It seems to me most top managers don't discuss their personal opinions regarding their players in the public arena - Imagine some fan going up to Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger and demanding to know why he hadn't picked this player over that player in the last game etc... - he probably get a short and not very polite answer ! Never explain - never complain .

Somewhat surprised AP would openly discuss his opinions on Saints players with a complete stranger - most managers would keep that kind of thing 'in house'

As in we're going to branch out into other sports ? Southampton Saints Rugby Club - Please God N0!!!! Saints Ladies Beach Vollyball - oh yes Aussie Rules football - well we're not doing very well with the FA version Speedway at St Marys - no match for my beloved 'Poole Pirates' St Marys Polo Club - too many Ruperts Soton Darts - not enough Ruperts 'Team Saints' Formula One - but we've always lacked pace Banger racing - at last a good use for Pulis Weight lifting club - we could try and get Fatty Hammond back On second thoughts lets not .

In the light of all this shameless 'I've been everywhere' bragging you might as well change you username to Phileas Phil . Btw this Global Warming business - it's all down to you .