CHAPEL END CHARLIE

Yes - they're known as the Chuckle Brothers .

That's not the kind of thing I'd admit publicly if I was you , it'll be 'Last of the Summer Wine' next and then you really will have 'One Foot in the Grave' .

WOW ! - If he can do all that in a minute just think what he'll do in 90

It's the very heart of the matter - why can't we hold on to a lead ? It's normal once a visiting team falls behind at St Marys for them to shift their balance towards attack as they have quite literally nothing to lose at that point - how we react to that counter attack will often decide the outcome of the match . Instead of falling back to defend en masse (which the record shows we consistently fail at) there should be no major change in the balance of our play . Rather than hanging on to the lead we should continue with our gameplan as if we were not ahead , this phase of the game should be sized as a opportunity to increase our lead against an unbalanced opponent rather than just a desperate defensive period which inevitably surrenders the initiative to the opposition with the customary disastrous results . This is all much easier said than done unfortunately - that's why I'm not managing a football team . In war and in football maintaining the initiative is of crucial importance , the opposition should be reacting to us at St Marys - not the other way round .

Why are you driving at 55mph on the M27 ? - no good will come of it I tells ya .

While that's certainly true it's not very helpful as it also universally true of any struggling team in any division at any time ...... just one more goal please God . [-o Knowing our luck even if we scored 3 every game we'd still concede an 86th minute equaliser every time and end up 3-3 .

Bookmakers work in mysterious ways - their wonders to perform . The bookies have probably looked at our squad and our manager and reckon we should be alright this season , why we've failed to match that expectation (so far at least) is a interesting question for you . At this stage of the season the only useful guide to form is the league table . We can spend from now until kingdom comes making various excuses as to why we've performed so badly this season and none of it will make any difference - this is a results business and we're just not getting them - END OF . If we don't win on Saturday questions will be asked - those questions will be perfectly valid IMO .

Whichever way you cut it the simple truth is we're not scoring enough points - anything else is just flim-flam . Talk of the play-offs is nonsense at this time , midtable is starting to look ambitious at this rate . Four clubs get relegated from this league - right now we're looking likely to be one of them .

What is this 'iPhone' thingy you bunch of hopeless geeks are rabbiting on about ?

Get your worrying in early I say , in life and in football it's always later than you think . While I admire the sang-froid of our resident 'The season starts next Saturday' Brigade it won't take many more poor results for a bad start to turn into a proper 24 carat crisis . This club above all others should recognise the true danger of drawing too often at home - two disastrous relegation's since 2005 should prove to any observant Saints fan that it's dropping points at St Marys is what kills us in this game - not poor away results . Failing to win against Yeovil Town on Saturday clearly won't relegate us again (or anything like it) but each time this happens the pressure builds on the next home game expediently . This is a cycle that has to be broken right now because it has to be said we're not a club that seems to cope with extra pressure very well .

The league position has nothing to do with it - being (clearly) the best supported club in the region SFC results should feature prominently on local TV .

We've all done that my friend - at the last home game my sleep was rudely interrupted from the Chapel Stand Disabled area by this little lad in a wheelchair who I swear made more noise than the rest of the southern half of St Marys put together ! I wonder does anybody on here know who he is ?

This is so true , if Kelvin Davis got injured we'd be so deep in the brown stuff you'd need a JCB (or a Liebherr I should say) to dig us out .

Prejudice seems to sum up your contribution to this thread rather well I'd say . If you have any real evidence that Adam Lallana refused to play for the team or that he's actively attempting to engineer a move out of the club then I suggest you provide it - otherwise you would be well advised to follow the old English common law tradition of considering a man innocent until proven guilty .

Thanks for that valuable clarification Weston - if only everyone on here was open to reason that sould really put an end to this nonsense one would have thought . Unfortunately I suspect there are some who'd prefer to retain their prejudices .

Pompey offered WGS the managers job and he turned them down :D:D - priceless !

I did see that Sky link actually , still can't see any quote from Adam Lallana in it however . You don't seem to understand the difference between evidence and hearsay . Even if true (which is not proven) you do realise that nearly every young player in the lower leagues would like to play in the Premier League don't you ? Far from being a valid criticism many might say that a player showing no desire to play at the highest level wasn't ambitious enough . I must repeat Adam Lallana seems to be fully committed to doing his very best for this club and the level of effort on display from him can't be criticised - what more can you ask from any player ?

If you are talking about this 'Lallana wants out' thread then the whole story regarding Lallana alleged refusal to play for Mark Wotte seems entirely unsubstantiated : http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14612&highlight=lallana+leave&page=1 A brief unsourced item on Talksport or Sky (quite possibly planted by an agent) is not even close to being what I regard as proper evidence worthy of damaging a young players reputation . I judge a player not on press tittle-tattle but rather on what I see in front of me every other Saturday - based on that real evidence I'd say Adam Lallana is fully committed to doing his very best for this football club while he's here .

Can't agree with this . I haven't seen a shred of evidence that Adam Lallana doesn't want to be here or that he's not trying his very best for the team - quite the opposite in fact . This lad puts a decent shift in - the problem is his work's not always very productive as yet .

I'm happy to concede the squad's getting better , I'm less ready to accept that the performances are reflecting that as yet . Thinking back on the season I'd say Millwall at home on the opening day was at least the equal of anything I've seen subsequently . Perhaps that was our 'new manager bounce' . Everything is in place now you'd think to make SFC a successful football club , wealthy owner , good experienced manager & relatively decent players - but somehow we seem to have baked a pretty unappealing cake with all these tasty ingredients . Let's hope it just needs a few more minutes in the oven - he says stretching the analogy to breaking point

In battle not even the best laid plans can survive first contact with the enemy - Helmuth von Moltke We've little choice for now but to keep on plugging away and hope our luck changes - but it must be said Alan Pardew doesn't have 5 years (or anything like it) to sort this team out - he must keep us up this season as a absolute minimal requirement . To achieve that (modest) aim we obviously have to start winning football matches - Yeovil next Saturday would be nice .

Under normal circumstances an away point against the top of the table side could well be seen as a goodish result - I'm not so sure however celebrating the dropping of another two points is a luxury that we be able to afford much longer .

Tiresome long past its 'sell buy date' argument . George Burley was a disappearing speck in my rear view mirror 12 months ago , why so many are interested in resurrecting this utterly pointless discussion is quite beyond me .

Couldn't agree more . We'll probably see less of Perry from now on with the arrival of Jaidi and Trotman , but that's just a reflection on Perry's age rather than any criticism of his innate ability or attitude . The professional defender par excellence - I wish we'd signed him 5 years ago .

He's like that truck in the movie 'Duel' - just when we think we've gotten rid of him he reappears in our rear view mirror