CHAPEL END CHARLIE

It's a well known fact that the Skates favour PFC , but I understand we're still big among the Haddocks . Cod on the other hand are massive Poole Town fans .

Charlton have less support than Leyton Orient ?

...

Not on your nellie ?

I have to agree with this . No one should seriously doubt Adam Lallana's technical ability on the ball - but becoming an effective player requires so much more than just that . This lad's not blessed with outstanding natural pace or height , nor for that matter does he possess the upper body strength needed to overpower his opponents . He needs either to baulk up (this may come with age) or learn how to play around his limitations - pass and move might be a simplistic way of describing it . A good team should be a balance of talented players mixed with hard grafters who can win the ball and give it to their more creative teamates . There should be room in the game for gifted young players such as Lallana or Schneiderlin - but we also need workers like Gillett around them . Over to you Mr Pardew .

This is clearly not true .

An honest appraisal of our poor end of game performance will show that the problem is not so much that we don't score enough second half goals (as far as I'm aware we score significantly more often in the second half than the first) but rather we concede far too many late goals - more often than not at the Northam end despite its supposed 'advantages' to the home team . So even if you accept this 'Kicking towards the Northam' argument (I don't) any theoretical increase in our scoring by employing this strategy would logicly be negated by a corresponding increased vulnerability at the Chapel end goal . The net result of of this chopping and changing would be to leave us exactly where we are now . There are no easy answers in life - or football .

.... so that's no actual evidence to support your theory then . You have unfairly accused me of a self serving argument when I've defended the status quo (I can assure you I'd rather the team won which ever end the goals go in) but it seems to me you Sir could be accused of exactly the same self serving offence with at least equal plausibility . Your description of the Northam as a 'proper' stand (with the implication that fans from other areas are inferior somehow) veers perilously close to the notorious 'superfan' claim that reasonable fans from all sections of St Marys may well find risible . The fact that a few people on here think a theory is correct without so much as a shred of supporting evidence leaves be unimpressed , for example I understand 80 million US citizens believe that the Earth was created by God in 7 days about 5000 years ago - I'm I supposed to accept that as well ? As this nonsense debate seems to be a fact free zone I'll help it out with some true but meaningless facts : 1- Every League goal SFC has scored at SMS this season has gone in at the Chapel end - all during the second half of the game . 2- Every League goal SFC has conceded at SMS this season has gone in at the Northam end - all during the second half of the game . Looking at the above facts (based on only home 3 games admittedly) you might well argue that the way we play now maximises our second half scoring and the 'noisy' Northam seems to rob the defence of its composure somehow , but I don't claim any such thing because the whole argument is fundamentally absurd . Geography cannot win a football match - only players can . I must repeat , if attacking Northam end of St Marys gave the team some mysterious second half advantage then this would be easily provable statistically and the club would certainly have adopted this practice (when we win the toss) long long ago .

OK then , produce one shred of evidence that we defend and attack the Northam goal more effectivly than we do the Chapel . As for self interest where do you sit ?

If it's true that we have the most expensive squad in L1 then by definition we also have the least value for money squad as well , because this 'expensive' squad (it's worth remembering we made a profit on player trading this summer) just hasn't delivered the goods as yet . Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock................

Not only dumb but tediously repetitive - we have this same pointless discussion every 3 or 4 months at least with the same absurd 'I'm a better fan than you' prejudice rolled out by the same usual suspects . As has been said on countless occasions in the past , it makes no difference whatsoever which end the team happen to kick towards in each half . If there were any advantage in charging the customary practice the team would surly have done so years ago , the fact that they haven't bothered should answer this ridiculous question you'd have thought .

We in danger of having too many chiefs and not enough Indians .

Opps ! - Forecast of course . :smt053

I hope you're right - I saw him play preseason and he was shocking to be brutally frank , the lack of confidence you mention seemingly getting worse rather than better .

A potential weak point that seldom gets mentioned is the goalkeeper situation - should Kelvin Davis recieve a serious injury I suspect neither Bialkowski (certainly) or Forecast (probably) will be anywhere near good enough .

Every league goal SFC has scored at SMS this season ?

Newsflash ...... Rare photo of the last Saints team to win a football match discovered .

There are basically two schools of thought regarding fans booing their team : 1 - Fans pay their hard earned cash to be entertained and have a perfect right to express discontent when they are not satisfied with the entertainment on offer. 2 - The role of a fan is to support their team come what may and booing players serves no good purpose at all . I can see merit in both arguments and at different times have argued on both sides of the debate on here ! The truth it's one of those questions that have no 'right' answer and you just have to make up your own mind as to which point of view you find the more persuasive .

Interesting to compare and contrast the first 6 league fixtures of this season and last : 2008/9 season......................................2009/10 season Cardiff City (away) - lost 2-1...................Millwall (home) drawn 1-1 Birmingham (home) - lost 2-1...................Huddersfield (away) lost 3-1 Derby County (away) - won 1-0...............Swindon (away) lost 1-0 Blackpool (home) lost 1-0........................Brentford (home) drawn 1-1 QPR (away) lost 4-1...............................Stockport (away) drawn 1-1 Ipswich Town (home) drawn 2-2...............Colchester (home) drawn 0-0 Points = 4..............................................Points = 4 Goal Difference (minus) 5..........................Goal Difference (minus) 3 We can argue until the cows come home as to whether Poortvleit or Pardrew had the better squad to work with (relative to the different divisions) but results wise we seem to be stuck in the same old rut that can trace its origins right back to the 2007/8 season if not before . You can all draw your own conclusions as to where this season is heading based on the start but for my money (and to state the obvious some might say) unless we start winning football games pretty damn quick we'll be in serious trouble yet again . That's not being impatient or unsupportive - it's just the plain and simple truth .

The worst miss of the day fell to Trotman not Paterson if you ask me (you kinda expect defenders to mess up in the opposition box) but that seems to have escaped comment somehow on here . I don't think anyone who witnessed yesterdays match could possibly claim that Paterson had a good game - he clearly didn't - but writing off a young player at such an early stage of his career is the absolute height of folly . This lad needs to introduced gently into the first team or loaned out , not to be starting in important matches yet IMO . I'm quite confident that's exactly what will happen as soon as Alan Pardew has better options to choose from .

Managers take much of the credit when things go right and consequently must share much of the blame when they don't - this is the way of the (football) world . Alan Pardew hasn't run out of time - he's not even nearly run out of time - but at a bare minimum he has to keep us up this season I'd say . I really don't think that's asking too much . Ultimately however there are only two people who's opinion counts for anything at SFC now - Nicola Cortese and Markus Liebherr . Both these gentlemen are on the record stating all the usual stuff about stability and long term planning ... etc but their true reaction to failure (I'm not saying Pardew will fail) remains as big an enigma as they do . As ever time will tell .

My ratings for Saints v Colchester Utd (0-0) K Davis 6 - Like his opposite number not called upon for anything even remotely special today . W Thomas 6.5 - A stand in RB only , did his best but not quick enough to do this job really . N Trotman 6 - A more than useful defender but suspect distribution and clueless in the opposition box . C Perry 7 MOTM - Had his hands full dealing with that big lump Platt today , the forward got very little change out of CP . D Harding 7 - Dan the man again , such a good player at this level - I really rate him highly . J Mellis 3 - So ineffectual he might almost be a product of our academy . Subbed at half time again . D Hammond 5 - Steady enough but nothing special , does his best to organise the midfield (should be captain ?) L James 4 - Painfully average - if he was a car he'd be a beige Cortina 1.3L . A Lallana 6 - You can't doubt his natural ability or effort - but he's neither strong nor quick enough to really do the business for us yet . M Paterson 3.5 - I don't want to be too hard on him but can we really afford to let him learn on the job ? - a weak link sadly . R Lambert 6.5 - No decent service = no goals . I wonder if he regrets coming here already . Substitutes : J Mills 6.5 - A noticeable improvement on Mellis 'Fish' is destined to become a quality player - would have been MOTM if he looked up before crossing every now and again ! J Thomson 2 - Can this boy actually play football ? So lightweight you fear the wind may blow him away . A good pub player maybe . M Schneiderlin 6.5 - By no means a bad player but not the big hard midfield bruiser we really need . Worth keeping now he's here . Summary : The statistics our quite simple - a mere 4 points out of a possible 18 won , tonight we lay at least 11 points from safety . Until we get to grips with big strong but not very talented teams such as Colchester we going nowhere in this league or any other , except down again maybe . Against 10 men we did not more than match Colchester for all our 'huff & puff' - I find that unacceptable . The only bright spot I can provide to lighten the gloom is that Harding and Mills could well make an exciting partnership down the left wing , but don't ask me why Alan Pardew thinks the combative qualities of Simon Gillet are not needed in this midfield - it's just one of those little mysteries the Gods of football send to bewilder us . The weakness of our bench was terribly apparent again today as we had no one to replace the ineffective Paterson with , lets hope Papa Waigo or the return of Saganowski give Lambert something to work off because as it is this team will continue to struggle for goals . I think most of us realise why the team is not performing - its principly because the preseason was so disrupted by the prolonged takover saga , but to be brutaly honest the time for excuses is fast drawing to a close now .

Let's play all our home games in there then .

The OS lists Lallana as a striker (I'm not convinced) and I wonder if Jamie White is available if needs be .

The only thing I really miss about not being in the Premier League is you just don't see players of Henri Camera's 'class' in a Saints shirt anymore - although it must be said he didn't turn on that class quite often enough .