jam

I'd say another season in League One would be the problem.

The direction isn't fine though, is it? If we want automatic promotion then results since Adkins have to be better than they are, as the table shows. We have improved over the beginning of the season but not improved enough. The results since Christmas would have been good if we had started the season well. But we didn't start the season well so they have not been good enough.

Who's 'everyone'?

We'll never know; Oakley proceeded to captain his team to promotion (although he had injuries that season too) and played in the Premiership before doing the same with Leicester in this crappy division. However there's a good shout to say he needed the move to get away from the post Redknapp + relegation malaise that was SFC at the time and if he'd stayed he'd have underachieved with the rest of them. The main point of my post was that Oakley left essentially because GB didn't trust his fitness over two years but the nearest thing we got to a replacement spent more time injured than not.

The irony of the Oakley-Idiakez situation was that Burley (or whoever) didn't trust Oakley's fitness enough to offer him longer than a one year deal, so Oakley went to Derby while Burley brought in Idiakez as a player who would 'demand the players around him played better'. Incidentally, I remember Oakley saying how Billy Davies sold the move to Oakley by saying he wanted to make him the captain of the team.

Surely that's just being professional?

I think Harte got put in at left-back for team of the year but he actually played in the centre. I think he also got in on a account of scoring a few. All if I recall correctly, I'm sure someone will correct me if otherwise...

Oh, indeed. I was more thinking about forum owners being able to cover their own arses.

I'd imagine (no actual knowledge) that forum t's&c's could be re-written to make the registrant of the forum account is responsible for any post made by that account.

We haven't has a penalty in a few games either, which could spell the end of our promotion hopes...

Sometimes you just get a feeling as you watch it all happen that the opposition would be in. As soon as they started appealing for not giving a foul it looked like a trademark Saints lapse of concentration...

I love it when the commentators just make it up. Is Guli Italian now?

He just seemed to be caught miles out of position so when they switched play he was playing catch up; it looked terrible from the Itchen.. I think the whole team were too concerned with a decision not given for us when they won the ball (their defender was climbing on Lambert, although he was backing in)...

I don't think the negativity is due to a lack of champagne football, more the fact that we seemed to get knocked off our game again. Swindon may have changed their tactics but we became very disjointed and gave a lot of possession away. If we are serious about going for promotion then we need to be harder to stifle than that. Just a note regarding the substitution; Adkins didn't wait until they scored to bring on Morgan, the player was briefed and getting ready to come on when the goal happened.

I think we've always had lots of quiet fans. When I sat in the lower west, singing almost seemed to be frowned upon...

We were more than a match for Leeds and Norwich last season so their success in the Champ can only be seen as very promising for us should we not blow it this season.

I think Barney's an excellent striker and finisher at this level and his work rate is great. But for me Guli offers more to the team. He has pace, height, skill and vision. There was a great moment in the first half when one of our players cleared the ball to him and his control allowed him the space to then okay a long pass out to Alex (I think) and we were on the attack. I don't think anyone else in our side would have been able to do that.

Guly's better.

Now on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9408254.stm Sad, sad news. Excellent defender for us who scored a few important goals as well. I think his arrival and partnership with Claus was the start of us having a more dependable defence and I was gutted when he decided to follow Hoddle to Spuds. He seemed a really honest player as well, the sort that fans can really take to. RIP.

I'm sure we must be responsible for them not winning the title a couple of times...

Apparently trying to focus and rebuild the entire club is 'interfering'...

Cheers, I assumed it was another one of those articles that would only make it into the print version. Had to notice this line: I'm guessing that 'research' means looking through NickG's post history...

That and the fact that he's a recognised threat now, which combined with Lallana's absense meant that opposing teams could put more effort into stopping him play. Playing him on the left and narrow has probably stifled him as well.

Something to do with the fact that their bodies haven't developed and they are not used to playing first team games every week?

I didn't read it. Can you say it for me?