CanadaSaint

It was a generic comment, not one aimed at you. And I have no problem with your disagreement - I just don't agree with it. I was talking about those who reject criticism of Guly, however valid, by accusing the critic of being a Guly hater. There's plenty of it on this thread and it often descends into the pig-ignorant (Fordy) and the rather childish (Smirking). If they don't have a counter argument beyond "You're a Guly hater", perhaps they don't have a counter argument at all. Now, will somebody please put forward an argument for why he was not at fault (along with others, agreed) for the second goal?

Do you have anything remotely resembling a counter-argument to put forward, or is that just a torrent of half-witted abuse all you've got? Don't bother responding - I already know the answer.

I didn't hear MLT's comment on Sky. You can't be serious with the "warp speed" comment. It was his weak defensive header that initiated the problem but that wasn't the big deal because that can happen. The big deal, for me, was that it should have heightened the onus on him to close down the resultant problem, and he was extremely slow to react. Fox didn't do much either but it was primarily Guly's responsibility to close Raphael down rather than leave Rodriguez with two. Raphael had a ton of time to pick out his target, and he delivered. Guly wasn't to blame for the loss but he was culpable in that goal, and moments like this in the PL are very, very costly. It bugs me that even legitimate criticisms of Guly (and I've been a Guly supporter - other than when he IMO was slow to react at Fratton Park) are dismissed with the lazy argument that they come from Guly haters or people who want to make him the whipping boy. He screwed up big-time on that goal. I'll bet that 90% of people who work in the game would watch that goal and immediately point a finger at Guly - even if there were other problems when the cross came over.

No, it hasn't been my theme - I've seen a lot of positives in him. Providing reliable defence isn't one of them. And we should leave Rodgriguez out of it - he was trying to mark two out there.

Sorry, second goal. Weak defensive header (not a huge deal) followed by a p*ss poor attempt to close down Raphael - Rodriguez was trying to mark two out there. Guly and Fox stood marking space and ball-watching when it was vital to close the wide man down early.

Take another look at their third goal.

It looks really, really bad to a worldwide audience and they need to get it sorted ASAP.

Schneiderlin was superb but he has a lot of competition for MOTM.

I've been a moderate Guly supporter but I'm done with him now. A weak defensive header was one thing but to stand there alongside Fox, two ball-watching sisters marking nothing and nobody while the wide man had ages to measure his cross to Rio, was something else. I have no idea what would possess NA to put Guly on when we needed some defensive fortitude. Still, I'm much more positive than negative about today.

Very proud of the team - that's not a relegation side, and we still have players to bring in. Schneiderlin was superb, and Puncheon not far short, with others close behind. I don't but the "United didn't play" bullsh*t - they didn't get a chance to play. And I am now officially in the anti-Guly group. I don't blame him for the weak defensive header that led up to United's winner - I'd like to slap him for standing in the box after it, marking space instead of closing down the wide man who crossed it. He and Fox were stood there, marking nobody, like a couple of pussies.

I'm probably in the minority but I think it would be classy if Saints did something to recognize Fergie's 1,000th league game.

Darnit! I guess that is kind of official.

After our dealings in the window I wouldn't rule anything out. When you spend $20 million+ on upgrading the squad, probably with more to come in January because we missed out on some targets, a top-priced manager isn't that big a deal. Especially if you've been very public about wanting style as well as results.

Has anyone definitively said that Ramirez is ineligible? Our Nigel couldn't be playing a little head game with Fergie, could he?

AVB will probably be looking for work soon as well, so we'll probably be linked with him. God forbid.

Thanks for that. We certainly seem to have signed players made for that 4-2-3-1, so I'd say it's going to be a lot more than an experiment.

I'm not sure you have to be at the games to make the judgment call but it certainly helps. His biggest weakness for me was one I hoped would be resolved in pre-season training - his pace over the first ten yards, which is crucial for a "predatory striker." I noticed it on the TV coverage but it was even more apparent that he was lacking in this regard when I went to some games last year. From what I've seen of him this year, the problem is still there, and it's one of those things that will stop him from making the step up to PL standard.

True, but if there's anything crazier than the idea of Harry working harmoniously with Rupert, it's the idea of Harry working harmoniously with Nicola. I'm not sure I would bet against it, though.

No, Alpine, because I've truly had enough of the negative impact you have on this forum - day in and day out. You're not alone but you really are a league apart. You whine constantly about the abuse you take and then turn around and call me an "arsewipe" for daring to disagree with you - and I've defended you in the past, including yesterday. To be brutally honest, I think you need some professional help. You endlessly invite criticism and even contempt, and when it inevitably comes you go running for cover behind your pathetic persecution complex.

We're all "emotionally attached to this club" and we all "have an emotional investment in it" but we don't all keep wading in here with batsh*t-crazy overreactions on just about everything that happens here. If you're not responsible in what you post, and you certainly aren't, don't bleat when it comes back to haunt you. That's why he's managing a Premier League club, after two successive promotions, and you're sitting on a mountain in Austria or wherever the hell you are.

Exactly, and we should be used to it by now. I just hope we're not going to have whinefests about people like Merson and Lawrenson all season long because it's not going to change until we establish ourselves as a Top 8 side.

"Awful" and "woeful"? I don't think so, and I watched the match twice. They took 23 out of 33 points at the end of last season for good reason. IMO they are well organized and very well managed. They may be unfashionable, they may not have a big budget, and they may not have any real "stars", but they are not the crap team that some people are so quick to accuse them of being. And we actually played much better than some would have us believe in the post-match discussion. Still, that's just my opinion.

Good post, David. One of the things I can't wait to see is the degree to which our new signings help the players around them to look better. It's a potentially big plus that goes beyond getting the players we've signed. One example, for me, is Danny Fox. If we can be fast and skillful attacking down our left side, opposing teams won't be quite so quick to take the risk of throwing their defensive players forward when they are attacking us down that side. That would help to minimize the impact of some of Fox's weaknesses. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that this could also benefit our middle two at the back, because they won't be drawn out of the middle to cover Fox quite as often. So, I'm looking for some of our longer term players to improve (or seem to have improved) as they play with better players.

Even though they only drew, Wigan "out-possessioned" Stoke 68/32. IMO they are a much better side than people on here were giving them credit for last week, so our loss - though really disappointing - wasn't quite that bad. Fulham look to be in big trouble. AVB has a good chance of being paid more not to manage teams than he was ever paid to manage them.

I remember plenty of people on here, not necessarily you, saying the same thing when we were promoted to the Championship. We have added people with youth, skill and a ton of potential on their side - in the opinion of others far away from this Club. The addition of width and pace is huge. I'm delighted that we've moved well beyond this "sign experienced players and hang on for grim death" concept. When we see this lot dovetail together, which won't happen right away, I think we'll all be very pleased.