Tom & Gerry

I don't know the views of most footballers on anything but football. They may all be cranks. I know Terry Paine was a Tory but I don't hold that against him too much. I go on how they played when I rate them as footballers and Matt was certainly our most entertaining player. On a good day, and there were many, he was our best on a bad day and there were a few, one of our worst.

They might move to the seated area of the Northam. I don't know if they would improve the atmosphere there.

In my view the success of this depends on the unexpected consequences of trying to engineer an enthusiastic home end. Most fans, season ticket holders at least, sit or stand where they do because they prefer the view and atmosphere around them be that loud or not so loud. Many fans in the Chapel may not bear to be next to the away fans and might migrate to a similar view but at the Northam end, not whats intended. Some of our more enthusiastic fans might not, for whatever reason bear to be anywhere but next to the away fans. Supporters along the side might prefer the view from where they are, so there could be a problem actually filling the Northam with the type of fan intended. In fact (as happened at the Dell) the Chapel could become more of a singing end than the Northam. In fact over 23 seasons there has been little appetite to create a singing area anywhere other than near the away supporters . I would also add that wherever they are, the away supporters will be loud as that is the nature of away support. I wish the scheme success but there obstacles that need to be confronted and overcome.

Watching a winning team in whichever league is better and lets face it Saints spend most of the time in the lower half of the Premier league. Still beating the likes of Man City or Utd or Liverpool feels better than any win in the Championship (unless its the one that wins promotion)

I realise Bazuna is a marmite keeper, but surely we've heard all the arguments by now. We've conceded a goal, at last, get over it

And to give his back up some game time after a long lay off.

Singing isn't the same thing as atmosphere, but I agree it helps during the quiet periods. The fixation on Pompey is embarrassing. You wouldn't catch Man U fans singing about Oldham, Liverpool about Tranmere or Newcastle about Hartlepool. Come on Saints fans, if you want to be a big club show some ambition.

A fair point, but genuine question. Did those teams have a lot of premier league loan players which they lost? Maybe they made too many changes and lost their cohesion.

Ah but Burnley have lost some key players including a centre half and a goalscoring winger.

Correction we'd still be 2 points behind Leicester.

So which is it, with this squad we should be walking this league or we would need 6 -7 players to compete in the prem? I don't think both can be true. Clearly we need more goals. If we had beaten Ipswich we would only be 2 points behind them and if we'd beaten Rotherham and Huddersfield as we should have as well we'd be top. It is much harder to score in the Premier league so that is the problem Martin needs to solve and then I think we'd probably struggle , we usually do, but we'd be alright

Tom Parker, Ludlow Rd boy, captain of the mighty Arsenal, the fee paid for a stand at the Dell. As manager brought Ted Bates to the club, later a scout.

I went to the Woking game. I thought they were red and white quarters but it was a long time ago and I was only 8.

With regard to the narrow wins. I can remember plenty of times in the past when we've had a big win , optimism has risen and then we've lost the next game. Don't get me wrong I like a big win but I prefer a consistent winning team.

It is quite normal for a team to have a bad spell during the season. We've had ours, Leicester might be at the beginning of one and have now lost 3. Do Ipswich have the squad to continue like they have all season? I also think there are a lot of tough ,hard to beat teams in this league and all the top teams will find it hard to maintain the current pace. There is a long way to go

Do people still not realise that football is a team game? You can have the best players in the league but unless they compliment each other and learn to play together they won't win anything. That's why managers don't always pick what fans consider to be the best 11 players. How are you expected to win football matches when you lose your captain, the replacement captain and a goal scoring winger and you have to bring in new players and you have no time to coach them because there are three games a week. You might expect in these circumstances that the players would revert to the failed methods they had been taught in the past when things got tough and that's what happened. Since the manager had a clear week to coach the players they have not lost. It's not only the manager that has learnt from mistakes, its the players.

Some 60's classics There's a bloke his name is Terry Paine, he only scores goals now and again. And again, and again , and again, and again , and again, and again , and agaaain. Went to the Dell just the other day, sha la la la lee, just to see Southampton play, sha la la la lee. Sha la la la Ron Davies, sha la la la Ron Davies. Onwards Saints supporters marching as to war with the boot of Chivers going on before. Melia is our schemer pushing from behind, Davies is our leader scoring all the time. His name is Ronnie Davies he's the leader of the team , the greatest centre forward that the world has ever seen , you always can rely on him to score a vital goal and as for Ray Hiron you can stick him up your hole, la la la laa - la la la la la la.

I think his reputation has gone before him. To my eyes we play less crab like football as you call it than some previous regimes especially since he actually had a full week of training with all his new players, since when we haven't lost. I see our much maligned goalkeeper getting rid of the ball quickly and generally distributing the ball well. I see players like Bednerek passing the ball forward and I see exciting wingers taking on defenders and putting in crosses. Of course when teams put 10 men behind the ball it can be a struggle to break them down and you get some slow play, but that happens with all teams. As for possession football, I much prefer it when we have the ball than the opposition. Momentum in football counts for a lot, look at Ipswich. Saints were on long downward trajectory with hardly a home win in years and were a long way last. It takes time to turn that round whatever the club said about automatic promotion. We are doing much better than I expected.

It's early days in a long season, if he has the strength as much as the ability at he will get the chance at some stage one way or the other.

Young players have to learn the game however good they are, which is why some players start like world beaters and then come to a grinding halt before they push on or not. Players can improve at any time and some are ready ar a younger age than others. JWP took plenty of stick for not being the finished article at 22. Chez Adams is still improving in my opinion, Alan Shearer didn't start scoring regularly straight away despite his first game hat trick . Just because a player is behind others at 18 or 19 doesn't mean he will stay there.

I'm just happy we're scoring goals

We did have a bloated squad and we need to replace some that have left. If we replace those that haven't left yet we could have a bloated squad again. I thought everyone was aware that this was going to happen yet some seem surprised and shocked

The problem is that if we buy before we sell, deals like the Lyanco one for instance could fall through, and we could end up with a bloated squad, and we wouldn't want that would we? I said this would be hard month for the fans and the manager. We have to get new players and then we have to get them to play together, not easy

From manager to fans the next few weeks are going to be really hard. We have the frame work. Lets hope that from September we have the players to execute it.

That's August's team sorted, what will it look like by September?