hughieslastminutegoal

Ron clearly hasn't seen our inability to hit a cross in past/over the first defender. Nor our inability to get someone who can head the ball and who is even able to get to the far post in anticipation of a cross coming in.

...Ah, poor coke-head ****ed up footballers not being arsed to turn up for a crucial 6 pointer are being driven from the club by a few moaning fans on an internet message board. Get real.

Well that covers probably 3 quarters of the rest of the division. Doesn't stop them trying things though does it?

You're a complete and utter tw*t. Get it into your stupid head that if you want this club to survive you have to appeal to people who want to pick and chose what to spend their money on. It doesn't matter a toss why they came today. This team had the chance to convince them it is worth coming back again, to see them, not just to see MU. And they stupendously failed to do it. I trust you will enjoy yourself effin and blinding in an empty terrace at absent people who have the temerity to show they want value for money. And entertainment and commitment, and skill and application from PROFESSIONAL footballers. But yeah, f*ck them, who needs 'em. They aren't real fans like you.

JP was talking jibberish. He thought we played better than them most of the time, that our only problem was (apart from the odd lapse of concentration) up front. Forest were a younger team than us - and they dictated most of the time. We let in a chip from 40 yards. We give them a free header from 6 yards. KD saved us 3 times. They over-ran a one on one. On another day it could have been 1-6. I said right at the start of the season Lowe would change direction in November. I think I will be about 3-4 weeks out. He HAS to change direction otherwise the crowd will be down to 12k, and we go broke. A change will at least renew some optimism, and bring back some of the crowd.

Endemic for how long? Endemic within our Academy for some time? Why then did RL think that the Academy was going to supply players good enough to survive in the CCC? One day people will accept that Walcott in particular, along with Bale, and losing to Ipswich Youth in one youth cup final encouraged Lowe to believe that somehow we had a youth system superior to almost everyone else. Wearing rose-tinted specs of such a deep pink hue, he must need a guide dog to find his way around.

Ok I'll say it. They are not being trained properly to do the right things in their respective positions. And despite you having agreed with this statement in advance, if I say the management team are failing you'll then disagree!!

You still seem to have this notion that everyone who has ever attended a Saints match is somehow obliged to attend, and if they don't they are somehow lacking in moral fibre. 30,000 fans regularly in the Prem minus 15000 current crowd = 15000 missing. Every one of those 15000 missing fans represents at least 2 people who used to come fairly often. So at least 30000 potential attendees aren't coming any more. Its futile to carry on believing its all about super-fans. Its absolutely not. Its about re-attracting the missing ordinary fans who want to see some wins when they come, and want to be entertained. It doesn't matter whether you yourself hold pie-in-the-sky promotion hopes from a side of loans and inexperienced youth. Super-fans might pour over the intricacies of the Academy system as a conveyor belt, 4-3-2-1-1, bla blah - all valid subjects for forum discussion. But the vast majority of missing attendees have a looser defintion of fan-ism than you super-fans. They just want to feel its worth turning up, who have believe there is a reasonable prospect of being carried along on at least a minor wave of success, and will get value for money. We are talking about a professional entertainment industry first and foremost, but at the moment "the missing" are being appealed to on the basis that it is somehow their duty to support the club in the same way as they should dip into their pockets to support the Red Cross or Children in Need. It annoys the hell out of me that many young players (I'm not talking of Saints players in particular) these days seem to believe that fans owe them a living. Contrast that with the attitude of a young comedian or musician or actor trying to make the grade. It is high time the football world stopped taking their fans (customers, attendees, whatever you want to call them) for granted.

And Burnley would have scored how many more if the paint on the woodwork had been a bit thinner. Could it not be the case that you choose the system to fit the players you have, not persist with a system for which the players are not good enough? Or maybe our players aren't good enough for ANY system in this division?

So when we are 15 games from the end of the season and looking prime candidates for relegation, do you try something/someone else? Or when there are 12 games left? Or at Christmas in Div1? Or when crowds are down to 10k? Will you still be asking fans to come up with the solutions then? Come on, put your money where your mouth is - where do we have to be, and when, for you to accept that the trial has failed? You are sitting somewhat on the fence, saying you'd give him 1 OR 2 seasons. My analogy with Woolies stands - everyone knew it was failing, yet no-one took any notice, and did nothing, your mate included. Ah, but what was happening...was happening. No need to seek alternative professional opinion about other possible courses of action. Nah, just insist that the customers should be the ones to make all the suggestions.

If Lowe does believe what you say, then we see the the arrogance of the man, that somehow he can do what no other club has managed - to produce a conveyor belt of players good enough to provide a successful first team.

Don't normally agree with what you say, but in this case I pretty much concurr -although the problem will be replacing them with players who will do a better job - because if we are to survive, doing an equal job is unlikely to be good enough. How do you think your "Rupes" will do that?

..but not your fault at all of course, although you call "the vast majority of our fans" total morons, just because you don't like (let's say) half of what is posted on an internet forum.

How long have we had an Academy, and how many good players have we produced as a result? People have gone overboard because we "produced" Walcott and Bale, and a few others we got small beer for, and did well in one youth cup recently-ish. People have no statistics about how our output compares with the output of other clubs, but still somehow continue to assert that our Academy is fantastic. You have to take a longer view of its effectiveness, not take a couple what may prove to be untypical years.

I'm not sure you remember the point you made. You said: "People say that it is the coach's job to prepare players mentally - but that is a con. Nothing can prepare a player for the mental reality of situations other than playing - what you can practice and train for is the technical, skills element and hope that this is applied correctly every time." That is clearly absolute nonsense, so you ignore that and state something else instead. I assume you think Mr Capello doesn't know what he's talking about when he says his main job is, surprise surprise, to prepare players mentally. And did I miss your reply to Woodward instilling winning mentality with sports psychology? So is "Jan the nice bloke" maybe not the best guy for the hard job of getting kids mentally tough enough for a man's league?

He will take more full pages to say that what is being done is the only thing that can be done, and we will find out whether is was good enough at the end of the season. Bit like Woolies shareholders saying at the start of the year that Wollies Board are doing the only thing they can, and they won't know how big the divvie will be until after a nice busy Christmas. Oh.

You said "we have (present tense) a ridiculously high wage bill..." I can't see how our current wage bill can possibly be higher than many in the CCC. As I said, most squads are more experienced than ours, and will as a result be more expensive than ours now. I doubt you can come up with a lesser-paid squad, Donny excepted.

Using Sir Clive Woodward to argue the point, when he came here people wrote reams on how his sports science pays attention to every little detail, and adding up all these little 1% improvements can make a real difference. So why now are people now happy to trot out that money is the problem, and nothing else? If you believe that a number of tiny improvements can add up to a big diffrence in performance, surely you cannot discount the possibility that a change of coach/manager bringing the right coaching, motivational, organisational and tactical skills could make a difference?

Why then is it the case that frequently the great skillfull players DO NOT make the best managers, but often the best managers were not fantastic players, but were among the strongest characters? Tell me you were not one of those who lauded Woodward's appointment because "he's a winner", and that he would get a winner's mentality across to the players? Did you poo-poo the idea of sports psychology? I bet you didn't.

I can't really see how you come to the conclusion "we've got a ridiculously large wage bill compared to our turnover". Half of the high earners are out on loan so I would imagine much, if not all, of their wages are being paid by other clubs. Are you saying that we have a lot more experienced and therefore more highly-paid players left on the payroll than other CCC clubs? Give us a few examples of teams who have cheaper squads than ours I would think that is pretty clearly not the case as I can't think of any other CCC club renowned for following the "cheap and inexperienced players" route. Most have more experience in their squads, players who many on here say we can't even afford ..... Or are you perhaps referring to the players we have loaned in who aren't even fit enough/good enough to play?

CLASSIC!!!!!! ...the table didn't tell us much...but at the same time tells us all we need to know.... whilst leaving an awful lot untold. Thank you Jeal-Paul Sartre.

Let's hope that Stoke adding 1.5 and 1.5 together make at least 4.

Unless he starts performing, he will be playing in our reserves after January. But as "we don't want to stand in anyone's way while we listen to offers" his first team place is probably safe until after the window.

No, you're right of course. There is absolutely nothing that can be done that isn't already being done. The plan is we escape relegation on goal difference and as we are on well on course there's nothing to worry about, or change.

For goodness sake, all we need is Morgan to get fit and midfield will be ok, especially when Pulis is fit. And our wing play will be fine when Ryan Smith is fit as well, especially when boosted by Gasmi when he has acclimatised to the English game. JP is really unlucky that his signings have not yet been able to play a full part.