Rasiak-9-

I'd take Taarabt in a heartbeat. I know he's lazy but the guy is OBSCENELY talented. Remember watching him when we played them in a friendly and they beat us 3-0 and he literally made our entire back four look ridiculous. Taarabt/Lallana/Gaston/Schneiderlin and a better DMF than Cork would be a midfield roughly top 6 in quality.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17497445 This is what the table looked like with 30/31 games gone last season. As you can see you could be in 16th place with 29 points. It ended up that 37 points was needed to stay up, so certainly implies you'll need more than that to do so this year. I know Blackpool managed to go down with 39 recently and if you look here: http://stats.football365.com/2003/ENG/PR/overview.html ...you'll see that in 02/03 West Ham went down with as many as 42! (and would have still been relegated on GD with 44!!!)

He was deployed very, very deep just ahead of their centre-halves. His long passing was decent but myself and my friends all commented on how little of a threat he was.

Has the technical ability in terms of making tackles and reading the game well but just isn't tough enough physically. Seems to be very good at making "skillful tackles" (and there really is such a thing as today showed) than tough ones. He's had better games than today though. Bossed it against Villa and Reading at home earlier in the season. Certainly Fonte and Yoshida are the best pairing at the moment.

Danny Fox was very, very poor and panicky. Feel disappointed for the CBs, especially Yoshida. I don't think you'll ever see a team concede four goals with the CBs doing as little wrong. I mean don't get me wrong Hooiveld didn't have a great game but the full-backs got roasted. On that point. Clyne is a problem, and a big one at that. Going forward he's fine but at the back and 1-v-1 against a winger running at him I'm very worried. He puts a lot of effort in but the lad is just too lightweight.

Norwich were never going down.

The bottom four collectively only picking up three points (when two were the bare minimum) is a decent weekend in my books.

Last minute goals conceded against Everton, Arsenal and the two against Boro. Had we prevented just one out of those four then we'd have had the two extra points to stay up. Glad we didn't though. Had a great time throughout these past 7 years and its made the club/fans/everyone stronger I feel.

THIS. At least let them know you're a threat from distance as if nothing else you'll open up far more space for yourself and your teammates in future when you do attempt the little defence-splitting flick or pass!

Definitely our best player. If the lad can add that real 'killer pass' to his game and a shot from distance then he'd be a Champions League player. Certainly needs a call-up for France.

Every ****ing time this happens. We play supposedly "nice football" but as soon as we get into the final third the "strike" is always that ****ing easy-to-defend long ball to Lambert at the back stick. We haven't so much as played a one-two yet.

4/10.

Positive **** like this actually really annoys me. Its exactly the kind of reactions you get from teams that take 6 points off you. I want seething rage and personal insults (like we got from Chelsea two weeks ago!)

Nothing wrong with that pal. I only wish a few more of our fans were as happy to be proven wrong when certain players play well.

8/10

Morgan is the one player in that team right now that is genuinely irreplaceable. We can COPE without Lallana/Lambert/Boruc/one of the centre-backs etc. but when we lose Schneiderlin we really, really struggle. The team for the past 4-5 years has become so used to his presence shielding the back four and the fact that if in doubt you can give him the ball and he just won't give it away that taking him out of the team screws us over completely. We have to get him signed onto a new contract as soon as possible. Truly bewildering how many dinosaur fans didn't rate him, even less than a year ago away at West Ham a few of our fans were saying Hammond should have started ahead of him Looking forward to seeing him represent his country probably more than I would be with Lambert or Lallana.

I actually think that on this issue, an awful lot of us are feeling very much in the middle ground, but with emotions high and the events so shockingly out-of-the-blue, people just want to express something and naturally its hard to shout from the rooftops about how undecided you are. Most people aren't genuinely one-or-the-other on Cortese, they just almost wish they were so they could shout about it and express themselves. That's only my two-penneth on this latest incident of football fan psychology.

Or because people shock horror have the temerity to disagree with your point of view? Its a shame that Adkins was sacked, because I believe that he would have kept us up and its also quite a ruthless move against someone who's been fantastic for the club. I'll never forget Adkins being asked how he was feeling at 4-0 up on the final day of the season against Coventry. "...pride?...*Adkins is tearful and has a 1000 yard stare through the tunnel at the players*..."too right its pride". However, you have to concede that Cortese has done brilliantly so far. The man has the mad ambition that most clubs could only dream their chairman had, the man really, truly, literally thinks he can take Saints to the Champions League! I personally think that's fantastic and will support him all the way. Does that mean I won't question his decisions? Course not. But there is literally no point in holding a protest against someone who, rightly or wrongly, has made a decision that he believes will be beneficial for the club, ruthless as it might be. He's not another Rupert Lowe. What Lowe did was willingly towards the detriment of the club. At worst, Cortese will make a ruthless, but honest mistake. At best, he'll have appointed an upgraded manager to help us on our way towards mid-table.

What a bizarre trip down memory lane that was!

Pretty much this. Wherever the players come from and however much they cost in transfer fees and wages, they're still representing the club and the city. I don't see any point supporting a football club if you don't genuinely dream that one day your team can win the league, compete in Europe, grow and expand, build up a bigger fanbase from the next generation etc. become a worldwide brand. etc.etc.etc. If that isn't what you want, then answer me this; at what point do you want Saints to NOT win? At what point do you want Saints to NOT sign a player that would obviously benefit the squad? You can always moan and groan here and there but if you have an issue with money in football you need to be clear on the issue. Draw your lines. What'll it be? Unrestricted as it is at the moment? Wage Cap? Only players from academies playing for a certain club? Where along the scale are you?

This. More than any of our players I really hope he gets his chance on the international stage. If he could just add 1) a shot from distance and 2) that decisive, forward pass a la Song/Carrick/Xavi etc. to his game he'd be a Champions League player no question. Its hard to pin down who is our "best" player, but of all our players I think Morgan is the one who could play at the highest level (including Ramirez). Really, really needs a song. Spiderman theme obviously!

In an ideal world, and were Saints fans able to co-ordinate this sort of thing, I think it'd be great if "one Nigel Adkins" was sung for the entirety of the first half with "Pock-e-tee-no's red'n'whitearrrrmy" (old Lawrie McMenemy chant) sung in the second. With massive cheering for any goals we score and a big encouraging roar when we kick off should we concede.

Its from Crackovia, a legit funny show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBGx-Mv_WnU

Make no mistake though, this game will be very very tough, especially if they take the lead. Everton aren't particularly special but they are f*cking solid and could well 'Sunderland us'. I'd be happy with a draw.

3/10. You've had a shocker this season.