S-Clarke

i thought this thread was a bit quiet today....and then this, brilliant. never disappoints

they don't play like that tbh, they let in as many as they score (they have recentley anyway) - so it promises to be a pretty exciting and open game. can't wait!

Even though I don't think we'll make it, I think it's pretty damn good that we're even talking about the possibility, when you take into account the -10 and the bad start we had. Alot of posters on here back in September would have taken survival! (not me fwiw) - so it's nice to be ending a season with a slim chance of achieving something many of us thought was impossible back in september. shows what a decent job pard's has done IMO.

Davis, Morgan, Lallana and Fonte easily. Harding, Jaidi just about (he's proven it with birmingham) Lambert as well IMO - although he's never been at that level, i don't think he'll struggle to score goals. couple of players on the borderline - Barnard, Punch, Hammond, Jonny but it's not bad really, we've got a really good nucleus of a team which can travel up the leagues.

that's exactly the case, which is why the january window was a sign for things to come (for english clubs in general)

you haven't got a clue mate, sorry.

don't go quoting facts around here nick (p.s - but i don't think reading have been in L2 for a long time....)

spot on. if we can attract players like Fonte when we are in the bottom half of L1, then just imagine who we can attract with a clean slate and ambitions of winning the league!

the team is being built around Morgan and Adam, they are a massive part of the vision that pardew has for this team.

I think people will be surprised come the summer, this is a different club now and we're not going to sell for the sake of it. I know it's weird - cause we've gone into every window expecting to sell etc. Look at the Jan window though....that is a big clue as to how we'll operate in the market from now on. We're probably the only club out of the PL that can say ''no'' to bids for our best players, and at the end of the day, with the financial position of clubs outside the PL - not many will be spending megabucks on young talent. We're in a very very strong position right now

it's ''shoooooooooooooooooot'' not ''boo'' all came from when he scored that screamer v Ipswich.

you just use the same ticket you had for the match when it was on the 9th of jan, i think? I don't think it matters what the date says - just that it's Huddersfield (H).

.+1 i hope this is all a load of rubbish.

the only one better/on par with Pards, IMO, is Coppell. the other 3 are seriously average, bordering on rubbish.

i wouldn't worry about losing players we've signed this year. Fonte signed with an outside chance of promotion, he always knew there was a chance he'd be playing L1 football next season. Same with Lambo, Punch etc - they'll all be here next year.

not sure he'd be ****ed off at not being allowed to talk to palace, they're possibly going to be in L1 next season anyway - i don't think there is a better job outside the premiership than Southampton at the moment. A debt free club, an ambitious owner, chairman and money to spend without having to sell. = dream.

class above IMO, it was like the ball was glued to his boots at times. why didn't he play for Plymouth? he would walk into their team. oh well, their loss - our gain.

i think he's gone, I've heard nothing today - but what i did hear last week (which i stress was a rumour at the time) was that he was told last week that we must get playoffs this season, or he will be sacked. Not sure if that was before or after the Wycombe game. I didn't say anything as i thought (hoped) it was rubbish. Looks like he may have walked, rather than wait to be pushed. first massive mistake by the new guys if true, Cortese does strike me as a very stubborn kind of guy, i believe the january spending was also on the premise that we make the playoffs. (the draws in January didn't help that claim) uh-oh.

nice one - great shots there. cheers.

tbf alps, the last few games I've seen from him have all been at a similar level. He's added certain aspects to his game this year (much more physical for a start). He's tackling is improving and he's always harrying players, anticipating a stray pass or a mistake...and then he's onto it.

just heard his interview, it does kind of sound like a slap towards the people who are moaning about the performances. he had a point too - the stats don't lie, and since the rovers home game back in October, we have been outstanding. The only reason we're not higher up is because of our start to the season, which was understandable. Since he's got his team together, we've been unplayable at times - obviously we're not going to win every game, I'm just worried that Nicola seems to think we should. Please don't turn us into QPR - you've done everything right so far nicola.

Too good for this league, has so much time on the ball at times it's like he walks through the game.

i don't actually think they were '''that bad''' - it was more down to us being way too good for them.

Onto the game - missed the first 2 goals so no idea on how they came about (traffic into soton is a joke as usual) From when I get to my set (around 3:15) we were just dominating the game, the midfield was on top and our wide-players were always involved. The 5-1 doesn't flatter us either, it could have been 6-7 or even 8 - we were that dominant today, more down to our quality than their ineptness. They just could not contain our pace, strength and power - we ran complete riot for the entire game and by having Barnard up front it gives us another option, it creates more space and opens the game up. Barnard was outstanding, he holds the ball up well, runs the channels and has a fantastic finish on him (his 2nd goal was fantastic) The player that seemed to make everything tick at times though was Puncheon, this boy is a class act. It's like the ball was super glued to his boots at times - they just couldn't stop him dribbling past them. The bonus we have now is that we can rotate wingers, punch and lallana did it all game and it caused all sorts of problems for the oppo. all in all - excellent performance. Best home performance of the season IMO can't complain about anything or anyone after that. Ratings... Davis 7 - didn't see the goal, so can't comment on if he should have saved it or not - but he wasn't really tested for the rest of the game. Jonny 7 - solid game, his pace helps us, as we can recover much better when teams counter (could have done with him against the skates) Fonte 8 - so classy, amazing he's playing in L1. With top players they often look like they have all the time in the world – and that’s what we have here. Jaidi 7 - solid, no problems there. Won 99% of his headers and gave his usual game. Our best CB partnership IMO. Harding 8 - fantastic from him, rampaging down the left all game – put in some cracking crosses too, but wasn't really tested defensively. Punch 9 - brilliant performance, first time I’ve seen him - what a player we have. Totally above this league, you can see that. We're going to have some fun with him in the team. Morgan 9 - thought he was fantastic, sprayed the ball around intelligently, harried, tackled and tracked well - he'd be the complete package if he could score!!! Deano 9 - same from him too, this was our key area today IMO - we just controlled it from the middle and passed them to death at times. Lallana 8 - Glad he got the goal at the end - he deserved it for his endeavour. 100% from him and is always looking to make something happen, probably should have scored earlier than he did though! Lambo - 9 - leads the line like an expert, great finish too (but that's the usual) - he's a complete legend, as with alot of our players, this league looks a bit too easy for him at times. Barnard 9 - cracking little player. He's a fantastic support striker for lambo and you can see a good little partnership being created there.

don't quote me on this, it's just a rumour - but apparently he has been told by Nicola that if we don't get the top 6 by the end of the season - then he's off. talk about pressure.