S-Clarke

the best defender we've ever had!!

yeh he does make a fair point tbh - which is why i don't feel we'll lose him like others are fearing. clubs outside the EPL cannot justify paying that sort of fee for someone over 27. And clubs in the PL aren't going to pay over £2m (which is what i guess he'd be worth now) on someone who has never played above L1 and is over 27. he's ours for a long time!

i think their chairman didn't want to match the deal rovers wanted - he said "A move for Rickie Lambert is a no-no," Hoyle told the Huddersfield Examiner. "No disrespect to a very good player but it's a simple matter of economics. "Any deal would cost a minimum of £750,000 plus add-ons for a player who is 27 and who would want a three-year contract. "Even if he scored 30 goals a season for those three years, by the time the contract is at an end the player would be 30, and therefore there would be little or no resale value. "That means that even before meeting wage demands, the signing would cost £5000 a week, and this club cannot do that kind of business. "If Rickie Lambert was 22 or 23, it would be a different matter, but he's not and suggestions that we will sign him are nonsense."

totally agree with you, playoffs this year were always going to be a bonus. i still think it's a serious long-shot personally - but i'm just happy to know that we're heading in the right direction now, we won't go into the summer like we did with our last playoff team and 'have' to dismantle over 50% of it. We'll be competitive in the divisions we are in for as long as Markus and Co are part of this club.

the sooner we get up, the better. getting into the playoffs and then winning them this year, would be like winning the bloody league anyway!

totally agree, the one touch stuff was a fantastic view. some of the triangles we were playing were stunning. It really came accross as the team had a real understanding of eachother, i.e they knew when a player would be behind them...so they could backheal it, or step over it etc it was sheer perfection and simply stunning at times.

nice comments from a bbc reporter too - Saints were superb as they thrashed Huddersfield 5-0 - strong in defence, tigerish in midfield and clinical in attack. I have rarely, if ever, seen a performance of such quality from a third-tier team.

He's been captain for the reserves, has been doing quite well if some reports are to be believed. this is a good move for him though, he needs football otherwise it will stagnate his progress.

He was one of the best defenders in the CCC - so no suprise he looks a cut above here. still suprised we managed to get him - he's only 25/26 as well i think? not even in his prime!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/03/who_is_going_up_from_league_on.html Saints were superb as they thrashed Huddersfield 5-0 - strong in defence, tigerish in midfield and clinical in attack. I have rarely, if ever, seen a performance of such quality from a third-tier team.

http://www.htafc.com/page/PostMatchComments/0,,10312~1982391,00.html pretty much admits they were battered!

For me, Connolly is a great sub. It worked really well for us when we could bring him off the bench, esp. in away games as he often gave us that edge in the last 20mins. I can see him being used that way for the rest of the season. You can't drop barnard on this form!

isn't it great that we're setting new grounds/matching records from decades ago, in terms of positives! it's something we haven't been doing for as long as I've been on this earth anyway. Conclusive proof if ever needed, that Pards and Co are doing a fantastic job.

I still think it's still a little too much to do, but it's going to be an interesting end to the season either way! I'm just going to enjoy the remaining games - no pressure, playoffs are and were always a bonus.

Thought he had something about him, his movement to get into that goal scoring position in the first place was excellent. Do we know what his position actually is? i assume an attacking midfielder? looked very quick though and hopefully he'll get a few more run outs in the near future - he really is one to watch though. (he's had alot of excellent reviews from the youth team)

we'll do what i achieved on football manager, 136 points, 120 GD and undefeated all season (just 1 draw) you're right about the football though - so glad we've stopped ''hoofing it'' up to lambo, he's so much better with it to feet. It also allows us to get the best out of Lallana, Morgan and Punch playing this way. Some of the football was really majestic, one touch flicks, back healed passes, keeping position from the back to the front in one move...and then having a shot. just classic stuff - loving it!

The massive difference to this team now is the spine. Fonte > Hammond > Rickie - when all 3 are on form, we're unplayable. Glad to see Deano back to his best, him and morgan have formed a great understanding. Same with barnard and lambo. you could also say the same about Jaidi and fonte....and Lallana and Puncheon. (when they keep swapping over, causes confusion for the oppo) basically, we've just clicked as a team. Unplayable at times tonight, Huddersfield disappointed me - thought they'd make more of a game of it (but I'm not complaining!) MOTM for me is a toss up between Punch and Deano - but I'll give it to Dean, he leads that team fantastically. let's hope we can get our away wins back on track, and then we're cooking!

[Comment From Len Len : ] Matt - I admire and share your optimism. Wouldn't it be ironic if, even with a points deduction, we still beat relegation and got to Wembley. I still believe we can do it.

maybe we will be playing them next season..!

Mr Mitchell - HMRC - We say there's serious questions which arise and which require full investigation as to what financial dealings there have been between the various different owners of the club and between the club and it's owners and at the moment everything is shrouded in mystery.'

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)