benjii

I think 34 points may be enough to stay up. Although Reading have four big homes they also have four very tough away fixtures coming up as well as Man City at home and Liverpool at home. Wigan's next four are pretty nasty. They may have a play-off with Villa on the final day but I reckon they might both be down by then. Villa have Arsenal, Stoke and Man U away as well as City, Chelsea and Liverpool at home. I'd be surprised if they finish with more than 33 points. QPR... well, to get to 35 they need to average about 1.5 points per game. If they had done that so far they would be where Liverpool and Arsenal are now. Can't see it. Three or four wins and a couple of draws will see us fine, I reckon. I would hope we can do a bit better than that, in any case.

Insular northern dump with no prospects and no university, not even a polytechnic... I'm guessing it will be grim. As Turkey says though, at least it's got some proper legendary clubs.

Is anyone going out in Wigan on the Saturday night? Wigan town centre isn't just known for its shopping, it also has one of the best night lifes in the North West. King Street is the heart of Wigan's club land with pubs and clubs from many of the major chains including: Chicago Rock, JD Wetherspoons, Jumpin Jacks, Revolution Bar and Reflex. [TABLE=align: center] [TR] [TD=width: 33%][/TD] [TD=width: 33%][/TD] [TD=width: 33%][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Whether you have come to Wigan for shopping or a night out, you are sure to find everything you need and have a great time! Don't take my word for it: http://www.wigantowncentre.com/index.php I, for one, am excited and intend to have a blast!

Correct, it is to some extent. His English is ok.

It is, he speaks good English. The whole "no speako da lingo" act was to avoid tripping himself up at the presser. I think we'll be fine with this guy.

You have to be seriously ignorant and dim-witted, or harbouring a personal grudge, if you want to do anything other than thank the man.

What a load of hysterical whinging. I will be there supporting the team as usual and hoping we can press on next season. If you're that ****ed off then send a letter/email whatever but don't feck things up for those of us who want the team to do well. Oh, and by the way, you will not be boycotting for long if the new guy turns out to be a managerial genius. Fact.

What a great scoop after all!

I don't know why this decision has been made right now. It seems very odd. Having said that, whilst Adkins has done an excellent job, it has been clear from the day Marcus bought us that Cortese is the main man. He is the executive and he is in charge. It is also clear that, so far, he has done an exceptional job. I am shocked this decision has been made at this stage but statements like "**** off you ****" just show the speakers to be sad little children with limited brainpower. Unfortunately, I suspect there may be quite a few such people attending our matches so I expect the atmosphere to be somewhat odd at our next game (unless we start winning).

You're ****ing pathetic. Seriously, shut up you boring ****.

Agree 100%. Great post. He still has a massive role to play as a squad player though.

I'd go with Cork - hopefully Clyne will be back so Davis probably won't start.

Edit: we conceded four, not two. I added the Wigan game as an afterthought.

I agree with this. Whilst a long absence for Fonte will be bad news if we don't sign another CB our defence is actually quite decent now that Shaw has come in and given it some balance. We were anaemic up front against Sunderland. We only scored one against Reading. We didn't score against Wigan at home. We should have got a second against the Arse. We only conceded two goals in those matches but four points should've been seven really. We have games where it clicks and we look quality (Villa, QPR, for example) but we also have games where we become very predictable if one or two players are having an off day. Our targets for the window should be a centre back and an offensive player who is better than what we have. Add to that possibly a keeper if a good one is available (although Boruc "ought" to be good enough) and perhaps an experienced left back if there is someone available on a fairly short contract (we have no proper cover for Shaw as Fox is inadequate at Prem level). Stay up this season and we will be well set for a quality season next year IMO.

Lallana's are generally rubbish. Fox, Guly and Puncheon are our most consistent takers.

My pick: Boruc Frazer Yoshi Jos Fox Davis JWP Guly Reeves De Ridder Rodriguez Sub: Gazza, Clyne, Cork, Ramirez, Lambert, Mayuka, Lee

Thanks everyone. Not long, parking is booked but thanks for the tip. I didn't know it was that sophistimacated - thank you. Cheers. M25 and M3 seem like needless risks.... Cheers, leaning further from M3... Yet ironically you could go through Clungepuddle, which sounds filthy. Yep, M3 can suck my ****ing balls f'sure. I won't need a burger at 7.00 am but I like the route, thanks. The Mrs will moan if I say we have to leave at 5.30. Cheers. That's another rusty spanner in the works of the M3's hoop. Thanks. Cheers all.

Were you and Hypo "touched"?

Hi Saints fans! ;) I need to drive from Southampton to Gatwick on a Friday morning in a couple of weeks. I need to arrive at the South Terminal by 08:00. Does anyone have any tips on the best route to take that time of day please? I suppose I will leave at about 06:00 so I would hope traffic congestion is not an issue but we shall see!! Thanks.

Rickie's debut was against Northampton Town.

****ing weird team selection. Three at the back or Yoshida at right back? Either way, wtf?! And no Gaston. Odd.

This.

There was no analysis. Just Jonathan Pearce's commentary along the lines of "obviously not a goal". I find his commentary quite annoying. He seems to think he needs to impose a snapshot editorial on things when there is no need. As for the effort itself, what a great flick, turn and shot by Gaston. It's criminal how little we get him on the ball near the opposition box.

The way we deal with their thuggish play is by keeping the ball and scoring some goals. We can't allow ourselves to be pushed back: we need to put pressure on the ball high up the field and we need to keep a reasonably high defensive line (our defence is reasonably quick now we have Yoshida so this is not too risky). If we drop back and give their defenders time we just won't cope with the amount of time the ball spends in or around our box. We need to get the ball to Puncheon and Ramirez as much as we can and if they lose it we need to get straight in stoke's face. Lambert is a dilemma for this one. On the one hand his aerial presence might be handy defensively but on the other I think Rodriguez or even Guly would suit the required gameplan better. On balance I would give him a rest but have him on the bench. I would also be tempted to give Chaplow a chance on the bench. His ability is generally not PL standard but, as mentioned above, we need to be able to keep pressure on the ball for 90 mins and he could make a great impact in that regard. I would pick this team: -----------------------------Boruc---------------------- Clyne--------Fonte------------Yoshida---------Shaw -------------------Cork---------Schneiderlin---------- Puncheon--------------Ramirez-----------------Guly ------------------------Rodriguez---------------- Sub: Gazza, Hooiveld, S Davis, Lambert, Mayuka, Chaplow, de Ridder

Big game and one where we should be capable of getting something if we play well. I don't rate the current Fulham team, they have got worse this season and if one of the bottom four or five puts some decent results together they could well end up in the relegation battle IMO. So, our team. I think we need to find a way to be harder to beat in away games. Generally speaking, our defence is much better now but we are just too cavalier. We have only managed not to lose in one away game and that was against a dreadful opponent. If we could have just turned two of those defeats into draws we would be in a much stronger position. We need a solid midfield three made up of proper central midfielders. That means changing the shape of the front four and, indeed, it means they become a three. The corollary of that is that they need to be mobile and so it follows that Lambert must be benched. I would pick this team: ------------------------------KD/Boruc---------------------------- Clyne---------------Fonte------------------Yoshida-------------Shaw -------------------------------Schneiderlin-------------------------- ------------------------Cork--------------Ward-Prowse------------ -----------Puncheon----------------------------Ramirez----------- ------------------------------Rodriguez--------------------------- Sub: KD/Boruc, Hooiveld/Richardson, Fox, Davis, Lee, Mayuka, Lambert