benjii

I was hoping this was going to be one of those, "I saw an athletic looking black man with an earing and some shiny trainers" threads. But Paul Williams will do.

Oui, perhaps, bien sur.

"Julie do Prado".

Is it the fight?

Harding has had a few lapses recently. Their chance that looped across the goal line came from Harding falling asleep. I still think he's claaassss though.

I will be convinced we are heading in the right direction when David Lee beats his man.

Thank you Bajsta, that's a nice gesture.

Hello. I will be gracing you with my presence througout the day. I would like to share a cool video with everyone. I think it would be nice if others could join in and share other cool videos. Nothing naughty, please, nothing upsetting, please. Just good harmless fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dK5VOhKk8s&feature=related

The football in the Championship, by and large, is not much different from League One. I saw plenty of abject, unsophisticated, football-by-numbers, limited dross when we were in the Championship. The fact that Grant Holt is doing well tells you all you need to know really. The most significant difference is that there are more players lurking who have the ability to produce a top-flight piece of quality. The good news is that we will probably be one of the most competitive teams in the transfer market when we get there. Much does depend on who gets relegated each year with regards to auto promotion. If it's the likes of West Brom or Wolves then they will probably not be too adversely affected and are well used to yo-yo-ing. If it's a bigger club like Newcastle and they keep their team together they will go back up (Ashley has done a great job there IMO). If it's a basket case like Hull or the Skates then it helps.

Nutshell.

This is one of my favourite ever posts on this forum.

I normally stand in the Kingsland/Northam corner and it's very rare to be able to hear the away fans at all when there are less than 1k or so. I imagine, from the Chapel end, the Northam doesn't sound all that loud either. That said, there are few home grounds I've been to at non-Prem level that have better support than we do. Also Echo the point about nerves. IMO, what our recent experience has taught me is that the pressure at the top is greater than at the bottom. When we were battling against relegation I used to think that was ********, but I now think it is true. Luckily players generally have more bottle than fans.

Thaaaaattt's mental.

Which sect shall we support? Anyone got any nominations for our warlord?

Yes, this, pretty much.

I agree with much of this although we were pretty good going forwards for the first 30 minutes and could well have been 3 up at that point. Swindon did get in some good positions between midfield and defense though.

Already several threads it seems! No worries, good modding.

He is always like that, but then you come across as a bit of a tit which probably didn't help.

There's next to no chance. If you look at the table, once games in hand are played, there are only 12 games left. If Leeds, Leicester and Burnley all slump to the extent that they only average something like 1.25 points per game then the Skates would still need something like 25 points from their last 12 games to get above them and any other team in between them that has a decent run.

Very sad indeed. He was, as most have said, excellent for us. A guaranteed starter whenever fit. Fast, strong, good in the air, good on the deck. Best wishes to all his friends and family. I'm quite glad there was no minute's silence yesterday as it's clear that most people at the ground, or at least a sizeable proportion hadn't heard the news and I think it would have been very strange.

Not wishing to divert the thread but I guess I would have to say we should pick the team I mention here: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?28553-Our-best-team Obviously, we might rotate a couple (Jaidi etc) for fatigue reasons.

Agree with Saint Bobby's analysis. It was indeed a game of three thirds with us losing our way in the middle third. We should have been two or three up by the end of the first third but, as we weren't, the middle third almost became a problem. Luckily Swindon decided to defend badly for a couple of well taken set pieces and that made the difference. They were beaten once the second went in and we were able to coast out the game and knock it around. Agree that Barnard should start the next game. I am a fan of Guly and I thought he played pretty well yesterday but Barnard knows how to get the end result at this level and is excellent at winning free-kicks which is something we miss when he isn't there.

Barnard is a very good "winner of fouls". Lambert was getting climbed all over as usual but receiving nothing from the ref. Barney came on: first chance to receive the ball with a defender on his back and we won a free-kick (I think the one we scored the second from). Disagree with those saying Chamberlain was crap. He was pretty good. Created the third goal and did loads of good defensive work including one potentially goal saving tackle.

Good morning Saints fan. My cold is starting to clear, I think, and I am feeling slightly better. Thank you for asking. As you find me here, in my post-coital Sunday morning rest, I am considering the question of "what is our best team?". Before I present my conclusion, let me set out some principles that have guided me: We have the best set of defenders in the division. We have two of the best creative/wide midfielders in the division. We have excellent depth up front. Given these - which only the most turgid-minded, dumbkopff, arse-headed, nitwit of a fan could disagree with - then it seems to me that if we can "get a grip" of games it will follow in all but the rarest of occasions that we will win. To "get a grip" I think you need control of central midfield so that you can dictate play and retain possession. I think our central midfielders perform best when they have a fairly prescribed role. Certainly, I think Schneiderlin and Chaplow sometimes struggle in terms of positional discipline and... je ne sais quoi... when playing as one of a central two. So, my conclusion is this: -------------------------KD--------------------- DB/FR------------JF-------------RJ-----------DH -----------------------MS/DH---------------------- ----------RC------------------------AC------------ -------------------------RL----------------------- -----------------LB-------------AL------------------ I think this would allow us to control midfield better. It's nothing new, we have tried it before. However, the change I have made is to drop Lambo (Big Ricky, Ricky Lambert (Southampton's Goal Machine)) into the "hole". IMO he retains possession better than anyone in our team, apart from Lallana, and is our best passer. Playing him here would confuse the opposition who would naturally want to put a central defender on him. It should also allow him more opportunity to shoot from the edge of the box and shouldn't preculde him from getting on the end of crosses which result from a patient build up. I think having him in an "advanced Libero" role would help to get the best out of Chamberlain, Lallana and Barnard whose movement and interchange could be easy on the eye. I don't see Lallana as playing as an out-and-out forward but buzzing round Lambert and linking up with Chambo. On the bench we would have Guly, one of DH or MS, as well as some of the other "impact" players. All in all, that is blooming strong IMO. The downside is that there is a chance that a narrow midfield leaves the full-backs exposed but I think we would keep the ball and control the game in most cases which helps to ameliorate this - as would having midfielders with the energy and drive of Chaplow and Chambo in the wider roles (only the least observant amongst us will have failed to notice some superb defensive work by Chamberlain yesterday). Any thoughts, me old cockers?

Lol. Score a couple of set pieces and concede and people think we're great. Play out a simple one nil and people think we're crap.