sidthesquid

He is what everyone (including me) has said we needed all season. As Terry & Ferdinand weren't available he was best we could get on our budget. Will be a legend before the end of the season. Every team needs a clogger, and the Dutch are experts at clogs. Btw, did anyone hear him on the radio saying he liked it here because if he hoofed it into the crowd in Holland the fans booed, but in England they cheer him on

It was Rupert, wasn't it? Actually, I doubt I even knew who the chairman was at the time, but I think he was our most underrated manager. He took on an almost impossible task following Lawrie and having to cut costs & it was only when Branflakes took over that we realised how good he was

What he said... btw, has it ever occurred to anyone that some of these big-name managers like Davies took one look at the whinging pessimists that support Saints & said stuff that I'll stay on the dole till a decently supported club comes up?

People were on here slagging him off even before we'd played a game, but they did the same with Pearson last year. Also, whoever Lowe picked was on a hiding to nothing because of who chose him. It all gets a bit pointless really

It's all deck-chair re-arranging, basically. We aren't good enough all the way through our entire squad - if we were, people would have been queuing up to sign some of them, not putting in speculative late and low bids to take a punt on someone who might come good. We have to face it, this is what years of mismanagement & poor purchases (I'm spreading the blame equally - not another witch-hunt after anyone) have reduced us to. Wotte is on a hiding to nothing. For all anyone knows Skacel was flying back from Germany yesterday having failed in his escape bid - not ideal preparation for a match. The only people who rave about him clearly don't watch him very often, anyway. BWP had the whole second half and Euell most of it without either of them turning the game. If he'd started with both of them it's just as likely they could both have been as crap as we know they're capable of being & he'd have been wrong for that, too. Gillet & Wotton added some bite but neither of them could pass wind accurately. If Saga doesn't score he contributes little and Surman, who I still think our best player by a mile, is a lightweight, etc, etc. We have some capable players but the CCC is a strange division. Last season some of the best football we saw was played by S****horpe & Blackpool at the bottom, & Bristol City near the top were woeful. If you didn't know who was who, could you have picked the blue and white hoops of Reading as the top team & Doncaster the bottom when we played them? Contrary to the press & non-attenders, the CCC is not a thugs' league, it is a league of skilful, athletic footballers, but as in any level you have to compete to play your football. We are not miles adrift of anyone in an incredibly even league, but we are just short of what is required and are likely to stay that way this season. A lot of it is in the mind and I genuinely think that the divisions amongst the shareholders and the fans is a bigger part of our problem than is acknowledged. I'm not a Lowe luvvie, but I don't hate him as much as some do; I just wish everyone could unite at least temporarily to give ourselves a chance. Constant sniping and undermining on all sides of the argument is totally counter-productive. We aren't going to get a change of ownership anytime soon - who the hell would go near us - and that has to be accepted too. And, as for administration - as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. I have thought for a while that we are going down, I don't think we are saveable, but life will go on and we will regroup and recover but it isn't going to happen anytime soon. All we can do is at least give the new manager a chance to perform a miracle & do our little bit byturning up and supporting OUR team. Sorry if this sounds like a sermon, but I get so peed of reading about the constant apportioning of blame going back over years, and wallowing in the misery of our situation almost to the point where it seems a lot of posters on here want us to fail. All I want is for my team to do well

Seems to have regressed as far as coming for crosses is concerned. I have always had a problem with that, like Paul Jones - great shot-stopper but doesn't dominate his 6-yard box

I like Lloyd James - most underrated player on our team. Granted not the best tackler, but determined, good passer and spends most games entirely on his own on the right because we never play with a right winger

He didn't look ready to start and he did show some worrying signs of Dyerea, but certainly has some real potential (remember Reading)

Just the Mirror misunderstanding again

Who cares? It's history and utterly irrelevant to our current situation

Another point for the anti-Dutch guys- we played nearly the whole second half with a very experienced team - arguably only James, Lallana & McGoldrick could be classed otherwise and only Skacel, whose head probably wasn't right anyway after scouring Europe for an escape route, was missing, so what is he meant to do?

Just for the stat-lovers - our home record since we beat Hull 4-0 in December 2007, is P28 W5 D9 L14 F23 A36 Pts24 Why do we keep putting ourselves through it?

My player ratings Davis - 5 - Any ball into the 6 yard box shoud be his, but like the man said - flappity flappity flap. Otherwise barely had a save to make James - 6.5 - Everyone makes this poor lad the boo boy but it isn't fair. We were playing without a right winger, as we often have this season & expect him to attack and defend on his own. He didn't do much wrong defensively (to be fair he didn't need to do much defending), passed intelligently and he was consistently finding space and putting in crosses from the right, but there was never anyone supporting him to allow him to really push on. Surman - 6 - never looks that happy as a defender and heads the ball like a girl, but he is still a class above the rest of our team Perry - 6 - steady & reliable Saeijs - 6 - looks more & more like Claus. Should have done better for their goal, though Gillett - 6 - wasn't as effective as against Swansea Wotton - 5.5 - likewise & passing is awful. I don't think you can have these two playing together MacLaggon - 4 - looked out of his depth & infected with the Dyer disease of runner around in ineffective circles Lallana - 4 - worked quite hard but nothing came off for him around their crowded box McGoldrick - 5 - worked quite hard but never looked like he will ever score another goal Saganowski - 6.5 - always looked like he might get a goal without really shining BWP - 4.5 - another classic BWP performance, glimpses of promise mixed in with offsides and carelessness Euell - 6.5 - probably needs to replace Lallana at present Schneiderlin - 4 - anonymous Wotte - 6.5 - I'm not really sure what more he could have done Overall - 5 - because we lost. Positives - we did keep trying, but in the second half they sat deep and clung on and we didn't have the ability to break them down. It happens against ten men (in fact we always seem to lose against ten men!) but there was no lack of effort and on another night one of our many crosses and shots would have trickled in for a deflected winner (in my dreams, anyway) Nutter of the night - Henderson - He got all fired up with first the linesman, then the ref because Surman took a throw in by the corner flag ten yards up the pitch, then 2 minutes later took a wild kick at Saeijs. What a nutter

Don't forget that the following five have all been and gone again as well - Cork Forecast Peckhart Pearce & Robertson

Just to drop an amusing little t*rd in the punchbowl - but maybe it's crouch selling and Rupert buying

The Hertha Berlin deal was all done last January. Truth was he failed to make much impact there

No he doesn't. If he works hard in training & takes his chance in the team he deserves to play, no more than that. He wanted to go last January but Hertha Berlin didn't want him permanently. He knows why the club wanted him to go earlier in the season (ie because his wages were crippling the club) and he has tried and failed AGAIN to find someone to match his excessive wages here. It's business on both sides - why does any of that deserve an apology?

Thanks for that - it's no bl00dy wonder we can't shift him, is it?

He wanted to go last January & in the summer - he just can't get anyone to pay him anything like he's on here, possibly because he's not that good (Hertha Berlin had an option to sign him but didn't take it up). I believe his contract is up in the summer so he's prepared to gamble on sitting it out here for a good signing on fee somewhere (probably Jason's idea!)

No evidence but this is how I see it Most of our big earners go at the end of the season and nobody has put a sensible bid in involving hard cash now, so it is probably in Barclays' interest as much as ours that we don't get relegated. So we have 6 months grace on the overdraft to try and stay up, followed by a mass clear-out and having to start living within our means.

Not procrastination but greed

Or maybe a small quisle

Somebody who quisles

Isn't that what they've been trying to do & as we've seen it's not that easy

That's not a plan, is it? Just saying change the manager isn't going to transform the club & save us from administration. It might, but then again Dodd & Gorman didn't exactly work out & Pearson is only deified now he's left.