shurlock

She rolls her head and gurns like a recovering crackhead.

As I say, think it was the change in formation -as much as the personnel- that affected us as we went narrower in the 2nd half. We appear to struggle against teams with width, especially ones with fullbacks that like to push up -and most home teams naturally play with a higher line. Likewise we struggle if the direct ball down the middle isn't sticking or working. For both those reasons, can see De Ridder starting sooner or later. Chaplow's injury surely gives NA licence to experiment. And if NA wants to give Lallana space to roam, play him in a 4-4-1-1 rather than a diamond, thereby protecting the flanks. The performance was disappointing -but less disappointing than the Reading game (I don't totally buy the we-were-knackered argument as an explanation for reading). We had a fair amount of the play on saturday -and its not like KD had much to do. Bristol's position also belies their quality, esp at home. We used the Reading setback to push Guly up top; I am sure NA will have taken similar lessons from saturday.

Apart from Fonte's header and the neither fish nor fowl pullback for Guly, nothing.

Agree, they didn't go chasing and were happy to let us try and play through midfield where they knew they had a numerical advantage.

We created more chances against Cardiff than Bristol IMO -but as you say, given all of Cardiff's injuries, the game was for the taking. Not sure Chaplow would have made a massive difference: he playing on the right-hand side, so wouldn't have been up against Adomah. I thought we dealt with Adomah OK in the first half when Lallana was playing more as a conventional left-sided midfielder; it was only after Lallana was moved into the 'hole' that the flank was opened up and he began to give us problems.

Defence, a weakness? you've been watching a different team from me. they've been gritty, dour bast*rds - they are more than capable of parking the bus; if anything, the problems are up front, though I expect them to go for things more under Barmby than Pearson.

I saw, at least, one saints steward working in the away end- you would think that would have contributed to a less antagonistic atmosphere (or maybe not)

Disagree- professional sport is one of the only pursuits where you hit your professional peak so early in your life and you will never find the same meaning or buzz again after things end. Lots of cases of players going off the rail following retirement.

Gove is a f**king psycho - probably the most dogmatic of the current crop. One tory who is actually pretty affable in person is osborne.

I might be wrong but I cant remember him having a shot. Of course, he plays in a deeper role to begin with and is busy supplying others -one reason why he probably doesn't get as many goals from open play as he could (and why I think he would work well with a player like LJ). But yesterday, and not enjoying much in the air, he was dropping deeper and deeper -at times, picking the ball up from our CBs.

We created much less than we did -say at Cardiff. I counted five or six -Lallana's saved shot, the blocked shot, Schneiderlin's overhit through ball which should have put Guly through 1 on 1 but sent him wide, Fonte's free header, Fonte's pullback for Guly in the 6 yard box which he had to dig out and De Ridder's shot just inside the box. In reality, some of these were only half chances.

Absolute mongs known for cheap shots. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Fans-involved-pub-brawl-given-suspended-sentences/story-11291206-detail/story.html Still remember when they came to Southampton in 2008, setting on families and chapelites. Hope you and your mate are OK and back at away games soon.

Agree, when it comes to a straight contest with a good, strong CB, Lambert loses far more than he wins - he hardly seems to get off the ground TBH. Not surprisingly he has more luck against the fullbacks; but Kelvin cant hit those kind of balls on a regular basis (TBF most outfield players couldn't from Kelvin's kicking position). I'm quite happy to play from the back, especially if it creates space in midfield by sucking players in (that doesn't when Kelvin kicks as the opposition tends to stand off). Still I prefer the ball being played to a fullback than passed downthe middle.

We do need to sort out our away form - its going to be a really tough second half of the season, considering that we still have to go places like West Ham, Boro, Leeds, Birmingham, Blackpool, Hull ec. In fact, only two of the return legs against teams in the top half will be at home.

As I say, we've partly been able to offset the lack of pace with our fullbacks - but today, they had too much on their plate to get forward and as long as defending is their priority, they'll never give us true width or pacw.

That wasn't the difference IMO. They had five across the middle -and three in CM. Easy to understand NA's wish not to be overrun away from home after only 10 mins-and Morgan gave us a bit more coverage. For me, it was a waste that both Jos and Fonte had to mark Maynard.

Agree- would have never brought him on for Chaplow.

Performance like this was on the cards, though its hard to say whether we were sh*t or BC were any good. Disappointing that we didn't create that many chances -I count five or so- and we only forced James to make one save. Thought we would come out all guns blazing in the 2nd half, so their lucky goal came at a fantastic time. Saying that, had Fonte buried a ridiculously easy header just after they took the lead, the game might have turned out quite different. I see on another thread that people are questioning Cork's performance - thought he was one of our better players today and easily our best midfielder - we generally got bossed by their three in the centre of the park. I'm more concerned about Hammond's performance, not least because its several games now that he's been sub-par. It seems that, philosophically, NA prefers a Cork/Schneiderlin pairing; but still bottles it when it comes to the crunch. Bristol City reminded me of the Forest and Burnley game earlier this season - as our midfield is quite narrow, we struggle against genuine width, especially when the opposition's full backs are also bombing on. Its easy to knock Fox who was given a torrid time by Adomah in the 2nd half (IMO he's a better prospect than Maynard); but NA must also take responsibility for putting Lallana in the hole at the start of the second half and removing the one bit of protection Fox had. Its easy to understand why Adkins moved Lallana -obviously, he wanted more from us attacking-wise- but, ultimately, it left us more exposed on the flanks. Also thought today exposed the danger of relying on the fullbacks for width (a massive feature of the way we set up). Obviously if they have their hands tied with defending or not skinned on the counter, there is less scope for them to get forward. In these games, we need genuine width -and the few times we got to the byline and SDR got the ball, we looked dangerous; at the very least, it was more dangerous than the elaborate, eye-of-the-needle stuff we were forced into playing down the middle. Wouldn't agree that AL had a bad game per se - thought it was a bit chicken and egg, that Lallana tried to do much because others weren't stepping up. Finally, the loss of Chaplow was a massive blow - he is one player who can genuinely break from midfield and ghost into the box. With Hammond, Cork and Schneiderlin, it was all too predictable - and meant that their CBs could concentrate on defending Lambert and Guly (and their defense led by Fontaine was more than up to the task).

Why not pay our respects with a song then

Also Hull and in theory Millwall; whether its worth it is another matter.

So you don't believe the club/family's explanation?

Agree- apart from a seat change a few seasons ago, they've never f**ked up anything for me. Admittedly, its harder now to speak directly to someone about things; but the office is still more or less efficient.

Good. They hold the game in contempt -Poyet's post match interview summed up their attitude. Deflected attention from their disciplinary record which is the worst in the league by saying that nothing happens when the England superstars crowd and harass refs and also implied that he would have been more upset if his players didnt angry with the decisions.

Elephant in the room are demographics and an ageing population. All other things being equal, as the working population declines, so growth will slow. To offset this, Government can encourage greater participation of women and the elderly in the workforce and make younger people more productive; another option obviously is to import workers through immigration. Some estimates suggest that in the UK, the immigrant population would have to rise from around 10 percent to 20-25 percent in 2050 to maintain the size of the current workforce. The situation is even worse in places like Italy, Japan, Germany and South Korea where the total number of immigrants would have to rise to 30-40 percent of the population by 2050. The debate is going to get much more lively in the decades ahead; you ain't seen nothing yet.

Claiming to be some kind of martyr when the simple fact is that you just can't be ar$ed to go.