Saint Fan CaM

I reckon this could be very good business indeed for us if he is utilised well. If possible, Nigel should get him playing on Saturday - nothing to lose.

Point 1. Get behind the Manager and the team. We have over-performed so far to expectations and we're still top of the league (amazingly). There is still plenty of time and opportunity to arrest the 'blip' and come back even stronger. Point 2. I am a little concerned about some of Adkins tactical decisions. He seems more intent on playing certain players and in a certain manner than on sending out a team with a game plan that will actually win a game. Two examples? Guly - sacrifricing width in midfield by playing him central was a disaster. Harding - in the last game, both the Brighton team and fans blamed Harding for the sending off of at least one of their players and it is clear that he was targetted by some cycnical challenges today. Point 3. Lambert needs to show why he is worthy of a place in the Premiership beyond his goal scoring. If he is the talisman the team relies on, then he really needs to be more disciplined regardless of the cheating methods employed by the opposition. Adkins was right about one thing - Lamberts dismissal lost us the game - however it was just the straw that broke the donkeys back. Point 4. We may have a large squad, but there are too many reservists who are not of Championship standard, let alone Premiership quality. Now is the time for NC to spend the money that will give NA the ammunition to cross the winning line. Fail to do this and automatic promotion will slip us by I fear.

Point 1. Get behind the Manager and the team. We have over-performed so far to expectations and we're still top of the league (amazingly). There is still plenty of time and opportunity to arrest the 'blip' and come back even stronger. Point 2. I am a little concerned about some of Adkins tactical decisions. He seems more intent on playing certain players and in a certain manner than on sending out a team with a game plan that will actually win a game. Two examples? Guly - sacrifricing width in midfield by playing him central was a disaster. Harding - in the last game, both the Brighton team and fans blamed Harding for the sending off of at least one of their players and it is clear that he was targetted by some cycnical challenges today. Point 3. Lambert needs to show why he is worthy of a place in the Premiership beyond his goal scoring. If he is the talisman the team relies on, then he really needs to be more disciplined regardless of the cheating methods employed by the opposition. Adkins was right about one thing - Lamberts dismissal lost us the game - however it was just the straw that broke the donkeys back. Point 4. We may have a large squad, but there are too many reservists who are not of Championship standard, let alone Premiership quality. Now is the time for NC to spend the money that will give NA the ammunition to cross the winning line. Fail to do this and automatic promotion will slip us by I fear.

Surprise, surprise. Other Managers are starting to understand how to beat us and Adkins at this point either does not know how to change to win games and/or we haven't got the players to allow him to change tactics. Guly should not have played central midfield away from home - if he was to play atall he should have been out on the right. What is the point of squad players if you're not going to utilise them when your first 11 are not producing the goods? I reckon Holmes should be played in place of a pretty ineffective Lallana as a start, then bring Adam on later when legs are tiring. Adam needs a rest - the 1st team needs a shake up. Adkins and Cortese need to bring in some new talent with pace as soon as possible. It's no good just being able to pass the ball well - we need to attack much faster and before the opposition get 11 men behind the ball.

Point 1. Get behind the Manager and the team. We have over-performed so far to expectations and we're still top of the league (amazingly). There is still plenty of time and opportunity to arrest the 'blip' and come back even stronger. Point 2. I am a little concerned about some of Adkins tactical decisions. He seems more intent on playing certain players and in a certain manner than on sending out a team with a game plan that will actually win a game. Two examples? Guly - sacrifricing width in midfield by playing him central was a disaster. Harding - in the last game, both the Brighton team and fans blamed Harding for the sending off of at least one of their players and it is clear that he was targetted by some cycnical challenges today. Point 3. Lambert needs to show why he is worthy of a place in the Premiership beyond his goal scoring. If he is the talisman the team relies on, then he really needs to be more disciplined regardless of the cheating methods employed by the opposition. Adkins was right about one thing - Lamberts dismissal lost us the game - however it was just the straw that broke the donkeys back. Point 4. We may have a large squad, but there are too many reservists who are not of Championship standard, let alone Premiership quality. Now is the time for NC to spend the money that will give NA the ammunition to cross the winning line. Fail to do this and automatic promotion will slip us by I fear.

Were discussing this at the last game and agree - seems he's thinking too much now rather than working with his pure instinct.

Older Koreans certainly do not like Japanese too much according to people I spoke with in S. Korea having spent 6 weeks there some years back. Stems from Japanese invasions of years ago when the Japs slaughtered many Koreans and attrocities took place. There are commemorative buildings in Seoul if my memory serves me. Anyway, looks like this guy is the real deal. Hopefully it will work out well for both parties.

I hope he makes a full recovery and can pick up his playing career. However, I do also think that if that happens it will not be playing for Southampton.

Mmm....

To answer the OP - a resounding NO! I thought he was pretty mediocre to be honest and the quoted £5 is a rip-off! Would much rather have Sharp at £3.

Played this in the early 70's when at Glen Eyre secondary. There was a proper league set-up with two divisions of about 10 teams (if I remember rightly). Fixture lists were drawn up. Most of us had our pitches stuck down onto a sheet of hardboard - I had to carry mine what seemed like miles from the hardware shop in Swaythling all the way home which was a real effort for a small nipper! I've still got the pitch and some teams - I think the goals might be a bit broken now. I also remember having a linked fence around the perimeter, four battery driven floodlights and a scoreboard. Good memories. My sons have not shown any interest in it. However, a bad memory that springs to mind was playing games at the home of one of the lads in the lower division. He lived with his Dad in a run-down council house. Games were played in the living room on a carpet that had been soiled many times by a pet cat (and possibly other things) and it stank to high heavens! Nice lad from a very poor family, but we didn't let on and suffered in silence to make sure he was able to take part.

Great news indeed - let's hope it's the first in a short but extremely sweet list of signings between now and the end of Jan. 2012.

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De Ridder. Made the break through goal, was a constant threat to the Palace defence and his closing down yesterday was superb. Deserves a start on Friday f'sure. (Having said that, the whole team played well and most importantly played for each other).

De Ridder was my MOTM - supplied first goal and his closing down today was first class. He deserves another start on Friday IMO.

My daughters fiance knows a chap who was recently told directly by Sharp that he wants to come to Saints. It seems like it's a done deal.

Utterly poor and biased BBC coverage unfortunately. Why the hell they got Claridge in for the skates and Shearer for Saints I don't know - Shearer is no Saint...he abandoned us to go back to his roots, so he was never going to provide the balance needed. I think Claridge to his credit did a good job of providing compliments about Saints - quite balanced actually - despite his allegiance to the blue few.

Thought the sound level from our end was poor to be honest, but I also think that had something to do with the microphones being used...perhaps positioning or the levels were turned down to ensure obscenities were not heard on TV?

Guly was a complete liability today. Ball control poor - can't head the ball - bottles a 50/50 challenge that leads to their goal. Adkins is starting to worry me a bit - he surely should have subbed Guly for SDR to pack out the midfield after we went 0-1 up?! That would have been the best option to stiffle their play and provide a pacey outlet to hit them on the break. I'm getting a little sick and tired of all the tip tapping around the edge of the box too now - being too pretty is what's costing us games - SHOOT FFS! We REALLY need a new striker in January because Guly, Barnie and Connolly are not going to be enough to get us to the end of the season in the autos. Word is it's Sharp.

Sounds like the master plan is coming to fruition very nicely indeed.

Yes, providing that we strengthen certain positions in January. And when I say strengthen I mean buy in better than we've got because we need to bed those players in ready for the Prem. A striker, a left footed playmaker like Lallana, a pacey box-to-box CM in the mould of Chappers (Cork/Hammond/Morgan are too similar), and possibly a better keeper than Bart and Davis (but can't see that happening).

Most important player nowadays for us I think is Chaplow. His energy is sorely missing. And that's why De Ridder should get a start.

We need to start to prepare ourselves for our first home loss. Sorry about that. 1-2 Blackpool.

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