Saint Fan CaM

I can't see us playing the same game that we played against City - we were rightly very cautious and Adkins tactics almost paid off completely. This is a home game that is very winnable, but we need to keep pressure on them and not sit back quite so much IMO. I would start with Lambert and Davis. If somehow the Ramirez deal comes off, then he will be a definate starter eventually but not next week - too soon. Still don't think JayRod is working on the left in terms of pushing forward, plus he isn't providing Fox with the cover he needs. Very excited about the game - hopefully our first Prem points.

Agree with all said so far - great commentary Tim. I was actually a bit shocked to see some of the poor displays, however we should not go into this league thinking that the first game of the season is indicative of the entire campaign and the performances therein. Some of the teams that looked poor yesterday will come good I suspect because they've got good players that adapt DESPITE their managers/coaches.

Err, so just how many of the 25 places in the squad have been taken up now? Davis, Gazza Clyne, Richardson, Fonte, Seaborne, Joss, Fox, Shaw (Buttner) Morgan, Guly, Davis, Hammond, Lallana, Chaplow, (Phillips) (Ramirez), Punch, Sharp, Lambert, Lee, JayRod I make that 22 or 23 if you include Buttner per the rumours? Who have I missed (nippers don't count)? If correct that leaves 2 spaces for CB's?

Wow - if that's not a statement of intent I don't know what is - bound to be a 1st team regular starter. However, will only believe it to be true when it's on the OS. Also, I'm still concerned that we've not signed a quality CB yet - that could ruin what otherwise could be a great 1st season back.

Rarely post on here - there's little time to take a breather from laughing at the excellent efforts of others to be honest. Anyway, some have mentioned BC liquidating the club, but surely it has nothing to do with BC? Surely liquidation is the sole decision of the Administrator who can pull the plug anytime he sees fit - i.e. when the money runs out???

It's a reasonable article to be fair.

I think Lallana's issue(s) are as much about the position he is being asked to play as about his basic ability. Same with JayRod. To have 2 players not performing to the top of their game is one thing, but add into the mix Lambert and pretty much 3/4 of our attacking capability is failing. This new system may be the way forward, but it's far too early to switch with the current players in the squad AND expect to suddenly start winning games. Having said all that, Lallana used to strike some impressive goals from outside the box - when did that get coached out of him? Rickie and Guly have hit some belters, but how often do we see that now? Simple fact is we don't have the pace through the middle of the field to allow such attacks to take place - it's always going out to the wings to either cross or cut-in. The prem opposition are going to be too quick and canny to allow us to gain advantage that way most of the time (as demonstrated by Udinese).

No time for sentimentality I'm afraid - Seaborne has had a good go at Saints but when I saw him pre-accident in games, he displayed an awful awareness and got turned inside out on many occasions. He also seemed to be very prone to hoofing the ball upfield - quite OK for a L1 outfit, but certainly no good for Prem. Regardless of who is in the squad now, we need 1-2 experienced Prem level CB's and this will be facilitated by Seaborne moving on.

I'm now airing on the side of fearful I suppose and that's tempered with disappointment so far that pre-season has not been what I expected - i.e. all our signings have been from Championship or lower. If there's one thing I think is true is that if you try to improve your team largely from a lower division, you will end up in that lower division. Although the concentration on lack of quality/pace etc seems to be targetted by many as being CB related, in my view there's not enough quality throughout the team and that is being highlighted even further by playing players out of position. It seems to me that as intelligent as Adkins appears to be, he doesn't understand the concept of risk too well. If you keep adding more and more risk to a situation, you eventually find yourself in a position of no-return. What are our key risks? a. Lack of quality cover at CB. b. Trying to get certain players play out of position. c. Rely almost entirely on players only proven at Championship level or lower. d. Rely on youth to step into an arena that they (and most of their teammates) have never experienced. e. Change a system that has served the team well over the course of two seasons ahd brought success. f. Lack of pace and attacking guile, including an ability to hit long-range shots on target. g. Entering a Prem campaign knowing that pre-season has failed to provide confidence to the team in relation to the task ahead. And if you think the last point is invalid, watch RL's interview on Saintsplayer - he looks beaten already. I wonder why we've not seen any vids of Lallana and JayRod espousing how great things are and how well the new system is working? I truly hope we get in another 3+ players that are demonstrably from a better heritage than the signings made so far. Otherwise my prediction of 15th will be looking very optimistic indeed and I'll need to revise it to relegation zone material.

Wheels starting to come off the bus? Sutton were just another team in the same league I believe - Saints hype, no substance? This could easily be the score at Man City so I wonder how long these type of results will be tolerated? Just wondering that's all. (;

Mmm, very undecided on RL - I predicted before pre-season that he might struggle in the Prem and let his head drop...let's hope not, but his pre-season form in the new formation is somewhat muted. Also, I too am not entirely convinced JRod is comfortable on the left flank and pushing Lallana inside more is not really doing his style of play any favours. It's one thing coming up with the same team on the crest of a wave - another entirely then trying to make that team play differently. I would consider this line-up as a possibility (with Sharp and JRod interchanging perhaps)... ................ Morgan ............. Davis ......................... Sharp/Guly Puncheon/SDR ... JRod/Lambo ... Lallana/Lee

I've just shelled out extra money for a 'premium' seat in the Kingsland - I think all those like me should be given access to the bar for free...afterall, I'm spending more money on booze and food if I go in there, so why should I pay another £45 for that privelage? As someone else has said, there seems little to attract me in there - no entertainment, rubbish drink and probably poor service to boot. And another thing - a football club bar should not allow children in...that's just not right IMO.

Get used to it. Plus also, it's probably NC's fault for not signing enough Prem quality players, NA's fault for not being tactically aware that some players might actually not want to walk the ball into the goal, plus it's all the players fault for not putting their balls on the line for the badge. I think that covers it, but feel free to fill in the blanks.

Err, hang on...the evidence = no signings? I may have missed something, but I was under the impression we'd signed 4 players to date with every indication from the management team that we could sign more. So how that's a disappointment to you is truly mystifying to be honest, even if it's true that Cortese wouldn't sanction players remotely.

You think that because, by suggesting they have "essences of insecurity", you believe people who smack their children derive some personal advantage from doing so - this is incorrect. Graded punishment means pro-actively informing the child of the consequences of a certain inappropriate action or behaviour and holding to those pre-defined rules, with the ultimate sanction being a smack. The method undoubtedly results in less repeat offences. I have witnessed non-smacked children drive parents to distraction because they do not learn from the repeated administration of 'soft' sanctions. Children learn from graded punishment. In my experience children who are continually threatened with 'soft' punishments such as 'sitting on the stairs', 'going to bed early', 'not having McDonalds' or 'I'll take away your iPad' etc. do not take these so called punishments seriously because often it becomes a game - i.e. "how much can I get away with?". There's no real learning involved IMO because it's all about loss of advantage or privelage, rather than understanding that crossing a specific significant boundary will result (either immediately or eventually) in real punishment. Quite different of course.

I've only read the last page of this debate, so my only clear view of opinions is that Pap is up against the rest of the debators and the arguement has reached a point of 'black and white'...'yes and no'...'wrong and right'. My experience from raising four children to adulthood is that there is no such digital aspect to this - having a variable approach to disciplining a child is the key to success and any attempt from the outside to moralise in a generic sense is flawed logic. I particularly despair of the 'PC brigade' categorising physical punishment as 'hitting' - this is entirely an emotional response to attempt to elicit sympathy for their cause. Administering a controlled smack as an ultimate punishment is not wrong, providing afterwards it is backed with clear rationale guidance on why the line was crossed, what your expectations are for future behaviour and a clear show of love and care. As many people recognise, children do understand graded levels of discipline - as a society we have dumbed down many areas of life and this IMHO is just another example. I will offer up a little of my own experience albeit very condensed - I have two boys, one is 27 and one is five years younger. My first son experienced what I would consider a fully graded level of discipline including smacks. My younger son experienced a more 'relaxed' attitude to handing out smacks - i.e. for various reasons we went with the modern concensus that it's better not to smack. I'm happy to report both my sons have grown into responsible, caring, intelligent, law-abiding citizens. However, it has been a tougher journey for my younger son - he has had trouble throughout his teen years taking responsibility for his own actions ("it's everybody elses fault") and he has had real trouble respecting authority and listening to the voice of reason/experience. His personality reflects a significant proportion of kids nowadays - those whose parents don't have the time to administer a graded approach because they're too busy working etc. And for the worst case examples it's just easier to leave it to the authorities to pick up the pieces.

I think this can only be good for the game in England, however IMO there is still a long way to go to really focus on ensuring the England team have top stars coached in a consistent way for the future.

I like it - improvement on the last version to be honest. Everything works fine for me in IE - even Saints Player with all videos playing well.

How can anyone doubt Chappies quality? Wasn't that him that scored a belter against ManU? Isn't that him that runs box to box - defending for his life one minute, busting a gut to get into the box to score the next? He's like having an extra man in midfield and better than Hammond in my book.

I see Chaplow is reported to have turned down a move to Palace to "fight for a place" in Saints team - perhaps moving some fringe players on is dependant on us signing any more players? It is probably this exact sort of issue that is keeping the transfer activity across the leagues quiet. It's tough times financially and no-one wants to be the risk taker when it comes to money. I don't think we'll see any movement on the transfer front until very near the end of the window (whenever that is).

Think it could also be like this... ---------------------KD--------------------- Clyne----------Fonte-------Jos------------Fox --------------------Morgan------------------ -------------Davis----------Lallana---------- JWP-------------------------------------J Rod --------------------Lambert-----------------

It's mildly satisfying to know that I am considered a Premium supporter as I sit in the Premium seating area at SMS. Thankfully the mongs can't afford to sit near me and my friends which is another nice bonus. Plus I get the best view of the action. Doesn't get any better really.

First season back in Prem and under present economic climate, this is a good number of ST's. I'm sure Turkish has not got the hard facts to back up his dig at MLG (again), but I feel sure these numbers are higher than our first season in the Championship (i.e. when we were 'crap').

Theo coming back would be fantastic, but let's face facts - it's not going to happen in a million years unless NC has some magic wand (and a huge wadge of cash) up his sleeve. In monetary terms I could only imagine this happening (if there were any legs in this story), was if there was a pot of money put by to push us on to the 'next level' if we stay up this season and NC considers the possible availability of Theo (as an ex-Academy graduate) this season as a good enough excuse to raid that pot.

Thought Clyne was MOTM and JWP was good too. Other than that, certainly in the 1st half I thought the front line looked like square pegs in round holes. Lambert looked isolated too much and lost possession a couple of times. Jayrod looked like he's got something about him, but he's not got a clue how to use it out on the left. 4-3-3 is OK but you've got to have players quick enough to move out of the 4-5-1 defensive formation into an attacking formation to take advantage. By the time we got some form of passing going, they had 11 players behind the ball - almost always happened. And once again, no-one wanted to shoot...we were trying to walk it into the net - frustrating. I enjoyed to today, but we seriously need to be prepared for some disappointing games on todays showing - I'm not surprised NA wants more in.