Saint Fan CaM

This is EXACTLY how I feel about it. Good post.

Amazing result. Really thought this would be a banana skin game due to past exploits, but this team is just cooking and far superior to our past post-Prem teams in terms of spirit and determination it would seem.

Without the full facts surrounding this guys departure I think it's somewhat daft to get 'worried' about the future of Saints FFS! I've met plenty of Sales or overly commercial orientated people and to my mind they are driven by one thing - short-term, fast-buck, get-rich-quick motivation. Does that sit well with the strategy at Saints nowadays? Perhaps - perhaps not...however, what is abundantly clear is that Cortese is building an infrastructure for a future at the top of the Prem, so when all is said and done - as a supporter - why should we give a fig if a sales guy decides to make a bigger, quicker buck elsewhere? His loss.

Great news - he will grow in stature and ability from this experience playing with other top players. Good luck Chung.

Sorry to say this has banana skin written all over it. The players will consider this an easy game when Watford are more than capable of playing a tight game and nicking a win. 1-2 Watford. This may well be the game that sees us start a steady slip down into the play-off places. ):

I really couldn't care less if anyone wants to pay to drink and eat the rubbish served up at SMS, however what I do detest is when so-called supporters leave 5-10 minutes before the end of the game and then block my view because they slowly amble down the steps. IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE EARLY, GET OUT QUICKLY YOU D1CKS! Rant over.

Mid-70's - Top Rank. On leaving the venue, we had to run and fight our way through a gauntlet of fists and knifes from a large number of Pompey thugs looking for a bit of action. Even the girls. Hated them then. Since then I've met and befriended a few skates who are normal, decent blokes who, like me, enjoy some friendly banter. I came to realise that whatever size football club, there's a commensurate number of thugs who want a scrap. Doesn't mean everyone's like that though.

Blimey, I'm famous. (; Seriously though, it just goes to show what can be achieved when they ARE firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately there have been times over the last 2 months when it's not been like that. Consistency will win you leagues and make you Champions.

Is this the most pointless thread ever? Our biggest rivals just enter into the relegation zone and you ask Saints fans who they would most like to see go down!??! Err, let me see - this might take a while to work out. LOL

Far too premature and as someone said above, probably the kiss of death now. It is written that Saints never excel - we shall be disappointed. We shall end up third and lose the first play-off match. Possibly. (;

What a performance. Top drawer all round but Lallana was on-fire. Lee's goal must be a contender for GOTS - it was blisteringly struck with the kind of accuracy Match of Day would be swooning over. Kelvin looked very assured today also, with one particular save that he got down to that he must have seen very late as it zipped low through many players in the box, but he just smothered it so well. We're top of the league, but I'm most happy with the performance today and just to add that Adkins team selection and substitutions were spot on.

Will we see the team choke today just when there's a chance to go back top? Something tells me all the intentions will be good, but we'll be fannying around in the final third trying to find the perfect pass - they'll then break, score and park the coach in front goal. 0-1 Derby. (;

What a complete bunch of amatuers and crooks. They should be docked enough points to put them beyond the reach of League 2.

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Had to laugh at the game Saturday - right in front of us central Kingsland, Rickie trapped a long ball and held it right on the line. You could quite clearly see the surprised look about him - he didn't quite believe he'd just done that quite as well as he did! Funnily enough, he then went on to do it several more times - almost as if he had found the magic touch! He has really improved his overall game remarkably quickly under Saints coaches and turned into an even better player than the one we bought in league one.

If Harry gets the England job, Pearce won't want to stay around and has been made a provisional offer of Director of Football at SMS if we make the Prem. Possibly.

I will expect to see Lambert and Sharp up front for certain. Possibly Lee on the bench. If Connolly starts I might start wondering whether Nigel has lost the plot. Even so, this is another defining game - we need to start turning our downward slip around and get a win. Trouble is the bookies see us getting mugged and with a another incompetent performance from the officials possible, it could be a bad day. I hate to say it, but I am not seeing how we can change games in our favour. If they score first, watch the wheels come off. 1-1 best case...1-2 worst case I'm afraid for today.

Great article and there must be something about the lad to not only be given the chance to compete for a place, but then to turn in such committed performances. NC and NA are very clever cookies indeed. Jason has shown demonstrably that he deserves to be given a chance to prove himself to be better than he has acted.

This. Absolutely spot b0ll0ck on assessment and explanation of what needs to happen. I would argue we have the players to do it, but do we have the players to do it for a full 90mins+? Consistency will need to be high on the agenda too - having injury and suspension does nothing to improve the situation.

This. Absolutely spot b0ll0ck on assessment and explanation of what needs to happen. I would argue we have the players to do it, but do we have the players to do it for a full 90mins+? Consistency will need to be high on the agenda too - having injury and suspension does nothing to improve the situation.

Please read what I said. And then tell me how goals have come from them getting to the byline? I will admit that Harding does try to cross-over with Lallana - they seem to work better together - however Harding does not offer the same level of bite in defence that Fox does. Richardson was surprisingly poor tonight I thought. But anyway, do YOU seriously think that any of our full-backs are good enough for the Prem?

Where to start? The positives - Reeves and Lee looked good. Chappers is back (but not match fit). Lallana's goal was classy. Adkins making the change to diamond (once again) changed the game in our favour. Bart made some good stops that kept us in the game. The negatives? Here we go... a. The Lino gave offside for Reeves goal when it should have stood - Reeves was not offside. b. The Ref allowed them to take their freekick at the death while the ball was moving and a good 10 yards away from where it should have been taken - he actually had his back to ball and I didn't hear him blow his whistle to resume play. c. Guly was an absolute liability in the first 20 minutes and didn't really get much better before he was subbed. d. Bart was a disaster waiting to happen in terms of his distribution - this part of his game really is rubbish. e. We missed a few absolute sitters - worrying. f. We looked very one dimensional (once again), although in the last 10 minutes we dominated play but couldn't put the game to bed. g. there was too much messing about with the ball in defence such that we got caught napping on quite a few occassions which in turn knocks the rythym and tempo out of the game. h. IMO there is not one full-back - left or right - in the club that is capable of playing at Prem level. Fox, Harding, Richardson are all too inconsistent and get completely stripped by a fast-ish winger. None of them can deliver a decent cross from the byline and their corner taking ability leaves a fair bit to be desired too. Frankly I couldn't give a monkeys toss about exiting the FA Cup. However, I am getting a little concerned that the bubble has burst and we've lost the magic that the team seemed to possess in the early part of the season. And I think Adkins is quietly concerned too. Need a good home win Saturday - the pressure is now on!

It's great he's back, although whether he will be firing on all cylinders tomorrow evening remains to be seen. Adkins seems to think he's ready and of course so does Chappers. I hope he's played central with Cork as I would like to see a much more progressive and faster breaking midfield in the first half to link with Lee and I assume Guly (although I would select Sharp if he was available).

Surely we've got enough senior members that need match time before dipping into the youth squad? Need to put some physicallity and pace against Millwall - be in their faces for 90mins to assure a passage through to the next round. Otherwise we'll get caught out with needless passes sideways and backwards. If the right team is chosen, we can win this 3-0 or 3-1. If Nigel gets it wrong we're looking at going one down early-ish doors and Millwall shutting up shop, faking injury and frustrating us.

I don't know about him being our best player, but he hascertainly been the most industrious. And that is a real concern actually,because one has to then question either the fitness/stamina or the heart ofsome of the other players. We do need a Chaplow type player in central midfieldquite urgently now - Cork, Morgan and Hammond are far too similar for my likingas none can provide the penetration through the middle of the field that weneed when trying to push forward. Everything gets squeezed out onto the wingsand becomes highly predictable. Against Brum this was changed by Adkins byputting Puncheon central into a diamond - changed the balance of the game ifnot the outcome.