Saint Fan CaM

Maybe, but I thought he looked a bit out of his depth to be honest. I'm not writing him off as I've liked some of his L1 performances, just think he needs more experience to cut it at the level we're aspiring to. Having said that, I do think we need a new CB alongside Fonte - while I thought Seaborne gave a decent performance tonight, IMO there is a still too much of a gap in class between Fonte and his present partner options. I hope Adkins has a class player in mind as a 1st choice starter or I think we might struggle to contain some of the pacey strikers in the NPC.

Had a pint of the 'ale' tonight - it was acceptable in terms of taste - just. But @ £3.50 I'm afraid to say it is very poor value for money. I can hardly believe there's no lager on tap - only bottles and they're £3.50 too! Weird on one hand and a rip-off on the other if you ask me.

Pretty much flat 4 for both halves, but it was the 2nd half that saw the team really come alive IMO. De Ridder and Butterfield looked like they had played together forever. And Chappers and Cork were fantastic also - easily our strongest CM pairing I would say. Hammond for me is fourth choice CM now - cannot see how he will be able to retain the Captains armband frankly - his ball retention and particularly his distribution is not bad, but not quite as good as Cork, Chappers or Morgan.

I think quite simply that we are one CB away from a top 6 place. We REALLY need to do better than Seaborne, Martin and even Jaidi to partner Fonte I'm afraid. The amount of time it's taken to sort this out is a slight concern, because gelling your first choice CB partnership this late in pre-season is really not ideal. WBA cut us open through the left CB position at least twice this evening as their turn of pace was just too much and they represent IMO the standard of attack we will be facing in the top 10 of the NPC this season.

De Ridder - top class. Cork - really good. Seaborne - surprisingly OK. Martin - not ready (and may never be at this level or higher). Overall, we dominated possession throughout, but until De Ridder and Butterfield came on, we struggled to create too many real chances. These are my highlights. I would hope for the following team to start against Leeds.... ..................... Davis Butterfield Fonte Jaidi (or Seaborne) Harding De Ridder Cork Chaplow Lallana --------- Lambert Connolly

Absolutely - and how he managed to get some of those balls in from the byline I'll never know - looked like lost causes, but he found the extra inch to squeeze the ball into the box AND at pace!!! I've not been this excited about a new Saints signing for a long time TBH - the price of the ST was worth it just to go back and watch this guy take apart defences in NPC.

Steve De Ridder was absolutely top, top class. If he keeps up performances like that OxO could be losing his place (if he stays) - he was THAT good. I would say even better technique than Lallana on the wing, but not so sure about his scoring ability at the moment. Could be an all time Saints favourite though. Probably the best debut from a Saints player for MANY years.

Yes agree. However, we need to see how he fairs in the Championship before really casting a judgement. So far so good.

He was sold to QPR for £250k not so long back. Why should we release Puncheon for that amount of money? A player that has NPC and Prem experience in a rich vein of form. Not doubting his ability, but reading between the lines it would appear that he's another player that's finding it difficult to settle at a club. ): No thanks.

OMG! Dreadful. So who's going to 'foot' the bill for this mistake? Somebody won't 'have a leg to stand on' and will have to pull up...err, well something other than his/her socks. Below par - coat?

MUCH more like it.

Here's one for you - we'll not sign another midfielder or striker before Saturday. In fact looking at the options up front and the fact we can only bench 5 players, I can't see the squad being expanded beyond one more signing - probably at CB.

You have to be kidding?! You mean you want a journeyman, unsettled, unsettling runt who is rejected by all the clubs he gets a chance with? Puncheon may have something about him (overrated by some here), but he clearly finds it difficult working with Managers and/or others. And he would not be the 1st player in history to be shunned because of attitude issues. Anyway that's not the type of player I want to see in an England shirt. I want to see players that have come through their parent clubs and stuck at it, playing proper football and continuing to show some respect for the club that has nurtured them. I want to see the breeding ground clubs protected by ensuring ALL academy products MUST stay until their 21st birthday (and put two fingers up to Europe employment law). I want to see this countries football ideals get back to skill first, rather than money first.

You know what? I think Connolly might find himself a little bit more fitter this season now he's back in the NPC. The signs are all there that he could have a really good season and be very influential. In fact, I'll stick my neck out (in the spirit of the other thread) and predict he will be our best striker this season. There - that'll set the cat amongst the pigeons.

Sounds like agent talk to me...wouldn't be surprised if his reputation is now well and truly preceding him.

This.

I had trouble understanding it too, but on a 2nd listen I think he's saying Markus told him about the investment fund he was setting up and NC's responsibility to see the job through to the end (i.e. Prem status).

Of course the thread has got something to do with Chamberlain - he is employed by the club and his comments to the press have been disrespectful of Markus' memory and investment, NC, Adkins, his teammates and the supporters of the club who have all in some way been instrumental in his development as a player. He's not the devil incarnate, but at 17-years old he still needs to learn some respect or find a better 'mouth-piece'. I stuck to the thread, but your esteemed thoughts on the OP are what exactly?

Mmm, not so sure about this one TBH.

Great tribute - well executed. Not completely happy with the design if I'm honest, however very pleased to see it come to fruition. I hope that it will be seen at all home games in the build up to the game and again at half-time.

Just watched it and it is quite emotional in places. We were blessed to have been bought by Markus, but also that his friend NC was the mastermind and ended up being our Chairman. Nobody should be under any illusion that the club and it's supporters mean a great deal to NC - we are very much linked to Markus and his vision. NC is the custodian of the mission that Markus gave him - it's in his heart to see it through for his friend. Couple of other points mentioned in the tribute was (a) that Markus was clearly quite ill and tired during the JPT final. The fact he smiled so much during the day with 50k other Saints supporters is heart-warming indeed and (b) that walking past the tributes outside SMS after Markus' death was extemely difficult for NC and it affected him quite profoundly. OxO should take a few moments to look at that video and ask himself a few questions about personal integrity. Markus and NC had/have it in bucketloads.

OK - I renewed on-line. The only option was collection from ticket office so I am surprised to see here that people are getting theirs delivered (albeit with cock-ups). I wonder why I didn't have the option to have it delivered or was that a default position in the on-line screen? In relation to the amount of money being spent, I am not too impressed with the matter TBH.

Quite Alpine - good call on both counts.

I'm not going to give the article or this thread a read because I'm not interested. The key difference between Lowe and Cortese is that Lowe owned a minority of shares AND chaired the club. Cortese just chairs the club which is owned by the family. It was corporately wrong for Lowe to Chair the club under the PLC structure. Just plain wrong.

Don't subscribe to the view that OxO made a childish mistake - he knew exactly what he was doing. However, he is our player still in the red'n'white and it will be a complete disgrace if some mongs decide to be 'the big I am' and boo him. I do wonder whether at 17 he has seen too much limelight - perhaps de Ridder has been brought in to allow Adkins the opportunity to drop OxO back into the shadows a bit? Personally I don't think he's worth the £10-£12m being bandied about, so if Arsenal want to take him on our terms then bite their arm off.