Saint Fan CaM

Saints supporters are sounding alive and loud - well done lads.

Great stuff - Plymouth go 2 up.

Sounds like we're giving them some real problems.

Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No Puncheon = sale imminent?

Come on you Saints. Let's do 'em - with Plymouth winning this is our chance to cement our place above Bumfluff.

Sky are reporting he's almost certainly off to Charlton. I think its a big risk for him - this could mess up Bumfluff and Charltons promotion push to a degree - i.e. it could dent their chances of auto spots - which can only be a good thing for us. I just cannot see him doing the same job at Charlton myself.

I am not so sure about this one. He will be a squad player at best as I cannot see him displacing Lambert, Barnard and Guly. I suppose if Connolly is released he might get the occassional look in - but could he really hack-it at a higher level and do we want to take that risk? And before someone cites Martin - yeah sure, but he's not played for ages anywhere near the 1st team.

My take on it is that Cortese realises that to deliver a long-term plan you need a team of committed people all pulling in the same direction. If someone as influential as the Manager and one or more of his staff are undermining that in any way shape or form, then it's time for those disruptive elements to be removed for the betterment of all. I didn't agree with the sacking in the first instance, but I have to say that I am greatly impressed with the courage Cortese has shown removing Pardew and then his excellent choice with Adkins. Mind you, it's not clear Adkins would have taken up the post earlier in the year. Perhaps the timing was just right?

I think if you were to have a little look back at most of the goals we've conceded this season, Bart would have made no difference to the scoreline. In terms of shot stoppers, I would say they are on even matching even though Bart has had less opportunity to show what he can do. On the other hand, I believe that Davis' distribution, while not perfect is currently better than Barts and as such provides better attacking opportunities. Overall then, Davis still has the upper hand and of course is Club Captain - something he has earned as a time-served professional.

Fair enough, but kids running around in a corporate area is perhaps not what some punters really wanted to experience for their £49+VAT I suspect. I agree about the seating issue though - I have been thinking about trying it out, but not getting a seat would really spoil it for me.

I blame the parents. I have four kids who are now adults so I'm not kid shy, but I it drives me nuts that some parents just don't know how to control their offspring (or just don't give a toss). Kids will be kids, but there's no excuse for bad behaviour in a public place so others have to suffer.

Kind words - easy when you've got a squad that will almost certainly walk all over us.

Absolutely agree. It will be a disgrace if once again ST holders are overlooked in favour of the plastics.

That was one of the best performances from a Saints side for 4 seasons. If Guly's goal had been scored in the Prem the commentators would have been creaming themselves for hours. Morgans performance today was huge. Hammond did OK, but I think he struggled with the pace of the game more than anyone. Bart had a couple of dodgy kicks in him, however his command of his box was good and he pulled off a world-class save in the 2nd half. It matters not whether Pools team was not their first 11 - they are pro footballers with big asperations, yet we made their team look poor...an independant bystander would guess we were the Prem side. Onwards and upwards - let's have Man Ure at SMS next.

Excellent news. Didn't expect it to be such as long contract also - that's four years from our 1st re-entry back into the NPC! Hope we crack on with a little more strengthening now and stuff the Pool babies tomorrow to send more ripples around the leagues.

You've raised a good point - I wonder if we sent a coach to watch him at Millwall to zone in on what was clearly working for him.

Puncheon leaving has for some reason made our team better. Whether that's due to better spirit in the camp or the team played now is tactically more suited is best known to Adkins and his coaches. However, Puncheon needs to get with Saints program - not the other way around - and if does not want to do this then he shouldn't be here. Hopefully he will either knuckle down and play solidly for us or he will leave by the end of January. I do suspect we will see him on Saturday in the shop window though.

Stupid to suggest any team fielded by Blackpool will not be able to compete against a L1 side, however I paid good money to see a Prem team play a full strength Saints side. If I thought I was getting anything less than that I might have thought twice about paying for the ticket - I think it is totally disrespectful of Blackpool to us and their own fans to not play a good proportion of their 1st team. We will need to put our 1st choice team out there to stand a chance of competing atall and that's what we should do to retain the winning mentality Adkins has put back into the squad. The last thing the squad needs is to stand humiliated at home in THE cup competition in this country. I am looking forward to us winning this one now...it will be an intruiging match to watch.

That's a great caption compo photo... i.e. Lallana looks over and says... "Don't fret Pulis - Stockport may want you back as the kit-man" or "Pulis wake-up FFS - you're still dreaming of your goals at Stockport aren't you?!" or Adkins:"Right, all those footballers without vests go stand with Adam - hey Pulis, where do you think you're going?".

Can't believe Beattie is heading our way, but it would be a great signing to get him back again. I think the SMS faithful would love to see him back here too - everyone remembers his cupping ear salute to the Skates which drove them nuts! Personally I think there's more to the Priskin rumour myself and that would be a cracking signing, although probably a loan to buy deal until the end of the season I would imagine. Extra thought - I don't think the Stock or Danns rumours are for real - if they were coming to us they would have done it by now, but I would be happy to be proven wrong in the case of Stock. I don't rate Danns that highly - no better than what we have here already.

Well if those stats are correct, I don't want him anywhere near Saints - he's not good enough and certainly no better than what we have already. Not one for the NPC.

Errr, have you been asleep for the last week? What about our latest signing Chaplow???

I think there is more chance of this being a poor decision that works in our favour, than one that sees them suddenly pick-up form. It seems there's no immediate plan to appoint someone - I suspect the players are wondering WTF?! They'll be floundering for a little while I suspect, but will still probably make the play-offs.

Yes - he did look to be their best player, but would he do a better job than anyone we have already? In other words, do we really need more cover at CM?