Saint Fan CaM

Given infation (since Theo and Bale), his talent and our ability financially to keep hold of players now, that figure is entirely reasonable I would say. He'll probably go for £3m then.

I would like to see a Guly / Chaplow partnership in CM.

Big changes needed in January and not all to do with Lambert. If not, then promotion will be just an outside chance IMO.

Wheels coming off the youth system bus? Dodd for the sack now? You heard it hear first. (;

We are not a selling club - very recent quote from NC. So if we're to believe in anything spoken by our CEO, neither Fonte or Lambert will be going anywhere in January.

I don't think there are too many who want him out - yet. I also don't agree that too many think he's a bad manager. However, it is true to say that results have not reflected the ambitions of the club particularly when so much money has been invested. Whatever we want to think may or may not happen with NA, NC will not hang about when making a decision on whether there is enough about NA to maintain the risk of keeping him on. The team does not appear to be responding well at the moment. However, the January window will be a great opportunity for NA to inject one or more players of his own into the squad and that might be the turning point. I hope so.

Well done. ****.

For pity's sake, what are you on?!? Lambert was totally gash yesterday and 19,000 Saints fans would agree with that I feel sure. He doesn't jump for the ball, he doesn't run for the ball, he doesn't run into space off the ball, he doesn't look fit, he doesn't look interested, the only time he looks remotedly likely to score or even do something constructive is when he's taking a deadball freekick on goal or a pen. If a CCC team came long with a good swap striker with money deal I would snap their arms off. Lambert in his current form is a liability.

If a player doesn't want to be at a club, even if under contract, he will be leaving sooner or later. Performances will drop and that player will become a liability and a hinderance to the club's aspirations by taking up a place in the team and by sustaining a bad vibe in the camp. Thankfully most of the better youth team lads had good attitude and maintained a good level of performance - K Jones being a notable exception. Older players seem to get affected worse - take Lambert for example...

This is a very interesting point and one worthy of serious debate IMO. We heard all the usual diatribe from Adkins before the game about how the team were so "up for it" and ready...how the rest had done a few players good. And yet we're served up one of the worst performance ever to grace SMS. So perhaps Adkins tinkers with tactics too much - so much that the players just get confused? Or perhaps Puncheons opinions about his ex-manager are the tip of the iceberg and Adkins has lost the changing room? Do we have another Poortvleit on our hands with Adkins - nice guy but doesn't command the respect of the players? One thing is f'sure, something is not right with the camp - there are too many supposedly good players for this league not pulling their weight and not performing.

The team was very poor yesterday. Should that be levelled at one man? No. But Hammond is the Captain and should perhaps shoulder a little more of the blame for not getting his troops sorted. Having said that, he could not affect the rubbish defending and goalkeeping that cost us two goals. He could not affect the 3-4 world class saves their goalkeeper pulled off (not to mention the manner in which he commanded his box). I suspect he hasn't got the balls to rip into Lambert for being a lardy-arsed load of rubbish with no apparent team ethic whatsoever. We need a new striker urgently in January as from what I've heard Barnard will not be around for a while. I've said it before, Schniederlin and Hammond do not work well together and Chaplow is a better partner in CM who makes either of the other two look better. If I were to select one of them to keep it would be Hammond because I don't feel Schneiderlin is the type of player to get us out of L1. Whether he's good enough to make a better stab at it in a higher league is debatable - personally I think he would do better in a French team where he has more time on the ball - but he's not the player we need now. We need Chaplow fit and we need a good backup option too.

This.

Absolutely correct. We said before the game that perhaps we might see a performance from Lambert today in case his mate at Newcastle might be looking. What a joke that was - Lambert was absolute gash today and not even worthy of a place on the bench. To be fair the entire team was awful, but special criticism to Kelv, the two CB's and the two central midfielders - no energy, no guile, always passing sideways or backwards. The most depressing game this season so far - keep this up Adkins and you'll be gone before January's out. Transfers needed in January big time.

Lambert has not looked arsed for several games now - in fact ever since his mate got the sack. Frankly it's time for him to move on as the amount of effort he puts in is terrible and 2nd rate. And the Northam singing that Rickie Lambert is "Saints goal machine" is pretty sad. The only reason he's playing is because we have no-one else other than Do Prado and at least puts in a shift.

And back to the game... (; They've got good striker options (Vine) and with Jose out, it might not go the way we want it too. Could be a tricky one, but I think if we're on it and Rickie has done some good work during the break, we might just go out 2-1 winners.

Well said. Thanks for saving me the time explaining the above to the numpties on here who don't get it.

I completely agree and I am quite miffed that I cannot buy my own seat on-line. I have in fact bought a ticket now and it's quite near my seat, but I would far prefer my seat TBH as I've got to know the people around me. I think the club are letting the ST holders down by not providing a preference.

Such as that bit in the ET movie when all the bikes took off and flew across the moon.

A good summary, but you've missed a couple of essential attributes that some teams in this division seem to acquire better than others for some reason...(a) grunt factor, and (b) cohesiveness. Let me explain... (a) Grunt factor is the part of a players game that makes him think he is a superman such that he works his nuts off all game, closing opposition players down and generally making an absolute menace of himself. (b) Cohesiveness is partly to do with the balance of player attributes in a team and partly to do with the manner in which the gaffer can make the team believe they are all better players as a result of being in HIS team as a team - i.e. regardless of ability individuals will not win games of football, but a cohesive team will. IMO these are the components missing from some of our players right now and the reason why we're not achieving to a level that the stats tell us we should be. Incidentally, the Liverpool team you mention (or any other Prem team) would likely suffer humiliations in the CCC and that's largely due to other teams having a better team spirit, morale, work ethic etc. etc.

lol...

OH NO! How are we ever going to achieve promotion if we're going to loan out our bestest players to lower league clubs?!?! We must be desperate for the money! (;

Who?

Brighton game RL plays and we get 0-0. Next game we win 3-0 without RL in 2nd half and no goals from RL again. RL may be good with his assists (debatable), but he is taking up a space that could go to someone fit and motivated (which he does not appear to be). If he had to work to retain his place it would be a good thing, however there is not the competition there right now. Also, I think NA is trying to get RL to play out of his comfort zone and it ain't working.

This. And also that he does not compliment Hammond. Compare him to Chaplow and I would take Chaplow over Schneiderlin everytime.

Can't believe how negative some people on here are. We've drawn a Prem team that are playing well and we're at home. They will bring a large crowd. If we strengthen and play to the best of the team ability we shall see a good game of football. It will be quite some feat to beat them, but a loss will be no hardship, so it's a great draw - bring it on.