david in sweden

probing around on U-Tube.........Its easy to find the Ron Davies 4-1 annialation of Man Utd of course, but also quite a few interesting clips from Home internationals of that period ..and in colour. Wales v England 1969-70 has Ron...... and a younger Peter Rodrigues for Wales and Alan Ball for England. ALSO England v.Wales 1977 1977......features; Shilton, Mick Mills, Dave Watson, KK and Mick Channon -----all one-time England captains who would all be playing for Saints 4 years later... Quite a range of other games from the period, too. ENJOY !..........NOTE: also Wales 4 England 1 in 1980 (no Ron gaols but he features well.)

Mmmm.....sound like a fairly average footballer then...........

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I'm sure they'd be interested....probably half the Prem. would - if he were to be going.......but he won't quick hint to Wham...don't waste the money on the phone call...especially if you are £100 mill. in debt.

A new backbone; 1) experienced keeper 2) Young, tough CB 3) established goal scorer ........and an extra winger if there anything left in the budget. I also expect a lot of the "also-rans" to depart....(if only on loan).. Barnard, Forte, Dickson, Butterfield, Chaplow and /or De Ridder. Bearing in mind we have; Seaborne, Martin, Hammond and Sharp already out (but possibly back-by now )

I don't think he's out, but he's certainly not ready (yet) for Premier League. Let's have four weeks of Boruc .....then decide about Robinson or ..someone else, but not Butland.

we can play " nice " football... against good footballing sides on a sunny day, but against " tough " sides with giants (like Stoke) in wintertime - it doesn't work quite so well. Injured or not, I think it was good we didn't have our " injured trio " available, as they would have got kicked off the pitch by the Stoke midfielders...who collect yellow cards like some people collect stamps. Yesterday we needed "some muscle " and Guly, Puncheon, Jos and Yoshida were the right answer ...and it almost worked. Their 3rd goal was good enough to have won ANYgame, ANYwhere. No-one to blame.

back to the original question on the OP ....why no CBs from the Academy....?. I think we saw from yesterdays fixture that really effective CB's (like Stoke's) are; big, tough and ugly ....with a scowl that can stop an express train at 20 paces.....You don't see that sort of lad in the Academy. Of those we've listed above; Mills, Williamson and Monk have developed into clones of " the Hulk ", but it's taken 6 or 7 years to come that far, and it takes a lot of patience to keep someone that long without them becoming a liability to the club or themselves by not playing regularly.

well we'll be able to see won't we? We are about to start a run of games that are "revese fixtures" to those we had in August /September ......but hopefully our newly-found form may gain us some poiints this time around.

[quote=Smirking_Saint; I hope Boruc has been hammering the gym and not the pies over xmas TBH, but reckon Butland or A.N.Other is on his way. I don't know about A.N. OTHER....(give me some names )..... but I can't believe that Butland is even as good / bad...... as Gazzaniga?

I've been expecting Boruc to be playing more (does that water-bottle incident) really matter?.........I certainly think that KD is in his last Saints' season but I'm not ready for Gazzaniga as no.1 yet. I agree KD didn't play well throughout, but the second goal was difficult to see. Watching the many angled TV replays, Upson hits the ball first time and I'm not sure KD saw it through a mass of players. ....and PLEASE.....let no-one blame him for their third goal ! Likely GOAL OF THE SEASON candidate already, and I'd like to meet the keeper who could have saved that one.

TBF, he's a footballer, and he wants to play. He either has to accept NA ' selections, and his " bench" role ..OR...he'll ask for a move. Either way he must make up his own mind, and you can't fault him for saying that. Personally.... I don't see him ever becomig a regular at SFC..so maybe he should move on?. I hope (for his sake) he makes the right decision.

I think you maybe overlooking the fact that most "young talents " who come in take time to settle and seldom become permanent straight away. Even the very consistant Wayne Bridge played two " half-seasons " before becoming a regular. So too, with Channon, Shearer, Steve Williams to name a few from the past. Shaw has been a revelation since coming in, and NA has been sensible enough to "sub" him in a number of games, but (history) might say that he won't be able to maintain that sort of form although I hope that Fox isn't his replacement (!) but in the recent games the opposition wingers have shown no respect for him - just because he only 17 and he'll need to toughen upto (longer term) if he's to survive. JWP (who you name above) played a very sensible role and showed a lot of maturity in the opening matches, when some others were running around like headless chickens BUT he was there only because Jack Cork was unavailable through injury, and despite JWP's excellent showing he doesn't have the same defensive ability (as does Cork), and our much-improved form seems to bear that out since (Cork's) return. I hope that we will see more of them both in the near future, but right now...with three " regulars " out yesterday, we can't afford to experiment when we have experience to choose from instead.

me too, but there does seem to be a small group of anti-Yosh " fans" who criticise him at every turn, but what player doesn't make small mistakes occasionally. I think he looks good, and getting better.

Agreed Saint-Armstrong. even if he were to go (most unlikely IMO).....why do the tabloid hacks think it would be for a measly £5 million. remembering the value of deals for Theo and Alex O-C......that would even buy his boot laces!.. but more than that ..Do they really think we need to rush and pocket that sort of money, anyway?

fottball ? NO, it's not ....in Swedish it's.... fotboll

Aston Villa 0-8, 0-4, 0-3 ........and to think when we scored 4 against them, we actually let them score ONE....

Would have settled for one point before kick-off so I won't complain too much. Good team selection as Stoke played with a team of giants, and it worked. Unbelievable first half and thought Stoke couldn't possibly be that bad second half. Puncheon was good but Guly was great, now all that is forgotten 'cos he missed ahlf chance....so did Rickie and Jay Rod . Credit to Stoke but their winger really gave Shaw a hard time....and Jerome's 30 yard screamer would have been a match-winner in any other game. *** Would we have been better with Lallana AND Ramirez playing ? ......who knows, but today Jack Cork was MOM for me.

??..it's hardly experimenting...is it ? If both Clyne and Ramirez aren't fit enough to play.. .who would you put in ?

It's not half the team btw Ramirez is currently the only regular...and all players are part of our total squad, which currently has 16 English players...17 ...if you count Fox (born in England). Quite a few more than many other Prem. clubs. btw.... you failed to mention past " italian signings " like Papa Waigo..who was pretty useful during the time we had him....and what's wrong with having good contacts in other countries, anyway? The list of players we've got from different Euro countries has been fairly impressive over a couple of decades. I'm pleased that we have a good mix of talents. Schneiderlin and Fonte have been regulars for several years, and last season Jos was everyone's hero, and Guly managed 10 goals....or was it 11? (no-one is good ALL of the time - not even AL and RL. Does it matter WHICH country they are signed from ?.....as long as they CDAJFU ?

My idea (for Saints) was survival.... and in the bottom half (at best). Looks like QPR and Reading and ...Villa?.....or Wigan?. Really don't think Newcastle can fall so low..... Championship sides ?...maybe Palace, dont think Boro have got the depth...Cardiff have fallen at the final hurdle several times before...if Mc Gleish doesn't screw up O'Driscoll's hard work.(why did they sack him?)..I'd have them down for a spot.