david in sweden

in a word YES. ....but don't blame me if we don't win the corresponding games ....it was merely a statistical exercise on my part.

in the current climate, it seems like 23 is almost too old in our squad, but we do need to keep him if he retains this form. although I don't expect him to retain his tone of speed ...until 29.

It never ceases to amaze me that some people take an sentence, or phrase and out of context ....turn it ito something that wasn't there. I realised that this would bring a few critics out of the woodwork..and I didn't say that I thought we were better than Spurs ! READ OP again please. I asked (hypothetically) if anyone else had noted that despite their league position they weren't so much better than us in the games where we had both played the same opposition. Sitting in the bottom 3, there is a tendency to assume that everyone else is much better than us, whereas no other team has played so many of the top sides so early in the season..as have Saints.. .and as several people had pointed out ....even without beating us ....it wouldn't have changed their " top half " status. What I am surprised about...is that for a Prem.club with so much " talent " at its disposal, hasn't done significantly better....so far, and some results were not as impressive as ours...even in games we lost. EXAMPLE; we both lost to Arsenal...although they had a man sent off, we conceded two OG's. They also lost at home to Wigan. We beat Villa 4-1, and whilst they won but scored only 2. they managed 2 goals in their home win v. QPR, whereas we scored 3 away. Both sides lost away to Man.City - but only by a one goal margin, but we managed to score two. OF COURSE, none of this gets us any more points, but there will be more balance in this arguement after we've played Reading..... (Spurs won 3-1), but then lost against Newcastle. IN SHORT, I'm surprised that they have played so poorly (despite winning) when considering the players they have at their disposal, and if it wasn't for Bale.... they'd have even less goals FOR. I do not expect us to be above them at the end of season, but if they don't improve significantly...our two sides may not end up so far apart come May. PERSONAL NOTE; even if I knew what " magic moong beans " were..... I'd leave them to some of the other contributors on the site. I'll stick to HEINZ.

at least I wasn't stupid enough to get involved by that thread......

Given the positions of the two teams, some people might say that we can't be compared to Spurs - I don't think they are as good as their league position shows, despite having lots more international talent in their squad..even if their defence is better.

good signing. As future talent goes .....must be as good as the Lallana deal a while back.

No this is not meant to be a controversial thread, but only a quick analysis of results - so far. No-one has to mention our disasterous goals difference, but here are some other stats.to ponder over. Even our worst critics have finally admitted that we had one he** of a fixture list to start the season with ...but I noted that Spurs have already played SEVEN of the teams that we have, and here is a quick comparison. Yes we lost 1-2 to them, but our 2nd half performance was certainly worth one point, and we weren't so much worse than them. But how did they fare with the other teams? SAINTS .......Opposition...........SPURS 1-6 (a).............ARSENAL..............2-5 (a) 3-1 (a)................QPR..................2-1 (h) 2-3 (a)..............MAN.CITY............1-2 (a) 0-2 (a).................WBA................1-1 (h) 0-2 (h)...............WIGAN..............0-1 (h) 4-1 (h).............A. VILLA............. 2-0 (h) 2-3 (h)............MAN.UTD.............3-2 (a) they also lost 1-2 to Newcastle.. but won away 3-1 at Reading. They have picked up a couple of wins that we haven't, but on the basis of the above results being 19th in the table doesn't feel as though we are a million miles away from Spurs' performances to date. Are they really SO MUCH superior to us -(result wise).. and given the squad they have to choose from?

if you've got more goodies like that Duncan..we need a new " old Saints DVD ".......don't know about production costs but with todays technology must be cheaper than a book. I've noted and saved quite a few old Saints gems on my favourites that people have found. Surely we could set up a site with the relative YOU TUBE addresses for people to mail in.?

...looks more like the boardroom to me .......

well done that man..........how I wish we'd had videos earlier. The only film I know of Ron Davies.... is the famous 4-1 win at Old Trafford, in scratchy old B/W on YOU TUBE. and there's also a copy of Terry Paine's greatest England game ..(1963?-ish) .Eng. beat N.I 8-3 (not such a bad side then)at the old Wembley. Terry scored 3 and made 4 others.......

If you don't have a copy of " In that Number " then you don't know what you're missing. It was printed in 2003 after the FA Cup Final v. Arsenal...but as a history of the Saints - it's unbeatable. My well-thumbed copy is always at hand and seems to turn up another page I hadn't read before. I think there may be a few copies still around. If not PM Fitzhugh Fella (Duncan Holley) he may know.

Mmmm....he's 26 already....so a 3 year contract might be a bit dicey,?... but if he continues to perform as he has recently... then we should keep him a bit longer.

du betcha !

whata greata spellinging !. Just wait till CB Fry sees this one.......

this !

.Depended on the formation of the day I suppose....but wherever he played, he didn't show one iota of the scoring prowess from his Man Utd. days. I seem to recall he got booked every other game .....

typical Echo. Quiet day in the pub - was it ? btw..Do the Echo have any outstanding invoices to pay this month?

Ok Badger, I know it's a bit sad / annoying when someone quotes a name who you've never seen play...isn't it? My (late) father's generation used to quote CF Charlie Wayman's name all the time, it was a bit boring when I was a kid, but then I realised what a great player he must have been but there are no films to prove it. Scottish international Campbell Forsyth was a real dose of salts in our promotion side 1965/6. He owned the penalty area, and would bark at the defenders who always hung back and ushered them upfield. Great sorrow when he broke a leg (in collision with LB Denis Hollywood and a Liverpool striker) in the first weeks of our first Div.1 season. He came back after a year, but was never the same.

Think I've lost track of your rational in this one, Kraken. Jay Rod looked OK pre-season apparantly. Did any of us expect NA to leave a £6 million buy on the bench indefinitely? There was a 50/50 chance he would have started well...and he was introduced in place of Lambert (your suggestion) it happened to be the first game. On another day ....(and with better defensive options) we might have won the Man.City game, and everyone would have said how great NA's tactics were. Man.City got the points... because we gave them away. KD saved a penalty and were leading 2-1 at one stage, only our poor defending cost us that game. When James Beattie, arrived we already had Östenstad, Mark Hughes and MLT as first choice strikers. It was half a season before JB got a regular spot and two months before he scored his first goal. The following season, he managed only 8 games.(!).when Kevin Davies and Marian Pahars were first choices. I don't think the age factor is always relevant. If (a/any) player is fast approaching his prime.. .at 23 (your words)....when did Rickie Lambert reach his prime?

.the only outstanding League fixture was the play-off game between 3rd bottom Sundsvall...... and 3rd place Halmstad from the Superettan, Halmstad won their home leg fairly comfortably 3-0..but Sundsvall really put up a fight in the return leg, which was more like a Cup tie. Sundsvall won 4-3. but went out on aggregate.(4-6) Smiles all round for Michael Svensson (who last heard was coaching at his old club). Halmstad are a club with a good tradition and will be glad to be back in the top flight. Sad for Sundsvall who have always been a " yo-yo club " but may come again in a year or two. Next season start: sometime around Easter 2013.

Where was Lambert - on the pitch - at the time JP scored? Do you think ....he'd maybe congratualted him already before this Pic.was taken? What do you think Fonte is thinking, he doesn't look too happy?

History does strange things sometimes... ...though he had a good season when we won JPT, there was obviously a pretty severe rift between him and Cortese (over ethical standards.....we may never know the whole story)..but in the long run, we got a good / better deal with Nigel Adkins. Pardew?..I'm neutral ...if the result goes against us.... OK as long as he doesn't gloat too much. From his side .....he's done alright. Cortese would never have given him an 8 year contract.

.shoehorning him into the side?.......How long do you expect Rickie Lambert to continue playing...? It's logical that we must have someone to step up when RL is no longer making it. Do you recall the nightmare James Beattie had when he first arrived ...it took two seasons for him to get a regular spot.