david in sweden

so I see, but ......I don't have the time to live on this site as some seem to do, but interesting anyway. IMHO James is probably one player who's worth at least two threads.

I never saw him play, but my (late) father was fan in the post war period when Eric Day was playing a useful role as right winger and helping to feed the 1940's goal machine Charlie Wayman. Eric helped himself to a half dozen goals every season, but ironically came into his own after Saints' relegation to Div 3 South. After Wayman departed, Eric took over the no.9 shirt with great success and was leading scorer in the mid 1950's netting..... 26, 27 and 28 goals in successive seasons. As time wore on, Eric finished his career (aged 36) after having scored 158 goals in 422 apps. over a period of 12 years. He was one of only 10 players in the club's history to have completed over 400 games for Saints. His final game was in May 1957...when he made way for the new CF Derek Reeves..and saw his original right winger's shirt handed over to a newly-signed teenager named...Terry Paine. This may all seem old history and outdated stats. to a younger generation of fans but the likes of Eric Day were good club men and wore the Saints shirt with pride - even with a career in the lower leagues.

as player-coach for.... (wait for it)...ACCRINGTON STANLEY. Now 34 ...JB seems to look toward a coaching (eventual management career) and sign a short term contract with Stanley where his former Blackburn term-mate Leam Richardson is manager. Just how much he'll play is not known, but Stanley are 13th in L2 and obviously looking to get a play-off spot.

of course being sent on when the harm has already been done can't be very encouraging. It's certainly not the same as being there and part of the formation from the start -even if you know which way we're kicking.

.....and probably a good thing they don't get to hear the bo**ocking that the team is getting in the dressing room.

I'm sure that if you sat 10 programmers down and asked them to set-up a website - they'd all be quite different. This one seems very popular with clubs. The really important thing is that a site is user-friendly. Not everyone in the world is a computer nerd, and I find the OS fairly easy to navigate, and my generation began writing with quill pens .....(well almost)

THx Norm. I know that Steve Davis isn't quite so popular with everyone, but he is by far and away the most experienced outfield player we have. I think it's great that we have Lallana, Ramirez ...and now Cork back in the side ..... but I think we need an older head in midfield, too.. at least from the start. ....but I don't envy Nigel the task of selecting a sqaud, this game could be the " biggest " game of the season.. .so far for a number of reasons.

It does show a balanced view of the problem that we've been writing about for the last two months, and comes form a "neutral " source and he could have been more scathing about our performnaces, too. " another manager wouldn't do any better given the same raw material " I think Cortese will wait until January before making "serious " decisions.... .if he does feel he wants to replace NA then a new manager will expect money to be spent the way he wants it. Any potential candidates are undoubtedly spending their spare time watching lots of matches at the bottom end of the Prem. table........in anticipation.

I watched the match streamed on my computer, with pretty poor sound quality......but the 30,000+ gate it sounded quite subdued. Was there good crowd support ...or ? We had lots of possession, but it looked a poor game to me.

........so you mean a sort of South American ....Ali Dia?

......but I seem to recall that last season Wigan took an age to get upto 20 points, but later came with a strong finish in the Spring and survived.

we have too many " lightweights " especially in midfield. Lallana and Ramirez will come in for some " special attention" , I'm sure. I watched a stream of the Reading v.QPR fixture last week. There were lots of big bodies in both teams and it was very physical.....lucky no-one got a red card. Fortunately, in an end-to-end game with a total of 39 shots .....both sides only managed one goal each. So maybe we could score TWO ...and win. If there was such a thing as a "six-pointer"....this is it ! I'd start with Puncheon / and or/ Guly to add a bit of muscle to the line-up ...maybe play Steve Davis from the start.....and look to change the formation and use more technical players after HT.

AGREED. Ramirez looked a poor shadow of his former self last week. This week it was Jack's first full game back. Looking good in training is not the same as playing 95 mins. of Prem football. Of course he looked tired.

MY choice...... .......Marian Pahars...YES I know he was great whilst he was here, but after that first season I could see him being with us for 10 years. He made it all look so easy...and the fans loved him - didn't they ?

AMEN to that one. He seemd a mile better than anyone else in that youth side, but fell foul of the Home Office / FA rulings about youth players / games / etc, etc .....paragraph whatever it was, and we weren't allowed to keep him......but I bet Man.Utd would ......if he'd been their player......

I don't believe he does dive....but for someone who looks to only be about 5' 9"(?)...and probably 10 stone wringing wet, any confrontation with a burly opponent will put him on the ground every time. ....so........do you do your utmost to stay on your feet even though you've already lost possession ?......or go down (not dive) because you have been fouled?

it would certainly be some sort of record .....for the cost of signing plus 5 years' salary .....compared to number of appearances

Not sure how much Wham have spent (in transfer fees) since January 2012.....but I bet that their wage bill is a darn sight higher than ours. Whether it's transfer fees or sky high salaries ..it's still money.

..not another one of those hypotheticals that Turkish hates so much, but the real probelm is not the keeper(s)..... but the defence in front of them. For me ; ONE MORE keeper (top class form somewhere) .and at least 2 CB's......and bring back Aaron Martin too, before Holloway gets his hands on him.

.why ?.... .are we short of programme sellers again ?

none of the three has had much exercise .....other than picking the ball out of the back of the net ......but I wonder if (stats.wise ) how many saves each of them has been called upon to make? I agree that Gazza is a good prospect, but we have to go for experience at present and so (a fit) Boruc for me. .and I don't think we've seen the last of Kelvin (at least I hope not). The 1-6 battering against Arsenal blunted even his confidence, but in that game with two own goals .....at one point it seemed like his own defenders were as much of a danger as the Arsenal strikers. Even with these three guys on the books...If I were the man with the say, I'd be looking to sign a top class goalie in January. PLEASE....... Don't talk about the extravagance of having FOUR keepers, it'd only be for a few months, and we could sort of the wheat from the chaff at the end of the season.

the same might be said of Tadanari Lee. Oh I know he's been injured, but the reason that both these players were signed (I think) was not because they were seen as "match-winners" .....but as adding an extra dimension to an already successful winning side. The main problem now is that we are no longer successful, and putting in inexperienced (albeit talented) players comes into the same category as introducing " Academy talent " into the side and expecting them to turn the tide that even our most senior players cannot manage to do.