david in sweden

Of course he's done great things previously but...playing Rickie 90+ minutes every game... isn't going to give him the chance to last 38 games in this League.... ....and as for the fans comment ..(!) I became a Saints fan 51 years ago - in the Div 3 South...some of the people on here who started supporting Saints.... when they were in L1 just 3 seasons ago. If they are looking to ditch this manager now - after only 8 games....they shouldn't really call themselves " fans " - should they?

I've more faith in NA than a lot on this site, but I can't believe that he thought our existing defence was good enough. OK we signed Yoshida - but with Jaidi retiring - we needed to sign someone (-1 / +1) .....but now we have to play him at LB because (apparantly)we can't trust Fox to do the job. Richardson had reached 30 (I think) and Clyne was a good investment - even though it's apparant he isn't the finished article yet ..(+1) ..but (surprisingly) we let Martin (who did well last season for a while)..go on a long loan, but kept Seaborne, who only played the first 4 games. We sold Harding.. but still have Dickson on the books? Despite the £4 million to Arsenal transfer rumours, Luke Shaw never made the squad and got injured /sick and hasn't even played U21 regularly since....so where are we?. Jos and Jose were good (most of the time) last season...but Jos isn't Prem. class and Jose isn't the same player since his injury last Autumn. Our only two regular CBs are good in the air but slow on the turn. Clearly, the Buttner " non-deal" , and the extraordinary length of time it took to finalise the Ramirez deal took its toll on Cortese's banker ethics.....and all the time taken trying NOT to get screwed .took the energy out of the waiting fans and the other " potential " deals. Based on the last 2-3 years ...I have come to respect both Adkins and Cortese; BUT ...if NA wanted more defenders and didn't get them.... then Cortese is at fault. If NA didn't think we needed anyone else .. he is at fault. I don't call that conspiracy theories, Vectis - just plain common sense.

Being one of the " other two teams " who came up(from the Championship) it would seem logical to debut him against Wham... rather than say Chelsea or Man U. Like others on here, Boruc must have felt blitzed by the lack of support from the defenders in front of him. He is a quality keeper, but even the best can get beaten at times. I'm not comparing the two, but I can recall when we signed Peter Shilton .....surely we remember him...? In his first 7 games, we conceded 18 goals (and scored just 3 ). Fortunately - at that time - there was no transfer window, and Lawrie Mac bought in England captain LB Mick Mills to strengthen the back line ...sadly NA won't have that sort of option until January - if he's still here.

yeah of course....he's a real success at Brum so far .......and when they get relegated, he'll be going for a song !

...which is about the dumbest question any journo' can ask anyone...... ...unless someone bonks the boss on the nose ..(or bonks his wife)... no-one knows how long they will stay in their job...........it's more of a question for the Chairman.

....of course BUT....whether Rickie was being disciplined, lost form or broke a leg.....Rodriguez is the player we've bought to " eventually " replace him...whenever that is ? He hasn't looked the part so far, but playing left wing isn't the best formation to use your " would-be " CF either..you have to try him out sometime and can't leave him on the bench for another 3 months. As both teams were Championship sides last season it was the ideal game to give Jay Rod that outing. ...rather than say wait until we visit Chelsea or MU. Saturday was the " best /worst example " I've seen of " a game of two halves "..... that I've witnessed in ages. Psychology has a lot to do with tactics, and although it didn't bring goals this time, having Guly and JayRod moving around the front line wasn't what the Wham defence were expecting, and when we had possession ....looked most likely to score and I could see us nicking a goal in the 2nd half.......... ...until the 46th minute that is. Although our CBs " took care " of Andy Carroll very well in the first 45 mins..and pleased with their own efforts ....they went to sleep at the start of the second. Then....the game was lost after 2 minutes of recklessness and poor marking. Even Big Sam admitted he thought Wham were outplayed in the first 45. Introducing Lambert in the second half would have given headaches to a tiring Wham defence, and had his free kick been a foot lower we might have been back in the game...whereas had Rickie been treated in the way that Jos and Jose handled Carroll in the first 45........ he might not have survived the whole game. Discipline or tactics ? ......doesn't matter, I still think it wasn't such a bad move......and as everyone is obviously alerted to the RL danger...trying out an alternative strike force is absolutely necessary..especailly as NA is always being accused of lacking a " Plan B ". We can't afford to continue with the luxury of being a one-man strike force for a whole season in this League, and must give others a chance to perform.

Do you have any names.......?. well there's Ryan Dickson .....(yes he's still here)... and Dan Seaborne but they are rated even lower in the order than Danny Fox .. who most people consider unsuitable. That leaves Luke Shaw who was the centre of attraction in the summer, but has been / is injured ....or sick .......or something and has hardly had any games for the U21s. AND SO ?.......WHO do you mean?. I do agree that Yoshida is not the ideal full back - but I'm sure he didn't ask to play there - but we have little choice at present.

Agree with most of that - in principle, but I think both of them (NC/NA) underestimated the defensive requirements of the Prem. I was not alone in saying we needed extra defenders in the summer after; Jaidi's retirement, Martin's season long loan, Harding's departure and the acceptance that Richardson was aging and not Prem. level. YES - Clyne was a good buy - but has lots to learn, Yoshida will look better when he doesn't have to play at full back...but neither Fonte or Hooiveld - though good players in NPc -have what it takes for Prem. So until January - at least - we either have to improve - or else. Mistakes were made but it was also Cortese's responsibility to have bought the extra defenders, and not spent 3 weeks on the Ramirez deal. Adkins will carry the can......or get the sack.....in the end, but he's not the only one bearing rsponsibility for the situation so far .

I'm not making excuses for our poor defence, it's something that might have been anticipated in the summer, but afterall that talk about the " group of death " fixtures we'd been dealt from Day 1...... ...it's important to note that 6 of our 8 league games have been against sides presently in the top 9 in the table, and they haven't got there just because they took 3 points off us. Listening to the interviews, I think Big Sam was more shell-shocked than Nigel after their dismal first half, and then we handed the game to Wham in the first two minutes after the break....... however, basking in the glory of 14 points in the League, he volunteered that he was a bit concerned because..... (his quote).......Arsenal have been the only top side we've played so far and in the coming games we have Man.City, Man Utd .....etc . I think some people have quickly forgotten that those games are behind us and were not the only side who are gonna get walloped by the top six....... Nigel has got an uphill task to get the defence tightened up..... .and Spurs will be no walk-over... but I'm sure well start picking up points when we begin to play other clubs nearer our end of the table.

I'd have thought most of us knew what to expect at Upton Park after last seasons two games v. Wham..and we played well enough in the first half to contain them and to warrant that (Rickie bench) decision. Jay Rod got his start up front that he (and a lot on this site) had been screaming for .and apart fronm those crazy two minutes after HT ....introducing Rickie at 60 mins. would have been a good tactic.

Agreed. It's not as if we haven't tried other options, and although he wasn't totally faultless yesterday, I really think the defenders (excuse my assumption) really let him down badly.

except that any likely replacement should be a former defender. I don't think we have problems selecting midfielders /attackers.. but we need a miracle man to tighten uo things at the back.

Scoring those two goals v. Fulham seemed to have put Fonte back on the path to rehab, but yesterday's pefromance was "back to normal " for him. I don't underestimate the job he's done since dropping down to L1 and help guiding us up through two leagues, but he is nowhere near the same player since coming back from his injury absence a year ago. Slow, ineffective and although he and Jos were undoubtedly told to " do a job " on Andy Carroll, any success in that area was counteracted by the clumsy tackles that led to our undoing. Can't do anything ...about anything... until January.....so we have to grin and bear it.

Cortese........or Adkins...or a bit of both ? Both seem to have underestimated our back line before the season start .and (tbf) we had our share of some bad luck, too. We still haven't seen our most consistant player from last season...Jack Cork...and our £12 million star will be out for another 6 weeks !

it would sadden me. ANY new manager would have the same players at his disposal.....and wouldn't be likely to do better. It's the players fault and not the manager's...

.should we quote you on that?......Who did you have lined up for a replacement?

at last post 38 - the voice of reason. Yes it's bad, but who could do better with this squad ?....they're all NA players. A change at this stage would be a mistake we'd regret forever. We have to tighten up at the back,and we have to use the players we already have. The only way for us to get points is to score goals. A new manager might look to play a 10 man defence - and we'd still lose. Can't undo the mistakes of the transfer window, but 5 of the 7 games we've played have been against teams in the top 10.

.........just as long as he doesn't cost us another £12 million !

actually .......it was David Hirst, and he played quite well the season prior to his injury. A really freak training accident destroyed his knee joint and he never got back to any standard of fitness afterwards ----not his fault and not a waste of money, either. I always felt that Charlie George was a big waste of money......£400K was A LOT of money ...in 1979. He was injured when we bought him and never got fit enough to perform on a regular basis. (He was another sort of Delgado deal). Delgado felt he was fit enough to play, but Strachan never wanted to pick him, but it didn't stop him playing in the 2002 World Cup... .and scoring ! However, the biggest rip-off was Blackburn "unloading Speedie AND Dixon on us in the Shearer deal.

NIce to view "Beatts " in top form. Although his time with Saints was his most productive goalwise he topped 400 apps. in his career and his 68 goals in 204 apps for Saints was quite reasonable all things considered. Looking at the (two) videos you can see that he had very powerful headers (as opposed to the legendary Ron Davies) who was so adapt at " placing " his headers. Like MLT he scored many goals on the volley, and frequently "chipped " the keeper, and also had a " pretty mean " free-kick. I don't know JB's penalty record, but his style (unlike MLT) was that quick walk away - back to the keeper- a fast turn ...a few, stuttering " baby steps"..... and a cannon finish. Without doubt his finest season was 2002-03 (ten years ago) when he had a nightmare start - failing to score in the first NINE games - but then hit a " purple patch " netting 11 times in 8 matches...and finished the season with 7 goals in 8 matches (incl. 6 consecutive goals). With 23 league goals, he was the leading English goalscorer in the Prem. but lost out on the "Golden Boot " award to Thierry Henry. After his unhappy move to Everton, his career went downhill, whilst his bank balance surely went up. His return to Sheff. Utd last season was a real fiasco, ending in a red card, and sadly (at 34).. he will count himself lucky if he gets to play League football again - at any level.

I'm not answering hypothetical questions ....the real questions are difficult enough to find a reply for ...........

what a good job Brum were so greedy they didn't want to sell him......I'm still not 100% on Gazza, but am certainly glad that it isn't Butland with his current record. As if being 4th of bottom of the Prem. isn't uncomfortable enough ......have you seen where Brum are in the Championship? .....being fairly good in the England U21 side isn't an automatic recommendation for a place in the full England side.