david in sweden

well you know who I mean the other guy who was in Sweden.....that Hodgson fellow !

a bad result for England in the next couple of games could tilt the balance. Houghton chose Carroll when he had no sort of form at all - but regardless of the final result, Rickie did himself no harm at all with goals in the two Manchester games.

..if you dare to ´(!).but don't expect anyone to talk to you afterwards

yes Clarke-y... .if you mean Clyne?....I'd go with that, too.

I've said this before, but ......based on many years of watchung stats. ..I never make a serious analysis of the League tables until around game 6 or 7... Why?.....because any club can have a good / bad start. Some clubs start like a rocket....and end the season like a damp squib. Some years back, Carlisle were promoted....won their first 3 games and went top ...but they only won another 3 games in the rest of the season and were relegated. This season, Swansea have a new manager, some new players... but can they hold onto their opening form ?...whereas few newly-promoted teams can ever have faced the best two teams in the League in their first month....as Saints have done..(and I didn't believe that Wigan are as poor as side as some have said), they may well finish in the top half of the table. It may take another 3-4 games before we start earning 3 points a game, but our performances against the two Manchester sides shows that we have the ability, once the defensive situation is put in order.

Another of these long distance sagas, but one thing we know for sure .....if Saints were to land him.....it'd show that we have real pulling power.... (how many of the other interested clubs have an Italian chairman ?)

there are grey areas and different interpretations, but as Forte is out on loan till January, we won't need to include him - as by the time he's back, the next window will be open and we can submit a revised list.

Agreed . Why do half this thread think that the concept has failed after only 3 games ...?

after 3 games... I think most people (Adkins included) have more or less seen who can "make it " and who not. There's not many left to decide about, but the jury's still out on a couple..... In the next few weeks, we will likely introduce 3 new players into the team, which already has 3 from the summer signings. I don't think they've quite got into the Southampton Way yet, Alpine... I think we should give them a bit more time...... still if we haven't seen any radical improvement by say ....November, then we can give up the whole thing and prepare ourselves for Championship football next season. Do I read you correctly, or ?

until he plays a few games INSTEAD of RL, we won't know. (NO I'm not advocating dropping RL,) .....but if Jay Rod is his eventual replacement ....he has to take the role and not play " somewhere else "... Playing out on the left he seems a bit stranded ... (If Luke Shaw is the likely replacement for Fox...it's not such a good idea to give him some games at CB !)

when Maya comes in ....it'll be for Fonte.

of course it's better to have younger, talented players you can coach to be better. (Even RvP wasn't such a hot shot when he first went to Arsenal...) but we need a few older heads around to encourage and advise..The likes of Del Piero wouldn't be on a four year contract, but 12 months playing alongside him could be the making of our younger talents.. ......." old heads, young legs ...." Lawrie McMenemy.

it's not a case of age, but fitness and experience. Kevin Phillips is still a first choice player at Blackpool and he's ..38?

..or putting it ANOTHER way... we have once won more than 3 of our first 10 games 1994-95 .....and 3 times since 1992 we only won ONE of the first 10 games....but we still survived.

IMHO this is a case of two men, (from different parts of the planet) ...both very important to the club (at different points of time) who came a cropper over the Liebherr takeover deal. Being a loyal Saint. Matt thought that the Pinnacle bid was the way out of our administration in 2009, but took the blame because he was the front man and voice for them, (and he and NC clearly don't speak the same langauge in expressing themselves), but I respect both...each in their own way. After the deal was done...I read (somewhere) that a hitherto unknown Swiss bid had cash on the table in late May...but the Administrator refused to consider it, and held out in the hope that the fans favourite would come up with a deal. Nicola Cortese was (perhaps rightly) angered because of the eternal delay.. .and that MLT continued to speak out against Lebherrs offer, (perhaps without knowing its content) ...when he (in his enthusiasm to save the club) he was clearly misled by a Pinnacle consortium that never existed. I feel sorry for him in that respect. A LOT of water has flowed under the bridge since then...and at last we are back out in the " big Ocean." I genuinely believe that no other offer (at that time) would have given SFC a better deal than they eventually got, (although clearly a lot of decisions taken along the way have upset countless people). In retrospect I'm glad that Marcus Liebherr wasn't persuaded to invest in Coventry instead.... As a fan of 50+years, I've seen a lot (both good and bad) happen to " my club ", and it saddens me that these two men cannot find the opportunity to sit down and honestly air their views (privately) to each other because ... each (in their own way)... have been "saviours " of OUR club.

Actually... it was first written for /and recorded by... the U.S group the Coasters in the late 1950's. It was later covered by loads of British rock groups in the early 60's, but I liked the Hollies version myself.

This was a he** of a question ART ..but I happened to be on a free afternoon, and I'd recently considered the same thing... .so here goes (with explanatory notes) Hee is the list of the first ten games played since 1978, Firstly theOld Div.1 table was based on 42 games and only 2pts./win.and Prem. from 1992 season...W-D-L .....pts.... .position...........................final position 1978-79 ...2-4-4 ...... 8......... 18 first win game 3 .......14 1979-80 ....5-3-2 ......13..........6 first win game 4.........7 1980-81.....5-2-3.......12..........5 first win game 1.........5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1981.82.....5-2-3.......17.......... 7 first win game 2........7..........3 pts./win introduced 1982-83.....5-1-4.......16.........19 first win game 3.......12 1983-84.....6-2-2.......20 ..........5 first win game 1...... .2 1984-85.....2-4-4.......10..........12 first win game 6........5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of McMenemy era. 1985-86 ....1-5-4....... ..8.........20 first win game 7........14-----first season Chris Nicholl as manager 1986-87.....4-1-5...... .13.........13 first win game 1....... 12-----Matt Le Tissier debut season 1987-88.....2-4-4....... 10.........17 first win game 2........12 ----won only game 2 after which 7 without a win.. 1988-89.....4-3-3........15...........6 won first 3 games.....13 ----won 1,2,3 ....then no win in next 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------League reduced to 38 games (20 teams) 1989-90.....5-3-2........18..........6 first win game 2........7------MLT 20 goals 1990-91.....3-2-5........11.........14 first win game 2...... 14-----MLT 19 goals (Chris Nicholl sacked -Ian Branfoot new manager). 1991-92.....2-2-6..........8.........19 first win game 3.......16----Alan Shearer 13 goals in his last season.. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------PREMIER LEAGUE introduced with 22 teams 1992-93.....2-4-4.........10........15 first win game 5.......18-----MLT 15 goals 1993-94.....1-1-8..........4.........21 first win game 4.......18 ----MLT 25 goals (despite only one win in first 10 games) Ian Branfoot sacked in March - Alan Ball appointed new manager 1994-95.....4-3-3.........15........10 first win game 5........10----MLT 20 goals 1995-96.....1-3-6..........6.........18 first win game 4........17----Alan Ball leaves, Dave Merrington one season as manager. Saints score only 34 league goals for - our lowest ever in Prem.. 1996-97.....2-3-5..........9.........17 first win game 8........16----Graeme Souness manager for one season. MLT 13 goals Östenstad 9. 1997-98.....2-1-7..........7.........19 first win game 4........12----new manager Dave Jones. MLT 11 goals, Östenstad 11, Kevin Davies 9, David Hirst 9 1998-99.....1-2-7..........5.........20 first win game 10......17----The Great Escape...Saints win last 3 games and stay up. New signing Marian Pahars scores 2 in our last League game. 1999-00.....3-2-5.........11........14 first win game 1........15 ---Pahars 13 goals. Dave Jones goes on leave. Glenn Hoddle takes over as manager. 2000-01.....2-4-4 ........10........17 first win game 6........10----Beattie 11 goals, Pahars 9 2001-02 ....2-1-7.........7..........18 first win game 4........11----Pahars 14 goals, Beattie 12, Stuart Gray sacked after 9 games . Gordon Strachan new manager. 2002-03.....3-4-3.........13........12 first win game 5..........8----Beattie 23 goals (all in space of only 26 games) ------after which Strachan left and the " managerial carousel" began. But things went form bad to worse and Saints were finally relegated in 2005. unfortunately, my info is very dependent on In that Number, and a poor memory and so I only have accurate stats. to 2003. I always say that stats. tell us something, but as we have had umpteen managers and a hundred plus players in this time, it's hard to blame either of those groups. However, the stats do show that we are notoriously poor starters - even in seasons when we eventually did well. We've had good ...and sometimes downright terrible squads - but if I had to give a typically English excuse I might blame... .the weather. If you think I'm joking...you can see from the lists that we rarely win much before game 4-5 and I can't remember how many times I've heard that a home game played on a blazing hot day with 25 deg C. in mid August ...made for a poor result in exhausting conditions. Don't take me too seriously ...but I've short of other ideas. David in Sweden. What you can predict is that if we have 10 points by October we stand a fair chance of staying above the "drop zone 2 .and that (historically at least) we tend to play better after New Year than before...

it's true to say that someplayers do play better at a higher level....Schneiderlin is one such, as is Lallana. Don't know if Ricky's whirlwind start is just a drop in th ocean, or if he's in for a GREAT season ?

It's easy to defend a nice guy .and Jose is .... BUT he never looked the same after coming back from his injury last Autumn. He has good close control, and his distribution is good but it looks like he moves in slow-motion. His back passes frighten me, he either plays them too short, too soft and too often .. leaving KD in " no-mans land " A good to average striker with a bit of pace will skin him very time. Sorry, but have to agree with most of the Board here - his time has run out.

I agree with most of the rest of your text but Mayuka grew up in Tanzania, a former British colony where (as in Kenya) he would surely have learned English in school. After his sojourn in Israel ..and Switzerland (where English) is second / third languages, I'd guess he's been speaking English most of the time. Need to wait for an interview with him to see if I'm right. My guess is that he's fairly good.

it seems as though we all watched the same game with different viewpoints (as usual). It was encouraging to see us contain the first 10 minute onslaught, when United came at us full throttle. When we came into the game we looked smoother midfield and Lambert did make Vidic and Ferdinand look like unfit non leaguers. I wonder what Alex Ferguson would have said about them, had MU lost and he didn't have the chance to praise RVP to the skies. For our part ..JP was in another class to the trouble-torn player he was in the Spring - great cross for Lambert 's goal (memories of Ron Davies...for fans who were never lucky enough to see him play). CAPTAIN Adam Lallana really does look class now, but (as in Wigan game) he had several goal chances that he might have put away, and it would have eased the scoreline. Schneiderlin was superb and his first home goal was well overdue, and 17 y.o. JWP lasted the 94 mins. very well .. considering the class of opposition. Sadly, I must come back to my misgivings about Fonte at the back. On the ball he shows skill, and accuracy but at times he looked as though he was moving in slow motion....his back passes frighten me every time. He either under-hits, or plays them too short, leaving KD in no-mans land. Fox was a bit better and Clyne looked class - apart from his wrong boots in first half when he slipped and let RVP in for goal 1. I think Hooiveld is OK, but some of his " hard-man" tackles are poorly-timed and when a Prem. striker goes down in the box - it's a penalty every time, (foul or not.) it's a poor start, but no other team has such a hard start in the first month, and Wigan looked dead and buried last January have turned out to be a tougher proposition than their final 2011/12 position. I'm sure that Nicola Cortese feels concerned at present, but for older fans who recall those 1990's " survival seasons " and the Great Escape - it's nothing new . (I'm sure we'll turn it around soon). When we were - 10 points and bottom of L1, he talked about a five year plan to the Prem. some people thought he was crazy. Starting at the bottom - once again, the idea of 5 year plan to Euro football doesn't sound so daft. Interesting to think we may be spending much of the season fighting Liverpool - to avoid relegation!

at the end of his career, he'd clearly want to play at the highest level... for as long as possible...so which do you think he'd choose - Australian football - or English Premier League.? A two year deal, and maybe not even having to play every week.....? I think he'd take it.

anyone can be signed at any time ....IF ......they are out of contract. Otherwise it's clearly in contravention to the EU " restriction of work" laws.