david in sweden

THANKFULLY ! ....but who can recall Mido, the Egyptian-born striker with the film-star lifestyle? During the reign of Rupert I...he snubbed Saints for a move to Tottenham, where he was not one of their better buys, and having moved on has had a new club almost evert season since....and now has made his latest move....to Barnsley, (well that'll please Michael Parkinson, I suppose) ...which Mido has described as a very important move in his career ..for this read : ( thank goodness I found someone who will still employ me..) I shall keep a careful eye on Barnsley's results next season to see if he can beat Rickie Lambert's record for best-ever Championship goalscorer.

I agree with every word. After winning the Prem. title... some Man.City players must surely be looking at the newly-promoted clubs as potential "cannon-fodder ", whereas (NA mentions in his BBC interview) ....Saints aren't expected to get a result v. Man.City... so we have absolutely nothing to lose. We can all look at the form book, but Saints have a habit of upsetting the form book and there's no better place to start.

Whilst he was (more or less) first choice.....but when we moved upto L1, he played only 4 league and 2 L. Cup games before his "injury/accident /club brawl " call it what you will, and wasn't selected again - or even made the bench during the rest of the season. If I can recall, his injuries were described as " life-threatening " at one stage, and even though he has happily recovered fitness.....for a player whose main task is to head the ball a lot, I'd be anxious at having to send him for a brain scan after every game, or ..even feeling safe to select him...if I were NA. I've nothing against this player's (previous) form, but for him and every other squad memeber, the Premier League is new territory and as stated above, he hardly played a handful of Npc games in the last year...let alone dream of the Prem. I don't know why you suggest there should be any doubts about Lambert?... (I didn't mention him - did I ?). Since his new training schedule, slim-line figure and dietry changes, he looks twice the player he was in 2009. I expect him to carry on where he left off last seasson, though only NA would expect him to pass 20 Premiership goals again. " A man has to know his limitations ...Nigel Adkins ...thankfully - doesn't appear to have any."

I agree, he's had some playing experience (unlike Butland), but I'm wondering how playing behind the Celtic defence in SPL can be compared with facing some of the front-line strikers in the Premier League? Surely sounds a good buy, but not perhaps to replace KD so quickly - unless he loses last season's form quite dramatically !

of course, but that's only if they are still there to play against !

I don't think I said he needed lightning pace..but the best wingers can move up a gear when it's needed. Theo Walcott has that ability. Oldies like me recall John Sydenham (former So'ton Schools sprint champion) in the 1960's who could skin most full backs he went up against, but in later years he lost that turn of pace and began to look a bit mediocre. One of my favourites - Marian Pahars - had an amazing turn of pace - when he was 22, but after his ankle injury was never a shade of his former self. Likewise, Strachan lashed out money on 30 y.o. Neil McCann - was it ?) whose injury record and lack of pace made him WGS' worst buy. I'm sure Matt Jarvis has been good so far ...and if we can be confident that he's injury free and still got some pace then he sounds like a good buy. For my part... I'd consider very carefully before buying a winger over 25 .....or a goalie under 30... especially for the many millions being quoted as a potential fee..

Is Nigel Adkins up to it ? well..judging by his recent interview on BBCs site, he's looking for 3 points from every game. He's got more confidence in the team than many of our fan base.....

well that's one less player to have to speculate on .....time to close this thread Mods ????

so this has turned up as a "rumour " again. Now it's supposed to be us and Stoke and /or Sunderland ....the only thing I 'm wondering about is that at £6 million asking price, and he's already 26 . A winger's greatest asset is supposed to be his speed.....if he loses a yard...then he won't be as effective as he was 3 years ago. Not particularly commenting on the player as I haven't seen him play much.

Maybe so , but if he's that good...why would they want to sell him after a year?

..and very valuable they must have been in his education at the Academy. Truth is not everyone makes it, and there comes a time when a decision must be made. Lallana made it - others didn't. If you look at the Academy line-ups when Walcott and Bale were there; I'm sure you'd have to trawl through the lower divs. and even Conference leagues to find where the rest of those squads ended up..

Just another fiasco for the Blatter camp. He bleated on for years about the integrity of the referee blah, blah, and refused to even discuss goal line technology. Came out with a load of bluff about it wasting time and stopping the match... Hey Sepp, have you timed how long it takes to line-up before the ref. OK's to take a free kick, or a corner. ? (sometimes more than a minute from the time of the offence)....so a TV replay 5-10 secs. after an incident can hardly be time wasted. What on earth is the fourth official for ? ..he should be watching the game on a monitor, seeing replays and informing the ref. in the game way that the linesmen do), and see .......as the many millions of TV fans ......what " really happened". Then after the Lampard incident he was forced to admit there was a case for it, but even using two extra goal-line officials didn't resolve last night's incident. Only after the penalty shoot out in the Chelsea v.Bayern game did he submit the idea that it wasn't a good way to resolve games (doubtless prompted by Beckenbauer's objections to Bayerns defeat) After decades of these type of incidents, I'm disgusted at the way an official can play " Hollywood director " and create a scenario that is totally unreal. Your time is up Sepp Blatter - go now, you won't have those crooked FIFA officials around next time to vote you in - yet again.

Mmm, I thought Dennis Rofe got that job?

not happy, eh ? ......well... he could refuse to accept the pay rise and go play for someone else who can afford him.

Ironic isn't it ? After being ignored by the media for so long, suddenly we get equal headlining along with Man.City! Still, it's good to get the most difficult game of the season dealt with in the first week.

..thanks for the clarification lads, I'll sleep better now. G'night !

I know that Nigel doesn't give away too much, but to say we are expecting "one or two more " signings sounds a bit thin to me. Certainly...at LEAST..one goalie...hopefully two. I don't fancy the thought of Forecast even as number 3. It seems, he'll likely introduce Shaw and Stephens into the squad - if he doesn't sign another FB. Although I think that the loan out for Aaron Martin is a good decision, it does means that Seaborne (at present is still in the reckoning?)...but for someone who missed most of last season, and still has most of his experience in L1. that's not good and with Jaidi retired it means TWO new central defenders are needed to keep up the numbers. Nigel may be in a minority if he's happy with last season's midfield quartet.. but only time will tell. Likewise, Barnard (like Seaborne) spent most of last season out and can't be seriously rated as a possible Prem. player - can he ? .......so that means one more striker...now I'm upto FIVE already... Am I be overly critical, or was it just " one of those NA comments " rolling off the tongue, surely we need more than two new signings - even with JayRod.

A few months back someone wrote that they were worried about what might happen when we eventually had to face the " big teams ", I suggested that it wouldn't be a problem if we played Man. city in the first fixture... I lost my crystal ball so I can't predict the result, except to say that on our FIRST promotion to the top div. August 1966.we played Man.City at home result 1-1 draw., and the return game at Maine Road -as it was then was also a 1-1 draw. the SECOND time we were promoted we actually did the double over them ...and even finished above them in the table. NO ! ...I'm not going to talk about history repeating itself, (and they didn't have an oil rich sheik bankrolling them then either), but I do know that the first day games, played on a hot Saturday afternoon in August sometime turn up some weird results. Do I think we'll beat them ? .......stranger things have happened, but a lot will depend on what the line-up is on the day, somehow I have the feeling that a lot may have changed teamwise - before that match day comes along. .

IMHO I don't think it matters much. I've pencilled in both Wham and QPR for a quick return to Npc after next season. Green has to choose his club and make the best of it.

I've surely missed something here...¨ how did the Greeks qualify above the Ruskies when despite an identical playing record P3 1-1-1 ...Russia had a +2 GD, and the Greeks +/- 0 a short explanation someone please ..THX

I'm sure you mean Billy Sharp - don't you? but we will buy another striker (if /when Lee Barnard moves)...Five strikers may not be enough. Redknapp (when at Spurs) bemoaned his injured-striker list last season when he had 5 top strikers, but found it hard to find two who were fit AND on form. I agree with bringing on Academy prospects, but the last time I looked there was no outstanding goalscorer in the youth ranks. A young striker wanting to get into the first team (especially in a Prem.side) will have needed to have scored 40 to 50+ goals in his Academy career, and although I agree there are some good prospects ...none of them has performed that well - even at youth level.