david in sweden

Japanese in OUR stadium, eh? what is it coming to ....soon we'll have the French coming to watch Morgan, the Dutch to see Jos, the Portuguese to watch Fonte and even that Guly bloke from their old colony - Brazil ....not to mention the influx of Scousers to watch Ricky bang in some more goals! It may be the first time anyone has seen " Lee's Fan Club", but everyone has to start sometime, and some of the people on this site were adult before they watched their first game...no-one was born in SMS ! If the Japanese supporters are upto 20 people by the end of the season then it will mean an extra few quid in shirt sales. I don't notice Man.U. fans complaining about the Korean support for Park !

perhaps ? ..the best STRIKER. We also have the best MIDFIELDER, several of the best DEFENDERS and (probably) the best KEEPER, too.

Japanese football has come along way in the last 10 years. At one time, they were the Kamakazi-style San Marino of the Far East. They've improved a lot. Everyone in the world realises that the English Premiership (and even The Championship) provides good football, and so the japanses are bound to be proud of every one of their countryman who gets to a high level. I watched an extended version of The Asian Cup final (where Lee scored his fantastic match-winner), and they were not going to lie down and let the Aussies walk all over them, there was a lot of skill there. If the Japanese fans looked a bit " over-the-top ", it's because they haven't yet learned something from English fans ..namely..how to be cynical about the game.

y I really don't think it's a case of keeping out of the team. It's obvious that NA likes horses for courses and the type of opposition often decides who he will choose. NA must have felt good yesterday, if only because he could take off his first-choice strikers on a hot day and replace them with more talent. Sooner (hopefully) than later Billy and Lee will start scoring more regularly, but it takes time for new players to settle in - especailly when you see how well the rest of the lads are playing. As soon as Lee (and Billy) gets it together and the rest of the team recognise their talent it'll be a case of ..... "you 'aint seen nothing yet !"

RECALL HIM ? ....CERTAINLY NOT. He's getting some games at last, whereas he'd be lucky to get on the bench if he were still at SMS. OK ...it's L1 but ....if he can carry on like this, a few people will need to revise their opinion of him......another half dozen before end of season, and he'd be worth keeping.

every defender in the League with the name Danny stands a chance in our squad...

at least he'd have the club at heart. (like Stuart Gray - great as a coach..Gardner, Puckett, Doddsy..Is Jaidi going to coach when he retires ?) I recall the great Liverpool sides in the 1970-80's . They got through a whole succession of backroom trainers turned manager after Shankley's time, and it made no difference... they still won almost everything in sight ..in the end the tea-lady could have picked the side (probably did for all we know !)

Nostalgia is a dream world Adrian...some have got the axe out for Connolly already. Remember when we signed Inigo ..what's his - Spain ? people thought he was too old before he kicked a ball, and it was injuries that kept him out . Nice try, though !

I think I'd go along with 99% of that Colin. with exceptions that I'd buy another striker, as I don't consider Guly to be a striker...but the MF who can score most. You've omitted Lee Holmes, who i don't think has been written off YET (not by me anyway)... Can't comment on your choice of new signings.(don't see enough "other " UK football to comment), but I do think we might look at one of Lee's pals. The Japanse keeper who kept a clean sheet in the Asian Cup Final was a real brute. Fantastic saves and really kept his defenders in order !

of course, but they'd still have to win it to get back in contention.

OK...not surprising, but been away for a while. still makes nice reading - doesn't it ?

sounds like a " who do you think you are " format ..doesn't it. Mmm...60+ (who's counting anyway?) So'ton born and bred. Moved to Sweden in the mid 1980's..... First Dell game. FA CUP Round 3 v. Blackpool Jan. 1959. Stanley Matthews played - we lost 1-2. First away game. FA CUP SF v. Man U. at Villa Park April 1963. Lost 0-1. . nearly everybody played s**t ..(after that great Cup run, too). Favourite team of my era.....1963/4 Div.2 side which scored 100 league goals; Paine, Sydenham, George O'Brien; Chivers and Wimshurst. Favourite player(s) of that era.....Ron Davies .(and few more in second place).. Jimmy Gabriel, JohnMcGrath, later; Channon, Peach and Nick Holmes. Most thrilling game .............FA Cup March.1963 (2nd replay) v. Notts Forest at Dell 3-3 aet. Most enjoyable game ..........Mick Channon testamonial.......two days after FA Cup win 1976...fantastic atmosphere! .....and a lot more since.

.then all their games played this season will be expunged (sounds like a plumber at work), and points deducted from teams that beat them. Boro' and Cardiff have won 4 points of them, whilst West Ham - having beaten them twice - would lose SIX points . looking at the present table ...and an eventual re-vamp and without points already won ..it would look like this .... club ..............present points ......points lost .......revised points. SAINTS -------------66----------------1-----------------65 West Ham----- --65---------------6-----------------59 Reading-------------63----------------3-----------------60 Midd'boro-----------59----------------4-----------------55 Blackpool -----------56----------------1-----------------55 B'ham---------------55----------------0-----------------55 Brighton-------------55---------------3-----------------52 Cardiff---------------54---------------4-----------------50 Hull------------------53---------------3-----------------50 ---with the prospect of that happening, it seems fairly clear that , as long as we continue to hold this form... we get a better breathing space and then it just down to us not to blow it away....

Alos noticed that under a longer period too, Turkish. Those with a Latin temprament seem to flourish when the sun shines, but don't like the icy winter weather. OK I know Brazil may not be counted as Latin, but players who have grown up in "warmer climes". As soon as the sun begins to shine and the warmer days arrive, Guly will be back in the goals again.

aren't you supposed to be keeping us informed about ther match? how many has De Ridder scored ..?

how on Earth could anyone vote for a player... other than KD ...after that performance?.

Too strong personalities in the dressing room don't make for a good morale. If Pearson (who I quite admire) gets Leicester to a play-off spot then he'll have done well...but I think that Leicester may rue the day they lost patience with Sven-Göran Eriksson and fired him. What a come down for Mills...there's no way that Leeds will be able to find £5 million for him - even if he does well there. At any rate, he is probably only the first "casualty" of the new Pearson regime. It takes time to get a team working together..Eriksson bought in "his own choices " but their Board didn't give him time to develop them, Pearson has inherited them...but may not have enough time left to him either.

Andy Carroll has played to date 155 senior games (since 2006) and scored only 59 goals (many of them last season) all in Prem. Ricky Lambert has scored 82 goals in 145 games the last 2½ seasons with Saints, and in all 138 goals in 300 games since 2006 It doesn't need anyone else to say that RL got his tally in a lower league,(thats obvious) but just because someone costs £35 million - should he be an automatic choice for England?. If Dalglish thought Carroll was a great CF-he was in a minority of one. AC's predecessor(at Liverpool) was a bigger flop..andonly cost £50 million. I can't see any reason a sane manager wouldn't play the "in-form player" and give Ricky a few games - in friendlies - in games where he will likely use 18 players anyway, just to prove himself. I recall one "brave" England manager (forgot who) played Wolves CF Bull in a few games - when they were the wrong end of Div.2 ...and he scored, too. Past England managers like Venables and Hoddle in the 1990's stubbornly refused to play MLT - when he was clearly the top English goalscorer at that time and all because the Saints were at the lower end of the Premiership. The " incestuous London football mafia " is at it again. Any English player from a London club (and there aren't so many of them)...stands a better chance of getting a game, than does Ricky.! .

I really had a laugh at that one ...makes a change from reading some other contributors, blubbering on about negativities at SMS.

I wrote this several months ago, when some people were questioning KD's "longevity " as GK, and that we ought to play Bart a bit more ..well we did ! regardless of the merits of the (two Saints gk's concerned - I'm excluding Tommy FFS) ...if you look at the majority of Prem. sides you see that many of them have ONE ..if not TWO ínternational goalies.....Like everyone else, I can only find superlatives to express about KD, who stayed at the club when the ship was sinking and all the lifeboats seemed to have gone...(great guy-very loyal )...but longer term...we need TWO top-rate goalies to stay up in the Prem. SHOT IN THE DARK..like many other I looked at the many U-Tube inserts about T.Lee after he moved here BUT having watched a longer version of that Asian Cup Final, I noticed that at 90 minutes, the scoreline was 0-0....and the Japanese keeper..(unpronouncibly Japanese) ...played a blinder before Lee came on and won the game for them. He looked very big, very angry and very much in control of his territory, and made a couple of unbelievable saves, too. Come back in August ...maybe ..If so you heard it here first !.

oc ........think you've come closest to original meaning in post #1. I don't think that there is any real competition for the England 1 spot, as Joe Hart (though hardly great) is clearly the best available by a country mile. Upon seeing Green's name as an alternative, I asked myself how much difference there was between KD and RG? . Is Green really THAT much better? I agree with most on here that neither of them is really much better than CC standard, but any goalie both south of the border must fancy his chances of playing for England - one day - such is the poor standard of "English-born goalie-candidates" . We've often complained about the lack of English managers in Prem. clubs..but I think the search for an international standard English GK is even tougher. Maybe we can find an Irishman ...with an English grandmother who might fit the bill ?

maybe not so much " annoyed ", but I sometimes wonder why it is that some clubs seem to think that if they just express an interest in a player, then that person would run barefoot over broken glass just to join "their club"... just to get a place on the bench. It's surely not just the money..(that many of them don't have in the first place) they must live on Planet Football where they win the "double " every season.

......exactly my thoughts, too !

well .. in view of my much-maligned thread about KD recently, the thought occured to me ..should we go up, and Hammers not ..maybe we could think about moving for Green...? After all ..he can only say NO.. so why not ask the question ..(when the time is right ) ?