david in sweden

Nice sets of stats - Steve. There must be a negative psychological effect to going in at HT ..and being behind a goal ... or two -even if there are 45 monutes more to play. I know about second half comebacks and all that ..and we've had a few, but it does underline the importance of getting the first goal / and - or leading at HT. If you're behind ...the game may not be over, but the manager must make changes (tactics / players) earlier... if the game is to be won. Leading at HT is a real + factor but it's equally important NOT to " switch off " in the second half. Connolly's goal on Saturday was the real killer, even though the earlier ones looked more spectacular.

I know it will disappoint some people, but a TEAM is more than just one player -isn't it ? We're not expecting to replace Alex with another teenager - are we ? Hopefully... if Nigel has got it right... there be plenty of competition for Alex's shirt.....Forte, Chaplow, Holmes, De Ridder will all be hoping for a move up permanently. They all have good experience and shouldn't be " down-graded " too quickly. Most of the the young starts we've had always start well...we can only hope (for Alex's sake) he has a good career ahead of him, even if it starts on Arsenal's bench occasionally.

Hallelujah ! ..£12 million better off .. how many do we buy for that money, Nicola?

Right ! I think we can expect some revolving formations from game to game.. 4-4-2, 4-3-1-2, 4-1-2-1-2 ... etc, etc, I don't expect any sort of formation change to curb Ricky's strike record.

looks like "Svennis" is buying a whole new SQUAD, not just extra team players.....was 8..or was it ..9 the last time I looked. Yes ..some look like good names but the real test will be if he (SGE) can get all these new boys to gell together into a promtion - winning side ?. There's very few of (Leicester's) last seasons first team squad left ....

A visit to Fratton Park will cost more ......! Are you complaining, or ?

ability? ... to do what ?

I think we are just a trifle unkind to our near neighbours sometimes...OK I know about local rivalry, and all that..but is it really fair that we make fun of them in this way ...?? BUT..on second thoughts, darn right it is ...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you mean, does anyone sit waiting for results playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun..? then the answer is NO! Personally, as a fan of 50 years standing (most of it under the West Stand at the Dell) ..my answer is ...I'm philosophical about it. Promotion and Cup runs are nice. Survival is comforting, but " success" is more about luck than just having a good squad.

Not sure if you've got that the right way round ? Martin Chivers transfer fee (Jan. 1968) was a (then) British club record. (£125,000). Unfortunately, the downside was the highly inflated valuation of Frank Saul.. at £45,000.. based only on the strength of his earlier Cup Final goal (for Spurs). Ted Bates said that selling Chivers was the only transfer deal he was ever sorry about...but it was BIG money in those days. In reality Frank (who was quite a nice guy off the field), was that he only ever scored regularly for Saints in cup games. 61 apps. scored 12 goals (10 in cup games) Saul disappeared off to QPR 18 months later. My selection for "worst deal " was another "record sell " . Alan Shearer to Blackburn for £3.6 million was a record fee in 1992., although when you consider his eventual £15 million sale to Newcastle 4 years later it put him in the Andy Carroll category of sale, and one wishes Saints'd had some sort of " sell-on % " in that deal. The downside to that was that Blackburn sold us "two duds" instead of one. We got David Speedie and Kerry Dixon at a cost of £1 million EACH ...and they scarcely managed 25 games between them before they disappeared. going back a bit ...other "good deals " must have been Cliff Huxford in from Chelsea for the "hot shot " Charlie Livesey in 1959, CH was one of the hardest and fittest men I've seen in a Saints shirt. Nice guy, too. In the middle of the 1965-66 we(sadly) sold top scorer, George O'Brien to Leyton Orient, then but got 20 year old defender David Webb as part of the package. Anyone who saw the exciting, aggressive Webb in action didn't easily forget him. A type of " Dennis Wise style" he helped us win promotion that season, before moving onto Chelsea two years later and later scored a winning goal in an FA Cup Final.

right...it's just a run-out for the youngsters and a few "fringe" players like Mills, Dickson and Holmes. The good news is, at last we see that Tommy F- has found his true level....next step is a seaosn loan-out..but to where?

I still think Tommy FOURPAST ....brings a smile to add to the irony of having this man on the club books, it's more of an embarrasment than Ali Dia or Anthony Pulis...who I see has signed for Aldershot.

about that link saying we are not interested in a player swop with QPR.... and want ..£1 million cash for Puncheon.... Oooow ...I wonder what sort of poker player Cortese is ...?

I should have thought it was highly likely he will go out on loan. He may be a promising talent, but he's not Theo Walcott and won't even be 5th choice striker if he stays at SMS all season. He needs to go to L1 even L2 ..and score lots of goals. Even then there's no saying he would be a success in CCC ..or eventually Prem. football He needs regular games, and at a level better than our U21 play. By the time January comes around we can assess his progress and if there was an injury crisis (heaven forbid), we could always recall him.

If they've signed Woodgate, then they definitely need someone else. It was quite apparant that every interview " 'appy 'arry " did last season he kept say what a great player Woodgate was (when what he meant was.. used to be ).... Don't think Spurs had him fit and playable for more than 3 games in a row over the last 2 years. His injury record made " Sicknote's" look like fitness report.

noted that his (Adkins) chat with a journalist brought forth the equation that only 7% of all rumours actually come out right! why on earth do we buy all these papers?...ONLY 7%. .....you'd think with all this phone tapping that they do a bit better than that.

but still managed to score a few goals...

well to start with I think you missed out Mark Wotte, who took over after Voorfliet was shown the door by RL. in January 08 ? I think Wise and Bassett held the reigns for a couple of games after Harry R left..? but before Burley was appointed but I wouldn't call them managers However, I do object to the media blurb of counting anyone who takes over " as manager " whenever the actual guy has a bout of the flu' , or someone who sits in the managers office for a few weeks whilst the chairman runs around looking for the "real thing " He becomes the fellow who picks the team, and is merely a " caretaker " (nothing more)..and certainly not ...THE manager. Wigley held the fort on a couple of occasions but I think he wasn't "officially " manager - especially as he lacked the merit badges required for Prem managers at the time. Sturrock was "official" even though his stay was so short. Likewise I think Gorman (and Dodd) were picking the team for a few weeks after Burley's sudden departure but were never going to get the post which eventually went to Pearson. (I thought he did a fair job - all things considered ) at least we survived. One of RL major disasters was of course the Double Dutch fiasco. Wotte was apparantly offered the job 2 years before but dropped at the last minute, and then RL employed him AND put in Poorvliet above him. The fact that the two of them didn't get along didn't occur to RL at the time. Likewise ; the very sudden dismissal of Pardew left a huge void that wasn't filled for 4-5 matches (we lost them all)..but Wilkins (like Gray and Wigley before him ) ...is an excellent coach but not managerial material at this level, and never supposed he'd get the job either.

all these "valuations " are only paper figures anyway. The proper price for any player is ...as much as you can get... alternatively ..as much as the buyer is willing to pay. we paid 250K for Punch, and now Cortese is asking 750K . We would make a profit of 500K. Gorkss was bought for 250K.. but is probably amuch improved player since then, so... how much do QPR value him at now ? In the end the only Q. is : would he benefit the side? ..the answer is probably YES. I wouldn't argue too much about it as money is not a problem if we have £3 miilion + available to spend on a striker... The only thing at stake is : somebody's pride. My version : get rid of Punch ASAP and bring in the Latvian for nothing or spend £1 million or so on the Tunisian ...

apparantly a QPR defender who has been offered in a swap deal for Puncheon. Edit. Mmm... didn't immediately see the other link ... but Wikikpedia says he is 29, Born Nov 1981. 6' 3" tall has played 174 games in England (Blackpool + QPR ) and scored 6 goals. A regular in the Latvian national side since 2005 has played 35 games so far and scored 4 goals. Personal note : Can't place him directly but Nordic TV viewers will have seen him, and I recall the Latvian back four look like Olympic highjumpers - but with muscles.

As I recall, I read somewhere... Mills and Crainie were the dynamic duo in the Academy sides under Steve Wigley, but with all the uncertainties surrounding his (Wigley's) exit - - and the yet to be appointed new manager (whichever one that was?) ..Mills became unsettled (and he wasn't the only one). Mills had only worked with " one manager " for him namely - Wigley and it didn't take too much persuasion for him to follow Wigley to Man.City. Matt seemed surplus to requirements and the fee (£500K ?) must have seemed a good deal for a young reserve (or so RL must have thought). As we know neither had a very long tenure with City - who seemed to have changed managers almost as often as we did at that time - and they both went their seperate ways. This is down to one decsion that we didn't make. If Mills had stayed he would surely have got into the first side eventually, and he was more ambitious than the club who were fighting relegation and debt problems. He must also have given some consideration to the fact that, at one time or another two of his THREE brothers - was it ?... had all played for Saints youth sides at various times and, as is likely with the last (Joseph) - were let go having failed to make the grade - and move up to the first team. The Mills' and Goberns of this world (it seems) get picked if the team is playing mediochre /mid table type football with the sole ambition of survival. If we are fighting relegation - you can't take a chance of your youth players (as the Dutch duo later discovered), and if you are pushing for promotion as with Burley and get to the play-offs - you go for with some experienced faces.

A tribute to Ron Davies.... and an (eventual) rehabilitation of MLT good name wouldn't go amiss either....IMHO

you're right of course..a bit of brain fade there from me. think I've read too many transfer rumour threads this week.

You're right there, but there were still young debutants even 20 -30 years ago; Chivers, Channon, Stokes, Moran, Shearer, the Wallaces and MLT were all teenagers when they played their first games. But consider the differences...the terrible state of some pitches in those days. All the grass was gone before Christmas and the pitch was waterlogged after rain or frost damaged in the winter and thensanded for the rest of the season. The players wore hard boots more suited to army manoevers and the leather "cannon" ball they used could weigh over 2kg. when it got really wet in wintertime. The best players were those who could move well in the mud, and the 11 men you started with were there for the whole 90 mins. Badly injured players went off if they could no longer run and those who took less serious knocks became a " passenger " out on the wing - in vain hope - they could be of some use during the rest of the game. A lot of difference ...when todays players wear lightweight shoes, kick a " beach ball " from end to end on pitches that would do a credit to many cricket grounds, and with the slightest hint of an injury a player can be replaced with a sub.