david in sweden

an extra " nerdy" point. prior to last night's match.. Lee Barnard had started 14 games for Saints...he has been subbed in 12 of them! You make it sound like some earth-shattering decision that AP has suddenly made ...and that LB is going to get upset about .....:smt084

Fairly obviously the 25 minutes that James WAS on the pitch didn't achieve what AP wanted...(some people seem to be comparing him to Ali Dia !)..and clearly AP felt that Barnard had made a huge effort without much result. Had we been 1 or 2 goals up, it would have been a different scenario. Would you have left the team as it was and hoped for the best ? Scoring in the LAST game, or the one before that ..isn't a reason to continue playing the same man for 90 mins. every game. Surely, it's all about how you perform on the night.? Most people admit he tried hard but without any luck and few chances. I'm sure LB isn't as embittered about the subbing as some fans seem to be. It's part of the squad process. Some people still have a mindset that the chosen 11 are the best we have and everyone else is an " also ran " who only gets on when someone is injured. I expect LB to be picked on Saturday and he'll probably score a hat-trick, but last night wasn't his night. For the record: Lee Barnard has been subbed on 12 occasions since he first played in January. It's a tactic that AP uses regularly - why is it so surprising now ? As for the question...do you expect such politeness and diplomacy from a manager whose team has just FAILED to get all three points ? It's obvious he tried everything possible. Do you blame his substitutions for the 17 shots that the players had and didn't score from.? The Q. was.. to say the least...ill-timed. James obviously didn't liven up the midfield as AP hoped and was never going to be a match-winner but Papa and Connolly had a better chance of scoring. I'm glad he did make the change, personally, I'd have put them on sooner.

It's true ...those type of "destroyer roles " in defensive midfielder aren't glory-filled but thank goodness we've had the Huxford, Walker, Fisher, Case, Hurlock, and Marsden's around in the past - they all grew up with the motto - none shall pass. 54 goals in almost 400 games (for Plymouth) isn't a bad record for a midfielder.. and though his record for Saints doesn't show any goals.. those penalties in the JPT did help us get to Wembley.

Any footballer will tell you the last 15 mins. of a game are the most energy-sapping. Yes LB did work hard by all accounts, but Oldham obviously had his mark and if he wasn't making any impact it's best to make changes and try something else. At 0-0 HT, I couldn't wait to see Papa Waigo and Connolly put on. Its a squad game these days, (as Paul Wotton observed) and it's got nothing to do with " being popular with the manager ". More than a few people have commented that there are some games where even Ricky has been "anonymous" - not everyone can be 100% effective every game. I think most players understand that - some fans don't. I saw nothing wrong with that subbing..or the James one (discussed on another thread).

well I thought it was. Even the most tactically illiterate fan would know that when you are 0-0 after 70 mins. in a real MUST WIN game - you need every available striker on the pitch. Barnard was clearly not getting much luck - who else, I wonder, might you have subbed instead. ..Puncheon..Hammond?..or one of the back four ? James is certainly not back to full match fitness and we needed a striker to score a goal. I'm just glad the journo wasn't sat in the trainers box making the decisions.

IF Pardew is "useless", then so too are the 16 managers of the clubs below us in L1 and the three poor s*ds who are still in charge of the bottom three in CCC. Manager's decisions are always questioned by someone (and a few of them are on this site regularly.It has always been so . Ted Bates was not without his critics, but in those days managers were valued by their experience and not their occasional lapses of judgement. Lawrie Mac..(arguably the most successful manger the club has ever had ) was continually under criticism from fans who were nevertheless quite happy to come and watch half a team of England Internationals playing for Saints at The Dell in the 1980's.. I'm sure the majority of fans are more philosophical about results. Last night start side was more or less the same line-up as that which put 5 past Walsall, Huddersfield and Bristol Rovers. No-one can blame OUR pitch for the lack of footballing skill, but teams coming to play destructive, defensive football and poor refereeing also play their part in such games. It's upto Cortese to make the important judgments - not us, I just only hope that he has more patience than some of the other contributors on this site.

well said, sadoldgit!

.and let's not pretend that the journo had a "secret source " that gave him that tip. It's pure guesswork as they can no longer use names like Ron Greenwood John Bond and 'arry Redknapp. Any old player / former manager has a mention at some time or another.

C'mon, Alpine.. think about it ...we did enough to get a win (17 shots to 3), had a penalty appeal rejected and you expect a happy, smiling response to stupid-a$$ questions.? The manager has a right to make whatever changes he sees fit, and with 20 mins. to go we needed all the strike force we could muster. If it hadn't have been James he could have chosen someone else.. I'm sure the responses were polite...compared with some of the comments he'd got if he interviewed the frustated fans who watched the game. Don't lets pretend that football managers are diplomats...if so, some of the managerial " role-models " at the top end of the Prem. are very poor examples.

I'm not disagreeing with your general thoughts but to be fair... regardless of the players ability / potential ....the league you are in dictates the level of the fee.There are quite a few " million pound players " in CCC who are not good enough for a place in our present squad but clubs still pay out the money. Who could buy a striker (like Lambert) for £1 million in CCC?..but it's a fortune in L1. If you move up to CCC ..£1 million wouldn't buy a reserve team player. Could you buy a player of Puncheon's calibre for that fee in CCC ? Fonte wouldn't be out of place in a Prem.side and I think that Lallana is.. as good as / better than Surman a year ago. At least half our present team wouldn't be out of place in CCC either, but you would get any of then for less than £2 - 3 million EACH.

well we've seen enough free-kicks to know he'd could score from distance if he played in the back four !

Hey (that) Dad, Show your lad that video link and he'll get the best education ever.....:prayer:

.not so much as the fact that Leeds were almost untouchable at that time. How they never managed to win the treble that season.. I don't know !

that sounds a bit harsh, though I've always considered B-mouth as a holiday resort and not a football team. As a very small lad, I became aware of B&B as a Hampshire club, and then some bureaucrat moved the county border, and they became part of Darset . I remember Saints playing them in the Old Third Division in the late 50's but not very often since - except perhaps in pre-season kick-abouts.

hordes? ..hordes ..? you mean... all five of them ?

On the original video I saw it was a 14 ..or was it 17 pass move. From the team effort / skill point of view it is clearly a worthy winner. .....but many others are worth a look, too. Some great long-distance shot are memorable. The infamous 40 yard left foot effort from Brian O'Neil is still a favourite amongst older fans, as is that Ivan Golac screamer into the Archers Road goal. A deceiving 35 yarder from Nick Holmes that sailed inside the post at The Milton End looked like slow-motion at the time.(forgot the opposition.) However, it would be difficult to say which of a dozen efforts from Matt Le Tissier was the best...I could watch them forever.

Of course, but if the other guy was mixing it, too then it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. Hitting the other player first is never punished as hard as the retaliation (?) ..if as suggested the Yeovil player was thumping MS first :smt064 then sensible officials should either give both a yellow..or both a red.:smt062 Think the ref. bottled it and got rid of the problem by sending him off. .if MS was " guilty " and the Yeovil player was innocent ...why did he get a yellow card:smt102

RIGHT !!!!.....on recent form I think it's fair to say a lot of the CCC .......isn't ready for us ..COYR !!!!!!!!!!

looking at our away games...were we frequently took 1500-2000 fans. Leeds 25948, Norwich 23103, Charlton 19441, Hudd 12449, Swindon 11673 Millwall 11524, and MK Dons 10570 are the only games which attracted more than 10,000...the average of ALL the others was +/- 7000. Of 20 League games at SMS only 2 were under 18,000 and 2 were over 30K. Great support , eh ?

Nice stats, ..and the +10 GD looks good, too

most of the stats. seem to indicate that we do:smt113. We are 2nd behind Norwich for goals scored 78 (Norwich 84) .................................and for GD. Saints +36 (Norwich +39) Only Swindon (7) have lost less games..Saints lost 8..(but twice to Swindon). we have 3rd best defence . conceded 42 (Millwall 38, Leeds 41) our 21 wins is the same as the current 4, 5 and 6 in the table. Results give us 76 points from games played, which would put us in 6th place (above Hud.f.d )... were it not for the dreaded -10...but with one game in hand. We were the only side to start the season on minus points and are ..(contrary to the predictions of a large minority on this site-look back to August postings) and are currently 22 points ABOVE the drop zone.Not so bad, eh? ANSWER: Darn right!... we deserve to get the play-off spot - and when we do qualify in 6th place ..we'll win the bl**dy thing, too. COYR !!!!!!!!!!

For sheer consistancy, it must be Rickie. He has at most only 3 times gone 3 league games without scoring. A tremendous feat to consider when only Ron Davies went 3 games without scoring on only two occasions.1966-67 and ended up with 37 league goals.