saintsmike25

It's the Daily Mail, which are about as accurate when it comes to reporting as Guly is when it comes to shooting. They thrive off poor journalism and make-believe sources. Awful paper, that is just the sport. Don't get me started on the "news" side of it. Clearly Adkins is staying.

It isn't fragile you just like to stamp out any positivity no matter what with impending doom and gloom posts. Hence why you have become such a joke poster. Anyway how are those predictions you were making Alpine when you said we would draw against QPR and lose the rest. Your knowledge of football is absolutely dire.

At least Dalek is tolerable with his negativity, and it has some positive slants on it. Alpine however is tedious, even if you post prasing the team you're called "rose-tinted". The forums would be 50% better without him. No-one even stands up for his opinion anymore, as for life-long Saints fan, i wish he would bugger off and "support" another team and plague their forums. He wouldn't know the what support is, unless negative views and posting and bringing every other supporter who goes to games down - counts as support.

Steve hasn't looked bad in his odd spells when he comes on. He gets in behind them and has a decent enough touch. He'll be a match winner again for us. Adkins is being wise, as in fairness Mayuka has looked a bit raw when we have played him. Competition for places, it's healthy.

They were WORSE because we played well and closed them down all over the park. We outplay Arsenal and are unlucky not to win yet you're still moaning. It is not home points dropped, again it is another point gained against a team that were bang in form and smashed 7 past Newcastle, Reading etc. Shaw is a good player, of course teams will want him, no need to worry though. Final say is up to Nicola, life is too short and I imagine he will stay with us for a bit longer.

They weren't bizarre. Lambert and Ramirez were knackered, Jay Rod looked good and got behind them when he came on and Ward Prowse showed calmness. If anything it shows that we are not a one man team. Toss up between Cork/Morgan and Yoshida for MOTM. We were superb, and I knew we would get something today. We have improved immensily and we will keep picking up points, against teams like Arsenal, Stoke, and Everton. We look fearless and the mentality is right. Our attitude despite the flukey goal was excellent, we kept on plugging away. I've also noticed we have become a bit more 'hoof' but it is effective. We are winning lots of second balls from it, and from there we build our football. I think we need to be a bit less direct in how we always play the long diagnal ball, low crosses in the box could be effective if the likes of Ramirez and Morgan will run on to them. Remember they smashed us 6-1 earlier, and dare I say it, we deserved to win that, had it not been for a couple of missed chances. Great result and performance.

If you can read my post, what did the first sentence say. "I thought we would get trounced 5-1" - Is that the view of a happy clappy with undying faith and rose tinted glasses? I doubt it. There are some serious holes in all of your arguments. Money spent on a team should not equate to instant results. You're forgetting that Ramirez, Mayuka, Yoshida, etc are all having a culture shock, adapting to both the language and the league. And also the demands, and gelling with the team. Look at Man City and how much they spent they did not win the league instantly despite spending hundreds of millions. In terms of performances, do the fans who watch the games want Adkins out? Are they complaining inecessantly calling for his heads, and saying that two away points at Fulham and Stoke are poor? No. That is YOU. You sit in your ivory tower, or should I say mountain Chalet somewhere in the Alps, detached from your team who you comment negativily about, you barely watch a game every season. Yet you feel the need to criticise them at every turn. No matter what season, what league and what manager. Can others post positively about the team they support? Without being called spin doctors and happy clappy? Or has it become into some sort of "them and us" with you and others negative views being righteous, and anyone who dares to praise this team as happy clappy. It's little wonder so many on here leapt to the defence of my post, and pointed out your sad reply to it, was well sad. Because the reality is we gained a point at Stoke, a place that 90% of us thought we would not get anything from. Did you watch the game? Did you see the second half performance by Stoke? Even down to 10 men they were inspired, they called it their best half of football this season. Yet it must have been down to us, did you even witness the two goals, one was absolutely indefendable, a wonder strike. I won't criticise Saints for conceding a worldy, had Jerome not hit that 35-yard half volley we would have won. People criticising Adkins for defensive substitutions, well he tried to see out the game and defend it didn't work. But if he had brought on a striker, and then we had the same result, you'd get the same whinging on here. From people like you Alpine. I didn't go to Stoke, but I watched the game on a stream. I was delighted with how we played, and the majority of our fans are too. As for the goalkeeping dilemma, Adkins is doing what most managers do, putting in which keeper is in form, who is playing well in games. When Kelvin makes a mistake - a howler, he will replace him with Gazanigga or Boruc, generally thats what happens unless your first team GK is first class. You seem to forget Boruc played for Celtic for many years as a first team regular, and Gaz is young and I don't think he should have been given so many games. But to write him off already is foolish. You also seem to forget we bid £6m for Jack Butland. Enjoy posting negative drivel for the rest of the season. When someone takes your opinion seriously and agrees with it, thats when we should be worried. The good thing is however, most think you and your opinion are a complete joke. Happy new year.

People on here are somehow forgetting how well they played in the second half. In their own words they said "It was our best half of the season." In which they have beaten teams like Liverpool 3-1 at home. What do you want Adkins to say? How disappointed he is in getting a point NO-ONE expected us to get at a Fortress like Stoke. He's not insecure, it's called being positive and keeping the momentum going. Even with 10 men they had a forward line of 4 strikers and had unbelievable energy. Could most defences cope with defending against Crouch, Jerome, Jones and Walters with a direct attack? It is not pretty but it sure is effective. Sometimes losing a player can galvanise a team, I think we can beat them at home, it's also a good lesson for us in how to deal with a physical side. Any point at Stoke is a fantastic one.

Before the game I thought we would get trounced 5-1. But we were brilliant, we battled hard and proved to be more than good enough to deal with their aerial bombardment. They're a team of beasts, only two of their players are below 6 foot, and we really gave them the run around in the first half. Morgan looked excellent, Guly was superb - apart from the sitter he did not put a foot wrong. Luke Shaw again had a great game and Jay Rod and Lambert linked up well. Also YOSHIDA, won everything in the first half. Yes, it's two points dropped - BUT did anyone even see us getting a point, against Stoke away? I doubt it, they are a seriously tough outfit. What this will do is give the team confidence to go away to places and attack, and get points. On other days we will hold onto leads, and get three points, whether it is away to Man Utd, Chelsea, Spurs, we are going to beat one of the big teams at some point and get three points that we won't expect. While we can have confidence that now we can get points away to any side if we play like that. Yes, this season will be touch and go, every fixture is tough, none have "3 points" written all over them. So we will battle for each point and whether we go down, or go up. Lets enjoy the ride, we are competing and are in the mix with 7/8 other teams trying to stay up. The constant negativity on this board is annoying, we were always battling to stay up the majority of the time when we were in the Premiership, it was mostly individual brilliance by Le Tissier and later Pahars that kept us up. We have spent money, and we are getting better as the season goes on. We are picking up points away from home. It's a shame we lost to Sunderland, and didn't beat Norwich, in some games we have looked flat, but now Adkins will use the likes of Richardson, Guly, Chaplow, Mayuka, Jay Rod, Fox, Shaw and perhaps Ben Reeves to keep the squad fresh and hungary. Positives: Yoshida, superb throughout - Guly, shows he can do it on a cold day at Stoke, that proves he can do it anywhere when he on his game. Spiderman/Cork - Both had great games against a tough physical outfit. Jay Rod: Didn't score but was pulling their defence about and starting to look like he will step up to his price tag. Shaw: Looks mature beyond his years. I honestly think we are a better side than Villa, Reading, QPR, Wigan and possibly on the same level as Fulham/Newcastle. We are picking up the points and looking steady. We will lose more games throughout the season, but I think now, lets all have some faith in the team and Adkins. Even if we go down I want him to stay. COYR.

Two wins in a row and everything is rosy again. This is a knee-jerk reaction, and who do we replace Adkins with? It's clear things are lacklustre at the moment. The players have lost belief and now it's sink or swim. I give Adkins 3 more games, 6 points minimum needed.

We are losing against a side who is BETTER in terms of quality and players. Yet people winge like we should be winning.

Nice positive comment from Alpine. As always.

Clyne is being pasted, he should have marked Bale!

Well Saints fans have spoken on here, clearly we should keep Adkins. We aren't bottom and there's so many more games to play, judging by recent performances we have turned a corner. 3-1 against Everton is not a disaster - once we start to pick points up away things will feel better.

Wow, can't believe some of the moaners on here. Plenty of football yet to play! Plus it's a good point, we will need them. We were just unlucky today, we need to be wary of the ball out wide and those low driven crosses.

He's too busy with his life and having a life than making 5,000 posts on an internet forum.

John is a top lecturer. He taught me on the Sports Journalism course. It's a tough field to get into but I'm starting out now as a journalist.

Saints to win 2-1 and finally hold onto a lead.

It was up to Guly/Jay Rod to close down Scholes not our holding DM.

As for Gaston Ramirez imagine his "sell on" fee if we go down. It's a win win signing for me if he has a good season and we go down his value will be double what we paid for him. He's 21 and meant to be sheer class. It's a very clever signing because it gives us some comfort money should we go down.

If we beat/drew against Wigan then all this transfer ******** wouldn't be a subject - one bad result does not make a season. We were expected to lose against Man Utd and Man City - but we played better than we EVER thought we could. Yes the defence isn't good enough but then again which defence is great against the two best attacks in the Premiership? The Wigan game was clearly a blip, Fonte is having a bad start so far. It doesn't mean we won't strengthen in January and GR and the Japanese CB haven't even touched a ball! Bit unfair to say the least, put it this way we will pick up points soon enough - who is to say we can't beat Arsenal away? a fragile team mentally. A bit like us who often suffer bad results when they're expected to win. Given we ran Man Utd and Man City damn close what have we got to fear? Absolutely nothing. Once we get our first win the confidence will flow. Just wait.

I feel sick - proud but sick. We just need a point on the ****ing board! At least we have nothing to fear from ANYONE.

Morgan is top class this game - As is Lallana.

Alpine will moan if we lose. He moans no matter what.

I don't agree with that ^ no-club spends £50m in their first Prem season. What a load of tosh.