SaintJackoInHurworth

Can't be bothered to read this ridiculous thread... ...any change of manager would just be a repeat of the mistakes of Rupert Lowe. Nobody is going to do any better with this crop of players than Adkins. If we change manager we must be prepared to be relegated, to lose half the squad and to begin to rebuild again. If we stick with Adkins he and the players will gradually together amass the Premiership experience necessary to turn things around. In our favour is the fact that QPR, Wigan, Norwich, Reading and Villa are also woeful - especially up front where we are strong. In addition, in January we will have the chance to right the mistakes of the summer and buy some quality defenders. We might even be able to cancel Aaron Martin's loan and see if he can do any better. He is certainly a more disciplined defender than the ones we are playing at present. Adkins has made mistakes and I am sure he would admit that; but people learn from mistakes. To change manager would just invite someone else to make the same mistakes and to begin the learning process a lot later. One thing I believe is that we need to stop changing around keepers and give the jersey back to Davis, working to improve his confidence and decision making. His start to the season suggested to me that he was affected by his past experience. If he can just get past that he can once again become a hero in goal. Boruc seems worse than Davis and Gazznigga just doesn't have the experience yet. Finally, I have to point out that Adkins has a lot more sense than to go with fans' wisdom for how to set up a team. I would suggest his decision to play Lambert from the bench was in no way a statement of Lambert's ability but was a tactical decision based on the idea of keeping things tight in the first half and then letting him come out at full energy against a tired defence in the second half. It worked earlier in the season and Adkins obviously thought it was worth a go again. We can criticise him all we like for trying things, but as Albert Einstein once said, insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'. I am pleased that Adkins is not content to just keep doing things the same way when things are not going right.

When we were 2-1 down today we were well on top from what I can work out reading match reports. Then Wham were given a questionable free kick followed by a clear push on Fonte in the area which resulted in the handball that gave them the penalty. Yet, BBC spent no time analysing the free kick awarded nor did they notice the blatant push on Fonte that led to the penalty. Was this bias from someone within the BBC or was it just poor quality analysis? The resulting goal was pivotal and changed the course of the game. If the referee had got either decision correct then WHam wouldn't have had the goal and who knows... maybe we would have got an equaliser? Surely the BBC should have picked up on this?

Judging by the Adkins interview for the BBC, this is the current phrase which Adkins is using to gee up the players: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19615244 (check out the interview). It seems to have worked today and sums it up perfectly! So... perhaps it's now no longer "We're all on the bus together" so much as "Together as one!" Bring it on!

4-1-1-2-2 formation with a front two instead of just one up front: ---------------Davis----------------- Clyne----Yoshida-----Hooiveld----Fox -------------Schneiderlin------------ --------------Davis/Cork------------- ---Ramirez------------------Lallana--- ---------Rodriguez--Lambert---------- Subs Gazza Fonte Cork/Davis JWP Mayuka Puncheon Richardson In this Schneiderlin acts as holding player and spreads passes out from the back, while Davis or Cork act as box-to-box players and link up play. Lallana and Ramirez have a free-ish role behind the forwards to roam and cut inside or get out wide as required. Rodriguez provides that extra bit of flair in and around the box and across the front line, while Rickie does his usual hard work all across the front and provides knock downs for others or gets on the end of crosses, etc. to score. We would use this to press forwards and keep Villa on the back foot keeping a high line, while ensuring that no runner is allowed the space and time to get behind the defence should Villa break forwards.

...we have been naive in our first four games and have paid the price... ...we have not signed the defensive cover that many of us expected... ...we put in a particularly poor performance against Arsenal... ...we were frustrated that our transfer dealings were not completed by the start of the season... ...we have been surprised, confused and disappointed by some of Nigel's selections and substitutions... ...our first team kit is NOT a Saints kit - the colours are wrong... BUT.... ...IT IS TIME TO END THE RUBBISH!!!!!! Despite all of the above... ...we are still only 1 point behind Reading, 2 points behind Liverpool and QPR and 3 points behind Sunderland and Norwich all of whom have had FAR easier fixtures than us to start the season. ...we are the ONLY team to have scored against Arsenal this season. ...we scored TWICE against both Man Utd and Man City. ...we have spent the seventh most on signing new players of any teams in Europe. ...we almost beat both Manchester clubs and were beating them. ...we have had huge support at all of our matches. ...several members of our squad were on international duty last week, beacuse we have some great players. ...our squad is young and inexperienced and will get better and better and better! ...Liverpool have Man Utd away in their next match and QPR have Spurs away, whereas we have Aston Villa at home. ...Norwich have got to play Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in their next four games, we have got Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham and West Ham - our fixtures are relatively much less difficult (though not being stupid enough to suggest that any of those games we have any right to win). ...Portsmouth are towards the bottom of League 1 even before they have had any points deducted. We are in the Prem! ...Ramirez, Yoshida and Mayuka will finally get a full week of training with the squad this week. ...Kelvin Davis WILL grow in confidence once he has got a few clean sheets and made a few great saves and realised that he CAN cut it in the top flight. ...we have scored in 3 out of 4 games we have played and we will score goals against most teams this season. ...We will have learned a lot from playing such quality teams to start with and can now start to apply those lessons in the games ahead. SO, let's get behind the team, the manager, the players and NC and stop all the moaning; and let's wait and see where we are at Christmas! We will not be bottom and may even be mid-table by then. If I'm wrong and we are bottom THEN you can moan all you like... IF you really think that is going to help!! This fact is undeniable - the players, manager and club need one thing more than anything. They need US to get behind them and give them our rapturous support, to cheer them on to victory. They do not need a bunch of grumbling, moaning, negative losers - just look where that got Blackburn and Bolton and Birmingham and Middlesbrough... I could go on!! So let's end the rubbish NOW!

I don't think it's jealousy - just anger at the mess he made of trying to keep our club in the Premiership and the money he wasted on poor quality signings, PLUS the public criticism he then aimed at the players when they needed encouragement in a potential relegation situation, PLUS the way he jumped ship back to P*mpey so quickly and then proceeded to criticise Saints. There were always very good reasons for the way people turned against him and they remain still.

Great to see the opinion given by Dan Morgan was based on having watched Saints play... NOT!! Does he not even realise that we are not playing in red and white stripes this season: "hoping I would see him in a Stoke shirt, but in the other red a white stripes he has failed to impress."

I don't understand those who say they like it because it is different! In what way is it different to the other million and one teams that play in red? Whatever way you look at it, it is a 1980's Nottingham Forest or Liverpool kit! If you want different, take a look at the 1980s Keegan era red and white fat stripes - that was different - and yet still a proper Saints kit. Or how about the 1970's Saints shirt with the thinner red stripes either side of each red stripe? Or the Draper shirt that some hate with the V at the top? Personally, I thought last season's kit was hard to beat - it was simple red and white stripes and yet looked somehow more stylish than other red and white striped kits. Despite its simplicity it was incredibly distinct from Exeter, Brentford, Stoke and Sunderland kits. It's a shame we couldn't have just stuck with that one. Still, there are some benefits - they sold off the old kits while I was visiting Southampton back in the spring so I got hold of a copy of last season's kit at half the usual price and so that will serve me for a few years now until they bring out another must-buy kit. The more rubbish kits they bring out, the less costly it is for me!

For those that don't think the media made much reference to Ward-Prowse on Sunday, you obviously didn't listen to the radio commentary and/or watch Match of The day. On Both of those he was singled out for particular praise. As to whether he made mistakes, etc. and whether he, Chaplow or Cork are better, I agree that he did fail to pick up Ferdinand, but also agree he will learn from that. However, I think we will probably see Adkins rotating the three of them (and Schneiderlin and Davis) to get the best from them and to ensure he doesn't overuse any players. I suspect therefore that we will start to see Cork coming back into the first team soon and Ward-Prowse becoming sub, but there will still be some matches where Adkins will give JWP a start. Over time we will have to wait and see!! The competition will do them all good!!

A few weeks ago I remember posting to the '25 man squad' thread. At that time we had a squad of exactly 25 over-21-year olds plus 7 under 21. We have now got the following squad with 22 players over 21 years old: Goalkeepers Kelvin Davis Paolo Gazzanigga (U21) Cody Cropper (U21) Right Backs Nathaniel Clyne Frazer Richardson Danny Butterfield Jack Stephens (U21) Centre Backs Maya Yoshida (Non Home-Grown) Jos Hooiveld (Non Home-Grown) Jose Fonte (Non Home-grown) Dan Seaborne Left Backs Daniel Fox Luke Shaw (U21) Central Midfield Steven Davis Jack Cork Morgan Schneiderlin James Ward-Prowse (U21) Richard Chaplow Corby Moore (U21) Attacking Midfield/Wingers Adam Lallana Gaston Ramirez (Non Home-Grown) Guly do Prado (Non Home-Grown) Steve de Ridder (Non Home-Grown) Jason Puncheon Ben Reeves (U21) Callum Chambers (U21) Strikers Rickie Lambert Tadanari Lee (Non Home-Grown) Jay Rodriguez Emmanuel Mayuka (Non Home-Grown) Sam Hoskins (U21) So, some thoughts and questions: * As we have only got 22 players aged over 21 (I’ve assumed that this should include the players who are aged 21 – i.e. Ramirez and Clyne – is that correct?) we have space for three more players. So, the question is – will we bring in any players who are without a contract or will we just keep these spaces vacant for the January transfer window? * Will any of the 22 players go out on loan to the Football League? I would personally hope that we might be able to bring someone in as cover at left back. Anyone know of any good left backs that have not yet got a club? Another centre back would also be good - shame we sent Martin out on loan instead of Seabourne, but hopefully he will return next year and stake a place in the squad. I would also expect that SDR might go out on loan and potentially a couple of the under 21 players (e.g. Sam Hoskins, Callum Chambers, Ben Reeves).

11.02 on BBC transfer day ticker: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19422123

SORRY...! Ignore that first link - I thought it was a link to details of their first team squad, but it's not! Ramirez is still listed on their website. However, I remain reasonably confident that we will hear confirmation in the morning that he has signed - based on Ramirez's own tweet (though again I recognise as already mentioned that he jumped the gun a couple of weeks' ago too!)

Hi all, I've finally read through to post 7015 and thought I'd make a few comments. Firstly, for those looking for confirmation that Ramirez has signed, check out this page on the official website of Bologna FC: http://www.bolognafc.it/squadra-giovanile.asp?id=7. Ok, so it is not an official announcement, but you will note that Ramirez is not listed as a Bologna player on there. Also, just to clarify: @BolognaFC is an unofficial Twitter feed - the official Twitter feed is @BfcOfficialPage. However, it would seem fairly likely that @GastonRamirezOk is the official Twitter feed of the player. It links to his official Facebook page and the Facebook page links back to it. In addition, the official Bologna FC Twitter account follows @GastonRamirezOk, which gives further credence to it genuinely being his Twitter account. Taking these facts together with the Tweet made from the @GastonRamirezOk Twitter account retweeting the unofficial Bologna page, it looks as if this may well be a done deal. The only caveat to this being that, of course, Gaston Ramirez himself tweeted that he thought the deal was done a couple of weeks ago and the whole thing was almost blown out of the water at that time! I suspect that tomorrow's press conference will cover a number of issues: The Man Utd match and the signings of Ramirez, Yashida and Mayuka (and possibly more if we sign anyone else before 2pm tomorrow!). I hope that the official announcement of Ramirez's signing will, however, come in the morning. Finally, on the subject of Twitter, I am not a big user of it, but have begun to see its benefits within the past year. I think you will find that some of the opinions (and that is all they are!) we have found out from people like Simon Peach and Alan Nixon have mainly been offered as a result of questions that Saints fans have posed to them, so don't knock it! ...and yes I have asked them a few questions myself - though not a lot!

So - if that gives an idea of actual timescale and the medical is due to start at 3pm, then we should be looking at the medical completing by 8pm this evening, paving the way for an announcement this evening from 8.30pm onwards (if all other process is complete) or tomorrow.

That's amazing! Great news. I also notice a load more tweets on it now - including one or two by you: @jordansibley: An exciting announcement will be made at 11.30pm tonight. I think some of you can guess what it will be! @TurkishSaint: Ha - I don't believe for a minute we have signed Ramirez. If so I will strip naked and spend an evening at the @BlueOyster gay bar in the nude. @BlueOyster: You would be more than welcome to do that. @CypriotSaint: @TurkishSaint I dare you to do it if it really happens. @TurkishSaint: @CypriotSaint I have no hesitation in making this promise cos it isn't gonna happen! @reluctantnicko: The deal is done! El Banko Nacionale di Bologna has approved a loan for Bologna and the transfer will be completed within the hour. @SimonPeach: The news #Southampton fans have been waiting for should be announced VERY soon! Ramirez is 100% coming to Saints! @CypriotSaint: @TurkishSaint Mate, you know that promise you made about the @BlueOyster...? @BlueOyster: @TurkishSaint We are looking forward to welcoming you! @TurkishSaint: @CypriotSaint It's a lie and I'm never going to believe it - not even if it is on the OS.

Alan Nixon on Twitter says this is no change from a couple of hours ago: Looks to me as if Simon Peach has tweeted using the '#saintsfc' and the result has been that @backpage have truncated the quote to become: Then Sky have produced their story from that. If I understand it all correctly, we are just waiting on Bologna to tie up a deal with a financial institution to be able to accelerate the second part of the money that we will be paying them next year. Ramirez's agent and Saints are putting pressure on Bologna to hurry this process along. What I don't understand is how putting on this pressure can help - surely it is a case of Bologna being subject to however long it takes whatever financial institution they are using to accelerate the debt in this way to agree to do so. All I can guess is that by putting pressure on Bologna they put pressure on the finance provider to move quickly if they want the benefits of loaning this money themselves. However, in the current financial climate I wonder if that is appropriate.

FichajesEuropeos ‏@Europa_Fichajes El Southampton está cerca de cerrar el fichaje de Gaston Ramirez en £ 18M Translation: The Southampton is close to close the signing of Gaston Ramirez at £ 18M

I think that is 'unfortunately' for Bologna - not for Saints! I think the bit that has been translated 'the transfers risks unfortunately of to go in port.' means 'the chances are that the transfer will unfortunately move forwards.'

I am not sure about the Bloodzeed connection, but according to the Wiziwig page the resolution for 'RUS NTV+ Uefa' is higher resolution - 2500 Kbps rather than the 2200 Kbps offered by Bloodzeed. You might therefore be better trying that one. On the other hand if your computer's memory is limited the resolution offered by both of those may be too high for you, so try going for a connection with a lower bitrate, such as the 'Spanish Football' stream which is at 1500 kbps. Hope this helps!

I don't know if they have improved since being launched but I am having NO difficulty in viewing those pages and they look quite good! The Posh one has the boring outdated 'Home Page' on the page tab, but the Stoke City one says 'Stoke City FC Official Website'. As to the suggestion that the Coventry City one looks good, I personally think it has too much content on the one page and I prefer the other ones! Looking at the Man City website it doesn't look all that different to the other ones except that it doesn't have the annoying 'Enable cookies' page at launch and has a video instead. I would go as far as to suggest that it looks as though it has been created by the same company! I am looking forward to seeing what the new Saints website will look like. I'm not sure about black as the background colour, but at least it's not blue!!

http://www.clubcall.com/le-championnat/kana-biyik-flattered-by-interest-1448701.html - a bit more detail (but not much!). He doesn't sound that interested and is contracted until 2015 so this one looks a bit of a non-starter.

I think Saints will finish somewhere in mid table obscurity, which I will be quite happy with. Our top priority is to avoid relegation, but having achieved that I would hope we could push on to finish at least 15th! Overall, I think the Premier League will finish something like this: 1. Man Utd – They will be better this year and their experience will see them through. 2. Man City – It’s hard to win it two seasons in a row, but they will push United all the way. 3. Chelsea – better manger than last season but a big gap to catch up with the Manchester clubs. 4. Arsenal – look set to lose Van Persie but will always grind out enough results to finish in the top 5. 5. Everton – They have got to have a season when they finally start well – maybe this season will be it! 6. Fulham – Good manager with a club that are improving year-on-year. 7. Spurs – dodgy manager losing his best players! If he doesn’t get sacked by February I can’t see them being much higher than this, despite their talented squad! 8. Liverpool – Good new manager but not impressed with how he has dealt with Carroll; nor with his transfer dealings. Their squad will probably be quite depleted at the start of the season or else a number of their players will be quite tired by mid-season and prone to injuries. 9. Newcastle – I still think Pardew got a raw deal with how he was treated by Saints. He is a good manager with some good players and has made some astute purchases. However, they will not quite hit the highs of last season. 10. Sunderland – Good manager and should be able to get them to push on to a higher finish this season. 11. Southampton – I think we will surprise a few people. We have been steadily strengthening the squad in the transfer market and (as long as we can purchase an extra central defender?) we should be able to do ok. The bookies have us odds on to finish in the top half, but that may be tight. However, I would hope we can finish in at least 14th. 12. Aston Villa – great manager, but a lot to change with not very much money! 13. Reading – Good manager trying to make astute transfer purchases, but hasn’t got the same sort of budget as Saints. 14. QPR – I don’t rate Mark Hughes as a manager and I think they could struggle again. However, he has made some excellent acquisitions so far, so this should help them to stay up or do even better. 15. Stoke City – They continue to surprise everyone, but have had to release a load of players and have only brought in one youngster from Rangers so far. On paper they shouldn’t finish this high up, but somehow they keep surprising everyone! 16. Swansea – The loss of Rogers could be bad news for them. Laudrup has a good record but he seems to ready to let some of their better players leave. Nevertheless, I still think he will keep them up. 17. West Brom – I’m not sure that Steve Clarke can emulate what Hodgson did with West Brom and they may struggle this year. However, they have some good players and the purchase of Foster from Brum is not a bad one. 18. West Ham – They could finish higher than this, but if they get on a bad run Big Sam seems clueless as to how to change things. I used to like him as a manager, but now I am not so sure. Apart from Maigi (perhaps, who knows?!) their purchases seem to be distinctly average so far and they have released, sold or lost a lot of good players. The loss of Robert Green is a big disaster for them. 19. Wigan – I think this will be the season that they finally lose their fight against relegation. They were already a weak squad and have just lost Rodallega. Martinez is not a great manager either! 20. Norwich – The loss of Paul Lambert is a massive disaster for the club. Their squad is lightweight and only Lambert could achieve what he did with such a squad.

I think that now we have signed a couple more and things have changed a bit, it might be worth looking at this again... So, what is the situation now with our squad bearing in mind the purchases of Rodriguez, Davis, Clyne and Gazzanigga? Who will be in the 25 and who won't make it? Or with the number of youngsters we have got who don't need to count in the 25, will this make no difference to our squad? Taking the list previously listed, I think we now have a squad of 24 over-21-year olds plus 9 who are under 21: Goalkeepers Kelvin Davis Paolo Gazzanigga (Non Home Grown) (U21) Right Backs Nathaniel Clyne (U21) Frazer Richardson Danny Butterfield Jack Stephens (U21) Centre Backs Jose Fonte (Non Home-grown) Jos Hooiveld (Non Home-Grown) Dan Seaborne Left Backs Daniel Fox Luke Shaw (U21) Dan Harding Ryan Dickson Central Midfield Morgan Schneiderlin Dean Hammond Richard Chaplow Jack Cork Steve Davis James Ward-Prowse (U21) Corby Moore (U21) Attacking Midfield/Wingers Guly do Prado (Non Home-Grown) Adam Lallana Steve de Ridder (Non Home-Grown) Jason Puncheon Callum Chambers RW (U21) Ben Reeves LW (U21) Strikers Rickie Lambert Tadanari Lee (Non Home-Grown) Jay Rodriguez Billy Sharp Lee Barnard Jonathan Forte Sam Hoskins (U21) So, what next? Who will be leaving? Who will be staying? Who will get one of the 25 places for over-21s? Players In Clearly we remain weak in central defence so we must surely be on the lookout for someone in that area, though strangely I don't recall much in the way of strong rumours for this position. I would personally anticipate at least one signing in this area, though I was surprised that it was Martin and not Seaborne that was sent out on loan. We are also rumoured to be looking to sign Lens, a winger. Clearly, De Ridder has not yet delivered and Puncheon's ego will probably prevent him ever living up to his full potential. I hadn't noticed before, but I can see now that we are quite weak in the area of wide/attacking midfielders, notwithstanding the fact that Rodriguez can play on the wing. Lallana would clearly be a leading light in this area followed by Do Prado who I have placed in this position as I can't see him getting a striker role now. Finally we were previously rumoured to be in the market to buy a right back, but this has now seemingly faded into nothing, so we shall have to watch and see if anything happens in this area or whether Shaw steps up to a bigger role. Players Out Dickson? Forte? - There is probably little chance of them getting into the 25 now. There have certainly been rumours that Dickson is unhappy. Barnard? Puncheon? De Ridder? - It may depend on how many more players we sign who are over 25. Barnard has been rumoured to be leaving. I could imagine Puncheon and De Ridder hanging around in the hope of first team football but finding themselves being little more than bit part players if they manage to get a squad number even. Finally, what about Seaborne, Harding and Butterfield? Perhaps there is still a role for these three, though as I have already stated I don't quite get how we have kept Seaborne but let Martin go out on loan, unless the thinking is that it is now too late for Seaborne to go on loan and develop in any beneficial way, whereas Martin still has time and the right attitude to benefit from a loan. I can see Harding's role becoming less and he could leave in January.

I felt he was playing within himself too, but that may reflect the role he was asked to play. It looked to me as if he had been encouraged to sit back and not push forward. I also felt that the way that Pearce had the side set up meant that the players were too close to each other meaning that Cork did not have much more to do than some short passes. That having been said he made a couple of telling passes including one out wide which nearly led to a goal.

The difference is that he has now shown he cuts the mustard against a team of real undisputed quality. That will increase his value no question.