SaintJackoInHurworth

Except that he was woeful and completely at fault last week against Huddersfield!! I'm surprised that he wasn't dropped for today's match. I suspect Adkins approach is to give players another chance. In that way he seeks to build players' confidence. Maybe this is also why Lambert has not been dropped.

If it's the incident I remember seeing in the match, then yes. The referee was awful all afternoon and made a whole load of dreadful decisions. Did the players not appeal though? I don't remember from the match itself whether they did or not! I don't have a subscription to Saints Player so can't look at it myself.

I was at the game and made brief reference to this incident in my comments on the post match thread. I'm pretty sure others have made reference to it as well. I take it you were not at the game and haven't read the post match comments?

I'm surprised how little feedback there has been on here, but that is perhaps a sign of how poorly we played today. I'd agree with some of the comments on here, but I think there are a few more important things to be added: 1. Huddersfield got their tactics spot on. They were first to almost every ball (especialy in the first half) and didn't give us any chance to settle on the ball. We didn't know how to deal with this and it's an area the coaching staff will need to work on. However, their aggression was helped in no small part by the fact that... 2. The refereeing was atrocious! One minute he would completely ignore the use of hands by a Huddersfield player to shove a Saints player off the ball and then the next minute he would award them a free kick for something that looked completely innocuous. Many times he awarded them free kicks that looked like they should have been awarded the other way. He completely missed a stonewall penalty for us. 3. The team seemed to lack coherence and shape - especially in the first half. It looked like they had been asked to play in a particular way with which they were not comfortable. It seemed that their natural creativity was being stifled in order to play to a rigid system of football. 4. Until the second goal the team lacked any passion and determination. Hence with Huddersfield's tactics we were beaten to almost every ball. 5. I sensed a disunity among the team and noticed Fonte and Davis exchanging sharp words early on. 6. Fonte looked frustrated by having to cover for other players short-comings and by having to operate under a system that placed them under unneccessary pressure. 7. One of our biggest weaknesses was our total lack of movement. Time and again we lost the ball from thrown-ins, etc. because there was no-one creating space. The whole team were guilty of this, not just a few individuals. Again it felt like they were trying to stick rigidly to a system which caused them to forget basic things like this! Finally, here are a few comments about individual players: Davis - Didn't actually have a lot to do, but was put under pressure too often by having the ball returned to him from defenders. This was in part due to the system operated for passing the ball out and in part due to the high pressure game played by Huddersfield. Harding - Mostly anonymous in first half and despite not coming into the game in an attacking sense much was occasionally still out of position. Improved in the second half and became one of our more creative outlets. Butterfield - Mostly solid and put in some ok crosses. Would have liked to see him develop more of an understanding with Puncheon to release him to run to the byline and put in some crosses. Fonte - A few mistakes, possibly due to having to cover for others and because of the sytem being played. Seaborne - Woeful! Should have been subbed at half time. Got his timing wrong numerous times and it was embarassing the number times the ball bounced over his head, nearly resulting in more goals for them. Was largely at fault for both goals. Hammond - Mostly pretty anonymous. Provided little defensive cover and little going forward. Chaplow - One of our better players. Worked hard for the team and tried to create space for others. Some nice touches of the ball and reasonably good passing. Puncheon - Received a lot of criticism from some fans, especially one foul-mouthed OAP (Probably the oldest chav I have ever come across!) but actually made some good runs down the wings when he was provided with the right ball, which was too infrequently. His crosses were generally excellent and if he had been given the opening to provide more of these could have done some damage. Sadly, though, his work rate sometimes left a bit to be desired. He seemed also to be a little low on confidence, which impacted upon his touch once or twice. Lallana - at the heart of all our best passing movement, but needs to work on looking for an outlet for that movement and passing - i.e. providing that telling ball to the strikers or wingers, etc. Guly - Similar to Lallana. He was also frustratingly inconsistent. He went past several players at one point, exchanged a great one-two with Lallana and then fluffed the final pass! Lambert - Heavily marked out of the game and barely received a pass from any of our other players. It wasn't so much that he did badly as he wasn't given anything with which he could do anything! His work rate was not sufficiently high to compensate for this. Subs: Barnard - A bit languid at first but then got into the game, worked hard, created space and provided a menace. Sadly received little service from midfield in the form of a telling ball that would release him to have a shot. Bignall - Worked hard, created space and looked promising. Would have liked to have seen more of him in the middle, but without the service he wisely went looking for the ball out wide. Schneiderlin - Added much needed composure to the midfield, but it was far too late in the game.

I think there was a far bigger issue than just playing it out from the back. The issue for me was that we spent a lot of time trying to play 'nice football', whereas we need to focus on playing winning football. Obviously, being able to pass the ball around helps to do this, but not if it is just for the sake of looking nice. The simple facts of the matter are that we had about three efforts on goal in the whole game and that is simply not good enough. While a few passages of passing had promise, sadly there was no end product and we tended to over-complicate things. There were too few occasions when we actually got a man wide to use pace to get past defenders and whip in a cross, especially in the first half. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of passing football and letting players use their flair to express themselves. But we are not Arsenal and if they struggle to walk the ball into the net, I don't think we are going to manage it either!

I'm getting a lift to Huddersfield from someone who is going on to Old Trafford, so I have been working out where I can be dropped that is not too far from the motorway. In the process I have come across the Woodman Inn. I am thinking it might be the ideal place for him to drop me as there is a bus stop outside from where I can get a bus to almost right outside the ground. Does anyone know anything about that place? Is anyone going there?

As things stand I am hoping I will be able to get to the game on Saturday, but if there is anyone going from the North East I would still be keen to hear from you. Failing that, a friend of mine from Newcastle will hopefully give me a lift, dropping me off on the way to Manchester, where he is going to watch United play. Incidentally, I don't think anyone answered the question of whether there will be any tickets on the day. I haven't got a ticket yet and if I can't get one on the day will have to get sorted soon. Thanks!

FWIW, I agree with both the original poster and Macey. Before I even read this thread, just seeing the thread title, those were the two that came to my mind - both simple to remember and sing and if an effort were made to promote one of these (or both) I am sure they would soon catch on. However, rarely does anything genuinely different make it to the terraces. We just keep rehashing the same old songs ad infinitum! If the truth be known, those songs that are used are the ones that a determined group of fans promote. Usually the type of fans that do this are the ones with lower than normal levels of self-consciousness!

I am still looking for a lift if there is anyone going! Thanks!

Is there anyone going from the North-east? I am really keen to get to this match, but I cannot drive at the moment, for health reasons. Like the poster above, I have been trying to get to this match ever since we got relegated, as a friend follows Huddersfield, but each year something seems to crop up to stop me!

PS I don't have Sky, so I hope that someone who does is going to report on what is actually said in this interview!!

OK - I have tweeted a number of questions to Ben Shepherd to ask Alan Pardew: * What difference did the death of Marcus Liebherr make for both you and the club? * Why were you sacked... or, at the very least, was it for on- or off-field reasons? * What advice would you give Nigel Adkins for dealing with Nicola Cortese in order to be more successful? * If you were still Saints manager and had money to spend to buy/loan players, where would you strengthen? * If you were to set up the management structure of a club, how different/similar would it be to Saints & why?

Whoever said that we are now an extra 3 points of automatic promotion was wrong - before the game we were 8 points behind Peterboro. Now we are 8 points behind Bournemouth. However, before the game we were 9 points off the top spot, whereas now we are 11 points behind the leaders.

3-0 now!

Head says 2-0 to Saints, but I 'know' in my heart of hearts that it will be a resounding thumping: Yeovil 0 Saints. 7

This is correct. For anyone who wants to understand this, take a look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8858634.stm I think that explains it pretty well, but, basically, clubs have a 25-man squad of over-21 year olds which can then be supplemented by any of their under-21 year olds.

How can we remind you that you're wide of the mark if you can't even tell us what your guess is?!! It's a bit like Paul Daniels saying he can predict which card someone will choose from the pack, telling nobody what his prediction is and then, when they choose it, saying 'that's the one I thought it would be; aren't I a great magician?! Please give me a job!' Pointless. If you have a suggestion at the very least please pm everyone what your prediction is and then we can give you your ITK rating out of 6.0 when the truth is announced!!!!

Ah! But ur assuming that the words are asterisked because they are swear words - perhaps the original poster just wanted to keep the actual county quiet. Incidentally, there is another manager who technically manages in Yorkshire who one could possibly understand being linked to the job... WGS as manager of Middlesbrough, technically manages a Yorkshire club!! (But can't see him coming here tbh!)

I've been having the same problem - it's clearly not 'Brum' cos there's no county called Brumshire - it's the Unitary Authority of Birmingham - so that wud rule out a certain manager from there!! Clearly, the stars must stand for York - hence the well known experienced manager in question must have last managed in Yorkshire... ...so I guess we must be talking about... George Graham or David O'Leary! -Ahhh! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to Sky Sports Score Centre Barnard was sent off for a second bookable offence one minute after his first booking. It doesn't indicate what his second offence was however, so it could be that on consulting his linesman the ref upgraded his decision to a straight red. More likely, though, I would guess that Barney argued too strongly over the decision and got a second yellow for dissent. If that is right then is merrimd right in saying it will only be a one game ban?

Irony? Sardony? I hope so, cos the original words are of course 'Oh When The Saints'! As for Leeds singing 'Come on you whites' or similar, it's a real shame that many of their fans (and many fans around the country) have forgotten the clubs proper nickname, The Pea****s!

So what about sponsor? It would be great to have 'Saints Transport Ltd' as our sponsor: http://www.saints.co.uk! When I first saw their lorries on the motorway a couple of years ago, I thought they were something to do with Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC and kept pointing out how Saints were being marketed up and down the motorways by the lorries! I was gutted to discover that they had no relation to the club at all! hehe

This... but I don't think we should think about it as a best team - I think the best team will depend upon the opposition. Against some teams we will play 4-4-2 with Lambert and Connolly, while against other teams we will play Lambert and Barnard up top; in still other games, Lallana will play as a striker rather than in midfield and in quite a few games he will play out on the wing. I could go on for all sorts of positions. The thing is that AP has assembled a squad with many options, which is brilliant!

There's going to be a takeover of Pompey and merger of the two clubs. The new club will be known as Solent Saints FC and play its games at St Mary's. The Football League have agreed that the new club can take Pompey's place in the Championship. OR... They are going to redevelop the ground to increase its capacity to 50,000 and, following financial difficulties encountered by Plymouth Argyle, have agreed with the FA that St Marys can be used for the World Cup bid instead of Home Park. OR... They are preparing to announce the shock signing of a new German right-back from Bayern Munich. He goes by the name of Philipp Lahm. OR... They are preparing to announce more details of the development of the club's academy. It is going to be run as a joint operation with a number of other clubs across Europe including Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Porto. Younger players from those clubs will train with Southampton and if by the age of 19 they have not made the transition into the senior teams of those clubs, Southampton will have the option to sign them for free. OR... Markus Liebherr's business operations will all be moving to Southampton when he completes the purchase of the nearby industrial complexes. This will include a factory producing diggers and other machinery, a sales storge depot for his products and the relocation of all of his offices to Southampton, including his own persoanl office moving to within St Marys.

I notice that both Papa Waigo and Antonio are still listed in the Saints squad on the OS, while all the other players that left are gone. Does this suggest that we are indeed intending to have both players here next season? My guess is that they are just waiting for the end of June when contracts end, etc. After that they will be unveiled as Saints players. I'm only guessing, but it does explain their continued presence in the website squad profiles.