syd_barrett_saint

I believe that Rickie has also equalled the great Mickey Evans scoring record in the Premier League!

Ha! I can't believe Shipperley and Watson scored only 19 Premier league goals between them for Saints. I used to love them when I was a lad!

Probably not. According to MLG above we got 17 points away from home the year we finished 8th. But last time we were in the Prem we were not so good going forward and went away from home looking for backs to the wall performances, where a point was a good result. I actually think our gung ho attitude, with quality attacking players like Lambert, Ramirez, Lallana and Mayuka, will see us win more games away from home than back then. And winning a few and losing the majority is better than picking up away draws here and there.

I think we'll beat West Ham, Norwich, Wigan, Villa and QPR on the road. And probably pick up a few draws. So my prediction is 15 to 20 points away from home. 10 wins at home makes 30 points. So 45 to 50 points this season, enough to keep us safe.

It'll be interesting to see how they do at home to Arsenal. If West Ham get a result I'll revise my prediction. But I doubt it.

Having watched all the Saints games this season, and a few of the West Ham ones, I am confident we'll finish above them this season. They aren't playing well, and have had possibly the easiest start to the season of all 20 teams. Obviously they are gritty and will pick up points (enough to stay up I think), but watch them drop down the league as their fixtures get harder, and Saints go in the other direction as we play against teams outside of the top 6.

Nice list. Where would Shipperley be on it?

What's it like living in a black and white world?

Another piece in defence of Zonal Marking/Defending: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/225?cc=3888 Of course, as it mentions, for this type of strategy to be effective, it needs to be properly coached, understood by all players, and executed by players with the talent/attributes/intelligence to do so... ...so perhaps zonal marking/defending can't work if you have a couple of full backs like Clyne and Fox who can't effectively protect their zone from aerial balls. The addition of Richardson in place of Fox might help that though.

Today just keeps getting better! :-)

As Adkins said after the match today, Ramirez has been outstanding since he "foot-stepped" in the building ;-)

Ah yes, you are right about Gazzaniga, more long kicking and less rolling it out to the defenders. But his kicking is indeed very accurate and I'm sure with more instruction from Nigel he will mix it up with more quick throws to the defenders to keep possession/build from the back too.

Yep, a bit of diving going on, shame. But on the long balls, I didn't see many, I think Fox was the main culprit and that changed when Nigel correctly hauled him off at HT (I hope it was tactical and not an injury, as it would show it was a good tactical decision rather than luck brought on by injury). Also before today we had played less long balls than any team in the Premier League (not sure where that stat was from, but it was quoted on here this week). And our goals came from good, incisive passing, not long ball play.

I also thought Fonte was good today. Great last-ditch challenge in the first half on Bent(? I think?), and pretty solid throughout. It will be a tough choice between Fonte and Hooiveld, although for now I'd stick with the current partnership unless something goes wrong.

I think his many poor performances in a successful team in the Championship already proved us right. The fact that he has a chance to prove us further right in the Premier League is crazy. (apart from that, I find it hard to find fault with Adkins... apart from perhaps having too much faith is Kelvin too)

The fact that not much is being said about him is a good sign! He didn't look nervous, came for (albeit easy) crosses and through-balls, made one decent save, and I don't think he could have done anything about the goal (at least one person here said differently, but for me it was the defence who should have dealt with the second ball, and Fox's slackness, not the GK's fault). I still hope the Boruc rumours are true though.

I thought the first was more down to Lambert's quick-thinking and determination than slack Villa defending. He wanted it more.

You can see why he was subbed at half-time after that. But then, we all knew it before the season started, we all knew it before the transfer window ended, and we all knew it before today. How was Fox still in the team and how did we not buy another left back?

Hello Gaston Ramirez. Goodbye Danny Fox.

Exactly. And who the hell is Gaston Ramirez?

Where is the EPC STUDENT confirmation?

He's got the white smoke thing wrong there. It actually means that Cortese has chosen the new pope, not signed Ramirez.

I can't wait for the Ramirez parties. After this thread it'll be a bigger celebration than the last two years' promotions combined!

LOL. It is actually a really nice country to visit. The people are much friendlier and chilled than Argentines too.

Great! He also just tweeted that the medical has been done (but doesn't know about the work permit).