Minty

Discrimination is a word that is often misunderstood IMO. Discrimination in itself is something we all do, every day. It is the process of discerning differences between people, places, objects, ideas etc... and understanding what those differences are. But in many peoples eyes the word is assumed to mean something automatically bad or illegal. It only becomes a bad thing when decisions are based on those differences with no other reason for the decision. I.e. Racial discrimination is if a decision about a job, for example, is made based PURELY on the persons race, and not subjective and relevant reasons. Now, with a job it's more clear cut, but with insurance I think it's a lot harder. As someone said above, if an individual has no previous history, I can see how it might be deemed unfair to load their premium, and it all comes down to whether statistics are deemed to be a good enough reason. Stats are good for looking at a large group and finding averages or trends, but we're all individuals, so is it then fair to base my premium on the average of a group I happen to be a part of? I'm not saying it is or isn't but it's an interesting situation.

Do you really have such little respect for different opinions? Such a shame. I don't actually think many people are arguing any different to what CB Fry has said... that Adkins was hired to get us promoted. However, as I posted, he has not yet failed to do that, despite the way some people talk, therefore whilst everyone is perfectly entitled to say how they feel he is doing, the only point it will actually matter is at the end of the season.

Exactly, hence why it's only valid 'to a point'. Got to love this forum indeed. Is there any need for insults? Sure doesn't help anyones argument. Has he failed to do that yet? This whole thread seems to have got way out of hand. Rare for SaintsWeb I know, but there we go. Nigel Adkins is in charge and we are part-way through the season. He has a job to do, and he has plenty more games to get that job done. Opinions about how he is dong are fine but clearly most people aren't going to change their minds and decent discussion on the subject appears to be beyond most people. The stats prove nothing other than history. What matters is the next 3 months and however many fixtures we have left. I would respectfully suggest that people save their energy and put it towards supporting the team to try and help them achieve what we all want us to achieve.

What is everyone trying to achieve by making all these short-term comparisons and 'what if?' scenarios? The table says all we need to know. How we got there is of no further consequence and we can do nothing about it. All that matters now is the remaining games. I think it's quite valid to be concerned about recent performances and to expect better, but equally I think that trying to project our final position based only on these recent games would not be representative of the season as a whole. The final league table is all that matters.

Amen to that. Club size doesn't win matches or titles or cups, and it's entirely subjective too, (unless someone surverys the whole country...!) Can I just say how nice it is to see a decent thread with input from another club that hasn't degraded into petty squabbles.

... get this one deleted and put it right, goddamnit! I think the most important thing on Saturday is that we don't let anxiety get the better of us fans, such that it creeps onto the pitch. We play our best football when confident and relaxed and I sense that players are starting to feel the pressure a bit which is leading to anxious play and a fear of making mistakes, which actually tends to lead to more mistakes. We need to really get behind the team for 90 minutes, even if things don't quite go our way or it takes 70 minutes to score...

I may be in a minority here but I have always maintained that any manager cannot be judged on barely 6 months in a job. In fact, given that fact, I think he's done a good job overall. We had a good run and we're currently underperforming whilst grinding out a few results. I can see hypo's point, but I do think his expectations are a bit harsh, and, more importantly, being unfairly judged over short-term periods, when it is only really at the end of the season that we can judge our and his performance overall. I made the point in the other thread but Poyet joined Brighton in November 2009 and finished 13th in his first season. Adkins has had slightly longer and is clearly going to finish well above 13th. The comments about money and resources are valid to a point but you're still dealing with a squad of humans who need managing and pulling together, and to have us within the play-off places and competing for 2nd (1st has gone IMO) with plenty of the season left to go, is fine by me. Football is not a black and white sport, we will have poor patches, and we're in one right now performance-wise. We were playing better this time last year because we were in the middle of a good run and timed it right to build up towards the end of the season. Sadly it wasn't quite good enough because of the points deduction. This year we peaked earlier in the season and have dropped away. The important thing now is stay firmly behind the team and the manager and help them get back to winning ways. I suspect there is an element of anxiety creeping in and a fear of dropping points which is leading to us becoming anxious in our play. The players need to be relaxed and confident in what they are doing but if we contribute to the anxiety then it won't help. Of course, it is Adkins' job to help the players get through this and back to confident, match-winning performances, but the only judgement that counts, IMO, is the one we make at the end of the season.

There are many differences between Southampton and Brighton and making direct comparisons is, IMO, completely pointless. There are so many variables in football, every scenario is different. We've seen that with managers who do well at one club but not another, players who play well at one but not another, clubs who follow up good seasons with bad, yet with few changes to staff... We simply need to concern ourselves with what we have, and what we need to do. The only thing I would say is that Poyet has been at Brighton roughly a year longer than Adkins has been here. Brighton finished 13th last season and he probably learnt what he needed to do during that period, to set things up for this season. He has done a brilliant job and I think Seagull's post above about the specifics of their side is spot on. There are too many variables to compare us with them, and like it or not, spending money guarantees nothing. We're not as consistent as I would like us to be, but I believe we're doing fine and still have things in our own hands. In a years time, I will expect Adkins to have moulded the team much more and for us to be performing more consistently, but he hasn't had that time yet and I think has done a good job in the time he has been here. I'll save full judgement for the end of the season because a lot can happen between now and then.

And now a penalty shout for us not given! More lively start to this half!

Clearly the conditions are playing a part tonight and we have had openings when we've kept possession. Patience undoubtedly the key, and giving the players the confidence to play football in the right areas and not be rushed into putting crosses in from too deep, or playing balls in behind too early. Difficult type of game to get right because you don't want to concede cheap possession in your own area, hence we're playing it forward more quickly than we would on a better pitch, and that's the right thing to do, but then it becomes more of a percentage game so we won't be as fluent as we might like.

Ooh, Lallana shot saved... keep the faith boys.

Patience required tonight. We have the quality to win this, just need to make sure we compete and make it count when the chances come.

Wouldn't have happened in my day...

Come on mods, open the match thread...

Really have no idea how you can come up with that. Adkins is deliberately guarded and gives little away. Behind that is a clear tactic and a fully calculated way of dealing with media questions. Cotterrill is simply thick.

benjii, I'm impressed that you managed to come up with that comment... all I was about to post was: 'My God, Cotterill sounds like a right dumb fu@kwit' as I didn't think he was worthy of any more.

No, I'd ignored the grammar, there are plenty of others who usually crusade on that basis, I wouldn't want to deprive them of the pleasure! I was referring to the fact that this thread will, as sure as eggs is eggs, now get comments from dune and perhaps one or two others, about the EDL, which will take the thread off at various angles (well, dune only has one angle, but still...) when it's actually a good article in it's own right which was worthy of highlighting for that fact alone... not a pop at you, and I understand the point you're making, just a resigned feeling that that is what will happen. Grateful for you posting it though.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls#standard Seems to be the best (well, cheapest) out there at the moment.

I think it's only fair to point out that no one directly 'believes' him... no one thinks it will definitely happen, but are just willing to discuss the fact it was said, and the motives for it. There are some good posts above about who might be feeding the info, and why. If anything, the thread should help focus us on asking why these rumours come out, and try to get to the bottom of it, because if it is being fed by people intent on destabilising the club then it is our interests to work out who and why and put a stop to it IMO.

And England win. Phew.

Bopara 6... that helps!

16 to win off 14 balls... lol... Netherlands bowling has been nothing special but it just highlights how bad ours was.

Well, irrespective of the thread title, it's a very good article.

I think an honourable mention should go to Benali for his superb diving header vs Oldham at the Dell in about 1994...

Coventry I believe, if it's the one where he ran down the left wing, cut in, and smashed it in from 25ish yards? Or maybe it was a volley? Anyway, pretty sure it was Coventry.