Baird of the land

Think it is a nutty decision but he's manager and it's his call i suppose. Don't have a clue why he seems to suddenly have a problem with Rickie as from what i've seen so far he's been fantastic.

Well our 2 weakest links removed in Davis and Fox and we win 4-1. Very happy saints fan today, though still going to be hard 1st half of the season with a very green keeper in net and either a very green left back(shaw) or a right back playing out of position at left back.

Supported Davis in the past. In League 1 he was a championship keeper playing below his level. Last year in championship level he was solid. However he looks out of his depth in the Prem and the fact we refused to add proper competition to this position in the close season was giving me kittens before the season even kicked off. Last 4 games have left me with a sense of foreboding for the 1st half of the season. The fact that our only alternative is a completely untried youngster scares me. We now have a choice to kill Kelvin's confidence completely by dropping him for a youngster who might perform worse or stick with the extremely limited Kelvin till xmas.

They had good keepers and solid defences, which unfortunetely we don't have. Only hope is that we can score enough goals to still be in mix in january. Then we can buy at least a better keeper and a left back who can defend.

Some delicious play going forward. Sneiderlin looks made to play in prem. Lambert, puncheon, Lallana, Ward-Prowse, S Davis, Clyne all excellent. Unfortunately the 2 cb's don't fill me with confidence, Fox was weak defensively and davis looks well out of his depth in the premier league. Really can't see anything but a long hard relegation battle as in the premier league if you can't defend you are in serious trouble.

My issue is that Davis is a championship standard keeper and our only back up is an inexperienced keeper who's only played in league 2 previously. Personally I'd have been worried about Butland's lack of 1st team experience too. Swansea and Norwich both stayed up last season(both had excellent keepers in Ruddy and Vorm). Was still hoping we might pick up Gordon from free agents to give more competition in that area when we didn't address in the transfer window.

Can't believe Davis and Gazzaniga are our keeping options for half a season. So weak it is unbelievable.

Glad to see holmes is doing so well at Oxford. Interesting to see if he can stay fit for a prolonged period of time as i personally think he is a very talented player. He'll probably move on in the summer but i'd be all for keeping him at the Saints.

Very happy with an away point at Brum. Sounded a decent performance from Saints too in difficult conditions. Just a pity we didn't beat Cardiff in midweek & millwall couldn't get anything against 10 men W HAm.

Yes Bartosz looked very weak in goal. My bigger worry was how different we looked against the way we were playing early in the season. Our passing was extremely sloppy and we seemed determined to sling aimless crosses into the box, probably because there wasn't much movement. Guly and Lambert were excellent but we surely need another option up top. I personally don't feel the balance of the midfield is at all right at the moment either. Playing a CM out of position doesnt seem to be working and Lallana seems very much off the boil too. Wouldn't mind giving Holmes a start.

Disappointing result but once i heard there was no Lambert i figured we'd struggle to get anything from the game. Loan attacker needed.

Anyone with half a brain knows what the Premier League's next step will be. A few years down the line they will demand that they be able to field reserves sides in the football league. Amazing how one story can make me this depressed about football despite Saints being 5 points clear at the top of the league.

Just back from the game. Terribly sloppy for the first 20 minutes and they were deservedly up by 2. Got one back and then there was one of the worst refereeing decisions i'veever seen. From a corner their player tried to mount Lambert and rather than usgetting a freekick the ball cannoned off Lambert into the net as he fell to the ground. Second half we were immense. Only a couple of good saves from their keeper stopped us getting at least a deserved draw. Mom the match for me was cork. Brilliant in midfield and then once moved to right back was equally amazing.

Hmm interesting. Saints do seem to have a left back buying fetish.

My issue currently is that i'm not convinced when things aren't going our way that Adkins has the ability to change things tactically. Both Hartlepool and Walsall seemed very similar in terms of Soton running out of ideas and adkins sitting back far too long and letting it happen. I'd worry about us in the play offs if we don't get automatic. I've never really had any doubt we'd make a minimum of the play offs, given the quality of players we have.

Feel sorry for young Gobern. Came on saturday and look lively. Then midweek when we're huffing and puffing and getting nowhere at nil nil, he's left sitting on the bench. I really thought adkins might have learned his lesson on saturday when he made changes and we scored 2 goals in a minute.

Appalling management by adkins. Should have made changes when it was still nil nil ten minutes into 2nd half. When he finally makes a change he takes off his first sub. Pathetic.

Agree i would like to see Barnard get a run of starts. Nice to see Adkins making some effective substitutions today. Had mixed emotions regarding L.Orient late equaliser. Good for Saints, bad for my bank balance as i bet on Huddesfield to win. Interesting to see how Brighton respond to that loss too.

Making substitutions shouldn't just be done when you are playing badly though. When it was still nil nil at the hour mark Atkins should have been more pro-active in using the alternatives at his disposal imo(Sneiderlin, Gobern, Barnard, N'guessan) Great managers don't let the game get away from them before they make changes. Barnard was one of the top scorers in the league last season and i find it odd he wasn't given more time.

It was particularly the team selection that got me. It was the fact with a strong bench we waited until 76 mins to make a change and then only made one.

I'd expect Davis to be back in. Bart did ok but i think he should have saved the second goal.

I'd worry that he might come after Lallana.

Can't see how anyone can blame Davis for Oldham's goal. Someone didn't track a midfield runner. He was in the right place and got a touch to it but in that kind of situation a good finsih is pretty much impossible to save. Think he's proven himself to be a decent championship standard keeper in the past who currently playing one level too low. With the exception of the first season with us(when his confidence was rock bottom after being shown up in the prem with Sunderland) he has been a good keeper for us. He's not the complete keeper but your not going to get that below the prem. My only problem with Davis is the amount we spent on him. At least he's been slowing making up for that by good and loyal service. Nice in today's money grabbing world that he chose to stay with us rather than bugger off to west ham.

A good piece of business by the club in hindsight. We brought in a good player who played well for us. He got injured and we sold him for a good fee. He's since then struggled to return to fitness. Happy for him to get playing time at walsall. If we got promoted this season i'd be happy for us to bring him back to replace Jaidi if he stays fit and plays well for walsall.

He's done reasonably. A couple of wins and a couple of draws is the very least this squad of players should be delivering. Just because we had the Wilkins Zero zone before shouldn't mean we go overboard with his start. To me the real test will be the quality of his signings and where the team finishes at the end of the season. I was generally quite impressed by pardew's signings and am hopeful that it will continue with the new regime as Chaplow loan excited me.