Saint86

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/29/southampton-crystal-palace-match-report Nice bit of journalism about us this season, objective and fair... a good read that some of you may be interested in. Three years ago, Southampton were 17th in League One. They have risen a long way since then – two divisions and 56 places to be precise, staggering progress in such a short space of time and a journey that shows no sign of stopping. Year on year, there has been gradual improvement and now Southampton are in nosebleed territory, fifth in the Premier League. They have had to learn quickly. Indeed, at this stage last season Southampton, wide-eyed and rash defensively, were 17th after picking up three points from their first six matches, conceding 18 goals in that period. Now, along with Tottenham's, their defence is the best in the league. A favourable fixture list, last week's win at Liverpool aside, compared with their start last season has helped. Even so, with the centre-back Dejan Lovren excelling after arriving from Lyon during the summer, they have let in only two goals and kept their fourth clean sheet in the routine win over Crystal Palace. Since Mauricio Pochettino replaced Nigel Adkins in January, Southampton have conceded 21 goals in 22 league matches. But as far as the Argentinian is concerned, it is a team effort in which everyone plays their part. Few sides press as feverishly as Southampton and, rather like Spain, keeping the ball can be as much a defensive tactic as an offensive one. Watch and learn, England. "Our setup is very clear," Pochettino said. "We want to defend, keeping possession of the ball. We want to be as effective on the attack, to be as far away from our side of the pitch as possible. That's how we want to play. That's how we are playing. "We are pleased with that. We also know we are running a certain risk when we play that way because we might be giving the ball away, but it is our philosophy. We want to believe that we can play and succeed playing in that way." Under Pochettino, Southampton are a more measured side but they remain a work in progress and before Saturday they had neither scored from open play nor won at home.The tension was building before Daniel Osvaldo broke the deadlock with a fine strike from the edge of the area, his first goal for the club since his £14.6m move from Roma. "He's a player that can generate his own chances," Pochettino said. "It is a very competitive league, especially for a striker. It's completely different to playing in Spain, Italy or France. He wasn't able to do a pre-season with us so it's going to take him some time to adapt." Palace know the feeling after their fifth defeat in six matches. Two minutes after Osvaldo's goal, Rickie Lambert's free-kick sealed their fate. Perhaps it would have been different if Marouane Chamakh had not dived over Artur Boruc instead of shooting when he was through in the first half. Chamakh thought a yellow card was "severe"; no one else did. "I don't know what went through his head at the time." Ian Holloway said. "I know he wants to do well and he wants to score goals. That's one of those freak moments. I'll be able to sit down with him in the cold light of day and see what was going through his mind." Man of the match Daniel Osvaldo (Southampton)

So what really happened, because that is a very filtered version of events.... You willingly took and drank from a hipflask containing an unknown substance.... Right lol. You knew exactly what it was and that you shouldn't have been drinking it in the stand. The fact that you have blatantly lied to smudge that part of the stroy will do you know favours.... I have sympathy for the way you have been treated and when put in context against other offences and corresponding punishments yours is ludicrous... Hopefully the club will give you the benifit of the doubt. However part of me wonders if this is a falacy and didn't actually happen, that or you are lying because there are a few holes in the tale... Best of luck if the tale is exactly as portrayed.

Well said. KD has been a great servant for the club and will always do his duty when called upon. Even now i`m happy to have him as number 2. People forget that he could have gone to the pre when the **** hit the fan and yet he stayed loyal. The man is a true saint and I would almost have him at the top of this page tbh... Disrespecting him is totally unfair!

Sigh, having a scientific debate on this site is pointless..... Where is bear when u need him. Suffice to say that I'm yet to meet a scientist who supports man made global warming. Its not real and we are risking our children and our own future by investing in it.... Its easier to just univest my efforts in arguing with people like bexy of aintforever etc than to continue trying. You don't have the reading of knowledge base to grasp how clear cut bs it is... but to those of us who question the data its clear as ****ing crystal and scary that the media don't report the numerous counter arguments, and that people can't see it for themselves. If you don't know where to look for these papers and scientists then I sure as hell can't be Arsed to invest my effort in debating there merits with you. Suffice to say that scientists at CERN have infinitely more credibility than climatgate geographers who wouldn't know good science if it bit their ******** off.. You are mugs for believing what you read or hear in the mainstream media.... Just look at one of their graphs for temp correlation to co2.... Its right there in front of your face... If you can't see what's wrong with one of those graphs and what they use it to then prove then there is no hope for the world and we are doomed to cripple our economies and cover the world in wind turbines, stops eating cattle and adopt china's child control measures for no reason. Yay to the sheep.

Graph proves warming is happening... If data is reliable, I am yet to see truly reliable data put forward that supports man made global warming. The graph however shows **** all to do with man made global warming. A theory that is not widely accepted by many well regarded scientists who unfortunately have better things to do with their time than dither over the subject. They leave that for the climate, cough, scientists, cough cough. Yes I am that skeptical because any set of scientists who aggressively deny, slam and tarnish any voice who speaks out against them is akin to the church vs gallileo. They should welcome scientists to disprove their theory. They don't... They do the exact opposite. There is hardly a shred of evidence for man made global warming that can not be disproved, they were caught lying and manipulating the data red handed (which should have ended their careers) but instead they hushed it up and carried on. The simple facts are that co2 levels follow temperature change... In addition, bristol university released a recent study showing that co2 levels have remained broadly constant but that the proportion of man made co2 had gone up. I.e. natural equilibrium is occurring but that we are currently producing and increasing amount... If this holds true it totally anihlates the link between co2 emmisions and recent temp changes... At to that the striking correlation between the strength of the suns magnetic field and global temperature throughout geological history couple with the sinusoidal position of the sun in the galactic plane and as we move through star formation regions.... Oh wait, hush up that theory cos it means we can't get paid to manipulate data any longer. Do people actually believe that mankinds recent stint has caused global warming, if the opposition arguments were clearly reported, without bias, people could make a far clearer judgment. The standard of science used by the driving bodies is poor... It is not an accepted theory amongst serious interlectuals with decent scientific backgrounds and by that I mean research level physics or astrophysics etc. The biggest sole impact on our climate is the sun, solar system and galactic neighbourhood..... How can you predict long term trends and patterns if you ignore the principal driver... In addition, the scientists behind climate change had no theory for cloud formation prior to mid nineties. These control the level of energy absorbed to a degree and crucially the level that the earth re-emits... The discovery for the process of cloud formation does not, how shall I say, support man made global warming.... When it was announced it almost ruined his career and he has only in recent years recovered to have a long running experiment on the LHC. His theory however does hold, and when explored provides a far higher and crucially far simpler model for global climate trends. Yet it was snubbed by the populist media and climatologists... Even some that worked on the discovery... That is terrible science and coupled with the fact that all MMGW theories I have seen can be disproved or have holes shot in the is why I remain a skeptic.

Oh god, have you see the saints fan comment on this article on sky... snubbing stellins praise and telling everyone about how we are destined for top 3.... I find it frankly embarrassing. We should be gateful for whatever praise we get, and modest about our successes. Most importantly we need to stop dismissing other clubs who people deem to be "smaller" than us. as people were doing to bristol city pre match.... how quickly they forget that as recently as 3 years ago The Robins were above us in league standing and quality and we were the league 1 or stuggling championship team.... we knocked out a fair few bigger scalps and as we frequently show, if we don't turn up we can easily lose games. We're not so good hat we can go banging the war drum and acting like we are Barcelona... reality check needed for some fans!

In fairness I don' think that article is surprising in the least. There is a clear underclass of laborer in the middle east and they are essentially slaves in the worst cases. Maybe shining he spot light on it will improve their lot, that or it will suppress it further and make things worse.

Not one single dig at NC and good praise for Saints.... Hope this is a sign of the future!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24284247 Also, I don't think there is much showing of Lambert matching last seasons goal scoring form under Mopo sadly.

Agree, i can't stand fans that moan about our players when they cba to even watch the matches. Lallana has had numerous chances this season, had the ball in the net once, hit the woodwork twice and keeps getting in good positions. Not to mention assist for Liverpool goal.... In summary of Derry - yup, lets drop lallana

Palace have come up and spent hardly any money just like reading, who they are a similar size to. Hull are the most like west ham, with an experience premier manager who has signed some experienced premier players. Cardiff are just like us, sadly a bad comparison since we didn't play ourselves last year, although we did give plenty of points away due to our own errors. If you were to compare them like for like with the teams that went down.... QPR - Cardiff (Foreign owners with Money innit) Wigan - Hull (manager looking to make quality bargain buys) Reading - Palace (spent sweet FA!)

Bowsers, please post stuff of this ilk here:- http://www.southamptonrumours.co.uk/ there are numerous reason why lallana may be getting subbed, protecting him, fitness, tactical? Motivation or general squad rotation? The lad is still club captain and is playing better and better.... we certainly don't need this kind of negativity after a great away win.. Are you also aware that there is a lallana article out today which is an interview of him praising pochettino and the team on a job well done and tactics instigated brilliantly - hardly kicking up a fuss? In addition. we have had to kits featuring yellow since NC was here.... one of which we wore for 2 seasons... We also don' tend to play in yellow away every season... so we have had a pretty decent of yellow kits since 09/10? I dread to think what negative crap would come out if the club hadn't gone up 3 divisions in 2 years and wasn't now looking to knock on the door to europe having signed Italy's number 9 and 2 other champions league quality signings. Some of the rubbish is bad now, i dread to think what would be worse...

So essentially we agree. I think on our day, this team and poch's tactics is capable of beating any football side. We have the luxury at the moment that everyone underestimates us i.e. liverpool fans expecting a 3-0 or 4-0 score, and only one draw being predicted (no defeats by their fans pre-match... They also all believe that they had an off day and don't grasp that just like at sms it was our tactics that forced those mistakes (just like city and just like chelsea last season. We are the only team playing this style in the premier and until these teams get used to us we are going to pick points up at these grounds. At the moment, and after this weeks fixtures, i also think that united away is there for the taking! (i won't be disappointing with a defeat provided it is a valiant one, I will not tolerate a **** poor performance however!). But Like i said, and as you concur, we have an issue with our attack at the moment. We struggle to break bus parkers down. I think Johny Depp is starting to show signs of acclimatizing, Its refreshing to have a player who is capable and who looks to turn his man and get a shot off, and i think he has the skill to be very very good. Hopefully he will achieve this! I don't know how you can say that for sure? and I don't agree. I think a draw wold be the more likely outcome, both teams had further opportunities, notably us with mignolets treble save and ossi shot that was again saved and lallana getting through 1 on 1. Ultimately we got stronger as the second half went on and it was noticeable that Liverpool were the team that tired. When we become more effective on the attack we will pose a serious question to any team. As it is, we have somehow become set piece experts to make up for stokes demise. Eitherway, I feel more confident of us getting a win at liverpool, chelsea, man utd away than i did at beating west ham or sunderland at home. It was the same last year, beat city, beat chelsea, beat liverpool footballing passing sides) and lose to qpr and strugle with sunderland and stoke. Give poch a passing side to beat and he can do it, what the team needs now, is an effective way to beat direct and defensive sides, if we develop that and remain injury free then we will have a very very good season.

It always astounds me the number of saints fans that underestimate us. The Liverpool pre match comments are the latest in an incredibly long list of examples. I honestly felt we had the beating of them all day long. Our first 11 is stronger than a lot of people give it credit for, and that will be shown in a fair few games this season. We just need to learn how to beat teams that don't try and play football.... i.e. west ham, and sunderland at home, and norwich away.... we have an issue breaking down teams who sit back and hit direct passes up field. You can't press teams that can't pass in the first instance!

Quote from: Johnnyboy1973 on Yesterday at 04:58:47 PM Fair play to Southampton. The ugly truth is they were better, much better. Not only that, Brendan got out managed as he did at the Dell last season. We had no answer to their high press without taking into account the woeful decision to play four center halves or the decision to push Sturridge wide to accommodate the inadequate looking Aspas. The midfield of Gerrard and Lucas was for most of the game nothing more than a liability and oh for a Wanyama. For those that slate Glen well now you can see how intrinsic he is to how we play. Hopefully a bad day at the office as the team and staff were as clueless as they come today. What rubbish. I thought Wanyama was their worst player by a distance. If Cork had started in place of him, they might have dominated us by more. He's awful on the ball and his teammates were reluctant to pass to him.

Wanyama cost more and is far far worse....

Wanyama just first cut it I'm afraid. Any game which requiress good touch and passing under pressure and he is a liability that deep on the pitch.

We are going to win!

FFS people, we are going to win! Why don't you believe this?

Rainbow laces to be worn?

Uefa's 54 member associations have given their backing to moving the Qatar World Cup in 2022 to winter after agreeing it cannot take place in summer. "What has come out of this meeting is that the World Cup cannot be played in Qatar in the summer," said Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce. "Everyone was certainly in agreement about that." However, Boyce added that the dates of the competition are yet to be decided. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24160879

Bale and Le Tissier are at least on a par with him, and that is without even trying? Also that much praise for a man with his track record (especially with women, ba fights and hush hush court cases) needs some serious questioning... Or perhaps you agree and would like to let him sleep with your woman? Also where the hell is your passionate defense of our team??? You've spent the last 2 days banging on passionately about the rights of gay men and anti homophobia... but another team, with widespread injuries, missing players and who got spanked at sms last season, dismiss us as "no challenge" and you think that is "about right".... Seriously support the team! Or do they need to wear rainbow laces to get you interested?

Just found this out on another pool forum - if true, this is the best time to play them for sure. P Coutinho Shoulder Injury no return date D Agger Rib Injury no return date G Johnson High Ankle Sprain 19th Oct 13 A Cissokho Ankle/Foot Injury 19th Oct 13 S Coates ACL Knee Injury May 14

Found some beauties on the Liverpool pre-match forums:- "Best player I've ever seen playing for Liverpool, at one point he could have played for any side in the world. I've never seen one man carry a club as much as he has for the past 10-12 years. It's a disgrace that the club never gave him enough support to win the league. He's probably the best player to play the game that's never won the league mad" - about Stevie G "He's just my hero tbh. Would actually gladly let the guy fck my woman. My favorite player that ever has been and ever will be." - About Stevie G "Went for 3-0, would have gone for 4-0 but it wasn't an option. think we'll finally have a good game, and Rodgers will get them putting in a decent 2nd half this time" Suffice to say that not one of them has us down for a win, and only one credits us to score in a 1-1 draw (also the ONLY prediction that doesn't have us winning). Note I have also corrected several spelling errors and translated to provide a comfortable read for you all - couldn't be bothered with them all no. On the back of this, and my general dislike of liverpool fans that have never been to a home game (let alone seen them play) I will go for 2-0 saints, with Lambert to get his 199 and 200th (league?) goals for saints. Another joyous piece of good news, cunhtino is injured, and of course no suarez, they look mighty toothless to me unless we gift them a goal)... yet they are predicting 4-0 and 3-0 wins. LOL.

You are the 3rd person to say that on this thread... great minds think alike! Lets hope we can include Poch in that bracket!

For example, the recent FA campaign against spurs fans to stop them racially abusing themselves by chanting "Yiddos"or "Yid Army" etc? Please dude get a grip. I have been going to football matches for 20 years and I have never heard a homophobic chant, in fact I have never seen homophobia in any walk of life, be it at Uni, down a pub, with friends and certainly not at work.... you are making a massive issue out of very little, ****ing off a lot of people in the process, and essentially implying that people aren't capable of defending themselves... People don't need to have their hand held to come out, and it is no societies place to tell someone that it is okay to come out... its a non issue, and the sooner people grasp that the sooner we can all move on with life... I am far more concerned about the level and intensity of swearing that occurs at football grounds around children than I am over something that doesn't frigging happen.