melmacian_saint

Maybe so before, but I follow the Portuguese league regularly and he's been pretty good every time I've seen him. Though I agree that he hasn't really established himself as an undisputed starter, which might be a bit disappointing considering the other CB (Maicon) is really poor.

He's had trouble at club because of this before so my guess is yes. Not only with Cortese though, seems like no one from the back room staff really appreciated him. Seems to be better at dealing with the strictly pitch side of the game.

Alex Sandro and Mangala are a great shout. Otamendi is a nutter so no. From the Benfica side their keeper hasn't conceded in 5 games, and they signed him at 17 years of age when he was already a starter for one of the big teams in Slovenia. National team starter now (his substitute also plays in Portugal funnily enough) and had a great last season on loan too. Rodrigo is hit-and-miss, Garay is a top CB but VERY prone to injury.

I wondered what was happening, but as no one was rushed out I thought it was something less serious. Terrible news but hopefully he/she pulls through.

I'm fine with people thinking Ramirez is not the answer, but how is Danny Ings a better bet? Also I trust us when it gets to player development in the academy especially if it is a forward-minded player, and if he wasn't good enough then (or Sam Vokes for the matter) then what is there to suggest that he will be a hit with us now? I know we can get it wrong but I don't think anyone in the Saints environment has followed or seen a lot of both players other than their Saints-related past mentioned this week in the press to suggest they are more valid than the options we currently have.

Is fatigue the new code for "it takes two hours to get to Heathrow so I need to leave early?"

I was never convinced he was that good during our Championship promotion season and if it weren't for his goals I'm sure we wouldn't have had such a good opinion of him coming into the PL. In fact I must say I was quite surprised on how quickly we decided to sign him permanently after such a short loan period. I sometimes watch highlights of some of the big games of back then and funnily enough games were other players got singled out as at fault for goals (Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Reading, the record-ending game vs. Bristol City) I could notice someone was never where a normal CB should be...as for the goals he scored, well you're always at an advantage when you're bigger than others. It's when you need to trick the markers than it becomes difficult, as we have seen with his goals FOR record since promotion. Last season I think the emergence of Boruc helped all of the defense so even when Fonte was out through injury any game was looking better than those before Boruc for Hooiveld. However, that was just because those mistakes weren't being punished. The dropping too deep, the reckless attempts to attack the ball way into midfield breaking the defensive back-line and leaving gaps, the lack of ability to turn and defend facing away from goal, the poorly time lunges and the odd lazy leg were still there. I'm not sure it was the right decision to sign him altogether given his lack of success at Celtic, he was certainly a good signing given our shortage at the time but maybe signing him on loan until the end of the season would've been a better option. His and Sharp's signings were surprising given how short-term minded they were...

Apparently Davis not great at dealing with cross?

How much did we actually pay Eastleigh to get him? 10 Saints store vouchers and a bag of footballs used by the first team in training?

I think Nigel Adkins was a great man for us and certainly it is wrong to devalue him, but I can't help but notice that he hasn't sounded or looked as optimistic at Reading. He does not have a bad squad, and I'm sure Madejski is not that nasty a boss. Maybe the show isn't running that smoothly anymore? It may sound unfair, but I don't think any of us can help but think that maybe, he had a backing that many managers would have dreamt of, and it was more a case of "if it ain't broke"? Were there any real changes to the team when the Pardew-Adkins move happened, apart from maybe the apparent motivation of the playing squad? And let's face it, it might have been a wobbly start but the team didn't necessarily change that much. I know he sounds and probably is a rather unpleasant man but Pardew was the one that got away. Stories of mischief and others are of bad taste, it was evident that the real issue was his personality clashing with hard-bargain Cortese. That and maybe not being the best person with fellow technical staff workers, but the main reason was always going to be related to the main man. Adkins, with his cheerful character and optimistic personality, was a good choice in terms of what the club needed, but I think there is enough evidence to suggest that once a little bit more than simply putting the feet on the pedal was needed he didn't excel. For me, the run-in with Reading and results like Fulham and Sunderland at home and West Brom away last season showed that maybe he wasn't that much on the ball as we thought he was. Pure speculation but I think he also had something to do with the GK issue and we all know how we struggled at the beginning and further evidence of it is how well we started this season with a settled number one. Boruc's late signing and worse than that premature launch into the first team whilst clearly not fit further put him into trouble. Anyway this has been discussed extensively. I don't agree with some fans putting him up there with Lawrie Mac, who through his different roles essentially reinvented us time and time again despite our ageing structure and facilities making it look like the industry era of football was passing us by. Dare I say if it wasn't for him we would've fallen in the traps of lower league football much sooner, like other resource-maximisers of the time such as Wimbledon or Oldham did. We eventually held on long enough to enter it ourselves. We fell hard, but were always a better proposition down there than many others. It is also not fair to discredit Adkins, who I'm sure will find his perfect job.

Talk about Ali Dia...this guys has probably had a career long enough to have a pension to cash in at the end of it. Wonder if we paid him more than what he was on at Spurs...

I think the club has no option but to increase it's revenues in non-pitch related things in order to have more available money, as any revenue related to who actually kicks the ball is probably earmarked by the PFA.

I haven't read past this. You clearly haven't been watching games, or are too sad to see Bulldozing Jos or Yoshida in the bench while Fonte starts.

Feel sorry for JWP and Davis. They have pulled great shifts and played a great role in our great start to the season. Yet all that people seem to remember in this forum is that Gaston, an clearly gifted player but who has even failed to impress in most of his occasions this and last season since January, should play more.

To be honest I don't think McKay is a worse manager than Chris Hughton, who after not promoting Birmingham with a mid-table PL squad, is now dragging Norwich back after such solid progress under Paul Lambert. His signings were also pretty bad: Two poachers that can't play together, no holding midfielder or CB and frankly a type of football that underestimates his players abilities massively.

Anyone sensing the commentators are slightly pro-Cardiff?

How is this a card???

You mean the same strength that made Soldado look like he can walk through people for their 3rd goal?

Any of our other CBs is better than Hooiveld, only in this forum where fans like bulldozing panic machines was there ever a doubt about that.

Oh Morgan stop it!!! What a pass.

Chambers needs to get on the ball.

Anyone know what sort of illness Lovren has?

How many times have you watched Banega play?? A youtube video?? Don't really understand your obcession with him. Very inconsistent and really not stronger than Ramirez.

Of the goal, the only one I can see Boruc keeping out is the first one, as he would've claimed it before Adebayor or in any case be awarded a foul if they clashed. The other two would've happened as aimless legs can be stuck out before any keeper gets to a ball and from 6 yards out after ridiculous attempts from the whole left side of your defense to even touch the ball there's little you can do.

Stop letting Hooiveld get away with it, the 2nd goal is exclusively his fault. He does not have to be where he is, and even if he is he should never be facing our goal, nor does he have to stick out a leg aimlessly. Jos' attitude yesterday was poor and he seems to have realized that he would rather play his football elsewhere where he can actually feel good about what he does.