Saintru

Fair play to the 2 guys going bananas in the Liverpool end, I think one of them nearly fell over a Liverpool fan he was so excited! Not sure they would have remained seated if they were at SMS. Can remember some Chelsea fans being assaulted last year for doing the same thing. However quite funny if you get a chance to view it, especially the moment their keeper made a triple save.

All this talk about Lawro, who cares what he thinks, the best sprinter ever thinks we will win, fair play UB, maybe Saints is your second team? Or is it because you like United you predicted a Saints win? Either way top prediction, let's hope you are right.

Come on right glove. Give Saints fans some credit. I really don't think the fans get fed up with players due to price tags and the country they are from, it is all about how they play on the pitch. I agree he is a young player, let's hope he gets more chances and comes on this season....we need him!

Isn't it great being armchair fans? He's rubbish, he should not play, why is he playing that system etc. Bottom line is that there is not a lot of realism as we react to a defeat, home draw (against lesser teams) with huge negative reaction and if we grab a great win it is Europe. Jay Rod is not a poor player and the fact his he is one of the only players with pace. Last season he ran at the Liverpool defence and scored a great goal, so he is capable. I don't think you can fill a team with one paced players, we will be easy to defend against. I like the way the comment says Dani getting annoyed with J Rod, well hold on he should have scored from 5 yards. Two one paced strikers up top is not working yet and MP may have to make a tough decision soon. There are calls on this thread for GR. I agree that he is the type of player we need, a proper no 10 when he plays well, someone who can slot that through ball. However let's not forget he was slaughtered for most of last season for many poor performances, so we can't pretend he will change things dramatically. On a negative I was not sure about the subs yesterday, though realise that Shaw had to come off. On a positive there is a solid look to the team and Dejan is class.

Sorry but if we spent 17 mill on a player you have got to score from 5 yards with the keeper already committed, not good enough

Commentator: Difficult to assess this performance. I have an answer: Crap

Come on Rickie should have taken that free kick! Come on Townsend give SRL some praise!

As we head into the international break it is worth reflecting on things so far. Plenty of fans have sounded the bells of doom after defeat yesterday. However we have no define right to beat Norwich, a team who beat ManU and Arsenal at home last year, finished above us and have made some good signings. A poor decision and AL's shot being 2 inches nearer the keeper and we may have won. Would the posts still sounded gloomy? I doubt it. I think we have made a solid if unspectacular start to the season, we look better at the back and don't look like getting hammered by teams, yet we have not created a lot either. 4 points represents a decent enough start. Some may be have hoping for more, but if we had lost to WBA on te opening day I am sure fans would be happy enough. VM has been panned for his performance yesterday, but has otherwise played well, Merson was impressed with him on opening day, stating that a top 4 team should have come in for him. Let's face it he was outstanding against Barca last year, so he is not a bad player for one bad game. However MP needs to really think about his team. Will Dani and Rickie be able to play up top together? Having MS, VM and JWP in midfield may be a problem, are they all similar one paced players? Is this the right combination? By not having Shaw or JRod yesterday meant we were always going to be short of pace in the team, therefore the Norwich defence could hold a high line. MP has also seemingly got into a predetermined sub policy. AL goes off for GR and MS goes off during the second half. Yet AL was playing well in both his last games (certainly 2nd half Sunderland) and then taken off, this does not make sense. It is ok to have money to spend, but these players have to fit into the team and as fans have already said, Cork is an unlucky player, superb last year and Morgan is a shadow of himself next to VW. We now lack a pacy winger to get beyond the back 4 and a creative midfielder to play that slide rule pass. Many years ago the late Alan Ball used to say that Saints could do with a player who can make that type of pass......several years on we are still searching for the player that can consistently open teams up with telling passes. I think most pundits can see that we will be a decent team by listening to comments made. However a lack of goals from open play towards the end of last year and the begining of this year is a concern that MP needs to look at. If not it will be a case of many 1 nil wins and 1 nil defeats.

Many posts have been put on the forum about how we have done in recent weeks, 'gutless' was one comment. Let's take a moment to think about where we have come from and how we have done from the low point of being in League 1. A few years ago if you asked most fans that we would be in the Prem 2013-2014 for a second season and when the money to prem teams will significantly increase they would have bitten your hand off. Saints have made significant strides this season and certain players have really stepped up, Morgan, Cork, Clyne, Shaw, Rickie, Punch, JRod. Pretty good when you consider a lot of these guys were playing in the lower leagues. Ultimately there will always be down sides and is sad to see that Gaston has struggled and that AL, has not recovered his form following his injury. Fans have been commenting that the latter is not premier league quality and he has come into some stick recently. We should remember that he started the season well and Gary N was talking about him as a possible England call up. Year after year he has been one of the top players at the club, so let's not get too down on him. Over the last few games the cutting edge seems to have been lost and I am sure MP will be looking at this over the summer. The season has been a roller coaster and when we beat Villa things started to look up, after all we had a tough fixture list first up. The doom and gloom descended the ranks with no win in 6, including a thumping from Wet Spam and a heavy defeat to Leeds in the cup. Adkins not good enough, we are going to struggle to stay up etc. However NC stood firm when some fans on the forum were calling for time on NA. Then came some better performances and results, beating QPR, followed by a great team display in beating the Toon. Suddenly we looked good, pundits were praising us and we were upwardly mobile in the league. However another dip with a loss to Sunderland and a thrashing by Chelsea in the cup had us panicking again. Hold on this was followed by an away win at Villa and a great draw at Chelsea....then NA's sacking..What? Outrage, anger, upset, who was MP? What would this mean to us? The media were equally outraged, prompting Lawro to predict that we would lose most games! However we sooned turned a potentially negative situation into a positive with some great football and Fergie saying the best team he has seen at United this season. The City win was amazing but typical Saints we then succumbed to defeat at Newcastle, followed by a humilating loss at home to Redcrapp. But then it all changed with 3 straight wins from 3 tough looking fixtures and almost guarenteed safety. While the results have not be great in recent weeks they should be looked at more closely. Wet Spam had a draw written all over it, Swansea, we had a clear goal and would have won if that had been given, West Brom (ok very poor performance), Spurs, we were better they had one shot on goal and Sunderland, again we were the better side. Lack of goals is the real disappointment in the last few games which has to be said. There is plenty of work to do in the summer, but we have a solid foundation of a team to build around, will play attractive passing football and have high energy levels. Win, lose or draw Sunday we should all be proud of how we have done in 2012/13. One final word, I think we, the fans, have been great this season, we have got behind the team, travelled well and never got on NC's back when NA left, other clubs may have done. I was at the Spurs away game and it has to be said, our support was superb. Onwards and upwards COYS.

Away Pompey, supporting Man City when neither team was in the top flight, late '80's I think. Policeman threatened to kick me out as I was having a play fight with an inflatable banana. I know I went with a Man City fan that I knew, but still don't understand why I went, Man City won a dull game 1-0. Even starnger I had a friend who was a Pompey fan and he was also in the Man City end, just wierd.

Any pointers would be good on favourite watering holes for Saints fans on route to WHL.

Why do Pompey get -10 even though they are down, but we got -10 the following season when we were already relegated from the Championship?

There lies the problem with fooball. I hear lot of you saying they deserved it etc, no it is a shame that some feel it is ok to assault someone because they celebrated an away goal. In rugby you often sit amongst away fans and there is never an issue just respet for each other.

Watching soccer saturday and Nicholas was full of praise for the team. He particlularly picked out: Clyne, said it was the best game he has seen him play Yoshida, read the game well The defence - apart from the corner JRod - Where did he find his pace? Nicholas said when he was at Burnley I thought he was ok, but he is a different player Lambert - He mentioned that he gave the centre backs a torrid time with his movement. Asked by Geoff S who would you have Torres or Lambert? Answer Lambert 100% Cork - Very solid The forwards - Chelsea struggled to cope with their movement and threat they carried It was great that a pundit focussed on how well we played rather just talk about the top 4 team having a bad day, or making too many changes etc.

Before this game I was seeing posts of we are going to lose 5 nil, 3-1 etc. While I was not sure how the result would go I do think we give teams a good tough game at St. Mary's (apart from Chelski FACUP) and therefore I knew it would be close. In fact it wasn't we were far better. While we should not get carried away we should also have more confidence in the team following a bad result. Also I hope it silences the Lallana is a Championship player posts.

Some strange posts going on here. Lallana a championship player? Come on, as I have posted before he takes time to get back to his best following an injury. Season in season out he is our best player, people are quick to forget how good he as been. If we look back to the first few months he was outstanding and Neville talked about him being possible England player. Losing heavily at home is unlikely. I think we will be up for this and it will be close. Yes we could lose but get a grip people let's have some more confidence in the team.

Just looked in the dictonary and Vegard means: something expensive you paid for, but never able to see it. So asking all Saints fans if you have done a Vegard? My Vegard was buying my wife a toy boy. Don't see her a lot not as well :-(

This may just be me but for the last few seasons I have seen how AL blasts out of the blocks in the first 6-8 weeks and looks like an England player, then his form dips a tad, followed by an injury Nov/Dec/Jan time. Once back it takes him a while to get back to his best, then he finishes strongly. Could be weather related?

Lawro starts well, praising us, then saying we will succumb to a 2 nil defeat. I have decided not to shave until he predicts us to win, so the beard is quite long now. Maybe the razor will be out next week when we entertain the mighty Rangers.

Funniest article on the Pompey news. After 2 consecutive draws Whittingham feels the team are making progress

I thought of going to the Pompey Carlisle game at the away end with my half Carlisle, Saints scarf from the JPT final. In the end I decided I better spend time with the family! With no stress at 3 pm I was able to go shopping and paint the front room, did not even wake up in a bad mood. However equally did not hop out of bed excited after a great win. Roll on Sunday 24th!

Ramirez, a young guy still, first season in the prem and he is being bashed for going missing in the last 2 games. Ok I am concerned about his fitness as he only seems to last 60 mins before he cramps up, but he was superb against Everton until he faded and this was picked up by Sky. I do feel that GR has the X factor, but I think we are expecting too much. I am not saying he should be sub in the next game, this may be a good idea, but I think he can come on and create problems. We need players who can offer something different, a little bit of a trick, someone who can put another player through with a bit of vision, that is what GR offers. Stick with him be patient, he will be a great player for us.

And again he predicts we will lose, annoying so called pundit.

So NA has gone and it feels a bit like a split with a long term girlfriend! We had some good times together, we may not have always agreed on things, but at the end of the day we did get on really well. Not only was NA a good manager, he was popular and involved himself in the wider community. He will be snapped up by a big club and I am sure he will do well. Who knows maybe one day England manager? NC has made his decision and to many of us the wrong one, but we are where we are and protests/booing won't change things. I have my concerns about a guy that cannot speak English and the problems with Capello and the language was well documented. However he is young enough to learn English, let's hope quickly because the stats on non speaking English successful managers are....not great! As a team we have been in worse times, namely nearly going out of business and Saints fans have stuck with the team through thick and thin. We need to get behind the new man and the team and let's hope survival in the prem, because under NA we looked more than capable. It is now down to all the Saints fans, wallow in disappointment, or move on and welcome in a new era...while obvioulsy never forgetting what NA has done for the club.

Can't cope with this off to the toilet for 10 mins