Wes Tender

I hope that Richardson regains fitness soon, as perhaps then we can use him on the right and switch Clyne to the left as a stopgap. It seemed to improve matters the last time we tried it at least. I'm sure that rival managers if they've got any tactical nous, target that right wing as our achilles heel. And when Fox goes up to take a corner kick on the right hand side, when he's the left back, what is that all about? Madness.

I can't remember the Blackpool goal, but remember the Gervinho one fairly clearly. My recollection of that, is that it is nothing like the Spurs' second goal, which was effectively a race to the ball between Defoe and Boruc. Boruc was slow off the mark and then hesitated for a split second, meaning that any advantage he might have had from decisiveness was lost. Davis often comes out for these 50/50 balls and is mostly first to smother the ball or clear it. When I am not at a home match with my ST and listening to away matches on Solent, Whispering Dave often comments on how good Davis is at it.

I think it's a little premature to label Boruc as our best keeper based on the matches he's played and the 6 goals he's conceded. Even on the evidence of having seen Gazzaniga for a similar amount of time, I have been more impressed with his command of his area than Boruc and also his distribution is superior too, in my opinion. I haven't even seen enough of Boruc to believe that he is even better than Davis. Just looking at those two goals he conceded against Spurs, I have a strong feeling that with Gazzaniga's height and athleticism, he might well have got a hand to Bale's header and that both he and Davis might well have got to the ball first to prevent the second goal. The jury is definitely still out on who is the best keeper at the club.

Right next to them in the Northam myself and very seldom did they make much noise at all. One of the quietest sets of fans I can remember, especially as they had taken their entire allocation. Frankly, any set of fans that has stolen another club's song is on a hiding to nothing singing it at that club's stadium. It is moronic. All it required was an equal number at least of our fans to sing it at the same time for the word "Spurs" to be drowned out. It then made it sound as if it was just us singing it, with the added bonus that it was louder than if it had indeed been only us. It was just the same as us singing "pay up Pompey" when the Skates played us in the Cup and they couldn't have asked for more from us in terms of geeing up their players. But for a team two goals up, their support was truly pathetic. When we pulled one back and looked good to equalise or even win, being next to them was akin to being in a morgue, whereas we were rocking.

Anybody wishing to see CB Fry getting it spectacularly wrong about SAF, just have a look at the "Surreal" thread, where Dazza and Aintforever make him look an arse responding to this from him:- No wonder he doesn't wish to have people mention SAF, as although he naturally knows more about him than anybody else who posts on here, his mind somehow goes blank when it comes to that third season when they finished 11th and there was a groundswell of fans wanting him out.

Granted that Lallana should be offering cover for Fox when he wanders forward, as Puncheon should offer cover for Clyne. But ultimately Fox is the right back and there is no way that that amount of space should have been left open for Spurs' quick wide men to exploit. It was bordering on criminal negligence. I agree with the remainder of your team apart from Boruc and Fox.

Forty thousand times that SAF has been cited as an example and even then it hadn't penetrated your skull that he had what for him was a rather crap third season coming 11th and that the fans were calling for him to be dismissed. But not like you to be pathetically wrong, eh?

CB Fry has laid down the ground rules of the debate on this subject. Nobody is allowed to cite historical examples to prove their point, except him.

Danny Fox was appalling. He left acres of space for the Spurs wide men to exploit. Thank God he was substituted.

I have to repeat, Davis is actually quite good at coming off his line when there is an opportunity for him to get to a ball into the box before the striker. He makes a quick decision and doesn't hesitate. I reckon he would easily have got to that ball first, so the clearance off the line wouldn't have been necessary. Boruc was slow to decide to come in the first place and then hesitated.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, Boruc doesn't get the nod over Davis or Gazzaniga from what I've seen of him. And he can slot into the reserves with Fox too. The pundits showed the huge expanse of turf towards the left corner that we left undefended on several occasions and it was blatently obvious that Fox ought to spend more time there, after all, left back is his position. Left back in the changing rooms is what I'd prefer.

Having seen the incident on Match of the Day, my conviction that he should have come out earlier and more quickly are justified in my mind. Also, having started to come forward, he clearly hesitated for a split second.

Oh good. Yet another thread saying exactly the same as several others; another poster who lacks the imagination to realise that his post could easily have been added to one of those other threads. The conclusion must be that he has a desperate desire to draw attention to himself.

We pinned them back. Would they really voluntarily allow us to exert that amount of pressure and risk us equalising or even beating them?

You must watch different games to me. Kelvin is usually quick off his line in these situations. It is one of his stronger points. I see it at St Mary's and hear of it happening away from home from Solent.

OK, I saw it from the Northam, so I might have been mistaken, although I am quite high up and directly in line with the incident, so my viewpoint was quite good. But what I saw, was that Boruc should have come for the ball, but seemed to be in two minds about it. But until I see the evidence on Match of the Day, I will continue to hold the opinion that both Davis and Gazzaniga would have been quicker and more decisive than Boruc appeared to be. And if Boruc wasn't at fault, what was the disdain from the Chapel all about?

So he wasn't at fault for that comedy of errors that gave them their second goal??

Just got home. Quite early on, we put several balls into the Spurs box and caused them a few problems. But as the half progressed, we seemed to settle into a predictable dull period where we showed them too respect and didn't shut them down or come away with the ball from 50/50 challenges. Had we pressed them, not allowed them time and space, we could have rattled them, but we played that first half in a manner reminiscent of us against Wigan. Not a lot we could have done about the Bale goal really, but their second goal was a disgraceful bit of misjudgment by Boruc, who should have come for the ball earlier and more purposefully. I feel certain that either of Kelvin or Gazzaniga would have been more decisive and we would have come away from the match with a point. Having heard on the radio going home of the incident with the Chapel fans, then as far as I'm concerned he can pack his bags and disappear back under whatever stone we found him under. I don't know what Adkins said to them at half time, but the team played very much better in every respect. When the first substitution were made, although Puncheon hadn't been bad, Mayuka was excellent and the momentum changed in our favour almost right away. With Rodrigues goal coming reasonably early on, there was enough time to at least get a point through the pressure we exerted on them, but despite peppering their goal, it wasn't to be. As stated already, that second half performance was the one that would ensure we ended the season mid table, whereas the first half performance would see us relegated. There are several pluses to take away from the game, or at least the second half of it:- Mayuka should start, as his pace and guile are a problem for defences. It must be remembered that Spurs were 4th last season and yet we had them under the cosh in the second half. Were we to have had the additional options of Ramirez, Cork and Lee available, we might well have beaten them. We saw in the second half that the best form of defence is attack. Adkins is learning in the Premiership and got the substitutions right today. Rodrigues will have had a confidence boost, having scored his first Premiership goal. Otherwise... Boruc, well I wouldn't shed any tears not to see him play in a Saints shirt again. A good result against Leeds on Tuesday will give us a confidence boost, but we can take enough away from this game to start turning the corner. Regarding the crowd and atmosphere, we need to give Spurs fans a massive thank you for being idiotic enough as to chant our song. It developed into a competitition as to who could sing it loudest. They could never out-sing us so that the crucial word "Spurs" would be heard above "Saints" and so the appearance was given that the whole stadium was behind the team. It gave our players a massive lift and they stepped up the tempo accordingly.

Well I'll stand by results like that as good reasons for allowing him a bit more latitude and if you choose to ignore them and write them off as insignificant, then go ahead. But Tamesaint has already pointed out that you have previous on getting it wrong before. We'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out this season. I'm not giving up hope on 10th after this few matches. But perhaps pertinent to remember that the thread is about Adkins' surreal approach to interviews and we're straying off course a bit.

What you say is true enough if thinking only in terms of achieving it with Saints, with their financial backing. Gaining two promotions with Scun thorpe without money in addition makes his record significant.

Did any of those managers on your list?

You obviously cared enough to respond to Dazza's post. As usual, you use a crap analogy in a vain attempt to justify your inability to remember that 3rd season under SAF, when he was under real pressure following a run of results worse than Adkins start in the Premiership. Using the same logic for Wotte is utterly pointless, as I don't recall Wotte getting us back to back promotions. It's just as weak an argument as mentioning Wigley.

Who's making him out to be something he's not? His record of promotions in the lower divisions is fairly hard to beat, both with or without money. He's on a steep learning curve in the Premiership for sure, but all I pointed out, in agreement with Dazza, was that SAF once had a run of results worse than this start that Adkins had and United's faith in him has paid dividends since. I'm not suggesting that he will go on to rival SAF's record.

Maybe Bale has had some sleepless nights if his daughter has kept him awake this past week.

Did Wigley get us back to back promotions? Does Wigley do surreal poetry as an interview response?