Wes Tender

The scoreline could have been anything up to seven or eight. Once we overcame our nerves in the early quarter of an hour when it seemed feasible that they could be a decent team capable of beating Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield and therefore by extension us too, we settled down and started to play some very good football. We now seem to be playing with the belief that we are better than anybody in this division and our rise up the table must be making teams nervous of what we might be capable of doing to them if they allow us to play open passing football. We now have the players with the ability and skill to do the job of getting us promoted. Once again, Lallana out wide on one wing and the ever improving Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other are proving a thorn in our rival's side. But since the Huddersfield win, Adkins seems to have decided that Chaplow would form a more formidable partnership with Schneiderlin than Scneiderlin forged with Hammond and so it proved. Chaplow forages forward causing problems to defences and often wins the balls to start attacks. Schneiderlin was good today with some incisive passing and beginning to show the class that he possesses. Up front, Gully put in a greatly improved and assured performance and could have had a hat trick but for some good goalkeeping. Lambert also had a good game, but although he didn't score, it is encouraging that in the past couple of matches we are scoring also from the midfield and defence. A few times though, I noted that Lambert was often to be found out wide on the right when he should have been in the centre linking up with Gully when the ball was crossed in. What is that all about? Earlier in the game, we were playing rather narrowly, but as we began to assert ourselves, we played with much more width, leaving us the space in the middle to pass out wide or through the centre. I really would like us to have players across the pitch when we have a goal kick or free kick, as we have the players to exploit the space freed up by it. Chamberlain's pace in particular is a weapon we should use in those situations. On one occasion he had skinned their left back and was through into the box had he not been deliberately tripped. So why was the professional foul not punished by a yellow card? The referee and the left side linesman in particular were both poor, the referee blowing up and disrupting the flow of the game for little reason, but on balance favouring Exeter wherever possible. After we had scored our third, Exeter seemed to lose heart, or perhaps it was a case of damage limitation by that time. We began to play some really delightful football, eliciting chants of "it's just like watching Brazil", perhaps for the benefit of Gully to make him feel at home, even though he had been substituted by then. Great to see Barnard back too and although he skied an opportunity, his goal was well taken. We made some changes to the line-up, perhaps bearing in mind the run of fixtures we have over this Christmas period, so Jaidi was probably rested but deputised well by Seaborne. We do have some decent depth to the squad to accommodate these changes and when they are needed, players like Jaidi, Dickson, Richardson, Butterfield, Gobern, slot in fairly comfortably. So long as we can keep the key players fit, we have the spine that should see us through the season. Although it had looked as if we needed further strengthening in the January window, it increasingly becomes a connundrum as to where those replacements are to be.

This seems a reasonable enough statement to make in view of the poor start we made to the season and points to there either being physical or mental problems with the players, or a mixture of the two. Ottery St Mary: But of course, if it is accepted that the pre-season preparation was deficient, or that the players were not properly prepared mentally, then that tends to cast a shadow over Pardew's managerial prowess. His best attribute for me during his time here was that he was a pretty good judge of a player and most of his signings did well. But I don't see him lasting beyond the end of this season with Newcastle. As for Puncheon, yes, he is a good footballer technically, apart from his finishing and his lack of mental strength. He wants to play for a team where he is wanted, not realising that the more he succeeds, the more he will be wanted.

Agreed. Anybody down here scouting for Chamberlain couldn't fail to have taken notice of the class that Lallana showed. Chamberlain might have greater potential eventually, but Lallana is pretty well the finished article already and would I'm sure still produce the goods in the Premiership.

At the start of the match there were certainly some glimpses of why Huddersfield had beaten us a short while back so convincingly. In fact they could have been 2 up within about 16 minutes, had not their player shot wide when it would have been much easier to have scored from a few feet out, the goal at his mercy. It must be one of their misses of the season, the sort of thing that would appear on a football bloopers video. Had they established that margin so early, hard to say what our reaction would have been. As it turned out though, it could have ended at 8-3 to us, as we also had some gilt edged chances, with De Prado in particular being wasteful and some of our other shots were also straight at their keeper when shooting either side of him would have produced some extra goals. But with Lallana giving a man of the match performance on one flank and Chamberlain excellent on the other flank, we gave Huddersfield plenty of problems, especially as our two CBs raided fiorward often to put additional presure on their defence. Jaidi was unstoppable for his headed goal, he was really up for it today. Fonte was his usually composed self, winning most of the stuff in the air and distributing the ball out of defence well. It was good to have Harding back at LB and he didn't disappoint, allowing little past him and foraging forward with some good link-up play with Lallana. Our left flank in particular was a thorn in their side all match. The previous match against them appeared to show them as wanting it more than us, but this match, we gave as good as we got all over the pitch and gained our reward. Schneiderlin and Hammond were solid in midfield and when Schneiderlin had to go off before he gained his second yellow, Chaplow was a terrific replacement, full of industry and purpose, his goal a fitting reward for his wholehearted efforts. Please can we buy him, Nicola? Lambert's goal was a stonker, hit with venom from out of nowhere. It visibly gave his confidence a boost. Let's hope that he now goes on a run, back to the form he showed last season. The cancelled matches could be a blessing in disguise, as even without them we have stayed in touch and it is quite possible that had we played on Boxing Day, we might not have looked as fresh as we did today, whereas after a pacy beginning, Huddersfield began to flag later on and their confidence will have suffered from a second defeat in a couple of days. We now are close to the January transfer window and can play those two postponed matches maybe with some new quality players to strengthen a gap or two in the squad. So we have a good springboard to elbow our way up the league and ought to have put the frighteners on Exeter for Saturday with this performance. But this is Southampton, so who knows? But I trust that if we play as well as we did today, we ought to beat any team from this dvision.

I had one of those when I was 16. You've done a great job of restoring it. Mine had a cover for the handlebars which covered the wires, which don't look very attractive. IIRC it also incorporated the speedo.

Somebody who has a different opinion to somebody else's on footballing matters is not necessarily any more a mong than you. Just because Puncheon has had his detractors doesn't show that we know little about football as presumably you level that charge also at the managers of the other clubs where he has been released from. Chamberlain is highly regarded by several people who do know quite a lot about football. His potential is yet to be realised, that's true. But Puncheon has had his potential tried for some time and so far its been found wanting. He might yet develop into a Premiership class player, but that will only be when he can make the mazy skillful run described above and then put the ball away instead of skying it. Perhaps if Chamberlain goes for megabucks in January we can get Puncheon back, but I'm sure that we could get somebody better with some of that money, somebody with the right skill and the right mental attitude to accompany it. That is where Puncheon is deficient in my opinion.

It would have been very interesting had the journalist pressed him on that point for further elaboration. But then again he surely must have done so and the further comment was probably edited out, because either Pardew would have breached some non-disclosure agreement, or he didn't want it examined too closely, afraid that he might have stumbled to explain himself and laid himself open to counter claims by the club that would be detrimental to both parties. So as it is, he rather cunningly hinted that the reason for his departure was just some quirky falling out with the hierarchy at the Club, thus trying to ingratiate himself with the Toon army, who had until then probably thought that the sacking was for other reasons. However, the more savvy of them will satisfy their curiosity by doing some digging on forums like this and piece together a rather chequered career that Pardew has had, where several times he has parted company with clubs he has managed with a cloud hanging over him.

Quite possible that many have not thought of everything that could have been a factor, as nobody on here knows for a fact exactly what is a fact and what is conjecture, idle specualtion or rumour. But the aphorism still holds good.

And to counter that, here is the wisdom of a certain Sherlock Holmes, who although a fictional character, came up with a good aphorism here. "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Well, as a season ticket holder, I have also been to all of the home games under Pardew and your memory of some really dire performances under him seems to be a bit more selective than mine, or else we just share a different opinion like many others who watch the same game and see it differently.

You must have missed a few of those games then....

The team that played today is the one that lacked the commitment to dominate and go for every ball. The team that had that type of player was Brentford. The players that we needed today that play with spirit and endeavour are Fonte, Barnard and Chaplow. We lacked a spine, so the performance was accordingly spineless. I really have lost patience with Lambert and personally would have been happy to have had Connolly on much sooner, even with Doble alongside him. The only forward player who showed some intent was Gully, but he needed Lambert to have been on form to have made an impact. Lallana and Chamberlain both blew hot and cold, regrettably far more cold than hot. It was obvious that when it became clear that the half-time talk had failed to motivate the players into lifting themselves, that substitutions needed to be made with at least 30 minutes left on the clock, but bringing on Connolly was too little too late. We could still have been playing now and wouldn't have scored. Frankly, we were that bad. Where is Dan Harding? Is he injured? He would have done a better job in defence today and I don't ever recall him lacking commitment. The sooner that we reverse this awful result and start returning to winning habits, the better I will feel about this season.

The best Thai food in Southampton is Sara's at Portswood.

Well, Lowe had ideas on calling it the Hamwic Stadium, to commemorate the ancient Saxon settlement that had once stood at the St Mary's site, so he was prepared to go a bit further than a plaque or a brick there to recall an historical event connected with the stadium.

I have a paving stone at the front of the stadium, as do hundreds of other fans. The same applies to the bricks. The whole point of the plaque was that it should stand apart from all of those bricks and paving stones. Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, we shouldn't have had the statue of Ted Bates in front of the Stadium; he ought to have had a brick too. As for Charlie Wayman's suggestion that Lowe wouldn't have had enough time to deal with this matter as he was too busy cocking-up the Stoneham project, just how long does it take to consider a request for a plaque to made? If the will had been there, I'm certain that the time would have been found to rubber-stamp it.

The best Southampton manager for post-match interviews in recent times was Nigel Pearson.

Fair enough, had you not posted this in agreement with Smears:- . So by inference you seem to be placing yourself in the camp that considers him a plum. Fair enough, as I say, but having commented yourself, it seems a bit disingenous to attempt to disallow others to pass comment. And what's this "your" man NC? As Chairman of the Club, he's "our" man.

Nothing to do with the thread, but why is it, Hypochondriac, that you have to make separate posts a couple of minutes apart? Take this thread, for example. You have consecutive posts 56 & 57, 63,64 & 65, 71,72 & 73 and 83 & 84. So why is that? Is it that you are incapable of pausing a minute or two and posting your thoughts collectively? Do you think, damn, I forgot to mention something important a couple of minutes ago? Or is it a device to inflate your post count for some reason? If you were you to desist with this, many of these threads would be much shorter and easier to read.

You obviously either forgot or didn't see the Panorama programme called The Share Game which if I recall correctly did involve a South Coast Club, albeit one in the Premiership at the time.

No doubt you will be delighted to furnish us all with the evidence to back up your assertion that 99% of British businesses is against us leaving the EU. Or was that just hyperbole, or a figure plucked from the air, or provided by the Department of Guesswork? Perhaps because you work for a European Company that would relocate elsewhere, you think that all companies must be the same. I suspect that what your company haven't told you, is that they might relocate anyway, probably to somewhere behind the old Iron Curtain, where unit labour costs are much lower than here. Oh no, that can't be. So long as we're in the EU, they've promised to stay here come thick or thin.

So you admit that you're a leftie and an idealist. So tell me, can you prove that these ideals you support are right and have proven to be right? You have asked Dune to furnish you with examples of where UKIP have been proven right, so in the interests of fair play, I call on you to do the same exercise in support of your ideals. Having ideals is not the exclusive territory of the left, you know. Those on the right also have their own set of ideals and I know that the prime method of attacking those who oppose the position of the lefties is to insinuate snidely that they are somehow of inferior intellectual prowess. No doubt it makes them feel superior, when in reality all that they are is pseudo-intellectuals. Historically, UKIP has prophecised that the bureaucratic powers of the EU would increase and reduce British Sovereignty, that they would increasingly intrude on our own personal freedoms. They predicted that despite the weasel promises by the Political establishment, we the electorate, would be denied a referendum on treaties which considerably reduced our Sovereignty and our right to veto things that we didn't agree with. In that respect, they have been proved right. Whilst you attempt to defend your own ideals, you can try and dispute that too.

Just to respond to your comments one by one:- 1) Yes, we are part of a community of trading nations, but I wouldn't exactly describe it as loose, bearing in mind the powers that Brussels have over the bureaucratic restrictions that they place over much of the products we produce and the hoops that they force many of our manufacturers/growers/producers to jump through. But as to the claim that we we have greater strength by being part of a stronger and tighter economic group, what exactly does that mean? I ask again, would us leaving the EU mean that the Germans wouldn't want to sell us their Volkswagens, or the French their Renaults, or the Italians their fridges? No, it wouldn't. And if they wanted to export their goods to us, we are in a powerful position to demand that they reciprocate by buying our goods. That is the essence of a trading relationship. But outside of the EU, we would be able to find new markets or strengthen ties with other Countries. As we are a nett importer, we are in a powerful bargaining position. 2) The elections to the European Gravy Train, sorry, Parliament, is a joke, as such a small proportion of the electorate even bother to vote. Our representation in the European Parliament is derisory and since the enlargement of the body to include those numerous former Iron Curtain States, our influence is considerably reduced. Perhaps if only nett contributors to the funding of the United States of Europe were allowed to vote on its policies, then I wouldn't mind so much. And there is already an EU flag and supposedly a main language, thankfully English, although that wouldn't be so if the French had their way. How long do you reckon it will be before there is an EU anthem? No ministers in our Parliament, granted. But much of European law has precedence over the laws passed by our Parliament, so what would be the necessity for their Ministers sitting in our Parliament. It is already emasculated. 3)There are several trading groups we could join to enhance our export capabilities. One that we could consider growing would be the Commonwealth. Our historical links with many of those countries means that there is already a natural reason for us to maintain a trading relationship with many of them, to our mutual advantage. And in the same way that Canada has joined NAFTA, we could join the EFTA and thereby probably encourage others to follow suit.

This is the usual scare-mongering claptrap that is trotted out whenever this topic surfaces. Do you seriously believe that the Germans and French won't want to continue selling us their Volkswagons and Renaults, or the Italians their Zanussi fridges? As the article points out, our imports from Europe are far greater than our exports to them. All we have to do, is continue our trading agreements with them, but sever everything else including our membership of the European Parliament and their ability to meddle in matters of our governance and law-making processes and the interference of their unelected bureacracy in our everyday lives. As for the rising unemployment figures you forecast, and which is something that to my mind is not necessarily proven to happen, billions of £s would be saved by us leaving, money to invest in our manufacturing industries which in turn would encourage rises in employment. The attempt to discredit the "Crusade" (in my opinion an excellent name for the campaign) by sneering at those who associate themselves with it, is a feeble one. Farage is a leading figure with UKIP, whose aim is our departure from the EU, so that is hardly a surprise. But then again, there have been plenty of Political heavyweight intellectuals who have also been Euro-sceptics in the past. So many, that the term Euro-sceptic has passed into common usage, understood by all. It is equally feasible to label many of those Euro-fanatics as being short of intellectual prowess.

As virtually all of his goals have been from penalties rather than from open play, then it rather depends on how many more penalties we will be awarded between now and the end of the season. As Weston Saint pointed out, he did have opportunities a couple of times to have buried headers in the Cheltenham match and opted instead to head across the goal for somebody else to attempt a tap in. The Lambert of old would definitely have headed towards the goal himself. The longer he goes without scoring in open play, the lower will his confidence fall.

And surely Matt Oakley ought to be included too