Wes Tender

Who knows? Lallana seems to have made a huge difference to the team, but was injured in the Bristol game. Barnard has made a huge difference too, but was suspended for 4 games after the Bristol game. Do you know exactly what happened to bring about Pardew's departure and what effect it might have had on team morale had he stayed? Of course, we should beat teams at the bottom of the league, but we lost some matches last season against those teams under Pardew. He wasn't infallible.

You don't need to bother yourself, as I do that anyway. Take my other post on this thread, for example. It is a fact that we lost three matches after he left, but what is NOT a fact is that Pardew would have won those matches for us. Do you see the distinction? Therefore, you cannot say for a fact "The fann(y)ing around with managers at the start of the season has cost us a lot of points", because you do not know for sure whether Pardew would have won those matches or not. Do you?

See, there you go again. The addition of "in my opinion", "I believe", "probably" or some other expression that renders it an opinion rather than a fact would be useful. Because it isn't a fact, is it?

So which of the games would we have won under him in your opinion and why didn't he win those home games against Plymouth and Leyton Orient? He didn't beat Swindon last season in either match, so would he have managed it this season? And as I already pointed out above, you reckon that not having Lallana and Barnard available to him would have made no difference?

Ah! Facebook friends; the ones who would do anything for you at the drop of a hat. Those that you keep in touch with in real life rather than in cyber space, meeting them often to exchange news on your family, mutual friends and life in general. How lucky you must be to have so many of these really genuine and affectionate friends and how devastating it must have been for those who were "culled". How can you be so cavalier and cold-hearted with peoples' emotions? Many might now be mentally scarred by the experience. Did you consider that before turning their world upside down?

Of course, Lallana's injury wouldn't have kept him out under Pardew, Barnard wouldn't have got himself banned, Lambert would have been much fitter under Pardew, the defence better, the tactics more sound, the players' confidence much higher, Guly hitting his stride much earlier. How I miss the fella. Seriously, as you say, it cannot be proven either way, but I don't believe for one minute that we would have done any better had he remained and now I tend towards thinking not as well.

But we're developing fast from the team that played you. OK, it was only Tranmere and perhaps they made us look good, but it was the best football I've seen Saints play for as long as I can remember and if you read the match thread, many say that we would have beaten any other team in this division and many in the championship if we played them like that. All of a sudden we have discovered a Brazillian player who is really adapting well to the British game having played in Italy and he was most peoples' man of the match Saturday.

Surely as long as there are people wanting to contribute to the thread and those who wish to read it, then why should the thread be closed? There's still plenty more potential for twists and turns to come and anyway, the reason the Skates have suggested that the thread be closed has more to do with the embarassment they suffer at us having a good laugh at them and their tragicomedic situation.

He scores from the left He scores from the right, Guly do Prado He just shoots on sight.

Was a Mod in my youth and wore Ben Sherman shirts in the early 60's when they were original. Also fully qualified to wear Lambretta, as I actually used to own an LD 150 when I was 16 - 19. But otherwise, I couldn't care a toss anymore about what is deemed to be acceptable at a football match. As far as I'm concerned, there is no dress code, or anything deemed to be cool or otherwise. When one gets older, it becomes increasingly irrelevant what others think about you, been there, done it, moved on, grew up to get some perspective as to what is important and what is not. Standards of dress in smart places fine; at a football match, no.

Needs to do something about shaving the skull more closely, as the bald pate is clearly visible at the back, whereas I'm guessing that the purpose of the shaven head is to disguise how bald the individual really is.

"Fabric Composition: Outer: 100% Nylon, Lining: 100% Nylon, Finish: 100% Polyurethane, Padding: 100% Down ." For f*cks sake, the bloody thing is made from cheap man-made fabrics, apart from the Down. And is that cheaper Duck down, or Eider? For that price, I'd expect a garment to be made from Cashmere, Silk or Angorra, with platinum and diamond fastenings. As you say, Tim, anybody who forks out that amount of dosh for that load of garbage must be a moron with more money than sense, like perhaps a footballer.

Totally agree. On the face of it, we are undergoing a renaissance. Only a short while ago, when we were being battered in the fizzy pop league under the double Dutch, we sometimes played pretty passing football, but were bullied by the teams of hefty journeymen in that division. Many said that in order to get ourselves out of this division, we ought to build a team like that. Now, in the third division, where that sort of player ought to be even more prevalent, we have built a team of players who are big enough not to be bullied, but also skillful enough to run rings around them, playing attractive passing football. Pardew had built up a decent squad of players, but did not always get the best out of them. It is starting to look as if Adkins is better at getting players to respond to how he wants them to play, better at motivating them and getting them to play as a team. One heard snippets from the training ground from time to time about Pardew's methods, how he would stop play and analyse the players' positioning, what they should do next, where their movement should be, etc. As yet, we have not heard much about Adkins methods, yet in a relatively short time, he appears to have assessed the strengths and weaknesses in the squad, rejuvenated some players, encouraged them to play entertaining possession passing football, building from the back and playing with more width than I have seen for as long as I can remember. Adkins is obviously a manager who prefers to do his talking on the pitch, through results. To all those fans who fell out of love with Saints these past few years because they felt disappointed with the match day experience and the way we played, come back and witness the transformation. Watch once more a Saints team that excites and entertains.

Promotion will happen and after today's performance, I'm beginning to have faith in Adkin's ability to deliver it for us.

I parked my car at 12ish to walk into town. A Tranmere supporter saw my shirt and asked for directions to the stadium. Having thanked me, he wished us luck, adding that Tranmere were crap. Just how crap, I found out three hours later, or could it be that we made them look crap? For me, that was the most entertaining football I have seen at St Mary's stadium for some time. I can't remember the last time that Saints played with such width and how bloody effective it was! Under Pardew in particular, it always used to annoy the hell out of me to watch the teams both squeezed into one half of the pitch, end to end for much of the game. Sometimes the better opposition managers would spot it in the first half and place one or two players out wide, a ball would come to them and we were opened up with ease. For a team of skilled players, good passers of the ball, it was a criminal waste of our assets. Lower teams in our division would park the proverbial bus in front of their goal and invite us to break them down, so Pardew's answer was hoofball. Adkins obviously sees it differently, thank God and his strategy has started to bear fruit, now that the players are becoming used to playing the game his way. His team plays with width and plays the ball out of defence. If one flank becomes conjested, the ball is played right across the pitch to the other flank. The opponents have to add cover out wide in defence, thus opening up the centre to attack. Our wide players, Lallana and Puncheon had a field day today, marauding down both wings, with Harding and Butterfield supporting, they got behind Tranmere's rearguard and put in cross after cross for the strikers. With better finishing, we should have had five or six, but Lambert still isn't his old self, or he would have had another couple, Barnard and Chaplow also should have scored easy chances. Hard to name a man of the match, as there were several great performances. Guly seems to be most effective up front and many times Tranmere gave the impression that he was unplayable. He and Lallana forged a great partnership. Puncheon gave one of the best performances that I've seen from him in a Saints shirt. Lallana was also very effective, even though probably not quite up to his best since his injury yet. Chaplow was a rock in midfield, full of energy and industry an able replacement for Schneiderlin. Barnard also looked as if he needed to make a point probably after the events a week ago and it is good that on today's performance, Guly excelled, giving Adkins options and putting pressure on Lambert and Barnard. With Chamberlain also a bright prospect, Holmes and Richardson also available as additional options and Bignall also to feature, we now have the strength in depth to move up this division. Did I imagine it, or did I gain a true impression that there is some real team spirit in this squad? Although it was lowly Tranmere that we beat with ease, I really do begin to believe that playing in that style, we could beat any team in this division and dare I say it, most of the teams in the Championship too.

Quite. I thought we won today and won convincingly playing some of the best football I've seen at St Marys in quite a while. Under the circumstances, I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist because somebody is annoyed at somebody else for shouting "who?" when Tranmere's subs were announced.

Looks as if he can take care of himself and will be an asset for the next late night booze session at the White House.

You'd better write to the UK Border Agency and tell the man from the Ministry that they've got it all wrong. They seem to have the idea that anybody born in this Country is a British Citizen and that anybody who wishes to obtain a British passport must become a Citizen first. Why, they've even introduced a Citizenship test. How wrong can a Government Department get things, eh?

This is a very welcome initative, as not only will the additional support be helpful to the team, but there could well be a spin-off increase of revenue for the club in terms of additional sales in the concourse and the shop.

Sorry to be pedantic back at you, but unless you know the real background to the dismissal of Pardew, then it is not possible to make the statement that he could have remained. The decision was Cortese's anyway and that also makes it impossible for anybody else to decide on his behalf whether he considered it an option for Pardew to stay or not. But that is old ground and has all been debated before and as far as I'm aware, nothing new has surfaced to change anything. As for the second part, there is nothing to disagree with there, as you have said that his dismissal may have jeopardised our promotion chances. Had Red & White Army qualified his statement that way, then I would not have challenged it.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion and internet forums are indeed the place to express them. But where did I tell anybody that they are not allowed to express their opinion? I told Red & White Army that he was not allowed to make those statements without any basis of fact. He has absolutely no evidence to support either statement. If he wished those statements to be taken as opinion, then simplicity itself to have said "in my opinion", "as far as I'm concerned", "I believe", "probably", etc. He really ought to try it sometime. And if I get accused of being patronising or of attacking people for pointing this out, then so be it. Better than to be called a moron or some similarly inane name-calling by those who seem unable to take criticism of their opinions without resorting to insults.

Just to correct you again, the thread is entitled "What do you think of Nigel Adkins now?" I saw no mention of a request for opinions as to whether we were right to dismiss Pardew, or whether his dismissal has jeopardised our chances of promotion this season. What I added that was useful, was a challenge to your assertion that we did not have to dismiss Pardew and that the result of that action had jeopardised our chances of promotion this season. You have no evidence to support either of your assertions, so I suggest that you stop the puerile name-calling and shut up yourself until you can post something sensible.

Just to help you, I have highlighted the two statements that you are not entitled to make without any basis of fact to back them up. Whether we have jeopardised our chances of promotion by sacking Pardew, presupposes that Pardew would have won the matches since his departure, something that is impossible to prove.

Oh, that was Lowe, was it? Pardon my stupidity, I thought that it was the players and manager and notably MLT.

Early days yet, but on the face of it a bold and imaginative appointment that has the potential to be a masterstroke if it comes off. Of course it was a gamble, but Adkins is a rarity in the game, somebody with lots of intelligence and qualifications in skills that should be a real benefit to the team, his knowledge of motivational skills and background as a physio. He comes across as unassuming and fair, likeable and grounded. The players seem to respect him and his abilities and he appears to have turned around shattered confidences in the squad in a short time. If we're still moving in the same direction by the turn of the year, then things will be looking very bright and optimistic for us.