Weston Saint

Actually it is 4 League assists in 24 games out of a total of 42 goals.

Agree. Nickh watch next time how crosses from the three quarter are always dealt with by the keeper or the defender. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted cross. Get to the by line and cross back across the defence with our players running onto it. The defence have to turn to meet it. James seems to think he will get a nose bleed if he crosses the three quarter!

You are being discourteous to Mr Cortese and Mr Liebherr as well as Alan Pardew if you think that they will be influenced by one match. They will already have their plans well advanced. Pardew knows we are not the finished article even for this league.

Ok another loss against one of the top sides but I am less concerned. We had 57% of possession. We had 8 shots on target against their 5 We know we can score goals. Just did not happen for us today, particularly in the 2nd half. We have dropped to 13th but we are on target.

Good to hear. Thanks for the update.

We started the year with a crowd of 31,901 in an FA Cup defeat (3-0) against Manchester United and finished with a win (3-1) against Exeter with 30,890 Only Perry and James remained from that January start on Saturday. We went into the New Year second from bottom having won 5 drew 8 and lost 13 with a goal difference of -18. Another 20 games in the division yielded another 5 wins 7 draws and 8 losses with a goal difference of another -5 but still second from bottom. Going into the New Year with a new Owner, a debt free club, a new Manager and virtually a new team from that 2009 start we can be encouraged by our progress. We may be in a different league but we have a team that knows how to win, a Manager that knows how to manage, an Owner that can back the club financially and the end of the politics in the board room. It is all about football now. OK a small spat with the local rag but a refreshing silence from the club on that matter. Onwards and Upwards. A long way to go but mostly positives so far

No, it was probably instructions from Pardew

Thing is Steve, Adam is asked to play in the middle. Frustrates me as he has shown how effective he can be wide left and coming in to a ball from the right. Derry is not blaming Lallana but Pardew's tactics.

Aaron Martin the new cover?

Quite possibly but the Echo reported £3,000 a week so I used this as a starting point. I thought he was on more as well, that is why Lowe tried to get rid of him at the beginning of last season

But Thomas costs £3,000 a week in wages. Assume the club feel this is a luxury Div 1 side cannot afford for a "cover" player.

Thomas signed August 2007- 3 year deal If his contract was up January why loan? He would be a free agent. Could be a loan with view of option to sign I suppose Mitigation is told to the bench by his Counsel so not under oath. Thanks for the report though RW. Press reports in local papers always interesting

I now believe we will finish in the top 10 with a chance of the playoffs.

Another good win despite times when we went missing as a team. Fantastic crowd of 30,000 plus and we never messed it up this time. As well as the three goals we hit the bar (Connolly) and the post (Lambert). Exeter played some good passing football but their goal came from a quick kick whilst we were sleeping. They nearly did it again late on. We must be sharp and aware in these situations. Never looked like losing.

Excellent review.

Car crash in slow motion.

Depends if you know someone with access to both sides. Enough said! I will now withdraw from this thread.

OK, after some discussion with others this represents what I think could have happened: I suspect the Echo have been waiting for this to happen for a while. Our Chairman is a bit of a tyrant by some accounts. A recent high level departure from the club is perhaps testament to that view. (I personally think he is the best thing that has happened to our club in a long while) I believe the club had no problem with stories saying the club had applied for planning consent as that it was in the public domain the day New Forest District Council put it on their website, as required by law. I understand they had originally intended to hold a press conference but postponed it as there were significant changes to the application (involving building a new main entrance to the training ground) The club were happy for the Echo to run stories saying that the club had applied for permission, but because of the changes, asked they hold off on details, including publishing images (which were on NFDC's website). Initially the Echo agreed to hold off ahead of the original press conference, but then the story began to leak and I suspect the Echo felt the moving of the new main entrance was not sufficient reason to stop them running the story, with images of the buildings that was in the public domain. It has been suggested they had complied with the clubs first request to hold off the previous week. The argument seems to be that the club say the Echo was the only media organisation who did not comply with their request for a favour but the echo are of the opinion that Radio Solent was the only other local media and are not able to show images . Sky & BBC probably did not warrant that depth of national media coverage. Not sure what BBC South or Meridian position was. Then there was a stand off with threats which were then carried out by the club. The club were a little naive, and the Echo a bit petulant in their editorial. What happened then was like two little boys trying to assert some authority. Echo banned but senior editorial people turning up on match day demanding a meeting. Silly situation and the club should reconsider, lift the ban but make them pay for their tickets. The Echo do not come out of this well either but good to see they are still reporting.

And Ice Cubes falling out of the sky!

Nothing wrong with asking Nick for an opinion. You seem to have conveniently missed the comment from Mike O’Callaghan the "leader" of SISA. If they are approached for a comment (and I assume the Echo has their contact details) what should they say..."no comment"?

Portsmouth are bottom of the league at Christmas. What a present for Saints fans

Nope, I have been saying for a while that we are not good enough yet. This result proves it. Some good football this season and I can't argue with the entertainment value at times and the great run of results but this team will fall short in the promotion stakes this season because of the -10 points and our poor start.

Very disappointed. Did not see the game so cannot comment on performance but this was our chance to set a marker against arguably the best team in this league and we failed. Simple as that.

McMenemy, the Manager, is not a legend in football but he has earned the title, Southampton Football Club Manager Legend. Results, player signings and the fact Southampton FC gained exposure to the wider world is testement to that. Le Tissier is not quite a football legend as he did not prove the same (because of his individual style) at international level but he has earned the title Southampton Football Club Player Legend. His contribution, individuality in a struggling team and the warmth felt by the majority of supporters is testement to that. Legendary status can be tarnished by later actions but it cannot take away what that person/persons achieved in the past. As for Strachan, he was a decent manager who kept a struggling Coventry in the Premier for longer than many expected. He lifted Southampton to a level only previously achieved by McMenemy. He did a decent job at Celtic but failed to take them to the next level, a competative European side. Southgate should have gone last season but as Gibson stuck with him through that I was suprised he was sacked so early this season when they were competative. However the home crowds were voting with their feet by not turning up in the numbers expected. Has Gibson taken the right decision? Well I think he has installed a better and more experienced Manager that Southgate but time will tell whether Strachan is the right choice. I hope he does the business as, like many Saints supporters, his period with Saints was a happy footballing memory

Very good Frank. Enjoyed that