Yet another article

[Barry the Badger]

Apologies if already posted..

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/08/can_anyone_stop_southampton.html#240436

[trousers]

Apologies if already posted..

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/08/can_anyone_stop_southampton.html#240436

 

Cheers - not seen that one before. Extract of some of the blog:

 

Shortly after the end of last season, it was widely reported that Alan Pardew was facing the sack as manager of Southampton.

His team had started the campaign on minus 10 points but eventually finished in seventh place, just missing out on the play-offs.

It was a noble effort by Saints, whose challenge was undermined by their inability to reproduce their dominant home form away from St Mary's. For example, they scored five goals in consecutive home games in late February but lost at struggling Tranmere in their next away fixture. But was it enough for chairman Nicola Cortese, who had sanctioned a multi-million pound spend in January?

Pardew is set on directing his team towards the Championship

When he demanded a meeting with Pardew after the season was over, it was widely assumed the manager was on his way. But Pardew survived. That said, I would be extremely surprised if Cortese settled for anything less than automatic promotion this season.

I met the former banker last year and found him to be considered, intelligent and calm. But it's fair to say he's also unaccustomed to failure.

Southampton certainly have the personnel to win League One. In Rickie Lambert, they have a striker who scored 37 goals last season, while David Connolly and Lee Barnard supplement the attacking options.

The spine of the side is solid, with Kelvin Davis in goal, Jose Fonte in the centre of defence and the ever-improving Morgan Schneiderlin in midfield. Saints have kept hold of Adam Lallana, while the likes of Ryan Dickson, Danny Butterfield and Frazer Richardson have bolstered an already impressive squad.

Saints took four points off last season's champions Norwich, including a 2-0 win at Carrow Road - and Canaries defender Russell Martin believes Pardew's team are equipped to emulate his team's achievement.

"If you look at it on paper, they have the strongest squad by quite some distance," Martin told me. "I think they have a group of players who can handle the pressure of expectation and their manager definitely can. I would expect them to be up there with the likes of Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday, while Plymouth have kept quite a strong squad and Peterborough have made a lot of changes."

 

Once again, interesting that outsiders looking in think we've got a squad that is more than strong enough to win the league where as a lot of us think it needs one or two extras to fill a couple of gaps.

[Turkish]

good article that, accurate too. Interesting comment If you look at it on paper, they have the strongest squad by quite some distance," Martin told me, doesn't Martin know about our crisis or that we dont have 4 good players for every position.