Village Saint

No they are not. They are booing him because of his arrogance over both the training ground and Pardew issues. It is his behaviour that has been embarassing. It is pretty obvious from all the body language that Pardew is very very unhappy indeed and if he got another decent offer I am sure he would be off straight away. Cortese is very new to this job and to football and a little bit of a reminder from the fans that he should get his feet on the ground seems to me a very sensible idea. Pardew has build a side which, if it doesn't win the playoffs this year, ought to go up automatically next. I think we will all settle for that rather than booting him out in June; getting a new manager in who will want to change everrything around; build his own team etc. Surely the last thing we need.

Less than there might have been. I became available to go this morning and rang Norwich to see if I could get a ticket and they said that there were 400 unsold tickets for the Saints end that they would be selling from the away ticket window as long as Saints sent them back. But they warned that I should ring Saints because the opposition for their last game didn't send the tickets back and therefore they couldn't sell them. Surprise surprise when I rang Saints ticket office they confirmed that they had NOT sent them back. Clearly they don't see service to the fans as a priority anymore.

Only just seen this. Very dodgy maths. Last 28 = 19W 5D 4L. Best record in Division One. Just what more are you expecting? Of course for AP to magically have changed in retrospect the results in the early part of the season when he had a team hardly of his own making; with no proper pre-season; and frankly a losing mentality carried over from the previous regime.

Absolutely. We really are NOT Crystal Palace. The idea is barking and hopefully will very quickly be forgotten.

I really hope this isn't true. Everyone needs to speak out in the strongest possible terms. This would be the worst mistake since the raspberry ripple shirt. Saints wear red and white vertical stripes. It is as simple as that. Someone needs to explain to these morons that we are NOT Crystal Palace. Surely we didn't fight the save our stripes battle just for this?

Decent proven centre-half. Um. I presume you mean Elliott Ward who has certainly proved how far his standards have fallen - 4 appearances so far this season in a very very moderate Championship defence. Not a good buy whereas Fonte in contrast has done nothing to suggest he is anything but a gem. Danns or Puncheon. Not a valid comparison as Puncheon wanted to come whereas Danns didn't want to leave his superstar lifestyle in London. You might as well say Puncheon was cheaper than Kaka. Its true but Kaka was never going to sign for us.

Er NO. Record in last 25 games is: Won 18 Drew 4 Lost 3. Strangely enough equal best of all League One sides. But of course I forgot the team should somehow recover points lost in games played previous to the spending of the money

Well yes clearly. The idea that you can have a player playing for two sides in the same Cup competition beggars belief. Strangely enough it is a rule in every single cup competition in the world. I wonder why. Imagine what you would feel like having beaten Chelsea in Round 3 if bu&%ar me the same players don't turn up calling themselves Manchester United! You beat them again and now they have a go for Arsenal! Presumably by your reckoning they should be able to move around until finally they get to beat you!

Um. 'by all accounts' would suggest you haven't actually seen any of Ward's 4 underwhelming appearances for Coventry. He is by the way 25 and clearly not fancied by the manager of a Championship side with no particularly strong defensive record. Indeed isn't the rather mediocre Martin Cranie keeping him out of the side.

Morgan had another solid game yesterday with too little support down the middle. The team selection yesterday was very sound (with one exception of course) and should have won the game. On the basis of one game - which is grossly unfair - you would have to say that our new right back looked very poor indeed. He did nothing of any great note that was positive and just went absent on the only occasion he was required - for the goal. However, he was one of three new boys in the back four who presumably will gell better in time. Also he probably wasn't helped by the bringing on of Waigo as James had been a very effective screen in front of him whereas Waigo just doesn't do that job. But when Waigo came on it was 0-0 so it was understandable.

Arguably really is the point. Lloyd James is a promising right back who has steadily improved and who needs to add consistency to his game. He may prove everyone wrong in the future but he has done nothing so far to suggest he will ever be good enough to play in midfield in the Championship or even in our remaining few games in League One. Whilst the other signings seemed pretty good this one only makes sense if they know Murty is shot and JO is actually there for cover and another option. Whenever we played Norwich he was certainly the player in their back four to be targeted as a weak spot.

This has indeed been the case for a couple of years. The previously irritatingly inefficient internet purchasing procedure also now seems to work very well. However, it is absurd that in this customer sensitive age that a big organisation cannot cope with the slightest alteration in expected demand. Increasingly because we have become a society devoid of any sort of spontaneity it is true that more and more people do buy in advance. However, there are all sorts of perfectly legitimate reasons why people cant or dont always, particularly those of us who live some way away. People may be unsure of whether they can get away from work in time or if the weather will make it possible to drive 160 miles to the game. This is simply a stealth tax on the busy and discriminates against those who have to travel a long way (who some might even see as particularly dedicated). It should be opposed as vigorously as possible but as the club is now owned by a ruthless dictatorship who no intention of ever listening to real fans I doubt if it will change.

It isn't about dictating to anyone. It is about these selfish people showing just a grain of consideration to everyone else.

Absolutely. The Echo seems to have done absolutely nothing wrong. Very embarassing that the club should behave like this but I guess inevitable that Cortese, given his position, would turn out to be an arrogant pillock. Shame though.

Absolutely correct. Indeed if we do 'rest' players we will deserve everything we get - not just in the Cup game but in the subsequent league games when no doubt rested players will prove to be short of just a little match sharpness that you only get by keeping playing. Also not is it not just a bad idea in these terms but such arrogance and for a team in League One - unbelieveable!

Its always the same on here. God knows what he would have to do to be seen as playing well. He can't stop scoring and makes nearly every other goal we score. And he pops on the edge of our box defending when he's really needed. Mind you he hasn't turned water into wine for a couple of games..........

Reason enough to sack Pardew now I would have throught. It is an asolutely disgraceful record which leaves almost no room for the sort of negative moaning that is so popular on here. But I am sure that they will see someone to complain about.

I know he's Cr"p but surely even he will struggle to get them relegated. It will be a great shame for him to spoil his 100% record.

I think you are making two mistakes here CB Saint. First you are trying to engage with these people via rational analysis. That is pointless. I don't understand why but they just aren't interested. You must work with people like this or have come across them in other contexts. They just aren't happy unless they can moan and moan. I know it seems unbelieveable when everything with Saints is going so well after such a long down period but they actually preferred how it was because it gave them something to moan at. They clearly weren't there singing in the rain at Rovers or indeed apparently at any recent game. I wouldn't rise to the bait if I were you. But rest assured the vast majority are with you. Looking forward to Saturday and another top draw performance.

4-5-1 is not more 'defensive' than 4-4-2. Quite the opposite. Against a creaky old-fashioned 4-4-2, it allows you to dominate the game in the centre of your park, play more of a passing game and release men forward on the flanks where they will do more damage. If you do come under pressure early on, it also gives you the potential to block the ability of the opposition to get good ball forward to their forwards and often leads to them resorting to long-ball football - always easier to deal with particularly with our giant centre-halves. On the other hand teams tire; spaces open up and many teams who start out 4-5-1 will have the intelligence and nouse to know when switching tactical approaches may pay off and, despite its obvious limitations as a strategy from the start, 4-4-2 can work in this context. Full marks to AP for his tactical nouse and flexibility in thisi respect.

What absolute garbage. Full credit to AP for moving Lallana on but actually all Lallana has done is shown the same patchy development that any young player does. People on here are always writing players off at 18; 19 ;20. Until players devlop maturity in their mid twenties what you see is potential and some inconsistent flashes of what might come. All players go through this - c.f. Rooney; Walcott etc. The players who develop much earlier - e.g. Fabregas are much much rarer.

Given that we are not going to be involved in any relegeation struggle for the first time in years, this is not a Saints related post and surely should not be on here.

Keep Thomas? I have kept quiet whilst others have somehow seen him as a potential saviour in central defence. Presumably no-one who was at the game will ever sugegst that again. His positioning is woeful; he was implicated in all three goals; and I cannot remember a single occasion on Saturday where we kept the ball following a header or 'pass' from him. Hopefully he will have picked up an injury on Saturday and will be out for the season.

Only the loss of McGoldrick should be of any concern. Vital that we keep the last three. It would also be good to keep Davis if we can; to off load Thomas and find the money to get Saeijs back. All of that seems very doable if a takeover is concluded this week. It would then be a very competitive League One squad and about the right size. For the first time in years we wouldn't have journeymen clogging up the progress routes of promising young players.

And more to the point with his workrate and ability, he stood out like a shining beacon compared to so many around him. There isn't a team in the Championship that woudn't bite your hand off to get him for a million - not least because they know that at his current rate of progress and development they'll be able to sell him on for big money to the Prem in a year's time. Sadly it is not just amongst fans that we get this short-sighted view that expects everyone to be a world beater after a few games when they are still young and developing. It the same short-sightedness that led the club to give away Kenwynne Jones and then were pleased at the small change we got back. If we really do have to lose DmG - our best outfield player last year - we really must expect to get a proper fee in exchange.