The9

Thomson has all the end product of Dyer* AND he can defend. BWP has shown on a number of occasions to be more effective than Dyer in a Saints shirt. The reason he doesn't get a settled run in a Saints shirt is because after three games he's usually been appallingly gash and a completely anonymous liability for at least one of them. And if he stands on the 'king ball or runs straight into a defender one more time, sheesh... ...I'm just glad he had Cranie to take apart in the Cup to give us a chance of getting money for him. *This isn't saying much, why may be why he's on loan at the moment

Good luck Jan, I was impressed by your plan, the broad changes, your support of the kids and your efforts to make a bad situation work. Unlike some, I don't see how you could gave done much different with the resources at your disposal, but we'll probably discover that in the next couple of months. You'd think after 6 years of the same crap we'd have grown out of the quickfire knee-jerk manager firing ethos, but no-one seems to learn. Shame you were left as Lowe's fall-guy as soon as the crowd turned on him, you deserved better than to be another victim of Lowe's repeating mistakes. So that's buying players who weaken not strengthen the squad, being too tight with money (at least there's an excuse this time), sacking managers (oh sorry, "allowing them to resign") rather than addressing the real mismanagement, and appointing the bloody reserve coach again despite it being proven to be a false economy at least three times already in the past 8 years. This will change nothing, it's the same old guff with Lowe now repeating mistakes as we sink further. Enough.

I don't remember any of this, I think I'm playing too many 11-a-sides at the moment [/irony].

Except Leeds, for one...

No, yes, probably and welcome to 2005, in that order.

You must have forgotten Surman somehow hitting their keeper from 6 yards with a powerful but too-straight shot with the goal gaping, and the evil bobble that prevented Holmes tapping in from not much further out in the first half then ? We should have been about 4-2 up, allowing for them scoring their 2 shots.

That's your opinion, mine is that we're not much if any worse than about 3/4 of the League and the transfer window and end of loans will shake up who's down there a fair bit - Doncaster and Forest have hit runs, Charlton are way behind and Watford look shaky, plus someone always slides into it from midtable at Xmas. Losing Cork was a blow, gaining Saeijs a great boost, and we've all known all along it won't come overnight, but if we keep plugging away and get a few breaks we can finish midtable without too much fanfare. Holmes was a class apart at the start of the season, hopefully he'll be flying again in a few games. We have beaten Reading and Birmingham this season (one of which happened with BWP playing left wing, for those slating the "wrong wing" tactics) and we have Saganowski back to show McGoldrick the way (preferably to the bench, but anyway)... ...so why so sad?

Well yeah, apart from the 14 shots and mostly dominating the first half, do you think they told them at half time then or just when Doncaster attacked ??!!?!? Who forgot to tell Kelvin ?

Agreed, Saints had their best 2 chances before the goal in the midst of many fans singing Lowe Out songs, and when their 2nd went in the crowd had lulled for a few minutes. To be honest the whole "fans affecting performance" thing went out of the window for me when we lost 5-2 to Watford in the League Cup in the relegation season. At 3-0 down the majority of the traveling fans started singing Watford songs including "can we join you over there?" and the team promptly got a goal back and scored another before the end. As with yesterday the team played perfectly well with fans doing anything BUT cheering the team. Fwiw, what we need is not anti- anyone or anything. It's viable action that doesn't damage the club but results in the current incumbents moving on, not that I think this season's cost-cutting is the wrong thing to do, but because there is now too much division for the club to succeed. While I'm having my 3 posts for the day I'd better get it out that I don't think Poortvliet is a bad manager but the wrong wing thing, even though I understand it (especially problematic with one-foot Ryan Smith) and picking McGoldrick is annoying the hell out of me. Anyway, I've got no ideas beyond a catchy name; so if anyone wants to use Positive Action - Save Saints Feel free.

I admire Summers' optimism in the face of overwhelming odds. I might be available for this thrashing.

Given that we can't even get 11 people to a field in Southampton at the same time at the moment, have always struggled for sides for away matches, and that Saints' support is at it lowest level for about 15 years, I would suggest getting 11 people to Blackpool for a match against a side that almost always stuff us is a tad fanciful. Especially when we only took 10 up there when our crowds were 10,000 higher than now.

And we'd be right to worry about pace. Teams with slow centre backs always get murdered by pace, whether its from decent through balls or fast players running through onto flick-ons from hoof balls on the occasions the no-nonsense CBs can't get to the header. It's not like Perry has his height in his favour either. However, frankly we're not in a position to be complaining, and Dailly's CB/defensive midfield flexibility would give us the option of playing Wotton in either of those positions too. Cork is a massive loss for us, flexible from being able to play centre/right back or defensively in the middle, as well actually being a very good player, probably consistently our best from September wherever he played.

It's a head injury. But you'd have all noticed that.

Or alternatively you might want to consider that JP wanted his wide players to cut inside and shoot rather than crossing the ball, hence putting them on opposite wings to their stronger foot. It didn't work, but then crossing the thing to McGoldrick hasn't done much either. The real issue here is the constant selection of McGoldrick, though as we only had him and the improving Patterson left for the Reading game AND McG actually scored, now's probably not the time to be raising that issue. Of course, Smith is one footed and cack nevertheless and I think most Sunday sides would be able to negate him due to his one-footedness, but the "everything Poortvliet does is wrong" viewpoint is tedious nonsense, just as the "everything Lowe does is wrong" one is. Feel free to consider his reasons for picking the players in the positions he does rather than just dismissing it as "wrong" because it's not conventional thinking. Fortunately the glimpse of McLaggon suggested he's at least as competent as Dyer so far, as with Thomson, who does most of what Dyer provides and can also defend. Of course this appraisal is based on only a small amount of match time at the moment but they certainly have potential to be better, whilst Dyer has flattered to deceive for a couple of seasons now. Seeing as due to his age we'll almost certainly be letting Dyer go at the end of his current contract (and getting compensation or a fee if anyone else wants him) it makes perfect sense to give him the chance to impress somewhere else. FWIW, my biggest concern at the moment (now Cork has gone) is that we are AGAIN loading the squad with signings that don't improve the team, just like we did when we got relegated from the Prem. That seems to be a lesson Lowe hasn't learned, unlike the one about keeping a low profile. Pulis and Smith add nothing to the squad, never mind the team.

Well, it would have been a good point if I'd said "fancy" not "fancing". Worth £5 just to be able to edit that. Oh, and don't forget Jamie played for us last, so she's totally into Saints. Still stunned their f'cking Wii advert just down the road from me hasn't been mangled yet. Top of Hill Lane graffiti fiends.

That's WAY out of order. Fancing wanting Louise to die.

Having seen him three times for the reserves and briefly for the first team, I can tell you he looks like he's lost a load of weight since his first game back, his style is very much like Lallana in terms of touch and skill, but he doesn't yet have the same fitness or workrate, and his form (especially his passing) has fluctuated massively between each game I've seen. For instance he was bloody awful for the first 20 minutes for the reserves this week with his passes going all over the place, then her scored an excellent back-header from Thomson's floated cross and settled down a lot. Looks keen to impress though and I think he's got a chance of starting in the competitive left midfield/left wing position or in the hole. Certainly has a creativity about him. In contrast I'm not at all convinced by Pulis whatever he's meant to be doing.

You mean when they play well you're giving credit to the players but when they play poorly it's the manager's fault ? I'd love to see a rational analysis of THAT one. The improvement yesterday was due to that motivating factor of playing with 10 men, nothing motivates like a perceived injustice and most of the players put more effort in as a result. The ref's constant appalling decision making helped maintain that motivation right to the end.

From what I've seen he's a great player potentially who has already looked consistent and strong for the reserves and in a couple of pre-season games, but on the strength of his two home performances he seems to lack the confidence to use his pace to go past players at the moment, which he does for fun usually. If we give him a few games he'll come good and we'll end up selling him for a few million IF he realises he's not only good enough to play at CCC level, but also above. It'll be interesting when both he and Holmes are in contention on the left, we might even see Skacel dropped again so Gobern can play left back. He's still young, he's fast, fit, athetic, has a great touch, skill to beat players and awareness and looks like one of the few genuine talents who is probably playing below his station - just that he hasn't got the experience to know he's actually that good and that he CAN do the things he's done for the reserves when in the first team. Massive potential. Hey, I was right about Kenwyne... And while I'm here, Mancienne getting called up for England is ridiculous, he showed a distinct lack of judgement yesterday, clattered through the back of numerous Saints players, kept getting the wrong side (fine as long as he won the ball but fatal if he misses it) and looked like any decent striker would have a field day winning free-kicks and easily rolling him as he came haring out for the striker to get clean through behind. Alright he ran his ar5e off and won most things in the air, but those are positional flaws that he'd never get away with in the Prem, never mind a decent level of International football.

Ok, well at least THAT works, so if you have your shirt fronts stuck on your Mem Unit you CAN get them onto the HDD save file just using the in game Memory manager - but as the files can't be renamed from Uniform001 and Uniform002 you'll have to make sure the HDD files in slots 001 and 002 are either blank or that you have a copy of them in a different slot first. If you just copy the Uniform001 and Uniform002 using the Memory application you can only overwrite the existing files. But at least you can get the kit fronts off the Mem Card without using a 3rd Party application - though not the bloody emblems (and there's a checksum calculation stopping people hacking the bin file and creating an emblem/OF editor at the moment, if you change the emblem files on the OF.bin using a 3rd party application they just don't work in the game apparently). That'll be my last post for 24 hours then unless someone wants to pay my fiver to Steve or Baj ! .

Hm, ok I did it just now, you can't do it, and I've accidentally solved Colinjb's question as well, I think... ...you can only have more than 2 items on a chest logo if you're using the HDD for storage. And you can never have more than 2 emblems per team, though you can have 200 chest logos overall. Basically if you're using the Mem Unit to store the OF, you're restricted to only 2 images per team whether they're Emblems or Chest logos (i.e. shirt fronts). *I think*. Just testing copying my Mem Unit 001 and 002 Uniform files to the HDD using the 360 Data Manager to see if it'll let me, that would give me a (crap) flybe and umbro logo at least!!!

No, that was all my own doing, thanks that "some bloke knows his sh1t" thing was me being ironic ! And yes, on 360, but the templates are exactly the same on the PS3 - though if you've got any sense you'll just import the images from one of the many MANY patches already out there for too-easy PS3 Option Files To answer the question of how you get all that stuff on one picture, it's as follows (for the in-game editor, i.e. 360 users, cos as I've said, PS3 users can just import stuff saved to USB from photoshop or whatever and there's loads of png files already on evo-web and PESFan and PESRepublic and PESGaming etc. Aaaaanyway : (Assuming you already have your Emblem created and saved in the Emblems), you just make a Chest logo for the whole shirt front with all the emblem and sponsors on it and switch off the emblem, as said above Go to Kit Marking Choose Chest Logo : Custom Choose "Custom" again, cos Konami are nobbers "Create from Scratch" "Draw Yourself" Then select "Images" > "Emblem" and choose your emblem from those shown (max 40). Decide where on the shirt you want that emblem, moving it around with the left stick (don't use the right stick unless you want to stretch or shrink it). Press A (or X on a PS3) to paste the emblem where you want it. Press the "back" button which is red B on 360, whatever the right button is on PS3, O I think ? If you have a sponsor already saved to the front shirt image file re-select "Images" to add that, move it around, lock it in place with A, etc. Keep adding images and logos til you are done. If you don't have any logos, either download an Option File and use Xport/Xsata or PS3 it, or just start drawing the things in the pixel editor... it will take ages on 360. If you do it on PS3 you are a lunatic. When finished, Confirm and save to a free slot, there are 200 shirt fronts, more than enough for all the unlicensed teams, even with 2 outfield and 2 GK shirts for each. I'd recommend you get your re-usable manufacturer's logos sorted first, as they can be used over and over again. And vitally, if you use the Eraser tool you create the checkerboard "transparency", allowing you just to add what you want and leave the rest the colour of the background. One thing worth knowing, it stretches the sponsor across the middle of the shirt, so try a few sizings before you do too much detail, cos it might look perfect on the pixel editor screen but rubbish on the shirt itself. Oh, btw I've had a closer look at the Saints shorts and I reckon you should get rid of the white flashes (the #19 template) from the front of the red shorts, cos I think that contrast colour is actually not on the alternative shorts. So alternate red shorts would be: Short 32 White, 8 White, Empty, Basic Red Socks 11 Red, 10 White, Basic Red Short Number Left, White, Gold. Might be able to improve on that, but haven't tried yet. I'm still baing annoyed that I can't get my Saints emblem (or indeed any emblem) out of my Mem Unit OF and into another Option File cos all the emblems are tied to the Option File, even though the Uniform Files can be mixed and matched across different saves. Though wait a minute, if I back up my HDD to my PC, load the Mem Unit with the Saints emblem, create a shirt front with the Saints emblem on it, save that to the HDD and then remove the Uniform file from the Game Save with the Xport, I'll at least have a shirt front I can import with the badge on it and I'm going to have to create the flybe logo from scratch anyway. I'll give it a go... when I'm free on Thursday or something. How is it 1am ?

Just noticed, if you do the Alternative Red shorts as in the pics above, there's no big white flash on the short, so the Design 8 layer should be off (or possibly just red like the rest of the shorts) rather than white. Wish I had an edit button on this site, but I'm still begrudging the fiver at the moment ! Oh, and here's a pic of the standard away kit for the hell of it

FWIW, Templates for Saints kits : HOME Shirt 73 Red, 3 Black, 4 White, 7 Red, Basic 2 White Short 19 White, 8 Red, X, Basic Black Socks 6 Red, 14 White, Basic Red Name 8, Top, Type 2, Black, Gold (RGB 18/15/0) Number 9, Black, Gold. Short Number Left, White, Gold. AWAY Shirt 3 Red, 23 White, 55 Charcoal (RGB 6/6/8 ), 33 White, Basic Charcoal. Short 19 White, 32 Red, 8 Red, Basic Charcoal. Socks 11 Charcoal, 10 white, Basic Charcoal Name 8, Top, Type 2, Red, Gold (RGB 18/15/0) Number 9, Red, Gold. Short Number Left, Red, Gold. ALTERNATIVE RED AWAY SHORTS/SOCKS (from Doncaster match) : Short 19 White, 32 White, 8 White, Basic Red Socks 11 Red, 10 White, Basic Red Short Number Left, White, Gold. The issues, to save anyone banging on about them : Home Shirt : Red panel on shoulder isn't QUITE the right size and the white meshy bit can't be created cos there aren't enough layers - Though if you wanted the white meshy bit the number 23 style will do it for you (but you get the lines continuing on the back too, and you'll have to sarcifice the white bit on the collar). The emblem won't be in the right place, it should be on the camera-right red stripe but Konami places it automatically half way across that stripe and the white one. Home Shorts : The White piece is fine, but the red trim is only representative of thin red lines and isn't in the exact right place - though it does a nice thing with the small amount of red trim on the bottom seam of the shorts. Anyone who wants a bigger red bit there can use the small Nike seam piece (as seen on old Brazil and Arsenal kits) which is one of the last shorts styles. There's no V in the middle of the back of the shorts, it just can't be done with the available patterns. Home Socks A couple too many hoops admittedly, but the white turnover is correct and there's nothing resembling the Umbro diamond pattern to create that. Away Shirt : NB If you create the Umbro logo on the kit (don't save it as an emblem, use the other type of editable area for the whole shirt front) you'll need to use a different Umbro logo from the one on the home kit or it overlaps the piping. There's red trim alongside the white lines on the actual kit but that can't be done due to the 4 layer limit, so I've used white lines as there's plenty of red in the numbers already. The piping continues onto the back of the shirt, and there are no templates that can cover this without ruining the piping effect on the front. Away Shorts Same style as the home kit, same issues. Away Socks Again no Diamond logos, but the area of plain colour at the top of the sock means the thin extra line under the main sock hoop is the only problem. Alt away shorts/socks image Away kit in game (no adverts at the mo) Hull shorts (same Umbro style as Saints) as illustration.

Some bloke that knows his sh1t working on these, though I bet he wishes he had a PS3 where editing's a piece of pee. .