Big Ron fan

I think we've now got a better defence, midfield and attack than them, so should win comfortably unless their keeper has a blinder or we get an early sending off or a joke refereeing decision against us.

Having seen Gardos at Arsenal, he'd start ahead of Toby for me

What is this about?

Definitely Radio Gaga for me. Re Toby A - can't one of our lyricists do something with the 60s song Mony Mony (Toby Toby??). Could be quite a good one to get going...

Ditto for my 21st - Saints 5 Coventry 5! Mood was dampened a bit later in the evening though when we heard HMS Sheffield has been sunk. Maybe 'Games you saw on your 21st' would make a good thread in its own right. The one that rivaled it for me was 2008: Saints 3-2 Sheff Utd.

Could be the Ron has now decided that he's not really up to it and that's one of the reasons for going for TA, particularly as he was saying a week ago that we didn't need another centre-back. I'm also wondering if TA is really that good that he would automatically get a starting place in centre-defence ahead of the other options.

It will always be Highbury to an old git like me!

Everyone seems to have forgotten that at Highbury last year, when Clyne came off at h-t (injured I think) and Chambers was on the bench, Poch played JWP at r-b for the whole of the 2nd half, where he looked completely at home. It was possibly the best half I've seen him play for Saints. He'd be best cover for Clyne out of the existing squad I reckon, certainly better than Yoshida or Cork.

No, he wasn't against Denmark, nor at Newcastle last season, was he??? Whether people now hate him or not, suggesting he's going to struggle to get into the Liverpool team is bizarre - this is a player who was voted into the Premier league team of the season!

Just wait until the final game of next season. Saints v Liverpool. We need a point to stay up, they need to win to win the title. 1-1, then in the 95th minute they get a penalty. Oh dear...

No!

The problem is the midfield. We regularly play with 3 non-creative midfielders (take your pick from Cork, Vic, Morgan, Davis, JWP) who create few chances and score few goals. We have 3 good quality attacking players (indeed, all are in the England squad), but don't create anything like enough good chances for them. The lack of pace in the side, especially without JRod, clearly is a handicap too, which makes it very surprising that Clyne was left on the bench until the last 20 minutes v Cardiff. Personally, I think the stats quoted are symptomatic of MoPo's limitations as a coach and that he is very overrated, but I realise that will be a minority view on here.

Fulham- 3-1 win Stoke - 1-0 win Hull - 1-1 draw Arsenal - 2-0 win Chelsea -0-4 loss Villa- 2-1 win Man City - 3-0 loss Newcastle - 3-2 win 16 points

We got 18 points from Adkins last 12 games. I'm using this as a starting point (Swansea at home) as that is when Shaw and Cork were available. We now have 25 points from 20 games under Potch, a majority of which were in his first 10 games (when he had taken on a side that was obviously playing fairly well and with some confidence). It's surely obvious to anyone who's been watching us since the latter part of last season that we are playing nothing like as well as we were in the middle of last season and the results back this up. We don't have anything like the passing and movement that we previously had and most teams seem to have worked out ways to nullify us. Potch has not given me any indication that he is likely to improve things.

No you're not

Last 12 games under Adkins (I.e. from when Shaw and Cork started playing)...18 points, ave. 1.5 per game. Potch 15 points from 10 games, ave. 1.5 per game.

Hear! Hear! I still think this change has "disaster" written all over it. I wasn't unhappy when Pardew went, but this situation is very different.

8 games

Agreed

There'll be less panic when we've beaten Stoke and Arsenal!

Bally, followed by Big Ron, then Ricky. I think the history of the club could be very different if any of these had not been signed and then performed as they did.

The problem with your theory is that Guly is Brazilian (and therefore speaks Portugese) while Gaston is Uruguayan (and therefore speaks Spanish). Presumably you meant that Guly is being brought on to communicate with Fonte??

Really looking forward to Saturday. I'm expecting a wall of noise all game, just like the relegation battles at The Dell. If we go behind, we need to crank up the volume, just like v Blackburn during The Great Escape season. Hopefully twice as loud though as the capacity is double The Dell!

I watched this game with my brother on borrowed Arsenal season tickets. I must say that this is perhaps the most concise and accurate review of a game that I've ever seen on this forum. I will read your reviews of matches I haven't attended very carefully in future.

His record in the Premier league is almost as bad as kelvin's and it's not surprising no-one wanted to sign him.