Big Ron fan

First call I've seen for a return to the Rupert Lowe strategy of quantity not quality!! My view was always that the two most important positions to fill were keeper and left-back; we're really paying the price for not doing so.

Trouble is, as I said on another thread, probably 6 of the goals we have conceded have coming from really, really poor defending, rather than brilliant play from the opposition. Both City and United on another day might have buried several other chances. Despite the good play elsewhere in the side, without a vast improvement in defence we will really struggle. By the way, I've spent most of the summer thinking we would surprise a lot of people and finish pretty high in the table, but that had been on the assumption that we'd get in a good quality central defender, left-back and keeper. We definitely haven'y got the left-back or the keeper (Gazza appearing to be one for the future) and we're still waiting to see how our new centre-back shapes up (although, having seen him at Wembley in the Olympic semi-final, he gives me hope).

Agree about the terrible substitutions and that Morgan and Puncheon had their best games for Saints. Fox was always likely to be a weak link, as he was defensively often last year. For all the good play though, we have now conceded 6 very poor goals and conceded 2 penalties in 3 games. If this doesn't improve rapidly, we will really struggle to get away from the bottom of the table, despite being impressive in other areas of the pitch.

Agreed

Exactly what he didn't do this time, unlike in previous tournaments. That's why he's being praised. Does Cork's inclusion mean he's now officially better than Beckham?

Niemi Golac Nicholl Killer Scacel Le Tiss Gabriel Seedorf* Kachloul Big Ron Pahars * assuming he signs

I assumed this thread was about Drogba!

My thoughts too. Would be a good match for us and the sort of new challenge he'd probably appreciate. Would £25k a week do it though?

I watched finally watched 'The Championship' late last night. Who was the really fat bloke on the right during the celebrations in the dressing room? He looked like a fan who'd gatecrashed things!

Those saying how terrible Watford were should remember that they were unbeaten in their last 9 home league games, winning 7 - that may indicate that we played pretty well to make them look so poor. Good all round team performance. I thought the centre-backs were excellent, Fox looked much better than I've seen him before (although I haven't been at the last 3 or 4 games), Morgan was commanding and industrious in midfield and thought Lee had a very good game. Lambert and (while on the pitch) Lallana were, as you'd expect, very good. I still think we'll go up as champions if these two stay fit. We were helped by a dreadful bit of keeping for the first goal though!

From OP: Football League One (last season/this season) - Played: 46/30 - Wins: 23/15 - Draws: 14/7 - Losses: 9/8 - Goals F: 85/54 - Goals A: 47/28 - Points/game: 1,80/1,73 - Goals F/game: 1,85/1,80 - Goals A/game: 1,02/0,93 I don't understand this. We've only played 26 league games this season.

Leeds. Set the tone for the whole season. Brilliant goals and never looked like letting them back into the game.

Worse than yesterday was our centenary match in autumn 1985 against Everton, the reigning champions. 2-1 up after coming from 1-0 down and on top, an Everton player did a long punt downfield which Nick Holmes (I think) shepherded out for a goal kick with no Everton player challenging him. The ref, bizarrely, gave a corner (to the crowd's bemusement and derision) from which they scored and went on to win 3-2.

Great comment from a West Ham fan on the train back to London, referring to his team's tactics and display..."If they played like that in my back garden, I'd draw the curtains!"

To answer the original question...Ian Branfoot and Sir Alex Ferguson??

6 wins followed by a 4-4 draw with Boro. We are going to walk this league.

I thought he played very well against difficult opponents in Miller and Derbyshire, particularly in view of how little football he has had recently. In contrast, both full-backs were surprisingly awful and the source of nearly all our problems. Get Cork back into centre-midfield asap. It was my first view of Fox and he seemed to be poor defensively and offer much less going forward than Harding, who may well be someone whose reputation grows in his absence, based on today.

Kelvin is several leagues below the others in ability, as evidenced by his one disasterous season in the Premier League with Sunderland. I don't think anyone who has seen the other 3 play could possibly group Kelvin with them.

Apologies for the delay in getting back on here guys (and ladies). It is in fact Brucie, who played for Zimbabwe while at Saints. Well done Let's B Avenue! Next question please!

No one has it yet. Golac's only cap for Yugoslavia was before he joined us.

In case I'm right...my question is: Who was the first player, while playing for Saints, to play full international football for a country that is not part of the British Isles?

They went top of the league for the first time (after a 1-0 win at Boro??)

I was impressed with Rochdale, but I thought we were worse than the pie I had before the game (and that's saying something)! Until the last 15 minutes when Lallana was on, we had no movement or creativity whatsoever. Jaidi was the best passer on the night - for those of you not there that's how bad the rest of the team were! No pace apart from Forte (who looked like he''d be better on the right). Long ball after long ball lumped forward, to no good purpose! No attempt, in the first half at least, to pass it through the midfield, which for most of the game was non-existent. Everything was ponderous - no attempt to move the ball quickly. A fully fit Lallana for the last few games may be the difference between automatic promotion and the play-offs. At least I had several pints of excellent Corncrake bitter in 'The Regal Moon' in the town centre, before and after the game!

I went to the Fulham game as a 16 year-old. Terrific game and atmosphere. Bally and Peter Storey spent the whole game kicking lumps out of each other!

I completely disagree with all of you. I thought he got just about every major decision right, including the ones that the above posters have referred to!