Ian the Red

Already got my 4 tickets!! Marvellous!

Alps, you have a good point. But NA seems quite content to rotate the squad, especially in midfield. That will work to our advantage as firstly the players are kept happy and secondly they will be fresher for games. So we have: Cork, AL, DH, RC, SdR, Guly, MS, (plus Homes) plenty to choose from! DH and MS were superb in the middle last night, Chappers was excellent. De Ridder looked very sharop when he came on, Cork had a mare when he was on. Very Difficult, but maybe rest MS for Saturday for Cork and have AL on the bench if fit.

Originally Posted by Jack Got to disagree with you on Connolly. The work he does off the ball is immense. He had really poor service last night, either launched up to him at head height, where he's never going to win many headers, or for him to run on to. When he gets the ball to feet he's class. Last night wasn't his best game but he was still a handful for them, made clever runs and was a nuisance for them. He picked the wrong option a couple of times, buy I think he's been pretty good all season Well chaps, have to disagree. Connolly is there to score as well, something he is not doing. Yes, he is an extremely clever player, casues problems for the opposition but he gives the ball away far too often; shots when the better option is to pass. How can you say he was better than Lambert last night? RL work rate is immense, his passing sublime and he has the vision and ability to create chance after chance for others, oh, and of course RL scores the odd one or two as well. Sorry, but for me Connolly should make way for De Ridder and come on as an impact player. Once he has found his form, then maybe give him another chance.

Wonderful performance last night. We were outstanding. My concern is Connolly - seems out of touch and has been imo for sometime. Lambert, awesome performance again, took a battering from their CB, but lead tehline so well, laid off so many balls and as always created many chances for others. The ball to put Guly thro was perfectly weighted and Guly should have burried it. Must say that the Jos and Jose are forming a great partnership in the centre fio defence, except for Jose's "one cock up per game" they were superb. Great to see NA make changes again and we still perform and produce the right result. Shows we have depth in the squad. De Rider looks a wonderful prospect. Now onto Reading and another 3 points.

I was wrong we were 2nd Spuds were 3rd, Bolton went up in 1st. How about when we went top of teh old Div 1 in the early 80's?

Last game against Spuds in Div 2 @ The Dell in 1978, we were 2nd Spuds top.......

On paper we have an equally strong squad!

Just ordered my Coventry tickets and was told by a very friendly young lady that West Ham tickets nearly all gone and that they have OPENED BLOCK 1

Played very well against Derby, indeed has improved with every game. Jaidi is not good enough for this league. Has to be signed in January with another CB and a goal scorer

But not only did he miss, he also over elaborated on too many occasions and either lost the chance to attack quickly or gave the ball away. Yes, Guly can be good but he is also very annoying. Away from home we need reliability, Guly is not doing it enough for me. But Connolly needs to be dropped first.

Lallana is a wonderful player, but we still created enough chances to win today without him. If Ricky got injured then we would be in ****e. We have two very important players, Ricky and AL - lose both, we will have a problem, lose one and we have enough cover. We were good enough today to win, and should have won, but a point at Derby is good enough. We now need to win the next three.

Agree, but Guly should have scored in the 1st half, beauitful lay off from Ricky but Guly volleyed high and wide when he had time. Guly also should have scored, shot too close to the keeper and he made the save.

Right just got back from the game, marvellous perfomance but have to say 2 points dropped. We dominated for large sections of the game. We were celebrating my mates son's 21st so went in a box, great fun but we got the Derby side: they all thought they were lucky to get a point and we should have won and we were the best team they had played. Nearl;y got thrown out at the end apparently we made too much noise! My worry, we do not have another goal scorer. Connolly is not doing the business and hasnt been for sometime. He gives the ball away more than Guly and is not scoring. If Ricky gets injured we are in trouble. Defensively, well very poor goal, Fonte mistake to start with, he should have hammered the ball into touch and then KD: two hands to the ball and pushed it back into the box instead of away from the goal. From then on all Saints until the last 15 minutes when Derby came back into it. On the positive side we still created even without AL. Draw and still top by 2 points!! Win Tuesday and still top!

Right just got back from the game, marvellous perfomance but have to say 2 points dropped. We dominated for large sections of the game. We were celebrating my mates son's 21st so went in a box, great fun but we got the Derby side: they all thought they were lucky to get a point and we should have won and we were the best team they had played. Nearl;y got thrown out at the end apparently we made too much noise! My worry, we do not have another goal scorer. Connolly is not doing the business and hasnt been for sometime. He gives the ball away more than Guly and is not scoring. If Ricky gets injured we are in trouble. Defensively, well very poor goal, Fonte mistake to start with, he should have hammered the ball into touch and then KD: two hands to the ball and pushed it back into the box instead of away from the goal. From then on all Saints until the last 15 minutes when Derby came back into it. On the positive side we still created even without AL. Draw and still top by 2 points!! Win Tuesday and still top!

Think you'll find its 67 goals in 112 league and cup games. He has been outstanding since he signed for us and frankly this season already he has proved soooo many people wrong. He is a legend already, we must go up this season or Ricky and the other quality players will ply their trade in the prem. Simple as, promotion this season is a must.

This season, Ipswich and Leicester were fanastic away support. It's good to have the support travelling again, and it is probably the best its been for a few years. Derby in the play offs was fanastic in 2007 but there have been many many occasions when we have taken huge numbers to games. The great escape season, Delhurst Park, magnificent! Brighton in the 80's in a cup game, think Moran and Cockerill scored, there are so many from games to choose from in the 80's and 90's. But as the OP says its the best away support for a few years. Reading with 4000+ will be cracking and Debry tomorrow will be awesome, will probabaly have no voice left after tomorrow!

Have to agree with some of what Alpine has stated; Alps has clearly stated that the title "Make or break" is probably not right and as other posters have indicated it is more a strong indicator of where we are in this league. having seen 7 of our league matches I can honestly say that I have never seen Saints play so well away from home in the 40 something years I have followed Saints - Ipswich was simply awesome, at Leicester we simply did not perform well enough in the 1st 25 minutes. My concerns are: our defence - Jaidi coming back is not the answer; he is too slow to play at this level. Seabourne, well no one knows when he will return so we need to strengthen at CB. If Ricky picks up a knock, do we have cover; probably not atm. Barney is not fully fit, Connolly has gone off the boil and neither Barney nor DC will score at the same rate as Ricky. AL, whilst creating many, many chances has an extremely poor conversion rate of chances to goals…….. We will need to buy well in January, to try to improve the squad again, this time for the premiership. Whilst I have doubts about the depth and cover in key areas, I have no doubt that we are as good as if not better than the vast majority of teams in this league. The next 4 games will indicate just how good we are: 8 points great return; 9 points even better, 10 points and we will be opening up a comfortable lead at the top; 12 points, well total and utter elation and probably top by 5 or 6 points. Where do I believe we will be – on 32 points top by 4. We will beat Derby, West Ham and Borro and draw at Reading.

As already said I am delighted with the start, but I did expect a good start. For the record I believe we will confirm promotion on 7th April, hammering the skate ba£$ards @ SMS and of course relagating p*mpey scum to League 1.......

Got mine, and tickets for Derby!

Steady on Alps, your nearly being optimistic! I have stated before that I believe we will achieve automatic promotion. Having seen 7 of the 10 games I have yet to see another team as good as us. The next 4 games will be very interesting, Derby, West ham, Reading and Boro. I expect 4 straight wins but would take 3 wins and draw and still top of the league. But I do believe we need cover for Ricky. If he picks up an injury we will suffer. Plus another CB please. Delighted with the 1st 10 games, another 22 points from the next 10 must be the goal!

FA Cup and Europa place. Then 4th place in the prem the following season!

Fantastic performances lately, if he continues could be the best right back we have had since Jason Dodd

Harding.... unless Fox can learn how to defend as well!!

Dissappointed, once again created loads of chances, but gave away 2 goals. Back 4 has always been a worry and still is. But we lost and we are still top of the league, leading scorers, playing great football....is it all that bad? We were due a poor run and we have just had it - 1 draw and 1 loss. Need to get back on the bus on Saturday and win, and win well!! COYR

Yep this would be my line up. Connolly needs a rest and Guly blows hot and cold for me. Morgan has earned a league start and I do think that giving De Ridder a start against a depleted Cardiff team would give the boy a real boost. 3-0 win for me. COYR