Hopkins

Appy having a shocker here. As asked in another thread, I have yet to hear or see anyone put a decent arguement for him having a bad game today. People realise there is more to football than just shooting? His link up play with Lallana, Oxo, and even sometimes Lambert was class. He got 2 assists. He could and should have had more assists if Lallana had taken his chances, Which as I see it is the only reason Guly is getting slated so why not slate Lallana too? He missed worse chances. Also i'm not a big fan of the argument that he's not a striker. He's a central player. Either in midfield or as a deep lying striker. He fits in as a deep lying striker because we don't need or play that kind of midfielder, the league doesn't call for a attacking midfielder, he's only going to play for us upfront with 1 other, which is perfect for him and us because he becomes useful in games where a striker like Barnard may be nullified. He's a different option uptop, he'll drop deep, he'll link up player better than Barnard, he'll bring Lallana and Oxlade into the game and present them with goal scoring chances, whereas Barnard won't, he'll rely on the wingers to supply him. So Guly is a different option and gives us a different way of playing. His finishing was poor today. So what? He's going to be one of those players, one game we'll love him, the next he'll be frustrating. Get over it. Depresses me that our fans are such mongs that we can't appreciate and accommodate a player with a touch of class about him, that sometimes it won't come off. Today he was central to everything we did. People finding him an easy target, but being honest Lallana and him had the same game today. If Guly had stuck one of those chances away, which with a bit more luck he might well have done because Huddersfield put some good blocks in, he'd be being bummed all over this board. Now let me hear something other than "Oh but he didn't score" as a creditable argument as to why people are slating him....

The Guly hate is embarrassing. Yes, his shooting was pretty toilet but his link up play was immense. How anyone can deny that is beyond me. he was central to everything we did good today, got an assist for Oxlade and played a good role in Chaplow's goal. Also set up Lallana to miss a sitter, and his all round footwork and link up play with Lallana, Oxlade and even Lambert at times, was a joy to watch.

This is true actually. But my point still stands, most clubs will not be spending that kind of money on a kid in these times, especially one they can get better than for the same money. He's nowhere near Theo at his age either.

Chelsea are the only team that would sign him right now. Think about it...It won't be anything other than a top 4 team because nobody will have the funds. City won't want a kid, Spurs will want a first team player... Liverpool's new owner will not be splashing somewhere near 10m on a kid in there first transfer window. Man United don't need wingers and certainly not ones that will cost such money at not get anywhere near the team. Arsenal will not be able to justify spending so much on a kid like they did with Theo, when they haven't won anything in 5 years and won't go splashing out such money on first team players, let alone Alex. Chelsea, they have the money, they wan't to bring through the youth, so he fits that bill, and I don't think they'd care about spending such money on a kid, but I think for 10m, there are better kids out there.

My theory on wingers fits perfectly with Puncheon. Other than the real top class ones, they are inconsistent by nature. This in the long run leads to them moving around clubs, being hit and miss, starting well at some clubs but ending up leaving because someone else came in and did better. This results in opposition fans thinking they have a good signing, but he'll end up moving along down the line somewhere, but we'll be ok because we have Alex, and when he moves on, we'll convince ourselves we'll have someone else coming in who is better for us at that time. Looks at the careers of wingers and you'll see only a rare top quality few will ever settle at clubs for a long period, because they are inconsistent and what starts out as being explained as "he's new, if we can get him to be consistent, he'll be awesome" almost always ends as "he started off well but never fulfilled his potential." Pennant, Routledge, Wright Phillips, Downing etc etc....All young English wingers who have started careers brightly, been ace at various times throughout seasons and being bigged up to be the next best thing, only going onto never really hit the heights that there hype suggested they could, but at times showing glimpses of the quality that made them be noticed at first. Adam Johnson is a winger who has earned some top reviews over the season (By the way, he's one of many players who just because they didn't get picked at the World Cup has been hyped up to be someone amazing that we missed out on), but he will soon go the way of most other wingers in that he wont be picked on a consistent basis at City (Because he's nowhere near as good as David Silva, but don't let facts get in the way of a good injustice story), so City will be blamed for harming his and Englands chances, so he'll continue to be hyped up and it will be blamed on Mancini for not picking him, so he'll probably end up moving either on loan or on a permanent basis to a lesser club where everyone will say they have a great signing and City will regret letting him go, and he'll end up starting well at said club, but ultimately never really hitting the peaks that everyone thinks he could, and that will be blamed on the Premier League, Man City, Mancini, David Silva and anyone else the media and fans can think of, that diverts the attention away from the possibility that England, and England wingers might just not be very good. Puncheon will be the same. Inconsistent here, start off well somewhere else, used as an excuse by people to knock someone in our set up for not backing Puncheon, he'll end up being inconsistent there, move on, and the cycle will start over again at Millwall or wherever he ends up. No doubt people in Plymouth were having this exact discussion about letting him go last season. Wingers = Inconsistent.

Sky Sports invented football didn't you know? The most annoying thing about Sky Sports is Andy Gray. Every injury is an impact injury and he genuinely stays awake at night wondering if Barcelona and Messi could handle Stoke.

If anyone could confirm...it would be the ticket office.

Do you not understand the concept of peak condition?

Are we seriously going to poo ourselves everytime we have a decent youngster who is recognised and admired around the nation? A huge part of our problem, and one of the reasons our fans annoy me so much, is we never seem to actually enjoy the good things about our team and are constantly looking to be more cynical about it all? A bad result and we need to sack managers, change tactics, drop players. A good youngster is recognised and held in high regard and we're selling him at the next opportunity. Remind me, when do you lot get to enjoy something?

But if he's going to continue saying things like Tim Tremlett then lets hope he doesn't. Doubt there will be any changed by the way. They'll back Collingwood to prove all his doubters wrong and isn't Finn top wicket taker in the series or something?

Happens quite a lot to be fair. I know for a fact it happens at Pompeys horrendous training facilities too sometimes. I wouldn't get overly excited.

Infact I have delved further and found some more sources, other than my own superior knowledge. Just because I am bored. From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/series6/workings.shtml Clearly, as only Sugar knows who the winner is when he apparently decides in the boardroom, and films both endings, Sugar can change his mind depending on the hidden away line at the bottom regarding the time spent at "temporary jobs within his company".

Yes, yes they do. I point you towards this article as one source... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6729621.stm Former runner-up Saira Khan has criticised the show because "the final decision is not based on the programme that people see, his final decision is based on these two people who have been working with him for the six months". You seriously believe this years contestants hold off any kind of income for well over 12 months just waiting to hear the result? It's common knowledge my friend. Now who is LOL'ing?

They film two different endings. Both told they have won, they go away and work for Sugar for 6 months before he decides who is the winner and they show that version on the night. Hth.

You realise the main and I'd argue only reason Fonte won't be following Pardew to Newcastle is because he isn't good enough? Lambert and Fonte are not good enough to play in the Prem for a team like Newcastle who will have ambitions beyond staying there for just this season. Seriously, Lambert wouldn't have carved out a career as a League One striker if he was good enough for a Premier League side like Newcastle and although I can at a push see Fonte going to a team like Blackpool, i'd seriously doubt if Cortese will be selling him to Pardew on the cheap and Centre Backs just as good or in some cases better will be availble for cheaper prices abroad and in the Championship right now. Yes, I agree with people on here who say that if a player wants to go he will, he certainly won't be doing it on the cheap because we are in a financial position where we can up the price, whereas teams above us are not in a position where they can hold out, and trust me teams coming for one of our players, will have other options who will be cheaper. I honestly can't believe people believe the Fonte/Pardew rumours either.

Arsenal V Leeds will be all over the telly.

Because obviously he'd just come out and say that wouldn't he? Goon. If you watch the interview he hesitates before he says hip.

That simply isn't true. He's not winning 99% of his headers is he? and he is not looking very sharp. He's playing some good balls when he gets involved but his involvement is minimal because Adkins style is not suited to Lambert at all. It's way too quick for an under confident and under performing Rickie Lambert. A mate of mine came along to his first game this season (A neutral) last week and he mentioned without any prompting how poor Lambert was because the football we play now is not at all suited to a striker who likes to bully defenders. Clearly Lambert is the one person who I would want the ball to drop too in the box but the rest of his game is very poor at the moment and as much as he is a great goal scorer, selling him wouldn't be that bad an idea because he simply doesn't fit. Getting a striker who does fit may be a better idea. He's getting in the team on reputation, which in itself is asking for trouble.

One of the bigger problems regarding coaching is the ridiculous rules regarding what players clubs can sign. At the moment they can only sign young players who are within travelling distance (of a certain amount, I cant remember how much). Some fans and FA bosses seem to think this helps the smaller clubs who can bring players through and then get awarded for them with big money when they leave however they fail to realise this is also stopping alot of youngsters progress. Imagine your 11/12 you live in Northampton or somewhere else where the local team is guff, and Man United/Chelsea like you and want to sign you. They can't because of the ridiculous rules so your stuck with the team who's quality of coaching and facilities is considerably less. This will only hinder your progress. Players that come through are in spite of the system and not because of it. We'd have alot more quality in youngsters coming through if they were allowed to play under better coaches. Of course this happens in countries where the National team is made priority however here we have the League as a priority. Which I agree with by the way, as I'd rather watch decent football every week rather than every couple of years but its something worth thinking about.

Will I struggle to get a single ticket for a mate on Monday?

Saints Foundation told Cortese they'd make 150k from there project, Cortese has demanded and insisted he will ensure they get 1m. True story.

Thomas is probably one of the most active "celebrities" in and around Southampton working for charitable organisations and other initiatives.

You can throw out all the excuses about bad management/bad press/over reaction/injuries/celebrity culture etc etc but it comes down to one quite simple thing. As a poster above mentioned, The French national team has had all its problems yet the thing the above poster failed to mention is how simple and basic there football was on Wednesday night...That is our problem. As a nation and as a footballing culture we are way behind any top nation and that shows up immensely when we come up against any half decent side who can do the simple things as a football side. Technically, the French, Spanish, Germans etc etc are way ahead of us, players like Nasri on Wednesday rip us to pieces because he's technically superior to our players. Football is a pretty basic game when broken down, technique shines through immensely at international level and we struggle. We have some of the best impact players in the world, Rooney,Gerrard etc, however all perform at there clubs who if you look have simple but effective and techically gifted players playing alongside them. For example, Essien, Fabregas, Scholes, Alonso. The difference in technique was obvious Wednesday (And to be fair our squad was obviously depleted, but it happens every time we play anyone good...when was the last time we beat someone half decent? Even Montenegro it showed up), every time a french player got the ball, they relaxed, composed themselves and played simple, patient football. As a nation, our culture pressures us into doing everything at 100mph, hence why when Gerrard gets the ball he looks to hit a killer pass almost every time, hence the reason at one point in the game Milner found himself on the left wing with nobody ahead of him but insisted he took on two defenders and lost out, whereas a Nasri/Malouda would have happily cut back and inside and played a simple pass. Hence the reason we have this fascination with playing a big target man upfront, whereas the majority of good teams do not and will not even contemplate calling up a bloke like Andy Carroll, who has scored a few goals and won a few headers in a very small amount of the season. Tbf to him, he did alright, for a lad who was expected to hold everything up and win everything in the air, but the fascination with playing a big man upfront is baffling. To be fair to England, we have a slight hope in the future...Jack Wilshere is the nearest young player I have seen who is technically good enough to play at international level, however he's come through in-spite of the system and not because of it, and I fear he'll be forced to play for England at 100mph like everyone else.

Jaidi probably our most solid defender Saturday by the way. So much better than Fonte, who if you look was probably at fault for the first two goals, attempting to win the ball stupidly high up the pitch and getting beat to it both on the floor and in the air. If we are dropping anyone for Martin it should be him. Personally I wouldn't but i'm just saying.

Saints foundation are doing some stuff on the pitch at half time. Sounds riveting.