Ewell

It would be interesting to see if the England manager adopted a policy of only picking players based on their appearances in a clubs first team how many of these players would stay at a club warming the bench instead of pursuing the dream of playing for their country. It may take a while to filter through but I tend to believe most would want to be playing for their national team.

According to Talk Sport listeners then it is RIckie Lambert by a long way. http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/drivetime/120903/poll-who-better-rickie-lambert-or-grant-holt-180177

Mick Mills former England Skipper.

Of all the things to complain about today Guly is not one of them. Try KD's distribution. two free headers inside our six yard box, Clyne's dodgy boots, Fox's inability to mark a player and defend.

Whilst I had thought we had done quite good business in the transfer window it appears that goal scoring does not appear to be a big problem with the players we have in this division. In hindsight I think it may have a been wiser to sign another keeper to apply pressure on KD and drop him if the mistakes continue. We certainly need another decent central defender but for me glaringly the left back spot needs attention. Danny Fox was never tight, always out of position and got caught out up field several times. I really do not think he is good enough. I really hope Shaw can step up to the plate although he did not fill me with confidence at Stevenage on Tuesday, he still has a lot to learn. I trust there are not too mamy left back free agents kicking about?

Going forward brilliant, at the back very poor. Defend properly, do the basics and close out the game. You get punished in this league as the teams will take the opportunity especially when you make mistakes. That is 3 times now, it is time to learn from it at get some solidity at the back.

SaintJackoInHurworth's squad list on this thread is by far the most accurate and complete. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?39827-My-chat-with-Paul-Gilmour-and-briefly-with-adkins Too many missing from the above lists to take the posts seriously.

No it is not sometimes deals are announced after the window closes. We can also still sign free agents and make loan deals with view to permanent once the loan window opens.

It is not about how much you spend but more to do with who you spend it on. Thee is also the fact that the 30 million spent does not include wages so you have probably add another 10-15 million on for that. Not much idea on the new boys other than the ones I have seen play already. I hope they are all worth the money and a huge success. COYR

Whilst we cannot compete with Man City 6.2 million for Scott Sinclair sounds much better value than this deal. Move on and look for another target as he is well over priced.

When it is on the O\S I will start to believe.

Anyone suggesting we should sell Rickie Lambert is completely mental. Anytime he has been missing from the team in the past 3 years we have looked half if not quarter the side, on his day I think he is almost unplayable. The world and his wife seem to focus on pace, with a player of Rickie's calibre he uses his football brain, good movement, great first touch and link play to bring other players into the game. These other players are where the pace is needed, particularly the wide men, a midfielder willing to run into the box past a striker particularly in our current formation. The blindness of you have to have pace to be a success in the premier league really annoys me. A lot of you are going to have egg on your faces after he proves himself in the Premier League and scores between 10-15 goals this season.

Pilchards and those who have quoted him why not remove the source as the last thing you want to be responsible for is someone losing their position. It also has to be mentioned that all those who demand to know 'the source' of information are out of order and do not think of the consequences it could cause for the informants. It could just put them in a difficult position, it could mean there information supply is cut off or in worst case scenario it could lead to them losing their position. What happened to trust? If someone gets it wrong and has no explanation as to why they got it wrong then surely that is enough to know how reliable they are. I use other forums and they do use reputation button which you can use to vote on the reliability and validity of their postings. Maybe this is something that should be looked at on Saints Forums. FWIW I have met Pilchards a few times and he doesn’t strike me as a bull****ter and if he is presenting some information I am pretty sure it is what he would have been told.

Do we have any Italians on here with their ear to the ground? We need one in the mold of Spanish Javi the Barca fan (think Manual from faulty towers) who single handedly drove through the Javier De Pedro transfer a few years ago.

How has this thread turned into discussing the merits of Lowe when we should be discussing our new bright young star? JWP is going to be some player. I don't think I have ever seen a 17 year old who is so composed on the ball and always seems to have time and space. If he adds goals to his game then he is a young Paul Scholes that can tackle in the making!

Stunned this thread has made 2 pages. Wise up suckers.

I actually think you have somehow managed to steal Alpine's login!

Ordered mine, pretty painless but I would be ****ed off if I was a season ticket holder who missed out on a ticket if we do manage to sell out.

A perfect Avatar for you patred!

Wages, fees etc

It is a total myth that all premier league teams play 4-5-1\4-3-3 and none play 4-4-2. There is nothing wrong with learning new formations to give you more options but do not try to put square pegs into round holes. Pick your best team and a formation that suits them and for us at the moment that is 4-4-2.

and you have quoted me because?

I actually think our business has been decent other than this one obvious issue. Last time we were relegated if I am not mistaken Claus and Svensson had fitness issues, Fitz Hall had just been sold and we were relient on Jacobsen and Davenport who were both pretty awful. Not having decent centre back coverage was the main reason we were relegated.

I am not really fearful and definitely not that excited. I am no longer a fan of the Premier league and I do not think it is the be all and end all of English football. We will get some right spankings this season but I also think we will turn over a few and get away points here and there where we are not expected to. If we finish 4th from bottom then we will have done well. If we go down then so be it and I will look forward to a great season in the best division in English football.

There are loads of Saints fans up this way so I would expect there will be a fair few. The last time I saw us play there it was the first time I saw The Ox play and to be honest he was the best player on the pitch, games like this are always good for checking out a future star. I would be there this time but the fact it clashes with the Olympics means that I won't be on this occasion.