James

QPR away please - would be a five minute walk away for me!

I was merely stating that our slump on form hadn't cost us any league positions yet! No surprise youre so pessimistic though.

Last time I checked we were still top - we haven't slipped yet but we will soon

Something has gone badly wrong here. Sort it out saints or we'Ll start to slide.

Was just about to say this, I remember a lot of people wanting to sign him permanently at the time!

Could be that owing to his first few months of performance he is now a target for other teams and has been rendered less effective? Even if that were the case though - he is clearly off form at the moment. I can't help but wonder if he was rushed back from that injury and is now feeling the consequences.

No - just reacting to your response to his point which you clearly failed to understand.

Don't be so ridiculous. Nothing in football is ever certain and we can never be sure any scenario will come to exist, the point is you have to make the best possible preparations for any scenario arising. What Hypo is trying to say, and I agree with him, is that there is a higher CHANCE that Lee will take time to settle as he is coming from a poorer standard of league where defenders aren't as physical. Signing a Sharp as well would give us a higher CHANCE of success based on the fact that he has a track record of scoring a good number of goals in the same division as us. Of course, lack of goals might not be the thing that fails to get us promotion, but on recent history a lack of options up front/from the bench has cost us especially in away games - and with Rickie out we don't have suitable cover.

Depends if you see the January transfer window as crucial to our promotion hopes. In my opinion it would be a failure to only sign Lee as we don't know how well he'd adapt. Signing someone like Sharp would represent less of a gamble if our aim is to gun for promotion this season and want to invest accordingly.

Was just about to say this - should have held that one.

I agree with this. Lee might turn out to be great BUT there is a CHANCE that coming from a smaller league that is not as physical as the Championship he may take a while to adapt. Our recent results have shown a desperate need for other options up front (especially with Rickie missing) - I'm all for signing Lee, but would back up those saying that if he is to be the only striker we sign/can afford this window then we are in some respects gambling with the best chance of promotion back to the Prem that we've had in years. Its true that JRod, Lukas, Sharp, Maynard aren't the only 4 strikers who might do well for us - but the key is that they have experience of scoring goals in the Championship and are therefore more likely to start producing the goods immediately. Lee may turn out to be a great signing, but we may need another striker as well who is better suited to our needs in our current position.

This is right. He was going to sign for Stoke before he went to the Hammers but they refused to pay because of the knee issue. WHU then took a punt on him as they were desperate to stay up. I think (IIRC) that he signed for Newcastle on a free as he was on huge wages at West Ham.

COYR - let's kick start our season again. 2-0 Saints.

LB has never scored a league goal in the Championship! and is out for 2 months. T.Lee could well be a better player than Sharp - I don't disagree with that but if T.Lee struggles to make an impact immediately then we need another option who can. If we can't spend again for Sharp then maybe Lukas on loan as well.

Monday, 2 January 2012 Brighton v Southampton, 15:00 Win Saturday, 14 January 2012 Nott'm Forest v Southampton, 15:00 Win Monday, 23 January 2012 Southampton v Leicester, 19:45 Win Tuesday, 31 January 2012 Southampton v Cardiff, 19:45 Draw Saturday, 4 February 2012 Birmingham v Southampton, 15:00 Draw Saturday, 11 February 2012 Southampton v Burnley, 15:00 Win Tuesday, 14 February 2012 West Ham v Southampton, 19:45 Loss 14/21 for me.

As we well know, International experience is all well and good but it does sometimes take foreign players time to adapt to playing in the Championship (and indeed English football - take Guly as an example). Whilst Lee might be great in the long run, I agree that someone like Sharp who already has experience of scoring goals in the Champ would be nice to have as well.

Presumably he means Championship experience not age wise experience.

The only problem with Martin was that he isn't as confident on the ball as Fonte - the way Fonte plays its like having another midfielder/attacker at times and Martin just can't offer that at the moment. He was defensively sound and provided an excellent deputising performance on Friday. As others have said, of course he isn't as good as Fonte (in this league not many are) but he is young, he is learning and he has shown he is capable of stepping into the firing line as and when required.

Would like to see Hammond back tomorrow - him and Cork would be good I think. Definitely should persevere with Steeeve down the right hand side, would perhaps consider Guly as well as he doesnt seem to do it during away games. Starting XI for me: Davis, Richardson, Hooiveld, Martin/Fonte, Fox, De Ridder, Hammond, Cork, Lallana, Lambert, Connolly

Would be good to have him back in the squad but there's no doubting Hooiveld is a better player.

Hope it isn't late into the month - we need reinforcements ASAP.

We were in the first half - not in the second. As for James having nothing to do - were you in the toilet when he saved a Morgan screamer, at the feet of Steve when clean through and then from Lambert on the volley? They were most definitely NOT better than us.

Bristol were NOT better than us. They won - but it was smash and grab in every sense of the word. Other than the goal and the offside goal they didn't pose a huge threat and even though we were off form we created the better chances. Adomah and Maynard would do well for us - unfortunately we won't sign either.

God that was depressing - felt like the most important game of the season when we threw everyone on at the end. We weren't great but those saying Brizzle should have won 3-0 need their eyes checking - for all their huff and puff I thought they created relatively little. We should have won the game regardless of the fact we were well below par. First off - I hate doing this but the ref was absolutely dire - he must have had a personal vendetta against Lambert - their no.6 was all over him all the time and he missed a clear as day pull back in the box at 0-1. A crying shame to lose the record to such a dirty team who played with a lot of gamesmanship - don't like to see it but their throw ins/goal kicks/free kicks etc just took an age. The ref really didn't want the game to flow and that didn't help us at all. What is worrying is the fact that the squad is paper thin at the moment - the first team are out on their feat visibly and we don't have the right men to come in and replace them. The December form proves this: Blackpool (h) - Davis out and we lose two points because of a gaff from Bart, Donny (a) - we are without Lambo and fail to score The run seems to tie in with the loss of Chaplow who provides a directness and robustness that the midfield currently lacks and De Ridder cannot provide. It was easy to see why Steeeve isn't first choice - he rinsed their left back a number of times but his crossing was (for the most part) atrocious. Reinforcements are needed and quickly - heard NA say the deals wouldn't be complete until the end of the month, I wonder whether we can wait that long? Hope that we can kick on into 2012 but I am worried that the team have run out of steam a bit - its going to be a struggle to stay in the top two and this result will only boost the Hammers and Boro.

No announcement regarding one - and its hardly lashing it down now. It'll be on no problem