dubai_phil

Amongst the doom and gloom, his underarm rolled ball out of the box that led to our goal showed a big change in anything we've seen from a Saints team for a long time. I worry it may be our only highlight this season but it was a peach, thought at first that KD felt so old surrounded by the kids that he'd taken up Bowls or something Quality performance today

Comical defending for 1st goal, but what was the keeper doing - he was the most experienced player in that box, didn't see much from him (although KD had a cracking game overall) It's actually irrelevant about red or yellow - because the lad should NEVER had gone for a tackle there in the first place, Ollie has pace, he should have forced him further into nowhere land where he was already going. He got his angles wrong and there was only one outcome. Between the two incidents, ONCE they settled down, the two lads looked quite composed and played the ball out of defence quite well. Stupid challenge, cost us the match and weakens the squad for at least 3 games. But personally still think he should have been on the bench and given 30 minutes run out later in the game. Lesson learnt I hope

I think the sending off and the injury to Holmes may well now force JP's hand. Perry obviously has to come in, and then it is down to a choice of DMG/Dyer/Rudi playing wide left. HOPE Rudi is actually up for it mentally, no point us going on about him if he cannot be arsed

Interestingly, only 13,000 fans there today, and that with ALL that money being invested in the team, some of the world's most successful businessmen running it and no other distractions in West London. And how many did we take? Hmmm 15,000 for Blackpool with about 10 away fans suddenly seems to be above the norm for televised games....

The kids were superb today. Lallana still lacks the right decision at times but will be real quality. Dyer is not loved by many and some of the final balls could have been better BUT he was all over the place, turing up as cover at full back as well as contributing to some of the movement around the box, a good improvement on what has gone before with him this season. BUT They were let down by the selection of the side, a schoolboy error in defence within seconds of the start (which to be FAIR, Kelvin SHOULD have spotted and helped to sort out), the naive inexperience of Lancashire and a bad offside decision. Considering those handcuffs, up until the sending off we were playing football and had started to work some chances. Again, DMG covered ground but he does not give that edge in the box which an experienced head would do. After the second goal, many of the lads were almost out on their feet, their style of play means pace and movement all through the game. It was no surprise they were caught out, but consider a few things - when was the last time our Right Back crossed from the edge of the box and our LEFT back almost got onto the header and that after around 75 minutes? There are some VERY harsh lessons to learn today for JP, that's the second time he has made selection errors. The basics ARE there, but the balance is not. The experienced heads need to come in and do their shift and help. They earn the big bucks it is time for them to stand up and be counted, and time for Jan and his team to realise the results need to start NOW, not insh'allah. It is still too early to jump off the Itchen Bridge, but it is time to take the lessons and balance the side. It could be a very long season, but as long as the kids don't read this site, they kept their heads and kept playing, it could have been a lot worse, but it was not as bad a performance as many of last year. It was on TV we are ALWAYS cr*p or unlucky. Next match please

Good, that's the televised games out the way. We shuurree gave them Londoners a footballing lesson today. good news is the International coverage commentator reckons we'd be dead set nail down certs To win the reserve league this season. Good, pretty football, DMG not effective enough although plenty of effort and WHY oh WHY not put Wotton at the back with ONE of the kids from the start IF he HAD to rest Perry (after two weeks off) and Peckhart doesn't seem mobile enough for this formation. Lovely goal AND ludicrous offside for their 2nd who knows what could have happened....... not BUT good spirit, heads didn't go down unlike us if we keep these sort of schoolboy mistakes in selection and on the pitch

Didn't even get time to open my beer. The start that makes you ask WHY two 19 year olds at CB. Horrid attempt at a tackle by Ollie. But we did play football and if we had SJ up front instead of DMG we might convert. The Sky Curse though - hate it

We all know who it is don't we people A Holding company in Dubai An intermediary With a briefcase

Well that's what Michael Moores said, not me:-) But have worked on some major projects with the family group. The most impressive of which is the "Mecca Towers" project, a single buidling which will house more people than the population of Salisbury http://www.tallestbuildingintheworld.com/building_id_1_Abraj+Al+Bait+Towers.php Perhaps a nice replacement for the Cement Works?

Well, as it's a televised game, you're on a dead cert - I assume you have a fiver on the result I would have if it was allowed down here! I'll wait until we're not on telly though if that's alright, it's the only extenuating circumstance I'd accept :-)

Interesting point And our formation under Hoddle was what exactly? Was thinking back and we have played an awful lot of variations over the years, is 4-4-2 with the Wallaces out wide the same as 4-4-2 with Telfer & Marsden? How different was Hoddle's 4-3-3 to our 4-2-1-2-1 I do agree that at the moment a clinical finisher is what we need, hopefully it will be SJ, it may (if his past record is anything to go by) be Peckhart, it could be DMG but I think he is still some way off clinical striker experience levels Oh and BTW a large number of our first team are actually the same age or older than Ronaldo, Rooney and Walcott, obviously not (yet) in the same league of course, but we wouldn't moan about signing/playing kids if they suddenly decided to turn up and play for us....

Well if you read some conspiracy theories, that's what Man City may have done.... allegedly Oh and more to the point I would take Bin Laden's money. The FAMILY are one of the largest and most successful trading families in Saudi Arabia, highly professional and extremely well connected at the highest levels globally. (As opposed to the outcast black sheep brother of course) But be careful what we wish for or how we word it

I rest my case about preachers. Note however the article and the condemnation comes in a newspaper published in a Muslim country http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10244920.html Murdoch's in trouble then!

Yep, but read JP's interview, kids are used to playing 20/30 gamnes and he thinks Blackpool was partky down to burn out. With 7 games in 21 days expect to see quite a bit of rotation. Oh and Killer will be back Wednesday ( :-) )

Maybe Lancashire in as QPR are a tall side and Perry & Cork although not small JP thinks we may struggle. Other games coming up and the Perry Cork mix may be better suited against Ipswich. Interesting to see if he has Sj up front or DMG Tough game for a debut if true, but he has experience next to him and behind him

I didn't say it was alright for a company executive to be bladdered. Getting bladdered at a sales meeting is often a team building event involving work colleagues. That is somewhat different to running say an XL type group and being bladdered (which may explain why they seemed to make so many bad decisions). I also didn't say it was about decision making processes being affected, but I did indicate that these things have a time and a place. I said simply that as a leader or role model especially in professional sport it is wrong, expecially where an extra 1% of performance, a quarter second faster reaction time, an extra inch of reach can make the difference between success and failure .

You know I'd agree with you if you only added a few careful words. The trouble is I read the post and only want to ask what tonight's lottery winning numbers will be He is a dangerously close to being a cripple because the way in which he would have chosen to lead his life has been crippled by a major injury. Could we PLEASE wait until Monday evening when he flies back from Sweden before we make this assumption so we can give him the proper united farewell (or welcome back) he deserves thx

I wish to state categorically that due to surgery 13 years ago, I sometimes wake up with a sore knee. The knee is sore, it sometimes requires an anti-inflammatory. I also wish to point out that I am in agony. The agony is caused by a viral stomach bug that is passing through Dubai. I am in agony as I was unfortunate enough to contract the bug after eating a spicy Thai Tom Yam Gung soup, and having been to the squirter 4 times already this morning So I have a sore knee and I am in agony. Hope that helps to prove that the two HAVE to be related. ugh gotta run

From someone who used to spend around 100 nights a year in hotels - totally agree. Unless of course he WANTED to be away from the wife:-)) The first half of my favourite business mantra from Steven Covey - seek first to understand - makes me look at the whole Burley issue and try to understand why it all seemed to go flat. We'll never really know and will continue to debate it for years the way we do about Luggy & WGS. I simply think there was a co-inciding of a number of circumstances over a period of time, this was certainly one of them. I would have been gutted if Burley had left straight after the playoff defeat. The world moves on and things changed, his quality of output changed and in the end I was ecstatic that we managed to get compensation for him when he left. I won't argue that he was good or bad as it isn't a black & white issue, simply like everything else in business and football - Flint - oops sorry Grey

In defence of Lowe, he never inferred that Southampton girls "have loose morals" in the National Media You're right about decency, it isn't about class it's about humanity and understanding other people inhabit the same planet as you, and it could be argued that Lowe is too self centric to be decent. Football is screwed, and you're right In five years time we could be in the Champions League. Each is possible, one in more likely than the other though who knows. e.g. Qatar have HUGE sums of money, they just p*ssed off the Dubai crew by making the Arc d'Triumphe the most expensive race in the world. Their investment in sport is built around the Aspire academy to develop the world's finest athletes in all sports. Maybe they will see it better long term to plough hundreds of millions over 10 years into a sports business that also believes in developing youngsters. (I wish!) The point is we have no idea what tomorrow will bring, we just guess, and the most likely today is doom gloom and a Sky Curse again. BUT one thing we have ALL learnt as Saints fans. Nothing is ever easy and just when we think one thing - whoosh

Trust me on the camera phone thing, would NOT have done it in the bar, but in the lobby was fair game. But again, how many people have posted photos on here of the players? - Claus with booze & fags in hand at Jumpin Jacks - everyone seemed to have met him and the players there, but I cannot recall a photo of someone passed out on the floor either. Those that have appeared, have been posed and with smiles for the camera. On the night in question, nobody in their right mind would have asked such a thing. There is also a difference between being laid out in a bar which as I recall was NEVER posted OR alleged, and shuffling/staggering to bed at 11:14pm the evening before taking the first team for training. (In his defence it WAS early, in his prosecution, it was a heck of a state to be in so early) Again the point about having a drink is valid and trust me it can be done everywhere including Dubai, BUT we are talking Professional SPORT here, we are discussing LEADERSHIP of "Highly Tuned Athletes" who are supposed to have their diets and lifestyle managed so as to give 110% (sic) every week. Bleary eyed at a sales meeting is one thing (in fact it is almost compulsory) but at training of a Premiership wannabe club is NOT the sort of role model that inspired professional players surely? (Cue Luggy & his Sandwich comments) Players, fans and Managers SHOULD have a social life and SHOULD be free from interference to let off steam. However, most professional clubs have rules on WHEN this is appropriate, (like the evening or day after a game when there is no training) and when it is not.

Shepherd is a businessman. He isn't a fool. He knows there are bargains out there, 3 clubs for a tenner with a free KitKat, as opposed to one club for 12mil. The only other way is to come in as an investment partner and take proxies to gain control. Lowe & Shepherd - don't see it myself

Burley started well, no doubt. However his core football philosophy seemed to be to pass the ball through the middle of a defence. The ability to flow freely through the middle worked against teams with bigger static Cb's but when we were faced with pace it never seemed to work. It wasn't his ONLY tactic but it would be interesting to see the stats for passes vs crosses. After the playoff season, we ALL know what went wrong but we all just deny it. The Execs went to war with the shareholders and the fans. They made an announcement that the club was fooked on the eve of an important game and morale NEVER recovered. Our Christmas period last year was a shambles, we were looking to "push on" and we scraped draws and lost games we should have won. We keep losing sight of that disaster because of the politics that it raises and the aftermath. Now analyse it how you like, but Burley must have known that he would not get support in January "to push on", his "boss" got effectively fired and the drinking revelations all came around the same time. In many ways, his lifestyle of staying in the Grand Harbour is as much to blame as the events outside him - what the hell else CAN you do stuck in that place 4 or 5 nights a week. The debating point whether Burley was a good or bad manager really hinges around the events after that announcement, and whatever really happened to de-motivate him we'll never know. But he was never going to resign from "a good salary", we weren't going to fire him BUT he HAD stayed past his sell by date. IF he had been poached or fired "as a cost saving" we would have held him in much better regard. His mistake was simply the timing of his departure. from HIS point of view he played his cards spot on, so I doubt he cares much what we think. How many of us have gone through the motions at work for a while and then moved on to better things at the right time? Oh, and on the camera phone subject = how fast can YOU get a phone out of a pocket, press two buttons to unlock the keypad, fire up the camera feature AND take a photo of the back of a head shuffling into an elevator..... OR are you one of the total MONGS who believe it is cool or funny to go up to people in a public place and ram your phone in their face. Perhaps, the reason tha he was not photographed is that he went to "nice" restaurants populated by "nice" people or sat in the same hotel every night and the people in the same location weren't actually NoTW readers or Saints fans every night?

Yep. Lowe is as bad as the Everton & Spurs boards combined, makes Ashley look like a visionary and JP is as dreadful as Ferguson at Man U.

Yep. I note with interest that Man Utd are only 13th and a point away from a relegation place. Ferguson is past it, Glazers out! Tottenham and Everton occupy the bottom two spots. And of course both those clubs are MASSIVE clubs who never sell their stars and have managed to attract LOADS of star names during the close season. Oh and Hull City are dead set on course for a Champions League place next season, sitting comfortably in 4th place, nobody can cope with their stunning tactical masterstroke of turning up wearing moustaches and making everyone lol at them.... When is Phil Brown going to replace Fergie?? Good grief peeps