SuperMikey

Shame I can't vote, otherwise my vote would've gone to Niemi. Too young to have experienced the others playing but have heard great things about all of them, Shilton especially.

Even though this is a friendly, I don't think there's enough experience in the squad to overcome Germany, particularly up front. I'd play: ------------James------------- Richards--Terry--Davies--Bridge --------Carrick--Gerrard-------- Walcott--------------------SWP --------Lampard---------------- ----------------Defoe---------- Subs: Hart, Lescott, Upson, Barry, Young, Bent, Agbonlahor (it's 7 subs for internationals, right?) Richards and Bridge to play as attacking full backs, overlapping Carrick and Gerrard.

I told you he'd be good, didn't I? Sign him up in January Woopert, he could be a part of the Surman to Reading deal. Pearce + 750k sounds good for Surman imo.

I'm a realist. 6-2 Wolves. And i'm being optimistic in saying that we'll score twice..

Well, SI seem to have completely ballsed this up. Way to ruin a pretty damn good series of games.. Is there any way I can download the FM09 database and play that using FM08? That'd be pretty sweet. Answers on a postcard please.

The man is a prize c*nt, simple as that. I hate the way that the press completely brown-nose him at every opportunity. Everyone seems to overlook the fact that he got us relegated. He would get us relegated again if he came back here (god forbid) without a huge transfer budget to spend. I'd love nothing more than to watch Spurs be relegated at the end of the season with 'Arry at the helm, although I have a sneaky suspicion that he'd worm himself back in to Portsmouth's set up again if that happened. However, this won't happen because Levy will lavish money on Ol' Droopy Face in January and he buy the whole of P*mpey FC to play for him at Spurs. I really hope that he f*cks off and retires soon, because i'm getting sick of seeing his droopy face plastered everywhere.

I agree with adrian. People shouldn't moan about what we ultimately have no control over. Lowe and Wilde own the club and it's theirs to do what they want with it. While I don't necessarily agree with some of their tactics (possibly interfering with team selection/team talks) if you hate them so much, do what Ebbsfleet did, raise some money and buy them out. It's as simple as that. As far as I can see, Lowe hasn't done such a bad job. I'll get flamed for saying that, but it's not as if a bunch of people on an internet forum tell him to clear out of SMS then he'll do it.

A very disappointing result this evening, we should've been looking to get at least a point (but shouldn't we always..?) and to come away with nothing is unacceptable. Davis 8 - My MOTM for us. Class act in goal, made some fantastic saves, interceptions and challenges to keep us in the game, not to mention his penalty save. Cork 7 - Looked a lot better at RB then in midfield I thought, he was good attacking up and down the right flank and provided some decent service. Skacel 5 - A very poor game by his standards. Except for one decent free kick effort I was very disappointed by his performance. He was always getting skinned and didn't have the pace or tackling ability to cope with the wingers. Maybe he ought to be played in midfield next week with Surman dropping back to LB, as I still feel he has something that the team needs. Pearce 6 - Looked decent enough from set pieces which is what we need but aside from that looked uncomfortable dealing with the physical presence of Adebola and gave away a needless penalty. Lancashire 6 - Much like Pearce, looked vulnerable and uncomfortable at the best of times. I'd much prefer to see Perry play alongside Pearce when he regains fitness, as I don't think Lancashire is imposing enough in the defence, especially in a very physical league such as this. Wotton 5 - A poor game. His passing was diabolical, he cannot play a short passing game and when he tries to play a long pass he cannot hit the target. Offload him in January. Gobern 6 - Seemed to be tightly marked and always closed down, which he didn't really seem to like. Lost posession quite a lot and looks quite uncomfortable with a ball at his feet, but i'd like to give him another couple of games to prove himself in. Surman 7 - Had a decent game, but always took one touch too many. His link up play was quite good and looks a lot better in the midfield, but i'd like to see him moved back to LB for the game against Wolves so he can attack from the back and provide some crossing options. Lallana 6 - Sparkled in the first half but fizzled out by half time. Seemed to be tightly marked and was bullied a bit by the Bristol City defence. However, he linked up very nicely with McGoldrick and Surman and should definately be starting in the hole. Thomson 6 - Non existant on the pitch. Not really involved in the play and drifted out on the right wing kind of unused. If we're going to use him on the wing then we need to a) pass the ball to him and b) make sure he has space to run into. When he did get the ball it was played into his feet and then he was closed down, maybe we ought to be pinging long balls out for him to run onto, as I know he's a fast lad. McGoldrick 6 - Looked isolated up front. A distinct lack of support didn't help him at all, as he had to continually hold up the ball and wait for support to come, by which time we'd lost the ball. Looked better in the second half when Lallana and Wright-Phillips were pushed further forward and linked up nicely with the attacking midfielders. Ought to be played in a strike partnership in future. Subs: Wright-Phillips 6 - Like Surman, always took one touch too many. Always passed the ball back to the midfield during an attack when he had options like McGoldrick or Lallana ahead of him. I think he'd be better played out on the wing where he can drift inside. Euell 6 - Didn't have much impact on the game. Chased the ball a lot which was encouraging to see, as nobody really seemed to be closing the City players down. When he regains fitness he ought to start in midfield, possibly alongside Lallana in an attacking midfield position. Pekhart 5 - I don't think he's good enough to be playing at the club. I know that sounds like a joke, but he doesn't read the game well enough to be able to play as a striker. His passing is poor, his touch is poor and his shooting is poor also. For a big guy he wins his fair share of aerial challenges, but is often muscled off the ball when he gets it played into his feet. I will be glad to see him go in January tbh, so then we can get a decent loan/permanent striker in. My team for Wolves (depending on fitness): ----------Davis------------- Cork--Perry--Pearce--Surman -------Mule--Morgan-------- -Gobern--Lallana--Skacel---- ----------DMG-------------- Subs: Bart, James, Olly, BWP, Robertson

I've given the game a second chance and used the Match Day Info boxes that people told me about. It's still sh*t.

I think the third one is Doomsday and the last one is No Country For Old Men.

Oh dear. It's finally happened. The first FM title which I haven't liked. It seems that they've just changed the colours around for the usual gameplay from FM08, which is fine as that interface is easy to use and I know it. But the match play interface is ghastly. For a start, the 3D engine is crap. It's jerky, the quality is poor and it makes my whole computer run slowly (although the last one may be down to my PC). The 'TV View' and 'Classic View' system doesn't work. The TV View system leaves you unable to monitor anything but an empty pitch between highlights unless you exit, and by that time another highlight will have popped up. Fine, i'll use the Classic View. Oh wait, I can't see what the hell is going on! The screen on the Classic View is absolutely tiny, I can barely read the player's names, let alone see what's going on. Also, on the tactics screen you cannot tell players to run any further than the next position along (e.g DL to WBL), which isn't so great for me because I use an attacking wing-back system, so now that doesn't work. However, the game in itself is fine, it's just the 'new features' that I loathe. MLG, you've done a great job with the team, although I think that Lallana's stats need to be boosted a bit, what is his potential? It may have to be a case of waiting, but he ought to be a lot better than that. Now my anger has been unleashed, i'd just like to add that i'll stick to FM08 thanks.

I hope the reason that all the negative posters on this thread aren't posting their apologies to Alex now is that they're too busy eating their own words Alex will be a great player for us, I know it's not so reliable to label him as key after one game, but he's a very consistent performer. And long may his form continue!

Yep. The good start has been eradicated now for us, 5 losses on the trot now in all competitions..sigh. Still above the relegation zone though

It just goes to show the effect that the racist propaganda that is The Daily Mail has on the moronic public. Russell Brand's show is hilarious and it's easily the best thing on the radio. It's a great shame that he's resigned now because of some stupid little newspaper trying to drum up some controversy to sell papers. Brand and Ross are by far the best presenters contracted to the BBC. I never miss Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and I listen to Russell Brand's Radio 2 show whenever it's on and i'm dismayed that the BBC have seen fit to suspend both of them, to the point where RB has resigned, with JR probably likely to resign as well. The BBC will realise they've made a massive mistake, as both will be snapped up by other channels (Brand already has a contract with C4 for Ponderland and he'll probably get a radio slot at Virgin/Xfm or another station). I've completely lost faith in the british public now and I can't wait for the outcry when we're faced with even more Dale Winton on the radio and Graham Norton on the TV... not that I have anything against orange looking gay blokes that is.

The note reads: Woopert, I love you. I'll meet you outside Matalan in the centre of town and we can find a room at the Holiday Inn...? Lots of love, Scooby xxxxx

Davis Cork Perry Pearce Skacel Morgan Wotton DMG Euell Surman Robertson Subs: Bart, James, Olly, BWP, Gasmi If Skacel, Lallana, Perry, Pekhart, Mills and Surman are all out though, i'd go for: Davis Cork Olly Pearce Morgan Wotton Gillett DMG Euell Gasmi Robertson Subs: Bart, James, Racine, BWP, White

Well, a point is better than nothing. How does everyone think we'll line up against Preston? I reckon: ---------Davis----------- Cork--Perry--Pearce--Rudi ----Morgan--James------- -Euell---Lallana----Surman ---------DMG------------- Subs: Bart, Mills, Lancashire, BWP, Robertson

Ooh, SaintRobbie's learnt a new word. Pearce will be a great player for us, i've mentioned his name on here a couple of times such as in the HCDAJFU thread. Great young prospect, strong and good in the air. Will work very well alongside Perry at the back I think, allowing Cork to move to right back. I'm guessing we'll look like this at the back: Cork--Perry--Pearce--Mills/Surman/Skacel Which looks decent to me, as Lancashire is too lightweight and not ready yet. Maybe if our defence stops leaking we can concentrate on attacking football and actually score goals and collect points? Although I doubt that's going to happen any time soon...

Musical chairs in the boardroom isn't going to help the club in the slightest. We've got RL and MW, people should just accept that. If Crouch is a real fan he'll give us a nice big cash injection in January which will allow us to keep some players who might be sold otherwise.

Last 3 books I read: The Descent - Jeff Long Good read. Sci-fi/Adventure with a couple of gruesome twists. 7/10 Duma Key - Stephen King Took a long time to build up to an ultimately disappointing climax. Still quite creepy though. 6/10 The Game - Neil Strauss Very funny, frank and explicit memoirs of a geek turned lothario. This was my third time reading the book and it never gets old. 8/10

Maybe Lowe ought to give the lads a team talk more often Seemed to work..

Thanks for the flattery, but i'm just a Saints fan expressing his opinion. I don't believe that we should be criticising how the club is being run, because we don't really have any control over what goes on. Decisions are made by the board and the directors and we have f*ck all control over what those decisions are. I just think that, until we go the way that Ebbsfleet has and buy the club ourselves, we should let the people in charge make the decisions and stop moaning about everything. As I said in my last post, Lowe wouldn't have come back if he didn't have the majority vote, but now he seems to have legions of people against him. I understand that Lowe is hardly a popular figure, but whenever he makes some kind of cost-cutting measure it's seen as him lining his pockets. Is there any proof that he is actually doing this? I've been a Saints fan for most of my life, and I don't like seeing the club in disarray such as this one bit, but creating even more tension between the club and the fans isn't going to help at all. I'm growing tired of all these f*cking heroes on here saying that Lowe has ruined the club etc. because it's not entirely down to him. It's partly the fault of RL and MW, yes, but you can't blame our current predicament entirely on them. We weren't exactly doing too well under Crouch and co either if you hadn't already noticed. I know i'm going to get attacked for saying all of those things which is fine, as I don't really care. As a club, we've been on our way down slowly but surely for a while now, and people seem to be coping with this by laying the blame on the people who've taken on a sinking ship.

I'm sorry, but i'm getting kinda sick of this Lowe bashing. He wouldn't have taken the club back over if he didn't have the majority vote for the EGM, which he did, so somebody must have supported him. And now everyone seems to be blaming him for everything that's going wrong at the club. Now, i'm not going to brown-nose him like Scooby et al do, but I think that Saints fans need to get their priorities straight. What I said earlier, he wouldn't have been put back as chairman if he didn't have the majority vote, and I distinctly remember that there was an overwhelming majority of Yes on the Should Lowe Come Back? poll on here before he came back. So, stop jumping on the bandwagon. I don't really think it's a fan's place to criticise what goes on behind the scenes. Fair enough, he's made some decisions that haven't proved too popular with the fans such as loaning out key squad players, but at least he seems to be doing something to help the club. Closing the corners, slashing the wage budget, loaning players for substantial amounts of money, Crouch did none of these things. I feel we'd be a lot worse off now if Crouch was still here than we are now.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message Best hip hop album ever. Fact.

AndyNorthernSaints, Flowers & Dowie at SMS would be a dream come true. Dowie is a very under-rated manager imo, and gets way more flak than he deserves. He's a very good tactician and a great motivator, people obviously look past the fact that he's a very good manager at CCC level and took Palarse from being a nobody club to play-off winners. I'd love to see Dowie at SMS and I hope that he does come so we can get rid of that berk Poortvliet. And he can take Wotte with him too. I will gladly sacrifice 'total football' for points at the end of a game.