ericb

Well it least it'll shut up the retard next to me at SMS who seems to go along for no reason other than to be smug when puncheon makes a mistake [in his eyes]. As i've said before though i think he actually does a really good job for us, you only need to look at the fact that he's always in the right place to be noticeable, that he scares the opposition with his runs (taking away markers) and that he does actually challenge for the ball. Good luck to him if he does step up, i really think he could do a decent job at a higher level.

Is that right? So me turning up late last season meant i was acting like a cock, since i had a camera stuffed in my face as i queued outside the ground. Or maybe the entire Northam where acting like cocks this season when the police decided to film us the entire game for no apparent reason. Or maybe, just maybe, the police don't give a flying **** about if you've done nothing wrong or not and will instead take any opportunity they can find to gather data on people in the off chance it makes their life's easier in the long run? Now some may not have a problem with that, but personally i do. It's an erosion of our civil liberties and makes a joke of innocent till proven guilty. I wish i could remember where i saw it, but not that long ago a paper was published by a major university that showed that we have more totalitarian monitoring now in the UK than Stalin ever did in his version of the USSR (cctv, monitoring of emails, collection of identity on chipped cards, storage of [admittedly personally surrendered] data on social networking sites, loyalty cards, traffic cameras, the list goes on when you think of it)

That's exactly the answer, the majority of people on here don't really represent Saints fans in general, it's a weird little microcosm of geek's; obsessives; conspiracy theorists. The extremes are fortified to the point where common sense no longer exists - if we win we're the best in every league, if we lose we're about to collapse from existence for ever - then add to that there's camps of "identity" formed which exacerbate these extremes. In all honesty i tend to think the truest representation of football fans on here are those on a wind up, since they're carrying on the terrace tradition of taking the mick (and being pretty funny in the process). In general i'd suggest ignoring 95% of what's on here or taking it with a massive pinch of salt. From the instant reaction to managers, to the barracking of the echo none of it reasoned and most of it ********. Also the few "regular" posters i've had the pleasure to meet have struck me as geeks of highest order, that need a little more to their life than analysing the stats of a third division football team (i'm sure they're nice people but **** me they're dull). Anyway i'm back to lurking now and laughing at the pompous crap that's posted on here.

Of course i want to us to compete at the highest level but at the expense of our soul? I've got to admit to a massive inner turmoil to what's happening at our club, on the one hand it's brilliant, we have for the first time in a long time got what looks like the right drive to really do something (should we get out of this division anyway). BUT.... then i look at a board that have "interesting" relationships with the fans; press; football community (and if certain things i've heard are true a lot of other professionals too). Add to that what i think when i look to clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and soon [if history is anything are to go by] Man City. They've lost their personality, and lost what it means to be a football club. Should you meet a Leicester, Burnley, Stoke or even the blue few and you know those people are from that place. You know they're proud of their city, and that football still means what it should, pride. I've always said the day i see an out of town, 70,000 seater full of football tourists and with my city's football team being sold as a "global brand" it'll be time for me to give up football, because Southampton football club will be dead, and part of the cancer that's killing the sport in this country.

Spot on, i can't see how anyone living in the city would want it in some middle of nowhere out of town venue that's a pain to get to and is just there to bus people in and out of. I really can't stress how much it would damage the match day experience if we were just another out of town McStadium club. i'd really be interested to know how many in favour of an out of town stadium actually live in Southampton, my guess would be very few since for those that do it's the perfect solution.

It's bound to be some ****ty out of town corporate bowl, that's not to say SMS isn't a corporate(ish) bowl but at least it's in the heart of Southampton. I know it's stupid and old fashioned but rather than worrying about the people coming in out of the city why can't we look to keep it in the city, where it belongs, it is Southampton football club at the end of the day. The great thing about SMS is that it's walking distance from so many points of this city, surrounded by pubs; places to eat and close to the city center. The Dell was much the same and i'm sure matchdays would lose something if the ground was moved to somewhere like Eastleigh or West End. Just as an example look at the Rose Bowl, i used to go semi regularly to the old county ground when it was in the middle of the city but these days it's such a pain to get to the Rose Bowl it's unbelievable. Imagine that week in week out for Saints, no more walking to the ground, no more heading up to town for a beer after the game, just soulless numbers trouping through the gates, part of a convoy of buses/cars/trains being shipped in and out on a saturday afternoon to "enjoy" the Premier League tm Experience*. *the Premier League tm Experience involves paying through the nose for a ticket, buying **** from the club MEGASTORE, wearing the club shirt (mandatory) and jester hats/face paint (optional for the big games), sitting in silence and quoting **** boring stats about pass completions and goal to game ratios. ----------------------------ah that rant felt good!

3-0, this is going to be a few isn't it?

First game i've missed all season due to being ill and it sound like i've missed one of the goals of the season so far bloody typical, not sure whether to be happy or annoyed.

he does look superb but i really don't think we should rush him in, let him come on from the bench at the end of games when defences are tired. That way he get time to learn the game, as well as get confidence, then slowly bring him into the side. Damn shame his second half run wasn't ended with a goal yesterday though, since that would've been one of the best solo goals scored this season without a shadow of a doubt.

Hard to pick really though since i've seen so many amazing players down the years, but probably one of either Marradona (playing for Barca), Cantona, Henry or Shilts (at his best). Just to contridict that mind - if i was allowed i'd always, always say Le Tiss. The amount of arguments i've had with non saints supporting mates about his skill and ability is "unbelieavable".

I'm really worried about our lack of fire power but as i keep saying to the cherries that i work with i won't be worried until the end of November, if we're not in the play off spots by then it's going to be a mighty tall ask to do. I do believe we have the right manager though, and there's some real talent in the team squad IF they can start playing together as a team. Also got to say i'm worried about our lack of ideas if Lallana isn't playing, but then any team in this division would look a lot worse without him. As for the others i've seen no one looks that special and it is a funny league where (if you'll excuse the cliché) everyone can beat everyone, so i'd expect a few more shocks - and the ensuing panics on here - along the way. One thing i would say is this is about the worst place to ask this, there really is an odd band of people that post on internet football forums and some of the opinions (for and against) can be utterly bizarre. As can the over reaction to any result, good or bad, and scaremongering/psychosis.

I'm old enough for the 80's and 90's but the 90's wins out for me just because it was the age at which i started to get the chance to go with my mates for the **** up as well as the game. I can remember some great games down the years too, Dellhurst, the Newcastle games, liverpool 4-1, united and the blue few (knight's testimonial anyone?). Not to mention the careers of Matty, Dodd, Benali, Shearer, Timmy, Super Ken and the rest.

To be fair to Richmond, and not missing the irony of this, foreign owners have probably done more damage than good to the english game. They've encouraged it to become a billionaires playground and many miss the most important thing for a football club, to be a link to the city and community they're from. As much as someone like our modern day MCcArthy [ aka Dune] might shout commie, it would be a lot better for the game if all clubs didn't have sole owners and were instead property of the city they're in. Would certainly level the playing field, add a bit more passion and make football more interesting as a whole.

We're losing to one of the better teams in the league who beat us comfortably last season in the same game, what we need to do now is........ PANIC EVERYONE IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

The last thing i want is to see us move to an out of town souless stadium, keep Saints in Southampton! The best thing about SMS was that it was still in the heart of the city and not stoneham. Would've hated to have had to go a couple of miles out of town to see us. If we do redevelop though i'd love to see proper "ends" instead of these bloody bowls that spring up everywhere. Steep stands, close the pitch and a roof to keep the noise in. Then if you have to fill the corners do it with boxes instead of seats. Oh and i'd love to see two tiers too, so that we have roofs to capture the noise below.

The way we lined up was basically a 4-5-1 but the space created meant we shifted to both 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 at times. Of course part of why this could happen was that tranmere were so bad that they let us have massive amounts of time on the ball. But i still think that the space it gave our players to move in was a huge part to how dangerous we were.

One last point, we were effectively playing 4-5-1 for a lot of the game today and i personally think that's our best formation. We look so much more dangerous with players breaking from the middle and it gives the wide players more space since the midfield has more cover.

That was a great game, really enjoyed it and some of the stuff played was superb. Guly looks really, really promising his movement and running was great as was his touch. Lambert was so much better it was unbelievable, really causing problems and could/should have had a least one more. Puncheon too had the best game i've seen him play this season, some of his running off the ball caused real problems and it was great to see him finally finding his passes. One thing that annoyed me all along about this Puncheon bashing is that he's always involved in play, which should really tell you something about his work rate and positioning. Special mention too for Lallana, what a player and what a game, he tore them to pieces and fully deserved his goal. If he's still not fully fit, as we're led to believe, then he's going to absolutely destroy sides this season when he is. Admittedly Tranmere where abysmal, they didn't just go for one up front but instead went for one in our half! Even then they couldn't string two passes together and seemed to give up after our second. Mind you we didn't really look to come out of second gear and the amount of chances we created was enough to beat anyone in this league. Good stuff! Probably the miserable arsehole that sits next to me in the Northam, he never sings and just spends his life moaning about Puncheon. I'm starting to think he either has tourettes or maybe Puncheon stole his girlfriend, since he was even slatting him for not crossing it when he sent one of our players clean through on goal. If you're the person and you're reading this, cheer the **** up you miserable bastard and stop talking ****. You're inane ****** is ruining my enjoyment of games.

i quite like the fact that ossie comes on here, same with the fan of any club really, since it's good to have a different perspective on things. I do however find it very embarrassing how bournemouth fans are trying to justify that they're a rival (in the derby sense) after yesterdays game. The litmus test is that despite the fact we were playing them i still heard not a single song about them. Plenty in response to them when they were trying to wind us up but as per usual it was the normal fare of songs about pompey. Now if it was a derby like the skates you'd not hear a single song about any other but them. As for the "trouble" from what i could tell it was very few bournemouth fans trying to get a reaction, the large majority were a really good bunch and there for a game that most haven't seen (in a league) in their lifetime. I did also think it was telling that the police were perfectly happy for fans of both sides to mingle, would you ever see that at a game between us and the blue few? Derby? No. But a good local game with a bit of feist to it as you'd expect.

yeah spelling errors are the most important thing in the world EVA!!! that wasn't a waste of a post at all was it?

This is just another game to most i think, though it should be a decent test of where we're at under Atkins seeing as we've beaten them once this season and they're in good form. Would like to make the away game as i have a lot of friends that are cherries from working there, but got a feeling i've not been to enough away games to make it happen.

I think winchester is rubbish, the attitude of the locals is so up themselves it's unbelievable, Bournemouth is good for pubs but the clubs are poor and southampton (unless you're a student) is seriously lacking for a city it's size. The only decent places down on the south coast are Brighton and Brisaaal, then of course there's London which is in a league of it's own. Ooop north i thought Manchester was a brilliant night out the times i've been, and i had a great laugh in Nottingham too. Leeds gets good press but it seemed to be split between violent arseholes who where up themselves and pretentious arseholes who where up themselves. As for the slum that is pompey......... well unless you have a thing for random violence and clubs full of men it's the worst place i can think of for a night out.

Not really adding anything to the desicion but i converted The Woolston Ferry Song into an iphone ringtone here's a link to it if anyone wants it http://www.sendspace.com/file/rah346

I've stood/sat in the Northam since st mary's opened having moved from the Archers at the Dell and i'd say the biggest change for me is the amount of kids in the Northam now. By kids as well i split them into two kinds, first of all the yooof types that seem to get up people's noses, and secondly children. For years i stood in the Northam, but the last couple of seasons i've not been able to do that since i've had children sat behind me (and one particularly grumpy middle aged man). Now i don't want the kids to not be able to see so i have to sit - against my nature - but i personally blame their middle aged dad who shouldn't be taking them to a stand that's known for people standing. There's also a few around me that inexplicably refuse to stand (these are mid 30's healthy people) no matter what, which really doesn't help. As for the yooof type, they're just kids and i remember when i was a kid enjoying some of the more puerile chants, hell i can clearly remember let him die at the dell alongside other pretty ****ing horrible things (airplane motions and always look on the runway for ice to United, songs about scousers being robbers etc.). But for some reason for me the turning point was when that Pompey fan on a string song took off, that's always embarrassed the **** out of me and seems to have led to slew of unimaginative crap coming out - singing **** off at every set of away fans, wow how original! Then there's the Puncheon moaners, the guy sat next to me this season (who must be a new season ticket holder i guess) seems to take pleasure in Puncheon ****ing up and talks the biggest load of **** of anyone i've ever been next to in football (block42 if it's you shut the **** up please!). The other week he slagged off Puncheon for not making a ball that was hoofed into touch and even Usain Bolt would've done well to reach. One other thing to add to the equation though is that when we first started to go as a group of mates, back in the late 80's, there was a good 15 of us all stood together. Of that original group there's now less than 4 as money, work, family and moving away has slipped into the equation. In fact we're more likely to meet up as a group for away days, as it's a day on the **** for many, than at St Marys where everyone is dotted around more.