The Kraken

Quite a few high marks throughout here; I actually thought we played much, much better against Bristol Rovers on Tuesday than we did today. But, credit to the team, once 2-1 up we were never troubled and it was a very comfortable, comprehensive victory. My ratings: Davis: 6 Not troubled apart from the goal James: 6 Got some good crosses in but looked a bit shaky defensively. Jaidi: 7 Commanding figure at the back; so good to see a Saints defender who can properly clear the lines. Trotman: 7 See above. Harding: 7 Really rate him, often plays with not a great deal of support in front of him but looked very strong today. Wotton: 6 Holding role, did enough but I'm just not convinced with him, I much prefer Schneiderlin in there (and I'm not his biggest fan either). Hammond: 7 A real calming influence in the middle, a class act at this level. Outfield skipper role beckons, surely? Mellis: 6 Some very good moments but tends to drift out of the game at times. Waigo: 6 Looked out of sorts for long periods of the game, but capable of changing things in an instant. Got his goal, almost made one in the second half with a great bit of skill down the right. Is very raw, but looks capable of getting much better. Lallana: 8 Excellent, real touch of class and took both goals very well. Lambert: 8 MOM Still don't think he's getting as much support as we should be giving, but he is a cracking striker and we should be so grateful to have him, he's the teams real focal point. Reminds me so much of Beattie. Too good for League 1 level. Subs: Gillett: 4 I like him but thought he looked poor, and very nervous. Patterson: 5 Not long enough to get into the game. Holmes: 5 Looked steady enough in the very short time he was on, a steadying influenece.

Yep, I was almost level with it and he looked definitely onside.

League 1 Top Scorers Beckford (Leeds United) 7 Forster (Brighton) 7 Baker (Stockport) 6 Barnard (Southend) 6 Jackson (Gillingham) 6 Lisbie (Colchester) 6 Lambert (Southampton) 5 Burton (Charlton) 5 Johnson (Leeds United) 5 Kuffour (Bristol Rovers) 5 So 5 league goals from 9 league games, and 1 in the cup. Some people will complain about anything.....

The lineman's performance for that goal was absolutely comical; much in keeping with his overall performance. The ball was clearly over the line from Lambert's header, but the lino didn't flag. Waigo then came in and made sure, and only when the ball hit the back of the net did the lino raise his flag and start legging it back to the halfway line. A total bottle job. The standard of refereeing and linemanship in this division is so, so far below even Championship level that it's frightening. And I thought THAT was poor...

Typical over-reactionary post. "God awful" is an utterly ridiculous description of his performance. One thing's for sure, he looks better up front that wide right, as he drifted out of the game far too much when playing on the right. That said, he scored a goal (I also thought it was already in but you've got to give him credit for beating two defenders to the ball to make sure) and he had a great bit of play down the right to set up Schneiderlin, who I can't believe didn't score. There were a couple of opportunities when he was caught offside when I actually blamed the midfield for taking 2 or 3 touches before playing him in, where he was anticipating an early ball. Although the 2 or 3 times he was caught offside just before being subbed looked to me as if he was completely knackered. To be expected I suppose with his lack of games of late. It wasn't a polished performance for sure. but there's certainly enough there to suggest he'll settle in, get better, and provide us with a dimension we currently don't have. "God awful", he most definitely isn't.

After having been to the match and got back and read this thread, I guess it just shows how different people have different opinions to the game, as I've agreed and disagreed with various opinions that have been given from various other match go-ers. There's certainly no need for the hysterical postings seen earlier in the thread. Yes, we should have closed out the game for at least a point (and maybe even all three) but the suggestions that there's been no improvements from earlier in the season are just ridiculous. As I saw it, we were undone all game by Harding having no support defensively down the left hand side. First Mellis, and then Mills when he came on, just seem to forget about their defensive duties and think that the left back would bail them out each time. I actually thought Schneiderlin had quite an average game, though he seems to be getting a bit of praise on here. Hammond was excellent though, a real leader. Jaidi and Trotman were superb at the back in the most part, I've rarely seen a Saints defence be so dominant at clearing the ball from an aerial assault. Papa seems to be a striker and not a winger, though with Lallana playing like he did he'll do well to displace him. Lambert didn't do enough for me today, I've seen him play much better than that. James is not good enough at right back for me, hopefully Murty will be back soon. And neither Mellis or Mills are the answer at left wing, Holmes has to be given a chance as I just don't think these two will cut it there. In summary, I think that at 2-1 up we just seemed terrified to win the game. And then at 2-2, full time couldn't come quick enough for us. After habing 15 minutes following half time where we utterly dominated all over the pitch, we just seemed to stop playing and invited them on to us, and we've all been watching Saints for long enough to know that you just can't do that. So, a very poor result. But, if we'd have put our very good chances away we'd have been out of sight. I'm not going to panic yet, though talk is very cheap and we absolutely need to put together a run of victories, and soon. There's no doubt we're good enough, but it's whether the team can believe in themselves enough.

****ing get in. When do we ever get last minute equalisers?! Never! Love it.

Er, what?

Just listening to it now? Who is the compere? It sounds like Alan Partridge....

As much as I thought Saga was pretty anonymous on Saturday, I can't see Waigo ousting him just yet. Waigo seems to be an impact type of player, so I'd imagine while he's still getting settled to the English game Pardew will use him from the bench more often than not in the next few games. I like Saga, and would love to see him hit some form, but the stats don't lie and he's just not creating enough chances lately. I do put some of that down to the fact that Lallana and James are clearly not wingers, but also Saga is falling way short of the standard expected. That said, I'd have him in the team ahead of Pogo every day of the week...

I thought it was a good debut, and certainloy he and Trotman looked very comfortable together. They did give away a few cheap fouls but I guess that's what comes with the type of players they are. I think the biggest highlight for me is that our defence shouldn't get bullied to the extent that we have in the past. Any striker playing against those two will know that they've been in a game, something we haven't been able to say for some time. I'll be very happy if these two can stay injury free and forge a strong partnership together, I think it's what our future success will be built upon.

Wigan's prices are so low because they can't fill their ground, even against the likes of Chelsea or Man Utd. Our prices when in the Prem were up to £35, and we filled the ground on many occasions. I imagine if were still up there, with inflation etc we'd be looking at £40 for a ticket, so it's all relative.

I'll be extremely worried about our prospects if we don't pick up a win on Saturday. I've been perfectly happy up to now to show patience and wait for the results to improve. Certainly our performances have gotten better but there's no substitute for points on the board. The new spine of the team (Trottman, Hammond, Lambert) have had a good amount of time to settle in with the old team, we've not really got too many injuries, so we need to see what this team is about now. A point away at Charlton is a very good result. Hopefully we can build on that with another good showing and a good victory to really get us going.

69% of them think they'll win. Another 13% think they'll only draw. Less than 1 in 5 think Saints will win. How does that translate to them "sh!tting themselves" exactly?

I came here to post exactly that, and it was the first reply!

Clearly not a lot if you think that the whole Islamic world comes to a complete standstill during Ramadan.

If Saga can keep showing the type of enthusiasm he showed on Tuesday night then I'd be very happy to keep him. It's a big if though...

I can't see anyone being willing to pay any sort of significant sum for him so perhaps it'll be a long term loan. Can't say I'd be sad to see him go, though it would certainly be good to get a replacement in, I don't think Gillett is up to the job.

Nineteen Canteen; still trying so desperately hard to get noticed by being controversial about a book he hasn't actually read. So terribly sad.

That's all well and good, and with the injury you're perhaps somewhat justified in that belief. However, we are a new side with new ideas and this was another chance for the manager to try things out without the pressure of a league game. Say, for instance, Murty had come through unscathed, I genuinely don't think we would have lost the game. That would have given the team a huge confidence boost and could have been the turning point of our season. Last night the performance was excellent and despite losing Murty, which is obviously a huge blow, I think there are many other positives than can be taken from the performance of the team, and indivuduals within it. I'm hoping it will be the kick start that we need to get rid of the points deduction and start dominating games. Only time will tell, I suppose.

He was on Hawksbee & Jacobs on talksport this afternoon; even the 2 Pompey fans in my office who listened were laughing along with his interview. I'm halfway through the book and enjoying it very much; a well written and funny read, and great to read a refreshingly honest account from him rather than the usual gumph from the modern-day footballer.

ebay is your friend. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Corinthian-Football-Figure-Southampton-Matt-Le-Tissier_W0QQitemZ320413251950QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET?hash=item4a9a1e396e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Perhaps a question of semantics, but I can't see how (except in certain extreme cases) where the two are not related. Sure, Notts County and Man City are not expecting to see a return on their investment. However, no-one really knows what Abramovich is going to do when he gets bored at Chelsea, and all of their spending has been tied to interest-free loans from him rather than just a new, obligation-free injection of cash, so they could be aboslutely stuffed if and when he does leave. You only have to look at them down the road to see how reckless spending, originally believed to be tied to just the individual owner, can actually crash the club when said owner gets bored and tries to recoup as much of their investment as they can.

It's all very well throwing money at the situation if the owners are prepared to completely write-off the cash. While it's frustrating to see other newly taken over teams around us achieve the instant success we would like, I'd like to think we'd learnt our lesson of reckless spending and are heading for a more stable financial future. That said, it would be nice to see some more positive signs of a revival on the pitch....

I don't understand why so many people fail to recognise that 19 is just a very poor wind-up merchant. It's so very sad to see him push out, time and again, views that are the complete polar opposite to pretty much everyone else's, just to try and get a rise out of people. I actually feel very sorry for him; it must be a terribly sad life to have to constantly resort to an internet forum to get the attention I can only presume passes him by in the real world. Of course, if everyone would spot this, and perhaps just completely ignore his fabricated nonsense, perhaps he might get tired of his internet persona and bugger off.