Cabrone

My sneaking suspicion is that this will be a Reading (a) type of performance and a Jaidi inspired defence will shut out Charlton. 1-0 to Saints (Lambert).

Interesting quote in the OP's link re AP when he joined Charlton: I find the 'my philosophy is very complicated' quote a bit alarming and I just hope his experience at CAFC made him have a rethink about his 'complicated' philosophy. When it comes to football management I'm in the Brian Clough (best English manager of all time IMO) school of thought, namely that football is a simple game. Old big head preached good players played in the correct positions within a stable formation and it worked. To be fair from what I've seen so far I think that Pardew has learnt from his Charlton lesson by acquiring decent players and playing them in their correct positions. Also I like the fact that he looks to be building from the back. If you want to go places you must have a mean defence and this is what I am seeing at SFC now. I'm happy with what he's done and all we need now is the spark to go on a winning run.

I'm very happy with how the club is being run now, just shows L**e up for the small time charlie that he was. If we could haul ourselves up to mid table by Xmas and have a good bash at the play offs by the season's end then I'd be really happy. I don't think we're too far off getting a run of wins now and I have a sneaky suspicion that we might scrape a victory at Charlton. Mid table should be a 'par for the course' expectation this season. If we spend the season flirting with relegation with the players we have then serious questions would have to be asked of AP.

Can't for the life of me understand why the guy had so many admirers. He was completely overrated and never did much for us IMO. The lack of clubs interested in him when he finished with us said it all really.

I'd wait till Xmas and if we are the same number of points from safety by then I think your concern would be justified. However to panic at the moment is way too premature. As a team we are still gelling and besides, why bother worrying? It's not going to change anything anyway.

I think a more realistic comparison for Spurs is Arsenal, two clubs that 15 years ago were roughly the same size. In those 15 years Arsenal have (by and large) had stable management and Spurs have played the managerial merry go round. As a result Arsenal are now streets ahead of Spurs. Looking at our situation to want Pardews head now is a joke. He has had no pre season preparation time and has therefore had to perform a complete rebuild during the season. He inherited a terrible team full of kids shot through on confidence that had just sunk without trace in the Coke. The players he has bought look decent to me but they need games under their belts to generate a cohesive team. To expect us to be tearing up trees this quickly is laughable IMO. Pards must be given at least the rest of this season and then we'll then see. I think a par for the course performance would be mid table now.

Yep, ain't gonna happen. I think the best we can hope for is mid table this season. Not necessarily. The team looks a lot stronger than a week ago but what we now need is some confidence and momentum. If we could get on a winning run then I think we could really start motoring up this league. We have the players - we just need a break.

Scratching my head over this one, the guy scores against Juve on their own turf and then switches from a top 4 Serie A team to league 1.......? Hope he's ready for a culture shock. Potentially a very exciting signing though.

I've been indifferent to Saga mainly because I think he's underperformed in the past but to be fair he seems to have made an effort so far this season. If he can show us the class player that we had when he joined then I'll be very happy with him. Come on Saga, show us you're up for it!

Not sure why there are so many angst filled posters on here. Whenever a new player is signed the question is will the acquisition improve the team? In Jaidi's case the answer has to be yes - therefore a great signing in my book.

Not unexpected but a shame nonetheless. Fast forward to 2.40 for Greg's finest moment....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6-_BIF0td0&feature=related

Schneiderlin reminds me of Anders Svensson, promised lots but delivered little. Bafflingly like Svensson he seems to have a hardcore fan base here despite doing nothing in a Saints shirt. Unlike Rasiak I wont be bothered to see him move on - as long as we can get a decent CM replacement.

LOL, it doesn't matter to the boo boys - Rasiak has been tried and convicted in their eyes. I wonder if they were slagging off MLT because he didn't run around like a headless chicken too? It makes me shake my head in disbelief when I read supporters are cheering the exit of our best goalscorer with a backlog of stats to back it up. What's wrong with you - don't you like seeing us score goals? As for the line about him not trying well it would have been helpful if he'd have been consistently picked for a full 90 mins rather than the bits and pieces he's been offered. Subbed on at 90 mins was a joke! I for one will be dissapointed to see him go, where are we going to get the equivalent goal power?

I hope so. If he's to stay till at least Xmas then hopefully Pards will select him from the start of games - not after 90 mins. Really can't understand the Rasiak bashing that happens on here - he's our best goalscorer. Start him and give him service. The goals will follow.

A tough 2-1 win. Time to show some grit and determination.

A damning article which makes a strong case for banning L**e from ever being involved with any football club again. I wouldn't wish him on my worst enemy. That was a truly shocking way to run a multi million pound corporation.

So we have a bloated squad which lacks true quality......surely the tell tale sign of a L**e chairmanship. It's going to take us a few years to fully purge the stench from this club.

Surely a guy like Saeijs would be much better + he wants to play here.

From the OS Sounds like manna from heaven. Welcome aboard Dean.

The core problem so far this season is that we haven't had a robust ball winner in the middle of the park. This was Wotton's job and he hasn't done it. As a consequence Schneiderlin (who the jury is most definately out for me) and the wide men get no possession and the midfield cannot get any traction going forward. It also means that our quality strikers are starved of ball and the defence gets put under non stop pressure. Inevitably they will crack, heads will drop and the whole cycle from last season is repeated. Fingers crossed Hammond will make a big difference but we also need a quality wide man to act as an outlet for him. No good him winning ball after ball if the rest of the midfield do nothing with it. I'd also be tempted to get a 2nd midfield general too (shame we couldn't have got the other Colchester midfielder they just sold) and put Schneiderlin on the bench. After that I'd say we need a no nonsense centre half (Saeijs?) to create a solid defensive unit. If we can fill these positions and keep hold of Ras\Saga then I think we have a team that will keep us clear of danger this season and hopefully push on for promotion next. I've been impressed with what AP has brought in so far so I think we need to just get behind the team and let him get on with it. Turning a failing team around is no easy thing but AP knows the problems and I think with everyone's support he'll get us moving in the right direction again.

Looks like an excellant signing. We've been waiting for a commanding CM for ages and finally we might just have one. If Hammond can do the ball winning duties Schneiderlin will then be able to open up his passing game. This means that the wide men and strikers should get better service. The lack of bite in CM has been at the heart of our problems - hopefully this will solve it. Got to say it feels great to be the club that is doing the raiding rather than the one being asset stripped!

He looks a pretty determined guy - someone you want in the trenches with you, great signing. Just need to sort out the service and he'll tear this division up.

I'd rather try and keep Rasiak - he is much better at scoring goals if he gets the service. Top priority is a ball winning central midfielder, a good wide midfielder and a decent centre half.

Not surprised the defence leak goals - we have no midfield. AP needs to get a tough no nonsense center midfielder and a wide man. This is a bit radical but I wonder if it's worth bypassing the midfield altogether and having a back 5, 2 up front with a man in the hole and 2 defensive players in midfield acting as a shield (Gillet\Schneiderlin), the full backs doubling up as wingers. Why attempt to put out a midfield when we don't appear to have one? Maybe time for a bit of Taylor'esque hoofball till we get a midfield that can do its job.

As far as CBs are concerned wasn't Saeijs interested in a return? Before everyone starts to panic this has to be put into perspective - we lost away to one of the favourites when we have had barely 4 weeks to prepare. It's shouldn't be a big surprise to most fans. That said I think we badly need a competitive midfield. I'd put top priority on a ball winning midfield general and a quality wide man. No point in having the best strikers if we can't service them.