Saint Charlie

They may not make good coaches. How can MLT coach someone when he relied upon natural talent? He would just get frustrated that not everyone can do what he found easy. Many players have said this about Hoddle as a manager. He is probably technically better than most players he has managed.

It comes with age. Be patient.

Nothing at all to suggest Fulthope is anything more than any of the other numerous tyre kickers.

Sturrock is a league one manager IMO, no more. Poor in the transfer market and tactically inept.

James could make a really good tenacious midfielder.

From Wolverhampton paper: Trial defender Ian Harte has rejected the chance of a short-term contract at Wolves. The 64-capped Republic of Ireland international had been offered what is believed to be a month-to-month deal, with the incentive of something longer should he impress. The 30-year-old ex-Leeds and Sunderland man has turned down the chance following a three-week trial. Manager Mick McCarthy said: “If he’d have come, I’d have been thrilled, but he hasn’t, so be it. He wanted to stay, but it was only a short term deal and it was up to him what he wanted to do.”

I thought Lloyd James played really well at RB against Brum I would put him in the centre of defence, give us some legs there.

True but certain posters do constantly force their ill informed drivel upon people by smearing it across near every post.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=10465 He put his all in for us and you can't blame him for wanting to leave this rudderless ship. He should always get an excellent reception from us. Top man and I wish him luck at Stoke!

Skacel gone off, Reading wil have a good team though, they have a good academy too.

Alpine spends way too much time on here for someone who never watches the team play. Unfortunately he posts excessively on every thread thereby spoling the majority of threads, perhaps a posting cap would be a good idea?

He is a midfielder who has never played more tha 10 matches for any club pretty much.

Good post. As I said in another thread: Just back. Definitely the best Saints performance in the first half that I have seen in a few years, great one touch passing, Gillett and Schneiderlin in control, Lallana some great touches and DMG and Holmes stretching Brum's defence. OK, we mucked up in the 2nd half, but the goals were the fault (if anyone's) of our more experienced players and for large parts we outplayed Brum who were largely long ball merchants. We will certainly thrash a few teams at SMS and with the team learning all the time and am very confident that JP will be a success. At the end of the day Brum have a Prem team and will be in the top 3 or 4 come May, we won't be, but will certainly be in the CCC. For those who moan yet haven't seen the matches (and probably don't intend to) this is a Saints team that play good, entertaining football and play with passion. IMO we were miles better than with a load of journeymen pros who are more bothered about their pay packet. Get behind the lads and go and see them play before judging them, you may actually be impressed.

This was in the news of the world.

If they play like that for 90mins, against teams who can't bring Bent, Jerome AND Phillips off the bench then yes (IMO) it will be. We carved them apart at times and if SJ had scored the header we would surely have won. Once the window shuts and the uncertainty goes it will be easier to be a Saints fan.

Have you got a link to it?

Exactly what I wold have thought if I was a Brum fan, our youngsters played them off the pitch for 45mins, and they have players being linke with 5m moves to big clubs, we can't be that bad!

Nobody did, but although the crowd was small today, everyone was behind the lads, no boos etc and the players responded. This is how it should be whilst everyone is giving 100% such as today. We were not far off a win. I would encourage anyone to come and see the team play, the first half was the most entertaining period of Saints play I have seen since the Strachan era and the fans that were there responded. Hence why 90% of people at the game gave good reports, maybe that says something? (ie that we played well and did not deserve to lose)

Just the overly negative ones who criticise players they have never seen play and generally call it wide of the mark. Ok, we may lack certain qualities but footballing ability is not one, its more about physical strength.

I havent thought about it a great deal as its hardly likely to happen, but you are an exremely negative person, at least in terms of Saints and I think many posters on here get ****ed off with the relentlessness of your criticism of players you havent seen and the general doom and gloom of pretty much every single one of your thousands of posts.

And people who would moan from their armchair even if we won everything...

You clearly havent been to a game this season. I don't know any pub teams with players as classy as Lallana and Schneiderlin. If this is our reserve team it is better than the "first" team of last season. Oh, and don't bother coming to see a game, we don't want the negativity at SMS.

Kevin Phillips sinks Saints Southampton 1 Birmingham 2Ivo Tennant at St Mary’s stadium WHEN you are in need of a goal or two, send for Kevin Phillips. It is a homily that has benefited numerous teams down the years, including Southampton and now Birmingham. Returning to just one of his many former clubs, this most alert of forwards scored the winning goal with his first touch after coming on as a substitute. His goal on the opening day of the season had achieved a 1-0 victory for Birmingham over Sheffield United. This one was less well crafted but it still illustrated the priceless worth of positional sense that is unaffected by advancing years. “At the age of 35 I can’t play every week but I want as much action as possible. I have scored goals at every club I have played for and hopefully that can carry on,” said Phillips. The fact that Phillips left a Premiership club in West Bromwich Albion for one in the Championship is of no concern to him: “I wanted to play on a regular basis and did not see that happening,” he said. Alex McLeish, Birmingham’s manager, said that Phillips would play from the outset in certain matches this season. One reason, no doubt, is that, without him, McLeish’s team had “put years on me” in the first-half. Southampton had played with no little flair initially and deservedly took the lead. One part of the club that they do appear to have run well over several trying years is their academy. Jan Poortvliet, their new head coach, has promoted three players who have learned their trade within it and has emphasised that if they are good enough, they will be given a chance. Lloyd James, at right back, combined particularly well with David McGoldrick on the wing, Simon Gillett almost scored the opening goal from midfield and Adam Lallana had his moments in attack. That shot from Gillett was parried by Maik Taylor following McGoldrick’s outstripping of David Murphy on the right wing. There was a decent chance too for Lee Holmes from a further cross by McGoldrick, which was inelegantly scuffed. His corner two minutes later was more impressively struck, Chris Perry heading in with the finely timed run of a highly experienced defender. Birmingham, who left Phillips on the bench until the 76th minute, did not want for chances in the first-half, either. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie beguiled Southampton’s right-sided defenders on several occasions. Twice he provided James McFadden with excellent openings, one of which he missed completely and the other mi****. All-in-all, though, Southampton were deserving of their half-time lead and should have extended it two minutes afterwards when Stern John headed wide from another McGoldrick cross. Alas for them, this profligacy was not restricted to the forward line: an inability to clear the ball three minutes after the restart resulted in Gary O’Connor having the opportunity to slip the ball past Kelvin Davis. Then Owusu-Abeyie, on loan from Spartak Moscow following his inability to win a place in the team at Arsenal, was foiled by Davis’ legs just as McFadden had been shortly beforehand. Off went Owusu-Abeyie after 76 minutes — surprisingly, given his speed of foot and thought — and on came Phillips to unacceptable jeers from supporters who had once applauded his every assured touch. So there was a poignancy about his goal just a minute later. McFadden’s cross was headed downwards by Marcus Bent, over Davis and off the crossbar, and Phillips tucked the ball in at the second attempt. Two goals, two matches for his third Midlands club, to say nothing of all the others. “The players tried to play football until just before the end and I will stick with the system I know from Holland. For the moment, they are trying some tricks but we have lost our first two matches and I think they can learn because they have the quality. We need to be a bit more ruthless, for sure,” said Poortvliet. “What has pleased me most has been the ability of the young players we have at Southampton. “It may take some time for them to learn and grow in the next few weeks but I have seen enough to confirm that they will help us to have a great season with the assistance of the experienced professionals we have in the squad.”

Stoke local paper: STOKE boss Tony Pulis cushioned the blow of today's 3-1 loss at Bolton by revealing that Southampton's 23-year-old defender Andrew Davies could soon become the club's fourth signing of the summer. Speaking after seeing his side succumb to three first-half goals in today's momentous Premier League opener, Pulis disclosed: "We are speaking to Southampton and we have agreed a deal with them. "He's got good experience, but is also a young lad with good legs. "You need that in the Premier League, but we will see because the deal is not finalised yet. "We also need to get a bit more Premier League experience in and we have been working hard to do that." Davies, who can play left-back or centre-half, was watching from the stands at The Reebok this afternoon as Stoke blew a decent start to the day by conceding three goals in the space of 13 first-half minutes.