Singeon Sears

For me we already have a mid table side, if we want to push into top 8 then in my order of priority 1 centre back - lovren/yosh is a lower mid table central def a top cb would really push us on 2 striker - need someone v.good to compete with / replace / play alongside / help SRL 3 attacking midfielder - punch/lallana operate at mid table prem level currently, could be improved 4 full back cover - need cover both sides by strengthening either one would be ok 5 winger - a decent winger is v.useful to have esp for plan B So I reckon 5 signings are needed to push top 8 - vastly strengthening the squad

I was at that Liverpool match when MLT scored that goal (over Mark Wright). The warm applause esp. from the Kop end was quite a moment. Of course they were playing us, at the time an inferior side, which meant maybe they could "afford" to applaud an oppostion goal. That said, for me it wasn't just the goal - to me it felt like pure respect for someone who was a special one off talent - and they recognised it. Anyway enough of that, there is no love lost between me and Liverpool (and most other teams), but i appreciated that

pitiful display esp first half no surprise at all given Adkins seems in awe of the whole thing at the minute. Before the W.Ham game he was waxing lyrical about Allardyce, and no doubt thoughts of coming out at Anfield got the better of everyone. We seem to be wandering around the fixtures as if we are on some sort of tourist excursion This is about the worst Liverpool side there has been in recent years and we've rolled over in awe of it all And another thing, after using umpteen subs to wreck winning positions earlier in the season we now use hardly anybody when we have 3 games in a week. Sort it out.

So as far as i can ascertain from the various "apparantly's" "this is what i heard" "this is what i thought i saw" brigade Borac stands accused of throwing/kicking a plastic bottle at-------the advertising boards? I guess this is becuase Boruc replaced Gazzinga - in my opinion the right decision; aren't we crying out for some experience? And to think this was the guy's home debut, maybe a bit of support for him wouldn't be too much to ask....

Instead of strengthening we have somehow managed to buy a (presumed) better player and make the overall defence weaker by keeping the current partnership at CB and playing him in the wrong place.

I think, some people are in for a surprise

Thank you Delldays - that was the very article. It's no doubt factually correct but some people have jumped to strange conclusions since. Please don't quote the "loan" sentence I have seen it

Billy Sharp has (thankfully) joined the current Championship leaders - it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone he has a battle to get into the team. Lee (who i suspect was expected to take a little longer to settle in), Lamber, Guly, would walk into most Championship sides. I actually don't believe he is 100% match fit, at least to the level Adkins wants, this may be due to niggles I have no idea. Either way it shouldn't be surprising anyone that it tough to get into our starting line up - and we should see it as a positive thing

I don't think you have missed anything. Some people are jumping to all sorts of odd conclusions based on, well, nothing. This forum is better viewed as a comedy club, it makes more sense then.

LeTiss would have walked into any other countries side in the world during his best years, including Brazil - especially Brazil Unfortunately he was English and we had, and still have no idea what to do with real talent.

If there is one thing i've learnt with Saints over the years through good times and bad is that fixtures on paper mean nothing. As a "Saints fan" does going to play Boro away sound harder than playing Bristol City away? I'd suggest we are just as likely to beat Boro away as we are to lose to Bristol City away.

It looked to me that Guly was told to hold a line right up against the central defenders - I'd guess to allow our midfield as much space as possible to play in. From watching him this season he looks most comfortable as the forward that drops off, something he rarely, or was asked to do, did last night. Dropping off is also something Lambert likes to do, if both forwards do it you risk the space in the middle of the park dissappearing. So the tactics we right but it probably didn't allow either Guly or Lambert to optimise their own games. But Guly will have to accomodate such things like most players have to, no doubt in other games he'll get more of a free role. That said he played up front and scored - job done.

It's all about the sum of the parts for me. The reason we are top of the league is because of Guly. It's also because of Hammond, Cork, Richardson and so on. People bleat on and on about work rate completing forgetting that a successful team requires all the right elements - we've got about the best work rate in the league. That's why somebody like Guly is so vital - 7 assists and 7 goals tells it own story. If we had 11 work horses we'd be - mid table.

Completey agree with keeping it for the memorial game - keeps it special as it should be. Taking it to away games sounds completely inappropriate

If he is 22 (can't recall if i am right) and is scoring goals for a club currently struggling then the indications look promising. I suspect some are underwhelmed compared to other names mentioned eg Maynard etc, but at his age he could well become better than the others by the time he gets to their age. I am assuming Maynard is older of course - in fact this is probably my worst post from a research perspective. But i haven't researched because its currently just rumour

It's potentially the best Saints team I've seen relative to the standard of the league its in. Let's not forget some of our better players in history were not always playing in the top flight at the time. However I am talking in terms of just 3 months so far - its a long season. January will be very important in my opinion.

It appears lost on some that if Guly had been subbed earlier we would have lost the game because the through ball for the goal would never have happened To be fair Guly was quite poor today, but then so were Cork, Connally, Lambert - in some cases beyond criticism it would seem. As it happens before todays game i considered it the hardest of the season, and while we played badly, Reading, ones of the leagues toughest sides, were excellent - as such this was a great point and says a lot about the team's character. A Great point. Derby away / W.Ham home / Reading away = 5 points. Will take that all day long

The Adkins Poyet thing is just panto, building an edge to the games that to be honest I reckon most fans enjoyed, why not build up football matches As for whether Brighton fans, beyond a minority, really have an issue with us i don't know. But we shouldn't be so naive to think the south coast sides wouldn't be up for us, we've been in the top flight for decades so it's obvious, to me at least, that having bided their time the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton are gonna be up for the games - and why not

Yes they have but I am not clear how they managed it given its meant to be such a tough league - maybe it isn't quite so tough. I assume our taget is top 6 next season and if it is my guess is we are not strong enough to complete with the current squad to achieve that. I am certainly not in any sort of panic over lack of signings just yet, the problem is we get linked with players like Danns then when they go elsewhere we think we have failed, yet there was never any proof we were actually interested in him as far as I can tell.

Having seen what Norwich did last season I am at a loss to work out how well our current squad will do. That said, on the assumption that at least the top end of the league will be strong, my thinking now is 3-4 players needed, at least 3 of which should be first team starter material. Probably the spine of team would be my preferred area to strengthen - central defence, central midfield, centre forward. Possibly a winger as the 4th.

We've always had good home support, sometimes things are a bit flat but that's hardly surprising given the last few years - we are rebuilding now. Having been to quite a few away grounds I can't think of many where i've come away from impressed with others home support, I usually come away with a reinforced view of how good our atmosphere is

We have a "model" for the type of player we want to bring to the club - young, able to play at higher level etc, while that is good and well for 90% of the team's make up it misses one critical aspect - leadership. The team totally lacks drives and direction when things get tough, and when we can't break sides down - I would have no clue who the captain is if it wasn't on the team sheet, and it isn't just Hammond, whether its Hammond, Fonte, Davis etc etc none of them show the outward drive needed. A Jimmy Case type character is exactly what we need, older, experienced driving the team on - and I obviously mean a league one equivalent.

Regarding the fixtures don't think it matters much, just about everyone can beat everyone. Look at Hartlepool they've beaten most of the top teams at home. Last nights draws amongst our rivals proved is hard to predict what an easy match is or isn't

Are all the teams around us having the same reaction to their draws last night? Maybe they are but our attitude of "we are the biggest club the best team must hammer everyone" is exactly the one that probably cost sides like Leeds promotion out of this league. We will only compete in it when we realise we deserve to be here and we have to earn the right to get out of it. Last night was a good point, Hartlepool have beaten most of the top teams including Brighton. I agree our recent form is not good enough but through the long season it’s going to be up and down, we have to hope there are many more ups overall. As for Adkins has had enough time, lol, he's been here 5minutes!

I'd say we have two main problems One, Adkins doesn't seem to know his best defence, it’s not been settled at all, and it has to be to bring consistency Two, in Adkins defence he can't put the ball in the net for the players I've been amazed how many good chances we miss, it’s appalling. Lallana whom I rate highly and am amazed by his ability is as guilty as anyone for missed chances. In addition some of our players / squad are nowhere near as good as people on here bang on about - when I see the likes of Mackell-Smith on TV it confirms that