CHAPEL END CHARLIE

My personal ratings for Saints v Norwich : K Davis 8 - A flawless display of goalkeeping , 2 or 3 crucial second half saves he's in the form of his career . L James 5 - Any progress seems very slow at this stage , bit of a weak link to be honest . O Lancashire 7 - Big and quick he has the makings of a good player given time , still has much to learn obviously. C Perry 7.5 - The brains behind the defence he's worth his weight in gold to this young team . A natural born leader . J Mills 7 - I really like this lad , he'll run all day for you & those little legs move deceptively quick ! J Cork 7.5 - Formed an highly effective CM partnership with Drew , seems to be able to play almost any position . D Surman 7.5 - So much happier in midfield rather than at LB , it would be a terrible shame to move him . DMG 6.5 - At times he looks like the real thing at other times he looks like a pub player :confused: . Well taken penalty . A Lallana 8 - A naturally gifted footballer it's worth the ticket price just to watch him play , enjoy him while he's here . J Robertson 8.5 MOTM - As fine a debut as I've seen since Walcott's his goal was a masterpiece . Swapping him for Dyer already looks like a superb piece of business . T Peckhart 6 - Puts himself about a bit but off injured before he could make any real impact . Substitutes : BWP 6 - Not his worst game and willing enough today but I really don't rate him . M Patterson - Only on for a few minutes . Summery : A thoroughly entertaining game of football and a well deserved victory for the Saints - indeed we could have won it by 4 or 5 had BWP or DMG taken their chances . How good it is to see a Saints team with so many physically big players in it . The key to the teams recent - & highly inconsistent improvement IMO is replacing M Svensson with younger fitter defenders (be it Cork or Lancashire) and the introduction of 'Fish' Mills at LB , who not only plays well himself but also free's Surman to move back into his proper midfield position . One noticeable feature of our game-plan is the team's ability to successfully defend a very high line and in the process catch the opposition offside on numerous occasions , Jan Poortvliet and Chris Perry deserve to be congratulated for all the hard work going on behind the scenes to drill this tactic into our play . I would urge caution before we start talking about promotion or play-offs however , Doncaster and Norwich look like very ordinary teams to me and it would be a mistake to read too much into the last two results - welcome as they are .

Welcome to SFC Jordan Robertson , I bet you didn't know (or care) that you are the 53rd different player to join and/or leave the club in the last year or so :smt103 .

Well we'd had this discussion before and although I don't claim to be an expert in the field the consensus seemed to be that Season Tickets were deemed a 'Football Debt' by the FA and as such they must be honoured by the Administrator and any future owners . Common sense tells you that to totally alienate your core customer base would be commercial suicide for any business .

Michael Svensson or Marian Pahars however good a player they were once their legs have gone they've had it I'm sorry to say - wishing it otherwise won't change that .

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/?page_id=6973 There you go .

My issue with replica shirts is that ST holders now only get 10% off the away shirt (£4) rather than £10 discount for the home kit we received in previous seasons - yet another kick in the knackers for loyal fans .

He is and I'm not .

I'm not going to be accused of being 'fickle' when it comes to my opinions on our current management arrangements thank you very much : 'fickle' adjective DISAPPROVING 1 likely to change your opinion or your feelings suddenly and without a good reason: She's so fickle - she's never been interested in the same man for more than a week! The world of popular music is notoriously fickle. My posted opinions on Saintsweb are a matter of record and if this site were still TSF I could show you numerous past contributions on my part calling for Nigel Pearson's retention and questioning the wisdom of replacing him with JP and MW (all without the benefit of hindsight I might add) , indeed I've been the very model of consistency on the subject for your information .

Insightful as ever and I really couldn't agree more Wes . We're not there yet but if the teams results and performance don't markedly improve (sooner rather than later IMO) Jan Poortvliet's position may well become untenable , in that eventuality Lowe will have to replace him with a strong experienced British manager such as Billy Davies or face the consequences . I could say much more regarding the gravity of Ruperts error in permitting Nigel Pearson to leave but it's all been said before and I don't wish to labour the point at this time . If RL refuses to take timely action Micheal Wilde will probably have to wield the knife again and use his shareholding to oust RL and usher in yet another 'regime change' in the never-ending farce that is Southampton Football Club . Everything changes - everything stays the same .

I understand Forecast came as part of the Gareth Bale 'Early Settlement' not all all it , I'm pretty sure we recieved a lump of cash in addition to TF . http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/search/?mode=movenav&page_id=10277 Reading the article it seems pretty clear he was promised a good chance of 1st team football and it's not very much of a logical jump to assume that Bart or Davis were presumed to be leaving at that time . Giving a young untested player a 5 year contract seems strange to me , perhaps Rupert was trying to maximise any future transfer fee by tying the player down to a long contract - of course he'll never be worth anything until he successfully plays in the 1st team .

Couldn't agree more . If you factor in the seriously reduced match day income resulting from lower 'gates' of 14/15k we could easily end up with a operating loss of around £10m this FY even after all the summers cost cutting .

Unfortunatly some of our 29 'men' look and play like boys .

Nice idea but we can hardly expect wealthy foreigners to invest mega-bucks in a struggling non-Premier League club when the local people don't seem very interested anymore can we ? Depressing Fact No 457 - If current trends continue the SFC match day attendance will soon all be able to fit into AFC Bournemouth's 'Fitness First' stadium .

The recognition that 4-3-3 isn't working is both welcome and overdue , as others have said this still doesn't solve the problem of the club having no fit/adequate wingers in the absence of Skacel and Holmes - I exclude Nathan Dyer who apart from his inability to take the ball to the byline is fundamentally rubbish anyway . I've seen young Matthew 'Fish' Mills play well in the left midfield position but this would create as many problems as it solves as he's obviously needed at LB . The truth is this squad is too small and limited - another result of our crippling financial problems so we'll just have to make the best of it .

Spot on my friend .

He strained himself eating some stringy ham , or something like that .

Thanks to this thread I no longer have to buy a DVD of 'Groundhog Day' as this will do nicely .

Antony Pulis certainly comes with a unimpressive record but as a matter of principle I don't pass judgment on any player until I've personally seen them play . Fans from his previous clubs also cast serious doubt on Lee Holmes ability , but from what I've seen he looks like a pretty decent player to me and we can only hope Pulis can achieve a similar career turnaround .

It's not entirely true that we have no one else to bring in , there's a young French player called Romain Gasmi whom some rate as a good prospect and Anthony Pulis - who lets just say has a lot to prove . Both are out injured at the moment but should become available within the next month or two with a bit of luck .

A fit and willing Rudi Skacel could easily walk into this team and improve it - especially with Lee Holmes out injured . The question is do we have a fit and willing Rudi Skacel ? That's one of those questions that are much easier to ask than to answer .

My personal ratings for Saints v Barnsley : K Davis 5 - Difficult to rate because he had very little to do , although his kicking did seem a little 'off' today FWIW . J Cork 6 - Guarded the RB position effectively enough , not really an attacking full back yet for my money . P Wotton 5 - Useful honest squad player , but no more than that . C Perry 7 MOTM - Textbook example of how the Centre Back position should be played . I wish we'd kept Lucketti to with hindsight . M Mills 6 - A few difficult moments early on but soon adjusted to the pace of 1st team football , going to be a good player I reckon . S Gillett 5 - Keen as mustard but lacks the strength or ability needed to dominate the midfield at this stage . D Surman 6.5 - Clearly much happier & a better player back in his natural position , he should remain there IMO . BWP 3.5 - It will come as no surprise to experienced BWP watchers to learn that he was gash . A 20 minute sub player at best . A Lallana 7 - Technically the best player on the pitch by a country mile , his size & inexperience the only things holding him back . DMG 6.5 - Intermittently bright & sunny but with long dull periods the outlook for this player remains problematic to forecast . T Peckhart 4.5 - A blunt instrument his touch was way off today , on this evidence he's miles off Premier league standard for now . Substitutes : S John 6 - Brought on far too late we looked a more dangerous team for his presence . J Thomson 4.5 - Looked pretty lightweight to be honest , managed to be little better than BWP (which is quite a achievement) . Summary : Watching the Saints this week has been a pretty depressing experience in all honesty , if we're looking for positives we defended quite well today but that might just as well be because Barnsley were awful rather than any real improvement by our team . After a bright start we faded away (stop me if you've heard this before) and the game descended into a dull scrap which big brutes such as Darren Moore found easy enough to cope with . A brave and correct decision to start with young Mills and move Surman back to midfield was undermined by the coach's refusal to bring on Stern John earlier when it was perfectly obvious that Peckhart was struggling . For my money we need to revert to 4-4-2 before it's too late . You have to ask yourself if we can't beat a poor team like Barnsley at home then where exactly are the next points coming from ?

I'd much rather win ugly than lose pretty if it came down to a simple choice , I don't know any fan who'd say otherwise .

Whoever the Chairman was it would have been an unavoidable necessity to reduce the wage bill and rely more on our youngsters - we don't actually have any choice in that as the bank effectively control the club and he who pays the piper calls the tune . We all have our own ideas regarding which players should have been retained or released , I for instance would have moved heaven and earth to persuade Youssef Safri stay if at all possible , but that's all water under the bridge now . What was a truly false economy (and a idiotic footballing decision) was allowing Nigel Pearson to leave . I'm quite confident he would have stayed had a reasonable offer be presented to him and IMO we'd be the better team for it . That decision was all Rupert Lowe's work and if at the end of the season we've relegated and in Administration as a result he will have to carry the full responsibility .

Good to see a young Saints player on trial without the courts being involved . http://www.fansfc.com/ipswichfootballclub/news.asp?newsid=190469 I never got to see this lad play , is he any good ?

My personal ratings on Saints v Ipswich : K Davis 8 MOTM - Superb performance , quite simply in the best form of his Saints career , We would have lost the match but for him . L James 4 - Not ready for the 1st team , he should really learning his trade out on loan at some L1/2 club this stage of his development . C Perry 6.5 - Very decent CB but lacking in recovery pace when we lose possession . Adds some much needed experience & leadership . J Cork 7 - Good young defender , bit of pace and tall with it , should be a automatic starter IMO . A Surman 6 - Never has been/will be a full back , got done for ITFC'S 1st goal . His well taken goal shows what we're missing from midfield S Gillett 6 - Seemed a little lost without Schneiderlin beside him , you can't fault his level of effort though . P Wotton 5.5 - Your bog standard CCC midfielder , has neither Safri's class nor Viafara's energy but is probably much cheaper . DMG 5.5 - After some good performances recently he was not at the races today , disappointing . A Lallana 5.5 - I hardly noticed he was playing to be honest , a good player just having an 'off' day I hope . N Dyer 3 - Poor going forward & useless defensively . A total waste of space . :mad: S John 5 - Ineffective , I don't think he can play in this system which is a major (and potentially fatal problem) for the team . Substitutes : M Schneiderlin 6.5 - Good display unlucky not to start IMO . BWP 5.5 - Made an instant impact on the game but disappeared once we'd equalised :confused: . T Peckhart 7 - A big strong Centre forward , he battered his way though for his goal . A certain starter for Saturday I would have thought . Summary : We were a mere shadow of the bright 'pass and move' side we saw earlier this season , I guess that's what too many defeats and being bottom of the table does to a team . I remain unconvinced we have the right players to play the 4-4-3 system or that it's suitable for the CCC . Overall we looked like a young team all too well aware of it's own deficiencies and the true scale of the task in front of it .