suspect everyone

Always rated him.

So no one knows whether any of the Saints squad are on twitter? This article got me thinking about it... http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2010/sep/21/football-league-twitter-directory Leon Knight is pretty entertaining to follow. Grade A moron.

Pulis's inner-monologue: "Now come on Anthony, ignore their jokes and insults, rise above it, you don't make 28 senior appearences over a 7 year career without being a damn good footballer. Note to self; call Dad tonight"

Completely agree with the WGS comment. It was no coincidence that when he had the players running up and down sanddunes during preseason some of our best seasons followed. I still believe that a lot of our last 10 minute collapses under Redknapp in that fateful season where we were relegated were down in part to a lack of fitness, and therefore a lack of concentration. If you're unfit and tired, you make mistakes. When the OS had the indepth coverage of the recent preseason under AP in Austria I was concerned that there didn't seem to be enough emphasis on fitness. Where were the gruelling long distance runs? There seemed to be a lot of bike rides and leisurely walks up the local hills but no emphasis on getting the squad fit. I think we're now seeing the consequences of this, they're clearly unfit. Glad to see Adkins has spotted this already. Get those lazy bastards fit Nigel and lets start climbing the table!

This. That is all.

If MO'N becomes the next Saints manager I promise to run bare bollock naked across the St Mary's pitch during his first home game in charge. That is how confident I am that he won't be our next manager, it'll be Adkins, and I'm not getting naked for him.

I just received a text.

The club has shown in the transfer market that they buy players that are suited to L1 and that will in theory get us promoted. Examples: Lambert Barnard Hammond Fonte So I'd expect NC to go for a manager who has proven themselves in L1 already or are proving themselves right now. Names that come to mind: Danny Wilson Lee Clarke Eddie Howe I'd got for Lee Clarke. It would be a similar appointment to Paul Lambert to Norwich last year; poach a good young manager from a smaller club.

Leyton Orient. LEYTON ORIENT!!!! FFS. So typical, we're making it harder for ourselves by the game. NC will be flexing his trigger finger all too soon, and rightfully so.

Ah right, didn't realise it continued on another channel. I switched off after the ITV1 portion had finished. So...was there any Le Tiss insight later on?

Did anyone see this? I watched most of it just to hear what Le Tiss had to say, however apart from a little introduction at the beginning Le Tiss didn't get a look in. It was unbelievable, he just sat in the corner of the studio looking a little sheepish. What was the point in inviting him on if you're not going to talk to him? First Hoddle, and now Corden have overlooked Le Tiss' talents. That grates.

Shouldn't the slogan read... "A kit from the back of the Umbro stockroom, for a team of beauty pageant entrants."

Voted.

If we sign this guy we can definitely kiss League One "Adu". Heeeyyyy ooohhhh!!!

I'd sign Antonio over signing Papa. However it'd be nice to have both next season.

The incentive for the team now should be to finish within 10 points of 2nd place. With our superior goal difference we only have to make up 3 points within our remaining games. Knowing we'd have been promoted automatically without the 10 point deduction would vindicate what a great performance it has been from the whole squad and AP's performance, setting us up nicely for the big promotion push next season.

I don't think Saints ever came out of 2nd gear. Really thought Carlise would compete a bit more but instead they were woeful. We got to 4-0 without even really trying! Great to see so much red and white throughout the stadium. It might be a paint pot trophy but scoring 4 goals and lifting any trophy at Wembley is some achievement. Big bad Radhi Jaidi is my MoM, he one EVERYTHING in the air. Man mountain. COYR

Was asked by a Carlisle mate to answer a few questions for their Carlisle London Supporters Fanzine. Only have a pdf copy but below are my answers. Hope you all approve! _____________________________ We asked Southampton Fans: 1. How long have you supported them? 2. Your favourite Saints player? 3. What do you think of your season so far and will you make the play offs? 4. Will this be your first trip to Wembley and if not, when was your last? 5. Have you been to finals with the saints before and what are your memories? 6. Your danger players? 7. Which Carlisle players do you fear? 8. What will be the score? 9. Other comments. 1. My Dad took me to my first game at the Dell when I was about 6. We lost 2-0 to Luton. Never looked back. 2. Unsurprisingly there can only really be one choice and that‘s Matthew Le Tissier; single handedly kept us in the Premiership for almost a decade, scoring some iconic goals whilst staying loyal to the red and white. He also achieved all this whilst being about 4 stone overweight. Legend. Other favourites of note would be Marian Pahars, Tahar El Khalej and Chris Marsden. 3. Even for the Saints it‘s been a particularly strange season. After the debacle of the last few campaigns its been great to actually win some games and the JPT and FA Cup jaunts have been an added bonus. However our league form has been patchy and we‘ve probably blown our chance of making the playoffs. This was typified by back to back 5-1 and 5-0 home wins against promotion chasing Walsall and Huddersfield, which were sadly sandwiched between a 0-0 draw and 2-1 loss to bargain basement Exeter and Tranmere respectively, how does that happen?!! We basically need to win all of our remaining games to make the playoffs, that isn‘t going to happen. League One champions next season, you heard it here first. 5. This will be my first trip to the new Wembley, although I did frequent the old Wembley a number of times, most notably for a Guns N‘ Roses gig in 1992. Rock and roll. I also went to the FA Cup final in 2003 in Cardiff against Arsenal. We lost. 6. Many of Alan Pardew‘s latest glut of signings are cup tied, so luckily for Carlisle certain players in good form such as Lee Barnard and Jason Puncheon won‘t be available for selection for the JPT final! However Rickie Lambert, Dean Hammond and Adam Lallana have all had great seasons for us. I‘d also keep an eye out for our Senegalese super sub Papa Waigo N‘Diaye. He may not have mastered the offside rule quite yet but he always seems to pop up to score important goals late in matches. If you want a chuckle search for him on youtube, his patented goal celebration is truly bizarre. 7. Ian Harte appears to be having a storming season for you guys, I‘ll be looking on nervously whenever he steps up to take a free kick. Vincent Pericard, who had a very unsuccessful 1 month loan spell at Saints a few seasons ago, appeared to be having a great time of it before departing for the bright lights of Swindon. However if I‘m not mistaken Scott Dobie has stepped up in the last few months and notched a few goals to fill the void, so I‘ll be keeping my eye on him as I hope big Radhi Jaidi will too. 8. Really tough one to predict. I think it will be an open game and I fully expect us to concede at least one goal. I‘m going to go for a goal fest; 4-2 Saints win. 9. All the best for the big day, here‘s hoping we witness an entertaining final, with a happy red and white ending!

Just seen the goals on SSN, Punch looked quality.

No coincidence that our great league run in November and December was when Connolly was fit and firing on all cylinders, and since he has been injured we have struggled. We badly miss him and would be great to have him back for the league run in and the JPT final. I also hope Barnard steps up in the coming games and shows us what he can do. So far it hasnt really worked out for him.

Just in from Craven Cottage where a mate got me a spare ticket to the Fulham vs Pompey match. Call it scouting for the FA cup match. Got to say Pompey still have a quick, good passing side with some real ability. It will be a tough match for us. However the positives are they can't score for toffee, despite good approach play and are really vulnerable at the back, especially Belhadj at LB, got caught on the ball for the Fulham goal. Anyway, something to bear in mind. Hopefully some more bad results and financial bombshells will further dampen their spirits before we meet them. COYR.

One aspect I'm a little worried about is that this continued infulx of players bears a resemblance to some of the criticisms that came out of Pardew's reign at Charlton. Now I am fully behind Pardew and think he is doing a pretty good job in his first season. I also accept that sometimes, for whatever reason, managers just dont work out at a club, as with Pardew at Charlton, but this doesnt mean he can't go on to have a good career at Saints as long as he learns from his mistakes. However the feedback from Charlton fans when we appointed him was that during his reign he brought in a vast number of players, at great expense, without any clear strategy or logic. It seems to me there is whiff of that happening at the moment here with our squad. Examples Ostemeboor - no better than what we already have Seaborne - see above Waigo - sparingly used Barnard - looks to be a good signing, but we already have a number of forwards on the books, not to mention others such as Antonio and Lallana who can also play up front. Couple this with Pardew's favoured formation of 4-5-1, you can see Barnard on the bench in the future Now we're being linked with Puncheon, a winger. Where exactly will he fit in our current sqaud? Perhaps I'm being overreactive, but when Lambert, Connolly, Jaidi etc were brought in there were obvious holes to fill in our squad. I get the feeling that Pardew is not just buying for the sake of it, leaving us with a bloated squad.

AAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Was at the game. Saints were crap, and only Millwall's atrocious finishing meant we didnt lose 3-0. Saints hardly created a thing. Fonte class. Seaborne nervous and average. Ostemebor poor, especially for their goals where his idea of a challenge appeared to be waving his leg out. Hopefully given time they'll improve. If you go 1-0 up with 2 mins to go you expect to win. It was like the Saints of old, that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see the net bulge and their fans start celebrating. God I hate it. I think the break due to the weather has shafted us. Our mementom from Nov and early Dec has vanished and will be hard to get back. Anyway, the games will come thick and fast now. Hopefully they'll raise their game.