spyinthesky

He was a two footed player and could hit a shot with power from both feet. Dont think he was ever booked.

Interested in your view of the options. Adverts (no thanks) or do I have to pay more than £3 per week for access to something that is US financed?

Fair comment but I would rather pay the equivalent of £3 a week to watch relatively decent, advert free, content from the BBC than a lot of dross on other channels

Sat in the garden this afternoon enjoying the sunshine a couple of beers, reading through yesterdays programme and notice two errors and one photo of interest: 1. Matchday No 9 v Leeds Score was 3-1 but apparently the goalscorers were Tella 49mins and Adams 90+4. Different game than I was watching!!!!!!!! 2. Museum Piece by Duncan Holley (always a good read, thank you Duncan) Apparently St Marys beat local rivals Freemantle in the Hants Senior Cup Final Replay at the County Ground on 24th February 1994 ie 100 years after the actual event. Bit of a time warp perhaps? 3. 'Blast from the Past' had an interesting photo of Brian Clifton scoring as Saints beat Rotherham 2-1 on 14th April 1962. I was probably there but cant remember the game. What I do recollect was the state of the pitch in the Spring ie worn badly through the middle, the predominance of supporters wearing raincoats and hats, the age of the spectators standing on the Milton end (30-60+) and the relatively few youngsters in the crowd holding ex war time rattles (I had one painted in red and white which used to accompany me home and away). 4. No mention was made of the game 27th April 1964 when we had to score six goals in the last home game of the season.to secure the 100 goals for the campaign in Division 2 (ie todays Championship) This we did with a 6-1 hammering of....Rotherham...

With my positive hat on (a very rare situation) we should have conceded a penalty at Stoke and drawn 1-1 and then gone on to a deserved win over Rotherham providing 4 points. The circumstances helped us at Stoke but not at home v Rotherham but the outcome was 4 points and three games unbeaten which hopefully we can continue with after the International break.

Like the majority of fans I am very frustrated by the result. But at a lower level I have played in decent sides when we murdered opponents and didnt get a win. I also played in a cup game where we struggled to get a side out against a team three divisions higher and we won due to a fantastic performance by our keeper. Today was reminiscent of this. Rotherham were very poor but their keeper made at least 4 'worldy' saves and on another day, if we had scored a second, I think we would have won comfortably. All that said the substitutes ie Aribo and Mara and to a lesser extent Fraser added absolutely nothing (again!!!)

Think last time we played there Victor Wanyama scored our goal in a 1-0 win

Baz is doing OK and his distribution is very good as is his speed in/around the penalty area. I would have liked him to be an inch or two bigger but nothing can be done in this respect. Most/all 'keepers get better with age and Baz is a nipper in the overall 'keeper equation.

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for. There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough. Could possibly do with another midfield player. Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance. I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Just got home random thoughts eg 1. Thought AA was offside when he received the ball for the first goal. 2. Bit concerned that Smallbone would get a second yellow for the tackle in the first half. 3. Otherwise Ref seemed to want to book our players whilst letting Leeds get away unpunished for similar offences. 4. As we had kick off, I guess Leeds won toss and decided to change ends, to our advantage. 5. Thought Baz had a v decent game and looked better than the Leeds keeper. 6. Sulemana made a big difference to us. However he didnt seem at all pleased to be hooked and he and RM ignored one another by the tunnel. 7. More grit and determination by the team but Leeds were the better side in the second half. 8. Bednerak and Taylor Bellis formed a decent central defensive partnership and they seem to have changed which side they are defending since last week and that seemed to help. 9. Would prefer to see Charles replace Smallbone in midfield. 10. AA worked very hard and deserved his goals. 11. Hope Ross Edwards is a 'proper' CF and will offer a something a bit more in the central striker position. 12. Once again, in my eyes, KWP was MOM for Saints. For once I have enjoyed a Saints performance at SMS. Let's hope the momentum continues.

At least when RM was at Swansea their fans had goals to witness at both ends. The goals for number seems to have dried up as the goals against are going up big style.

Me too and even avoiding cracks in the pavement hasnt worked!! I am also haunted by some poor results against Leeds. The 7-0 hammering at Elland Rd in the 1970's another 2-1 reverse away when I was alone amongst the Leeds fans and I was the only voice loudly appealing a very dodgy penalty given for a 'foul' by our 'keeper Gerry Gurr against Billy Bremner. And one of the earliest games I took my youngest boy along to during the Redknapp era when we were 3-0 up at HT and lost 4-3.

That is likely to mean quite a number of Leeds fans in amongst the dwindling band of Saints loyalists

It seems to me that we have a squad which has cost more to assemble than most|Championship Clubs, we pay our players higher wages than most Championship clubs and yet we are now in the bottom half of the Championship and even suffering a tanning from a League 2 team in the League Cup with our best left back shoved in as a makeshift central defender.. I just hope we dont draw a resurgent Pompey team in the FA Cup. That could really be embarrassing. The real worry to me is that we are down on a slippery slope which, as a very long term supporter, will probably see me out before it turns round!!

Downes was poor today but as someone who suffered from Campylobacter food poisoning in the past I can assure you it takes quite a while to recover fully from it and I reckon the bacteria is probably still in his system. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this. Smallbone offered nothing apart from one shot on target and a myriad of backward passes. We are so open to quick breaks are are generally pedestrian going forward. KWP the best of the bunch as usual but yet another very disjointed performance. I feel as low as I did under Branfoot and again when we went into admin in the Championship and got beaten regularly until the drop into League 1. This year the change from early season optimism to the current shit show is immense and the Manager, Jason Wilcox and all must take most of the responsibility.

I thought the pitch at the beginning of the season looked in superb condition. It has since appears to have deteriorated with some brown patches in a couple of areas.

Wouldnt surprise me if Boris came back to 'rescue' the Tory party and lead the country in a 'Brentry' campaign

I spoke to a contact of mine who watches Sunderland and Saints quite regularly and has feedback from both camps. As many of us would agree with, Sunderland were amazed how easy it was to win the game up on Wearside. There was an expectation from Sunderland how to deal with Russell Martin's game plan but nobody assumed it would be so easy. Apparently Ross Stewart was 'only' on around £4k a week at Sunderland so it was a no brainer for him and his agent to accept something in the region of £25k pw to come here. It appears that RS was rated very highly in the north east so, when fit (eventually!!!) he could, potentially, do a good job for us. The question is how will he fit into RM's pattern of play and will he be expected to replace Che Adams, or play alongside him?

West Ham fans reckon he is the signing of the season and just think that quite a few of our fans didnt rate him!!

Perhaps I may indulge myself in the memories of our game in the San Siro a few years back. We took over 7,000 there which was an incredible achievement for a relatively small club amongst the Premiership elite often supplemented by part time supporters.. Big City Newcastle, who enjoy a passionate and loyal fan base, only managed a reported 4,000 turn out for their visit to Milan yesterday. Amongst all the negativity surrounding the Saints atm, this makes me feel a tad proud and a good memory of the day and the very impressive support of Saints fans. We should have won too!!!

I think we may have been carried away by a pre season friendly v Reading where we absolutely murdered their basically cobbled together side (yet conceded two, nearly three breakaway goals) as well as the performance against a very poor Sheff Weds team (but including Tella and JWP) and an average Plymouth outfit. A hammering at 4th Division Gillingham and a further recent 3 defeats on the bounce with 1 goal scored and 10 conceded is relegation form. We have a squad which probably cost the most to acquire plus a high wage bill and we are in complete disarray. There is the chance of a turnround but we are already beyond redemption for automatic promotion and who would fancy this squad's chances in the Prem???

My view of player performance 1. Baz..................no blame for the goal and made one very decent save second half 6/10 2. KWP................our best player. No doubt will be off in January. 8/10 3 Manning..........like many fans, expected a lot from him. Average at best 5/10 4. Smallbone......looked reasonable at start of season. Fallen away since then..............5/10 5. Charles..........not a central defender. Betterish in midfield. Responsible for the goal 4/10 6 Taylor Bellis....looked more comfortable when Bednerak came on. 6/10 7. Edioze.............didnt contribute much.................................................................................5/10 8. AA....................ditto. How did he score so many goals at Blackburn?............................5/10 9. Adams.............had one straightforward chance but keeper made a decent save.........5/10 10. Aribo..............lost possession which should have resulted in a second goal. V poor 4/10 11. Fraser.............made a decent start in his first game. Disappointing since.....................5/10 12, Bednerak.......made a difference strengthening defence when he came on. 13. Stuey.............some decent tuns but little overall influence 14. Sulemana.......so frustrating. There is a player there but tends to give up at times. 15. Alcaraz...........what has happened to him? Nothing to add to the game when he came on. 16. Mara...............did he touch the ball? Russell Martin..... really wanted him to succeed but as Swansea fans predicted, he may not finish the season with us.

Interesting programme on the TV last night re corrosion problems on bridges and flyovers caused by encasing steel within concrete which have degraded.. Many of these structures were built with tolerances relative to the average weight of cars and commercial vehicles. Both these assumptions would not have factored in the heavier weight of battery cars and heavier weight limits allowable for HGV's. Dealing with this could potentially mean billions of £££££ in upgrades/maintenance.

Russell Martin comes across as a likeable bloke who wants to play a decent brand of 'keep ball' and so far this season this has largely worked. However many of us fans have seen potential issues eg 1. Height and physicality of the team. 2. Susceptibility to crosses. 3. Potential to be hit on the break (even Reading a team of triallists we totally outplayed pre season, scored two and nearly had three goals from breakaways) 4. Goal keeping errors (btw I dont necessarily blame Baz as I think he will develop into a decent GK and the set up in front of him hasn't helped) 5. Over elaboration in the final third of the pitch. We have now got the worst defensive record in the Championship, conceded three against a 4th tier team and the team didn't cover themselves in glory pre season. Russell Martin and his coaching staff have got a couple of weeks to try and sort something out before difficult games against Leicester & Ipswich, although losing players to the International break wont help. Let's hope that there is more structure to the team and a better defensive set up as a consequence of today's hammering. My thoughts go out to those who had to witness the game first hand and have to travel back to Hampshire.

After the glorious Cup Final win in 1976 and an unfortunate loss to Liverpool in the Charity Shield, there were great hopes for the forthcoming season in Division 2 (todays Championship) The first seven games were: H.... Carlisle 1-2 A......Millwall 0-0 A......Hull 0-4 H......Sheffield Utd 1-1 A......Burnley .0-2 H.....Nottm Forest 2-2 A.....Charlton...............2-6 So after seven games we had three points and were sat rock bottom of the table. I remember coming back from The Valley after the humbling by Charlton feeling a bit shell shocked like many of us feel today. The game sticks in my mind not only because of the abject performance by the Saints team, who were pre season favourites for promotion, but four of us had freebie tickets in the small main stand that, in those days, sat rather forlornly surrounded by massive banks of uncovered and virtually empty terracing.. We arrived late due to traffic and by the time stewards had ejected Charlton fans who were in our seats, we were two down and had to sit and put up with Charlton fans taking the piss for the rest of the game. At least we didnt have to suffer a 400 mile odd journey home. Any way the object of this post is to try and offer up a bit of positivity after today's shit show as our picked up as the 1976/78 season progressed and the following year we were promoted back to the top division. Here's hoping.