Born In The 80s

Gotta laugh really. Football in this country is close to death and has been for a while. It's meant to be the national sport, but is falling further and further behind other sports such as Tennis, Cricket and Rugby whose governing bodies value fair play and respect over money. I would have loved to have seen what they would have done if it had been a foreign player going through someone like Jack Wilshere. Doubt they'd have brushed it under the carpet then.

Hats off to those of you paying £40 to watch Saints vs Reading in league game. Time has come that i've been priced out of the game i love. I've had a season ticket since 1992 but i think unfortunately this will be my last one. Simply can't justify spending the my hard earned cash on farcically priced premier league football. Surely quite a few must be in my boat? I've spent an absolutely shameful amount on football this season - just can't afford it.

Must admit the likes of Guly, Puncheon and Schniederlin rocketed up in my estimations after seeing them hound that ****** Clattenburg. Great to see they are passionate and were as hurt by the decision as the fans.

Adkins would have kept us up comfortably had he stayed. After beating Villa and drawing at Chelsea, we really did look like a side who had turned a corner and was ready to kick on. I know everyone didn't rate Adkins, but surely he would have done better than the new guy in terms of points. Having said that, i don't truly believe Adkins was capable of taking us to the 'next level', which seems to be Cortese's target. However, i'm very surprised he didn't wait till the summer until the manager change as he has massively gambled for not much reward in the short term. If we go down, i think it will be the single worst manager change in the history of the premier league.

Wouldn't say i'm necessarily a pessimist, but at this current moment i don't feel massively confident about our chances of staying in this league. I find it impossible not to be concerned with the way things have been going under the new manager. Think we're getting found out and we seem to lack a plan B. What is also concerning is the form of our rivals - Wigan, QPR and Villa's form all seems to have picked up. After we won at Villa, relegation wasn't in my mind at all. But we have failed to kick on like i thought we would. I think today is a massive day. If we lose today, things will be looking very bleak indeed.

Maybe he's not as good as what is ahead of him? Let's face it, if he was a world beater (and showed he was in training), he wouldn't have too much trouble forcing his way into our first XI...

So you would drop Davis and Rodriguez?? Did you watch the ManCity game? Or Wigan for that matter? Ramirez should be no way near the first XI and Steven Davis should be one of the first names on it. In Davis, Cork and Morgan we have a midfield 3 that can control the game against most sides in this division. It does amaze me how Ramirez gets into so many people's teams. Baffling really.

Final table of: Saints - 38 Wigan - 36 QPR - 35 Reading - 35 Villa - 33 Tried to be as fair as possible. I do fancy QPR to go on a bit of a roll, but even 4 wins and 6 draws isn't enough by my reckoning. It's going to be seriously close. Think it will all come down to the six pointers...

Amazed so many people have Ramirez starting. What has he done to merit a place? He hasn't turned up once away from home this season and there is no reason why that could change at Wigan. Boruc Clyne - Yoshida - Hoovield - Shaw Puncheon - Cork - Morgan - Adam Lambert Rodriguez I would be very tempted to start Davis though. Think his cool head may be useful in a game like this. If wed night proved one thing, it's that a midfield 3 of morgan, cork and davis can be a very effective tactic for us. Those 3 totally bossed the game second half. Hopeful sticking Ramirez on the bench will fire him up. £12 million is a lot of cash for a club like us and he needs to start contributing. Let's face it, not looking like money well spent at the minute. Subs bench will be interesting for this one.

And Adam Lallana had??

I am going to go and abuse Cortese for 90 minutes (as well as support Nigel Adkins). After that, i'm done for the season.

Agree with this. Cortese, you are a ****ing disgrace and you deserve every bit of abuse you will receive from us on Monday night. You ****ing ****!

Jesus, what a way of looking at it! Well, carry on if it makes you feel better but length of contract means jack **** in today's game. 12 million was spent for Ramirez to produce the goods now. Not in 3 years time. Frankly, none of the summer signings (bar Clyne) have lived up to their billing. Make you realise how lucky we were last season to have guys like Rick, Adam, Cork and Schniederlin. If Ramirez is worth 12 million, what would the asking price be for Adam??

Really bad news. We will definitely miss him against Reading.

Nigel's substitution to bring Davis on for Ramirez played a huge part in us being able to control the second half and clinch the win today. QPR came out with their tails up and we were getting overrun a bit in the middle. Big call taking Ramirez off and Nige got in absolutely spot on. Surprised more haven't commented on the way that substitution impacted the game.

If referees gave fouls when players stay on their feet after being fouled, i'd tend to agree with you. But they don't. It's referees who are to blame for the ever increasing diving culture in football. They only give free-kicks and pens when players fall to the ground (Clyne today being a perfect example). Most are also weak and easily influenced. We need to get nastier in my opinion, not nicer.

In today's game, if the attacker feels contact, he MUST go down. Absolutely no excuses and nothing to gain from staying on your feet (assuming you're not clean through). Referees do not give penalties unless the attacker falls over. If you need proof, see the Nathaniel Clyne incident. If you don't fall over, you don't get the penalty. I'm just a bit ****ed off that a few more of our players don't go down under contact. Whether you like it or not, it is now part of the game.

Ok, i'm fairly certain he is trying to instill confidence in the players. Regarding the new approach, you haven't suggested one. It's easy to state a problem, but not so easy to find a solution. The only solution i can see would be to play 3 in the middle and that is only really an option now. You don't want to totally nullify our attacking options as we are incapable of keeping a clean sheet at the minute. However, watch the goals we are conceding - they are from individual, defensive areas. Not problems with shape. Adkins (and pretty much everyone) has totally lost faith in the defence and for that reason it would be very risky sacrificing an attacking option (probably lambert) for an extra midfielder or defender, as let's face it, one of our back 4 is probably going to make an individual error that leads to a goal. The defence (most of who have proven in odd games that they can be adequate) have totally let their manager down. The passion thing is ridiculous. Did you see his interview last night? He spoke brilliantly for a man under so much pressure. He has so much passion for this club and you can tell he is hurting.

What do you suggest we do differently then? It's all very well stating that, but i really don't know what some people expect. Adkins can't go out there and defend for them. Thought Gary Neville was spot on last night - these are individual mistakes that the manager has zero control under. Our shape over the past few games has actually been pretty good. The players really need to start taking responsibility. As Neville said last night, these mistakes would have been made whatever division we are in. The only thing that could be done is to play 3 in the middle, which thankfully is now possible with Cork back. However, up until now, if we're honest we haven't really had the personnel. JWP is very young and lightweight to be thrown into games like last night and our other central midfielder, Dean Hammond, probably doesn't have the ability to play at this level.

No chance we will sell out at those prices, so i wouldn't worry about not being able to get tickets. Relegation to the Championship will be a blessing in disguise for me. I've been total priced out and watching on tv/listening to the radio really isn't the same.

We certainly missed a trick. Bridgey would have come back in a shot if we'd shown an interest in a loan deal. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though - didn't expect Foxy to set the prem alight, but i certainly didn't anticipate him being this far out of his depth.

True... But have seen Nige's CV recently?? It's ridiculously good. You don't become a bad manager overnight. It really is laughable to think that he could be sacked as early as November after the work he has done over the past 2 years.

------------------Gazzaniga -------------- Richardson----Fonte----Yoshida----Clyne ---------------------Cork------------------ ------------Davis--------Morgan---------- Ramirez---------------------------Lallana ------------------Lambert----------------- Clyne to me has looked far more comfortable this season on the left as opposed to the right. Richardson is a better option than Danny Fox. In goal, i'm still in shock that Gazzaniga was dropped for Boruc. Guy sat behind me yesterday seemed to think that Adkins has been told that Boruc had to play as we're spending a hell of a lot on his wages. Have no idea how true that is but it is a very strange one. Gazzaniga looked commanding, confident and assured in his run of games. Boruc, in all honesty, has looked anything but. Offensively, ideally you'd have Ramirez playing more centrally but our defensive frailty makes it pretty hard for us to give any player in the side a 'free role' IMO. I think Mayuka will prove to be a very handy option for us though. Looks to have pace and is very direct (the total opposite to Jason Puncheon).

When you come up, it is very difficult to predict which players will make the step up. Look at Jose Fonte and Jos Hoovield. The vast majority of our fan base thought Fonte would be really out his depth and Jos would cope pretty well. It's been the total opposite, with Fonte looking better and better after every game and Hoovield struggling badly. You're never totally sure how inexperienced players will do until they are given the opportunity. By January, we should be able to assess the squad's ability much better. For me, it is still early days, but i've been pretty surprised with players who have stepped up (Fonte and Punch) and players who haven't done the business (Hoovield amongst others). I'm amazed people thought we would come up and play teams off the park like we've been doing the last 2 years. Every single game is tough in this league.

Matty's "best bits" on the big screen after his testimonial to 'i am the one and only'. That was a truly incredible night.