Super_Uwe

Half of the problem in my opinion is down to the complete lack of a winning culture at the club. We are not used to winning and haven't been for the best part of two generations. End of. Irrespective of the perceived quality of the squad, it is going to take a monumental effort to turn us into a club that can grind out 2-3 wins in a row on a regular basis. Priority this year is survival - if we can finish 16-17th then that will be a decent effort. But clearly results have to pick up soon, as much as I want to see AP succeed I am sure he knows full well that relegation again would be unthinkable, and he'd be on his way without any hesitation. There is plenty of time yet to turn things around but we have just got to try and remain positive and refrain from being edgy during games.

Sounds familiar! Shame really, especially when you get 16 corners.

The game on Sat was a perfect 90 min run out for Jaidi. A few silly fouls in the first half but overall it was a walk in the park for him - Yeovil certainly didn't give him too much to worry about. Did what he had to do with ease. A very encouraging start and I agree with other comments on the partnership with Trotman; it looks very promising. Thankfully the work permit issue never raised its head at the last minute!

I don't think he ever covered himself in glory at Saints, but again part of that IMHO was down to him playing almost as a holding midfielder when he first joined. He made his name as a striker and then played a bit deeper when at Charlton. But somehow we ended up plonking him in the middle of the park trying to get him to sit in there. God knows why. But anyway, by that stage the damage had been done as his performances were pretty cack. Again IMHO if you start off crap you need to do something pretty amazing to change people's views. Good luck to him though; it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Olly manages to get things going at Blackpool.

IMHO I think he would have had a terrific career playing in Spain, Germany or Italy - anywhere where he would have had that little bit more time on the ball. I wouldn't know if he regretted coming to Saints, but I don't think our style of play (relatively direct with high tempo/pressing) suited him. That's just one of those things. He was a good servant to Saints and for £750k we shouldn't grumble. My fave moment was in the 4-0 Spurs game where he ran 50-60 yards before firing past Kasey Keller - happy days! A lot of people are very dismissive about Sweden; God knows why. Their international record is actually very good. For him to get 100 caps for them shows exactly how highly rated he is. So well done to him.

I know why! http://www.armchairfans.co.uk/players/papa-waigo:fiorentina.html

Has anyone ever seen Papa play? Apologies for asking such a question, but I haven't.

I expect some chap is down Staples trying to get some toner for the fax as we speak[-o

Just had a quick thought - what's the betting we'll have lined someone up but the deal falls through due to the infamous "deadline day fax" issues? Always makes me laugh when I hear that one; can just imagine Rupes back in the day trying to fax over some documents and finding that he'd run out of toner!!

Spot on. Just like yesterday where we were done by literally the last kick of the match, maybe next week we will be the ones scoring a last minute winner - would make a change! It is going to take time; as I have commented on previous posts, we were an absolute shambles of a football club over the summer months, and it is simply ridiculous to expect the players to simply forget about it. However AP knows this is his biggest challenge and he will have to try and work out how he can instil a winning mentality in a squad that is, frankly, used to winning once in a blue moon.

I know where you are coming from, however Charlton can at least point to a trifle more stability over the summer and the fact they managed to keep the likes of Shelvey as well. Good luck to them. Also - I think it's important to note as well that the "losing mentality" wasn't just simply the number of games lost either - we were on the verge of losing the club altogether and were basically in free-fall. It is hard to expect the players we have to erase this totally from their memory, especially when so many of them have had such short careers. They don't know what it feels like to win regularly, and I would imagine a fair few would have been genuinely worried about what was going to happen to them as well. They do need to shape up and sort it out, but all we can do is hope that AP can instill some belief into the side. If they are not good enough technically, well so be it. However they can only try their best; and if they do so then we as fans should not get on their backs.

I honestly don't know what to make of Saga and Rasiak. On their day, you'd have an absolutely terrific League 1 strikeforce. I bet Greg in particular must wonder what the hell happened to his career - ever since he had a paddy over Surman's hat trick pen back in 06/07, he's not really done anything (anonymous at Bolton, not a regular at Watford either). And now he can't even get in a League 1 side!

The problem we seem to have is that - year after year - we have a useless first couple of months. This particular poor start has been compounded by all of the turmoil over the summer, but let's not kid ourselves - we haven't hit the ground running for a very long time. I'd happily be corrected on this but wasn't our last decent start back in 03/04 when we beat Spurs away and then hit 4th spot, only to fall away after Xmas? We have to stay positive, but make no mistake - if we aren't out of this slump by the end of October then I genuinely believe that it will take a mammoth effort to keep us up this year.

Say no more! The problem with Schneiderlin - IMHO - is that he was built up to be this brilliant superstar who was going to transform the team much like Rudi was. He was only ever going to disappoint us in that respect. He's a 19-year old lad and has had to try and learn a new culture/language/way of playing football. Also he has been injured for large chunks of the year. He hasn't covered himself in glory by any means but I still believe he would do well elsewhere. Just like Lallana and Surman, they are good players but they have struggled to find any sort of form this year. The crunch for all of them will be how they deal with this season's events over the summer. Either they use it to make themselves stronger players, or they just disappear into obscurity. Let's hope they do improve for our sakes.

100% agree. He isn't a clogger is he! But - he needs to work harder at his game and basically use his talent. There is no substitute for good technique in my opinion and he has that in abundance. What he has to do now is keep his chin up over the summer, knuckle down and prove people wrong. Only he can do that. Whether he does or not is another matter.

I do agree with your sentiments on his productivity this year but he has ability. Yes, he hasn't shown himself to be a world-beater, and I personally am yet to be convinced of his physical capability either (I don't think many fans take into account the heart surgery he had). But, given the right environment at an upwardly-mobile club (i.e. anywhere but here! ), I genuinely believe he could make it as an England international. It hasn't helped playing in a struggling team IMO, in fact you could argue the same about Surman. When confidence is down it is hard to get things going again, and what with all the off-field rubbish it is stupid to think that it won't affect our younger players.

Agree 100%. Surman is an England U-21 international of recent times and just needs confidence. A lot of non-Saints fans I know think he's really good! OK, being an U-21 international doesn't make you the best player ever, but you aren't going to be completely useless either. IMHO I am yet to be convinced of Lallana's physical capabilities; it's easy to forget that not so long ago he had serious heart surgery which could have ended his career. We stood by him and IMO he needs another season at Champ level before he can even think about playing in the Prem. But he has skill which will always hold him in good stead, and if I were in charge of a club and was led to believe I could get him for £200k, I'd be in there like a shot. We can all go on about how s*** and useless our players are, but at the end of the day there is some talent in our squad. Yes, the players have not shown it consistently at all, but you can bet your bottom dollar that some of these players will shine elsewhere. Dyer's relative success at Swansea shows that with the right team spirit/manager/setup he can be a real threat. He has pace and, as we've seen with Aaron Lennon's renaissance this season, if he can work on his crossing then he will do well. And stay out of trouble too, lol!

It finally hits home for poor old Mark Wotte that his "incentive-based" salary is actually worth a little bit less than he first imagined...

I agree 100%. Nick Holmes has learnt his trade over a long period of time in the lower leagues and would be a very good choice IMO. Whatever people might say about home-grown choices not being the solution, the fact of the matter is that over the past four years the heart and soul of our club has been virtually destroyed, and we need someone who can at least put a smile on our faces again. As far as I am concerned management is the same the world over, the difference being that as you get higher up you have to deal with more egos as the wages increase. That is a very simplified view of it but as long as you can cope with this and are also tactically astute then there is no reason why someone like Holmes could not do it. That is obviously the key point here and so his credentials would need to be tested accordingly, but I would be delighted to see him in charge. I think Paul Tisdale is on the verge of better things at Exeter and so I don't know if he would want to move on as an assistant boss here, but who knows?

He has been an intriguing signing for us; my father-in-law is a big Argyle fan and, although he was certainly a popular player for the Pilgrims, it was stated at the time that Sturrock did not offer him a new deal as he felt he had lost his sharpness. So I was a little surprised we offered him a relatively long-term deal (presumably down to him being a free transfer). On paper though he is the sort of player we need in the middle of the park; a grafter with strong leadership skills. OK, his passing is not super (!) but he can put his foot in and win the ball. Also is a renowned set-piece specialist (although we have not seen much evidence of that sadly!).

I agree 100% with your choices there. We have watched so many people take from our club in the last 5-6 years and what we really need now is some people with a genuine affinity for our club. Yes, there will always be a risk in appointing "rookies", but we have had NOTHING to cheer about since relegation; we've sold anyone half decent, we've spunked all of our money on some GB specials and have been left with a spineless team, and there is just nothing of a feel-good factor left. It isn't really about tactics any more IMHO as the players aren't capable of carrying out instructions anyway. So let's get in two of our most celebrated players and, if nothing else, let them bring some joy into our lives and a sense of "Thank f*** we've done something right for a change!"

I don't disagree with your sentiments about getting rid, but WHO exactly are we going to have playing in the red and white next year? How many more "clean slates" can we actually afford? We may not be able to make any transfers at all in the summer depending on what happens between now and then!

Ex-Saints supremo Rupert Lowe is looking to fill a gap in the market for blood-loving sports fans desperate to find comfort in these troubled economic times - by bringing Spanish bullfighting to football grounds across the country. Lowe commented "Having studied the art myself for a few years, I felt now was the right time to bring something new to the scene here in the UK, and what with the Euro exchange rates getting worse by the day, why not bring part of Spain to the UK instead?". Lowe was also keen to emphasise that the idea was his brainchild - in fact the new role is indeed so hands-on that he is currently in charge of everything whilst the business is in its infancy. Ticket sales, merchandising, catering, torero, indeed there is nothing that Lowe won't do to get this off the ground. The downside, as Lowe puts it himself, is "the lack of funding and subsequent difficulties in finding the right equipment and staff to make this work". However, thanks to some generosity from the Saints Megastore on his final day at the club, they offered him a free Saints scarf as he begins his first session as a fully-fledged torero... We managed to catch an exclusive glimpse of his first training session down at St. Mary's...

Wright-Phillips - a wonder strike by the sounds of it, can we make the most of the time remaining???