converted_saint

i'd take steve howard but don't think pearson would let him leave leicester...after all, we didn't exactly do nigel any favours after he kept us in the champ against all odds season before last

defence only looked dodgy from set-pieces, we were pretty solid otherwise IMO. the probs in the 2nd half were down to fitness and the fact tht millwall were able to make good substitutions, which is were we need to strengthen, we need match-changing subs and with all the will in the world, gobern and thomso were going to struggle to do that given their age and experience. think we need a couple of centre backs, and a play-maker to link defence and strikers, which will put a stop to the 'lump it long' mentality we seemed to have yesterday

Schneiderlin faded mainly because of match fitness, he didn't play much last season because of injury so it's going to take him a while to get match fit. As fot the nerves issue, I'm not sure it was a case of nerves, we still looked pretty solid apart from set pieces. If the team has been nervous, we'd have lost it 2-1 or 3-1, again i think it was a case of fitness. plus the millwall subs gave them freshness and the subs we made weren't exactly match-changing

not a great day all round, cricket wise. England as good as thrashed, Lancs putting on 487-4 against Hants and Crawley retiring. Thank god the footy cheered us up today

Totally agree with that. My main real criticism of our play today was that much of it going forward was lumped in the air which Millwall just mopped up all the time. But as we saw with Poortvliet (daring as I am to mention the recent past) pretty football wins you bog all, but I do think a bit more pass and move is needed...until we get a fat f**k up front who can just bulldoze everyone out of the way and win high balls!

I'm not sure whether I trust your vision, but blind optimism is something we as Saints fans have not had for years, so bring it on!

Spot on. Their substitutions were the reason we were 2nd best in the last period of the game. We had nobody of any note to bring on when the starters began to tire and this is what we need to address. Pards will have it sorted.

Yes, but Norwich are still 9 points ahead of us bloody football league!

Seriously, what are you on about? Let's get rid of the negativity, we've had years of it under the former regime and now is the time to unite and get positive. Thought our defence looked fine today, how can you sit there and say Harding and Murty "weren't great"? They were both contenders for MOM. Yes I think it needs strengthening, we did look a tad suspect from set pieces but if we get another Jaidi-style centre half to play alongside Thomas then we'll be fine! Let's have some positivity, I think I speak for most when I say we're fed up with the negativity...get positive, yes it's not gonna happen overnight but as an opening day performance the whole team were good and bodes well for the rest of the season.

Great start IMO, apart from the eventual result. We were excellent, particularly in the first half and Paterson looks like he could be an absolute gem in this league. What I'm pleased most with is the effort and determination the players put in: the Pardew effect was clear to see from the 1st minute. Yes it dwindled a bit in the last 20 minutes but that's a fitness issue, thought Jackett's subs were spot on and we just ran out of energy which is why they overran us a bit towards the end. Fitness will come, it's Dean Wilkins forte so all is well! We'll be up that league faster than Norwich ship goals!!!!!!