Baird of the land

Hmm interesting. Saints do seem to have a left back buying fetish.

My issue currently is that i'm not convinced when things aren't going our way that Adkins has the ability to change things tactically. Both Hartlepool and Walsall seemed very similar in terms of Soton running out of ideas and adkins sitting back far too long and letting it happen. I'd worry about us in the play offs if we don't get automatic. I've never really had any doubt we'd make a minimum of the play offs, given the quality of players we have.

Feel sorry for young Gobern. Came on saturday and look lively. Then midweek when we're huffing and puffing and getting nowhere at nil nil, he's left sitting on the bench. I really thought adkins might have learned his lesson on saturday when he made changes and we scored 2 goals in a minute.

Appalling management by adkins. Should have made changes when it was still nil nil ten minutes into 2nd half. When he finally makes a change he takes off his first sub. Pathetic.

Agree i would like to see Barnard get a run of starts. Nice to see Adkins making some effective substitutions today. Had mixed emotions regarding L.Orient late equaliser. Good for Saints, bad for my bank balance as i bet on Huddesfield to win. Interesting to see how Brighton respond to that loss too.

Making substitutions shouldn't just be done when you are playing badly though. When it was still nil nil at the hour mark Atkins should have been more pro-active in using the alternatives at his disposal imo(Sneiderlin, Gobern, Barnard, N'guessan) Great managers don't let the game get away from them before they make changes. Barnard was one of the top scorers in the league last season and i find it odd he wasn't given more time.

It was particularly the team selection that got me. It was the fact with a strong bench we waited until 76 mins to make a change and then only made one.

I'd expect Davis to be back in. Bart did ok but i think he should have saved the second goal.

I'd worry that he might come after Lallana.

Can't see how anyone can blame Davis for Oldham's goal. Someone didn't track a midfield runner. He was in the right place and got a touch to it but in that kind of situation a good finsih is pretty much impossible to save. Think he's proven himself to be a decent championship standard keeper in the past who currently playing one level too low. With the exception of the first season with us(when his confidence was rock bottom after being shown up in the prem with Sunderland) he has been a good keeper for us. He's not the complete keeper but your not going to get that below the prem. My only problem with Davis is the amount we spent on him. At least he's been slowing making up for that by good and loyal service. Nice in today's money grabbing world that he chose to stay with us rather than bugger off to west ham.

A good piece of business by the club in hindsight. We brought in a good player who played well for us. He got injured and we sold him for a good fee. He's since then struggled to return to fitness. Happy for him to get playing time at walsall. If we got promoted this season i'd be happy for us to bring him back to replace Jaidi if he stays fit and plays well for walsall.

He's done reasonably. A couple of wins and a couple of draws is the very least this squad of players should be delivering. Just because we had the Wilkins Zero zone before shouldn't mean we go overboard with his start. To me the real test will be the quality of his signings and where the team finishes at the end of the season. I was generally quite impressed by pardew's signings and am hopeful that it will continue with the new regime as Chaplow loan excited me.

Love all this dissecting of quotes from the club. Club is clearly massaging the truth. Just as they have done with Adkins profile on the OS. It's not a good starting point when the club are embarrassed about your managerial career. Read the profile on the OS and you'll note they have expunged last year's 20th place finish.

He has to the end of the season. He's got a huge task to turn around a club that's been left disarray by the sudden sacking of its manager and the freefall that's followed. At the end of the season if we're not promoted Cortese will have to explain to the owners why were still languishing in a lower leagues and i doubt very much he'll lay the blame on himself.

Think the only good thing i can say about this appointment is surely he'll be able to get better performances than Wilkins has managed for the last 2 weeks.

Underwhelmed by the appointment. Get rid of a good high profile manager and replace him with one who comes up short in comparison.

I find some of these rumours extremely humourous. The pardew having an affair has now morphed to suddenly be having an affair with Fonte's wife. Could this be linked to a posting yesterday saying that if he did have an affair it should have been with Fonte's missus as she's a real looker. This has all the believability of those chain letter that keep circulating the internet. The message is always the same but the details keep changing so gullible people will swallow the horse****

Shocked. Found the line on the OS saying that they realised how important managerial stability is while they chopped Pardew and co very funny. Can't see any obvious replacements. Would love o'neill but it is not going to happen.

I'd be happy with a couple of decent loan additions from the championship like last season to be honest. I don't like loans when they are at the core of the team but to add a bit of quality competition to the 1st XI they can be ideal.

Couldn't believe the news when i saw it on the OS site last night. Very sad news for everyone who knew him and potentially devastating for the club. Couple of questions spring to my mind. Has the club been holding back in transfer activity with a thought to the possibility of a heir looking over the accounts? Secondly if as suggested there's been provisions made for the immediate future of the club, How long?, How much? Will there be any money for anything other than loan signings in the immediate future? What's the liklihood any heir is going to feel disposed to pumping money into Markus' plaything? Football in the uk isn't a profitable business venture unless you are at the ultra top end. If they don't share his passion for the club the speedy return to the premiership may have died with Markus as any new owner is likely to be less finacially endowed. Obviously we're not going to get answers to these questions while everyone mourns but i think we need to get our heads round the notion that the clean path onwards and upwards that seemed so clear with a rich and committed owner might now much more uncertain.

The injury he got last year really didn't help him. I'd like to see him given another year as from what i've seen of him he's a naturally gifted finisher.

I'd like to see Waigo & Barnard rewarded with starts on tuesday. Move puncheon into the middle and really try and bury oldham. Need a stockport miracle next week. Wish we could loan them a few players!

All seems like moving deck chairs on the titanic for me. Until we get some sort of graduated wage cap all down the leagues were not going to go forward.

Think huddersfield will end up close or on 80 points. Think we have every chance of overhauling colchester but won't mean much except for pride.

was thinking the same thing about surman. He'd be the perfect addition.