melmacian_saint

Not a great option for me, especially with the risk of being out of form.

Spurs fans have stolen the song for ages now...which is only fair because it sounds fine. Also I'll reserve my judgement on Swansea and more specifically Laudrup until March/April. The teams he's managed so far seem to boost of a lot of confidence thanks to his dynamic, fast-paced attacking football but seem equally prone to confidence setbacks. I remember his season at Getafe, where he surprised in the UEFA cup with a very great display of football with players who mostly were from a Championship 5th-10th place standard (Pablo Hernandez, Granero and now-retired Ruben de la Red included on loan though). In April they were in the quarter-finals of the UC and in the Cup final. A last-gap elimination by Bayern Munich (after being 4-2 up on aggregate with 5 minutes to go) in Europe was enough to seem them win 1 match out of the rest of their competitive fixtures (lost the final too), dropping from 5th to around 13th if I'm not wrong. It might be that they go on to do fairly well, I'd expect him to learn from the experience, but I'm not sure he's a very good crisis manager.

We should've signed a keeper. Kelvin is not PL standard (full appauling season with Sunderland in 05/06), and not only that Gazza is still too young to be no.1 in a PL team, especially one involved in relegation battles. Craig Gordon is not a reliable option for me either. Looked inconsistent for Sunderland IMHO. Definitely a place where we should have invested a couple of millions into. Again looking at those who were promoted last season, their starters were all 2nd/3rd choice internationals, and even Paddy Kenny looked good for QPR.

Think it's a good day to remember this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8014811.stm http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1189228/Southampton-crisis-deepens-club-fails-pay-wages-month.html Keep calm. It will improve.

Today's game was just wrong, 2 own goals do not happen every season. We didn't start well and the own goal made us panic. Fonte looked fine, no goal was his fault directly, and his positioning improved with Yoshida in (who showed better skill on the ball so hopefully some improvement). However I think Davis does not seem to be up for the Prem. Should have caught the ball in the 1st own goal, the free kick is good but he took a long time to react (he didn't see it late) and dived too early and poorly, it didn't even get it in that far away from the centre. Finally in the 3rd goal we have a repeat of City's first, being unable to cover the near post is something that PL strikers will notice and will make him/us pay. Ramirez looked good and confident on the ball but I won't come up with an opinion on him, Yoshida or Mayuka just yet. Think it's only fair if he settles in the squad and actually gets some proper game time rather than 45 minutes in a dead game before considering him a good or bad investment.

Isn't all that neoMLT talk WAY over the top for a guy who hasn't even trained with the squad?

You must honestly be joking. I'd be surprised if one of his legs doesn't fall off while he's playing. Way, way, waaay past his prime time. He was poor for Zaragoza and his last weeks on contract there where spent healing a back problem (a.k.a. main signal that a career is about to end). The only way I could see him improve Seaborne is because of his experience, but even that is not enough to cover for his complete lack of fitness for the PL. He's also been linked to his hometown club Vitoria Guimarães suggesting a career finale.

Say for stats lovers, weren't Norwich winless last season until past September? Another one, I'm pretty sure Swansea had 0 goals scored by the end of their 4 game, right?

True. I don't dislike Appy, I think he's probably more outraged than us nutjobs at how this farce is being allowed to run (in his case, more about what he's been given to run). I know he was the one who decided to take the job, but I think it was a quite clever move for him. He's not the one with the timed bomb in his hands, and running a crisis-stricken club with mild success could actually prove to be a great opportunity window for his future career. As for Uncle Trev, explosion has never been so close. And it will harm him.

Speaking of Christchurch, we should've gone for Ryan Nelsen before QPR got their hands to him...

This surely should not be considered a first-team squad but an academy recruit?

Why should I care about how you do things in Australia? Why should Adkins or anyone at Saints? That patriotic crap really is uncalled for. I might not know a lot about Asian football but I am very sure that comparing two CBs using games against poorly-ranked national teams with low quality strikers in favour of one really isn't fair.

Because the mighty UAE strikers are way above RVP, Hernandez, Tevez, Silva and the like in terms of quality.

2003 cup final, yes it was the mighty invincibiles of Arsenal with Henry, Pires, Bergkamp and all but I felt we didn't take the many chances we had to take control over the game. Arsenal pretty much scored and sat back. Also HALF-TIME, FERNANDES IN FOR OAKLEY!

I'm thinking something for Morgan to the tune of the Adams family sounds appealing. Come one creative minds, build something on it!

In other news Forecast was in goal as Gillingham crashed out against Crawley (3-2).

Precisely what I think. Having followed Fonte since his Portugal days, and having been a fan and ST holder for Sporting Lisbon until I moved up here (the club where Fonte graduated into pro football from), I can honestly say that he has exceeded any initial expectations by even being able to settle his football in another country superior to Portugal when it gets to domestic competitions. This really is as big as it will ever get for him. This was really the only way he would ever get into the PL (club promotion). I'm sure he knows this and his game will hopefully improve with his place in the hot. And let's be honest, for a PL debutant, our defensive squad has faced to some very big initial challenges.

With all the signings we've made it would be unlikely to see him get the game time he needs and wants. Good luck Billy, hopefully he'll do well and return to the squad!

With Yoshida joining in at Staplewood, I think we'll see a very different Fonte at the Emirates, and in the next few games.

We played really well. However the substitutions were a clear shot in the foot. You cannot want your team to defend and replace all your forward line without any real defensive introductions. You can't also do it when you're 15 minutes from the end of the game and a single goal up. Parking the bus should only happen at leasy in the 80th minute, and that has to involve bringing in a defensive player! People blaming Fonte forget he hasn't bulldozed strikers twice in our penalty area. I don't think the players are to blame in this one. First goal was unlucky by Clyne. Then they scored from a rebound and got the momentum going. You could see it coming really. It was also RVP playing, not exactly Joe the striker... I still do not understand why we kept the 3 midfield players on. They had a massive run at it and were probably even more tired than any of Lallana, Lambert or Puncheon. That was where we lost it really. We had no first line of pressure when ManU started throwing players at our final line of defence. Hopefully Adkins will learn.

Was hoping for a better day for this one. Maybe a sign we'll have a really good game. COYS

I see people remember what was a stupid thrown in that left our defender under pressure when 0-1 down against Wigan but forget a schoolboy penalty that could've put us 0-1 down within 15 minutes of our PL debut (in a game where that player was praised by some and the other who was one of the best in the team that day recieved the typical "he's not up for it"), and shall we not forget about the staticness of good old Jos as both Nasri and Macheda's (correct me if wrong) passes drove inches past him. They also forget about players being in the captain's list almost since they arrived, Or 7 league goals (including a promotion decider) in the season that ignited it all. Or being voted best players in that season. Or being a key part in the 2 decisive goals that shook off the fear from the squad in the most uncertain stage of last season. Football really is an unfair game. Not saying Hooiveld is bad or Fonte is actually amazing, just think that there's more into our defeats and bad moments than the CBs being at fault. They've become a bit of a scapegoat to be honest, especially José. I honestly feel there's no difference between them, hopefully Yoshida will bring some quality in but if results keep not coming our way will we crucify him too? I'm pretty aware that it is unlikely but I would laugh at several posters if Fonte went on to be the first choice CB anyway (and he did well of course). Really feel he deserves a bigger shot at them Prem than two games with our squad to be completed.

It's done! Here's the guy posing to the press with last season's alternative kit:

José Fonte Jos Hooiveld From a very reliable source.