Saxon

Don't be ridiculous it couldn't be a bit of fun, it's related to football, everything related to football has be taken deadly seriously.

I don't think there's been anything to complain about with his assessments so far this season. His point about the goals is a valid one, we need Pelle and Long to hit some serious form and to get some excellent service. He predicted we should have won against West Brom, I think we all feel like that was 2 points lost to a poor game, but better early in the season than later when it really starts to matter (look at the opening goes of last season, 1-1 home to sunderland? That was a sh1t3 game, the rest of the season was sweet). And he's fair here, considering our last trips to the Boleyn, a draw would be an improvement for a start! Plus he thinks we'll be fine and tjinks we're stronger than the results suggest, I think that's definitely true, it's just a shame we only showed that at Liverpool and not WBA. Hopefully we might be able to show it against West Ham for once!

Well he got Koeman in, and I think that would have taken a seriously good impression. I think Reed does very well in getting in players. On the whole we get the better transfers of the bottom 13 of the premier league and now and again we get the odd coup. Though they don't always turn out so well.. (Osvaldo, yes a coup, top scorer in Serie A coming to St Mary's after our first season back in the PL 14th and skirting relegation at stages?). I have to disagree with you and I have to say I don't know where you get wet towel and ditherer from. Never seemed like that in any of his interviews. The manager's reputation definitely plays a huge part though as you say. But I don't think Reed is detrimental to bringing in new signings. His impact on incumbent players and the exodus of the summer I have no idea though and doubt anyone outside the club ever will.

Well quite clearly my point is an over-exaggeration of the difference in giving a player robust criticism after a bad performance and a sugar coated one and the impact on the players performance (in my opinion). This was in support of Dan Johnson's comment, with whom I agree. The example I used was after a match as opposed to half time but the principle is the exact same at half time. Hopefully it is now clear to you that this is perfectly in keeping with the discussion in the thread. If you need any more help though, especially with the longer words, let me know.

Well think of it like this. If you've just played a **** game and your manager says you tried your best there's nothing you could do, you'll think, crap, I'm not that good, It's not going to be easy for me to get better than that, and your confidence will drop and your form will struggle, i.e. Man Utd last season and this season. If you have a **** game and your manager says you were **** then you go ****, I can do better than this I need to buck my ideas up, and you work hard for the next game i.e. Saints second half.

If that was the case with the support for Pelle than that's really good. We really need the fans behind the lads right now, it will help the bedding in process go so much more smoothly. Cracking goal by Pelle, missed the Cork one unfortunately, but sounds like the second half was a massive improvement! I like Pelle, hope he really starts to fire up this season now.

Excellent point. His improvement over last season may well be what's helping our defence with Yosh in atm, as both are doing well so far this season. Could well be that you have hit the nail on the head.

That's crazy. Can they really afford that? Surely that must disrupt the dressing room wage scale somewhat? Though I suppose they wouldn't have got him if they couldn't afford that. He's hardly going to drop from 90+ pw to 30 pw is he now. Those City wages are obscene. Football is horrendously greedy but we all convince ourselves its just how it is. But there's nothing we can do about it really, even if we stopped going the amount we pay in ticket prices compared to the PL income is nothing.

Very much looking forward to this! And after the performance on Sunday, what a first home game this could be! COYS! Lets get three points in the bag and obliterate WBA along the way! We could start to build up some serious momentum here! :D

Very much looking forward to this! And after the performance on Sunday, what a first home game this could be! COYS! Lets get three points in the bag and obliterate WBA along the way! We could start to build up some serious momentum here! :D

Yes it helps us by weakening them, and hopefully allows us to keep Cork (but you never know he still may go once they get a new manager in, not 1st of Sep yet!) but you have to feel for Palace fans. That's heart achingly sad. We have to count our lucky stars. We were mullered by key players leaving but Katherina was true to her word and pumped the cash back in and thanks to Ron & Co's astute signings we're looking pretty good all things considered. After all the moaning on here, when you see stuff like this, it really makes you think come on guys, we have it pretty damn good for a team outside the top 7, still. Even with the exodus we've had. I'm very excited for our new season, more so than last season tbh because we smashed our expectations last season after finishing 14th the season before haha. Lets get behind the team and knuckle down for a good season of Saints football. p.s. for all the sympathy I do hope we now keep Corky

Dunno about Newcastle. Could go there, but I think it would put a metric s***-ton more pressure on Fat Sam at West Spam. And on Irving at West Brom, but I think he'd plump for the Ham job as its bigger, more money etc and a "set up". Dunno if Newcastle would go for him?

There is an argument for it, but not a particularly strong one yet as people have said, we haven't seen them in action over a period of time. I think this thread will be best after the season or towards the end of it. We need to see how they performs over the different parts of the season. The extra depth would give me confidence that it could be stronger, but there's a few hurdles to overcome: -Can the lads gel and build up a head of steam for the run of "easier" fixtures after Liverpool? That would be a good sign. If were on course to equal or better last season we need to picking up almost all wins from after Liverpool. -How do they handle the s****y Christmas period with the big games? If we do struggle with the bigger teams can we force any draws and can we at least beat the "weaker" teams in-between the bigger ones (last Christmas we couldn't even take many points off the "easier" teams in-between the bigger ones which made it more frustrating). -Can we rebuild the momentum after the difficult Christmas period, last season I don't feel we ever did to the same level as before. We pretty much managed to hang onto our position. -Can we give the cups a good run (depends upon the draws obviously). As depth was the prime problem at Christmas, and that was the tougher period, as for this season, I think we could be in with a better chance. But as has been said, it all depends on how well the squad gels and starts in the first couple of months. They are crucial as if we flounder in those, then we'll be in the dog house come Christmas (unless we do a Sunderland and beat the top teams in a run?? )

This does look realistic. I reeeaaaally hope you're proved right!! If we added these, plus Taider, Tadic and Pelle, cracking additions I would say.

Well its assumed that to sell the s**t quickly enough you drop the price until it goes... Bucks Saint is completely correct in pointing out that in a fire sale, the speed is what defines the term. Otherwise if the prices are just low, then its surely just a regular sale... The whole point of a fire sale as he says is selling stuff urgently. Man Utds purchase of Fellaini last season would be like a fire buy, they bought a player last minute at a high price because they ran out of time and were under pressure

Why would he have to stay? Just wondered what your reasoning was. I mean surely that would just have added to his plaudits and he'd be even more "hot property" for spuds? Look at Martinez with Wigan. I know they were relegated but do you think Everton would have hired him without that cup run/win?

I think tbh most of the top 10 teams will have major misses from the squad for preseason that evens out a bit. The bottom 10, maybe not to the same extent, so maybe they'll have a bit more of an advantage to begin with. Dunn if that'll impact our first "easy" run? Could be all b+ll+cks though just something I wondered reading your post.

If it turns out we don't get de Vrij (my preference) then we definitely ought to snap up Van Djik http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28331345 4-0, Celtic - KR Reykjavik " Virgil van Dijk and Teemu Pukki were the heroes as Celtic outclassed KR Reykjavik at Murrayfield to stroll into the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Dutch defender Van Dijk helped himself to an early double before Pukki repaid manager Ronny Deila's faith with a third before half-time..."

Sounding very positive from those that were there so far. Would like to at least give say Sharp and Mayuka a go in the early cup rounds, especially sharp, see what he can offer with new life. Promising feedback on the youngsters which is especially nice, as is the Pelle feedback. Good to hear the usual suspects are performing as good as we know they can shame about the goals.

100% agreed. Soo glad we don't have another bullsh*tbet.cr*p sponsored kit!

Yeah if it's in our court then job's a good'un and he can just stay here and play with Fonte next season! so hmmm.

Did I touch a nerve or something?? This is just a light-hearted thread! And yeah it does happen, heard it on a number of occasion last season from commentators during Saints games on the telly/internet streams. But do go on, tell me what I know.

Aha, but we're not "impartial" commentators are we

Apparently Liverhampton have agreed an £8.5 million fee for Remy... after selling Borini for £14 million. What the hell QPR. Are you just trolling everyone else? The world is crazy.

If we do well against bigger teams, like last season I'm expecting the usual drivel about how the bigger teams have had an "off day" against us.