Halo Stickman Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Woke up this morning, still buzzing from last night’s result, and thought about how the season’s panning out compared to how I thought it would last August. So many things have happened that I just didn’t foresee back then; perhaps the foremost being the startling emergence of Luke Shaw. To be honest, even when he broke in to the team, I thought some people were going way over the top with this kid; but no - hat’s off to them - how right they were! Is Shaw’s emergence your most unexpected event of the season, so far; or is it Puncheon’s re-emergence, Schneiderlin’s midfield dominance, the ease at which Lambert has transferred his goal-scoring into the Premiership, or something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Puncheon has been DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo78 Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Puncheon, Shaw and Cork have surprised positively - Hooiveld negatively (primarily because he seemed to be No.1 in defense after last season, so expectations were high). However, those aren't events as such. An unexpected event would be the equaliser against Chelsea, or Jay Rod's "dive" against Villa... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilchards Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Goalkeeping, it's been shambles from start to finish. At last it's sorted but I pray he stays injury free. The positive surprise is Fonte, never did it last year as Jos took over but boy has he been brilliant this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Also unexpected for me is how quickly a minority of fans lost faith in NA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rooney Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 To have a manager who is a very good tactition that most do not understand and agree with others re Shaw and Puncheon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelvinsRightGlove Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Also unexpected for me is how quickly a minority of fans lost faith in NA. *Mongboard hystericals. Signing Gaston was a pretty unexpected event, Puncheon's form has been a huge surprise for me. Frankly, I'm still a bit surprised he's even in the building. Fair play to him, Nigel & Nicola for banging their heads together and getting a good outcome from a bad situation. I've always rated both Corky & Morgan, so I'm not all that surprised by their form - I really do believe they are potentially top quality Premiership players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelvinsRightGlove Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Exactly, no fans and not unexpected. If there's one thing the hysterical idiots online share it's their mindnumbing predictability. And a steadfast refusal to admit they were wrong. Like those who claimed we wouldn't go up from L1, Adkins wasn't good enough for the champ/couldn't attract good enough players, we weren't going to get promoted from the champ, we hadn't signed enough quality to stay up, Adkins was tactically inept...the list is almost endless. (yes, I was a pretty long-term lurker before I got involved proper on here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dellboypete Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 not missing lallana half as much as I thought we would He will give so many more options when he is back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel City Saint Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Nigel not getting the sack after our troubling start. Really surprised, pleasantly, that the club stuck with him. Thought he was doomed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadhall Saint Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Also unexpected for me is how quickly a minority of fans lost faith in NA. ^This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmacian_saint Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 A lot of stuff: Fonte's rise. Shame for his injury, not only has he been great but he's also been one of our top 5 performers this season IMO, and this is considering our woeful defensive start. Consistently became MOM candidate with captaincy too. Shaw's progression. Better at every second of a game. I know Fox left the standards quite low, but he's building very solid credentials. Great run for the 2nd goal shows he's mentally up for the big time. SchneiderCork. Looked something really special when they played last season, and I thought Hammond kind of blocked the synergy between both of them. Top midfield pairing. Lambert's adaptation. As good as in any other league. Looking more confident than earlier in the season too. A nice season so far no doubt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Fonte and Puncheon for me as the most surprising. Cork/Lallana/Morgan/Lambert I was confident would make the step up, however Punch wsa written off and he's even got a few goals for us this season, and Fonte was a bit dodgy last season but has been superb this year after a few dodgy games at the start. Even that Arsenal game when we lost 6-1 I didn't actually think he played that badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 many of the things that others have mentioned; Shaw......the "revived" Fonte (who looked tragic in August)... the "new-look" Puncheon....but in retrospect.... the recovery of some sort of form that coincided with the re-emeregnce of Jack Cork. An ever-present last season, he has become an integral part (or is perhaps)... the missing piece in the midfield set-up... I can't wait for him to score his first goal, he deserves one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Diamond Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Nigel not getting the sack after our troubling start. Really surprised, pleasantly, that the club stuck with him. Thought he was doomed. I thought the Fulham game was it for him, so yes, this would probably be mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingwing Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Booing Guly, one of the most unbelievably terrible things I have ever witnessed. Ex-portsmouth players have been treated better than him by us Positive one, being significantly better than Arsenal over the 90 mins at home, really didn't think that was on the cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Shaw... Doesn't even look "raw" despite being just 17. What a talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guan 2.0 Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 I was surprised how many qualified out of work managers work for/text in to Radio Solent. I always thought that Adkins was a talented manager with a huge cache of coaching and psychological knowledge garnered not only from his playing career, but also from his years of academic study and working his way through non-league , up to promotion on a shoe string with S****horpe, and finally, back to back promotions with our good selves. Now, thanks to ‘bazza’ in Sholing and Dave Merrington, I realise that instead Adkins is a clueless and cowardly chump who is a numpty when it comes to transfers or tactics, and we would win every single game if we played a rigid 4-4-2 and Lambert played every minute of every match. Also, he only withholds transfer or team news to hurt the feelings of the listeners, or because he doesn’t pick the team. Whichever feels more appropriate that week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Signing Gaston Fonte and Puncheon turning out to be decent when I had doubts in the Championship. Coming from 2 down to get something at the Bridge Steven Davis proving to be a disappointment. I thought he was our shrewdest signing of the summer at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Most unexpected events of the season have been seeing De Ridder come on and play and almost having Seabourne come on as a sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctoroncall Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Unexpectedly +ive Fonte, cork and punch performances. Unexpectedly -ive gk situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 The number of Saintsweb posters who seem to have no grasp on reality and the steady development of manager and players in the top division. Can't get my head round the way some seriously seemed to think (or still think?) that we should be storming this league, and that every setback needs the manager to be sacked and 12 new players bought. Get real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Guan.... That was brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 (edited) Luke Shaw taking to the premier league like a duck to water. Signing Ramirez. Our tragic habit on turning on our own players. Achieves nothing. Edited 17 January, 2013 by Colinjb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNSUN Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Spending a fortune to sign Ramirez. £12 million one summer and a bit after being in League One, and one of the hottest young prospects in Europe. Plus it took away the tag of having Delap as our record signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Guan.... That was brilliant It's like having Paul Walsh or tony gale going on and on in their old school cockney accents about how they just don't understand why players like lambert do not play every minute of every game and constantly saying so in their summarising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 My youngest buying the beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Saint Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 My youngest buying the beer He probably lifted a score from your wallet beforehand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 It's like having Paul Walsh or tony gale going on and on in their old school cockney accents about how they just don't understand why players like lambert do not play every minute of every game and constantly saying so in their summarising Throw Merson into that mix as well. If anyone has the slightest, slightest idea about running or managing a group of players they'd understand why you don't always play your best team from the start. Tactically, you might have to play "lesser" but more solid footballers to keep the game within touching distance - then you introduce your "better" players if you're still in with a shout (just like Nige did last night). But that's so true as well... listened to that Guardian podcast the other day with James Richardson, they briefly talked about Villa/Saints... one of the pundits on there said; "Villa dominated the game from the off and they were unfortunate not to win". No-one who watched it, even as a Villa fan, would say that. My only conclusion is that it was once again stupid punditry... something the likes of Gale and Merson are professionals at. As for Walsh, I don't think he's too bad. Whilst I'm on the subject of pundits... Graeme Souness is always excellent and knows what he's talking about... just a shame his man-management lets him down. Same with Hoddle, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Probably the rejuvenation and ressurection of Puncheon as a player with a future with us, having looked like somebody firmly on his way out with no prospects elsewhere. I would like to believe that Adkins has played a major part in his rehabilitation, that he put an arm around his shoulder and told him that if he left us, other managers would look at his past record of not settling at other clubs and think of him as a trouble-maker, a disruptive influence in the changing room. Puncheon appears to be a changed player, a major influence on our progress recently. He has matured and seems to be settled and happy here. He is expressing that in his play and his confidence grows with each match. He is a player of some skill who is only now realising his true potential. I had wanted us to get rid of him at the end of last season, but now I'm a convert who wants him to stay and the way that he has turned things around gains my respect and admiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Stickman Posted 17 January, 2013 Author Share Posted 17 January, 2013 ... listened to that Guardian podcast the other day with James Richardson, they briefly talked about Villa/Saints... one of the pundits on there said; "Villa dominated the game from the off and they were unfortunate not to win". No-one who watched it, even as a Villa fan, would say that. My only conclusion is that it was once again stupid punditry... something the likes of Gale and Merson are professionals at. The trouble is that a lot of these so called pundits and commentators turn up to games hamstrung by their own agendas. One of the worse examples of this I witnessed was the England B international against Russia when Le Tiss played brilliantly and scored a hat-trick. I watched the match on TV whilst listening to the radio commentary. You would have thought that Alan Green and Harry Rednapp, who was the radio pundit, were watching a different match! They did their level best not to mention Le Tiss at all! Of course, it could have had something to do with the fact that Hoddle was about to pick his England squad for the 1998 World Cup and that one of the places Le tiss might have taken would have been that of a certain Jamie Rednapp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 17 January, 2013 Share Posted 17 January, 2013 Woke up this morning, still buzzing from last night’s result, and thought about how the season’s panning out compared to how I thought it would last August. So many things have happened that I just didn’t foresee back then; perhaps the foremost being the startling emergence of Luke Shaw. To be honest, even when he broke in to the team, I thought some people were going way over the top with this kid; but no - hat’s off to them - how right they were! Is Shaw’s emergence your most unexpected event of the season, so far; or is it Puncheon’s re-emergence, Schneiderlin’s midfield dominance, the ease at which Lambert has transferred his goal-scoring into the Premiership, or something else? Taking the lead at Man City. Was unexpected even 10 minutes before it happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Stickman Posted 18 January, 2013 Author Share Posted 18 January, 2013 Anyone wish to revise their selections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadhall Saint Posted 18 January, 2013 Share Posted 18 January, 2013 Yep - I think today will live long in the memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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