5 points more than 12 months ago

[Batman]

Innit.

[Wrensup]

Yeap

[B Rabbit]

Innit.

 

We are just about doing ok...just.

If, buts and maybes...but we could (should?) be top if we had won our 2 very winnable home games.

[The Kraken]

Amazing.

[CB Fry]

We weren't better than Arsenal this time last season.

[Roger]

Wish people would stop saying this. Completely different situations. We've had far easier games, we were new to premier league last season with a manager who was learning and who then improved dramatically without the 35 million just spent.

[Batman]

Wish people would stop saying this. Completely different situations. We've had far easier games, we were new to premier league last season with a manager who was learning and who then improved dramatically without the 35 million just spent.

 

Learning.?

He was the next fergie

Steve Bruce, holloway and Macay have all won?

 

We spent what? £30m this time 12 months ago?

[Barry Sanchez]

Clinging on, they are clinging on..............................

[Roger]

Adkins improved pretty quickly. 2 defeats out of 12 says that.

[trousers]

Clinging on, they are clinging on..............................

 

[Batman]

Adkins improved pretty quickly. 2 defeats out of 12 says that.

 

Ok? But we are ahead of the game compared to 12 months ago.

 

Which is good news!

[Roger]

Learning.?

He was the next fergie

Steve Bruce, holloway and Macay have all won?

 

We spent what? £30m this time 12 months ago?

 

Lets see if those managers are 5 points clear if relegation zone in jan like Adkins was.

[Turkish]

if you take out the Nowich game and the first half against Sunderland and today we have won every game so far this season and not conceded any goals and would be top of the league.

[alpine_saint]

Wish people would stop saying this. Completely different situations. We've had far easier games, we were new to premier league last season with a manager who was learning and who then improved dramatically without the 35 million just spent.

 

Yep.

 

I suspect we wont improve in the second half of the season like we did last season, so we are probably in big trouble.

[OldNick]

Lets see if those managers are 5 points clear if relegation zone in jan like Adkins was.

yep the tactical genius he is, taking off RL , Al, and Puncheon when we were beating Man U, especially as they were being torn apart by those 3 on the day. Not only that he didn't learn and did the same again at home to Fulham.

NA was out of his depth, time will tell if MP is as well

[Roger]

yep the tactical genius he is, taking off RL , Al, and Puncheon when we were beating Man U, especially as they were being torn apart by those 3 on the day. Not only that he didn't learn and did the same again at home to Fulham.

NA was out of his depth, time will tell if MP is as well

 

Why was NA out if his depth? He got us up two leagues and we were 5 points away from relegation with 2 defeats out of 12. I was as cross as anyone with adkins subs and mistakes but he learnt.

[OldNick]

Why was NA out if his depth? He got us up two leagues and we were 5 points away from relegation with 2 defeats out of 12. I was as cross as anyone with adkins subs and mistakes but he learnt.

He did well getting us up, ai do not believe we would have stayed up if he had stayed as our manager. It was the 3 big home wins against the top sides that made the difference at the end of the season, and I don't think NA was bright enough to get the results. His last result away at Chelsea when we turned around a 2goal deficit was down to him bringing on the best player we had in the squad ,RL, who turned the game. NA doubted RL as a PL player that blindness was his biggest failure

[Wes Tender]

yep the tactical genius he is, taking off RL , Al, and Puncheon when we were beating Man U, especially as they were being torn apart by those 3 on the day. Not only that he didn't learn and did the same again at home to Fulham.

NA was out of his depth, time will tell if MP is as well

 

Conversely of course, by the same token, it was tactical genius bringing on Lambert and Davis who both scored against City. And I thought you didn't rate Puncheon, or was that somebody else?

 

Funny really that when Cork came back from injury, we all of a sudden started to become a team letting in fewer goals and winning more and yet he isn't good enough this season. Well, if you've spent that much on a player like Wanyama to improve the midfield, you'd be a fool not to play him every game, wouldn't you?

[Raging Bull]

Yep.

 

I suspect we wont improve in the second half of the season like we did last season, so we are probably in big trouble.

 

Right on time

[Batman]

Conversely of course, by the same token, it was tactical genius bringing on Lambert and Davis who both scored against City. And I thought you didn't rate Puncheon, or was that somebody else?

 

Funny really that when Cork came back from injury, we all of a sudden started to become a team letting in fewer goals and winning more and yet he isn't good enough this season. Well, if you've spent that much on a player like Wanyama to improve the midfield, you'd be a fool not to play him every game, wouldn't you?

 

Well. Adkins has gone and sitting in midtable with a squad that beat him to the NPC title

 

Whether MP is going to do the business, we shall see.

[OldNick]

Conversely of course, by the same token, it was tactical genius bringing on Lambert and Davis who both scored against City. And I thought you didn't rate Puncheon, or was that somebody else?

 

Funny really that when Cork came back from injury, we all of a sudden started to become a team letting in fewer goals and winning more and yet he isn't good enough this season. Well, if you've spent that much on a player like Wanyama to improve the midfield, you'd be a fool not to play him every game, wouldn't you?

i didn't say I don't like puncheon, but I can see he is not a player who we need. He has done his job in the past and moved on. I hope we are moving to a situation where a player like him is never likely to be in our squad. It would good to have the feeling as in the past where I could feel confident about winning games. It will take time to build a squad that is more superior to clubs like WH a and have the players to comfortably win a against negative set ups like Big Sam fielded today

[Stoozer]

I know some Saints fans will disagree as it seems some are only happy when they are miserable but as we've only played a handful of games, I'm going to stay positive and refrain from posting moans and groans at this stage.

 

Osvaldo looks class and I am confident that while not winning the league (ha ha) we'll make very good progress this season (although the two fans behind me who haven't said a positive comment between them in the two games at St. Mary's will no doubt disagree - which will make them very happy in their misery).

 

I bloody love being a Saints fan

[Roger]

He did well getting us up, ai do not believe we would have stayed up if he had stayed as our manager. It was the 3 big home wins against the top sides that made the difference at the end of the season, and I don't think NA was bright enough to get the results. His last result away at Chelsea when we turned around a 2goal deficit was down to him bringing on the best player we had in the squad ,RL, who turned the game. NA doubted RL as a PL player that blindness was his biggest failure

 

By the same token Adkins was beating the clubs around us! We did lose at home to qpr, swansea and didn't beat stoke or west ham at home. Whose to say that Adkins wouldn't have won those games?

[Saints foreva]

Osvaldo looks class

 

Missed an absolute sitter though.

[OldNick]

By the same token Adkins was beating the clubs around us! We did lose at home to qpr, swansea and didn't beat stoke or west ham at home. Whose to say that Adkins wouldn't have won those games?

we drew at home with Swansea when NA was determined to keep to his keeper experiment, yes we lost at home to QPR and only drew with Stoke and WH. I was never on NA bus and am not sure at present with MP, but we have to stick with him and see how things go. IMO he is a more impressive manager that's NA

[Roger]

we drew at home with Swansea when NA was determined to keep to his keeper experiment, yes we lost at home to QPR and only drew with Stoke and WH. I was never on NA bus and am not sure at present with MP, but we have to stick with him and see how things go. IMO he is a more impressive manager that's NA

 

We drew with swansea at home but that was early in the improvement cycle. That's a big statement from you. Adkins got us promoted from 18th in league 1 to 5 points above relegation zone in premier league. If day more impressive than a manager that was bottom of Spanish league and has 1 win in 10!

[Batman]

We drew with swansea at home but that was early in the improvement cycle. That's a big statement from you. Adkins got us promoted from 18th in league 1 to 5 points above relegation zone in premier league. If day more impressive than a manager that was bottom of Spanish league and has 1 win in 10!

 

Indeed. It was but we are where we are. Crying about Adkins is pointless

He is struggling in the NPC at the mo.

 

Good luck to him

[Roger]

He will get it sorted.

[Batman]

He will get it sorted.

 

Who MP?

As for Adkins, should do. A worse manager beat us to the league with largely that squad

 

Whilst said worse manager (uncle festa) is sitting higher in the league with no money to spend

[Roger]

Adkins will. Not sure about our manager tbh. The puncheon decision was terrible IMO.

[OldNick]

We drew with swansea at home but that was early in the improvement cycle. That's a big statement from you. Adkins got us promoted from 18th in league 1 to 5 points above relegation zone in premier league. If day more impressive than a manager that was bottom of Spanish league and has 1 win in 10!

He has 1win in 4 this season. I don't know about his Spanish exploits, although I do recall the majority of his team were sold from under him and so his team struggled. I also thought Mourinho recommended him to us, and so I feel he came with some quality. As for NA , he failed 2seasons in a row not to win the title he should have done with the squad at his command.

[Roger]

He has 1win in 4 this season. I don't know about his Spanish exploits, although I do recall the majority of his team were sold from under him and so his team struggled. I also thought Mourinho recommended him to us, and so I feel he came with some quality. As for NA , he failed 2seasons in a row not to win the title he should have done with the squad at his command.

 

Absolute rubbish about the title. He did the job and got us up. Why were our players better?

[Batman]

Absolute rubbish about the title. He did the job and got us up. Why were our players better?

 

Guess McDermott is the better manager then? Yes?

[Roger]

Guess McDermott is the better manager then? Yes?

 

Adkins was doing better in the prem tho the league says!

[Batman]

Adkins was doing better in the prem tho the league says!

 

Did Adkins ever win manager of the month in the prem?

 

McDermott won the league title ahead of us and is now above Adkins with a cash strapped Leeds

[Lighthouse]

The biggest improvement is obviously the defence. It is better to be solid at the back and not scoring than being in the boat we were last season and shipping loads of goals. This way, we're always in with a chance of points, which will keep us ticking over mid table until we get our scoring sorted.

 

Last year could score goals but found ourselves in a position whereby we needed 3 to get even a point. We were letting in sloppy goals, like Swansea, Norwich and Fulham at home. Now we aren't. Aside from one corner against Sunderland we've been pretty water tight.

 

We started 02/03 slowly too, remember what happened when Beattie found his shooting boots about 10 games into the season.

[Roger]

After 4 games come on!

[aintforever]

The fact that we are 5 points better off so far is meaningless, we havn't had a hard game yet and last year we had a stupidly hard start.

 

Our manager has plenty still to prove. It remains to be seen how much of the good form last season was just riding on the back of what Adkins had set up and/or new manager syndrome.

[Batman]

The fact that we are 5 points better off so far is meaningless, we havn't had a hard game yet yet last year we had a stupidly hard start.

 

Our manager has plenty still to prove. It remains to be seen how much of the good form last season was just riding on the back of what Adkins had set up and/or new manager syndrome.

 

Of course we have had hard games. This league is very competitive. We're these not easy games last season when our total in these fixtures was less than 5 points?

[Turkish]

Of course we have had hard games. This league is very competitive. We're these not easy games last season when our total in these fixtures was less than 5 points?

 

Don't forget this time last year we were adapting to the premier league so the first ten games didnt count.

[Mystic Force]

Ok all the games we have palayed are hard, so how do we define the ones aginst teams with more resources at their disposal. Maybe very hard. Looking at the current table we haven't got points of teams that have had prolific starts to their season. So its fair to say that isn't a briliant start. So what happens when we do play against team with more resources. They are just going to magically let us score because they actually play football instead of cancel us out. Maybe they have the players to do both, score and cancel us.we are going to have an average season, we wil be doing ok if we are not in the relegation conversation, unless something changes. Everyone is trying to improve but it hasn't happened the way the signs were suggesting at the stadium.

 

Hoping for mid table obscurity and a few good games. And we know it is serious when turkish is using his 50% quota of instructive and intresting posts. Although I am still waiting for Alpine to say we will be relegated except I now know he won't because he complained I suggested he was negative before. Keep your spirits up remember pre season you were definetely our MVP.

[Wes Tender]

Of course we have had hard games. This league is very competitive. We're these not easy games last season when our total in these fixtures was less than 5 points?

 

Any team is capable of beating any other, but if all the teams are capable of producing equally hard games, perhaps we ought to clasify them all as gold games instead of gold,silver and bronze. But does anybody disagree that we had probably the hardest starting fixture list since the inception of the Premier Division last season and that therefore this year's is naturally seen as being considerably easier in terms of the stature of the opposition? So we got a few more points in these opening four games than we did then. But last year we got that difficult opposition out of the way early, so had a run of easier fixtures to come later on. We didn't have too bad a fixture run in to the end of the season either and yet we weren't firing on all cylinders then either, with a sudden goal drought similar to the one we start this season with, just 3 goals in six matches.

[Batman]

Any team is capable of beating any other, but if all the teams are capable of producing equally hard games, perhaps we ought to clasify them all as gold games instead of gold,silver and bronze. But does anybody disagree that we had probably the hardest starting fixture list since the inception of the Premier Division last season and that therefore this year's is naturally seen as being considerably easier in terms of the stature of the opposition? So we got a few more points in these opening four games than we did then. But last year we got that difficult opposition out of the way early, so had a run of easier fixtures to come later on. We didn't have too bad a fixture run in to the end of the season either and yet we weren't firing on all cylinders then either, with a sudden goal drought similar to the one we start this season with, just 3 goals in six matches.

 

Hardest start by anyone in over 20 years

 

Massive LOL

 

Was that why we got beat at home by the mighty Wigan or in games 5-10 we were just not that good?

 

It took what, 10 games+ to get the points we already have now?

 

Reading was a gold game last season, were they as good as man united?

Edited 16 September, 2013 by Batman

[Batman]

Hardest start by anyone in over 20 years

 

Massive LOL

 

Was that why we got beat at home by the mighty Wigan or in games 5-10 we were just not that good?

 

It took what, 10 games+ to get the points we already have now?

 

Reading was a gold game last season, were they as good as man united?

 

 

Will also add

Last season, we got 2 points from the very same 4 fixtures. 1 game we were utterly embarrassed (WBA away) how come they were not "considerably" easy last season?

[Roger]

Will also add

Last season, we got 2 points from the very same 4 fixtures. 1 game we were utterly embarrassed (WBA away) how come they were not "considerably" easy last season?

 

Yes but that was the game Adkins changed a lot and we improved from that moment. We lost at home 3-0 to west brom under this manager ffs.

[OldNick]

Yes but that was the game Adkins changed a lot and we improved from that moment. We lost at home 3-0 to west brom under this manager ffs.

Roger you seem to be bigging up the manager that didnt play RL. You did countless posts about RL and seem to have forgotten it now.

[Roger]

Roger you seem to be bigging up the manager that didnt play RL. You did countless posts about RL and seem to have forgotten it now.

 

Well he did play lambert nearly always. He played to lamberts strengths too. Rickie has only scored 2 in 11 games so not overly happy with him. He's been not very good since the reading game but then that's the same for most if our attacking players, actually all of them.

[Turkish]

Reading (A)

West Ham (H)

Swansea (A)

West Brom (H)

Tottenham (A)

Sunderland (A)

Stoke (H)

West Brom (A)

Sunderland (H)

Norwich (A)

West Ham (H)

 

Does anyone actually think a win against an awful Reading and a last minute, debatable penalty win against WBA and only 7 goals scored is an acceptable return from the list of fixtures above?

[Wes Tender]

Hardest start by anyone in over 20 years

 

Massive LOL

 

Was that why we got beat at home by the mighty Wigan or in games 5-10 we were just not that good?

 

It took what, 10 games+ to get the points we already have now?

 

Reading was a gold game last season, were they as good as man united?

 

Well, if you don't think that playing three of the top four teams in the first four fixtures to be the toughest start, then give me your alternative tougher list with the teams and dates. I might be mistaken, but I don't believe that there has been a starting fixture list where another team had to play three of the top four teams in the opening four matches.

 

Why we were poor in those other games was a combination of lowered confidence after the first four games, a learning curve after a baptism of fire in the top flight having just been promoted and the absence of Cork. Improved results coincided with his returned to fitness.

 

You might be overjoyed at the 5 points in four games, but considering the opposition and only two goals, excuse me for not being overwhelmed with optimism.

 

And defeat by the mighty Wigan might well be compared to defeat this time around by the mighty Norwich, taking into account the level of expenditure we made these past two seasons.

[Wes Tender]

1 game we were utterly embarrassed (WBA away) how come they were not "considerably" easy last season?

 

I'd hazard a guess that the difference between them then and now can probably be summed up in two words.

 

Romalu Lukaku.