No doubt we'll try our best. In acting upon your request, you realise it will be a bitter sweet experience, as Saints very own occasional Premiership forward line of crowd favourites Brett Ormerod and Kevin Phillips are now playing for Blackpool [and doing well, the old buggers]. I wonder if Kevin remembers our special song for Him, His Wife and Bretty [his thief and her lover ]..?
Forgive and forget. It's all water under the bridge. Good player. EDIT: That's made me remember a little comedy sketch I wrote about Kevin Phillips talking with James Beattie, in the middle of a match, about Brett Ormerod. Can't remember it in detail, but it went along the lines of Phillips asking Beatts why Bretty was so loved, even though he didn't score much. And Beatts answered, well he runs around a lot. It was pretty good punchline to a half decent comedy football sketch. Of course, you'd have to read the lot to get the full significance of it. It got published somewhere. I have no record of it as the HDD I had it on went bang..! Ah well, there goes the award.
Would like to see a saints win in this one, feel a cup run in this cup could do us very well, have high hopes for the competition. Think we will see: Bart, Butterfield, fonte, Martin, Dickson, de ridder, chaplow, spiderman, Holmes, lambert and forte. But wouldn't be surprised to see guly feature and maybe one of the youth players, gonna be hopeful with a 2-0. And great credit to you plumber for an excellent matchday thread. COYR
How's Chaplow playing for you guys ? Started off well here, than had a run of so so games and totally lost confidence
He's doing well, although our first choice midfield at the moment is too strong for him to break into, he's more than a useful guy to have on the bench. In the last two home games he's come on in the last 15 minutes, given the midfield a new boost of energy and scored a lovely goal on Sunday. He smacked the post with an effort a few games ago and he seems a happy bunny down here.
We've all been guilty of wanting NC to pay big money for 'stars', but we've had bargains that do well, such as Cork, Chaplow and Lambert. The million we paid for Lambert looked big at the time but has turned out to be the bargain of the century.
Agreed when we signed lambo i thought 1. HOW MUCH and 2. Who? How wrong i was cos hes been one of the best buys i can think off, it amazes me that he hasnt played at the level before because all he needed was his fitness improving and weve never looked back
Made logical sense to me to buy Lambert and Hammond, who were clearly the best striker and midfielder in League 1 and the prices we paid were spot on (and thanks to hind-sight, the prices were brilliant). It goes with the theory that its better to sign hungry players from same division or lower, than probably unmotivated "stars" and rejects from the Prem.
Character is second only to talent when selecting a player and sometimes character can change a good player to a great player. Look at Beckham...he worked hard on the talent he'd been born with. We don't want anyone to disturb this winning side. Just watched Birmingham collecting the League Cup last season...emphasising how this cup could be attainable if the draw favours us, so if (I said if) we get passed PNE we shouldn't hope for a big side. We've played all the top sides, so we're not all starry eyed. We don't need the one big pay-day that some clubs wish for (sorry Nicola). We want luck on our side. However, we may need to rest some players, but nothing wrong with playing de Ridder, Bart, Chaplow and Schneiderlin (what a back-up team!). I bet Nigel will have first teamers on the bench just in case; he wants to win this game as well.
Hammond added League One steel that we were badly lacking. And it's probably worth remembering that Adkins is still working with a squad which he inherited almost all of, I think this is a bit overlooked and a great achievement. Also I think Chaplow is seriously threatening the current midfield...but who to drop??? Glad I'm not the boss. But if I was I would pick: Bart Butterfield Martin Hooiveld Dickson Holmes Chaplow Morgan Forte Guly Lambert Subs: Kelv/Forecast, SdR, other young players.
Still sure Nigel will have players like Lallana on the bench..hoping he won't have to play them but just in case.
Seeing all the players being named on here for tomorrow's game (including possibles), suggests that Nige might have to draw straws to decide who plays. Lets hope the ones that he draws are all short ones...
Congrads to 'theflyingplumber' on a good post Looking forward to the game tomorrow night; PNE have nothing to loose and expect them to put up a good fight. Realistically, can only see one result [no disrespect implied]; a solid home win; hopefully with a clean sheet too. Would hope that Martin gets a run-out and I will be interested to see who starts in the full back positions. Would be good too if some of the emerging youngsters get a chance from the bench too - I presume its 7 subs on the bench for tomorrow night? COYR's!
Are 16 year olds allowed into St Mary's on their own ????? only PNE might have one playing tomorrow night......come to think about it there might even be two of them. Phil Brown will be hoping to top up his tan when PNE venture down to the sunny South, he will be most disappointed if the weather is poor, losing in the Carling Cup is one thing but coming back up here with a fading tan would be his worst nightmare..
Phil Brown is talking about resting players, but I wouldn't read too much into that. Everyone uses squad players in cups.
Very true fran-MLs little camera, but in fairness you would expect a Prem or Championship club to have a stronger and larger squad to pick from than a Div1/2 club. As mentioned previously following relegation last season and the financial mess PNE are in, Brown was told to get rid of the high earners and produce a playing squad based on the clubs youth team players and free transfers/loan etc. He has done that and up to now very successfully. PNE like the rest of the Div 1/2 clubs are restricted on how much they can spend on players due to the new ruling (it will also apply in the Championship next season). Div 1/2 clubs are also restricted to having 5 subs on the bench in League games, the idea being that clubs should operate with a smaller playing staff. PNE are fortunate in that many young players were ready to step up to the first team squad and they have done well. The difficulty is getting the balance right between youth and experience, so you can't overload the team with too many youngsters at the same time. The Carling Cup etc, is the ideal opportunity to give the young players who are not playing in the first team on a regular basis, the chance to further their playing experience. I would expect a Southampton weakened team to be stronger than a PNE weakened team to be honest, but we will see tomorrow night..
