Fan comment (The Pink, 27/09/08)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2008THE DAILY ECHO12

SAINTS’ FIRST TEAM FIXTURES AND RESULTS 2008/09

AUGUST

Sat 9 Cardiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 12 Exeter (CC1) . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 16 Birmingham . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 23 Derby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 26 Birmingham (CC2) . . . .H

Sat 30 Blackpool (12.45pm) . . .H

SEPTEMBER

Sun 14 QPR (4pm) . . . . . . . . . . .A

Wed 17 Ipswich . . . . . . . . . . . . H

Sat 20 Barnsley . . . . . . . . . . . . H

Tues 23 Rotherham (CC3) . . . . .A

Sat 27 Doncaster . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 30 Norwich . . . . . . . . . . . .H

OCTOBER

Sat 4 Coventry (5.20pm) . . . . . .A

Sat 18 Watford . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

Tue 21 Sheffield Utd . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 25 Swansea . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 28 Coventry . . . . . . . . . . .H

NOVEMBER

Sat 1 Preston . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 8 Bristol City (5.20pm) . . . .H

Sat 15 Wolves . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 22 Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 25 Plymouth . . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 29 Charlton . . . . . . . . . . . . . A

DECEMBER

Sat 6 Sheffield Wednesday . . .H

Tue 9 Crystal Palace . . . . . . . . A

Sat 13 Burnley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A

Sat 20 Nottingham Forest . . . .H

Fri 26 Plymouth (3pm) . . . . . . . .A

Sun 28 Reading . . . . . . . . . . . .H

JANUARY

Sat 3 TBA (FAC3) . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sat 10 Barnsley . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 17 Doncaster . . . . . . . . . . .H

Tue 27 Norwich . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 31 Swansea . . . . . . . . . . . .H

FEBRUARY

Tue 3 Sheffield Utd . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 7 Watford . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 14 Bristol City . . . . . . . . . . . A

Sat 21 Preston . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 28 Cardiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

MARCH

Tue 3 Ipswich . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Sat 7 Birmingham . . . . . . . . . . .A

Tue 10 Derby . . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 14 QPR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H

Sat 21 Blackpool . . . . . . . . . . .A

APRIL

Sat 4 Charlton . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

Sat 11 Wolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A

Mon 13 Crystal Palace (3pm) . .H

Sat 18 Sheffield Wednesday . . .A

Sat 25 Burnley . . . . . . . . . . . . .H

MAY

Sun 3 Nottingham Forest . . . . . .AMidweek games 7.45pm kick-off unlessstated. Weekend games 3pm unless stated.Key: CC = Carling Cup; FAC = FA Cup

L 1-2

W 3-1

L 1-2

W 1-0

W 2-0

L 0-1

L 1-4

D 2-2

D 0-0

L 1-3

Davis

Bialkowski

Davis

Davis

Bialkowski

Davis

Davis

Davis

Davis

Bialkowski

James

James

James

James**

James

James

James

James

Cork

Cork

Svensson

Schneiderlin

Svensson

Svensson

Thomas

Svensson

Lancashire

Perry

Perry

Perry***

Perry

Perry

Perry 1

Perry

Cork

Perry

Cork

Cork

Wotton

Svensson

Surman

Surman

Surman

Surman

Surman

Surman

Surman

Surman 1

Mills**

Mills*

Schneiderlin***

Wotton

Schneiderlin

Schneiderlin

Wotton

Schneiderlin**

Wotton

Wotton

Surman

Surman

Gillett

Gillett

Gillett

Gillett

Gillett**

Gillett***

Gillett

Gillett*

Gillett

James

Lallana

Lallana

Lallana

Lallana 1

Schneiderlin*

Lallana

Schneiderlin**

Lallana

Lallana

Wotton

Thomson*

Thomson

McGoldrick

White*

Lallana 1

White*

Lallana 1

McGoldrick

McGoldrick

Lallana

Holmes**

Holmes 1

Holmes

Holmes***

Holmes 1

Holmes

Holmes*

Dyer***

W-Phillips*

W-Phillips**

McGoldrick 1

McGoldrick 2

John*

McGoldrick

McGoldrick

McGoldrick

McGoldrick

John**

Pekhart

McGoldrick

Dyer*

John*

Thomson*

Wotton*

John*

Dyer*

Dyer*

Schneiderlin*

Thomson*

John* 1

W-Phillips**

Cork**

Mills**

John**

Pekhart**

Pekhart** 1

John**

Dyer**

Wotton***

John***

Wotton***

W-Phillips***

Pekhart***

22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 1100 1111 1122 1133 114411

COMEDIAN LeeEvans played severalsell out gigs at theSheffield Arena lastweekend but nobodywould have got abigger laugh than ifthey had gone to thenext door Don ValleyStadium to see Saintsthis week.

An embarrassing mixtureof disastrous defending, fivefoot first touches and scan-dalous shooting from Saintsmade an awful Rotherhamside look quite magnificent.

Saints looked completelyout of their depth against aside that are in even more ofa financial pickle than usand, let us not forget, cur-rently teetering over theprecipice of the ConferenceNational.

Things didn't start well asthe first sight fans got wasthree empty stands and acauldron of quiet, otherwiseknown as the Don ValleyStadium.

To be honest theRotherham fans lookedrightly embarrassed to onlyfill a fifth of the 25,000-seaterathletics stadium, and inturn were silent throughoutthe game.

The eerie stadium layoutand lack of atmospherereminded me somewhat of areserve game and, to be hon-

est, that is somethingSouthampton's young play-ers should still be involvedwith.

And that is being kind.It became abundantly obvi-

ous that night that the grandplan of harnessing youth tocreate a seamless linkbetween the academy andfirst team just won't workwhen the players aren't up toscratch.

As is well documentedSaints are in the midst of afinancial crisis but usingsuch players is only speedingup the club's path to com-plete self-destruction.

In fairness to Mr Lowe andhis cronies, the plan is a goodone - on paper.

Hiring Poortvliet andWotte, a pair known for theiryouth development skills aswell as their history of get-ting the best out of a bad situ-ation, was a sensible move.

But the key issue Lowemust realise is the Saintsacademy he left two yearsago is of a very different stan-dard to the one we currentlypossess.

Gone are the prodigiouslytalented Walcott and Bale, aswell as the likes of Best,Cranie and Blackstock, whoat this time would waltzstraight into our first team.

Now Saints have playersthat don't possess the skill tobridge the gaps left by theexperienced players who leftover the summer and we arestruggling.

Don’t get me wrong, I knowwe have no money and theseyoung players need our sup-port, but I can’t help fear theworst.

Despite the best efforts ofthe away support, of whichSaints are a good-naturedbunch on the whole, there isa limit to how much we cantake.

I spent the whole of the first

half with my head in myhands and the second laugh-ing hysterically at the wholesituation.

I think I may have even hada breakdown of some sortduring the 90 minutes, andI'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Saints fans will always sup-port the players but, by thesame token, we need to feel alittle love back.

A 500-mile round trip toSouth Yorkshire for aTuesday night Carling Cupgame is a huge effort for fansand we don't deserve to betreated to performances likethat.

No matter how funny itmay have been.

SIMON PEACHBishopstoke

KKEEYY:: LLAA:: lleeaagguuee aappppeeaarraanncceess.. LLGG:: lleeaagguuee ggooaallss.. CCAA:: ccuupp aappppeeaarraanncceess.. CCGG:: ccuupp ggooaallss.. CCSSAA:: ccaarreeeerr SSaaiinnttss aappppeeaarraanncceess.. CCSSGG:: ccaarreeeerr SSaaiinnttss ggooaallss..

LA LG CA CG CSA CSG LA LG CA CG CSA CSG LA LG CA CG CSA CSGKELVIN DAVIS 7 0 0 0 87 0BARTOSZ BIALKOWSKI 0 0 3 0 21 0TOMMY FORECAST 0 0 0 0 0 0CHRIS PERRY 6 1 2 0 14 1WAYNE THOMAS 0 0 1 0 31(1) 0JACK CORK 3(1) 0 2 0 5(1) 0MICHAEL SVENSSON 4 0 1 0 87(1) 6JAMIE HATCH 0 0 0 0 0 0

OLIVER LANCASHIRE 1 0 0 0 1 0

KYLE DAVIES 0 0 0 0 0 0JOSEPH MILLS 1 0 1(1) 0 2(1) 0MICHAEL BYRNE 0 0 0 0 0 0RUDI SKACEL 0 0 0 0 52(6) 5PAUL WOTTON 3(3) 0 3 0 6(3) 0ANDREW SURMAN 7 1 3 0 90(18) 12LEE HOLMES 5 0 2 2 7 2JASON EUELL 0 0 0 0 32(6) 3NATHAN DYER 1(3) 0 0(1) 0 42(25) 3LLOYD JAMES 6 0 3 0 9 0MORGAN SCHNEIDERLIN 5(1) 0 2 0 7(1) 0

SIMON GILLETT 7 0 2 0 9(2) 0JAKE THOMSON 1(2) 0 1 0 2(2) 0BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS1(2) 0 1 0 50(36) 18GRZEGORZ RASIAK 0 0 0 0 68(16) 33STERN JOHN 2(3) 0 0(3) 1 36(12) 20DAVID MCGOLDRICK 7 1 3 2 16(17) 4ADAM LALLANA 7 2 3 1 12(5) 4JAMIE WHITE 2 0 0 0 2 0MATTHEW PATERSON 0 0 0 0 0 0TOMAS PEKHART 1(2) 1 0(1) 0 1(3) 1

Saints cup crashis beyond a joke

WHAT’S GOING ON?Jack Cork (left) and DavidMcGoldrick protest.