Southampton F.C.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-2010242,00.html wrote:

Sterile Southampton hit new Lowe

By Nick Szczepanik

Southampton 0 Crystal Palace 0

IT IS a fair assumption that Rupert Lowe, the Southampton chairman, has had better days. First, the local paper published six pages of anti-Lowe letters and led its front page with a report that a consortium led by Andrew Strode-Gibbons, a wealthy financier from Hampshire, is preparing a bid to buy a third of the club’s shares and oust him. Then another sterile display from the team was followed by demonstrations and chants of “We want Rupert out.”

Southampton have won only two of their past 14 league matches, and taken only four points from the seven games since George Burley took over as manager from Harry Redknapp. This latest failure left them rooted in the lower reaches of the Coca-Cola Championship, and if not for uncharacteristically wayward finishing by Andrew Johnson, the England forward, they might have been beaten out of sight.

Nor was it a good night for Crystal Palace, who dominated but may have to concede that automatic promotion is slipping beyond their reach. Although unbeaten in their seven matches since Christmas, they have now drawn successive games against Reading, last Friday, and Southampton and are 17 points adrift of second-placed Sheffield United.

Burley gave a debut to Andrew Surman, 19, but, like most of his team-mates, he struggled to make much impression. Johnson had a chance with Bartosz Bialkowski, the Southampton goalkeeper, out of his ground, but his lob sailed wide, and when Darren Kenton’s horrid miskick gave him another opening, his shot was blocked.

At the other end, Kenwyne Jones somehow tricked his way through the Palace defence but spoilt it all by blasting the ball high into the stand. Only Marian Pahars showed much quality anywhere near goal and Gabor Kiraly, the Palace goalkeeper, needed to be at his best to tip the Latvia forward’s shot over the crossbar.

The second half belonged almost exclusively to Palace, but for all their dominance they could not give Bialkowski much to do — and Johnson was the main culprit. Two minutes in, he volleyed a cross from Michael Hughes wide, then hacked wildly at another promising situation, a low diagonal pass by Wayne Andrews. Third time lucky? Not exactly. Fitz Hall and Jobi McAnuff opened the home defence, but Johnson got the ball trapped between his feet.

SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): B Bialkowski — C Baird, C Lundekvam, D Kenton, D Higginbotham — M Pahars, M Oakley, D Prutton, A Surman — K Jones (sub: D Blackstock, 62min), B Ormerod (sub: N Dyer, 76). Substitutes not used: P Smith, T Hajto, R Fuller. Booked: Prutton.

CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): G Kiraly — F Hall, D Ward, M Hudson, E Boyce — T Soares, B Watson (sub: W Andrews, 63), M Hughes, J McAnuff (sub: C Morrison, 85) — A Johnson, J Macken (sub: D Freedman, 63). Substitutes not used: J Speroni, M Leigertwood. Booked: Macken.

Referee: A Marriner.

3greenrizla's wrote:

& you have to get up at 9 o'clock on a sunday morning to watch the 30 seconds you get on tv

mchurl wrote:

Ricado Fuller is poised to join ipswich on a month's loan.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=364308&Title=Possible+loan+for+Fuller

wouldnt be a bad move imo as it will allow him to get some first team football.

mchurl wrote:

I agree with Fuller. He was a poor player for pompey and even worse for us.You never know though if he scores a few goals while out on loan he might get some form back and then hopefully cure some of our goal-scoring problems as well.