Once again abuse directed at our own players reared its ugly head during the Arsenal game, it has to stop !

For some reason football crowds take to some players whilst others are disliked for no apparent reason, but with most clubs its usually one player who is the scapegoat, however at St Mary's this season we seem to be just plain greedy and have at least four.

Guly is the first candidate for the knockers, whatever Guly does is wrong in many peoples eyes, but what has he done wrong ? its not a racist thing as some would suggest, most of those that slate Guly love Jason Puncheon, but the dichotomy of the situation is that over the past 2 1/2 seasons Guly has given us sterling service making much contribution to our back to back promotion seasons, whilst Puncheon spent most of this time at other clubs due to his own petulance and unwillingness to knuckle down and work hard for this football club. Now Im not suggesting that we should never forgive him for this, indeed most of the crowd have, but if we can forgive Puncheon for far greater misdemeanors in his Saints career than Guly, why is the Brazilian not afforded the same forgiveness.

Next obvious candidate is Artur Boruc, yes he has not made the greatest of starts for this club, in fact his opening ten minutes against Arsenal were as bad a performance I have seen from any Saints keeper, but the verbal abuse directed at him from the stands aligned with the ironic cheers when he caught the ball or even stopped a back pass did nothing to help what we were trying to do and that was to beat Arsenal, whilst he was wearing a Saints shirt we should have been trying to back him and inspire him, not trying to damage his confidence further, personally I would rather Boruc save a last minute penalty for Saints and win us points than see him drop a cross and cost us points, but from the vitriol hurled at him it seems that there are many who dont feel that way.

Danny Fox is another that can do no right, yes his defending hasnt been great this season, but he hasnt been the only culprit in that nor the worst, but again the boo boys will praise Luke Shaw to the high hills but refuse to see any good in Fox, last season his long accurate crossing both in open play and especially dead ball situations created a lot of goals for Saints and Rickie Lambert in particular, the absence of Fox has been noticeable when you look at Lambert's goal return and contribution to the games, we should be looking at how Fox could be used to bring on Luke Shaw in the way Chris Marsden helped Wayne Bridge, not slaughtering him, but there are those that think Shaw is already the finished article, I like Shaw but I know his failings and where he needs to improve, if Saints dont do that im sure Arsene Wenger will be pleased to do so.

Jay Rodriguez has received stick to a lesser extent tha the first trio, his main crime is to be considered the replacement for Rickie Lambert, that being the case some just cant accept him, his problem is that he rarely gets the chance to play in his proper position as a striker and that he is forced to play out of position, Jay Rodriguez will be a great striker for Saints if the crowd warm to him, if they dont then he will do it at another club, look a the stick Kevin Davies got in his second spell at Saints, then look at the career he had after leaving in 2003.

Paulo Gazzaniga is another who will not fulfil his potential at St Mary's if we are not careful, its nor his fault that Saints did not sign a keeper that is up to the job, at his age he should be learning his trade and getting the odd game here and there, not thrown into vital relegation clashes due to there being no one better, the amount of slagging off of Gazzaniga I heard for the goal at QPR was absurd, yet Kelvin gets no where near about a dozen crosses at Stoke and lets in a soft goal for the second and I dont think I have heard a murmur.

One think that does puzzle me though is how all of these players get abuse when they play, but no one questions the man who is selecting them, on one hand the same people who are slagging off Guly and Boruc on New Years day are praising Nigel Adkins in the same breath, if you back the manager then back him to pick the right team, there is only one reason why Guly and Boruc played against Arsenal and thats because they were selected, they cant demand to be on the pitch, some will have a different opinion of who is selecting them other than dkins but thats another matter.

So get behind these players, all I hear about is the great unity of the club etc etc, if thats so why are we berating so many members of the Saints family, we surely all have the same goal, I know I do and that is to escape relegation this season, one thing I do know though is that it helps no player to be barracked, I will give opinions of a player on here or in the pub, but when I am watching the game I back them all, I have the feeling that there are those that revel in seeing some of our players fail, I am certainly not one of them, I am well aware of those that arent good enough, but it gives me nothing but pleasure when I see one of those players come in and do a good job.

Im fed up with defending players and then being accused of having favourites, people will say that I prefer Fox to Shaw, thats not the case, but  do know why I feel that both should be in the team and the failings for both rather than blind faith that Luke Shaw should be in the first team purely because Arsenal and Chelsea may want him, Luke Shaw will have  a long Premier career of that im Shaw ( I meant this typo lol) but unless he is nurtured he may take a lot longer to be the player he will become and that is my worry.   

Photo: Action Images

mattlegod added 13:37 - Jan 3 For me a player deserves backing from all fans until such a time that he shows no desire or a lack of passion on the field. With Guly, there were times in the previous two seasons were he looked like he couldnt care less and that is why he has doubters now. That said, as I said in one my comments yesterday, if he continues to show the desire (let alone his ability) he has shown in the last two games he will soon silence those doubters - but consistency is the key. Same rule applies for Boruc. Agree with your Marden/Bridge point of view but please accept that Shaw is the better defender and the vast majority of fans will have seen that and of course his potential (although not yet finished article); however as I have said above you cannot fault DF's commitment when he plays.

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stjay added 13:57 - Jan 3 On tuesday Guly had a pop from distance and tested Szczesny, there was also that oh-so-nearly moment against Stoke. If either one of these attempts would have gone in then I'm fairly certain that the boo's would have ceased by now. Guly doesn't deserve the stick he's getting, but on the plus side all it takes is a small moment of composure and perhaps a bit of luck to get people back on his side. I really hope he proves the doubters wrong as he has the potential to provide adequate cover to several positions in our attack in the event of injuries.

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SaintNick added 14:12 - Jan 3 I dont think they would stop if he had scored, at the start of december last season he was almost in double figures with goals and a number of assists and he was still getting stick from the crowd
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mattlegod added 14:15 - Jan 3 Nick - you are right in your reply to stjay but you are forgetting the times he watched the ball go past him which invariably led to the rest of the team being under pressure. As I have already said, show 100% ALL of the time while on the pitch and not in fits and starts as he has done recently and I am sure doubters will warm to him
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landsdownsaint added 14:21 - Jan 3 After the obvious mistakes that Boruc made on Sunday he did start to grow in confidence,I noticed the way he holds himself ,his hands atre bigger than the ball and there was one roll out of the ball that was world class!he is by far the best keeper at the club and acouple more games will prove it...as for Guly he should be playing every game he gives us a great balance,as far as I can see the only player that is suffering is RL IMO

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SaintNick added 14:27 - Jan 3 matt, thats the whole point, it doesnt matter what he has done in the past its what he does now and we should get behind him, if he is continually played when he is poor then its the manager that should be questioned not the player
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1962saint added 14:59 - Jan 3 I agree completely, you should never boo your own players - it can only have a negative effect on the team's performance. Proof of this is if you go to an away match and witness the opposition home fans getting on their players backs, it immediately gives a boost to our chances of an away win. Boruc was shaky at the start of Tuesday's game but he hasn't had any games for weeks and must have been apprehensive about the reception from fans following his spat with them in his last game v Spurs. Saints were so good against Arsenal that we were unable to judge his performance accurately, he was hardly tested! On a separate issue, is Gazzaniga injured and, if so, what is the injury and how long is he out? Lallana is injured but how long is he out for? Adkins will only say he is out for the next match. Tadanari Lee, who I rate highly, was injured before the end of last season. He appeared in one League Cup match and a couple of under 21 games but doesn't even get on the bench for 1st team games. Is there any update on his fitness? Fans deserve to be given more information.

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mattsergcooper added 16:40 - Jan 3 There is a reason why Guly is getting stick and thats because he isn't good enough. Yes he puts in effort when he wants... but not all time and thus... gets the well deserved stick. I haven't liked him for years so its not just this season... its just this season others have realised. As for praising the manager... I'm ok with Adkins and hopes he does well but in all seriousness... How can you be pleased with outplaying a side, as we did against swansea, norwich and arsenal all at home when, we need points at home... letting them have 1 attempt on goal and not be angry that we're not taking away the maximum points. A small club syndrone against arsenal if your happy with a point against them as they really didn't threaten... yet just positives coming out every week. Change the record surely... we aren't learning by our mistakes cos we are doing the same each game. QPR won last night... if that was us, we'd have conceeded late on and manager would have come out and said, well we did well and its a positive. Wins are needed... 3 points out of 12... Many winning positions squandered... I hope we don't regret them at end of season...

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woolstonsaint added 17:22 - Jan 3 I totally see where you are coming from Nick. The thing is fans are not stupid. If a player is not giving 100% he will be criticised by them. If he truly gives his all the fans see that and appreciate it. A good example is Francis Benali. I never rated him as that good a left back yet I never once got on his back because you knew he was giving 110%. Regarding some of the players you mentioned-Jason Punchion has won the doubters over with his commitment and work rate. Artur Boruc has a bit of an attitude, a good thing for a keeper. He will get better and better, especially now he's lost a bit of weight.Luke Shaw is an excellent left back for just seventeen. Even at such a young age he is better than Danny Fox. There is more to the role of a full back than putting in crosses. One player who in my opinion did extremely well when he came on against Arsenal was Steve De Ridder. Just my opinion though, and that's what football is all about.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 17:57 - Jan 3 Guly hasn't scored for the club in 31 games, he was great for the first half of last season, then his form suffered terribly and continued into this season. Its only with his most recent stint in the team that he's started putting a real shift in and is working for the team. For months he was useless and didn't seem interested. Now it looks like he's a changed man. Maybe he's realised (or been told) what he needs to do to get onto the teamsheet. He definitely doesn't deserve to be booed though, due to this recent turnaround. He seems to be doing all he can to salvage his career in this country. Fans can boo players after the game if they've performed badly. But booing your own player on to the field or during a game is just stupid. Its so counter-productive, it doesn't achieve anything positive. Fans have got to get behind thier players and give them a lift, and generally we've got a good group of fans who do that well.

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chalks82 added 18:38 - Jan 3 Hi, I read the site regularly but have never added a comment until now. Totally agree with Nick. In the absence of Lallana, Guly has given a balance to the side which makes us a bit more secure defensively. What I hate is meeting people at work or socially, that don't really know about football or support Saints, say things like "that Guly's c**p". They haven't even seen him play. It has become trendy to say things like that. I hope he continues to work hard which may get some of the boo boys off his back. Saying all that though, I do feel that Guly and Puncheon are average Premiership players. If the manager wants to sign players that will improve the team then it's in these two positions, wide left and right, that in my opinion would improve the team. Puncheon can be a good player on his day, but I think he still fails to deliver the ball with accuracy and he sometimes appears that he doesn't know what to do with it when he's running across the pitch.

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legod7 added 18:42 - Jan 3 Nick, I can remember when we were in League 1 we had a certain full back who played for Saints called Dan Harding. In your eyes he couldn't do anything right. Although not technically booing the amount of stick he got from you every game was nothing short of scandalous. Now you are telling everyone to lay off certain players. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black !!!!

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simmo400 added 19:53 - Jan 3 Nick boric aside I didn't hear anyone knocking our players. I don't know where you sit but move as these idiots are ruining your match day. Personally I thought Guly had a good game getting back and helping Shaw. But the players who you feel are being knocked need to turn it around and improve and the crowd will soon warm to them.
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felly1 added 22:22 - Jan 3 I agree with simmo400. I sit in the Northam and heard no abuse aimed at Guly , in fact we sang his name a number of times. He is a player with talent and strength but sometimes his body language is very languid and the fans will naturally notice this when things are not going for us. He is and always will be a player that the fans will have a love hate relationship with. There has been many like him before and every club has players that frustrate and delight in equal measure. Its all part of the fun of being a fan . Yes Boruc got an ironic cheer when he gathered the ball cleanly but what would you expect after his first 15 minutes where my Nan would have done a better job. Not sure why you keep mentioning Danny Fox, I never heard any abuse aimed at him during a game, just lots of criticism on fans forums etc which is perfectly fine because the majority of fans could see his shortcomings and so did Nigel.

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LostBoys added 23:35 - Jan 3 I have never understood this and we do not get this from my section of the Kingsland although we will own up to a few groans from time to time.
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SaintNick added 10:34 - Jan 4 Le god, you need to read what i have written here, this article is all about abuse directed at players during games, not about constructive criticism aimed at playes when i write my opinions on here or for that matter anyone who writes on a message board. You feel that my criticism of harding was excessive, but if you look at the number of games he started last year after the opening six or so, it seemed Nigel Adkins shared my views. Im glad that some of you dont have to put up with comments from those sitting around you, but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen

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Whatsforpud added 10:54 - Jan 4 I have to agree with Simmo400, felly1, and LostBoys. I sit in Chapel centre and haven'y heard any abuse of Guly for some time. You can't assume that because there might be a few boos near you, that this is widespread around the stadium. Regarding the ironic cheer when Boruc did something right, even he would not have been nsurprised at that. In a way, it drew a line under what went wrong before, from which he was able to move on.

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