Nordic Saint

When you were there, you didn't happen to see a fella covered in bananas, did you? He said he went home from Fratton covered in them, but he didn't say whether he taped them to his clothes or just balanced huge bunches of them on top of his head. If they were hanging down in front of his eyes, it would explain why he couldn't see all the Saints' shirts in Portsmouth, especially the yellow away ones.

And 7 places above them in the all-time average attendance table: All time Football League Rankings average attendances

I agree. It looks like he joined yesterday so he's a Pompey fan pretending to be a Saints fan. They are weird. They do things like that online. "Walk around Southsea in a Saints shirt and you wouldn't last five minutes." Classic pompey bullshIt. A few years back. a Saints fan went into the Fratton End, on his own, at one of their league games, and for a bet, took off his jacket to reveal his Saints colours. I believe he also waved a flag. The Pompey fans just chanted 'scummer' at him before the police eventually led him away to protect them from further embarrassment. On the TrueBlueArmy forum afterwards they found it really hard to put a spin on it.

Covered in bananas lol. I was in the middle of the Fratton End with Dougal's mob when we beat Pompey 5-2 in 1966 and never even saw a grape.

THB to Burnley (Says FourFourTwo)

Just because Sport Republic waste a lot of money doesn't make it a good squad. Damion Downs cost more than most players in the Championship. Unfortunately, the manager doesn't decide who they sign.

Last night took him to a 50% win percentage, which means Eckert has the best record of any of the 14 Saints' managers since Nigel Adkins: List of Southampton F.C. managers - Wikipedia

His brief appearances as a sub in the USA team get overhyped on here. He's never started a game for them and probably never will, now they've had a look at him, as they do practically every young US player who's playing in Europe.

No need to pretend. The gap between League One and the Championship is a lot less than the gap between the Premier League and the Championship, which is why the 3 promoted League One teams, Birmingham, Wrexham and Charlton, have had no problem adjusting. In fact, consecutive promotions are not uncommon. Dom Ballard is a natural goalscorer. He also has great skill. A lot of his goals are brilliant solo efforts. He's scored for England at U18, U19 and U20 levels. Even though he's still only 20, he would already be a better option than Archer.

At least, according to Orient fans, we get a cut of the fee when he's sold to a bigger club. League One Top Scorers - BBC Sport

Mateusz Lis has kept 11 clean sheets in 17 Super Lig games this season. His save percentage is 84.2%.

He scored again, against Cardiff, at the weekend. I can see him at least making it to Championship level. That Cardiff team will be little changed next season when they are in the Championship. It's not hard to envisage Ballard being a more prolific scorer than Archer at Championship level. Orient fans already think that he's destined for a bigger club: Jan 10, 2026 at 5:20pm buffalobill said: Ballard is potentially the most valuable player we have on our books. Only a matter of time until the vultures start circling https://lofcforum.boards.net/t

Ayoub El Kaabi

I've been dreaming for years that one day we'd get rid of McCarthy. Obviously no other club will take him, but he keeps getting his contract renewed here. Players may come and players may go, but McCarthy's here forever.

So, little Pompey's wait continues into another year. 68 years now since they last beat Arsenal.

Pompey use up their energy in the first half, like they did against us at St Mary's. I'd expect them to run out of steam in the 2nd half, and for Arsenal to score more goals in the final 20 minutes. When we play them, we just need to weather that early storm.

Who on earth scouts our goalkeepers? Stevie Wonder? Before, we had the worst 3 in the Championship; now, we've got the worst 4.

We've had 7 different managers under Sport Republic already. Meanwhile, the squad continues to get weaker. Before, we used to think we only needed a new goalkeeper, centre half and centre forward; now, we need 2 new full-backs as well. What Sport Republic have done to our team reminds me of that song, Three Wheels on my Wagon. Who will be the manager in charge when all the wheels have fallen off?

Good idea. "Material ideas! Material ideas!" will definitely get them thinking.

You've hit the nail on the head there. We've recruited so many midfielders, a couple of whom are quite talented at this level, but the all important spine of the team is the weakest it's been for a long time and one of the weakest in the Championship this season.

Pity it can't be sooner.

So, does that mean we can expect the transfer kitty to be blown on Damion Downs Mk II in January? Last summer's transfer window was terrible. Above all, we badly needed to strengthen the spine of the team; we got George Long, Quarshie and Downs, not one of whom is even good enough to be a regular starter, in spite of the poor quality of the players we already had in those positions. Spors is a big part of the problem.

How long will he last next time? 20 minutes? 120? Will next time be the last? Is it even fair on him? So many ex-footballers struggle to even walk after they retire. I recently read David Armstrong's autobiography and he's very bitter about how his football injuries affected his mobility for the rest of his life.

All US players who play in Europe get looked at. Damion Downs got looked at in a few sub appearances. He never started a game for the USA and probably never will.

He scored against Villarreal in the Champions League last night. He's scored 6 goals in his last 16 Champions League matches, including 2 against Man City, which isn't a bad scoring rate for a winger.