The9

I know what you mean in terms of Lallana and the passing and movement actually - before the last few games I thought Cork was the key as he could receive the ball in the middle and switch play quickly, whilst last year we tended to bypass midfield to Lambert and then spread it wide, so we've cut out a longer pass in the middle (generally), but seeing Hammond and Schneiderlin, no Cork and Lallana last night I think we were very much back to last season's style, and the starting front 6 were even last season's players, so that's not a surprise. So I guess what I think is that mostly we've been passing less directly and through midfield more (using Lallana and Cork more), but without them, we're the same as we were, like last night. A noticeable difference, but one that can still be put down to increased fitness and more mobility of players (especially Richardson's linking and overlapping which is directly linked to his having a pre-season).

I wouldn't bother if I was you, they haven't replied to any emails in years, have they ?

If his job consisted of turning over possession cheaply in his own half, running madly out of position and creating gaps for the opposition to exploit and successfully hoofing the ball down the pitch twice in injury time, yes he did. I think he's a great player but he was awful when he came on - admittedly in a position where he's never played for Saints before.

I had heard from a couple of people that he was relatively poor at Derby, he was utterly anonymous at Cardiff and had completely stopped getting into positions to receive the ball in space OR under pressure, which he was doing excellently up at Barnsley for one, and he was all over the shop with his passing and defensive positioning until the last minute last night. At one point he was chasing out to the left midfield position only for West Ham to pick out their left back in 20 yards of space leading Cork to have to sprint half the width of the pitch to close him down in the position he was meant to be filling (he didn't get there in time and they got the cross in). He is definitely not playing to the best of his ability at the moment, it's nothing to do with "rotation" - though as it stands I'd expect him to get 90 at Palace to hopefully get himself back into the groove, as he's too good to be out of the team for long and he takes us to another level when he's doing his thing well.

The figure ending in a 0 was broadcast in 20 foot tall digits on the scoreboards. This is a massive piece of PR bullsh*t and I for one will continue to recognise the Arsenal game as the record attendance. There were two rows of empty seats at the front of the disabled area for starters...

Harding had been waiting to come on for about 5 minutes by then, Cork had to wait around 10 before he got on ! And that looked like a foul to me, from the Northam you could see he slid in and barely caught the top of the ball as he went over it.

He actually played almost dead on 5 minutes over the 90, because I set my timer for 5 minutes when the board went up, which was just after the 90 was up, and it was still counting the last 10 seconds when he blew.

Middle of Block 42.

I think a West Ham midfield of 4 from Taylor, Nolan, Noble, Collison and Lansbury would be expected to give anyone a game on the deck, but when it comes down to it, if you don't try and pass through the middle of the pitch, it doesn't matter if you have good footballers in the midfield.

Only if you think we actually were Dagenham & Redbridge-like as Poyet said. Or "West Ham-like", as it were. The funny thing about that is that we're no more creative than we were last season, we're just fitter and able to do it more quickly and for a longer period.

As I said, I didn't think so. They were loud for the first 15 minutes or so, then tailed off into Bubbles over and over, then nothing, we weren't really that loud for very long. Though there were a few decent Red and White and Red Army chants, even one of the West Ham fans on there said he was surrounded by silence in the home stand, which is hardly unusual for 2/3rds of the stadium at the best of times.

I suggest they look at the 2002/3 Premier League table when we finished 10 places ahead of them.

"Sorry mate, I can't see your d1ck from here, either".

Hmm, I think Kelvin might have something to say about that. I didn't think anyone other than Chaplow put in an unexpectedly strong performance last night, but we just about deserved the win despite it being one of our less creative outings.

He played very well until about 60-65 minutes when he started to look knackered and jog about the place - that sprint in for the shot that went just over finished him off and he put in his "some refs would have sent him off" tackle for the match 10 seconds before he finally got the hook, but Harding had been stripped and ready to come on for 5 minutes by then. Nevertheless, good effort by him to try and get a starting place.

I didn't think our support was up to much last night and thought theirs was alright, tbh.

Well, now we've actually beaten one of the top 10 at a time when they weren't racked with injuries (Leeds) or just about to sign half a team (Ipswich), I'm feeling much better about it. We've also had 12 league games in which we can legitimately say we could have won. The defeats at Leicester and Cardiff saw us miss some golden chances, the draw at Derby saw us on top for much of the game and even in the Burnley draw when we were poor for 70 minutes we still had enough chances to win it late on. If that carries on we'll be up there. If West Ham play like that every match (albeit without Taylor and Cole) they'll be in the playoffs at best. The evidence is that so far we deserve to be where we are, everyone else is taking points off each other, and when you look at the team throughout yesterday, our best player is missing, and one of our other best players from the first month or so is off-form and dropped. Add to that De Ridder who has barely got a look in with all of his talent, and Harding just coming back, we look decent. We're still to see what happens if we lose Fonte/Hooiveld, Richardson, Lambert or any 2 of the central midfielders at once though.

We just spent two years in League One and I didn't once see a team try to play the kind of random long ball hoofing that West Ham did last night. Makes those comments about Pardew at Saints playing "hoofball" all the more ridiculous when you actually see it happen and compare the two.

Fixed it for you.

Judging by his performance when he came on, Cork wasn't picked because he was decidedly lacking in confidence. He looked like a rabbit in the headlights, nervous and for a few minutes completely lost - which is completely at odds with his first few matches, when he was confident, strong and involved in everything. Fortunately for us, Schneiderlin and Hammond were able to cope with West Ham's utter inability to pass the ball on the floor and Cork's loss of form wasn't an issue. There's no "rotation policy", which implies change irrespective of form; Adkins is using a combination of picking players in form and picking players who suit our tactics.

Coming from one of the many stood far outside the ground in Fratton for two hours as the police batted back the concrete with their riot shields in 2003/4, LOL@thinking they won't.

I'll be surprised if zero isn't enough TBH. Seven is frankly hilarious.

We didn't the last two times for Premier League matches, and that was without the hoop-jumping and coach cobblers.

Why on earth would anyone actually start this thread ? I just... words fail me. Also, it's "stick" not "shove". And more to the point, how would you even begin to do that ? Surely the bubbles would just pop as soon as they got near... it would only take one stray pube... never mind the... erm... anyway.

Somerton Park had houses built on it some time in the early/mid 90s. Having played at Newport Stadium (aka Spytty Park) a couple of times I am most peeved that I never got to kick a ball on the viciously cambered turf in front of the Railway End at Somerton. Though I was a mascot and a ball boy (twice) there.