Chez

And the club has used it to trim with Edwards and Fraser departing. I am sure they are not palming off bids for Aribo and Edozie either. If we not getting promotion, than loans are a pointless expense, but like you say, strengthening the squad still makes sense. Buy someone now, bed them in and see them fly next season. However buying players in January is pretty tough as clubs and players prefer to weigh up their options in the summer.

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals from a one on one and less than you think. The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours.

He definitely hasn't been as clinical this season as he was in our promotion season. In our promotion season his goal tally pretty much matched his xG. He scored 24, while his expected goals scored was 23.94. This season he has scored 11, xG is 13.74. I'm not up on my football stats, but I read that as he really should have scored 14 goals this season, and obviously if he had tucked a few really tough chances away, he could have got a few more.

Agreed. If we were in the top two, that might help a fraction to get that better quality of player (like we did with Brooks), as a player could see themselves staying with the club on promotion. For someone like Piroe, who has made it to the PL, dropping down a division is bad enough, dropping down a division for a side going nowhere isn't all that attractive.

The club seemed to decide that it was better to buy young players like Quarshie and Downes to help build a side that would survive after getting promoted without having to sign a complete new team. Just two loans in the summer, with Peretz making it three. I doubt they will buy anyone in this window, but maybe a loan on the last day of the window if they find someone better than we have. Like others have said, if you are unlikely to get relegated or promoted this season, then adding wages doesn't make sense. We are only 7 points behind Wrexham in 6th with 17 games left. Does the club still see a chance of making the play offs? Will one loan signing make all the difference or is the reality that the current squad with a more comfortable back four, with Peretz, Wellington, Bree, Stewart and Charles returning get their act together?

You might be right, but I still quite liked seeing a game with a bit of physicality to it. Our little extra quality was still given the opportunity to shine through, AAs lovely first touch to create his chance for example, but sadly it didn't extend to his finishing.

It was late and blatant - he had no intention of winning the ball (which is far from uncommon for Downes...and sometimes very much needed, although not on this occasion). Not sure late or blatant are terms used in the laws of the game. In fact, here they are for a red card: SERIOUS FOUL PLAY A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play. VIOLENT CONDUCT Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made. In addition, a player who, when not challenging for the ball, deliberately strikes an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm, is guilty of violent conduct unless the force used was negligible.

Apart from at the start of the season, he's been getting minutes here and there off the bench, so Forrest will be reluctant to allow him to leave. Chris Wood is going to be out a while though injury, so that won't help, although they have signed a 6'7 striker on loan from Napoli. They are still in Europe and will qualify for the play off game, so won't want to leave themselves short. I don't see him dropping down a division. He has a decent reputation in Germany and PL exposure. He will get a half decent European gig when his contract ends.

PL players don't want to play int he championship. It's a big old dent to the ego. Also, we don't look terribly attractive at this moment.

Boruc vibes, right? I think he has to do a little more at corners, which we have had a few issues with, but he seems pretty decisive - there were quite a few punches yesterday for example. Not easy for keepers with such congested boxes these days. I like the save he made yesterday deep into the second half when he went for cross and prevent it reaching the striker. I think the Blackmore said "brave". it possibly was, but I like the fact he wasn't passive.

Very well put. I don't think there is any harm in ranking teams, but as you say, what is the value of associating the collective team ranking with the ability of an individual?

They have attempted to address two of those three areas when buying Downs and and Quarshie. So they have identified the same issues as yourself. Obviously Downs has not worked out and Quarshie hasn't been an instant fix. Not sure they saw defensive CM as a requirement. Jander was bought and he isn't a 'destroyer' type. Maybe they thought Downes, Charles and Sesay had the position covered. Bringing in Romeu suggests they changed their mind, but again, the club agreed with you in terms of needs.

I hope that's not the case. It could just be as simple as at that specific moment in time they are not in the mood to celebrate - their mind is elsewhere, maybe thinking about the fuck up they just made or whatever.

Cheers. Interesting. There is so much to pick through in those bullets. Watching every game on tape makes sense to me. The more info the better. Interpreting what you see is the key though. Does that require a skill or is AI being used. If the latter, then its 'simply' a matter of getting the right parameters in place. That's what Liverpool do, I think. But they have spent millions. Doubt we have a similar system in place. Are scouts and video analysts one and the same people? I guess for Saints, I'd like to know who is watching the tape and determining whether a player is good or not? Is it one person or several? Are these people scouts too or are they video analysts? Are the video analysts less qualified to assess players than our scouts? If a video analyst has been doing this for years and years and continuously identifies the right players, then that's preferable to a scout that has done it for five minutes and picked some shockers. Ultimately, if good players are being identified like Fernandes, then it's hard to argue against a process, but if you are bringing players like Gronbaek into the club that then can't get a game in a poor side, then that raises questions.

"We'll most likely sign a couple" - sounds promising. I haven't expected us to do any/much business in this window considering the amount of players signed in the summer.

Doesn't look like that to me. I don't see him berating Leo at all. Looks like he shouts something to Leo immediately after he has scored as they faced each other - probably "yeeeessss" - and then Leo runs off to celebrate and AA doesn't chase after him. Looking at the video closely, some players jog/run in Leo's direction to celebrate, but several ignore him and head towards Azaz. Pretty normal stuff - players reacting differently to goals going in. That said, Armstrong's celebration seems almost non existent and there is no "glee" which we all experienced. All I can say is that as a striker, you want to be the guy scoring the goals and when others score you sometimes don't feel the same joy. However, to counter that, if the game means everything to you, as this one should, then you are normally keen to share the enjoyment of a goal. Either he's being super professional and knowing the game still needs to be won or he just isn't feeling it at that moment? Not sure Armstrong is a big celebrator of goals either, even his own (I might be wrong there). He often seems a little muted or that's the impression I have had this season. I've tried to look back and see how he has celebrated recent goals, but he's not really been on the pitch when we have scored. I think the THB equaliser at Oxford was the last one - he certainly goes to celebrate with THB, but THB steams off and the video cuts off. Looking at that specific goal, it's noticeable that Fellows doesn't celebrate at all or try to join in, while the rest of the players at least head in the goalscorers direction. Is his reaction strange or is it just normal that you don't always 'feel glee' when a goal goes in? 36 second in for that Oxford goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBoicPHGYF4

Watch them live or watch them at all? If the latter, then that's madness (personally I'd want to see a guy live before spending million on him), but I thought we had several video analysts at the club - so wouldn't they be watching film of players?

Are Charlton even looking to buy him? They have signed Harry Clark on loan from Ipswich until the end of the season. That suggests that either they didn't think Bree was all that or we informed Charlton we wanted him for the remainder of the season. Seeing as we have struggled for fullbacks, that might be the case.

Struggle to understand why Fellows us not starting. His first touch, dribbling and ability to keep the ball takes a lot of pressure off the defence. Bizarre.

got to say the atmosphere that night was absolutely electric. the noise when we scored was as loud as its every been as SMS.

spoke with a couple pf skates today at the afc porchester game and they acknowledged our better quality, admitted they had injury problems but still felt the 18,000 baying crowd would see us wilt. i smiled. that smille grew when I heard Murphy is injured. Looking forward to it.

yeah, makes sense. I do recall in 2004 on the way home they took the coaches all along the seafront and even down past the hard, which was bizarre, but that was probably because of the idiots smashing up their own city.

That is a long time. We should have won in the promotion season, but fucked it up. 'First league win there for 50 years' has a nice ring to it.

Eastern Road is closed northbound for 8 weeks due to a sewage pipe breaking, so the coaches probably will need to come in on the M275 unless they close part of the Southbound section for a short period. Getting into Pompey during a rush hour is very slow going, so the incredibly early start will stop the coaches getting stuck in traffic.