Chez

perhaps he needs a bald jesus playing him in with guilt edge passes all game long.

has he metamorphosised into a pacey strong fullback over the summer? If not, then no thanks.

thought he looked fine to me. Couldn't see anything wrong with his attitude, professionalism or effort. Got up and down. But for a very good block might have scored in the first half. Its not easy playing with Redmond.

painful. If only it was a one off. We might actually be better off allowing teams on to us a little. Maybe ht the channels now and then. turn teams, break quickly. Anything so that we create a bit more space as the guys we have don't have the ability to work in such congested areas

wish I had read your post before making mine. Could not agree more. Winning games is all that matters to most though...

In my opinion it was a complete smash and grab job from an extremely limited, but extremely well organised Burnley side. I can see posts on this thread describing such opinions as `deluded', but thats how I feel and you will do well to change my mind. We dominated the game pretty much from start to finish. There was a period in the second half when Burnley simply couldn't get out of their own half. Literally they were encamped in their third, hoofing it clear with no one 40 yards from the ball. They had nothing in attack at all...or so it seemed. I'd argue that our passing back to front was crisp and mostly precise, though not nearly enough from the usually reliable Romeu. We looked pretty solid at the back (no one needs me to tell you that) and we limited them to pretty much two chances, the headed goal and when they got round the back and Wood crossed poorly. Thats it. Two breaks. Jesus. Imagine travelling 230 miles to see your side have two breaks. If I'd done the reverse trip to see that performance I'd be fuming...right up to the point the team scored. Boy does a goal and a win make you forget a performance quickly... Returning to us. The central midfield battle was won comprehensively. We kept the ball well and passed our way out from the back playing ourselves out of trouble. Whether you like it or not there were redeeming attributes to our game. But I doubt anyone wants to read about those. When you lose and have lost similar games to this week after week you want have a good old gripe about it on here and blame Reed or MP or Redmond. So let me offer my 5 pennies worth. Where we came unstuck, and where we continue to come unstuck is that we don't have the quality of payer able to unlock a packed defence. A team sitting back with 4,5,6,7 or even 8 men back behind the ball, because we are dominating is one we are simply unable to break down. Tadic, Redmond, Boufal, Davis, Long, Austin, JWP and Gabbiadini, individually and collectively are not good enough. On their day they all can shine, but week in week out they simply are not quite good enough. There are obvious things like Longs finishing, Tadic's reluctance to shoot and Redmond cutting inside all day long. But there are also subtle things. Take for example the fantastic overlap by Bertrand in the second half, Redmond played him in and Bertrand's shot was blocked. It wasn't the most memorable chance, but it could have been the best one if only the weight of pass was right. but it wasn't. Redmond overhit it a little, Bertrand had to adjust, which took him wider, enabling Lawson to get back and block. And that's the key. The perfectly weighted pass comes from players with outstanding talent and we don't have them. We have good players, but not top notch players. And that is the issue. With limited space and decent defenders you need high quality to break it down. The same applied last season. We corrected the issue of a lightweight central midfield, but we have done jack **** to address the quality issue up front and out wide. Who's fault is that? Is it the managers? The board? Any manager will only be able to do so much with these.

more what? Cos if its attacking threat, productivity or better defending, then I'm not with you.

Cedric got the byline a few times yesterday and Bertrand has done the same in previous games, so not sure I agree with your assessment.

If you witnessed Ian Andrews **** ups at QPR back in god knows when, then you tend to be a little more forgiving of keepers, but that said I have never rated Forster and I still would prefer Arthur. In my humble opinion Forster is a limited keeper and I have always been sceptical. He gets his body in the way of things and by and large his positioning is decent, which is why he gets in the way of things. That's a very useful attribute and I wouldn't want to gloss over it as its fundamental to decent keeping, however there is no way of getting away from the fact he doesn't make saves, i.e. ones where the ball doesn't just hit him. I have yet to see him make a `worldie' where he has had to dive. There was the Arsenal save, but I'd argue that he just stretched his arms out wide and the ball hit one of them. It was a very good save, no doubt about that, but how about something where he has to dive or move his feet? You don't need me to tell you his kicking sucks, he doesn't sweep and is stuck permanently to his line, but shot stopping, that's a basic requirement for top flight keeping right?

Why take Boufal off just as the space is opening up? Don't understand that substitution. The last 5 or 6 minutes there are two or three break opportunities, just when you want Boufal on the ball.

no.

as they did with the Tesco planning application, they will probably start a campaign for its removal ignoring any locals suggesting they might need power.

Karma. I guess at least the fat snake has a lot more time to take one of his many holidays.

Absolutely. How will that figure ever rise? From what I can see, over the years the ticket office has failed to take into account factors such as day of the week and whether we have played the opponent for a while. First away of the season and last for example are going to be far more popular than a game taking place a week or two before Christmas. You can add form and general feeling around the club into to the mix too.

what is the next size allocation?

who the **** wants more high rise? It will end up being nothing more than cheaply made, **** ugly student accommodation for the poly.

Pompey the movie coming to a screen near you soon...

If he was aiming to take them up within 3 years, why sign a one year deal?

pay him roughly market value and the only thing missing will be medals. We are going to struggle to give him those, but we need to at least try and convince him, with signings etc. that we are going to be the best of the rest and will continue to really attempt to challenge for a European spot. If he feels we are `settling' for mediocrity then he will look at his options.

who the **** wears a footie shirt to a music festival?

Which would still leave McQueen...

back to Romania maybe, with us paying the vast majority of his wages?

have to say, someone at the club has done a decent evaluation of the players we had and got rid of those they should/could and loaned out those that needed to be. Not all of them (Gardos for example), but in Targett's case this is a good move for/by Saints if it happens.