Chez

so if you score that means you play well?

spot on

he might be class and we might not be where we are without his displays, but last night he was garbage. Many fans can handle a low work rate but class act, but if the class act is not showing any class then what are you left with?

I disagree with most of this. I rate Guly, see what he brings to the side and haven't criticised him at all on here before, but he was terrible last night and his body language suggested he wasn't interested. He put very little effort in at all IMO. He was stationary for almost all the first half. He did jog about the in the second but he hardly put a shift in. To describe his link up play was quality is madness. His first five touches were mis-controls and under-hit lay offs. He improved margionally, but he was never convincing. Everyone has those days, but when things are going badly you have to up your work rate. Usually when he ****s up he sprints to redeem himself. Last night he just sulked. IMO we carried him and if he had been subbed after 25 minutes I wouldn't have blinked twice. Personally I felt the crowd were extremely patient with him. After about the 8th poor control they groaned, but why not, that's his job, that's what he gets paid for and that's what is expected at this level. We're not watching pub football here. Let me put this to you, if we'd been bottom and he had put that kind of display in he'd of been booed off the park. Moan over. I look forward to him playing well in the next game and will get behind him just as I did last night.

Quite a painful game to watch. We may have been the better side in the first half but we still looked way below our best. I would put that down to one or to key things. Firstly losing Chappers has taken a lot of energy in midfield away. Not only our we making less runs off the ball but also our closing of opposition has been reduced not to mention the number of interceptions. Lallana's energy and sharpness levels have been poor since returning from injury (I'm assuming he is not fully fit) and he was average going forward and woeful defensively (note he was a major reason Adomah ran riot on Saturday). The second reason was we carried Guly tonight. He had one of his worst games in a Saints shirt. Everything he did was poor, even the goal was a result of a poor initial shot and a massive slice of luck that it fell straight back to him. His work rate was poor, his first touch was poor, his body language...yes you've guessed it, poor. Quite frankly I'm amazed he was not subbed at half time. Still despite this we battled through and a side playing poorly and still winning is a championship winning side. Davis 6 not much to do. Went long a lot. Some will be happy. Woeful decision making for his booking. He was left exposed but he took an age to make his mind up to come out and by then it was the wrong decision. Thankfully he got there just in time to get a piece of the striker (although it looked a dive to me). If he did foul him he was lucky to stay on the pitch. Richardson 7 decent game, strong in defence. One criticism would be when coming inside he got robbed a couple of times because he took too long to get it onto his favoured right foot to make a simple pass. Fonte 9 Best game of the season for me. When we were caught out he covered round brilliantly, strong and composed Jos 7 some very poor headers in the first half but decent display overall Harding 7 Solid in defence despite little cover from Lallana, but didn't do a great deal going forward. Thought he made a meal of the tackle (although it was a strong one) and the fact he got straight up and back into it after the player had gone tells me he wasn't badly hurt at all. Prefer Fox. Morgan 7 not too bad out wide, made some decent runs, but really got hold of the game when moved into the middle in the second half, faded at the end though with some poor decision making. Strange game then all in all. Cork 7 I thought he was our best midfielder in the first half and then Adkins took him off. Weird. Hammond 7 Very average first half although no lack of effort (put his head in where it hurts on a couple of occasions) but improved and kept us solid. I think I'd of taken him off rather than Cork. Lallana 6 Nice finish, some nice tricks, but he is not sharp enough and that lead to him losing the ball much more often than we are used to. Tracking back and closing down were very poor. He looked tired. Amazed he was not subbed. He did wake up when moved up front, but not really effective. Lambert 7 worked hard and played well I thought, very surprised when he was taken off. Guly was having a shocker Guly 2 Woeful display De Ridder 8 fantastic effort, turned the game on its head. When he came on we closed men down, we upped our tempo, put them under pressure and won the ball back. Once in possession he was dangerous, sharp and useful. Adkins did not learn from Saturday at all. Should have started. Barnard 3 touch was terrible, I guess the lack of games is a very good excuse, but IMO he isn't good enough. Holmes some neat touches

IMO Barnard is not good enough (that should have him scoring tonight) so there is room for improvement up front. I just cant see us forking out over £3m for him when he has five months left of his contract.

spot on. His non stop running has played a major part in our recent success and that could be badly missed on the next week or so.

when I asked before applying I was told it was at the park and ride compound. Do they have car boots there in the winter?

this is a very good question especially if it is anyone other than Morgan doing the receiving - who I feel is good enough to do this.However in some games the opponents have been sloppy and not followed Cork or Hammond and this has allowed them to receive the ball (all be it with their back to goal) and we have been able to start attacks very successfully. It's all about Kelvin's decision making. If the CM has lots of time, fine do it, if not then don't. Davis sometimes makes poor decisions and that's where we come unstuck.

this idea that Lambert wins everything in the air is rubbish. He bullies small centre backs whenever they are his opponent, but whenever he comes up against anyone big/solid he is in trouble (like yesterday) and tends to move out wide to get some rest bite. He be comes effective when we provide very accurate balls that he can control and work with, not when we smack it high and he has to challenge tooth and nail to have any chance of getting something on it. IMO hoofing it is the worst thing we can do. Returning to the Kelvin issue, some of his shirt and middle range passing is top notch, this just goes unnoticed because as with all keeping duties you remember the mistakes much more than the successes. We're not going to change and in this league we may struggle to find a better keeper. Go up a league and we may need to look at our options as personally I don't think he is good enough for the Prem. Happy right now though.

a brilliant move that ended with de Ridder blazing over and another excellent move and cross that saw Fonte head wide when totally unmarked.

sadly yes, but I've not missed a win so no worries there. The real reason for the defeat is I stood next to a mate of mine yesterday at the game and we've only ever won one game in eight years of watching games together when we do that (at Bristol Rovers funnily enough). He just asked me to get him a ticket for Fratton. Gulp.

the point is the wrong decision was made by Adkins and I thought so at the time, therefore hindsight wasn't required. Nothing to do with me wanting de Ridder, much more to do with us needing a midfielder to work them defensively. As we are top and performing beyond all expectations does that mean we can't question anything these days on here?

Hammond and Cork looked slow and didn't make any second ball there's, they also didn't get close to their opponents to put enough pressure on them to turn the ball over to us (something Chaplow has being doing a lot), but I also agree with captainchris that having three centre mids none if which stretch opponents with off the ball runs like Chaplow does hurt us too.

strong and passing was decent.

you could say the same about Lallana in a lot of away games over the last three seasons, and especially today.

no hindsight required, when Chaplow was taken off I wanted de Ridder and not Morgan. Even when we made a sub it was a striker off and a winger playing as a striker on. Another wrong decision IMO and I said as much when he made the sub.

the one blessing is this might be a wake up call and we won't face this kind of sluggish display at Fratton Park.

why not? He is a right midfielder. IMO Adkins does not trust him. He still can't get that first game when he didn't track back out of his head. Having three centre midfielders left us flat and with little threat. That was the difference in the two sides. They had an out ball in Adomah, we didn't.

disappointing afternoon. We simply did not do enough when we had the ball and Bristol City looked a decent outfit that grew with confidence as the game went on. I suggested Adomah as an option a couple of years ago and he was the stand out player offering pace and trickery throughout. They were also solid at the back and strong in the tackle. We should have shown a bit more bite once it was obvious that the ref was going to allow a fair bit to go. Focusing on us Cork was very sluggish in the first half (although he improved in the second) and the choice to bring on another centre midfielder when Chaplow got injured was a mistake for me. We looked pedestrian and with Lallana having a very bad day we offered nothing going forward. Guly and Lambert looked like statues. I'm not too down as City were excellent. But the question is can we continue to win all our home games, because away from home we don't really look like a top of the table side. Davis 5 one or two bad kick outs and one spill that could easily have gone in. He needs to sharpen up as his little mistakes have a knock on effect. Goals were not his fault in any way Richardson 7 strong as usual and distribution decent in my eyes, but he just didn't get any top notch crosses in that we needed Fonte 7 I thought he did reasonably well and marshalled Maynard pretty well. Both centre backs saw far too much of the ball as went backwards too often due to lack of movement in front of players Jos 7 showed excellent pace right at the end when faced one on one with Adomah. That bodes well for the future. Great in the air at set peices Fox 6 tough game with Adomah the shining light for City. I thought he wasn't too bad though. Got no help what so ever from Lallana Lallana 3 tried to use all his tricks and flicks but none came off. If you don't do it going forward then people are going to look at your defensive attributes and workrate and they were not good enough today. Cork 5 poor first half, improved in the second but not enough. City showed us how to pass out from the back Hammond 6 I don't want to see him out wide and the sub meant we had three centre midfielders with whoever was out wide looking lost. We looked laboured in the middle Morgan 6 again, didn't do enough in the first half and didn't create anything in the second. He can't play out wide. Adkins mistake. Guly 4 showed good strength on the odd occasion, but far from his best and at times like a statue. Lambert 4 also did little and beaten in the air by the fullback too often. Very little threat although movement was better in the second half. de Ridder 7 we created one genuine opening and he should have scored from it, but he did quite well overall when he came on, but not world beating. Should have come on for Chaplow. Barnard no space and didn't change anything. He's not top class IMO but unfair to point any fingers at him today.

no kids and never ill. Boy are we paying more in tax than we get back in our household. However I don't have a problem with that so long as it is spent well.

Dune, could you send your application form off and then someone else pick up the bus ticket for you when they pick theirs up. if that is allowed you just need to trust the guy who picks it up for you.

strange that those people that have applied and got a ticket get priority over someone that has been to 3 aways. Anyone got an email confirmation yet as can't check my bank balance.

no melt down yet. Must try harder.

isn't it about time another obscure italian import arrived?