St Landrew

I'm almost sorry I started the train of thought about this, on another thread. Yes, there will be a chance that Lambert will want to move on at a crucial time in his career. But he won't certainly go for peanuts, and he'll be nobody's bargain, if he goes. For the same reason, Lallana could be a target, as could any Saints star player [Lambert, Lallana, Puncheon, Ballard, Schneiderlin, Hammond, etc...] who does particularly well, if Saints don't quite make the cut this season. Then there are loanees, Waigo and Antonio. I'd like them both for next season, whatever division we're in, but they could be tempted to go elsewhere. Frankly, I think they'd all be mad to go to other clubs. And I say that without a trace of bias.

Ok hamster. Perhaps you could entertain us with the special connection between red and umbrella, at some point..? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- still

Don't think so. Incredibly, Lambert has never played higher than League One, and Saints are far and away the biggest club he's played for. He's 27, and it is true he's playing more consistently than he ever has before, and so has probably come to the attention of a few more clubs. But none of those that will look at him, and possibly consider splashing proper amounts of money will be a step up. It's possible clubs WBA, Wolves, etc... might have the money, but I doubt it. Lambert is certainly worth £3M, but has any club got that spare..? Except maybe Saints..?

Yeah, it did sound as if the Pompey supporters were just singing their Play Up Pompey song. Leaving the L out of Play, doesn't come across well in a big crowd. Come to think of it, do Pompey sing anything else..?

Presumably, they'll go back to a much more comfortable 16,000 odd supporters. Bestest suppporters™, of course.

One of the thoughts that struck me about Lambert yesterday, after he'd done yet another piece of stand out football, was how much his value has risen in the last 6 months. Rickie was signed for £800K rising to £1M subject to appearances, and let's face it, he'll make the total whatever it is, even if he hasn't yet. IMO, he's been quite an astonishing bargain, so far. Pardew has talked about his star players coming to the attention of other clubs, and that if a club comes waving the chequebook, they'll have to pay the proper value of those stars, because Saints certainly don't need the money. He was obviously referring to Lambert, Lallana, etc... Without trying to start up any transfer talk, I was thinking Ricky might be worth three, possibly four times as much as Saints paid for him.

Chester

Watching the guys coming down a shortened course. The Whistler is still faster than the fastest of any of the other tracks, reaching their fastest speeds only halfway down, and still accelerating. It's quite compelling seeing them steer by shifting their bodies slightly, and moving their feet. Fastest speed I've seen was 148 kph [92 mph] and that's on a 200 metre shorter track.

Indeed.

Bikini

Actually TS, that's not really true, as TT has spent a great deal of time with Saints hero Ron Davies, and he and his girlfriend have devoted many hours to Ron's well being. I don't think a Saints fan who couldn't care less and who would rather be a Pompey fan would bother doing that. So not only is your throwaway jibe not funny, it's actually quite insulting. If I were you, I'd apologise.

This sort of thing does make me chuckle, that a few fights and scuffles is nothing. NO violence. NO fights. NO scuffles. That is something NOT to make a big deal out of, because it should be the norm.

I'm afraid we will always have a mix of people who won't be completely satisfied unless Saints win every match, and probably 5-0 in the process. On the other side there will be people doing flik-flaks at endless no-score draws, and just missing relegation. Remember how we used to have people who would rather have a relegation fight, than be mid-table, when we were in the Premiership..? Now that takes an odd type of fan, IMO. Thankfully, most of us are somewhere in between. Being a little more understanding of those poor unfortunate ones who can't seem to get any enjoyment out of Saints unless they are absolute perfection, is an attribute worth growing though - on this forum.

Not so great a post IMO. Lots of IF ONLY's and SHOULD HAVE's. The result in this match is from the FA Cup. In fact, it matters little in the great League scheme of things. We HAD a scary lack of pace in the team TODAY, shown up by a Premiership team with pace. It's why they are 2 divisions higher than us. Possibly 2, 1 or 0 divisions next season. I agree, we'll never hear the end of it. In many encounters, we have won about 37 times, and they have won 21. It's their turn, and they have a lot of wins to make up. It's like the boat-race.

Don't think Alps is saying that SOG. I feel he's just making the point that, without the distraction, he hopes we can continue preparing ourselves well for our league matches. Take away the fact that Alpine Saint has mentioned this, and the POP goes away. It's all about perception..!

Fact is, Ricky is also by far the best stirker of the ball in the team. I agree, it seems the wrong way round, but if the guys can't get the ball to him, it's probably better that he try to get the ball to them. The corner he took, in the 1st half, where James couldn't hold the ball, and so much pace and swing on it, that only he in the team could deliver it. The trick is... get several other guys [like Harding..?] practising dead ball kicks until they can stop over and under hitting the ball regularly.

(Let me try to divert it down a side alley then) Bowl

Kelvin came out for a corner today and caught the ball brilliantly. Took me back about 30 years when all keepers used to do it.

They've been reading too many St George posts. EDIT: BTW, I think you really should forgive Alan Pardew.

I'm sure he says something like that to his players every time, Tim. In AP's post match comments, he said that we did commit forward quite naively later on, so he knew what and how we were chasing the game. Once you equalise, there is no point in tightening up on a FA Cup game when your defenders are getting tired. You go forward in the hope of winning. The fact that we piled forward like a cavalry was a bit naive, if exciting to watch, and we certainly didn't want a replay. We don't need the dosh, and so we went for it. Frankly, I'm glad it's out of the way, so that we cn concentrate on pushing or the play-offs. I think they are possibly out of reach now, but there's certainly no harm in seeing how close we can get.

Yeah OK, we've allowed one or two separate threads, apart from the post-match match one, talking about one specific issue of the match. We don't want an avalanche, ta. How about you go to the post match thread itself and tell eveyone how you feel. That's one of the reasons why it is there.

Yep, well said. Besides, I've just seen our new strategy - lose in the FA Cup, simplify the season, and concentrate on the play-offs. With the JPT Final as a very nice mini distraction.

There is one constant in the points you make in this thread, Tim, and the fact that it has been a season long issue. We were playing the very defenders that have made this a season long issue. I don't know whether you read my earlier post, but this tendancy has been addressed with the signing of better quality defenders, and players to cover positions throughout the squad, few of which could play today, as they were cup-tied. There were two other variables that couldn't be acounted for with today's match. 1] Pompey are a premiership team, and were playing on a premiership quality pitch, and 2] our old defenders actually played superbly, on the whole, and 3] AP took away one of them, in Perry and put on midfielder Holmes, as there was no point in defending 2-1 or 3-1. At least AP had the guts to try to win, instead of trying to just lose narrowly. I applaud him for that, and I'm proud of the whole team.

Exactly..! I said about a year or 18 months ago that I would never want any other club to be going through what we had to, even our closest rivals. In truth, I think they may be closer to winding up than we ever were, despite our administration, due to the simple fact that we were always going to be a bargain for a collection of millionaires or a billionaire who wanted some fun, if we could attract their attention. Pompey just have debts and are actually worth more as a shopping precinct or other development, than as a football club. I hope they pull through, and I hope they realise that half of today's big St Marys receipts and TV money was that they were playing their auld enemy. I am also very proud of our Lads.

No, the side they are drawn against would get a bye.