suewhistle

I think this is why a lot of us are having problems!. Watching in the pub I thought the eventual scorer was offside, and was just wondering whether it was a special Anfield rule?

Or the USMNT? I agree with SWLondon that it must be an adjustment or confidence thing, but agree with others re effort. Perhaps he needs a start where WS tells him to run his lungs out for as long as possible being a pain to defenders and then bring on Stewart when he flags. Just get in their faces like Davies, Beattie, Shane Long..

Re 9B.. I once played with a lass who used to have a little swig of grappa just before leaving the changing rooms for K.O. A fast forward who scored some good goals. Perhaps that's what Damion needs, or are they allowed beta blockers?

Yes, and the one I least expected to enjoy but went to watch out of duty..

That was a lot better team performance and some good crisp passing at times which was a definite improvement. The defence was better, actually doing that defending bit, and Wood kept it simple and strong. Quarshie, I thought, looked a lot more comfortable and was calling for the ball. Jander and Jelert looked comfortable, DownEs looked fitter and more effective again, Scienza also comfortable but over-thought the header. Downs is regretful, Robinson we didn't feed at all. Their goals weren't triumphs of amazing play, were they? The second I thought was offside in the first phase when Chiesa received the ball and Ekiteke at that moment was offside, but I've long forgotten the offside laws, particularly at Anfield. The sending off though was hilarious: I commented to a neutral in the poub that he'd just managed to get himself in the book all on his own, and then to take his shirt off shows quite impressive stupidity (or the sort of short term memory I now suffer from). Perhaps there should be a club fine and every amateur club in the area get a free match ball with stenciled on it some appropriately embarassing phrase..

I was busy at the weekend and didn't follow the game and I certainly didn't come on here to depress myself more, but yesterday I watched the 8 minutes of highlights on the OS. What utterly appalling defending from our two more experienced CBs, such basic goals to concede. None of the other defenders covered themselves in glory either. But it doesn't surprise me not to see them playing tonight. Off down the pub in half an hour, and they usually have the sound down, which is a relief as I won't have to listen to the probably nauseating commentators.

In my long life watching football I've seen plenty of not showing for the ball and it's normally been due to a lack of confidence, normally in themselves but often team wide with their colleagues. Our defence often has a colleague to the side of them though, so that's where the ball goes by default. As someone pointed out the main culprits are the same ones as last year. The season before last we missed Downes when he wasn't playing, now we just miss him when he does so perhaps his illness will be a blessing this weekend. The previous government had 14 years, I'm pretty sure we had a few managers last less than 14 weeks, so some of the people calling for him to go already probably couldn't even manage a one night stand.

Indeed, and the slowness of the defensive players we had last season in moving it forward also hinders us, along with their propensity to sit too deep. On Sunday Manning, who wasn't the only offender, always seemed to wait for his opponent to close him down and then passed inwards and across. I'm pretty certain that's not what Still wanted, although jumping up and down on the touchline isn't going to give the players more confidence. His half time talks seem to help though, and as he admitted, we wasted the first half. Downes I also found frustrating; he certainly hasn't played at his best for some time, and as a player whose strengths are to keep the play moving some of his passing wasn't good enough. How I wish we had somebody like Lavia or even Ugochukwo (sp?) who could take the ball on the turn instead of simply playing the way they are facing. Archer has obviously been given a task he's not really equipped to do, but at least he's now picked up the work rate and I hope a more physical presence up front could benefit him. A further week of training with all the new guys isn't much, but let's hope it makes a bit of difference.

Thank goodness The Cricketers has outside tables and a pedestrianised road outside.. buzzing..

Every motorway bridge from junction 8 on has police spotters on them plus a helicopter annoying Southampton Airport ATC!

I notice West Ham banned half and half scarves today for their match with Spurs. Will they be available for tomorrow's game, I wonder? 😉 I was just reading the MBM in the newspaper for the game and although he started haven't seen any mention of Mateus Fernandes. How have the 3 ex-Saints performed?

Presumably written by Factless Allen as he is known by many of us, following his interesting coverage of Portsmouth's affairs and various bankruptcies? He also has a most excrucuatingly juvenile style which, if I were being generous, might be due to the audience he is writing for, although I can't believe they _all_ have a reading age of 12. So I'll rely on your accounts here, cheers!

I thought, from memory, that the record crowd was 31,044!:-) At my age and height I didn't see much but at least we got in, just. The previous year my dad didn't believe my urging to be early and walk faster and I was most upset!

Interesting article in the paper today: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/11/girls-who-play-after-school-sport-in-uk-50-more-likely-to-later-get-top-jobs-study-finds This particular line jumped out at me:

Cost? Want to use their bus pass? Mind you, it would make sense if there is a group of you. Personally I'm not going to get the train service to Fratton and a dodgy replacement bus service, so I'll drive. But please can we win so I can go back to my local pub and gently wind them all up as I celebrate..

Badoom tish!

I don't know why but whenever I see the emoticons of Turkish and tdmickey laughing together at a post it makes me think of Beavis and Butthead.. I find it quite surprising that the posters who are so negative about women's football are so frequently on this thread, and one of them even started it! I avoid spending too much time here as it would be a bit of a waste of my time. I'll be there on Sunday and then rush off to see my women's grassroots team of which there are so many more than even 20 years ago..

Is that wig any relation of Michael Fabricant's?

My irony meter has just exploded. Ducky complaining about sexism!

Not through my eyes he doesn't. I think he needs to be played further forward though as Stoke's robust play impacted him and more than it might have done Dibling, I reckon.

Looks like MLG has a new apprentice. Thanks for the effort! It seems Tom Fellows has heard us at our full-throated best, but the game isn't a bad introduction to the others so we can show them that we may be quiet at times but give us something to cheer about and it's a great atmosphere.

So, what's new on this forum? I might have been casting aspersions on his maritime abilities, I might have just been bored, which the reference to the next match indicated or it might have indicated my need for a cuppa. Don't worry about it, I've seen far worse drivel on here.

That reminds me of a song: Columbus he set sail to find out if the world was round, He kept on sailing to the west until he ran aground, He thought he'd found the Indies but he'd found the USA, I know some navigators who can still do that today.. The other issue we haven't really addressed is how wide the coastal strip is: do we count the area covered by coastal breezes? Ah sod it, I was always better at glaciation; bergschrunds, pingoes, kames, eskers, roche moutonnée, erratics.. How long have we got to wait for the next match??!

Checked their eartags?

That's amazing! My electricity tripped and when my PC rebooted for some reason I went to the OS and saw that Scienza had signed. First time I haven't seen the news here first!