suewhistle

That may be wise, but he's certainly got some pace, which is always a good foundation.

The point about ABK is that more than one manager seems to have the same opinion about him. Given that Juric seems to be getting more of a tune out of Sulemanna and Oneachu perhaps there is an issue with the player themselves?

Yep, with lumps of concrete coming over the wall, and a police liaison PC observing earlier that there were faces there they hadn't seen for years! A very embarassed Alan Knight(?) came out to thank us. My experience was the same as yours as I was driving to the east but as I wasn't stupid enough to wear colours and look the very model of sweetness and innocence (cough..) I was nodded through with the same advice.

On the beer, I reckon..

Portsmouth don't need him, they've managed to lose at home to Millwall tonight all on their own..

West Brom away in case you were wondering..

Just seen a broken down Lucketts coach on the Motorway with PFC in the back window. Probably fans but we can hope..

Were you referring to this?: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/23/football-transfer-rumours-race-tyler-dibling-southampton-five-way-race-january

I know Youtube videos can be deceptive but he does appear to have a greater degree of pace and athleticism than Smallbone or Aribo, although the latter has been showing more of his strength recently. How would he be best used with Fernandez whilst we have them both? Their mobility does give hope that they won't get in each other's way and will feed off each other. Better than Ely (see above!) who looked like he was running in treacle. I suspect he might be on the bench on Saturday but wont necessarily get on.

"Le milieu de terrain danois ne se sent pas à l'aise avec le nouveau système de Jorge Sampaoli". I noted this in one of the tweets, so perhaps the manager's system didn't suit him, and we're all familiar with that. In our case a whole team...

But nobody is..

I was just about to say 'this is a bit better' and thought that might jinx it and then we scored! We might lose but this is a breath of fresh air the way we are playing. Underlines how awful Martin's tactics were.

Yes!

In other news after tonight's results, Portsmouth are rather relying on their game in hand. Perhaps they really don't feel ready to play us next season...

Twat. Most unbecoming language I know, but...

I've just seen that the game is on TNT sports, whoever they are. Will my local pub even have it in addition to Sky, probably not? Might save me some embarassment and a bit of ribbing mind you.

I take some positivity from the fact that a few mistakes apart that was a comfortable victory and we know how that is not a foregone conclusion for us against lower league sides. To what do we ascribe Sulemanna's improved performance: the opposition, our formation, his instructions, his motivation (playing for a move..)?

Won? The only context I know that word in is the S Korean currency..

I sure he'll point out that Ballard is nowhere near 24 but er.. (quick search) 19.

They talk about the magic of the FA cup: perhaps we'll both get knocked out this round..

Well, I come off exhausted having given my all, so that would be an improvement.. Up front preferred, 3 goals this season..:-)

Fortunately I'm playing on Sunday, at some stage, thank goodness for rolling subs at our level. Did I consider splashing out £30 to watch Saints and to avoid standing freezing on some muddy touchline? Did I buggery.

At least I know he's not some figment of somebody's imagination as I actually saw him on Thursday, on his way to sit with the other unselected players in the Itchen stand. He's at least able to walk without a limp..

It was certainly an easier watch on Thursday and I didn't spend the whole game on tenterhooks waiting for an abject mistake as we passed it around the back trying to improve our possession stats.. Somebody else will no doubt correct me if necessary (probably rudely and with inordinate pleasure) but my impression was that we had more chances than the last half dozen games put together? It's a shame about Dibling putting his chance over but I've seen vastly more experienced strikers do worse in the same position. As for TP's chances, let's hope some more match practice and getting his first goal will ease the tensions. To be honest he seems better with his chest than his head, but the additional dimension he bought to our play really helped. We were in that game all the way, and although I think like most that we're down at least I have more hopes for the season than I did under RM.

Just let's hope that we take the game to them a bit, they get a few yellow cards and then we bring on Dibling, Archer and Sulemanna to run at them..