suewhistle

Also in The Guardian Monday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/14/portsmouth-premierleague

Just so you can't edit your post I'll save it here for posterity... I'm sure it's theoretically possible but would take a lot of things to come together.

What about Nile RAnger, how many has he got?

Just a point about Antonio who I haven't seen play. People seem to be writing him off a bit soon at only 19. He hasn't come up the normal way of a centre of excellence and regular training since the age of 11 (or whatever), but if it came to a choice between him and somebody with a real footballing background like err.. A Pulis who would you rather have? He's got the basic attribute of pace which you can't just get by training. Technique and decision making you can.

Some years ago in Portsmouth we had Bernie. Lovely old gent, but talk about doddery!

I'm sure that's true. I was a pessimistic Saint before today's game as I have far too much experience of us losing games we should win. Happy too to be wrong. There are only a few posters on this board who _seem_ to be happy when we lose as it justifies their opinions.

I will forbear to comment!:-)

34? whippersnapper! I'm 20 years older. Mind you, I really only train twice a week here in Italy to avoid the family osteoporosis and keep myself fit as the minutes I get off the bench aren't really worth the effort! Beats the gym though (and it's free!), and pinging a ball about in a training game or leathering it at the end of session shooting practice is still better than the exercise bike..

Thanks for that! Replayed a number of times. Harding's was a pretty crisp shot too!

No, because if you used that principle you could never try and play advantage. The concept of advantage is not just for an attacking team. If the defender had controlled it and his team retained the ball there would be no need to call the free-kick. He didn't, so the lino/ref was right to call the original offence based on when the ball was first played. If we went your way it would mean any team that tried to call offside could only do so if they then didn't try and cover the situation by "trying to play the ball" to use your words. As anybody who has played football will know, you try to do both: appeal and then make sure it doesn't matter whether the appeal succeeds or not.

A quick aside on this whole subject. Anybody who has played at _any_ level (men or women's football) will know it is always better to have a qualified, neutral referee than no-one, or some reluctant sub. Some old friends of mine have a son who is not a footballer, but did a course of refereeing when he was at school. Now he's a student at uni the money he gets at weekends for refereeing and being lino up to semi-pro standard beats the money he'd get for a shop or bar job. Worth passing that on to prospective students... exercise, burn the booze off and decent money!

Isn't that what you're meant to do when you come on when you are winning and only 7 minutes to go? [Referring more to the post you were replying to Chez, and not you..]

S******.(or as I recall this board has stupid American software [half suppressed laugh OED])... whatever your preferences it's easy to wind you lot up! Personally I wouldn't want to be dogmatic about who I fancied as my basic requirement is intelligence and I've learnt in life never to say never... It helps if they're not Pompey fans though!!

Keep going!

Escaping late from shopping, probably, or realised too late how desperate it is to be shopping on a Saturday before Christmas!

or 0-1 :-(

Possibly, but don't expect a present if you've spent all the money on footie tickets. If I were in the UK I'd be going, but you have to remember peoples' budgets are stretched at Christmas time, particularly if they have kids. For season ticket holders, of course, there is no excuse.:-)

Interesting to see they bought forward the timing of the development: perhaps to take advantage of underemployed building firms at the moment and cheaper quotes. I've only been to a game at Staplewood once, but parking was a nightmare: a free or subsidised bus from Southampton for reserve games would be a good idea.

This morning's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/08/peter-storrie-portsmouth-future

No, I've got to break the run eventually, and i want to help improve the atmosphere:-)... I'm also thinking of going to the play-offs if we get that far!

I think I'm excused as I live in Italy, but you have to think of the perceived value for money when, as for the last few years the football has been rubbish, the feeling that we have been taken for a ride and the general demoralisation. I don't think it's a question of "glory hunters", just that people said "blow it, I've better things to do with my limited money". Anyway, I'll be swelling the Exeter crowd, but be warned, I haven't seen them win in 3 years of early season and Christmas games!

What, the one in St Denys?

Nice to see 4 Saints players in the box though, and all moving and making space. PS thanks for the youtube guys as I can't get iplayer.

True.... Perhaps some people should cut him a bit of slack when he plays as full back..

Anybody, is that possibly because he prefers midfield? He's pretty accurate in his free kicks/passing and perhaps less so in his defending: don't know.. comments?