suewhistle

I'm pretty certain I saw a four for the price of three offer in a local supermarket. They'll go well with this afternoon's wood fired pizza.. 5 would make me a bit burpy though..

Your question doesn't make sense. It implies that they don't want him to succeed, or the team for that matter, and that it is entirely in Robinson's best interests to play. Why do you think he hasn't been played even more by the coaches, their personal whims? Progress isn't linear for young players, it may depend more on external factors which we don't know about, whether growth spurts or minor muscle strains or degree of physical maturity or whatever. One thing for sure is that at the professional level the degree of monitoring is comprehensive. We have seen that overplaying players can cause issues, so perhaps they do have have _his_ best interests in mind?

That's interesting, and I'd probably only comment that Quarshie seems to have potential but occasionally shows his naivety and inexperience and gets affected in a game if he makes a mistake. I'd say Azaz has been a bit disappointing, but I'm not writing off anyone yet. What about Jander who I think should be in the second group?

Really?! Haven't seen anything on here since I put him on mute quite some years ago, and he knows that too. Without getting too personal, you only have to look at the thread subjects he starts in The Lounge and the number of contributions on them to get a measure of the guy. Someone I know who knows him in real life says he's ok, which potentially makes him even sadder as an on-line bully. Thanks for your concern Verbal, but don't worry about me. As for Martin, he certainly will have been maxing out his ISAs for a number of years, and he seems to have the knack of getting quite highly paid free time through contracts (presumably) being paid up. Which team will now suffer from poor defending, sideways passing and a pedestrian attack from his firm conviction that winning badly is a bad thing?

If I were to be grabbing at straws (and I so definitely am) I'd say he appeared to be putting in more effort.. I'm sure the player himself isn't stupid and his confidence must be shot, but I'm not sure what the answer is beyond swapping places with Akachukwu from the reserves for a spell? But although Still might not want to play him it's highly embarassing for his employers and management who recruited him and might be putting pressure on the manager.

- Turning on the fans "I just wish the fans could enjoy the team winning" I bet they do. One win, isn't it?

I saw enough of it and they replayed bits too, but the "negative posters" are mostly the ones who are always negative so I'll stand by my opinion, thanks.

Just back from the pub, still in my kit from earlier training. A quick skim from the thread and I've decided there is a business opportunity in cut throat razors for some of the more negative posters on this thread. I missed a lot of the first half and the half time stats looked in our favour but, as the penalty showed, we aren't that good at putting the ball in the net. We should have done better, but FM, some of you do like to wallow in negativity. I'm pleased for Stewart as scoring for a striker is their raison d'etre and helps future performances. Not always though, as Armstrong's abject penalty showed..

Hee hee. In the pub and I've got a Portsmyth expert next to me.. How bad Saints' support is and all those tiresome clichés. Think I'll have another pint just to listen to his incoherent mutterings.

The scary part is I don't know if you are taking the piss or not!!

I'd rather not have an ID card and I'd leave it at home rather than lose it, but most (all?) European countries have them and having lived in one I'm rather more sanguine about them than some here. As long as Crapita don't get involved!

At the level Valenciennes play there are sometimes teams that I don't know where they come from, and tonight Villefranche! [There's a village of that name I know in Italy!] Also I thought they had the nickname the Canedoise? So without googling can you help Christophe?🙂 PS I also heard Bourg-en-Bresse mentioned??

I'm not sure he received many passes, particularly in dangerous areas. He was taking up wide positions but not receiving the ball, or at least that is my recall - which admittedly is pretty poor these days!

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!