suewhistle

What were the good things about tonight? 2 (two!) goals, one very good indeed and a win, and watching the screen in the pub one way whilst in the other direction the Pompey fans moaning about their 0-0 game. Lets hope the win gives a bit of confidence. In the meantime I'm off to make some voodoo dolls to stick pins in but not sure how to prioritise. There was more solid defensive heading done today and then some absolute cack, so I think I'll start with the THB and Manning dolls.

No, but thanks. Also I'd never heard of an Irish exit before (qv) but with a bit of Dutch courage I should be OK in the pub. 😉

So Portsmouth v Wrexham is the Sky main match but Saints is available too. Do I go down to my usual PO area village pub with multiple screens where they can show more than one match..? The barman is an amiable lad and the regulars, even the footballing crowd, are fine.. At least it's not too far to walk if I have to come home early.

Your post sums up what I feel. It was a few days before I could manage to watch the highlights, and the defending for their goal was abysmal, I hadn't realised quite how bad until I saw it again. I know there is a lack of confidence but at least put some effort in. It wasn't until the second half and he was in front of me that I remembered Downes was playing, in spite of reading the line up at the beginning. He wasn't the only anonymous player out there either..

Two masochists?! Can't you just stay in and hit each other, or something? I'm not quite sure how it works..

On the train today I was chatting to a US based coach. He can't understand what we bought Downs either and said there were better CFs available over there.. We agreed that neither of us could see any potential in him, let alone ability at the moment, as much as we'd both like him to succeed.

Can't see (m)any in 'spoons but it's busy with people getting in their pre-match anaesthesia.

So what do you reckon? Sending off or injury? Or both..

I avoid coming on here after a defeat, particularly as bad as the Blackburn one, as it just piles on the misery. But the players have to take some of the blame too, as they seem to crumble under pressure. Even when passing around at the back, and every team does it, they don't do so accurately and often just behind the player receiving the ball so that they have to check back and can't play with head up, it's so frustrating. We wanted a more pragmatic manager who changed things up, but now complain when he does. We want the defence to take fewer risks and then complain about long ball. We want him to play our best players and complain when they get injured, he takes off Scienza to protect him and complain, we complain when he doesn't play certain players and complain when they play and make mistakes. Why aren't Aribo and Edozie getting a look in: work to rule, contractual issues, unfit? No idea, but other experienced players like Wee Man fail to do anything of note, THB seems a liability, Downes appears to be constantly sick or recovering when he does play. Archer did one thing of note against Blackburn just after halftime when he took a player on but generally seems a waste of space. Armstrong is a willing runner but he's no chance finisher. We get to the byline and cut back quite often but fail to take advantage of when we actual do some slick play. If we do get a new manager the main task will be to instill some confidence, but as the Rangers example shows Martin was quite good at removing it, but a few wins for the price of my season ticket might help.

I presume we have a few injured/ill, as there is no one on the bench who I think deserves to start?

Well, my final decision was go to training but now in the pub. I've seen two goals as well... The only consolation is that I'm in a Portsmouth supporting pub and they're on the other screen.🙂

Yep! Some of the youth were acting all tipsy even on that! The Birrificio Lambrate after the game was all Saints fans free spending and well behaved; amazing how the beer homing instinct drew us all there!

Loads of choices then!

That'll teach West Ham not to pinch our players..😃

Third choice: go to training as usual and then check on the car radio on the way home whether it's worth trying to watch the second half..

Go down a pub with Sky and spend the money on three pints. You might not see a Saints win but at least you'll have had three pints..

I thought most people wanted Bazunu dropped, for obvious reasons, similarly there have been complaints when a certain centre back has been played and THB being dropped has been due to his form. So I'm not sure what people want: are you saying people should be played regardless of form or fitness?

The film I saw of him coaching the players at Lens I thought showed him comfortable with them and confident and clear in his coaching. The formal media stuff he obviously hates, and surely it will help when he can do an interview after a convinving win!

Quite. It would be easier if he'd been injured and we then had the excuse that he needed to get match fit.

He doesn't seem very good, but it's patently obvious that his confidence is shot, and we're not getting a representation of what his true level is. We need to put some team to the sword and then bring him on to hopefully get a goal as well, as scoring is the only thing I think will bring any improvement.

OK, I'll tell you next time I make a joke. I hope Dr Who? had fun with his Wainrights and he understood it was a joke.

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?