suewhistle

At least my niece is happy. She supports Cambridge United, lives fairly locally and I told her before the game that Pompey would help out by staying down to give her a convenient game. Back in the day I went to The Goldstone ground with her but Brighton managed to escape.. It does seem that American owners are no guarantee of success..

Means that at least we have one decent sub on the bench!

I'm in the last group but without going through my diary I can't for the life of me remember what game I went to. I thought I didn't because I was in a lockdown area, but maybe I did see one of Saint's less memorable games..!

According to the preview in The Guardian our subs are from:..Subs from Forster, Lewis, Nlundulu, Finnigan, Ferry, Chauke, Watts, Tchaptchet, Jankewitz, Ramsay, Salisu, Obafemi. Shows the strength in depth of our squad..

This pretty well summarises my feelings. We can all appreciate the difficulty refs have particularly with the speed of the game at that level and until now we could give officials the benefit of the doubt as they didn't have the replays that we see sat in comfort on our sofas. But they do now..

😁

I look forward to reading the VAR conversation for last night's match...

Thanks again. I've used a number of your links and been pretty successful and never had the time to say thank you. Could you also do something about the fact that I've mostly wished I hadn't watched! 🙂

But it obviously won't stop you being a *anker. There is obviously no single line up that will stop the complaints so I'm back to my guest and see you all later.

Yep, he definitely hasn't got the pace for that.. I'm sure I saw complaints when we didn't throw Vestergaard forward and now I'm seeing complaints when we do. Complaining about no plan B and then complaining when we change personnel (whether enforced or not) and change formation. Asking for subs and then moaning about them. What I see from a lot of posters is the confidence they are right and denigrating others' opinions. This is a sad place at the moment, and not just because we're playing badly. I find the unremitting negativity from some people tiring and I find myself coming on here less and less.

Whoops, I didn't realise it had been changed to Friday night. That would have been depressing, waking up on Saturday to see they'd already lost. It's not as if I wasn't already expecting to be a bit grumpy over the weekend..

I'm no lip reader but they showed Ings at half time and I think he was muttering to himself 'F*** me'! Whether that was the score or the effort he's put in I'm not sure but we certainly deserve that lead. Salisu showing his lack of experience a bit but his pace is really useful. The tackling has so much more bite to it tonight and even if we don't get the win this half has reminded us what we can do.

I never seem to have enough time to say thanks as I'm too busy closing pop-ups but this one looks good. Thanks again..

Not like you to make an over the top and exaggerated comment. FWIW I'm not particularly confident tonight but people have been calling for change, complaining about Bertrand, Diallo, Redmond etc., and when we get a change, whether tactical or personnel it's never acceptable and everybody has their own idea of what should be done. When we do a high press (as with Spurs at home) there are complaints, when we take a conservative approach as in the first half in the semi likewise. We do seem to have difficulty changing gear and upping the tempo. Oh well.. off to find a stream and finish my second G&T..

Gin and tonic here (domestic measure..). Actually I was getting ready for my birthday tomorrow and I always get depressed on my birthday, so I'll start early..

Well, I've got a grass roots game at 2pm, then take the goal posts down, home, hot bath, then out ready for the line-ups and the nervous wait for the second kick off. I'm not optimistic but certainly haven't written them off. It would be good to see a few London Saints in the crowd as my screams at the screen won't have much impact..

Does anyone know hackedoff's real identity? Just in case...

Cazzo.

Thank goodness that's over. I normally try and see something positive (unlike some of the unremittingly negative individuals on here) but nothing there tonight.

This is appalling. At least SKD will be happy..

Ooh, that's a point, the pubs will be open.. There's one in the next village that has a marquee out the back with a TV, or at least it did when it was last open. Small chance of getting a seat I imagine, but I might give them a ring.

I can't really remember his performances (which is a good sign in some respects) but I think the thought crossed my mind that he was under orders to keep it simple and safe. The other thought was that he looked a bit nervous, which was fair enough considering the opposition.

I'm not aware of any Saints player that SKD likes, and he posts an awful lot. He could and probably should score more goals and he needs to be more confident and instinctive about using his left foot but he's a valuable asset to the squad, and whenever I think who could we get who is better I think of the price Sheffield paid for Oli McBurnie (or we paid for Carillo...)!

The "who would we buy from a relegated side" test..

I think this sums up my position. A few choice expletives as I watched a dodgy (and delayed) stream. I thought we were playing some decent football but as always succumbed to some robust physicality. Then we got one back and my hope soared and although I was going out to lunch managed to leave it as long as possible. Had to wait to watch a corner, then managed a couple more minutes to see the equaliser and then had to dash. When we went 2 -0 down I certainly didn't see us winning but what gets me is the language some people use. It's so black and white and negative and admits no possibility of us getting back into the game. It's never "this looks beyond us now" and " we need to get a goal back soon" but always "we've lost" and "we're going to be relegated" and "we're rubbish". That, I reckon, is what people object to, and the sheer relish with which some people seem to embrace our failures. Oh yes, and the repetitive nature of such comments by the same posters..