Frank's cousin

...run to end watch Scousepuss and tell me you dont spluter when the mice start singing....

Feck this is wierd... not arguing with turks... See I dont need to like Cortese, but yes it would be 'nice' if he was universily popular amongst fans , media and ex players etc, simply because it would not be a distraction. I just want him to do his job as best as possible and for me that is reflected in how we progress on the pitch. So all the other stuff about him being mean to the Tea Doris, not letting anyone use his toilet or sacking folk, may not make him nice, but whilst it does not detract from the progress of side, its not on my radar. The interfering stuff is different, because we do not know what roles were agreed/job descriptions, and whatever they were, it worked the last 2 seasons - not beyond the realms of plausibilty that they needed to evolve and they have done, but its all speculation. Now, feck off and be an irritating fecker again, as this new Turkish is messing with my brain

Fair point - but dont we all? In mitigation, hoping for the best, rather than assuming the worst, is a more positive perspective?

... Calm down Krackers, you are right. BUT, many dont bother to look at all sources, and dont even question those made up as part of a clever if irritating wind up. You have to call it as you see it, fair enough, but I suggest there is still a fair amount of zealot like focus on rumour by thsoe with some axes that require a sharpening.

I over react on here all the time...usually having biten to the WUMs - oh well, off guard when on here as its like a stress ball. Some on here have serious anger issues (sorry Alps ;-) - others appear discontent with the regime, others just laugh at all of us getting so worked up about it... hey ho, feck it, matters not in the grand scheme of things - and Bearsy is always good to put it all into perspective

Nope, just I formed my opinion on this AFTER looking at ALL the sources and making my mind up on which appear most credible... in this case, I know Weston, and I know who his source is - whereas I have no idea on anyone elses and they are not sharing, so logic prevails. I am happy to admit, as is Weston, that its not definitive, but on balance I think he is closer to the truth on this occasion. Yes indeed... all I am saying is that its often better to WAIT until you have as much infoirmation as possible before forming an opinion. Turks like a wind up and get bites - and if there is any truth in teh rumours he hears, its interesting stuff, but because of the way its posted, surely you can agree that it lacks credibilty? Many have been critical of LR/NC based on speculation - It 'could' well be true - I dont know, and doubt that it is, but even if it is, It could be argued that it was LRs job (I dont have access to his job description ;-) ) and that up until this season it worked fine - but now we need a different approach, happens all the time in the real world as roles evolve based on need, yet some turn into wet fannies about it....

Think at times against the magpies it was more 2 2 6 but lets not fall out aout it

Are these the talks that Weston (who spoke with player family) said never happened and were a figment of media and fan speculation?

... and you believe Nige was happy to work in such an environment and accept these decisions?.... A different take is that whatever 'interference' comes form upstairs whether there is truth in it or not, ultimately its all about whether we progress or not. Does the set up, whatever it is, allow the club to succeed on the pitch? Two promotions, heavy investmnet in both players and infrastructure would seem to suggest something is working - Sure we may have 100 different opinions on what the policy SHOULD be, Sure we can all point to what are in our HOs mistakes made, but the proof is always in the pudding - does it work? I was once, perhaps rightly, criticised for using a defence for Lowe, that it mattered not that there was logic in the strategy or approach, but if it did not work, it was pointless - now some seem to be saying the opposite, that the approach and strategy are more imporatnt than the evidence of the success we have had/having... some want it both ways as it enables a criticism of thsoe in charge no matter what... strange.

Nope, perfectly happy, but nice to know you care - letting off the frustrations and stresses of work on the saints web internet 'mongboardTM' (sic) - cleanses the soul and means Mrs FC and sprog dont have an old grumpy stressed out fecker to deal with.

Rants yes, Drunken No, maybe a little fuelled by soem of New Zealand's finest, but to old for excess these days... A good rant lets off a bit of steam old boy

Not upset Turks, confused maybe as to why this amuses you so much - I bite as do others, could we say we are providing a public service to meet your special needs?

Thats the beauty of the 4231 - in that IF the wide players in the 3 (Adam and Punch) ALSO do their bit defensively (wher it becomes a 4411) then you have that versatility - in the attacking sense it can be devastating (See Germany WC2010 etc) and as we see glimpses of when we attack in numbers - in effect becoming a 2251 as the fullbacks also push forward, or 4141 if one of 2 pushes foward in support - I love the sysytem, but does need some pace and awareness of defensive responsibilties and covering when othere push forward. Think we will enjoy seeing a fair few goals, but against better sides be prepared for a few against us still - 4231 can expose a side.

Thing about fence sitting Alps is that it requires a bit of balance - so gald you mentioned it! Seriously, No one is denying that we pretty poor on the pitch, no one is denying that it would have been far better had we been able to sign extra quality at the back - but its the assumptions that this was down to some policy, disruption and general crapness in the way we went about things , rather than a pretty natural set of challenges for a side that was newly promoted, had no experience at this level, and because of the rapid rise, may have struggled to appeal to some of our targets, when others came in. Its EASY to assume there is 'fault' - rather tan to accept that as everyone at the club learns, things will get better - the point being that given our lack of experience, its not the mistakes made on the pitch or off it that matter, but how quickly we learn and put things right. My gripe is not with highlighting mistakes, but with the assumptions that its all someones fault. The record from day one suggests that the focus in footballing progress - and yes some of teh more fan friendly issues get ignored, but when it comes to footballing progess, its been year on year - even now we should all admit that we are a better squad than last season and currently sit 6 places higher than in May - to me that is progress, even if slower than most of us would have liked. Shaw and Clyne do need back up, especially Shaw given his age, Fonte seems to be settling and Yoshi is doing OK - yes we need back up or better, but getting better in jan when you are in teh bottom 6 is not going to be easy - how many players want to leave a club in a better position for one in the bottom 6? Its not all about not bothering, or mistakes, sometimes its reflective of our status/position and we need to be aware of that before looking for scapegoats all the time.

Gaston, simply because he is a bit more advanced and seems to have at this time the better footballing brain. Think Oxo will get there, but is still young and for him its pace, power and confidence right now (all great attributes so would be happy if he was still here), but as a straight choice the greater awarness and touch on the ball, means its Gaston for me at this time - and not because he salready is our player, simply looking at what they can contribute.

Lamentable really, that when there are multiple possible reasons for our improvements to chose from, some naturally gravitate to the most negative... can someone plaese explain why? What purpose its serves? If we were observing any other club, we would be far more pragmatic, we would look at the combination of factors from the start: - that despite playing some good football in the attacking sense, struggled to get points due to poor defending - a new defensive line up that needed time to gell and play together... - tactical naiviety as we learned how to deal with the quality of the opposition, - the young inexperienced side and Nige trying different combinations with new players..... the promising signs then dissappearing as injuries took hold, and confidence became shattered, to the players back, the defence starting to integrate and a couple of wins that sees confidence return. Early days, as the recent opposition did not put up much of a fight, but even so the way we have played suggests we may have found teh right combination and the players have confidence in each other... Yet many saints fan look at our situation and assume there was something MAJORLY wrong - often giving the perception that they were happy to be able to point to the culprits - based on hearsay, speculation and rumours - despite other sources close to players saying that this was not the case, the same drum get beaten time and again. Everyone makes mistakes - Nige, the players, Cortese, Reed - everyone. When mistakes happen, we have choices, learn from it and move on, or constantly bring it up like a nagging wife bringing up issues from 15 years ago in an argument today. None of us knows the TRUTH as to whether there was any shift in policy that has contributed to the change in fortunes, depsite what some 'want' to believe - but its most telling that there HAS been a chnage in fortunes, so if there HAS been a change in policy, then all parties should be applauded for recognising the need. Shows a fecking great deal more unity at SMS than appears to be amongst the fan base at times.

Well as he cant write (which everyone in football knows), I suppose we could assume that ?

So... he is on record as saying under oath that he cant use technology, not even texts, yet he is happy to speak publically about receiving them... now I am sure there is a totally rational explanation for this contradiction, but I sure as hell cant quite put my finger on it. Meanwhile back in SOS pompeyland, estemed local hack Mr Allen is providing us with his happy thoughts of balls being kicked deliberately into spectator faces - surely it would have been even funnier Neil if it had been a 4 year old on his Dad's shoulders, or maybe one of the wheelchair users? Maybe it would have even made national folklore had he hit a blind fan... wow what a joyous day that would have been as the whole country could all laugh and share the joy that such things can provide in these most depressing times.... Shiedt ground, sheidt fans, no money, 160mil of other folks money ****ed up the wall, no wins, not enough willing/stupid enough to 'invest' a grand in a sinking ship... so I guess you need your kicks where you can get em... ... what he fails to appreciate or even understand, is that there are a few decent pompey fans who are ashamed of the way their club has behaved, cant believe they are still bleating about being competitive (You could not make it up), and recognise that the only way they can get some self respect back for their club, is by starting over... Neil,, if you had any class, its these fans you would be writing for and supporting by telling it as it is, not the ignorant morons who still believe the club did nothing wrong and just got unlucky - those you suck up to with your 'funny' tales of folklore.... find it strange that you feel you need to join in with the ****wits.... no class.

I always though the res and white tinsel wigs were given out by the Echo - maybe this is why NC hates em, which would mean Turks and NC do have something in common?

If we take out the obvious benefits of Ramirez and Cork returning, The back four starting to find an undrstanding and playing sides that are not on their game (and we can only beat who we are playing so it should not detract from teh quality we showed) - the most obvious improvement IMHO has been in the mental side - we seem much more confident and this should help during more difficult games to come. Tactically, I still think we will struggle against the more pragmatic defencive sides, as when we are forced to be patient, we seem at times to struggle to know what to do - when we attack at pace it seems a far morr natural for these players and it shows in the success we have when they dont have too much time to think about it and follow their instincts - which shows they have the brains and ability to make it work. Will Norwich be a better indicator? possibly, but also depends on how they play on the day. I appreciate that we must not get carried away and start believing we are better than we are because of 7 points out of 9 against sides not at the races, but the reality is its 7 out of 9 and to over analyse at times is probably doing the lads a diservice. A win is a win and the confidence that breeds and as we have seen and the media noted, once again teh sum of our parts looks better than the individuals as we seem to have that belief and team spirit that we saw so often last season - maybe we have simply gotten used to the pace and quality and over teh 'shock' of the quality and performance gap necessary to survive and progess?

Two issues with 'pace' - the obvious one of players having it to shift up and down the park - and the IMHO more important one which is 'attacking at pace' and in numbers which we saw yesterday, with accurate passing - the ball moving quicker forward alot quicker as we flooded foward. May sound obvious, but ball moves alot quicker, and yesterday we showed that frequently, without ****ing around with it -not do be confused with the direct approach, but passing forward and through defenders at pace... sound obvious, but we have struggled to do this consistently throughout a match thsi season especially against better defensive sides - it worked well in batches against teh likes of City and Man U, because they also play a more attacking game. Against the 'lesser' sides who play with a more organised mid field and back four which hold their shape, we dillied around to much 'waiting' for an opening, rather than the intensity we showed yesterday and at QPR. Last seaosn when we played like that few could live with us, this season we will alos need to learn to be patient and how to vary our style when up against the more stoic/pragmatic defences. Attacking at pace and in numbers when the opportunity is right, rather than all the time and exposing the back 4 is something we need to show we can do.

LOL... Me, Whitey and Derry - like the 3 old 'Barbers' in 'Coming to America' - although I am only 43 going on 120

Using Alps McDermmot principle, then in the last 3 games with 7 points, we are unbeatable and top 3 on that form..... Sorry Alps, but you missed the point on Reading - yu cant simply take away your bad periods and be left with your wins to show how how good you are.

Come on Hypo, you know it all depends where you sit and what angle you get - Derry sits on row A or B so is level with pitch and called it as the lino saw it. The point is having read it all, its just saying that in real time he could see why the lino called it as he did. Even if he was later proven wrong, is it such a big deal?.... pro linos get this wrong every week - because they make a split second decision in real time. Dery was saying the same thing, that in real time the decision looked the right one... no biggy surely?

Fair enough K, but there are some on here who have used the 'committee' as a stick with which to beat the club with... all comes back to the classic paradox. When we win every week, no one would give a flying feck if the tea lady had a say in Nige's selections - yet would give her no credit.... the moment we struggle and its a whole different ball game.