Saint-Fred

We should have let him go in the summer. For years He has watched his team mates leave for bigger and better things year after year so why then would he not expect, when the opportunity came, to be allowed to leave as well? Coupled beyond that with the most bizarre squad rotation ever which ensures we hardly ever have our strongest team on the pitch at the same time..why would he not be ****ed and play up? At least Poch and RK played the strongest team they could in the league and sacrificed the cups rather than play a weakened side every game. I don't think his behaviour (if what's being "leaked" is right) could be deemed as acceptable but I can see why he would be totally out of love with the club right now. At least he has the balls to hand in a transfer request and suffer any financial penalties associated with that action, unlike some others who have left. I just hope he doesn't go to the scousers.

Lol with respect if Puel ever has the players of the quality that Cruyff had at his disposal he will be able to play any formation including 2-0-8 and still be competitive!

To be fair the first half at Bournemouth was poor as well. We struggled to it two passes together and so do they. Our fans even cheered PEH when he passed to his own player in the second half.

Personally I think he will do a job for us, we won't go down but the football is boring and if the opposition score in a match we may as well go home it seems. I don't particularly want his sacked but something has to be different moving forward. Whatever you say about players lost, the squad is one of the most expensively assembled in world football. We are obviously light years from the big boys and unfortunately a lot of those spending more are in our league but there is a lot of money invested and talent in this football club and in my opinion CP has got them under performing on the pitch. I don't expect a higher league position but I do think it would be nice to see some decent football. Individuals such as Hojbjerg and Forster seem low on confidence and it's his job to turn that around. To have won only two league games where the opposition has scored says it all for me..and now we have started conceding goals we could be in for a long boring second half to the season. Alternatively he could change something, we might hammer Everton and suddenly start scoring goals on a regular basis..which is my favourite scenario but from what I have seen from him so far, it's unlikely.

We desperately need to keep a clean sheet as we have only won two league games where the opposition have scored in the match. Hey I must be sounding like Puel's team talk now! I reckon 0 0 or a late Everton winner...if they score early our heads will drop and it's likely to be a shedful.

That sort of behaviour is not possible if you have European competition to worry about as well..it would tire players needlessly.

Sorry I don't agree with this? mane was our attack? How many goals did he get or create? Tadic was far more creative and Pelle scored more goals? Lallana was our attack? Lambert scored the goals along with J rod and Tadic has created more than Lallana ever did? I think Boufal will be great but it's a team game and the team structure needs to be right..we have stopped pressing and play some sort of pedestrian side ways passing "conserve energy" game which I would understand but no player plays three consecutive games anyway so our players aren't playing 3 games in six days etc... How can west brom be fresher than us? We made six changes? They played their best team every game bar one or two changes? So you are saying we play pedestrian football to conserve energy and we rotate the team wholesale every week but we are still less fresh than a Spurs team which played as many games (at a higher level than us) AND play a high pressure game for 90 minutes EVERY GAME and make less changes than us? IMO It's just an excuse that we are tired I am afraid. Our forwards don't get close enough to each other to play the intricate football in the box we saw from Lallana, J Rod and Lambert in their pomp so we cross the ball a lot (as despite the full backs supposedly supplying the width Tadic and Boufal seem to always be out wide) but no one is in there to put it away as the midfield are not able to support the front three. I suspect the midfield are reluctant to get forward as they are outnumbered and often having to bust a gut to cover the four midfielders the other teams have. Personally I think the individuals do well considering. We often dominate possession, The midfield cover a lot of ground and often win the battle for loose balls etc despite being outnumbered. To expect them to also pitch in up front is just unrealistic.

I don't think Puel is particularly bad but the football is just so boring...Our games must have the least goals this season. At least the last two we have seen 8 goals. We don't look like scoring but also don't look like conceding but inevitably we usually do with the first chance for the opposition. I heard Puel talk about being unlucky but he can't really believe that the repetition of the same performances is really down to luck? Perhaps there was luck but it was in the Everton and Boro games where they didn't score? You do look at the semi final and think where the hell are the goals to get us through going to come from? You can't see us keeping two clean sheets but also can't see us scoring more than one. The players don't look particularly surprised or angry when we concede a goal, it looks like they think it is inevitable? I don't think we will be anywhere near relegation but when we lose in the cup, the season will be over, so what dross will we have to watch then, when there is nothing to play for? Finally I know people are comparing us to the same point last season but correct me if I am wrong, we are doing slightly better this year, but the rumours were RK was two games from the sack at around this time last year so does being slightly better mean three games from the chop?

Stoke wear white shorts so how does it make us any different to them then we are now?

It's all about opinions but is he really in your top 5 when we have had players like Shilton, Le Tiss, Keegan, Holmes, Armstrong, Mills, Watson, Richards, Moran, Niemi, Pahars, Wright, Killer, Wallace, Channon, Ball, Case even players like Worthington who weren't here long was technically a better player. As good as he was he probably wasn't even the best player in his time here. I like him but in comparison to some of the real top players we have had, personally I wouldn't put him anywhere near a last 40 years best 11.

Just shows what rubbish some of these papers write. Lukaku's pay varies in reports massively depending on what day of the week or how sensational they want to make it seem.

Better not be Liverpool.I have no problem if he goes to Man Utd but FFS seriously no other club would continually strengthen the same rival over and over even if it cost them money.

I think J Rod is more effective leading the line..I'd have Tadic, J Rod and Boufal.

How can they be knackered? 8 games in 26 days or whatever it is but how many individual players have actually played 8 games in 26 days?

Ah look he know I'll **** doesn't atcually know I'll shocker. Remember ridiculing me one summer for e mere suggestion. ****ing *****.

I think the opposite, we are very consistent. We play the same way each game, in most have good possession and look tidy on the ball. We just don't score enough goals. The Everton game was the same as this one without the glaring errors in defence. The problem is if the opposition get in front we seem done for! Ps I don't think we will be in a relegation battle.

Our away form is terrible. The lack of goals (home and away) just 13 in the league- is really bad and that includes 3 at West Ham. It's a bit disappointing really.

I thought this thread was going to be about RK! We can't boo our own players..we have plenty of defectors to be booing already so have no time for that and we will boo VVD etc next season anyway when they are defectors so just get behind the team.

Lol no need for a straight jacket! Great teams back then...loads of goals in the team...but just as capable of conceding 5 as well!

Sorry to be pedantic but it really didn't. First of all, by 83/84 season Keegan had left. Second the title was in reality between Liverpool and Man Utd. We came up on the rails to take second, we never battled it out with Liverpool for the title.

H We finished 7th that season, not really close to winning it!

Well we are in Europe now so does that answer your question? And as English teams were banned from Europe in the mid eighties even Pompey have a better chance of qualifying now than we did then! :-) We have never , realistically , had a chance of winning the top league in my lifetime, how far from winning it is a bit irrelevant? We could dream that we would but in reality we couldn't even win a cup (with one exception) let alone the league....personally I still enjoy the games, enjoy good football and hope that at some point we will win another major cup! And I do know that if we are in the premier league there is a much better chance of that than if we were in any lower league. (Despite our obvious exception to that rule)

Can you remind me what we have won in 100 plus years trying? Obviously it was all a waste of time and effort (with the exception of 1976) by that logic?

Lol every player they have cost like 20 to 30 million pounds...how could we ever have afford to do that whilst keeping our current players on bumper salaries?

Yeah but if Newcastle come up are they in our league or level one? What about Leeds if they came up? If Norwich come are are they our league or the league below? Bit lost what is the criteria for being in what league? You let a team with a 12k capacity ground in our league but put one in the bottom league with a 40k stadium? Or is it only based on one season so we decide what league you are in 10 games in?