Saint Garrett

Hooiveld is not crap at all. He's not amazing but he's not crap. Neither is Fox, ok, maybe not quite been good enough this season, but not crap at all. Was superb for us last season in the Champ. However I'm guessing by your join date that you are one of these premiership fans...

I just think Hooiveld is a bit more clumsy than the others. I think there is room for him in the squad for when we play teams like WHU and Stoke though. As I said, i'm probably being a bit harsh because he has been very good recently and fair play to him for that. However I still believe Yoshi and Fonte are better than him, and who knows with Forren, Fonte has been injured (he went off vs Chelsea in the cup), but I thought he was very good for a lot of the season, and was very good Vs Liverpool when he came on. I have to say I'm surprised that Jos is being picked over Jose at the moment, but that is MP's call.

Players IMO that are capable of being in a 'top 7 squad'... Boruc, Clyne, Shaw, Cork, Morgan, Lallana, Gaston, J-Rod, Lambert.....You could also argue Yoshi as well, and maybe Forren but who knows about him? We have players who can do a job in a mid table side....S Davis, Fonte, Puncheon, JWP, And then those who will struggle to compete....K Davis, Hooiveld, Chaplow, Richardson, Fox, Seaborne, Dickson, Barnard, Butterfield, Forte, Gazza, Guly, Lee, De Ridder, Noone knows about Mayuka and I may be a bit harsh on Hooiveld there. Also probably missed some out but oh well. If we can cut a few of those 'strugglers' out and replace them with a few capable of playing for a top 7 team, and a few 'midtable-ers' then who knows what might happen next season. Also if a few of the youngsters can step up then that would be great but hard to know where they will be next season.

But if they haven't played this season, why would you expect them to be involved next season or the season after when we want to be chasing top 10 or better? They simply won't.

Because Moyes might go, Baines and Fellaini might go, a few of their key players will be another year older...all depends on who they bring in. Neville, Osman, Heitinga, Distin must all be on the cusp.

No, but Drogba was. Unproven in the Prem and they rightly took the risk in signing him.

Beckham was at Man Utd as a kid and the biggest club in the world. Drogba went to Chelsea as they were minted and had big ambition, but also went there relatively unknown. Eto has never played in the prem?

They may be a bigger club than us, and have a bigger fan base, but I'd be surprised if they have more money than us...Although who knows how much we have really !?

Why would you expect any different from a dirty f*cking cheating skate bastard.

Next round of games...few 'relegation 6 pointers'.... Reading v Southampton Norwich v Swansea Stoke v Aston Villa West Brom v Arsenal Liverpool v West Ham Tottenham v Everton Chelsea v Sunderland Newcastle v Fulham QPR v Wigan Reckon us, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Wigan and Newcastle to get wins Norwich - Swans, Spurs - Everton, Stoke - Villa draws....We'll see, Could do with Swansea and Fulham nicking away wins, Stoke winning(or a draw?), Liverpool, Chelsea, and QPR all winning. We will see.

And they're saying £42 is ridiculous....It is but it's what we all paid! Sure there will be plenty of Saints in the home ends. Really thought that they would have sold out so far, only need to sell 22,000 tickets...!

http://www.fansonline.net/portsmouth/article.php?id=2477#.UVwS7JPvte8 Interviewed in France Football, Schneiderlin also explained how he was on the receiving end of a bad tackle when the two sides met last April at St Mary's. 'The first thing they told me when I arrived [from Strasbourg] was to never go there [Portsmouth]. Nathan Dyer and a few others had had problems in a night club there,' he said. 'I have played in this derby - it's pure hatred. Everyone talks only of it all year. Last season in the return game [at St Mary's in April 2012] Luke Varney launched himself into a knee-high tackle after just six minutes. I had to go off with a bruise on my left knee and a hole in my right. I was out for three weeks. 'But they went down and we won promotion. At the final match of the season our fans displayed a banner which said:"Who's laughing now?"'

Yer I could only get one on my number...

It is tough for the manager though. The youngsters just arent very good. Cleverley, Welbeck, Chamberlain, Rodwell, Shelvey, Henderson, Carroll have all been given a chance and have been distincly average. They don't play week in week out which means they don't get any momentum together. I agree that the 'old guard' of Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Rio, Terry should all be cast aside and we should move on from that, but then you can't bring in someone like Lambert who is the same age. We're obviously bias, but I personally believe that Clyne, Shaw and Cork would definitely add something to the team, and the J-Rod of the last few games would as well along with an on song Lallana. But It doesn't surprise me that this hasn't yet happened.

Yeah, I couldn't be bothered to do the maths ! But I think here in-lies the problem with us expanding. It would cost a fortune. Didn't Cortese mutter something about a new stadium when he first came in?! I'm sure if he is serious about it, then he has explored all avenues...

This, our stadium is about right for us at the moment, but agree with MLG that we could have 5 or 6 games a season where we can get 40k. But whether thats worth it or not is another matter. For me, I'd rather keep what we have until we're established for a few years at this level, and pushing on. It would help from a business point of view if Reading go down and stay down for a few years. I don't really see it as cost effective as surely it would cost a fortune for us to build another 10k seats.

Why do we need a whole new squad ? Whats wrong with the current bunch. They're doing me proud at the moment.

When I watched the u21 game vs Liverpool on TV, I was impressed by the CM, Robinson. Thought he looked very Cork-esque. Sure there will be some more cracking youngsters to come out the academy, it's almost expected now!

Middlesbrough at home, the 3rd, after Guly had got the first one. Superb goal.

Would love to go to this as it's 5 minutes from my house, but staying in Cardiff after the Swansea game. Not sure racing back on a hangover is a good idea...

Blimey, was it 2 years ago they won it?! Time flies... EDIT: Ok well I am well off, they won it in 2009!

Tickets on sale today.

JRod is still playing left wing, just players seem to have better movement under Poche. Seems to be loads of diagonal runs made, dragging defenders all over the place which therefore means that our players aren't staying in their positions as rigidly as under NA

Why ? Can't say I've ever heard of him...Did he play in their title winning side last season?