Saint_clark

It all depends what Poyet actually said. From the way he acted in his post match interview, wouldn't surprise me if he told the 4th official he thought he was cheating or something.

Only one nervous moment I could think of - when he was caught in possession at the back, but I think Adkins will stamp things like that out straight away. It's one thing building from the back and it's another taking unnecessary risks. Other than that, I thought he was brilliant. The timing of his headers, tackles and interceptions was superb, and he looked a real threat from set pieces too.

They were far better than the majority of what we played last season - but they were still sh*t compared to us.

Christ, how can you not see that he was being ironic... I was made up for Hammond today after people predicting all summer that he would be dropped. As for how we're going to fit all 4 quality CMs into our set up - we actually managed to use them all today. Pretty good going.

Unless it was an underlying problem.

I think you could look at every player in the starting 11 and say they had a good game. What a fantastic start to the season.

That isn't even my name. But yes, I am a virgin.

Rodriguez would be brilliant. Fox, not so much.

Wenger has said - not through a third party, expressly come out and said himself - that he wants to sign Chamberlain.

Regardless, it doesn't make much sense saying it would be harder to keep hold of players if we were in the Prem - let's use Chamberlain as an example. Arsenal want him right now, we've just left League One and are in the NPC, and they're willing to spend a big portion of their transfer budget to get him - and yet we're holding firm. If we were in the Prem we would have a much bigger income and could give Chamberlain a higher wage - he would be happier here then with more money and playing Prem football. And Arsenal aren't going to suddenly start bidding £25-30million for him when we reach the Prem. Therefore if anything, it would be easier to hold onto our players in the Prem - as we have more to offer.

With regards to the "sell more if it was something else" argument - I never buy programmes anymore but will be doing so today.

Disagree, look at the likes of Beckford, Pilkington, Delph, Andrews all heading straight from League One to the Prem and (for the most part) performing well. The fact that the top sides in England are willing to spend £10million plus on a 17 year old with one full season of League One experience shows that Prem teams are willing to take the chance.

First goal scored 40-51 is a favourite of mine.

That's a bit of an awkward one, don't expect a reply

No need for the little digs everyone, Roger has shown in this thread that he is willing to debate the points he's made so he's clearly not a "Cortese basher".

My boss is difficult to deal with, but I know it's because he wants what's best for his company. Where have we heard about players pulling out of deals?

This. I would wager he won't be on the cover again this season once we have goalscorers/MOTM from previous games to feature.

Very OTT if you ask me. Was justified for the Pompey game (although rather nullified by letting both sets of fans out at the same time). Things like this just get people wound up/excited and increase the risk of things happening IMO.

Are you kidding? He's on the front cover of the program, not picking the team. I can't think of a way he could have had less of a prominent role since he's been in charge.

He's already shown potential. A CB doesn't really hit his peak for me until 27/28, sometimes later.

Paynter and McCormack up front for them, not too terrifying.

Really? Who were they then? I can only remember Baird (and he was ignored by Redknapp). Remembering that he let Dodd go on a free at the end of the 04/05 season as well.

1. The fanny 2. The arse 3. The earlobe

Exactly. I don't think the people behind all this really believe they will get these zones, they just know it'll get them in the papers.

Just seen the highlights, Connollys goal has to be one of the best worked free-kicks i've ever seen.