Alain Perrin

And behold, the power of the internet... Reducing a caveated tweet with 'no confirmation' and 'could' to a statement of fact.

In fairness I think we are at a bit of a perfect storm moment. 1) Disruption in the board room (regardless of what you think of NC, he sold a vision to most of the current squad and the manager. The new board have yet to show their hand on this) 2) A nucleus of the team that has been together for 5 years (stands to reason some with outgrow the club) 3) Young players who have proved themselves (specifically Luke but also Chambers). 4) Exciting football by a progressive manager (likely to attract attention of wanabee 'flair' clubs) The complicating factor is that many of those things are triggers. If the board wind in the ambition, those players (like Lallana) who are at a turning point in their career, may have their head turned. If the manager goes, similarly they may look elsewhere. Ironically, the tightness of our squad who've grown up together may be our undoing. Once one of the kids leaves home, the others might decide they want to go too (especially if Dad leaves for that tart in North London).

Lallana has changed his to @lallana69 - looks like he's getting lucky tonight. EDIT: oh, no he hasn't / isn't

I don't get the camera paranoia, presumably you carry a smart phone around with you which isn't much different and ever present. I think the maintenance mode is over egging it for Kinect, voice is at the heart of the control so that element isn't going away. Motion gaming may get hit but that's always been a bit meh to me. Personally I think the Kinect is at the heart of many of the things that differentiate the Xbox from the PS4 (voice, IR, auto sign in etc.). At the same price point / same features, the perception on performance kicks in. It will be interesting if they bundle games at the reduced price. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

Are you two still at it? Differences are marginal to the masses, that said the PR machine and unpaid representatives with a penchant for freeze frame analysis have done a good job on making them an issue. Microsoft's biggest issue has been price. By coming in at a higher price and the perception of inferiority they've come second. I say perception because there are features that the Xbox has that PS4 doesn't (integrated media / HDMI, Kinect etc), but the PR momentum is focused on graphics. My experience is that the Xbox One is stellar. It's at the centre of our home entertainment, voice control works a treat, controller free use and (even without the one guide which should banish the Virgin remote) the experience is great. I play games and my son does too, but that's outweighed by TV / Netflix etc. That said for bedroom use where (a) space is smaller, (b) less likely to make use of HDMI/Kinect. then the PS4 is an obvious choice(ironic really given the graphics performance will be less obvious on most bedroom TVs) I suspect the demographic to whom the PS4 appeals most to are adolescents in their bedroom. They or their parents are going to be more price sensitive due to its niche use. My hypothesis is probably supported by that article comparing porn accessed on PS4 vs. Xbox. Microsoft have made their bed on price and lost the race. It remains to be seen if the long term entertainment hub takes off and can catch them up any. I, for one, hope it does because it really works well for us and I'd hate for it to be marginalized. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

Probably the only people who know are KL, King Ralph and MP; maybe Les Reed and MPs other half. In truth, until something is signed it could all change. My assumption is that MP is already fairly minted, so it'll be about the size of the opportunity (and funds available) rather than package. The question is does he think he could get more out of a bunch of big money, underperforming players at Spurs or up and coming stars at Saints (i.e. How keen are the board to keep hold of the in demand players is a factor). It does feel a bit like a house of cards though. If MP goes I expect a bit of an exodus. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

I don't understand, he didn't sign it? Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

Surprised that ManU appointed him to be honest as at Everton I didn't think he was all that. Sure he did well in the Las few years but prior to that they had some bad spells. Certainly not a proponent of the beautiful game. As for Martinez, he's built on Moyes' defensive solidity with flair - but he'd be nowhere without loanees Lukaku and Barry. Is that built on sand? Either way, instability might be a good thing for us (reduced focus on our players for transfers etc.) Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

I disagree that massive investment is needed to achieve Top 4, Everton have proved that. That said, clearly millions will make a difference and realistically 3 of the 4 places are in the bag for Oligarchs and "big" clubs. Although Financial Fair Play is meant to tackle that to some extent, it remains to be seen how effective it is. I have three thoughts: - On the budget: I am glad that no budget is set - if it's set now and Luke Shaw marches into Poch's office and demands to go, or we get an injury in the remaining 4 games, what's the point of having a fixed budget? If and when it is set we shouldn't talk about it as it gives buying / selling clubs an unnecessary advantage. - On the journey: The point of leadership is to set a vision. If we come out tomorrow and say "Our new journey is mid-table obscurity" then we can kiss goodbye to a number of our first team players who are capable above that. Given what I've read I don't think that's an approach that Kruger will take - regardless of how much money is available (hence his Greenbay Packers analogy. - Lots of people who on this board are ****s.

It's tough at the top. Cork was clearly out of favour at the beginning of the season (and rightly so given the results we had pre-Christmas). However he has siezed his chance and MP's not blind, he will have noticed that. The key for me is whether JC will stay here without reassurances that he won't be understudy again, or whether he wants to be first choice somewhere else. CM is somewhere where we do have strength and depth and it's an example of how hard that is to manage. I really like Cork but I do think he flatters to deceive sometimes. He's a very good scrapper and can recover balls in many a lost cause, I just feel he could be more forward thinking, he contributes to sideways play a lot. That said I think that aspect has got better this season so who knows. I think the deciding factor is Cork (If he wants to stay, he'll stay and transfer targets (if we continue in our seemingly endless obsession of signing CMs then that could have a big influence).

Just a question. Are you sure you don't all sit next to each other?

Pretty standard practice for new management to highlight the things that need to be fixed. Rare (or rather stupid) is the person that comes in and says "all great here, no way I can better it". The committed transfer figure is high but an understandable tail given the bubble of spending on getting promotion spread over a number of years. Osvaldo, Gaston, Wanyama and Lovren probably account for most of that. If we assume that every player we sign or sell we pay for or get paid for over 3 years, then the key question what is a sustainable figure?

See you in a couple of hours then (InFamous looks great but narrow story by some accounts I've read). I'd expect any PS4 title released at the moment to hit the top of the charts at the moment. Undoubtedly there are more PS4's in play but also (significantly) because there are less titles available than for Xbox One. If I were a PS4 owner I'd see that as the biggest threat from Xbox - Sony don't seem to have the same exclusive title machine as MS, at least for the first 12 months. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

I do dislike West Ham for three reasons, all related to their fans apparent sense of entitlement. It started with their sense of outrage at Sheffield Utd over the Tevez incident when to the impartial they looked guilty as. Followed up with their David Blaine like misdirection over Billy Sharp when we played them in the Championship (there's a photo of a hand around his throat FFS). And finally Kevin Nolan for bumming goalkeepers - it may be within the law but I think it's blatant obstruction. That said, they are the worst kind of team for us to play against as we don't deal we'll with the ball over the top, particularly when Cork plays. Though I don't like Nolan, I guess he's a Savage like player that everyone else thinks is a ****, until he plays for you. Undoubtedly effective in Big Sam's system (I forgot BFS as reason number 4!). An in-form Wanyama chokes off those direct opportunities better than Cork in my opinion, at the cost of Corks slightly more creative side. Given Big Vic and Lovren are both out we're playing pretty much last year's team and getting similar patchy results. I just wish it wasn't against West Ham. Disappointingly it looks like there will be another chance next year.

MP had basically given Jesus Perez the reigns for the FA cup, and given players who wouldn't normally get a run out the opportunity. I think that was a factor in the selections last Saturday - there's an element of squad morale to think about (i.e. "thanks for getting us this far, now go and sit at the back" doesn't play too well). On the plus side, it has restored my faith in Saints fans - for a while it (with the exception of the normal tossers) seemed fairly rational on here. This is the level of irrational vitriol I've been missing.

I don't get the Kyle Walker selection. I've not seen much of him domestically but internationally I've thought, meh! Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

None of this will be resolved until the new CEO comes in - the club won't offer without the new CEO's blessing and MP wouldn't tie himself in without knowing the level of future commitment.

Your car is a strange analogy Pap but it kind of proves my point. Your boot doesn't open with the remote, yes, it's broken. The TV does work, just not perfectly for everything (and I have faith that it'll be fixed soon). That aside it is pretty pointless trying to debate with you because your views are so onesided. That's fine, you're entitled to your steaming pile of obsolescence / 3.9m unhappy owners perspective - it's just a pity you can't accept that people could genuinely own the Xbox and be happy with it. I don't feel the need to make excuses, just happy with it. As to the wider world view, you quote an article with quotes from Sony PR (hmmm) which uses words like amassed for 4.2m and belittles as "only" 3.9m. Forgive me if I take the view that journalists have biases too. And finally, thanks for enlightening me that their home market is more important to Microsoft than the UK/EU Nothing to do with the fact that 300m people live there and it'll be important to any company. On that basis I think I'll stick to the ZX Spectrum..... Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Trust me Pap, if I wanted to call you a liar I would do - I don't think that - but I do think you are taking a very one-sided position. The TV is not broken. It works. As you haven't bought an Xbox you won't have seen the issue in real world use but it certainly isn't broken. My family has been running the TV through it since a week after launch and, trust me, if it were "broken" I'd know (you don't get between my wife and Eastenders without knowing about it!). Yes, if you watch Sky Sports News 24/7 I expect the ticker would judder would irritate, otherwise in normal programming I struggle to see any difference (in fact the only time I notice it is during the credits at the end of a show). Although it's there in footbal, I struggle to even notice it on anything but the fastest plays. So if you watch tickers or fast sport, it's temporarily sub optimal - not broken. To be honest, I doubt MS would have even known about the issue ahead of launch as it's not the kind of thing that would have emerged in cursory regional testing or UK pre-sales demos because it's not obvious. As it is, MS will fix in an update shortly and in reality a fast switch will be no more disruptive than changing channels (a fairly common behaviour on TV). Where MS's vision is to have side by side display (eg. App plus TV), if I were them I would auto set the refresh rate to the dominant pane (ie. 60hz if game, 50hz if UK TV - anyone who'd notice the issue in a small side bar would be superhuman!). To your point about value for money, personally I don't think either console is at the moment, so both could be described as a rip off. They won't be valued until a raft of next gen only, optimised games appear and then you'll see the true adoption rates shake out. Even then the gap between the this gen and the last gen isn't as great because there's only so far you can go with graphical fidelity. What I would say about the Xbox is that, even without the media guide, the TV integration aspects of Xbox are cool, both from voice control (even though that's patchy it still brings a smile to my face) and the multitasking elements (being able to switch game -> TV and back again is very useful). Personally, I am a fan of the Xbox and I bought one over a PS4 because of the media integration. I want that single box under the telly. Equally I can understand why people will buy a PS4 (games first, cheaper and statistically more powerful). My perspective I think the performance stats differential is overblown for reasons stated above. And indeed, as consoles get more powerful the differential becomes smaller. As we seem to be broadly the same vintage, the difference in sound capabilities between the C64 and the Spectrum was night and day thanks to the SID chip on the Commodore. On the next gen consoles however, the difference that faster ram / graphics makes will ultimately be a largely imperceptible few fps here or there. Where you might see it is at the end of this gen's cycle when developers are adept at sweating the most out of the machine. In my opinion the biggest barrier MS faces vs. the PS4 is the price differential. At the moment (without exclusives, compelling media integration etc.) the cheaper machine will always have an advantage.

Just saw Nicola and Di Matteo arrive together back at LHR from Zurich. Three weeks ago that would have got the rumours going! As it stands though Poch should stick with his new woman, Nicola don't love him no more.... Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Thanks Danny. Adjectives like hopeless, useless etc. shouldn't be used to describe what you gave to the club. You had far more better games than blinkered fans gave you credit for and, once or twice your cross field Hollywood passes even came off Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Barry / Glasgow et al would be the first to complain following. The dicking by Man City, relegation, ransacking of the academy, departure of key players and sale to Micky Fialka. Yes we are midtable but being that doesn't mean lack of ambition, it's a stepping stone. You'll be complaining against talk of the champion's league next...... Oh! Seriously. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Sadly Pap, talk of glaring inaccuracies, proper whoppers and apologists hardly paints you as someone with a balanced view. Instead it smacks of fanboi-ism, desperate for your horse to win. Sure a port between x86 isn't a lift and shift, but it's far easier than platforms with nothing in common. Even more interesting is the commonality between PC and Xbox that brings in another angle. I think both machines will have their fair share of leads and ports (it's marketing dollars rather than tech that decides that). Yes the PS4 has more grunt, most specifically because of faster RAM and CPU cycle retention for Kinect. Personally, I struggle to notice as to how it makes that much of a difference (I liken frame rate discussions to audiophiles discussing the difference between bitrates - the difference at the top end is imperceptible except in imagination). The example you gave is of a artificially capped frame rate (a developer decision), in reality the difference will be unnoticeable to most. The Xbox One also isn't broken outside of North America, the 50/60hz TV issue is sub optimal (but fixable by software) and to me only noticeable on scrolling text. To suggest "broken" is disingenuous. Much as fanbois (from both) sides will disect framerates etc., the true picture will only emerge in a couple of years when both machines are being max'd out. At the moment they're just being tickled. Both are great machines. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Both consoles are selling well enough to have a critical mass. Neither will be left behind and your "port" point is far less relevant than in the pass as both are on x86 architecture. My "why does it matter " question was aimed at you Pap. I don't know you from Adam but, reading this thread, it appears you won't rest until people agree with you. But the point is, some people won't, because for them the Xbox suits them better. Both will be successful. Personally I think the media aspects of Xbox will give it broader, longer lasting appeal but that PS4 will sell more in Yr 1 (not least because it's cheaper and hardcore gamers are likely to be younger, less affluent). Remember though that gamers are a small percentage of potential consumers, the prize MS are after is much, much bigger. Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express

Why does it matter? Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Board Express