Professor

The comparisons with the team down the A27 is a bit sad, as it shows that some Saints fans might be taking too much interest. Traditionally, we just ignored them as saints were THE team in Hampshire, in the South, even. Worrying about how quickly they might decline just indicates that there is a little bit of inferiority complex under the surface, when there is no need for it. As Saint Richmond says, we are making progress. Good Enough, and if we get to 15th - 17th place in the table, that will be a successful season in the circumstances, and a step on the road back.

To be fair, if Jaidi won every ball, he'd be playing in the Prem, not released by Brum. He didn't always win the headers, but he was a solid presence even if the attacker got his head in first. He was slightly off the pace on running back, but his positional sense and experience compensated. He definitely makes the defence look a lot more confident and capable. A great signing for Div1 and he will improve as he gets fitter.

Whether the second penalty was correct depends entirely on whether the handball was deliberate. It clearly was ball to hand, but the Lino must have decided that Jones (the left back) could have moved his arm out of the way and chose not to.

Rickie Lambert was interviewed on Solent after the game and whilst he praised Waigo, he did mention the tendency to go offside and said its hard to give him advice as he doesn't understand English, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't understand Scouse (which is Rickie's native tongue).

The best view of Waigo was from the Chapel end of the Kingsland. He definitely presented a threat with his speed and showed some clever touches. Saints were more on top after he came on. Taking a near post shot, when he might have been expected to cross, was a good move, and resulted in the keeper having to concede a corner. IMHO he looked more likely to score than any other player.

Those of us in the chapel end of the Kingsland, clearly saw the handball. The issue for the Lino to decide was whether it was deliberate. The player had his arm across his body when the ball hit his arm. It was clearly ball to arm, but the Lino must have decided that the player could have moved his arm out of the way and chose not to.

Hope we don't score too many as the people around me will all stand up every time there's a goal, and it spoils my view, but I would like to see a win by three clear goals to wipe out the goals against deficit.

On the language issue it will be interesting to know what languages Waigo speaks and if he needs the club to send him on a course in English. According to Wikipedia, although the official language of Senegal is French, most people there speak their own ethnic language of which there are several. Waigo has been in Italy for 6 or 7 years so presumably he is fluent in Italian. Maybe Fabio Capello could give him some lessons....

Its true that AP tried to make it a balanced comment, but I still agree with CECharlie. If you make a comment about an individual, other people will start to re-interpret it. It is hard for managers, as so many fans think they could do the manager's job better than the manager, and the manager is answerable to the fans in a way, though the gate, but that doesn't mean being answerable to any individual who decides to question you.

Le recours à l'abus est la ressource de ceux qui n'ont aucun argument logique à faire

Agreed - not very professional for any manager to discuss the people who work for him behind their backs, but it seems to be something that some football managers are prone to. A better reply from Pardew would have been to say thanks for taking an interest and not getting drawn into any comment. Maybe he needs some PR training. Whether any particular player is selected to play is not just down to how that player performs, but also the performance of others who are competing for places. A manager can't really comment on one player without making implications about others.

Although Preston could call Trotman back in Jan it looks as if they would struggle to pay his wages, whereas if Saints want to keep him, they could offer him a payrise. It would be hard for PNE to call him back if he didn't want to play for them. Its a sad situation though, for a club that is trying to live within its means, as we know only too well.

Saints haven't won a league game since Easter Monday - 13th April - over 6 months ago. That might be some sort of record in itself and a reason not to be too confident, but I do expect a win at last on Saturday, if only because records like that have to come to an end. Although we do now have a strong squad, some of the players are not fully ready, but if they can not only win, but wipe out the goals against deficit, that would really be something to celebrate.

I think the two subs - Jaidi and Mellis were made at 76 minutes, so under 15 minutes to go. If the injury time sub was time wasting to settle for a point, it begs a number of the questions - why be so negative as to make a time wasting substition, why use Waigo as the last minute sub when he had a midfielder on the bench and if he wanted to give Waigo a run, why only give him 2 minutes? A more logical approach would have been two subs at 65 minutes, when Nickh thought they were, and as he was taking off Mills, Holmes would have been the more obvious choice. The last sub could have been Mellis for Lallana, or if he wanted to take a positive approach at the end, Saga or Waigo for Lallana at about the 80th minute. Even if Pardew now thinks he got the substitutions wrong, he probably can't admit it without undermining his position, but it will be interesting to see if he acts differently in future.

When people criticise Pulis, it would be interesting to know if they have actually seen him play. As one who hasn't, I can't offer an opinion, except that if the coaches think he's worth a reserve team place, I'd back their judgement. If the coaches decide he's not good enough, then fine, and if he never makes the first team bench I would expect him to be moved on at some point, but until then fans should get off his back.

Pinnacle was a house of straw. With some generousity to MLT's service to the club, Saints fans mostly took the view that he was as deceived as the rest of us. It will not do his reputation any good to give the impression that he still believes in Pinnacle. An episode best forgotten.

I quite like Portsmouth, the city, not the football team. I'd like my team to be doing better than Portsmouth but its not something to get obseessed about. After all, there are more than 50 other teams also doing better than my team at the moment!

Interesting outcome from the Charlton game. Expectations were not high because of Charlton's 100% record together with Saint's team building not being complete, so many fans would have settled for the draw before the game. On the day, for many fans it felt more like two points lost, because the first half domination and the goal, raised expectations, espacially with Jaidi and Waigo still to come. In the event it seemed Pardew may have under-used them and that the win was there if he had been a little bolder. But this does make the Yeovil game the next biggest game of the season. Failing to win next week is almost unthinkable for most fans now. Pardew will know that very well, and he will probably feel under a lot of pressure this week, despite feeling the team did well to get Saturday's draw.

The small Saints piece in the programme was at 39mins in. This is the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mqgs2/The_Football_League_Show_2009_2010_12_09_2009/

Agree that the team needs Jaidi and Waigo and that a draw was better than I expected before the match, but in the end Pardew was too cautious. There was no point having Jaidi and Waigo on the bench if he wasn't going to use them but the 76th minute was very late to bring on Jaidi, and as for not bringing on Waigo until the 90th, that was just pointless, except to waste time for the draw, when he should have brought him on with 15 mins or 20 mins to go for the win. Despite being a good result, in the end it was disapointing because it could have been better.

Don't think the team is ready yet to win against Charlton and with home advantage to them as well, a defeat looks most likely. When Jaidi is fully fit and settled in the side, when Waigo has had a chance to adjust to football here and when Holmes is match fit, things will be different but at the moment its still mainly the same squad that haven't won a game. My prediction is defeat today, with our first win next week against Yeovil.

Pardew's comments on the OS seem to play down the prospect of Jaidi and Waigo being in the team against Charlton. My guess is that Waigo might be on the bench so he could get a run out depending on how the game is going, but maybe Jaidi is not yet fit enough?

Davis 32 6'1 Thomas 30 6'2 Jaidi 34 6'2 Trotman 22 6'2 Harding 25 6'0 Waigo 25 6'1 James 21 5'8 Hammond 26 6'0 Holmes 22 5'8 Saga 30 5'10 Lambert 27 6'2

The club probably does have promotion next year as a target, but fans should not see that as the difference between failure and success. People may have noticed that when we play matches, there is always another team on the field. Quite a few of those teams have promotion as a target as well! So its not just a matter of playing well, you have to do better than most of the rest. If there are a couple of other strong teams, you have to be even stronger, so there can be no guarantees. Top six next season should be the expectation, but for promotion it may need luck as well, and it may need all five years to get close to returning to the top flight.

Can't think who the the evidence points to but maybe the cuprit will own up, with diminished responsibility as a defence!