Matthew Le God

You don't exactly have the best track record for predictions... 01-10-2009 08:55 PM Where will Saints finish this season thread (2009/10) Oct 1st 2009 when you said this was pretty much the time the teams form took off and became automatic promotion form.

They apparently had 80 hours worth of traveling and missed a lot of days of training. They must all be knackered. What idiot thought it was a good idea to play games on the East coast, West Coast and in Canada?

Saints best chance for promotion was a season with... -10 points a manager taking over in mid July of a team that was a mess a team not probably taken shape until the end of the January 2010 transfer window ??? Some of your posts are beyond belief!!! Realism >>> Optimism >>>Pessimism >>>>>>>>>>> Alpine's Pessimism

Pot..Kettle Do you not realise you do the same by starting pessimistic threads and making pessimistic posts?

Why do you keep bringing up England? For a start Saints have just had a summer off and are building up fitness in friendlies. England played Mexico and Japan when the season had just finished, so should have been already "fit".

The tour has done lots to boost the clubs profile in North America. Stadium packed to the rafters as MLS fans flock to see the stars of Portsmouth last night. (Pompey playing in white as they didn't have a kit, so borrowed DC United's away kit)

I like benji. Has a wonderful way with the English language.

Pompey now playing DC United in a friendly, but don't have a kit as it didn't turn up. Pompey playing in DC United's away kit. Hardly any fans in the stadium so not exactly building the Pompey brand in the States. Losing 4-0 and two players sent off.

Here is one example, there are countless others I could use from any club and in any year... Aston Villa: Brad Friedel, Eric Lichaj, Ciaran Clark, Richard Dunne, Stewart Downing, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Marc Albrighton, Stliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, Nickey Shorey Subs: John Carew, Elliott Parish, Barry Bannan, John Hogg, Habib Beye, Carlos, Cuellar, Isaiah Osbourne That is a very strong Aston Villa side, far better than the Saints team today. Yet Villa still lost to Bohemians. 1) How many friendlies are where both teams are actively playing and competing for 3 points? NONE 2) How many friendlies are players looking to avoid injury and not going fully into challenges? EVERY SINGLE ONE 3) How many League games next season will Saints make 5 subs? NONE 4) How many League games next season will Saints deliberately not be fielding the strongest possible side to achieve best results in the League? NONE But would they do this in a friendly? YES

Your view doesn't seem to be the approach taken by a lot of professional managers... How many recent English pre-season games have you been to to judge the underlying approach of the clubs?

You asked for examples. Were you expecting no-one to find anything? The post where on Oct 1st 2009 you predicted Saints to come between 16th - 18th shows that you aren't good at forecasting how a season will go. From basically the begining of October when you posted onwards, Saints were on promotion form. Now 10 months later you keep creating more threads predicting doom and gloom like Nostradamus.

To build squad fitness.

Alpine

No-one did. I was trying to be hysterical and impulsive over a friendly result. If you were an Aston Villa fan tonight what would you be saying about the result? You are still ignoring post 309

Should Martin O'Neil resign tonight? Bohemians 2-1 Aston Villa

Do you still stand by...? 04-07-2010 01:09 PM or 01-10-2009 08:55 PM Where will Saints finish this season thread (2009/10)

So many options. 13,000 of them in fact to choose from

Or this? On 01-10-2009 08:55 PM Where will Saints finish this season thread (2009/10) Interesting that was the day that Saints form took a massive upturn for the rest of the season.

This? About Pardew...04-07-2010 01:09 PM

Barnet beat Charlton today. Saints play Barnet on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what the pessimists think of the outcome of that game.

What about the huge numbers of shirts they have sold? Unless you survey every single person then every poll is skewed in some way or other. Even then you could pick holes in it as to how the respondants by taking a poll have been influenced.

What about the poll on the Echo website?

They have had loads of flights across the US and Canada and delays galore and missing out on training. Took them 42 hours to get there in the first place. Far better to stay at one training base rather than continuously traveling on inter continental flights. Fatigued already in late July. http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/LatestNews/news/More-Travel-Disruption-For-Blues-1164.aspx Bet they wish they went to Switzerland now...

1) It is still a much better squad than this time last year. Do you not agree? 2) Are you telling me Mills, Dickson, Puncheon and Oxlade-Chamberlain are slow? 3) Are you telling me Connolly doesn't offer a good option off the bench? 4) Are you telling me no media sources have reported Saints have made a bid for speed merchant Nathan Tyson? 5) Are you telling me Pardew hasn't said he wants to sign alternatives to Lallana and Puncheon?

I really can't follow the logic in that. Winning a competitive League game is a lot more important compared with winning a friendly in terms of the squads mentality.