VectisSaint

Why is this a nightmare? Caulker showed on Saturday that he is perfectly able to fill in. It could even be argued that we played much better after he replaced Jose who some claim was having a poor game (didn't see why myself but I only watched the game live and haven't seen any highlights etc) though equally this could be because City took their foot off of the gas after they went 2 up.

Your assumption is perfectly valid even if it is difficult to understand from a logical point of view. Trying to add some perspective or reasoning behind Ron's rather illogical comment is more interesting, and ultimately usually provides a more realistic answer. Trying to understand Cedric's on-going medical issues and how resting him may be the prudent thing to do in the longer term is a reasonable hypothesis given the clear evidence of the injuries, the stitches, the condition of his eye and the propensity for the scar tissue to open up again at the slightest touch, all clear from seeing the guy on the pitch and looking at photos and video from training etc. Its not rocket science, there is a serious issue which has not been resolved and the only way to resolve it is to "rest" him, even though he is perfectly fit to play. There is an alternative hypothesis, that there is some sort of disciplinary issue, but there really is no evidence for this as far as I can tell.

Very true

Very true, just shows you have to take anything Koeman (or any other manager) says with a Rick Stein sized pinch of salt. As in "Cedric is dropped". Not a criticism of Ronald, just the way of the crazy football world.

So you're suggesting that after the game Koeman should have come out and retracted his statement and told everyone in fact that Cedric was not fit. Interesting notion. Unless of course Koeman was sure that Yoshida would have a howler or two.

No it wouldn't, but its the modern way, and to say he's not fit would not be true. He is perfectly fit, but some medical problems are lessened if more recovery time is given, and this is a case in point. By the way have just read the OS and Koeman quoted "There are no other updates about injuries – the same team, the same squad probably for tomorrow's game.” suggests Cedric will remain "dropped".

I know exactly what Koeman said, its called reading between the lines. Koeman also said Fonte would be available for tomorrow. You need to understand that every word any manager says is not gospel. There is a reason he didn't make the squad, its better not to tell everyone the real reason, as they can then target it next time (though I think everyone knows that Cedric has had a serious and worsening eye issue for a few weeks now, exacerbated last week (Stoke) and requiring more stitches again. He is perfectly fit but playing him and risking further damage to the eye injury was something that it was probably considered "dropping" him to allow further healing time.

Would be odd if it was not Caulker who is backup for Fonte and played there effectively Saturday. Besides, Yoshida will be needef as RB :-) Does mean potentially we will have no cb cover if Cedric remains unavailable, I guess Martina is considered that cover. Interested to ses who gets the armband, Wanyama took it Saturday, was surprised as usually Davis is backup.

This. Almost exactly what I posted. He is fit, but his eye injury needs time to heal.

You really continue to demonstrate your ****ishness. Can't deal with anything thats remotely critical of the current set up, even when the facts are demonstrably true. Just continue to believe everything in the garden is rosy.

So why didn't they struggle last season, 2 of the 3 same players were on loan then as well. Are you trying to say its all down to McCarthy? Sorry but thats rubbish. Its down to the players progressing not being good enough and our coaching not being good enough either.

Koeman didn't take him before due to his inexperience. Sounds familiar.

2nd time in just over 2 weeks one of our academy teams has shipped 7. art may post some rubbish but the decline in our famed academy that has been evident for a while to those who follow is really beginning to show now. We are falling a long way behind the best and there id precious little evidence that we will see any significant improvement soon. Needs a major shakeup in the coaching and management at this level.

Our top passer. 100% success. 5 out of 5. Can remember one in the game live. Did OK but actually contributed the square root of **** all.

As a simple fact we are in his league. But I know what you mean.

Given he works alongside Steve Davis you'd think perhaps we might know. Samuel could well have used us more to make his point, but then he is a ****. But in this case he is right, we signed Martina rsther than take this chance. Trouble with Samuels article is that he comes across as a bit of an ant Romanian racist, but then it is the Mail, so to be expected.

He was clearly signed as cover across the back 4. At the time we only had 2 senior CBs and knew we wouldn't get vvd until end Aug. Bertrsnd was also injured and we only had Cedric to cover RB. Lack of confidence in McCarthy, Stephens and Turnbull meant we went for a cheapo emergency cover. Daft really but probably seemed a good idea at the time. No one foresaw Cedric haing recurring eye problems either, he was brought in as backup to Clyne but knowing that Clyne might still leave which of course is what transpired. Now we seem to be stuck with Cuca who is really not good enough for the PL.

Would be worse than Yoshida. For full back these days you need to be able to tackle, have pace and ability to cross. jwp has none of those attributes. We played him there once and he was awful.

The masses have always known he was s liability at RB, from his first game. He is though perfectly good as CB, have no problems when he plays in his proper position.

Hadn't expected to be standing the whole game yesterday, that was a bonus (although the fecking idiot who was stood next to me was a pain in the arse). I'm a bit surprised about your comments about the singing. OK, so I'm a bit of an away day tourist, yesterday was first proper away game for a good many years, and yes I took some photos, but thats what getting a new generation involved is all about, my daughter enjoyed it all. But I did a a lot of singing yesterday, several renditions (admittedly rather poor) of OWTS, but also Fathers Gun, Johnstone paint trophy and many others. I actually wish we could stop singing Pompey songs, what the **** is the point of singing about hating a level 4 tin pot club when you are in Manchester playing a CL team? Really. It seems that people overlook the obvious when trying to account for the lack of singing. It was dead quiet because we were playing shockingly awful. Got better 2nd half when we played some decent stuff and had a chance to get back to 2-2, but people don't much feel like singing when the team are not performing. Its also difficult to sing and at the same time shout "Yoshida you useless fecking cuint" over and over again. Youngish (at least by my standards) guy stood behind me yesterday made me laugh, joined in the singing but clearly had no idea of many of the words, enjoyed calling Tadic a useless **** and then immediately followed up by chanting his name. Still, each to his own, at least he was enthusiastic.

No-one has (seriously) come in and offered to take him off our hands.

Replacing Davis with JWP based on his fabled set piece expertise (which he demonstrated yet again yesterday is a total myth). Madness, but there its your opinion. Equally no need for Caulker, Jose will be fit.

Seriously think he was a better option from the bench yesterday than Juanmi, but once again Ron did not exercise that option even when given the opportunity. Juanmi will come good I think, but yesterday was not the best time to bring him on.

we don't know because we are not told (other than that he was dropped), but I would be very surprised if it was not due to injury management, it surprises me how no-one has really noticed how bad his eye injury was and how many times the same injury has recurred. 4 stitches after last weekend, the scar tissue is not getting time to heal before it is split again. The damage in that area is in my opinion serious and needs rest to allow it to heal properly (but I am no medical expert). He is perfectly fit, and there is nothing stopping him training, so its fair to say he is "dropped". I really find it hard to believe that Ronald seriously dropped him to allow Yoshida to be up against Raheem Sterling, if he did why was he not on the bench? Otherwise maybe there is some disciplinary issue which we are not aware of.

David, you really need to check facts as well. Firstly Pochettino was in charge for 16 PL games in 2012/13 not 8, you cannot just disregard this period it was nearly half of the season. Technically Chambers was blooded by Nige, he played 6 minutes as a sub in the 2nd round of the League Cup. That was all, he was not played in various other competitions. Poch did not use him other than an used sub at the end of the season, but brought him through as a regular in 2013/4. Sam McQueen made his debut under Poch, and has rarely been close since Sam Gallagher debuted under adkins and played 66 minutes in 6 appearances, but appeared in 14 of the 16 PL games after the change of management in 2013. Harry Reed came through under Ronald last season, 9 appearances in the PL, but apart for 2 appearances in the Europa (18 minutes total) is now further away from the first team than he was. Matt Targett made his debut last season under Koeman and [played the start of this of course until Bertrand was fit. Jason McCarthy played 90 minutes in the FA Cup last season, but has been shipped out on loan this. Jake Hesketh played 52 minutes under Ron last season before his knee injury. Ryan Seager played 1 minute in the PL and 18 in the FA Cup last season, looks the closest to being included in the team, has at least made the bench this season. You cannot get away from the fact that under Pochettino we played more young players (Shaw, Chambers, JWP, Clyne, JRod, Morgan, Lallana, dare I say even Gazza), some were brought in by him, some weren't. A few were given brief debuts last season by Ron and Harry Reed and Targett are now regular members of the first team squad, though seldom now on the bench. This season, there is no evidence that any of our young players are even in consideration for the first team under Ronald. Only Seager is remotely close. The average age of our (outfield) team is significantly older than 2 years ago and there are no young (under 21 players) now in our team. The way we are working now is that we bring in players from Europe or elsewhere rather than trusting in our youth players coming through - Cedric, Martina (is he youngish I haven't checked?), Juanmi, Caulker and there is little prospect for our Academy players to be promoted. Whether or not they are good enough of course is another matter. Jack Stephens is now effectively 6th choice centre back and Jordan Turnbull 7th. Even the much-heralded JWP is now no longer a regular in the starting XI since we brought in Clasie and Romeu to fill the boots of Morgan. I don't have an axe to grind, and not sure I believe one way or the other is better, but it does irritate me when people with an agenda (not you David) try to rewrite history to make out that one manager that they don't like and was brought in under the previous regime was not better in some way than our current manager. I like Ron, and I think Poch is a **** but try to be objective and recognise that things were different (better) in some regards. Poch continues to demonstrate his faith in young players at Spuds, its irrelevant whether it was him that actually gave these players their debut, its the fact that he has developed them and plays them regularly.