VectisSaint

Oh FFS, we are playing Wet Sham on Saturday and then we have a week off, what we really need is to play the first team as far as possible to get them match fit and build up an understanding. Seems like RK agrees with this approach, thank goodness, just not playing one or two who are not 100%.

Well, he has received the ball far more times than anyone else in an aerial duel (36 times, couldn't see anyone else above 20 in the PL). That would suggest that he has had the service that RK wanted him to have.

There seem to be some simple folk on here who seem to think elapsed time spent on a forum discussing possible transfers equates to elapsed time spent by the Club wrapping up a complex transfer.

16/36 or 44.4% if you like.

WhoScored.com actually have him winning 16, as said more than anyone else. 16 out of 36 though puts things in perspective. Indicates we are lumping the ball to him with the expectation that he will headers because of his stature, but in fact he wins less than 1 in 2 and hence possession is lost. Look at Liverpool stats, Skrtel won almost every aerial duel (6/7), even Lovren won 6 out of 10, not bad for a ****. But to be fair to Pelle in both games once Long came on he did much better at winning headers. Question then is why he can win hardly any headers when Long is not on the pitch? Is it because we play different style, or more likely from what I have seen that he is then trying to win knock downs rather than directing header in terms of a pass or an attempt at goal. To me he has been poor so far, his atheticism and his body language are poor, and his pass completion rate backs this up (only Forster is worse for Saints). RK needs to play him in a different system than what he is doing in the first half of games. Seems odd to me that RK knows his game so well but fails to play to his strengths.

But you and SOG still felt the need to reply to a thread that you don't think is needed. Why not just ignore it if you don't like it? It was a reasonable subject, a bit of idle speculation about what may happen over the next week.

Pity doing an interview that you didn't ask what he is doing now, has he a got a club lined up? Actually wish he was still available to us, even on a non-contract basis, we could still do with him on the bench to help shore us up in the last 10 minutes or so, and maybe as a striker he is CURRENTLY a better option than Pelle. Notice that he didn't mention any of the players that have left when he mentions who he misses. Good man, and seems odd at St Mary's without him being around.

Agreed, anyone who actually watched the match will know that MS put in a full shift and his tackling and ball winning was back almost to top notch. He did look a bit rusty against Liverpool, but that was down to a very short pre-season, 1 or 2 weeks depending on who you listen to. The team as a whole was **** on Saturday, but Vic and Morgan completely snuffed out their attacking midfield, just like their MF snuffed out ours.

Merriam-Webster - an American Dictionary of the English Language. Its usage refers to the value of a quarter of a dollar. AFAIK the use of the dollar in England, GB or UK was not common in 1730. Two-bit is an Americanism. If you want to find out about its usage in British English you need to refer to the Oxford Dictionary.

I doubt he heard it. I heard nothing from the Northam yesterday (one OWTS apart). Quiet as doormice. Good job the Baggies made some noise otherwise I would have thought I had gone deaf.

It is when there is a week's break afterwards. We actually also don't have that many options at the moment. Keep the same team, except start with Long instead of Davis or JWP. Nothing else makes any logical sense at this stage. Team needs time together and this is the ideal opportunity with a break looming.

Cue Bagpuss appearing on Sky several times in the coming week bemoaning the players he has and looking for Fernandez (? is he still owner) dipping in his pocket to buy a few more in. I predict at least one shot of saggy chops leaning out of open car window giving a few sound bites along these lines.

Of course booing is stupid. I also remember Mick and the stick he got in his early days and all the others you mention. Its true that players have less time, but usually in circumstances where they have been brought in too late in the day and with the clear aim that hey are are going to be the main man for a certain position, and main striker is one of the most exposed positions on the pitch. The team has a pressing need to get going quickly with the relatively easy start in terms of fixtures this season. The frustration though is due to the fact that GP has looked so far adrift of what is needed in the PL in his two games so far, unable to win a header (at least in the first half of a game, or until Shane Long comes on alongside to help). He gives no indication that he can hack it, gets pushed off the ball very easily and his head drops as soon as it happens. He is getting plenty of service and yet he does not seem able to win the ball or control the ball and hold it up. Its going to be a long season if the guy does not show a bit more tenacity, he's a big guy and ought to be able to hold his own. We have no other options at the moment, and hence some people are frustrated. He looks a poor signing, so far, and its difficult to see how he will bridge the gap in the next 2 or 3 games. But I truly hope he does. We do not have the luxury of being able to say, lets wait and see how he is doing halfway through the season. At least when Michael was falling on his arse in 66 we had Big Ron and initially Martin Chivers banging in the goals, at the moment we have no-one doing the same to take the load off of Pelle until he beds in. Not all his fault, but part of the problem caused by the weakness of the Board during the summer letting players go too easily and not getting replacements in beforehand, but that's another argument.

Whether or not the muppet Savage thinks we may be in the relegation scrap or not, based on yesterday's performance, and the OK performance against a poor Liverpool team last week , and based on these two facts alone, we look like very strong relegation candidates. If anyone thinks otherwise after yesterday's game then I can only suggest they did not actually watch it. Appalling performance. There are some ostriches on here that think it is OK and that we should give the team time to gel, but the reality is that we do not have time for the team to gel, we needed to hit the ground running this season due to the way the early fixtures have panned out. But, we do have another 7 days before the window closes (or is it and who knows, RK and/or Les may have something up their sleeve, another striker looks the biggest need based on what we have seen so far, but I suspect that will not happen. Have to hope JRod is back a lot sooner than originally thought, based on his own web site that may be possible.

Thanks for the laugh.

I admire your positivism Pete, but to think that Olsson was the reason for Pelle not performing is so wide of the mark. I didn't see Olsson up against Pelle much if at all today, Olsson was playing more to the left of their defence, while Pelle favoured their right. Any half decent defender could have easily out played Pelle. He doesn't jump, he doesn't move, he doesn't back in (like Lambert). He appears to have no vision and no movement. AS i said he was marginally better 2nd half where he reslised that if he chested the ball down he had a chance to then keep the ball and lay it off, but his control was so poor that even this did not work. I have no desire to write someone off after 2 games, but really he has to change hugely if he is going to make a mark in the PL. He is just a pussy. What we could have done with today was Osvaldo. But what option do we have at the moment, not play our only real striker? If I was RK tonight I would be looking seriously at what may be available in the next week to at least provide some competition.

Good to finally find someone who mentions this. Team played awfully today, Pelle is just a complete waste of space (though he did improve marginally again after Long came on). No tempo, no urgency and no ideas. We were playing a very very ordinary side who outplayed us and looked more likely to score (though they appeared almost as bereft of ideas as us). I like the look of Tadic, but he drifts out of the game too much. JWP and Davis as AM just doesn't work, big fan of Steve Davis but he has looked out of sorts so far and his passing was poor again today. I have never before been to such a poor game of football. Weird sub to bring on Corky when were looking for a spark, why not throw on Taidir or Isgrove to try to get something happening. Crowd were shocking, no atmosphere, nothing from the Northam. Queues at the ticket office still huge at 3pm (got in just at kick off having had to upgrade my daughters ticket from young adult to adult), there were still hundreds outside, **** poor planning for first home game. Back to Ron though, I only recall him making it out to the tactical area once in the whole game, perhaps I missed some others, and once by Fat Sammy. Maybe its not his style to be barking out orders but get out there and at least look as though you know how to motivate the team. It was very odd as well at HT, the subs only came out to warm up about 3 minutes before 2nd half started, really a bit worried about the lack of fitness, compared to last season's high tempo stuff. Half time entertainment is now even worse than last season, at least the relay used to be a laugh, now 2 kids try to score against Sammy Saint, pathetic. Programme price up 33% as well. Traffic awful getting to the game. What happened to the much vaunted food and drink sellers in the bowl (perhaps they were there before kick-off)? Still at least there were no signs of any supporters wearing Santa Claus hats so no embarrasment factor. Otherwise everything was fine, brilliant day out. NOT.

Just in case anyone is wondering, given all the negativity and strange comments, we won 2-1.

Hopefully not, it would be better if they played for Saints throughout the game, Long might be tempted to play for his old team I suppose.

Yep sure is, Poland's #1, England's #3, US International and England's GK coach, real weakness. Oh, forgot about Super Kelvin and Gazza.

Maybe with Tadic and Long swapped over.The team is reasonably easy to pick, the only selection dilemmas are in AM, between JWP, Steve Davis and

Oh please no. A streak would only upset some of our more sensitive supporters who are easily embarrassed by such things as this, Santa Claus hats, foam hands and so on.

We have a younger keeper, but the jury is out whether FF is better. There is no evidence that he is. England's #3 vs Poland's #1. I admit his kicking and distribution looked a lot better than Boruc's though, but as for saving goals, who knows.

Any albatross?

Actually we haven't. We had a very small squad at the end of last season, and this was primary reason why we had a poor spell mid-season which dropped us down from top 4 to 8th. 8 players have left since the end of last season (Shaw, Lallana, Lambert, Lovren, Chambers, Osvaldo, Guly and Sharp). We have brought in 7 (Forster, Bertrand, Pelle, Tadic, Taidir, Long, Gardos). We have ****ed off Boruc by putting Fraser as #1. So we are still one or two short of where we were and we all know we were short anyway. So how have we enlarged the squad?