VectisSaint

Absolute ******. [i usually like to post something a bit more thoughtful but that is the only thing I can come up with in response to such twaddle (rhyming slang for Hoddle)]

Clearly doesn't seem to realise that with Mr Puncheon he now has a full quota of 25 players for his squad, so the QPR idea is total ******. TF should stick to racing.

Selective memory I think, Claus was always getting mentioned on here or predecessor forums for his smoking and drinking an dnight clubs. Personally as I never saw him I don't tknow if true or not, but to suggest this would never have happened in WGS day is like saying everyone was perfect in Lawrie Mac's day.

Don't know why, Claus played for him didn't he?

Pedant alert: I wonder if he had to look up the word vomitary? If so he should have checked the spelling.

It seems that some people do not realise that not all CBs are the same. Playing 2 CBs you need one predominately right and one left-footed. Why would we play Martin on the left when he plays on the right. Burley used to get (rightly) lambasted for playing players out of position, yet many are suggesting just the same thing. If Jaidi is still injured then it is a no-brainer to play Jos. Martin would play if Fonte were injured.

The bad news is that this time next week TF will in all likelihood be back with Southampton.

Oxo is under 21, doesn't need to be named.

Great way to start a thread calling anyone who may not agree with your view muppets, old farts, deluded. How to win friends and influence people. Of course we need another striker, thats why the club has been trying to sign one all summer. But the deluded muppets are those who think we just go and buy any old striker however much they cost just for the sake of it. We aren't sesparately short of a striker right now, in fact anyone signing would not have got in the team, BUT we will need cover (and quite honestly we need to replace Forte who really isn't up to the job). People were talking about paying several millions for strikers who are not even any good, Rodrigues, possibly Maynard. That would have been bad business, the option is now available to bring in a young striker on loan from a Prem League club in the next week or so, in plenty of time for when they may be needed. PL Clubs have to name their 25 man squads end of this week, once that is done there will be quite a lot of players surplus to requirements.

Almost certainly playing to instructions. Launching it up for Guly/Forte would have been a waste of time as neither are capable of either winning or holding the ball up. Would probably have been different if RL had been up front. After sleeping on it, I have to say the Forte is not up to it. There is no movement, he just stood around last night playing statues, and only moved when a ball was played into a space. he has great pace, and obviously scored, but otherwise he contributed the square root of **** all last night. Demonstrated clearly to me why we need another striker urgently.

First half was good, but 2nd half was dire, taking the **** a bit too much. Just knew they were eventually going to get one back. Still 3-1 looks OK in the end, but really not much more than a practice game at some point, Thought Holmes had a decent game, though a couple of corners later on were poor. Really not convinced by Forte, much too static, doesn't seem to have much other than pace, Guly was too casual. Cork was very good in the 1st half, almost anonymous 2nd. Martin and Seaborne looked very composed for most of the game, apart from the few minutes after Swindon scored. All in all, decent night out and good practice match. Back to winning ways. Good laugh at the end with Di Canio and their striker, don't recall ever seeing a manager and player having a ruck like that before, looks like Canio has lost the dressing room already.

They said 6pm on Friday, hope that hasn't changed as we have made arrangements to get there between 5.30 and 6

Think I posted something similar. Seaborne wasn't at fault for any of the goals as far as I could see. On the radio they were blathering on about how they thought he had been booked twice, sp guess there were some issues with him being beaten at other times, but really isn't an issue for me. Fact is that whether Seaborne/Martin are good enough or not, we need another CB to get through the season, especially with Jaidi not being fit and not expected to get another season after this.

In front of family? Thought that was only a Pompey hobby.

Didn't have to go to Arsenal to triple his wages (bet he's more than tripled them by the way). He could have probably elected to go to other Prem teams, Manure and Liverpool were certainly sniffing around, but they probably would have waited a bit longer before spending 15m on an untried kid, and unlike Arse would probably have realised that there were other, more important priorities. It is a shame for the lad in a way, he could get completely lost with Arse this season as they are really going to struggle big time. Still, not sure he would have got into our team at the moment anyway.

Great response, trouble is Alpine is not a million miles from the truth. I don't often agree with him, but to just be insulting for the sake of it when he makes some valid points just reflects on you, rather than him. I personally don't think we have a problem at LB, in fact our problem there is more of an embarrassment of riches, dropping Harding would be harsh, but Fox does look good (and then there is Dickson). Frazer's problem is inconsistency, rather than lack of ability. We still have Butterfield as an alternative, and as was seen yesterday Cork can drop into RB to allow Spiderman to play alongside Hammond if needed. It will be interesting to see how we get on if at some time someone does take Lallana out, because sure as eggs is eggs someone will.

Agreed, that why I don't think we will be seeing players like Jay Rodrigues or Maynard, the prices being bandied around for these journeymen are quite ridiculous. By the way, hope Oxo is enjoying playing for the Arse, on the end of a total drubbing. Should have gone to Manure really, still at least Chamberlain senior has some dosh now to spend doing up his pikey caravan

Quite honestly if you feel like having to play someone out of position at CB then Butterfield would be a better choice, at least he is a bit taller than Richardson and has far more experience. But the issue is we don't need to play someone out of position at CB, Seaborne and Martin are perfectly adequate, and are proper CBs. The issue is that they are adequate, we need someone better than adequate, especially now that Jaidi is injured. It was always a risk with Jaidi, most people could see he only probably had one more season at this level, his experience alone was worth the new contract. But he needs replacing and that needs to be done at least gradually this season, so either Seaborne or Martin needs to step up, or we need a better option. Clearly NA thinks we need a better option for the short to medium term, hence his attempts to sign a replacement. Playing an existing player out of position is not what we need, and would only be done in a real emergency (and only then if the loan window were shut).

This. Statues are for those who have passed on. I hope not to see a bust of MLT outside SMS in my lifetime - think about it, I am 20 years older than him. Besides, Paine, Davies and Channon are equally deserving, at least in my opinion, and I hope never to see statues of them either even thought they are all older than me.

Your comments are not unreasonable, but to my mind I think that the number of clubs that are having trouble dealing with us can be counted on the fingers of one hand or less. I really am not going to get excited because the arse Warnock has a problem. His comments didn't really make any sense anyway, I doubt very much that Warnock and McDermott sorted out Gorkss. Madjeski would have been calling the shots, and can be just as tough to deal with as NC. Warnock has his nose out of joint because he thinks we should have been a pushover because his lot are now in the PL, whether they will still be when we are next season remains to be seen. Fontaine was clearly a risk, and no-one with any sense (so that excludes Lowe) would have just signed the fella without a medical when it is well known he has ankle problems. The last person to listen to in such a situation is the agent of the player who has just seen his meal ticket thrown in the dustbin. Clearly we need another CB and a striker, but I'm pleased that we aren't caving in and paying the silly money for unknowns like Rodrigues, if any other club was contemplating paying 5m for a Division 2 striker with one good season we would be lasuging our socks off. I think where things have gone a little wrong maybe is that we ended up having to do the Oxo deal too early. Now every tinpot club, agent and player in the land know we have a decent amount of money in the bank and are trying to do deals with us that otherwise would be laughed at. If we had sold Oxo this coming week and signed our targets earlier all would have been a little easier. Clearly though the situation with Oxo became untenable and we had to finalise the deal earlier than was ideal, but thats what happens when you have to deal with a **** like Chamberlain senior. hopefully we never get in the position again of finding a talented kid whose old man played for the Skates. I think all will be well, I still epxect to sign 2 players before the xfer window and I hope we don't pay silly money. Would be quite happy to take 2 PL young players on loans if necessary.

Just saw the goals on Sky. 1st took a telling deflection into path of Vessel, 2nd was speculative shot, but probably given too much room in centre outside penalty box, and 3rd was a diabolical decision by ref when Lambo was being fouled. Can't really see that 2 of the 3 were down to particularly bad defending, might concede the second should have been closed down by MF. Given Harding scored the goal that got us back in the game, bit harsh to suggest that Adkins should have subbed him earlier. In fact the subs seem to have been well timed. I think De Ridler (thanks to Paul Merson for a good laugh) replacing Guly was the more important change, Guly sounds a bit ineffective at the moment.

Well said. If we had paid several millions for some of the players mentioned on here recently I for one would be well ****ed off. 6m for Rodrigues would be daylight robbery. We need a CB and striker but just because we apparently have some money why should we be ripped off.

Shame the run has come to an end but it had to happen eventually, second half sounded fantastic, we were battering them, denied by Schmeichel as far as I can tell. At least we went down fighting. Just because we lost today does not mean it is all down to not having signed a decent CB, it sounds like the 1st goal was down to Fonte and the third to Lambert, don't recall too many saying they should be replaced. Sure we need another CB, and idiot can see that, but we already had 4 decent ones, just a shame the one who should be starting picked up an injury in pre-season. Clear that it will be Jaidi's last season and makes sense to bring in another CB to blend into the team. In some ways still more concerned about the striker situation, not because we haven't scored enough goals, but we are very thin on effective options up front if we were to lose Lambert or Connolly. Still its quite clear that NA knows these 2 positions need strengthening for the long term and I expect we will see new arrivals before too long. Well done Saints, great start, run over, now lets start a new one.

Nope, was a total waste of time again today for much of the 2nd half. God help us when we get back to the PL and all the plastics come back and log on.

It doesn't really, Shilton is generally ackowledged to be one of the best keepers in the world of all time (along with Yashin, Banks, Schmeikel etc), Niemi may have been great for us but there is no way he was in the same class as the others.