VectisSaint

The ref last night had a damn good game, apart from 2 incidents. The goal which has been done to death and the Anelka dive. He was dead right not to give the penalty, but he made a huge mistake not booking Anelka for simulation. If it was a dive (which it clearly was) the booking is not optional.

Second most disgusting goal ever actually, the Hand of God goal was far worse, primarily because the little Argie druggy didn't even have the good grace to admit it afterwards. Thierry Henry looked to me suitably embarrassed and contrite about it. I always had a lot of respect for Henry after the incident at cardiff when he could easily have got Claus sent off, but to imagine that any professional footballer is going to ask for a goal he has scored to be disallowed is frankly laughable, however sensible it might seem. I imagine it would be a career-ending move if anyone actually did so. Still the fact remains that the Irish were indeed robbed.

I see on the OS that Solent Uni is honouring Mick Channon with an honorary doctorate of sport on saturday, joining Le Tiss and Terry Paine (and Lawrie). I wholeheartedly support this award for the legends of our club. There is one more fully deserving legend that should be added to that list. How we could influence Solent Uni to complete the list I don't know, but to me it would be very fitting for the the greatest centre forward that the world has ever seen. And to see Big Ron at SMS would make it complete in my view. Best wishes to Ron again Tim

Not a great deal wrong with the Saints players ratings, though why harding is marked with a 5 because he was booed I have no idea. Would probably have given him 6 and Spiderman 6 otherwise can't really disagree with much. But the Brighton ratings are a complete joke. Kuipers was at least an 8, possibly 9, great saves, and professional attitiude slowed the game down and wasted as much time as possible. Murray also would deserve a 7 or 8. Several of the others deserved higher ratings as well, but usually I don't take much notice of individuals of the opposition.

Hammond, good organ (izer)

Actually Delap changed his style of throw-ins quite markedly at Stoke. When he played for us they were basically just looped high into the area. With Stoke he perfected the technique of throwing them with a lower trajectory and with much more power right into the goal area, where a simple flick on with head or boot had a damn good chance of ending up in the net. It is the whipping in with power technique that made him successful.

And the biggest loss of all was Snodin. For all those who simply quote the stats, take out the games when Snodin was on board and then tell us GB was good. We were crap when GB joined, Snodin joined a while later and we got better, Snodin left and we became utter tripe mid table with the best squad of fatties and lardy boys in the CCC.

Sorry but I think your analysis is incorrect, although he did put in some excellent crosses bending away from the keeper, he also made some smart inside passes, and played some excellent balls for Antonio to attack. One-dimensional he was not, but he was given a plan and whenever he had a chance to execute that plan he did so, and created a couple of gilt-edged chances which if our strikers had been on form would have won the game for us. One mistake, and that when we were chasing and playing 3 at the back and the guy gets slated, jeez, it seems some have found their new anti-hero instead of recognising one of the most talented players to come through from our youth system and actually cement a place in the team.

Said it somewhere else, start off 4-5-1 and change to 4-4-2 for the 2nd half. Works a treat.

Absolutely, can't believe that crap that some are saying about him. Their defence were scared stiff of him, and El-Abd or whatever his name is was getting very close to being sent off due to his frustration. When Brighton doubled up on him, that should have given someone else the chance to exploit the space. Connolly, Lallana and Lambert spectacularly failed to do so, these are the guys who should be criticised. I couldn't believe it when AP took him off, he should have stayed on and broght Waigo into the middle as well, then Brighton would have been ****ting themselves with the pace. Some people need to take a good hard look at what they are criticising. Our 3 best players on Sunday were Antonio, James and Harding. Everyone else was well below par, yet these three are coming in for the most criticism from some, bizarre. I will forgive Lambert because he was clearly ill and probably should not have played but his desire to play and help is refreshing, shame we don't have enough strength in depth to leave him out - perhaps Saga should have played.

Is another sign losing when you're playing well? If so we are a good team...

So if that performance was bad because they were reading all the billy big ****** posts on here, we should win the next one 10-0 if they read all the suicide jockeys comments on here after one slightly below par performance.

Decent manager at Ipswich and was looking good during his very brief spell with Hearts in just about the poorest league in Europe. Abject manager at Saints, made to look good by the arrival of Snodin, showed his true ability when Snodin left. GB is living on past glories. I would be surprised if he ever manages at a top level again, and I sincerely hope that he is never used as a commentator, his continuous whining and excuses would be hard to stomach let alone understand

Sincerely hope that Scotland do not demand some of their compensation back now they realise they were sold a pup. Thank goodness they took him off our hands 2 years ago, GB became a shocking manager, but fortunately for us not everyone noticed. Staggered he has lasted as long as he did. That said, Scotland are dire and bereft of any decent players. How have the SFA allowed a country that once had so many stars for a small population to become arguably the weakest of the 5 countries in the British Isles. Their development system sucks and their league has become about as potent as the Welsh Premier League, no wonder Rangers and Celtic are keen to join the 2nd Division.

I really don't get the James bashing that is going on. James was poor defensively for the 3rd goal when we were playing 3 at the back and pushing for an equaliser. He also was certainly not one-dimesnional going forward. I know you get a different view at the game (I was not able to be there yesterday) but I sometimes wonder if some people watched the same match as me. Some other posters are slating Harding. Personally I would say that together with Antonio they were our 3 best players yesterday (not saying a great deal I agree but its difficult to pick anyone else out as having had a good game). We really need to forget about the 3rd goal yesterday, we were chasing the game and taking a risk. The concern is with goals 1 and 2.

No, don't think Saga or Bart are in the frame

Kinda agree. There is a lot to be said for playing 4-5-1 first half, soak up any pressure, ensure we don't go behind, and if possible nick a goal or two ourselves. Frustrates the hell out of the opposition. Then change to 4-4-2 for 2nd half, inject some pace and let our superior fitness (when players don't have flu) to beat the crap out of the opposition late on. Problem yesterday was that we were chasing the game and left more holes that eventually lead to #3. being able to change formation during a game is a sign of a good team and good coach (hence we could never change under Burley) and exactly what we have been doing of late.

You missed it. It was spoken about again, but didn't mention who, just that AP wants an outfield player, and to be fair that makes total sense these days. You need someone in the thick of it to talk with the Ref. KD is apparently OK about it, and will remain as Club Captain, just not on the pitch.I guess Hammond will take it on, with his previous experience in the role.

You watched a different game to me. Corners were varied, and mostly well delivered. Free kicks also done well. Some of James' crosses from open play were top drawer. I know its dificult to take when we get beaten after a run of 14 or 15 games, but it happens, and against the teams least likely. But to blame James just shows a shocking lack of football knowledge.

Can only assume that you are having a poor attempt at a joke. Pathetic to think we have supporters who think like this after all we have been through.

A lot of gash being written on here tonight. Not surprising. We were poor in the first half, but actually taken as a whole game I'm not too disappointed. Brighton were clearly up for it, and the new manager syndrome worked a treat for them, and of course with the new regime coming in Ap and his crew had not had a chance to take a look at them. Lambert was clearly not well, but his passion to play took him through. Trotman was poor admittedly, but everyone has a bad game at times. Can't honestly say anyone else played badly, Jaidi was suspect but not as poor as some are making out, and the criticisms of James on here are truly pathetic. Antonio was class, staggered we took him off though he was a nightmare for their full-back (El-Ahd or whatever he was called). We had a blip, it was a shame, we had lost only 1 game in 14, **** happens, I will not slit my wrists like some unrealistic posters. The worst aspect is that it will now take 2 games to get out of the bottom 4. Oh and my run of 10 pointers in the Pred League comes to a shuddering end (I predicted 4-0 I know that was daft)

Win tomorrow and after a run of 1 defeat in 15 matches we will be 20th in the League. Illustrates how poor our start to the season was and with a 10 point deduction how difficult it will be to get to the play-offs even on current form. But I think we could do it.

Did it mention Pulis?

No, not really, because it would mean they were beating teams further up the league. Wycombe, Tranmere and Stockport are not really our rivals - you need to remember that over the course of 15 games we have scored 10 or more points then them. That would suggest we will do at least as well again over the next 15 games and so on (perhaps even better based on our recent form). Huddersfield thrashing Wycombe is actually bad news in the longer term, since it is teams like Huddersfield who are our main rivals for a possible play-off position. As things stand at the moment, the top half of the table is not coming back to us, most of the top half win and most of the bottom half except us lose - bad news for us, we need bottom teams to beat or draw with top teams more often to close things up and give us a chance of top 6 finish.

80 including subs Interesting that James has only ever been a used sub once, all 64 starts, 1 sub in total