The Kraken

I think I explained my opinion on it in post #8. Which part wasn't clear from that?

Could you not really understand the point, then? That putting your hands up to defend yourself when a ball is kicked at your face from close range is a natural reaction? Ok.

What, having the ball kicked at you from close range? Of course it is.

Yeah, a very bad one. I remember him coming on at LM once or twice last season and he was dreadful, offered no attacking threat at all and just complicated the defensive aspect.

I'd pay to watch that, to be fair.

All handballs being a foul would be a bit of a nonsense. There are times when it is simply impossible to get the hands out of the way, and times when hands are in front of the players body so the handball doesn't make a huge difference in any case. That said the "intentional" handball rule is equally nonsensical, most handballs are not intentional. I think the current way the rule is applied works ok, but would prefer to see a rule whereby if the path of the ball is significantly altered and the player could reasonably have not had his hands in the path of the ball, then its handball. Not sure how that would get written down in the rules, but its almost the way it is applied these days in a lot of cases.

I especially liked the time when he didn't play in the first team. I've enjoyed the same occasion every time that it has happened since we were promoted.

And to be fair we did last season against Chelsea (albeit we got an absolute spanking). Its only the League Cup that gets treated with derision, unfortunately.

If we do, then at least we'll lose by giving it a bit of a go. That's all that's being asked for.

He's wrong almost as often as you, to be fair.

Clearly Matt's anti-Cortese agenda is at work, and he's influenced all the other pundits. Everyone knows that you only stand behind the club in such cases.

Is it 41 this season? I do hope so. Oh how I chuckled when he kept that one up for so long last term, the repetitively hilarious scamp.

While I appreciate the backing for SWF mod, I feel my certain overuse of the ban stick would make me a thoroughly unsuitable candidate. I'd have to ban everybody who disagreed with me, and that's an awful lot of people. Ban the lot of the f*ckers, I say.

I've got no sympathy with him one way or the other Bear, he's clearly a complete goober and a poor ref to boot. But just as in a court of law, previous indiscretions don't really come into it, despite how desperate some are to apply them to this case so they can make an early decision on it. I can't believe for a minute that the leaked statements are the entirety of what was said by Clattenburg as that would be ludicrous to formally object to. But I just can't quite begin to imagine just how bad it would have to be to actually justify making such a complaint, and I can't see how the club will come out of it as looking anything other than utterly petty unless Clattenburg has said something truly horrific. Certainly no evidence to say as of yet and I wonder if we'll ever hear the "full" story, given one version has been leaked there can't be much holding either side back. Its all a bit of a farce so far IMO.

Why the need to defend it when you don't know the facts?? Why have a go at others for seemingly holding a contrary opinion to yours, you've been quite animated about that so far. I personally have not seen any evidence in this case to stand behind the club at all, in fact the only "evidence" has been a leaked comment and a couple of complaints from the club. Absolutely nothing to go on, as of yet.

Erm, no it isn't. It's funny that you came into this thread berating others for assuming they knew exactly what was said and making a decision based on that, when you've done something very similar yourself. You've assumed the club can only be correct without knowing the full facts.

Keown and Kilbane talking sense about it on Football Focus.

I think I'd prefer a ref to have a human side to him than just be a complete robot. Until we know exactly what was said its all a bit pointless judging one way or the other. I think refs should be able to defend themselves somewhat against a barrage of abuse that they often get, but there's clearly a line to be drawn. Quite where the exact comments are in relation to that line is unknown right now; but there definitely must be more than is being published now as that sort of comment is well within bounds IMO.

Spot on. It's really the best chance we have of winning any major silverware, I hope we don't take the p*ss in the same way we did with the League Cup. We're not going to qualify for Europe through the league this season IMO and we're not in any relegation bother so let's have a good go. I still love the FA Cup, no matter how devalued it's become with others who genuinely would rather focus on finishing slightly higher in mid table rather than "risk" putting our first team out and having a proper go.

Not really, no I wouldn't. Look at the last 20 years or so of English keepers: Chris Woods, David Seaman, Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn, David James, Paul Robinson, Joe Hart, Rob Green, Ben Foster. Hardly any came from top 4 clubs, plenty came from the lower leagues. Development of keepers is much more random than outfield players, and that none of the top sides have really produced a top English keeper in so many years underlines that.

Some of our full backs (Bridge, Chambers, Bale) were not truly full backs. Bridge started as a midfielder, as did Chambers. Bale was always a much better attacking full back than he was a defensive one. I get the feeling that academies don't place a huge emphasis on the development of keepers, unlike other areas of the pitch its a real risk to throw in an untried youngster so chances for youth keepers are always going to be very rare. CB is the one that gets me, we've never been able to produce a decent one in all the years I've been watching Saints, Chris Baird and Matt Mills were about as good as it got.

I've long wondered why it is so; we've produced top class (some world class) players in pretty much every other position on the pitch apart from GK and CB. GK I can understand a little more, as keepers mature later and a fair proportion of the top goalkeepers that have come through in recent years have come from lower league clubs. But for us to not produce even one top quality CB in the past 30 years or so is mystifying.

What setbacks? if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

Chambers came through the youth system as a midfielder and also played games there at England junior levels (he has a decent scoring record too). It's only for his breaking into the Saints team and latterly with the England setup that he's become more established as a RB. Its been said before that he could have plenty to offer from CM or RM, so it's a reasonable question asked by the OP. It's less likely to happen while Chambers is the only real source of cover for Clyne, but he's only 18 and has a long way to go in terms of development so it's far from out of the question IMO.

I think its more to do with the fact that Adkins was doing ok but MP could do better. If he has that same feeling about an alternative manager then we may see the same thing, especially if our form does not pick up in January and February against the lesser sides. I don't think it'll happen myself but I wouldn't rule it out. Personally I'd prefer any manager to be given the full season unless a change is absolutely necessary, but that's just me.