The Kraken

Why will it? The FFP rules will enable teams can only spend what they earn. Saints completely overspent in an effort to get from League 1 to the Premier League so quickly. We lost millions doing it (even despite selling an academy product for £15M) yet we can all see the competitive advantage we gained. Under true FFP we wouldn't have been able to do that; we would have had to live within our budget. Those clubs with the largest incomes will always strive. And there will be easy ways around FFP, for example Etihad's £100M a year sponsiorship of Man City and PSG's even bigger deal with the Qatari tourist board.

Precisely. Jack Rodwell, one of Everton's top prospects in years, out of the door as soon as Man City come calling with a £12M offer. And that's from Everton, who are consistently in and around the Europa places every year. This notion of the 50% academy graduate first team is a nice idea, but anyone pinning CL qualification hopes on it is living in a dream world.

Something about man climbing Everest to get to the moon.

Perhaps if you'd have, you know, read the thread you'd maybe see the reasoning for suggesting dropping Lallana or Ramirez for some games. For instance Ramirez, possibly our most creative player (certainly most expensive) being dropped for the Stoke game, in which we were rather unlucky to only draw the game and put in a decent solid performance. Also Lallana being unavailable for Arsenal but Saints looking altogether more solid in defence and midfield as a consequence. I'll put the thread in a nutshell for you; some of us believe that there are occasions when the best 11 players available do not not necessarily make the best team. There are sometimes when we may be advised to forsake being an all-attacking team in order to play tighter and differently against some sides.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. Thanks for the insight; I'm convinced.

Still in trauma and recovery from the wounds inflicted from that vicious assault by the Leeds thug.

If Butland does indeed sign then that would be Cropper, Gazzaniga and Butland all signed in the past 6 months; all 20 years old or younger. So you're pretty much spot on there if it goes through, yep.

Judging by Adkins' actual comments I doubt it'll be a true first choice line-up.

I wouldn't be so forthright. Nixon re: Adkins comments today and Butland. reluctantnicko: @gregvul Again. That would be odd considering a call and meeting that has gone on this week.

Up top on his own, Matthew. On his own. Not with Lambert (who still plays as a striker however much deeper you think he operates).

All well and good but doesn't quite suggest that it'll entirely be the first team. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fox and Hooiveld get a game (Fonte has played every game so far, Luke Shaw could perhaps benefit from a game off). Also I'd quite like to see Rodriguez up top on his own; if he's going to make that spot his own then he needs to get a chance here or there, this is a good shop window to see what he can do against a top side. JWP in midfield would be good too, he's still being nurtured along but a starting spot would be decent. Other than that, a regular line up.

That's really quite staggering, if true. A close mate of mine works for a leading Championship club and when I met up with him recently he said that they typically spend £2K - £3K on hotels for away trips. And lets just say that his club aren't short of a quid or two. PKF's lavish overspending really does beggar belief.

Correct. The court case was to apply for the right to sell the ground, and for the court to assign a fair market value (in line with the £2.75M the PDT have offered) Portpin contest that they are owed £17M, which was secured against Fratton. Its unknown what they value the ground at, other than that they haven't accepted the PST's offer of £2.75M. Here's where the confusion begins, really. The court case never even got underway as PKF's legal team put a halt to it straight away and requested an adjournment as there was a problem with their case. Other than that, its not really known what the problem is. Portpin threw another curve ball into the mix, stating that they weren't happy with the administrator appointed and wanted a new one; this was instantly rejected. But the nature of PKF's problem and why they were suddenly negotiating with the other lawyers is one that's beyond me, really. The PDT have offered £2.75M and no more, Chainrai won't accept that. Anything else is guesswork, and the PDT and their lawyers are staying schtum. The PDT have suggested there might be some wiggle room with the valuation (i.e. if it comes in at £3M they probably would find the extra cash) but obviously there's a limit on that. Of course, the court could very well rule that PKF cannot sell the ground in the first place, which kind of blows the PDT bid apart.

The weird thing is; I don't think Boruc is the answer but I'm thinking I'd actually prefer him to Butland. Gulp.

I think Harry will have a galvanising effect on them. I've commented before, I think they'll stay up comfortably. IMO they've got a better team than their position suggests, and despite his protests to the contrary Redknapp will be active in the transfer market and bring in some good players (as well as Tal Ben Haim which is admittedly an odd signing). I wouldn't like to pick out what they'll do in each particular game, but I think they'll win at least one out of that six and at least pick up another win or at least a draw or two. 3 points from 6 games is a pitiful amount and I just can't see such a low total. I obviously hope I'm wrong, of course.

That seems to be the gist of it, yes. At least its what Micah Hall and his cronies are saying on the Pompey boards. The original court hearing was scheduled for 2 days, and the judge said that it wasn't possible to hear the case in less time than that. So the 15th Jan date sounds like its just a return to court to check on progress. From there, I have no idea what happens. I guess there's the possibility that the judge could decide PKF actually have no case and deny a further hearing. That's a complete guess though. It seems likely they'll return to court, the legal parties will declare they couldn't reach agreement, then the judge will set a new court date for another 28 days time. Kind of p*sses on the chance to strengthen considerably in the transfer window, which would be a dreadful shame.

The fact its leaked so early on is a positive IMO. Getting over the line may prove much more difficult though. Fingers crossed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/01/southampton-arsenal-premier-league-match-report From 1 minute in. Guly makes the block tackle from which the ball spins up and Morgan chests down and runs onto.

Yep, pretty sure our goal came from a Guly tackle. He also had a decent shot which Chesney tipped round the post. but yes, if he had tucked that one away against Stoke and not conceded the own goal, you wonder if more people would actually be talking about him as a genuine first choice option even when Lallana returns. Just shows how one mistake per game at this level can make a monumental difference.

Its a tough one. I've been perusing POL and I'm not sure I fully get it. But I'll have a go. As I understand it, the original court case was set for a Thursday and a Friday. Immediately on the Thursday, PKFs legal team reequested an adjournment as there were issues with their case. The judge allowed them until the next day so that the lawyers could talk and potantially come to some agreement. This wasn't reached by the Friday, at which point the judge then adjourned the case further. Now, this is the bit where I'm unsure, but it seems the adjournment to Jan 15th was to give the legal teams further time to potentially come to an agreement. If they reach agreement on the legal points they can apply to court for a proper court date as soon as they reach agreement. If they don't reach agreement, they return to court on 15th when the judge will see what progress they've made and potentially set a new hearing date following that. This Portsmouth News article explains it somewhat. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/regional/portsmouth-takeover-case-adjourned-1-4590829

Spot on.

What is selective about it? You yourself said "Yoshida was bloody awful for us for about his first 3/4 matches". I just gave the match threads for his first 2 games. when he very clearly wasn't "bloody awful". Which other threads should I look at? I didn't see those you mention, although I asked you to suggest some as I haven't read them. Are you getting what my actual point was? That when he played full back he was pretty awful, but when he played centre back he was instantly better than what we have. I feel you've missed this from the start. But if there are threads in addition to the match threads (which typically said Yoshida did well) saying Yoshida is an absolute liability at centre back then I'll have a look at those if you can point them out to me please. My view is that he was seen as instantly better at centre back than Jos. He played a ropey 3/4 of a game at RB against Fulham, and a bit of a shocker at LB against West Ham. Aside from that, his first game against Arsenal was well received, and as the thread I identified showed after the Villa game he was seen as a bit of a revelation. So, at centre back, not the "absolute liability" that you contend he was.

I don't know, Alpine was proved absolutely spot on with his 5-game predictions wasn't he?

Are you offering odds on that? I'd have a tenner they'll get more than 3 points in 6 games if you're offering?

Come on Dave, its not that difficult to grasp. Yes, against the top sides and especially away from home there is definitely a logical case to be made that playing Lallana and Ramirez in the same side could leave us too open. Its a perfectly understandable point of view. Our best 11 players won't necessarily cohesively fit into our strongest side for every single game. The dynamics will change according to who we're playing and where. For example, against Stoke NA dropped our most creative available player to the bench; that worked out pretty well. Against a lot of sides in the league and particularly at home there's very much a case to play Ramirez and Lallana together. Against the better sides and especially away from home there's also a definite case to change things around and play a tighter, more discplined XI.