The Kraken

Just get prepared for more of the same from last time. Chanrai and his puppet Baldy Andronikou will manipulate the system once more, as the spineless and effete HMRC will be left huffing and puffing yet again with no real justice served, and the cheating c*nts from down the road will again get away with wiping off millions of debt. In addition to the disgrace of a "football club" that PFC claims to be, the Football League and the FA should also massively hang their heads in shame; first off, for refusing to act when CSI went into admin (as if them and PFC weren't obviously linked FFS), secondly for giving them David Limpdick and expecting some measure of financial austerity, but most of all for supposedly exercising some financial control and letting Pompey go and repeat the exact same mistakes again and again with utterly no governance whatsoever. As much as the skates are guilty in this whole pathetically sorry charade, the FL/FA must tale some blame for being such a spineless bunch of nobodies.

My God yes, I'd forgotten how deep the media-driven anti-Saints agenda went. Is there no media outlet with a good word to say about our sorry little club? Its no wonder the club takes such an insular approach, with all of the hate thrown at us from so many in the media.

So just to confirm; that's the BBC and Meridian that hate us? We need to get to the Premier League and fast, maybe MLT will help to ensure some impartiality if/when we get there. At the moment I just feel sick thinking about the shocking treatment we receive from terrestrial television.

They only had a crowd of 2000? Wow, that is poor support.

F*cking hell, Pompey fans really don't get it, do they. This message just popped up on their message board from one poster: Just quite breathtaking ignorance to the predicament they are in; a fault seemingly symptomatic of a huge amount of their fanbase. F*ck everyone else, f*ck paying bills, can we sign some mroe players please?

Thankfully you've provided complete balance by being descriptive and erudite on everything he did today.

I just had a sh*t. That means we will play sh*t tomorrow. Or Burnley will. Or something. Fact.

Because the rule was tightened up in the summer. Its been a FIFA rule for some time that you can only play for 2 teams in one season (you can be registered with 3). The English leagues got around that by classifying emegency loans as outside this rule; this seems to have been tightened up now. It was why we were initially only looking to sell Puncheon rather than put him out on loan; Adkins made reference to the rule in an interview with the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16678939

If he has played for us and for them this season then that's not possible, you can't play for more than 2 clubs in one season. Did he make any appearances for us this term? Edit: apparently he did, twice in the league Cup. Therefore its either go back to Yeovil or stay with us for the season.

Can't disagree with Harding at RB; I assume Butterfield must be injured but not really seen anything about it. I do actually think de Ridder has potential, but he hasn't yet stepped up to the plate. Puncheon being back and having Guly and chaplow as an option is certainly a mssive benfit, but I don't agree our options in that department have been all that bad as reserve options. Our past 5 games have been our worst in terms of results; not one win, three draws and 2 defeats. And that's with the bulk of injured players making their returns. I do think we have been shown up IMO at CB; I thought Martin could do it, but he's not really stepped up to the mark as I hoped he could. Hooiveld needs to get back soon, or we need a loanee.

Now they have Ox really coming through I wonder if there is more likelihood that Walcott will get a chance up front. You can just tell that he only started playing football relatively late in life; he's very good when being instinctive, but really struggles when he has time to think about what he's going to do. Andy cole used to get a lot of criticism for the same type of thing. Chamberlain shows what a winger with a footballing brain can do; Walcott gives off the appearance that he's making up as he goes along. Much like Thierry Henry when he went to Arsenal, I see Walcott as more of a striker than a winger. He played up front for us in the youth team and first team; only since going to Arsenal has Wenger tried playing him out wide. Sometimes it works out there, a lot of the time it doesn't. I think if he had been developed along the lines of a Michael Owen type player things might have worked out much better for him.

Finished it for you

What are you on about with your second paragraph? Of course you're allowed to criticise; its a bloody message board for debates, that's entirely the purpose of being on here. Some people state their opinions, some agree, some disagree. Which is why I said I was amazed on the single point up and away made that "the transfer window hadn't done us any massive favours". I disagreed with that part of his statement, and said so. I'm not sure why you're getting quite so uppity about it. And quite where you got the idea that I've somehow told you (who I wasn't even referring to in my original point) that you're not allowed to comment unless its positive is utterly bizarre.

Well, that I find to be a bizarre statement. Lets look at what we did: Signed Jos Hooiveld on a permanent contract. Signed Billy Sharp, one of the division's top scorers. Signed Tadanari Lee, international striker, jury still out on that one. Signed Yago Falque, Spanish U21 international, jury still out on that one. Brought Puncheon back into the fold, almost like a new player. And we haven't lost any of our first team squad. I'm utterly amazed that what we've done in the past month or so isn't viewed as a positive. I would have liked us to sign a CB, but that would have been the cherry on top of what I think has been a very productive transfer window.

You can add Birmingham to them too. Last 10 games: Birmingham: DDWWWWWWDW Blackpool: WLWWDWDWWW As a comparison: Saints: WLLWWLDDDL Simply not good enough.

Birmingham look like they're on a proper charge; with less distraction of Europe they can focus on the league. West Ham, most people tipped for the top at the start of the season and I think they'll do it. Us; I think we'll contend with Brum for second spot, but come up a little bit short. I see us finishing 3rd or 4th. From there its an absolute lottery and anything can happen.

It's often best if you don't embellish facts up to suit your argument. Our first choice back four is Richardson, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox. We had 2 of those players unavailable, so played Martin and Harding instead. Half of our back 4 was not first choice. That's not to get away from the fact that I still think those players should be good enough and do a better job than concede 3 goals at home.

Yes, of course its great that we have everyone available, but I'm not sure I buy the whole "we've been massively under strength" argument. Centre-back, I think there's no doubt we've looked shaky there; only 4 clean sheets in the last 16 games tells a story there. But all over the pitch we have had strength in depth, we should have been able to perform better than we have in the past couple of months. But we certainly have the potential within the squad to go on another run (and with the teams around us performing as they are, we need to). With Puncheon back in the fold and performing I would suggest that, apart from at CB, we have more than adequate cover should we lose any of our first team players (perhaps also with the exception of Davis). And with the likes of Puncheon, Chaplow, Guly, de Ridder (and potentially Falque??) we have a lot of different options of attacking midfielders to shape a game; plus of course Lee and Sharp added to Lambert, Connolly, Guly and Barnard also give us a number of options up front. The squad was already good; the additions we made in January should be enough to get us back on track. I still have concerns at CB but if Jos can get back and forge a partnership again with Fonte then that could be just what we need.

Well that's one way of looking at it I suppose, Lard. Not sure I concur with your concern with the "amount of under par dross" Adkins has brought in. In addition to the likes of Forte, N'Guessan etc that you mention (who, lets face it, were all pretty cheap gambles) he has also brought in first team players such as Chaplow, Cork, Fox, Hooiveld, and Sharp, plus very adequate squad players in Lee, Butterfield, and de Ridder. Our form at the moment is sketchy at best; no getting away from that. Last night was disappointing in that our team wasn't significantly below par, and yet we still lost and conceded three goals into the bargain. That really is one area that we need to tighten up, particularly away from home, if we're to get our promotion dreams back on course. To be fair to Adkins, we have had a few key players missing lately, and Lallana is certainly not producing like he did at the start of the season, which is very much key to us being a successful side. But the time for excuses is over; players have returned, and we've strengthened up front with one of the division's top scorers while neglecting to strengthen the central defence (outlined by the fact that we've only kept 4 clean sheets in our last 16 games). Burnley away next, then West Ham, which gets us out of a month when we've played 3 of our main promotion rivals. We need to kick on, Birmingham are on fire, Blackpool have surged up the table, West Ham will be strong all season, and I don't see the likes of Cardiff or Boro dropping away any time soon. Looking at the fixture list post West Ham, there is aboslutely nothing there (except perhaps Boro away) that we should be concerned about; every game is 100% winnable. Its still well within our grasp (of course it is, we're in 2nd place) but we need a revival in results and performance if we're to achieve our lofty ambitions.

I know we've done that free kick routine before, and scored from it. But surely, in those conditions, a shot on target (and preferably one that bounced just in front of the keeper) would have been the better option? The ball was skidding off the surface so unpredictably I can't believe we didn't try to exploit this.

I was at Reading earlier in the season when their fans were singing their rendition of it for M-U-R-T-Y in the commentary box above the stands. It was one of the most cringeworthy songs I've ever heard.

Homosexual, eh?

We're not that far away from it though really. Although we'll never get a return to the 4-2-4 we had, we still have Cork & Hammond sat behind a forward line of Lallana, Guly, Lambert and Sharp.

It is. Its also a very decent service. If it was done as well as fans forums, I think it would be a brilliant thing that the club offer. That they're doing something is better than nothing. Personally I prefer the fans forums as they are more inclusive.

I think it's been disappointing that he hasn't broken through into the team. As good as he obviously can be, he is also very much a headless chicken at times and be very frustrating. For a team that prides itself on keeping the ball and not giving it away cheaply, that can be hugely detrimental. I still think he has much, much more to offer. And he has a style of play that offers us options that no other player in our squad can give us, that direct pace and ability to take the man on. Hopefully with a run injury-free he can start to realise some of his potential.