The Kraken

I literally cannot believe that post. Amazing. He's been a captain for more than one football league side (one who just got promoted), but he's not a leader or a driver. Suuuuuuure he isn't.

There's also the contention that we made an approach for Gorkks a couple of months ago but were rebuffed. Whether he was offered to us or not is irrelevant; for this stadard he is a top player and we'd be crazy not to take him, unless we have someone even better lined up instead.

Agreed, I hate being forced to spend £84 of my hard earned cash every year with no choice in the matter. Disgrace is absolutely the correct word.

Ignore these mate, they're just winding you up. You were close, it's now called the St. Mary's aap 3 year plan to the Premier League in association with Nicola Cortese Stadium. A bit of a mouthful, but it does the trick.

Agreed; Ipswich 12th? They've made some very shrewd signings, particularly Bowyer and Chopra. I'd expect to see them up there challenging.

I'm not denying any that. I was simply pointing out the pure folly of another poster claiming "if you doubt Kelvin's ability in the Championship you are a plum". As you say, he has had good years, and he has had bad years. So there are clearly grounds for concern that he may struggle in this league. On the other hand he may well excell. We will see, but in the meantime it's idiotic to throw around accusations such as the one I've highlighted.

The gelling argument is all well and good. But what happens if we have a decent season, and narrowly miss out on going up? Our players are in the shop window, so some Premier league teams come sniffing around the likes of Chamberlain, Lallana, Fonte etc etc. Those are key players for us, and if we lose just one or two of them then it really affects the team harmonic. Assuming we'll keep all of them if we don't go up is perhaps unrealistic. of course, we'd likely replace them, but then that negates the whole "gelling" argument.

I would hate to see the Sash kit ruined by having a sponsor plastered over it. Great kit, and a great season, but Saints are red & white stripes for me so I'm happy to return to that.

See above, I've said a few times that he improved from his early spells with us. I think he's been excellent over the past 2 years in particular. But the fact remains, he's had 2 seasons with us in teh Championship, one where we has very poor and one where we has very good. So, with that in mind, it's a bit ridiculous to say something like "if you doubt his ability in the Championship you're a plum".

It'd hardly rocket science, no. So I guess I must have been completely imagining the amount of criticism that he got from his own fans, was I? And if he was one of the best keepers in the division, why did he not play instead of Richard Wright, who we brought in? Kelvin has very much improved as a keeper, as I've said. But let's not re-write history, he came in for a lot of criticism for his performances over an extended period of time in the Championship.

I think you're the plum if you can't even remember that Davis has previously looked very shaky at times in the Championship. It's why he (regrettably) used to get a fair amount of stick from the fans. Sheffield Wednesday away, I believe, being a point in case where he gave a bit back to the fans who had been giving him stick. A number of home games too when he used to get pelters and gave a bit back. His game has moved on from the early days with us and I think he's a better keeper now than then, but it's a bit naive to completely obliterate all that from your memory. Edit: Here you go, the match report. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-493062/Saint-Davis-shamed-named-Owls-run-riot.html "Davis was at fault for at least three Sheffield Wednesday goals in this hammering at Hillsborough.....

Why is that unlikely? Quite a few people have said that's their preferred midfield partnership. Technically speaking I definitely think that's our best partnership. I think Adkins will go with Hammond & Cork though, as Hammond is his skipper and it's often a little bit more than just individual talent that makes it.

So long as you call in as early as you can after tickets are released there really should't be a problem getting tickets. No members' priorities, so they'll go on general sale. The club might tie them in with another game though (so you'd have to buy a ticket for an extra home game as well as the Pompey game).

Also known as the Francis Benali conundrum; the influence you have on other players in the dressing room and on the pitch can far outweigh the individual attributes any certain player may have. I think Schneiderlin is technically better than Hammond; but then Schneiderlin is also IMO too casual and can make too many sloppy mistakes. Also, as skipper Hammond is likely to be a much bigger personality, a very important feature in a closely knit team like ours clearly is.

I'm only looking at the next pre-season game; Barney hasn't really had a massive amount of game time, and Connolly got the whole 90 tonight (as did a few others). Jaidi and Dickson got no game time so would expect to see them, Morgan only got a minor run out, Lambert too. If the squad stays as it is I fully expect us to go with Lambert and Connolly against Leeds though.

Blimey, I think someone's had too much Pro Plus.

I imagine he and Lambert will get a decent run-out in the game, I'm assuming with RL up top with Barney. Could be interesting. Wouldn't fancy NA's job in deciding who to start with for Leeds, it's quite up in the air right now.

I agreed with you back then. Since then we've signed Cork and de Ridder. Hopefully if AOC stays (obviously lots of mileage yet with that), then those two will just have replaced Gobern and Puncheon in numbers, but very much improved the quality of the squad. Rumour is that another centre back is on the way, and, having previously bid £3M plus for Billy Sharp I'd still be a bit surprised if we didn't bring a new striker in. I said 10th - 16th with last season's squad; with the additions so far I'm confident of that 10th place, add in the two I mentioned and I think playoffs are definitely achievable, perhaps even more.

Being as I don't really know who you are, that's somewhat disconcerting.

Yep, pretty slow. Out with the old, in with the old.....

Yes, because that's what everyone wants. Idiot.

How come Gareth Bale played so many games then? Skacel played pretty much all of his first season in his preferred position, and was made to look a lot better than he was by the emergence of the wonderkid playing with him. He seemed to have a fair amount of popularity with the crowd due to his talent at applauding them when running over to take a corner; I think its called David Prutton syndrome.

Apologies MLG, clearly I should have inserted *winky smiley thing* to register my real intent.

That's no benchmark for accuracy.