Cabrone

Really not sure who is going to go down - as we saw last night anything is possible. Villa and Reading look the weakest but both are still capable of putting some results together. However I do think that we will need at least 40 points to escape and even then it's touch and go as I can't see 3 teams that will get less than 40 points. Last night just bolsters that feeling for me.

Before the match I'd have taken a point but I'm a bit gutted we didn't get all 3, Arsenal were having a real off day but we didn't quite manage to put them to the sword. Thought Gaston was a very classy attacking link, the lad is really finding his feet and will only get better. After his initial bout of nerves Boruc looked pretty assured too, I just hope he gets a proper run of games now. A point against Arsenal is nothing to be sniffed at but I can't help feeling it was 2 dropped.

Before last night he'd done 2 games in the last 6-7 months. He's obviously going to be rusty and the initial fumbles were probably a symptom of that. After those initial blips I thought he looked pretty assured and had a presence about him, something that the best GKs all have. What most reasonable fans are asking for is to give the guy a chance, you never know - he might turn out to be quite good. It would be tragic if we let a top class GK slip through our fingers due to impatience - especially when we are so lacking in this department.

Give him a chance, that was his first game for over a month and only his 3rd this season. He's bound to be rusty. I'll judge when he gets a good run just like Gazza did. I find it wierd that so many on here are itching to jump down his throat whilst Gazza got an amazing amount of slack.

Couldn't agree with you more, this whole GK situation is utterly bizarre. Boruc is our best GK yet for some strange reason he isn't getting any games. Gazza and KD can't seem to take advantage so we seem to be in eternal GK limbo land. If we aren't going to play the Pole then let him go and get a top quality keeper that we will play. GK was my top priority at the start of the season and is still my top priority now. With a decent guy between the sticks we would be 6-8 points better off and comfortable mid table now. Sort it out please.

DC was a great player for us and scored some important goals so I wish him the best of luck at Pompey and hopefully one day we'll be able to have another derby with them as its always a great occasion. Can't see it in at least the next 5 years though.

40 points for me and even then I'm not overly confident. I think there will be an almighty scrap from here on in to avoid that 3rd from bottom place.

Gutted not to have gotten the 3 points but can't complain really, we managed to get a point scoring one less than the combined tally of last 9 teams that have visited the Britannia. Performances like this are exactly what we need if we are to survive. All in all it was a good day at the office.

There's still far too long to go yet to have any confidence but I do think we'll be in the mix come the last day. Of the teams immediately around us Reading have a good '2nd half of the season' track record (as we know only too well), Harry will look to make some big changes to QPR so expect things to change there, Wigan are a tricky outfit that are well capable of escaping and Villa seem to blow hot and cold. Also Newcastle could lose Denba Ba so the goals could be hard to come by for them and Fulham are in a big slump. I also wouldn't rule out one of L'Pool, Wham or Norwich having a bad run and getting sucked in. If I had to put money on it I'd say Reading and Villa and any 1 from the rest (including us).

Kevin Strootman

For those of you who may be interested looks like the company our erstwhile ex-chairman is currently chairing is being examined by the SFA for dodgy dealings. http://news.sky.com/story/1025569/broker-widens-probe-into-suspicious-trades

No 2nd team for me but I do have a slight feeling of kinship with Norwich, mainly because I spent 3 enjoyable years living and drinking there (1 of which was about 100m from the stadium) but also because they have always felt like a similar club to ourselves. The 'local' team for the last 14 years has been Spurs but they can f**k off.

That was actually more like -1 point for Villa rather than 0 as their GD has now been trashed. Being as they are a young team lets hope that this resut crushes them before we play them. We need all the help we can get.

Very poor performance. Sunderland were organised and we didn't have enough to break them down. Set pieces were dismal and all in all it was gutless. This was a game where they had a decent chance of taking the points and they threw it away. Someone needs to put a boot up their collective asses if we are to have any chance of points in the next 6 league games, we need a lot more urgency.

In terms of impact at the club Ricky has to be right up there for me. He's been one of the biggest driving forces of our ascent from league 1 and his goals may yet be what keeps us in the prem in this first critical season. Other candidates are: -> Ron Davies who scored the goals that kept us in div 1 the first time round. -> Shilts who was a major part of our best ever team in terms of league placing. -> Alan Ball who played 41 out of 42 games in our 77/78 promotion season and was a real driving force behind our success. -> Jimmy Case who was bought for £30k in 1985 and gave us 6 years of top class service. He was Lawrie Mac's last signing and in terms of value arguably his best. There are many other transfers that have been fantastic like Beattie, Niemi, Golac, Armstrong, Dennis etc but the 4 above are arguably the ones that have made the biggest impacts. ...of course the list doesn't include those that came through the ranks like Paine, Channon, Williams and of course MLT.

I'm a big fan of Arsene Wenger, think he's brilliant. He has superb knowledge of players and using it to buy cheap (relatively) and get the most out of them. He has had a few misses in the transfer market but IMO no-one has as good a record as him at getting a gem of a player before he gets too expensive. I also applaud Arsenal's stance of not giving into greedy players. If all clubs copied them then we'd get more realistic salaries and (maybe) lower ticket prices. Wanting £100k p.w. is completely obscene.

Exactly, far too much gloating going on when SFC is by no means certain of surviving itself. Of all the clubs out there we should need no reminding that Reading have a history of form over the 2nd half of the season. Hopefully the prem is a step too far for them but a lot of posters on here were pretty snooty about them this time last season and look what happened.

I'd say (in order of importance)..... - Standard of opposition. - Stable team - No major injuries. - Defence getting its act together. - Introduction of Shaw and Cork + form of Puncheon, Clyne and Ramirez.

I don't think 38 will do it TBH. Even 40 is going to be touch and go this season. Looking around us even the worst team at the moment, Reading, are capable of a good run in the 2nd half of the season. The rest of the teams in the bottom 7/8 are really close and I think we'll all be scrapping away right till the death. Could be a very exciting finale.

Following on from the previous '5 game prediction' thread... Sunderland (h) 3 - low on confidence and there for the taking at the moment. Fulham (a) 1 - hoping that the QPR result is the start of a little dip for Fulham which we can exploit. Stoke (a) 1 - don't let in many but don't score many, ugly low scoring draw. Arsenal (h) 0 - even in a rough spell still think they'll get past us. Villa (a) 1 - with chelsea(a) as their next game fingers crossed their little spurt fizzles out ASAP. So 6 points is my 'par for the course' prediction. Anyone else care to take a look into the crystal ball?

£10 for game + transport is what would entice me to see every match.

17th was my target on the day we got promoted and it still is now. Survive the first difficult year and then consolidate for next season would be fine by me.

Fancy at least a point from this one. We can score - they can't.

My views on NA haven't really changed, having got us up 2 divisions he earnt the right to manage us for at least 1/2 a season and have a crack at the premiership and the 19/20 game mark was when I might have started to question his performance. I think he's performed above expectations so far, how some fans wanted him sacked after the first 10 games which were as tough as you could get was more of an inditement on their lack of patience than NA. He's found his feet and I'm now more confident that he's capable of steering us to safety. The only blot on the copybook is the GK situation. To pick Gazza above Boruc or even Davis for as long as he did seems a bit odd but I think he's now getting that right. I can only guess that Boruc has done something very wrong behind the scenes as he's easly the best we have.

Yes, after the last 5 games I wonder what Delldays' views on Nigel Adkins are now? If I remember he was posting 'sack him' every 5 minutes a few weeks ago. Seems to have gone a bit quiet recently.