Papa Shango

How's it going everybody? I have just posted a comprehensive new blog on my website, covering the recent history of the Saints/Pompey rivalry. It covers everything from 2003 when Portsmouth won promotion to today, with everything else in between. It should hopefully help explain why the rivalry is as strong as ever, what the game means to me and why we simply must beat them on Sunday. Would appreciate it if you took your time to read it, hope you enjoy http://www.thesaintshub.com/saintspompeyrivalry.html

Have written a report for tonight's game if anyone's interested: http://www.thesaintshub.com/saints7-0sheffieldunited.html. Very enjoyable night of football, James Ward-Prowse will be a star

My take on the game. Don't like saying it, but think we would have won comfortably were it not for Bart. Controlled first 30 minutes of the game. My player ratings/report can be read here if anyone is interested : http://www.thesaintshub.com/saints2-2blackpool.html

My take on yesterday's game. Good in spells, but overall very disappointing. Miss Rickie big time. My report/player ratings can be read here if anyone's interested http://www.thesaintshub.com/doncaster1-0saints.html

Written a new blog celebrating Hooiveld's signing. Give it a read please http://www.thesaintshub.com/joshooiveldsigns.html

Now I remember why I hardly ever go on here anymore. So far this morning I've read that we've not been playing well and it's only a matter of time before we slip into the play-offs. Guly and Lee Barnard are rubbish, and one moron even said Adam Lallana didn't play well last night. If you can't enjoy watching Saints now then you probably never will. Our players are great, our manager is great, our Chairman is great. The whole club is ****ing great. Reading some of the comments on here you'd think we were bottom of the league not top. Goodbye!

Yeah all he did was score a goal. Supporters are meant to support their players

Covered this in my blog a few weeks ago (http://www.thesaintshub.com/whydofansboo.html if you're interested in reading). Some fans don't deserve the success we are currently having. Constructive criticism away from the ground if fine, but the current crop of players have done more than enough to earn our support. Some don't seem to appreciate how bloody well we've done this season. After all this is largely the same side that was playing in League 1 last season. We're top of the league, score loads of goals, play great football and win all the time, but still some are never satisfied. I thought the crowd was pretty dead last night. We should be bouncing for 90mins every game. Some don't seem to understand that even the best teams have off days. Hell, even Barcelona lost on Saturday. People have got that old Saints mentality in them, but this is a completely different team. Player for player there's not much between each team in this division, but every time we lose/draw/play badly some fans do nothing but moan about how bad we've been, rather than give the opposition credit. Last nights performance wasn't as good as Middlesbrough, Leeds and other games, but we still played some absolutely blinding stuff at times. If we had played like any other season before this one, people would be raving about how good it was. Expectations have been raised however, and some won't accept anything less than perfection.

If we insist on singing that Amarillo song, just keep it to a simple "Who the f*ck is laughing now" ala Crystal Palace in response to Charlton a few years ago. I like Turkish's suggestion too

Still not match fit yet. Lets wait and see

It's a complete myth that Guly doesn't work hard either. Some need to watch him more closely, he's always chasing from the front/tracking back etc. Think he might have been carrying a bit of a knock last night too?

Thought it was a really good game actually. Credit to Hull, best side we've played at St Marys without a doubt. Came to attack and played football which made for an even game. Have written my review/player ratings if anyone is interested, have a read: http://www.thesaintshub.com/saints2-1hull.html

Can't believe a player who contributes so much, gets so much stick from fans. He's been one of our best players this season, even when he's not at his best he is capable of changing the game. Last night wasn't his greatest performance, but he still scored. Regardless of what people think of him though, nobody should be getting on his back and moaning. Supporters are meant to support their players. Shame we have so many fans who can't wait to have a moan, even though we are top of the league. You can't argue with the stats, but the fact Nigel Adkins rates him high enough to start him every week is good enough for me. Think Sour Mash is right though, a lot of football fans are complete idiots unfortunately. I've been at games where Steve De Ridder has given the ball away much more than Guly ever does (Palace away anyone?) yet he can do nothing wrong in the eyes of most. Guly on the other hand will be abused every time a pass goes astray. We should be getting behind all of our players, even if they aren't playing well.

Didn't think we were that bad today, played some good stuff at times, but no question the best team won. Always going to have days like that, no biggie. Written my thoughts/player ratings for my website, take a look here if you like: http://www.thesaintshub.com/bristolcity2-0saints.html

Written a new blog on Richard Chaplow. Talked about his early career, his amazing record with Saints and his current form. Our most important player at the moment? Give it a read if you like http://www.thesaintshub.com/chaplowblog.html

Been to every away game and haven't got an email yet. Heard they will start processing them at the start of next week. My only worry is they will lose my ballot. Haven't missed a game for six years, so I'd be unbelievably gutted if I missed out on this match.

We were rubbish in the Championship the whole time we were down there, not just the last season when we were playing with kids. Even in our play off season we were pretty bad on the whole. I remember numerous occasions that season fans chanting "You're not fit to wear the shirt" at the players. The football was poor and we often got completely outplayed by teams like Colchester. The only reason anyone got excited that season was because they thought we had a chance of getting out of that ****ty league. Go ask Coventry fans what they prefer? Surviving in the Prem by the skin of their teeth like they did in the 90s or finish about 15th year after year in the Championship like they do now? Ask Wolves, Birmingham, Blackpool, Newcastle and Stoke fans what they prefer.

Yes I agree if we fail to go up Adkins will have screwed up big time. Still plenty of time to go though, I still fancy us for 2nd place.

Very true.

Has it been confirmed Shea has definitely gone back? Still listed on the OS profiles. Maybe he got injured? Also, I read the other day that we signed Forecast on a FIVE YEAR DEAL. So another two years to go then. Fantastic bit of business yet again from Rupert Lowe.

Confirmation that the game has sold out http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2306287,00.html

I don't buy the argument we'd have been better off keeping Pardew at all. It was clear from our performances in pre season and in our first few games something wasn't right. Pardew was far from perfect and made plenty of mistakes as well. Think some people have rose tinted specs on when it comes to AP. The way some people talk about him you'd have thought we won every game 6-0 when he was here. He only did the bare minimum given the resources he had, and is not missed in the slightest. I believe Adkins will still get us promoted and is a much better option than Pardew in the long run.

I've no idea why some on here keep saying they'd rather us be in The Championship/League 1 than the Premiership In League 1 we got to places like Walsall and Hartlepool, who have no fans. Even when we convincingly beat teams like we did against Swindon last week it's hard to get excited. Last season was ok only for the fact there were a lot of new grounds but the novelty has well and truly worn off now. The thought of another year in League 1 makes me feel sick. About a month back someone started a thread on here saying they hope we get back to The Championship, but not the Prem. Do people remember how bad it was for us in the Championship? Going to places like Hull, Preston and Sheffield Wednesday and getting absolutely hammered. Watching rubbish players like Ryan Smith, Ollie Lancashire and Jordan Robertson. Even in our play off season we were rubbish in about half our games. Why people look so favourably towards the Championship I have no idea. People really do have short memories. Give me the Premiership any day. Where we'd have better players, and play much better football. A full stadium with better atmosphere. Away grounds where more than 3000 people turn up. Where we can test ourselves against the very best, and occasionally beat the likes of Man United and Liverpool like we used to. League 1 is rubbish. The Championship is rubbish. The sooner we get back to the Premiership the better. Go ask Blackpool or Stoke fans what they prefer. Slumming it in the lower leagues as they did for years or beating the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham in the Premiership?

Hate Colchester. Bogey team, souless ground in the middle of nowhere with time wasting ball boys. Must win game.

Did you go last night? If you did you would have realised Adkins didn't have much to do with us losing. We created chance after chance, should have had a penalty and on any other day would have won about 3-1. They had two shots all game and scored. Didn't help that Morgan went off either. Adkins not to blame yesterday IMO.