Graffito

He was poor but we didn't create nearly enough. Lallana had on off day (is he carrying a slight knock or injury?). Lambert wasn't on the pitch for most of the game. Chelsea crowded out JWP, so few crosses. The missing piece of the jigsaw is the no 10 that Ramirez evidently isn't. Hope we get someone in in January.

Where I've lived for 20 years it's 50/50 Arsenal/Tottenham. It's very difficult to generalise but Arsenal's demographic does seem to be younger where I live. Other than that, Arsenal are Tottenham without the passion...and the moaning. I used to live in SW London and there are great swathes of the area that were disenfranchised Chelsea fans who couldn't afford to go.

No you are not being unkind. He's smart. I think you have to be clued up to make this system work. My comment was tongue in cheek.

We close their arses down.

Interesting to read but there's little in there that other coaches won't have known. One thing I noted was that MS thinks still we have no effective solution to the problems we have had with teams that don't build from the back and hit us down the channels. We did beat West Brom but they were without Lukaku and Jaskelainen, as he said, played a blinder for West Ham so maybe the more cautious approach against those teams is the solution.

For some teams this style might mitigate deficits in technique but once you've won the ball you have to keep it and turn possession into goals, which require technique. Saints have kept possession very well and turning it into goals is improving. We need another playmaker though.

Portsmouth Community Football Club regret to announce that Guy Whittingham has left his post as manager after his contract was terminated. Only a fool would stick around if he'd just been sacked.

MS mentions the top 3 and he mentions the top 4. I can't see where he has referred to top 6.

It's Boruc's character that allows him to think he can do things which others wouldn't attempt and it's the same character that will see him pull through. Could be wrong, as ever, but I think he's less likely than other keepers might be to let this and the Stoke fluke get to him. Other high profile keepers, Hart, Ruddy, Lloris on Sunday, are having their problems. Not all will handle it so well.

Tottenham is a bigger club. The rest is tittle tattle. 6 - 0 really cheered me up after Saturday.

Couldn't see it from the away end but just seen it on the box. No complaints, it was a penalty.

If they are not going use the Away Supporters Initiative to subsidise away tickets or travel for Saints fans, they could substitute a policy of taking full allocations for away matches for the current arrangement which appears to rely on the judgement of some anonymous bod in the ticket office, and use the Away Supporters initiative money to cover the cost of any unsold tickets. Using that money, any of it, for the benefit of away supporters to SMS is an insult.

For once I'm inclined to agree with him. Plus, I fear the international break may have disrupted our momentum and shifted the focus of those away on internationals. The same could be said of Arsenal but unlike Saints against Hull they didn't perform well against Man Utd.

Apparently England duty is light relief from Pochettino's training sessions. He works them like dogs remember.

Yeah that one. As holders, expectations were high, only to be dashed by the Germans, always the Germans. I was a youngster and took it badly.

He was poor. How much have they actually played together at Tottenham?

"but the rest of the team are pretty strong". Is that fair comment?

The manager selected him because he sees him, or saw him, in the role he asks Welbeck to play. He probably won't pick him for Germany but I think he should. Bring him off the bench and give him 20 minutes in a freer role.

Did he say how?

They are trying to apply pressure in the hope that refs give them the benefit of the doubt in forthcoming matches. It's a vain hope. Peace isn't Ferguson. The Hawthorns isn't OT. The whinging doesn't reflect well on the club. They come across as losers. I had a close view of the decision at the Hawthorns. It was a penalty.

Flamini out is good. We close their @rses down as Dortmund did in his absence at Highbury. He didn't play the away leg either but Arsenal played more conservatively. Can't see them doing that against us. We have a chance here and must atone for last season's debacle.

Hull will come for a point and may get it. The crowd will have a big part to play today.

BT may go the way of all the others who have tried and failed to rival Sky.

I won't be going. Trains are £68 from Euston. Incidentally I think it's poor that the OS can't even be bothered to explain the change in it's notification. The match has been "pushed back with one other BPL fixture". http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/festive-everton-trip-pushed-back-1163328.aspx?

True, but equally our defence is reliant on our attack. If there's one player I thought was a shoe-in for the friendlies given his performances and the defciciencies of Johnson and Walker it's Cyne.