stevegrant

Pretty much any ground in the top two divisions in Germany would be ahead of every ground in England, IMO.

Some absolutely ridiculous ones in there... Wembley, FFS

This single sentence demonstrates the worst thing about professional football these days.

Yeah, the attention to detail is impressive, but the whole "showing up to a 5-star hotel with your own mattresses and not trusting their kitchen staff to cook a proper meal" thing is a bit diva-ish, for want of a better description

We can't sign anyone until January 1st anyway.

No idea if we'll sell out, but I wouldn't necessarily call it embarrassing if we don't for this one - Boxing Day means there is no public transport, so what would be a really easy route on the train turns into a bit of a ballache by car or coach.

His performances while on loan at Barnsley this season haven't been that of a Premier League goalkeeper in waiting, from what I've seen on the Football League Show.

Odd that they've not announced a general sale date yet, but looking at all the other home games, it seems to be a week after they've been on sale to season ticket holders, members, etc. As a result, they're likely to be available from 23rd December.

That loss stat is terrifying... 121 from the last 248 competitive games

Penny-pinching at Fratton Park reaches a new low...

Actually, he's been out injured since pre-season, hasn't even been on the bench so far this season.

Unless the offside rule is simplified considerably, I don't see how Hawkeye (or similar) could be used to provide instant accurate decisions - there are far too many variables. With GLT, it's straightforward as you have a fixed area and a static line to concentrate on. With offside, though, you've got a multitude of issues: 1. a defensive line that could be anywhere from the goal line to the halfway line (a variance of around 50 yards); 2. a need to know the exact moment the ball was played forwards; 3. a need to know whether the ball has been deflected significantly (down to interpretation by the referee) by a defender en route; 4. a need to know whether the defending team's goalkeeper is further forward than the last outfielder which would change the position of the defensive line as the rule states the second-last defender (the last is usually the goalkeeper); 5. a need to know whether the attacker is interfering with play (again, can be down to the interpretation of the referee) and probably a few others I've not thought of. Sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Which presumably means that a League Two table only relating to the final 30 minutes would see them cut adrift from everyone? Rather suggests their players aren't fit enough, nor do they have the concentration required to see games out. Shame.

We should have a slightly bigger allocation than when we played there a couple of years ago, as they've expanded the ground to 27k. In theory we should therefore have around 2700, but that's probably reduced a bit with segregation. Needless to say, the club hasn't said anything on the subject.

Whichever keeper we sign to eventually succeed Boruc will be comfortable with the ball at his feet and being able to distribute the ball accurately over 40-50 yards. For me, his distribution is Boruc's main weakness - as far as goalkeepers go, it's not the worst attribute to have as your weakest suit, but it becomes more important when you play in a team that plays the way we do. I've no idea whether Begovic's distribution is any good, largely the only evidence of him passing is of the 80-yard variety in that Stoke team. Worth noting that Pompey don't have a sell-on clause on any future sale...

Highly unlikely.

https://twitter.com/carlpartridge/status/412577401613193216/photo/1 My good god

Tickets still available, looks like it's on general sale now as despite having already bought a ticket, I can now buy more. The old official Travel Club's rule was that anyone travelling alone had to be at least 16, but now the club has decided to hand the whole thing over to the coach company to deal with, that might have changed. Worth calling them before booking anything.

I think once they get down to that few single tickets, the thought process is that most people don't attend games alone, so it would be difficult to shift those remaining tickets (I suspect tickets in the family section have to be sold as adult-child pairings, which is obviously nigh on impossible when there are only single tickets, not many parents would be happy sitting 10 rows in front of their child). Better to put the "sold out" signs up and hope that anyone who wants to go then takes a look at the corporate hospitality offering instead.

According to the online system, there are actually some individual tickets available dotted around all over the place - by my reckoning, there are 21 single non-family-section tickets left (3 in blocks 4 and 6, 5 in block 18 and 1 in blocks 9, 12-17, 19, 34 and 37). No idea why the club has put up the "sold out" signs for this game and the Chelsea ones when there are still some tickets left. As a result, either pop down to the ticket office or give them a call and they should be able to sort you out.

That was Ripley's best game for us by a country mile - many would probably argue it was his only good game in a Saints shirt.

Would suggest the academy donations may need to be a bit more substantial than that...

Less than 200 tickets left.

No (SEVEN) next to our score