CanadaSaint

Don't you do that every day?

We have a very nasty habit of ball-watching at the back and it's killing us. Ball-watch, appeal in hope rather than expectation, concede. Seaborne and Harding are probably the most guilty.

I hope that's not like Merrington's "What Saints don't want to do now is concede a goal".

This thread is now officially as large as the Exeter match thread and Exeter post match thread combined. Just saying.

In a similar vein there's a picture of Hoddle farther down. FFS don't tell Dalek.

Very few issues in the world are truly black or white, and few are exactly what they seem to be. If we’ve discovered anything about Cortese over the past eighteen months or so, it’s that you cross him at your peril, and that he doesn’t feel he owes an explanation to anyone. He’ll tell it as he sees it when it suits him to do so, but he can go silent when people seek an explanation or further detail. That works for us more often than it works against us IMO. But, funnily enough, much the same can be said for Illingsworth. Apparently, he also didn’t feel he owed an explanation to the people who e-mailed him about Silverspoons. He also tells it as he sees it, but he too can go quiet when it suits him. That’s the futility of this debate. People are looking for blacks and whites, rights and wrongs, when a lot of the issue will always be hiding in the bushes. Both parties have chosen to clam up, not just one of them. They can both be right, and they can both be wrong, and they can both want the best for the Club – even when this kind of sh*t is flying. Ob balance, for now, I’ll take Cortese as our chairman, warts and all, in a heartbeat – partly because that’s just how he is, partly because it actually seems to work (despite some negative PR at times), and partly because there’s absolutely nothing that you or I can do about it. I’m with Frank’s Cousin. I’m sick of the fact that we’ll still find stuff to b*tch about – endlessly – even when the club as a whole is on a major upswing after years in the wilderness.

What with the weather and the cup runs, this could all come down to squad depth determining final positions. If that's the case I fancy us a little more than Brighton, who could find the last six weeks really tough.

The issue, for me, is not "people with opposing views". You're correct that these are the essence of debate, and most of us welcome that - or else why bother coming here? I have a problem with your suggestion that the push-back is coming from people "who simply can't make a logical argument" because that comment is rather insulting towards a number of thoughtful posters and, if I may say, a little pompous. The issue is the over-the-top, knee-jerk negativity that appears whenever we face a little adversity. If you want to see examples of people "who simply can't make a logical argument", try looking at those who are quick to consign our promotion chances to oblivion - or to send a new player to the rubbish heap - just because something bad happens in a game. As I said earlier, some people would benefit from going back and reading what they've posted in match day threads, and looking - for example - at some of those immediately after Adkins' arrival should be embarrassing to them. Nobody is denying them the right to post this stuff but nor should anybody be denying us the right to tell them that some of their comments make them look like idiots.

Dave, I have reservations about Kelvin because I think he has a bit of a history of going through error prone phases, and he's in one right now. I probably have deeper reservations about Bart because I don't think he's psychologically strong enough to cope with the week-in-week-out pressure - I fear that could end up in confidence issues characterized by chains of errors rather than single errors. I don't think either of them inspires the kind of confidence that makes a defence stronger, which means that the problem goes beyond a goalkeeping issue. My choice would be to spend significant money on this because we're not just getting a better 'keeper but a better defence as well. However, I'm not expecting that better keeper to necessarily "command his box" in the way mentioned by some - going for crosses. He damned well better command it verbally but I don't expect much better than Kelvin or Bart on the cross front.

Yes, but now it's more serious - we've got people who moan at people who moan at people. Of course people are free to be negative in their match thread comments - and elsewhere - but I think it would be a good idea for them to go back every so often and read what they posted. Some of it is laughable. It's as much fun reading that crap as it is sitting next to a habitual moaner at a game.

I'm not at all convinced by either Kelvin (too many errors, age catching up) or Bart (fragile psyche, questionable judgment), but I just don't get this argument about commanding the box. Very, very few keepers command the box the way they were expected to some years ago - largely, in my view, because the ball is much livelier these days. Out of interest, could someone making that argument provide some examples of modern keepers who really do command their box on a consistent basis.

I'm still not sure why he's been consigned to the margins because he looked really good every time I saw him. Hopefully they're trying not to rush his development, but it will help his case that others seem to have a high regard for him. With Jaidi aging fast, he's going to be a very important player.

It was always going to be tough - all the more so because it followed "the lord mayor's show" of Saturday, so they ground out a great result. The players are required to watch the film after each game - so that they can correct things for next time. Pity some posters aren't required to read the match thread to see how dickish they sound whenever we face a bit of adversity. No names, no pack drill, but you know who you are.

I agree with you Gemmel. Considering how this window could have looked, Cortese has just put a hell of a lot of money where his mouth is. He said that a cornerstone of his five year plan involved developing and keeping younger talent, and now he's doing it. That's quite stunning when you think about the money he's turned down in order to stay true to his word, but I doubt that the "talk is cheap" merchants on here will give him any credit for it.

So Carroll costs about five thousand per follicle or fifteen million per brain cell. Insane.

It seems like there's a potential domino effect building with the big boys and we could see four or five blockbusters happen in quick succession. Meanwhile, back in the real world, I'd start to get a little nervous about our apparent inactivity if our League One rivals were more active, but they don't seem to be. Everything's relative.

If I had a chance to chat with Jimmy Case I'd be all ears as well.

Probably because he's a diving, whining pussy.

I actually think that Fergie panicked a little today and he was lucky that they didn't pick up an injury after using all their subs so early. It's sad that the classy passing and movement we displayed today doesn't cut too much mustard in League One. It's much more suited to the two divisions above us but we've got to get out of this one first. And no matter what division we're in, we need to be better at taking our chances when we're on top.

An excellent performance with lots of width, passing and moving off the ball. A real team performance. I still thought we still had a great chance even when United equalized because they had no subs left, but we couldn't get a second goal. I'm very pro-Adkins but I think withdrawing Chaplow and inserting Dickson surrendered the initiative, and we never looked like winning it after that. Atkinson was pitiful - acting like a sad little groupie out there.

What were those words - "campaign to destabilize the Club"? Well, this recurrent whining from various people is really starting to look like a campaign and, as it all seems to be aimed at the chairman, it could destabilize the club. Looks like Cortese wasn't exaggerating, even if he's not entirely blameless for the bad blood.

That's pretty much how I've understood the various snippets. A finite sum was formally allocated before Marcus's death. This is why I'm not gung-ho about signing people when we arguably have the deepest and most talented squad in our division. If Cortese is taking a calculated gamble that we have the playing resources to secure promotion, it's probably because he knows that we can't spend the same money twice and wants to hold onto it for (hopefully) Summer squad strengthening.

With what?

If we have a FINITE budget for achieving the five year plan, and that's almost certainly the case after the death of Marcus, we need to spread it effectively over the five years, not blow a big chunk of it needlessly in Year One (or Two). What we spend on players this year would then become unavailable for strengthening the squad when we reach the Championship - hopefully next season. Perhaps Cortese is just applying the budget as prudently as he can. We already have a squad that SHOULD get us out of this division, and Cortese might be taking a calculated gamble that it will. From what I've seen this season I think he's making the right decision.

Is he cup-tied?