S-Clarke

Feel sorry to see Guly being made the scapegoat, but he had a total shocker. Not just the goal, but he wasn't in the game, His touch was poor and he offered no support what so ever. I felt we played well, probably one of our best away efforts for a while. Pompey were utter **** and I honestly felt we'd killed them with that goal, the atmopshere and their players just died....and I felt this could be one hell of an historical day in our history, but Guly decides to wimp out in a derby and that's that. Based on that performance though we need to improve in the middle of the park, too many misplaced passes at times and it got a little too narrow (not enough natural width in the side). and for Pompey, what an horrendous team to watch.

Small time club.

It will be streamed live on the BBC website, but only to UK viewers.

Out of interest, what did you make of Ched Evans? Seeing as we were kind of linked with him.

They've been doing these antics since he's been there. In L1 not many battered an eye lid because they won most weeks. Now the cracks are starting to show and he's not the messiah that they believed he was.

They lost their first 2 games IIRC, and didn't pull up massive trees until the final third of the season when they went on a terrific run to secure second.

I'd imagine they're still on about the Cov player, Lukas.

Not an horrific day of results in all honesty. Amazing match @ Hillsborough . 4-4.

boro lead

And it's all the ref's fault! Obviously....!

Would be gobsmacked to see anything but a strong WHU win today.

WHU are panicking. They havent' really taken the league by storm, even when they had all their players available. Carlton Cole for e.g. has been rubbish this season, and has been used as a sub more often than a start. Based on his history and record at PL level you'd expect him to be banging them in all year. I know some WHU fans and they all detest big sam, they hate what he's done to their club in the time he's been there. In their opinion, which surprised me, they say they're in the worst place they've ever been and the longer he's there the worse it will be. They say it's mainly down to not using the players correctly. He's trying to play long ball football with footballers like Noble, Collison, Fabuert, and it clearly isn't working - but he's not trying any other alternative. We saw a fine example of their decline when they played us. They were utterly hopeless, truly inept and didn't have a clue other than to hoof it - that isn't the West Ham way and it must be painful viewing for their fans right now. If we can regain a bit of form and start stringing wins together again I think we can fly ahead of them. I can see them continuing to stutter.

TBF the media bigged it up, the meto were always keeping their cards close to their chest. Just happend that the system took a southern track and hit France with storm force winds, rather than us.

Really good read that. Agree with the Pardew segment too, and that's possibly the first quotes we've seen from him since his sacking? He did lay the foundations and swung this club around in the season he was here. Promotion in the first season was always a total fantasy and it was more about changing the mentality of this team - and that's what we're benefiting from now. Luckily we have another terrific manager in place to take us on even further, but you should allow time to thank Pard's for his contribution as he steered us back onto the road.

I'd imagine it'll be players from the U21 squad like Sordell, Cork, Mancienne, Clyne, Cleverley etc.. (maybe Caroll at this rate too)

I think it's original and separates us from all the normal mundane crests out there in the FL. It's instantly recognizable too - wouldn't want to change it for anything.

I would be blown away if we signed Zaha - he's being tracked by a host of top European clubs and would cost a bomb. Has your source been right about transfers before? Ambrose would be a sweet signing too. He can play on either flank and offers us something different to our current cork/morgan/deano midfield 3.

That's not a bad shout steve. He's kind of like a more mobile, faster version of Lambert. Knows where the net is for sure, but I'm not sure how well those 2 could play up top together as they have a few similar attributes. Would say that Lambo would work better with a small tricky forward who can play on the shoulder. (i.e a young conners)

Looking at their squad it just highlights why people are saying ''they got away with it''. Players like Lawrence and Rocha will be on premiership wages, no doubt. Possibly even Mullins too. Based on what's happened to them, how many owners they've had and what they have to pay in the CVA it's a disgrace that they still have such a competitive team. It's massively underperforming though, which is why it would be naive to just take the league positions at first glance to judge the quality of the sides.

He's a funny player, in a way from reading what Forest fans are saying about him....if the swap deal is true, we'd be trading like for like. Both very sulky characters apparentley - but when on their game they are match winners in any side.

Great list, you've pretty much covered all our ''dodgy'' positions in one there! All pretty realistic too. Adomah would likley be the most expensive, heard that Bristol City wouldn't accept anything lower than £5m, not sure how true that is though. Chambers would cost a bit, but players like Cylne, McGugan are running down their contracts and would be avaliable at a pretty decent price.

That article is bang up my street too as I'm only 26. Really well balanced read, totally enjoyed that. Best article I've read in a long time. Good stuff!

I thought about him in the summer, but up until now he'd never really realized his true form at Sheff U. I think as with alot of good young players that looe their way slightly, sometimes dropping a level can regain belief and confidence and he's scoring for fun at the mo and to be fair is better than L1. He wasn't cheap either, I think they paid £3m for him from Man City when he was a very highly rated youngster and seemed destined for regular international honors. I think it would be a good move, he's found his form and has his confidence back - and is finally showing his true potential.

wow, that's a pretty impressive result to say the least! Sheffield Uniteds academy is highly rated and has produced some decent players over the years...

Who would you drop from our midfield to accommodate him? I don't think he's the sort of player we need personally. He's more of a central player than a wide man these days.