S-Clarke

God, I bet he's begging his missus to hold that baby in for at least another week...!

Great story really, pleased for him. Wolves wanted him 3 odd years ago, they lodged bids which were under consideration. If ML and Co hadn't have come in when they did, I'm sure he'd have had to make the same deciion as Drew. But he was loyal, he didn't demand to leave (As you saw with pillocks such as McGoaldrought) as I'm pretty sure he was aware of the interest. He just kept his head down. And it goes to show that making the jump to get into the PL quickly, doesn't always work out as you'd expect. He could have well gone to Wolves and been a bit part player, and then found himself a league below us a year or so later. But he's decided to stick with us, go through the leagues with us, and he's now rewarded with being a key player in our premier league side and our captain - and is now part of the England squad. Should be a message to all young players when the temptation is to run before you can walk.

pompey are a good investment we have saudi arabia player Mazin Alhuthayfi playing in our academy . please make us a great ENGLISH PREMIER CLUB AGAIN. I'm sold, get me my wallet.

The ''funded until 2016'' bit would have the alarm bells ringing very, very loudly. It's quite clearly a dodgy concortium, no one in their right mind would take over them when there are so many other available options out there. Another few years of fun to look forward to. It's quite cruel really, as it's sort of prolonging the suffering continuously. Who cares though, it's fun to watch.

A cheated victory if there ever was one.

I wonder how long it will take for the penny to actually drop? Appleton is actually a pretty hopeless football manager. Somehow they've managed to sign players like Russell, Williamson, Howard etc - and on that basis, they should be doing a hell of alot better than they are. They look, quite simply, atrocious. Embarrassingly bad, actually.

There's no premier league games. It's all internationals. The PL is back next weekend, we're on Saturday @ 3pm.

Who knows really? I think both are at fault, both need to knocks their heads together. But the likes of Benali and MLT are look like the bitter idiots coming out like they are. MLT on twitter ranting, getting Jeff Stelling to rant about NC. Beanli having a rant on Soccer AM. Just leave it, try and discuss it with the club officially because putting it out the open like this has killed any chance they ever had of killing this disagreement. I think the whole Puncheon saga shows that when it looks like all is lost, and there's no way back, a little behind the scenes work can put a hell of alot right again.

No, I don't. But that wasn't the statement you responded with ''You don't know that' to. And i've only just caught up with the latest ''development's.. Christ on a bike, MLT you are starting to look like an idiot here. A petty, bitter, idiot with an agenda. Along with the rest of the ''old guys'' guys gang, in Benali, Lawrie etc. I'm all for respecting what they did for us, they are legends and always will be. But why is he acting like this? He's trying to rock the boat, for reasons that are beyond me. That's the last thing we need this year. He should just STFU. Simple as that. If he wants to air his views, then officially contact the club. Putting out in the open isn't going to help anyone. So he's just made the entire thing worse, and is possibly proving NC right in some ways. Cue me being called a member of the ''CoC'' or whatever.

I think he does. It only takes a little bit of reading to see that NC heads up the Mali Group of businesses and that NC, as he admitted himself and also ML said the same, he introduced the idea to Markus. Markus wouldn't have known where to start if it wasn't for him. So we do know that.

What a completely moronic article. I mean, fair enough coming to these conclusions in December or later, but a week after the transfer window has closed?? Talk about fickle. What exactly is his conclusion on Christian Benteke based on...???? And I will still hold my opinion that Rodriguez will become a regular starter for us in time. I continue to be gobsmacked by how little time a player is given before being judged. I mean Muayka got, what, 20mins? And he's already being labelled as out of his depth. I imagine we'll get the same about Ramirez based on 60mins next week.

There were a few moronic comments, including one suggesting he looked like another Ali Dia

He's a breath of fresh air to sky. Key's and Grays sexism sacking was the best thing that ever happened. It's allowed them to refresh the entire format, and Monday night football is now better than it ever has been - real top quality show to watch in terms of analyzing etc. and Chamberalin as the anchor is excellent. Neville knows his stuff, very tactically aware and he calls everything spot on. As a player, he wasn't everyone's favorite, but he's gone up in my estimations since he's been doing Sky. One of the best pundits around, and he's only been doing it a year or so.

Has he even played a game this season? No. He was our most unsung player last year. He had an excellent campaign. Would do a job for us for sure.

It was a clear foul.

Good pun But yeah, as you say, it's all well and good performing like we do against the Man Utd's, Man City's etc - but if we turn up and produce wigan displays against the teams down near the bottom, then there's something not quite right somewhere. I'm still hoping in my heart of hearts that the Wigan game was a complete blip.....That's the result that's killed the mood...as if we'd have performed as we have against the Manchester Clubs, we'd be 3 points better off and 13 in the league.....but that's how close it is, a couple of results and we will shoot right up there. I think the bottom half will be quite open all year.

I must admit, the whole ticketing side has taken a turn for the worst this year. I didn't think it could get any worse, but hey ho.

Southampton striker Rickie Lambert on BBC Radio 5 live: "We are most disappointed about Sunday's game. We have played some good stuff in two of the games. "The difference between the leagues is any little mistake is a goal. In the Championship you can get away with it, but since we started in the Premier League, we have been punished every time. "I am used to 4-4-2 and we are playing 4-3-3 this year, so it is different for me as a single striker. It worked against the Manchester clubs, and we are improving with every game after working so hard on the formation in pre-season. "The spirit is still high. We have not been battered in any games and have taken confidence from each game except the Wigan game."

I think as a club we have funds to call upon when required. I don't think the Gaston money was taken away from a budget to by a CB, there was still money avaliable to buy a CB if needed (which we did with Maya) I think we couldn't secure who we wanted, that's the general feeling I have. As you saw with Gaston, we are after a high calibire of player - not just your normal player. We could have easily panicked and agreed to pay Blackburn £6m for Dann, but it wouldn't have been a clever investment because we're obviously not too sure on him - I know I'm not either. So it's best to bide your time and wait for the player you want to become available, rather than spend £6m on a player who you really don't feel is potentially up to the long-term job. Maya was a good compromise as he's young, will improve, and was a snip at just under £2m. So that's not too much of a gamble. I've heard nothing but good things about Maya though, from everyone I ask (I've got a few people I know who watch a lot of dutch football). Even though he was in a team who had the worst defence, he was always their stand out player - in their opinions he's the reason they've always stayed up, he's a better standard of player than the club.

Yeah, that was a Zonal setup for that goal. I never get that system, it fails every time I've seen a team try it. It was scary to watch RVP just move in from an empty bit of space in the 92nd min. So avoidable.

Sam Hoskins seems to be coming along quite nicely. like the look of him.

If his rehab has gone as expected, he should be back in contention after the international break. We do miss an option like him on the bench for sure.

Absolutely. That's what's so grating to me. The mistakes and goals we're letting in are so unbelievably avoidable. I'd be gutted if we conceded those sort of goals in L1. We didn't let Man Utd have many chances from open play, so our defensive shape and tactical shape is spot on. But the faults and the negatives are very minor and I'm sure they can be ironed out, possibly with the replacement of a certain player.

I hope you're right. You're correct in what you say. We're playing well, we're scoring goals, we're creating chances. If we weren't doing any of those and still losing it would be a different argument completely. But as long as we stick together, keep to our principles then we will get points on the board sooner rather than later. I still worry about our naivety at this level though, it shows that some players in certain positions have never played at this level.

You're correct. There are still mentalities in this country that players need to be tall, strong, big and powerful to succeed. It's not really true, the game is changing. Skill, agility and intelligence to pickup space and read the game can often count for more than brute force. I'm all for getting the youngsters coached on that first, and leave the ''baulking'' up till later and let that naturally happen. I mean look at Messi.....