benjii

I hope Connolly doesn't start. He's just not reliable enough any more. Since the first few games of the season he has had as many shockers as decent games. I would expect it to be Guly and Lambert upfront with Lee on the bench. Hopefully Puncheon and Lallana on the wings.

So drawing both would be a disaster? Get a grip.

Agree. It's an excellent draw. I hope we beat Milwall.

Yep, he looks the type to make curved runs off the last defender and he definitely has a turn of pace. Physically I don't think he will have any problems at all; he looks quite strong. For a free transfer, he looks a bloody good prospect! He is bound to take a little while to find his groove though and learn the best way to interact with his new team mates.

Or just take the Jubilee line like everyone else!

Guys, are we going to have this thread every time Nicola hosts a dinner for someone? Seriously, we appreciate the reminder but we all know you're a bunch of weird, poisonous, inadequates so there's really no need. I don't know Chez. I expect that's not the case. I don't see why someone couldn't raise a point like that. I would be surprised if you weren't able to do so - the raison d'etre of the evening surely dictates that you should. The effect the scenario probably does have is that people raise the point in a measured and calm way rather than using the opportunity to have a rant on the radio and make a tit of themselves. It probably also allows for a slightly more candid response than a public forum as it affords the opportunity for a dialogue to occur - which can be tricky when addressing a crowd as people are more likely to interrupt or ask about something completely different.

Cheers, hopefully just a bit of new year lethargy then and nothing indicating a new trend! See below comments! Appreciate the comments. The situation is that I am starting a new job in London (evidently!). I have loads of friends in London and loads of friends in Soton so could happily live in either. But, I would like to buy a property. I don't have enough deposit to get anywhere decent in London but could get somewhere perfectly nice in Soton/Eastleigh and be left with a monthly mortgage payment which, when added to my train ticket, isn't much more than what my friends who live anywhere nice in London pay in rent each month. Given the property market is currently depressed and rentals are on the up it seems more prudent to buy somewhere and bite the bullet(train). I also have a relocation allowance which has to be used by end of 2012/13 tax year and it seems a waste not to use that as it can be applied tax-free to things like legal fees and acquiring new white goods. I just don't fancy the idea of pouring £800 a month (or whatever) down a rental black hole when I won't get a better chance to buy a property for years. Appreciate all the comments.

Hello Saints fans. I would be interested to hear of the experiences of people who commute to Waterloo from Soton Central (or Parkway - same train) or Eastleigh and arrive at around 09:00. In particular, how reliable is the service? Is it often late or, in fact (despite grumblings), is it actually fairly reliable? I have some decisions to make over the next few months and your feedback is much appreciated. Not sure if I can post again today so please don't take a failure to respond as rudeness on my part - I will reply when I can! Thanks.

If that happens I really do think there should be mobilisation of a movement in protest from us and other fans. It is clear from the Hartlepool chairman's comments today that the sensible people in football are fed up of those with no intention of managing themselves properly gaining competitive advantages. Portsmouth have deliberately, yet again, pursued a policy of incurring liabilities that are far in excess of what the club can support without continuous external investment. It is also clear that the only external investment they can attract on sufficient scale is "dodgy" at best and blatantly criminal in the most part. Bailing them out distorts competition and damages the integrity of the game.

But that completely ignores the fact we played excellent football against Forest and have won the last two matches. We lost today because players played badly. Individuals made errors. Not because of some tactical failing or because we're "found out" or "one dimensional". It does my nut when people try to inductively reason on the back of one match. It is ****ing massively simple-minded. Yes, we're better with Lambert. We're also better with Fonte, Chaplow, Lallana a fully fit Richardson, Barnard... etc...

No one says he is above criticism. Nice "look at me thread" though. You have been shown to be a yellow-bellied nancy with your hysterical musings previously and a couple of bad home results don't prove you right. I think he has got the team selection wrong a few times this season. That is a fair criticism. But overall, anyone who thinks he has done less than a brilliant job and deserves full support is clearly a massive fool. Tonight he was let down by the players. They (nearly) all had a bad game at once. Morgan and Hooiveld were decent. Guly started well. Davis was adequate. Pretty much everyone else was sloppy from the off. That's not Adkins' fault. Not unless you think he has "lost the dressing room". So in summary.... **** poor attempt at a valedictory "told you so". By the way, we have a few injuries at the moment. I'll take second place considering we have been without Lambert, Chaplow, Fonte, de Ridder and Richardson recently.

This is patently untrue.

You can't see the problem with someone publicly slagging off the head of the organisation they work for? Christ, you must be dim. I pity you.

I agree that Birmingham are looking decent. I expect them to finish highly. I just don't see them making up 7 points on us. Obviously, if they beat us at St Andrews that would help them though...

We have strengthened our squad this window and are unlikely to lose any players unless we want to. We were the best over the first half of the season. West Ham play utter dross and scrape through a lot of their games. They will have a bad run because they are not very good. We will probably win comfortably at Upton Park. Middlesbrough are sheeiiiite. Cardiff are ok and sort of proficient but not really great and are heavily dependent on one or two players. Their football is reasonably primitive and simple like West Ham's and is not in the same league as ours. Everyone else is too far behind to catch us barring some sort of inexplicable slump from us. We will win the league by 3-10 points and will be at least 8 points clear of third. No worries.

I wouldn't say no to Henderson.

The Cala(mity) quotes article is in the "Pompey Past""Great Matches" section of the News website. Rory > legend!

at skates. Thank you for the laughs.

I was smashing a bird from Birmingham on holiday once. She started talking dirty and said "stiiiick it rooigght uup me cooouuunt". I lolled.

Not any more.

Yargo Fal-kay. Possibly.

Verbal, can you give the implied racism a rest please?

Good one!

This post is utter rubbish. I was at the match and it was one of the easiest Saints away wins I've ever seen. Hooiveld was never going to get a red, Fox was covering and it was just a trip. We created far more chances and dominated possession. Forest were poor and the only way they were going to score was through a set piece.

Hooiveld knew what he was doing. Not a cat in hell's chance that would ever be a red. Not sure if the challenge on Connolly was malicious but he did smack him in the face with his arm so there's no real cause to complain. Thought the ref was the best ref we've had for a while.