Junior Mullet

He just looked like he was still suffering from the flu or some other type of injury. Well done to him for playing as well as he did in those circumstances. Lambo and Connoly fully fit are the best strike pairing in league 1.

Agreed. JPT is the most important competition for us this season now.

American football takes so long because it is a game which is now played around adverts for the home public and food and drink sales for those in the stadium. It's a money-making exercise. Football would not take 4 and a half hours. I support technology for goal line decisions. Nothing else. You could not IMO draw the line between fouls, handballs etc and would have to have replays for them all - possibly along the lines that tennis has adopted, ie each team has X number of challenges per game. I don't want that. As for the argument about top games having the same rules as sunday league etc. that's just silly. How many sunday games have fourth officials, seven subs per team, 2 independent lino's etc. Let's not use this argument - it's just not practical. Also, there's a little more riding on top games.

I loved the world cup as a kid. Last few tournaments however have shown me that the tournament is actually little more than a money-spinning carnival / showcase. World cups certainly no longer feel like a fair appraisal of how good national teams are. With that in mind, decisions like the one you highlight do not surprise me.

Overreaction. He will be remebered for this along with his awesome talent. I totally agree it is a real shame. That said, this does raise an interesting question about cheating. Seems some people consider handball to be much more serious than diving, pushing or pulling in the box etc. Given that the end result is the same as is the intention to score from cheating, why does handball seem so much worse? If Henry had have dived and scored from the penalty, opinion wouldnt be anywhere near so strong. It's an interesting point, perhaps one that goes right to the heart of football, perhaps controlling the ball with arms and hands is so fundamental that it turns our stomachs this way.

Now the burberry caps stay well and truly on the head.

I hope you had dinner with Rupert too - in the interest of keeping your historical views fair and balanced ;0) I wonder if Rupert would have been able to keep a straight face and a laced tongue?!

Was he not doing that before he was given an armband?

Do you mean the island nation of Portsmouth?

LOL, sounds familiar. They were doomed from the minute he took charge. I feel sorry for the sweaties - they had shown signs of improvement and then GB took charge. There was only one way it could go. I fully expect the next manager to get more out of the team. GB is over-rated, arrogant and a wee bit too fond of booze.

Very interesting point. IMO Trottman was the man of the match the last home game before last weekends FA Cup game, then PNE refuse to let him play in the FA Cup and he looks out of sorts against Chartlton last week and then again yesterday. Perhaps he's been told he will be going back to PNE in January when he doesnt want to - he certainly looks like a man whose head has been messed up. Shame if I'm right because he was looking like he could have been the real deal.

I dont think Lallana had a poor game at all. I thought he played well in the first half - just in front of where I was sat in the Kigsland for this game - and together with Antonio looked our most likely players to create something. As for Jaidi - he did not look very solid yesterday. However he has shown weaknesses and frailties in every game he has played so far - BHA just exploited them. Likewise James - he has quite a lot of weaknesses (pace and acceleration being the two most obvious) and BHA exploited them.

Spot on IMO - we looked very complacent against a team who were bang up for it. Also, we were tactically outclassed yesterday. Brighton were time wasting and sitting very deep from the first minute and then hit us with quick counter atacking play whenever possible and that is exactly the way to play Saints. BHA also snuffed out the threat of Lambert very well - doubled up and sandwiched him every chance they got and doubled up on Antonio too. We were second to the ball in midfield most of the time - they wanted it more. I'm sure they were keen to impress Poyet and I reckon they did just that. Must try harder Saints - outside of the top six in Div 1 there are plenty of teams that will play us the way BHA did and we have to have a plan B to break these teams down - the 45 degree balls into the front men from James don't work every game.

What about 4 linesmen? Two either side of the half way line. Each has to give the attacking player offside for him to be offside. Alternatively only one has to give him off. Depends on whether you want to give the benefit of the doubt to the defending or attacking team. Wasnt there a game recently with assistant refs behind the goals? Was that some sort of FIFA pilot? Looked absolutely stupid to me. FWIW I would like to see goalline technology. The decision would be almost instant and wouldnt hold the game up - it might actually speed it up when you think how long a game can stop for while players argue with the ref. Imagine if England had been on the other end of the 1966 goal. Imagine we lose in the playoff final this year due to a poor goal line decision. IMO a goal should count as a goal - that part of the game should be relied on as fact. I don't advocate technology for any other aspect of the game, ie penalty decisions, fouls etc.

Or how about keeping the offside rule but implanting a series of chips into each players ball-playing body parts so that it can be determined electronically whether he is on or offside.

AP likes big strong players. Having realised that it's no wonder Gillet and Perry have lost favour. Personally I am happy seeing us put out such a big strong team - we don't look like conceeding at every set piece anymore! I actually think it gets into the psyche of opposing teams - they no longer feel we are vulnerable and therefore don't seem as committed. Would you fancy your chances going into a challenge against the likes of Trotman, Jaidi, Lambo and Thomas??!!

Exactly what I thought when I heard the team news yesterday. I think we can all say goodbye to Trotman come January although I would love it if we could pick him up for around £750k. Problem is we need cover if Trotman does go back - Thomas' fitness can't be relied upon and with the exception of Perry, Lancashire etc just don't cut the mustard for me. I would expect AP to be scouting for a replacement now if PNE are making noises to recall him. At least AP has time on his side this time around.

Not if they provide entertainment to people. FWIW I would love to be a pro sportsman, and I couldnt give two stuffs whether anyone else other than my family would benefit! There is a big over-reaction form one of the posters on here in support of Olly. He has been dire almost every game he has played. The team looks weaker for him being a part of it. We are entitled to an opinion as fans of SFC, the same way our bosses are entitled to a view of us if we keep stuffing up at work and look incapable. I really hope Olly can turn his carreer around because at the moment it does look like it's heading south.

I can assure you that Fry actually did a very good job in the circumstances. Markus did not come on the scene until late on and up to that point there was actually very little else on the table. Fry had to give Pinnacle exclusivity because he needed their bunce to keep the club running. Things were tighter and more precarious than most people on here would dare dream of. I was certainly surprised to learn how close we were to the wire. In all I felt he did do a good job. He did understand the fans and did take us into account when he frankly did not have to. Might stem from him being a football fan himself.

I would prefer to play a striker who will score goals. As for Jamie White, in response to the above poster, I have no idea how he is getting on at Eastleigh and I don't really care. IMO he has more about him than Patto and if both were given a run in the first team I believe White would score more and generally offer more of a threat going forward. My opinion is based on having watched the two play lots of ressie football and youth football over the past few years and not based on how a youngster gets on with an underachieving non league team in a relatively poor standard division.

He was well thought of at Scottish youth level when we poached him from Bournemouth, so he would be unlikley to play for England even if he was good enough. By way of elaboration on my earlier post for the quizzed-looking-smiley-thingy: He's not quick, has no acceleration, lacks stamina, is not agile and hasn't learnt to use his strength yet. At his age I would expect a forward to be able to use at least one of those traits to good advantage. He's not got the technique to bury long range efforts either (mostly down to lack of foot-eye nural co-ordination which inhibits a lot of taller players, yes Crouchie and Usaine Bolt are exceptions to the rule). Compare his athletisism to our exisitng strikers: Lambert - uses his strength exceptionally well and has very good foot/eye co-ordination (shown in his free kicks and the goal against MK) Lallana - agility, accelration and cordination and technique Papa - acceleration, pace, agility Saga - strength and stamina Jamie White - acceleration, agility and coordination and technique I would put all of the above ahead of him in the pecking order. Sadly for Patto there seems to be a few decent nippers coming through the ranks now which I'm sure will lead to us off-loading him shortly. The one thing he seems good at is flicking the ball on to runners - a tactic he's seemingly been asked to employ at Ressie and youthe level for us. Perosnally I don't think that's enough, nor is it a trait AP seems particularly interested in using. As I say on every post regarding Patto, I would dearly love to be proved wrong but I just can't see it happening.

-1 He's just not athletic enough.

I share your sentiments - it was abserd how they changed the ressie set up for Premiership only teams. With our youngsters and fringe players we used to walk those leagues!!!

We need the fastest CB we have at our disposal. BR ripped us to shreds a few weeks ago with pace down the flanks and cutting in to the middle. We need someone with a bit of pace and acceleration to counter that. The thought of Jaidi plodding around against them again is quite scarey - sure he can deal with the aerial threat but BR play mostly on the ground.

Oh, and I hope he gets a good hiding while inside.