sidthesquid

As I keep telling my lad, football at its best is incredibly simple - pass and go. We don't need to take people on, do risky things or chase percentage balls, just keep possession because there is always someone ready to receive the ball and pass it back to you when you are in space again. The players have bought into this style and you can really see why Puncheon didn't fit in. I was thinking about it today - most of our team are journeyman pros who have spent most of their careers in the lower leagues not the Champion's league, and yet they look fantastic because they keep doing the simple bits right and use their brains more than their legs. I just hope no-one else works out how to do it!

Probably puts it in perspective a bit for us regular viewers, but that performance wouldn't even make the top five for this season for most of us.

That was because there wasn't one worthy of the license-payers' time. The nearest they got to a shot on goal was after a sliced clearance fell to one of their players and his shot was blocked. And that literally was it.

I think the way we play is how the top teams used to play against us in the Prem - keeping possession, stretching the game, probing for a gap, but always in control - and it is very tiring mentally and physically to play against. You feel like you are containing the opposition quite comfortably, then one little lapse of concentration and all the good work is undone. The manager blames a defensive error, but it is cumulative effect of all that possession grinding you down. It is quite a strange feeling the boot being on the other foot.

I can't remember a team ever offering less going forward than Brighton today. For all Poyet's moaning they never made a chance all day, we were one up when Dunk quite clearly fouled Fonte, whether it was in or out of the area, and yet again we passed a team to death. The way we keep and recycle the ball, calmly and unhurriedly, probing away, trying to draw the defence out and stretch them is way to good for this league. My son pointed out an interesting thing, too - we hardly ever take people on, just pass it around them letting the ball do the work until there is a space to run into. Our style is quite unique - it is not about pace or athleticism or raw talent but all about intelligent, competent footballers understanding what is required as a team and doing simple things well. (Incidentally, that was our last 3pm on a Saturday league game till 11th Feb - the next five are evening, lunch, lunch, evening, evening.)

He did mention the small squad though

But without the beach

Okay you've drawn me in again - just don't call me nasty names if you disagree, it's so immature. It was never about money laundering, it was about raising their profile & buying some respectability. But they had very little money to spend and a seriously dodgy history, limiting their list of potential acquisitions to clubs that were both potless and owned by someone who didn't give a sh1t what became of them. That limited the number of clubs available to, er, I'd say, about one. And thus far their modest outlay has probably paid off.

I've come to the conclusion that pfc123 is a nothing more than a 'poor man's Ho.' His wind-ups just aren't of the same level. Just a simple selection of distorted facts not worthy of debate. Ho, on the other hand is truly a master of the art. His meticulously researched, verbosely worded mazes of half-truth and disregard for the evidence are beautiful in their own way. His enduring ability to pick-pick-pick away at some tiny error whilst ignoring the elephant in the room, his constant desire to set himself up to be proven wrong a dozen times a day, his sheer stamina to produce so much meaningless waffle that I actually, after reading every word of nearly nine-hundred pages of this thread, have started skipping whole sections is truly on a whole higher plane of trolling. It is a fine line between genius and hat-stand barking obsessive bonkersness.

They were available, but the point is, that rather like a Portsea crack-whore, they were available, needed minimal cash outlay & they had no morals.

I would have thought that £12 million for a squad of 25 players (btw you missed out Forte £200k) would be reasonably modest by Championship standards

Nar your a family club This sort of malarkey would be frowned upon:rolleyes: What would be very interesting to know is if any of Mandy's brown envelopes reached Agent Arry whilst he was Saints manager.

But you have overlooked all the fun that we have had in that time - the false starts, the hope, the pure comedy gold - I wouldn't have missed it for the world

Just one minor detail - Skates are in the Football League now, not the Prem. And they take a hard line. An interesting precedent would be set if the FL punished a member for wrong-doing in the Prem, but a player sent off in the Prem would still serve a suspension if he moved to the FL, so, who knows....

There is a physical element to it. Maybe stereotyping on a vast scale, but think of West Africans as sprinters, East Africans as distance runners. Different build, different attributes, but size and strength, rather than stamina are what is needed for football. I'm sure there are cultural/geographical differences too.

It is actually a borderline sane appointment, beginning to suggest they know their limitations. I bet his salary is not that low - first team coach in the Prem would put him on a fair crack, and he wouldn't give that up, even for the bestest fans in the world TM - but he not another Sven either. Acceptance of the reality of your situation is the first step on the road to redemption.

That is the worst thing about the Prem - never being able to plan anything more than a fortnight ahead to keep the armchair fans amused. It got so bad I nearly gave up my season ticket of thirty-something years, because every time I planned anything they'd switch times or days to feck me up. (Luckily we got relegated & it stopped being a problem!) But happy though we are, sadly we have to push on, because like most things in life it is either forwards or backwards and staying still is not an option. But I reckon we now have what it takes to cope, assuming we are not all getting a little ahead of ourselves here.......

Just looking at our recent goal-scorers, 9 times in the last 13 games one of the subs has scored. That must be some sort of record (at least for us) and re-iterates what NA says about both impact players and it being a squad game.

Looks like the ground was empty (except our bit, obviously)

A back-up centre-forward, just in case anything happens to Ricky.... Otherwise we have two players for every other berth

He certainly looks like a supporter

It very much depends on the type of bloke whether he will go on to be a great manager. Mourinho, AVB & many others were 'managers-in-waiting', waiting for the break, but always destined to be top man. Others like Phil Neal were good second-in-commands, good for helping, supporting but never leading - possibly Dean's role with us. Or you have the Seargeant-Major types - Pearce as a prime example, or Crosby with us, who are the boss's enforcer, but again never the boss. I have no idea which category Appleton falls into (though his appearance suggest the latter!), but that is why some coaches go on to be great managers and some fail, and some know their limitations and never try.

I went to watch Aldershot a couple of years ago and Marvin Morgan, their big lumbering centre-forward went down like a sack of bricks and stayed down for about the tenth time. 'Oy Morgan, you donkey, get up,' a voice cried out. Then another from some distance away responded, 'What's the point? Can't someone just fetch a spade and bury him there.' Well, it made me laugh.

Just watched the highlights on i-player. The players put there hands up for a free-kick and obviously one or two had a word to say on the challenge but they were hardly crowding the ref demanding a sending off. And to be fair, some refs would have given a straight red anyway for that tackle. Just reinforces the world's view that he is Kn0b, son of Kn0b.

It was one of the weirdest games I've ever watched. Peterborough played with ten/nine men back for the whole game & damage limitation seemed to be their motivation. We barely got out of second gear throughout and most of the second half was about as exciting as a testimonial. Even after they scored - with their only meaningful chance of the game - they retreated backwards again & didn't get another chance. The crowd was flat, too. Just a weird evening alround, but ultimately it was 'Job done & move on.'