spyinthesky

On the subject of Koeman, I guess he can only really be judged on his record at Everton when he is able to mould his own team, presumably starting in January when he starts to spend some of the substantial transfer budget he has been promised. At the moment Everton look like a team with talent but let down by an ageing back line and underperforming younger players. As a unit it they look miles off the quality of their rivals across Stanley Park, for example

Some of us 'old uns' remember OOOH AAAH Terry Hurlock turning up in a beat up builders van!!!

I thought the San Siro PA volume was a tad loud and the 'drum and bass' music (is that the right description?) rather repetitive but the music volume yesterday was 'epic' Good to hear 'Twist & Shout' by the Beatles though (almost as good as the Isley Bros original)

Rather strange Very good turnout but very quiet. Normally Everton fan are quite vociferous

Thought he had a good game

Glad you mentioned it, Thought it was far too loud and what was the 'music' they were playing just before the start of each half!!! Bring back the Albion Band!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some suggestion that both players were auditioning to become fully fledged members of the 657 crew and it all got out of hand Still a few pints with the Manager and Chairman down their favourite hostelry will put it all to rights

In case anyone is interested the Pompey News 'Ace' reporter, Mr N Allen, has brought out a new book for pre Christmas release. It will be on sale at various high class book sellers at a very reasonable £16.99 per copy. Title is 'Played Up Pompey' and includes interviews with 'stars' from Pompey's past, all presented in short paragraphs, with plenty of pictures, for ease of reading. Likelihood is that quite a few of the initial print run will end up at a certain second hand book shop in Petersfield with a price tag of £1.99, some time in the new year.

I really hope Sam makes it with us. However he is not the answer to our current problems in front of goal We desperately need a proven goalscorer

Speculation only No names suggested

I have never booed That said I did join in with the Man Utd crowd booing from the away end when we won 1-0 at Old Trafford last season with extreme relish. I have to say that was a great feeling!!! I guess like Duncan (Fitzhugh Fella) I have been a supporter long enough to realise these disappointments follow every team and Saints are no exception. Personally I don't think booing your team does no good. I think it is more productive to show support in times of adversity.

Looks like Hampshire Police are now involved. Perhaps this involves one of our notorious previous Youth team coaches going back to the 1980's Fact of life that, in the past, there were a number of unsavoury people associated with football at amateur and professional level. I have a good mate who suffered and personally I played for a local team manager in my teens who, unknown to me, had a reputation for getting involved in the game for the wrong reasons. Very fortunately I had no idea about this and never suffered but, on reflection, the signs were there.

We are where we are and all share a great sense of disappointment and frustration, especially after the insipid display last night. I know we can all look at 'ifs, buts and maybe's' but IF we had taken just one of the many chances in Milan and IF VVD had put away the glorious chance in Israel the situation would be a lot brighter today. That said we have been playing championship level teams in Europe with both Inter and Prague not able to play their full strength sides. Add the Hull display into the bargain (and also Liverpool where the score could have been 3 or 4-0 if they had taken gilt edged chances) and we are suddenly looking a poor side bereft of confidence and an ability to score goals. All that said, if I was the Manager with the priority of staying in the Prem, I would have the same rotation policy as Puel. The side he put out last night (on paper at least) should really have been capable of beating Sparta. They reckon the more you pay players the better chance there is of success. I reckon we pay our players (and Manager) far more than Sparta, Beersheeva and Hull but it certainly hasn't shown in the performances!!!

Martina came with a pretty poor reputation from the Dutch fans who used to post on here Nevertheless he seemed to fit into the right back role reasonably well, aided no doubt by the screamer against Arsenal. However he has really regressed this season and really looks pants in recent games. Wonder if Koeman is still interested in paying £1m for him in January?

Out of interest are you the same Heisenberg who posts negative stuff on the Ugly Inside forum?

Got to feel sorry for those who went and even more so who went to all three and had no goals to celebrate Reminiscent of the game in Denmark last year

What happened to the young lad from Dundee (?) Wasn't he a left back?

I reckon you make a very fair point There were quite a few voices raised recently re Charlie Austin for England. Much as I admire Charlie, if he is truly England standard, then we really do have a problem with the national team's aspirations to be a leading football nation.

I remember seeing a piece on Ali Dia on the South Today Sports programme the day before the game and thinking to myself this new player doesn't look very good. However it was a very short clip and I convinced myself that the management team would know far more about a player than a supporter looking at the player on TV I now revel in the fact that I was probably the early equivalent of the Black Box!!!

I remember that too. One thing I will give him credit for was the balls to turn up at a rivals ground and start singing 'Play up England' etc I agree he did quieten down when the Saints fan threatened to lump him

Indeed However if the table is designed to show 'attendance' (as opposed to tickets sold, including season ticket holders etc) I guess you could query the more recent crowd figures

This is a relevant comment I am sure it irks us all that we lose good players and I am sure Celtic fans are peeved that they have lost 3 of their best players to us. However it is a natural progression Even massive clubs like Pompey lose players to even massiver clubs

Cant argue with the facts as presented However Saints have never possessed a ground with a capacity of more than 32,000 whereas all the clubs above us in the average attendance league and a fair few below had much bigger capacities especially post WW2 when attendances rocketed

Apparently they played 22 games (11 at home) in Div 2 in 1892 before having to pack up due to financial problems. Until then they were main rivals of Everton Ironically they were replaced by in Div 2 the following year by Liverpool

I appreciate the point you make. There is no scientific way of measuring 'captive' areas for football team support but relevant post code provides a reasonable indication I think