Window Cleaner

you eating Chum now then?

I'm not going to say anything more about anything until the game starts. I really,really don't like seeing our side with Butterfield in it though.Wouldn't be at all surprised if Zaha swops sides to profit from Butterfield's total uselessness.

pick any one from 15

morgan is the sub keeper,or he was. Expect it's Martin or Jos today, just a hunch hope we don't have to find out. Bart must be really skint now as he never gets the team sheet bonus.

nope Frazer not even on the bench, couldn't have been 100% on Saturday I guess. We're down to the bare bones.Punch must have been hoicked again.

subs Harding,Guly,Barnard,De Ridder,Martin.

when was that then?

Wonder what's up with Frazer then, unless he's on the bench or we go with Bart as a sub that means that we must have yet another stand in keeper.

no Frazer no Guly then Davis,Butterfield,Fonte,Jos,Fox,Chappy,Hammond,Cork,Lallana,Rickie,Bllly

It's not all tactical though, most of our players are beyond the 3200 minutes of football this season,that's 35+ full games each,some are evn up around the 40 game mark. When you compare that to the 2200/2400 of most of the namby pambies in the PL you can see why we aren't quite as sharp now as we were in August last.We have a biggish squad but at the end of the day most of our games come down to the same 14/15 players.As we have a high intensity pass and move game fatigue is building up, Saints fit or not.Might explain why we're playing a bit more directly I suppose. Now in the theory of things Punch and Chappers should have put in a bit more of a stint than they have of late as they have relatively little game time on the counter but it just hasn't transpired that way as neither of them was even on the bench on Saturday.

he certainly doesn't ponce about but looks as if he might be finding the 90 minutes a bit tough sometimes.Just this once because we're going to miss our mainstay in midfield I'd like to see us go 4-5-1 to start with with Rickie taking the first half and Sharp maybe the second.Other than that 4-4-1-1 with Rickie in the deeper role and Sharp on point.Whatever we do we just have to stop all that route 1 that we were playing for most of the game on Saturday.

Probably more about the standard of the opposition than anything else. Not sure that Dutch football isn't a bit like Scottish football,2 good teams,2 decent'ish teams and a pile of crap to make up the numbers.

Been watching the video of the Boxing Day game, my did we look good that day,looked like we had Cork and Morgan the other way round,then I watched the extended highlights of the Pompey match, couldn't believe it was the same side with the same manager.

What ?? and get about 40 "been there,done that" posts

Not at the moment no, but we'll need to not lose tomorrow for me to maintain that opinion with much confidence.

that's how I saw it, doesn't seem to take much to push him off of the ball, hence the ballerina comment.

He's proved he can take the hits,doesn't roll about on the ground or go down like a big Mary when someone breathes on him and his vision is exceptional. If we're missing any player of late it's Chung.Must scare defenses sh*tless.

Where's the risk? If the wound heals up,there's no other damage and the docs give him the green light then he'll be OK. Morgan with 1 leg is worth more than 3 Hammonds.

Course they have, less than no money, not many players and still they get a draw against the league leaders.

Frankly I'm relying more on Birmigham beating West Ham than I am on us beating Palace...unless Nigel plays either Puncheon or Falque.

We are missing Lee, don't think he's ever been on the losing side for a league game.Bucked us up a treat when he started playing and we really,really miss his vision and audacity.Would have taken Pompey apart.

Morgan but as he'd been in the dugout for 90 minutes by then Norris got a free shot.

Probably injured again,maybe his knee isn't really 100%.

Puncheon can tackle and defend, bet Nigel was regretting not having him on the bench when Morgan was forced off. Just cannot see the point of having Barnard on the bench myself.We start with 2 strikers and have Guly who can play there if required so why sacrifice Chaplow or Puncheon for Barnard. If a striker goes off have a shuffle with Guly or De Ridder partnering the other striker and get and attacking midfielder more on the bench.

We added to the extra time by making a substitution in it,can't remember the exact chronology of events but if we hadn't subbed Sharp then time might have been up before.