Nineteen Canteen

Dolce & Gabbana

That must have been amusing when 'millionaire' was popular although watching an entertainer do his 'normally' isn't quite the same as watching a band perform one of your favourite songs. Thanks for the justgiving link Cavey and I will make a donation, Leon and Hollie deserve it going through this torture and climbing Kilimanjaro. The Alzheimer's Society do a lot of great work and deserve to have a greater support and a higher profile as other diseases have in this country like Heart Disease and Cancer.

Apparently he does a very good Chris Tarrant impression. A very worthy cause and people who prefer not to attend but still want to donate how do they do that?

bwin ?

Can potentially play, not proven IMO and unless Plymouth are really struggling financially not sure why they would sell him as he has done allegedly so well for MK Dons. I hope I am wrong but remain disappointed we didn't strengthen CM with a recognisable talent as we have elsewhere.

I guess time will tell but there is already debate on here if he can play on the left or right or both. Your comment about Lallana made me smile - does he do anything else? Has to come looking for the ball I guess and it will be interesting to watch if Puncheon played centrally is able to execute the killer pass and strong enough to ride the challenges to change that.

With genuine respect, and I say genuine because 'with respect' normally means anything but on here but I think you are compliling the wrong data/book. The Rise and Fall of SFC and it's Resurrection would have mass appeal beyond just those with a need to satisfy a blood lust. In fact I think it would be required reading for any football fan especially those from Man Utd to Weymouth and Pompey to Chester and all those others that are adding to an increasingly long and precarious list. Mistakes aren't the crime not learning from though is heinous IMO.

Agreed but do you have a take on the Antonio Loan / 6 month contract debate. Don't want ot get involved in case Clark posts up another 50 web links to prove a point. All it proves to me is Puncheon was bought in for cover for Antonio come the end of the season and a merely a stop gap solution for central midfield.

Football is eating itself and the reduction in expenditure is an example that poeple are beginning to smell the rich roast. The trouble is that wealth can sometimes deliver a huge advantage that other teams have to gamble on their future success to keep up. The Leeds debacle happened 10 years ago and no one has learned any lessons and clubs backed by huge wealth are being chased by clubs with huge debts bought by not so wealthy businessmen using leveraged buy outs. It is not a case of bleating, more a voice of valid concern and a return to a level of competition both nationally and internationally that at the moment will only diminish without strict regulation of football by a regulatory body that sits above the whole sorry mess of the FA, UEFA, FIFA and the national league bodies. Bringing it back to home, if there are 10 players who Pardew wants out and he does not intend to use them then I suggest we pay up their contracts and move them out now as they are I suspect simply using up resources that our more valued squad members need such as access to physios, nutrition specialist etc. A surfeit of players in the squad can only cloud it's complex management on a day to day basis regading training, strain on supporting resources and team spirit with no doubt a few disgruntled players rotting even in the outer reaches of the reserves sowing their seeds of ill will that often under utilised staff will unfortunately sow if not managed. Finally, with the greatest respect to everyone IMO we still only have 2 players who fully merit the tag of 'recognised / quality central midfielder' . We have others but they are either questionable as a permanent solution, too old and slow, not well regarded by the manger, or better in other positions. Into those categories respectively we have James, Wotton, Gillet, Puncheon and Lallana. Perhaps if football's finances were a little more liquid there wouldn't be this ridiculous propensity to take players in and out on loan and like overseas players it is probably time to limit their numbers drastically and make those players that clubs do buy and sell look a little less scatter gun in their approach trying to cover all potential bases and overloading one or two in the process.

Agree, I see Puncheon more as a ready made replacement for Antonio when he goes back to Reading. Our CM are tough and break up the play although that was not evident last Saturday in the first half but they lack drive, pace and imagination IMO and with our squad we should be creating far more goal scoring opportunities than we do.

By my back of the envelope calculations we now have 40 players in the squad? If that is correct is it not disappointing we have not sold more than we have albeit Saga was a major result. At this level I don't believe we need to be paying the wages or managing teh contracts of 40 players although some of those are out on loan e.g Poke and Thomson and some may still go out on loan they remain on our books and presumably there are costs associated with managing them as a result. Pardew has made some great and some interesting signings but no one to help fill in for Hammond or Schneiderlin or put their place in the team under pressure. Puncheon looks more like a replacement for Antonio.

Whilst it helps to confirm your own perspective I don't think you need to attend games to form an opinion on a player as to if that player can be the one the team is built around. Lets face it with Alpine based in Austria its hardly conducive to attending matches but no doubt he is well served by information gained from the newspapers, internet, forums, radio and friends to be able to formulate his own judgement. In this instance going to a game would only endorse his judgement IMO. Schneiderlin is a decent and important player for us but he is also a hot head and hardly drives the team forward or executes the killer pass week in week out. I agree with Wes the type of player we need is probably but a pipe dream in this league (hence the Puncheon signing) but Schniederlin is unlikely to be the next Michael Carrick or Zidane to use a comparison with his fellow countryman. That said given his rashness at times you wouldn't be suprised to see him emulate that great player's most rash 'tackle' at some stage during his career IMO.

I agree with you on Wotton but suggest that Pardew is just overly cautious than too negative. I also believe that level of cautiousness increased when it became apparent in the run up to Christmas that we had a fair chance of making the play offs and the fans latched on to this fact and maybe created some psychological pressure on the manager? Impossible to say for definite of course but something has changed and maybe it's just the fixture pile up and the fact we were never likely to be ready for a realistic assault on promotion this season if we competed for every honour going. Although many have enjoyed the JPT run I think we should have played our reserve team from the start and perhaps we wouldn't be looking so jaded as a team. Afterall, what does the JPT mean in terms of achievement? Very little and a few seasons ago if we had thought we would be competing in it we would have been mortified. Its a minnows cup and I would have preferred to have saved our playing resources for the league. Early in the season, play off talk was shrugged off as impossible or at best ignored and talk was only of building a foundation for the future and getting ourselves comfortably safe. I think collectively our expectations (club and fans) have created a burden we can't cope with along with aftermath of that Leeds game and all those cups games. We are getting close but we need to accept we are bit 'Andy Murray' at the moment and probably need another year of 'lessons' to fulfill our potential.

I can't comment on the Ipswich game as I didn't see it but based on what I saw yesterday and the commentaries on Solent I have heard recently we seem to be lacking something centrally. What that something is I'm not sure and leave that to the experts but yesterday in the middle we lacked drive, energy, desire or call it what you like but we looked lackadaisical and I don't buy the theory it was a nervy first half as they barely tested us despite their 4 corners or whatever it was. Hammond was a big miss and we need someone else of his equal if not more. Puncheon strikes me as cover or first selection for other areas.

Reminds me of a Jo Brand quote: The first time you leave your child at school you're faced with a tough decision - down the pub or back to bed?

I don't disagree with that but at this stage I would prefer to see in midfield something more than possibilities and potential and something a little more definite as Alpine alluded to. A lot of our signings have potential, Seaborne being the other obvious example but I just feel we needed to sign a well regarded and recognised central midfield general to borrow Alpine's phrase as Wotton is not the answer and Gillet not well regarded or so it seems. Puncheon is a possibility/potential or even a gamble but not a recognised quality CM. To be honest he sounds more like cover for Lallana than a Hammond or Schneiderlin who could also do with a little competition for their place in the team. If we couldn't afford such a player then maybe we should have sold/released more of the deadwood / fringe players from the squad otherwise they will need to start producing the programme on A4 to help us read our squad. I don't deny Puncheon has potential and can possibly play centrally or wide I just question if he helps with our central midfield weaknesses in the long term as evidenced by our performance yesterday where we lacked an influential and domiant presence in midfield. No doubt we will soon have the answer and I hope I'll be eating the humble pie but only if I can have custard and cream with it.

Someone has been messing with your forum profile Daren, I would talk to the mods as I have been taken off your ignore list without your authorisation. Do you think its ok to mock spelling mistakes and / or grammar especially when you ignore the whole valid context of the post? Lacks class IMO a bit like your misguided ironing.

I would have preferred we had signed a player that would play in centre midfield with a high degree of probability. No disrepesct to Puncheon he just adds to a list of possibilities but we need quaility cover and a challange to our first choice central midfield pairing. Just feel we may have missed a beat on this one athough at the price and length of contract if he does well the club are likely to make a nice profit as if we keep to the 5 year plan it is diffcult seeing him lasting the course based on evidence to date.

You also need to get over yourselve. If the only comment you can make on a therad is with regard a poster's grammar / spelling when the context remains obvious then I'm afraid you show a lack of class/quality/respect/humilty as a person.

When will we share precious moments? Is this the beginning or is it the end? David when will we see you again? On the degree of severity scale how bad is your injury? Three?

I have to agree with this from Alpine and I don't think we needed to sign Puncheon given the options we have wide and on a three and half year contract? Understandable if the cost was £3m to protect our investment but hardly the player to take us further forward in the Championship when we get there. We were poor yesterday and Hammond was a big miss. Wotton is a ball winner but is also cumbersome and his distribution / vision was at best not very good. We need a central midfielder with some real vision and quality to execute it, to ensure we start giving some quality ball to our front two or wide as yesterday you could only feel sorry for Barnard who was ineffective because of final ball being so poor. Holmes probably didn't need a shower at the end of the game let alone have his kit cleaned despite finding plenty of space. I am not saying Puncheon is poor player I just don't think IMO he is the type of player we need at the moment. We don't need a midfielder who can play wide or vice versa we need a central midfielder capable of dictating the pace and the quality of the game. Pardew signings have been good with question marks perhaps over Seaborne (reserve judgement until he is tested) and Puncheon (not really what we need IMO) but we now look weak in Midfield especially given our congested fixture list and Schniederlin's ability to get booked through rash tackles and reliance to date on Lallana and Hammond - how serious are their injuries? If they are long term or result in fragility of these two players ability to play out the season Puncheon will look like an error of judgement.

Rebel. Don't like doing it, but does it anyway.

I am a Bona Fide fully paid up member of the S/T holders club and have been since the move to SMS and my support unlike many has never waivered. I would love to have a post count over the past few weeks or even months to see how many have spent their time discussing Saints vs our friends in the East? Look how many posts there are in the Pompey Takeover Thread, do we really care that much vs what is happening at our own club at the start of hopefully something significant? Believe what you like but our gloating obsession with Pompey has become more than unhealthy and the derby has tipped it over the edge. I dread to think how some fans will cope if we lose that game and based on our current form we are likely to be easier opposition than Pompey have faced in a while and that includes Coventry.

Sounds like a homage to Armitage Shanks