Smirking_Saint

What about Landon Donavon on a short deal ? Looked the business for Everton

What did Stelling say ?

You must be looking forward to watching him for real then ?

Which is what I said earlier And yes, Saints and the foundation have and have had some talented coaches The game and coaching philosophies have moved on so much, and aslong as kids enjoy it then they should be encouraged to progress if able. I admire parents ambition to keep the 'pressure' off but I have often seen more 'pressure' at non professional outfits. The vasics are that if the kids enjoy playing then if taught right through that enjoyment they will improve. Professional outfits know this, but tailor the drills to inspire and improve, as Monk says too often coaches think they are doing the right thing by doing loads of team drills involving passing, it probably isnt benefiting

He is a ***t but a talented one

Fair play to the parents, I just hope he continues his progression.

Do you remember the video a little while back with the strange man shouting 'leave britney alone' Thats how I imagine Roger when he reads any criticism of Rickie

Depends how you look on it, if you read up on continental coaching techniques then 4-8 is the age within which you should coach balance, start getting them comfortable running with the ball and both feet, also technique wise I think touch etc is learnt by 12 latest really, and so I think to get the best out of them then the younger the better. The key really is better, trained coaches working with kids, instead of the usual dross that gets thrown at them, put the goals away, make it fun, but train that technique.

More impressed by him getting Spurs as far as they did TBH and pompeys situation aside, he did well there. People can try to overlook his achievements however they want, still a top manager.

I get the impression he thought that it may be an easier job as it was, despite their squad they are useless, in fighting, players clearly not up for a scrap etc etc If he manages it then fair play, itll be an absolute miracle, but, surely they are buried now, surely they wont get the signings they need. If we can though, I wouldnt mind seeing Diakite or Granero in the summer (no idea what wages though)

Not really, the lad is going to be a top top keeper If you said... It'll be better spent right now in other areas, I would agree, but if we can get what we need AND Butland, Ill be happy.

We dont need a scapegoat, but we could do with players not costing us points too Pointless thread really

That is very impressive TBH

Not the sort of player we need, we already have two tricky wide men Id like to see us have someone different, with direction and pace, getting crosses in that would allow us to change things. Someone like Downing, Jarvis, Bennett those sort of players

I expect you can throw the chief scout into the mix aswell, but continuity is spot on.

His reaction was far too slow, I agree Re unsighted if it ended up in a corner buy in the end it really didnt, it was straight underneath him. He fell over it, most keepers would have saved it IMO and certainly if I was stood on the line defending I reckon Id have got my foot in the way. With his flapping and certainly when he parried Crouches header into the middle of the 6 yard box he could have cost us the game. This really isnt good enough for any keeper let along of his experience. He is under the microscope for a reason, that one being that its so glaringly obvious what his faults are you can get rid of the microscope !!

I dont think that there is any doubt that we employ the very fashionable transfer commitee these days, this I dont have any real issue with, well, that is unless Reed is one of the prime movers. I think that Adkins has a large input in signings, but not THE input, everyone at the club is singing from the same hymn sheet, and the Ramirez issue was an extra to the transfer budget. Transfer Commitees are there to protect the clubs future, to ensure a rogue manager doesnt break the bank on dross ( see QPR ) so in that respect Im happy with that arrangement.

What about Jason Steele at Boro ? Young, solid, english and probably wont cost us 10 mil

Im not dissagreeing re Gazza, nor am I saying Davis has poor distribution all the time, its not great, but not as bad as is made out, but for me, Gazza plays the ball out better. Neither are good enough TBH, I am lost really, Gazza seems to be a decent shot stopper, and when he comes out he is more imposing but as you said he has bottled a lot, stood like a lemon on his goal line, its inexperience maybe. Davis tries his best, never shys away, I applaud that, he just isnt quick or good enough, for the reasons I stated earlier. I hope Boruc has been hammering the gym and not the pies over xmas TBH, but reckon Butland or A.N.Other is on his way.

If someone offers massive money, if not no IMO no

Distribution wise Gazza rarely gets it wrong, but that was poor, Kelvin, for all his, 3 steps back, look over shoulder, little shimmy and kick isnt as good

I admire it Chez I do, and yes there are too many of us that jump down players necks far too early, but Davis looks so poor right now, I gave him plenty of chances at the start of the season to escape my critisiscm but he IMO was a cause for many of the goals we conceded, poor at his near post, slow to react or to dive and so often parrys right into the worst possible places. He has been terrible the past three aswell, poor for the goal at fulham (see above), had little to do at Sunderland but what he does do he makes look so hard, and looked poor again today. I feel sorry for him, he has been a great servant but football isnt about sentiment, or else we would still have an overweight Le Tiss just behind Lambert.

Hoovield came in to stifle Stokes long ball game today, now I didnt go so unsure but it didnt seem like he managed it. That said, Kenwyne has always been an absolute beast in the air

Jos wasnt as bad as many on here made out but it wasnt just the city game, you cant base your opinion on one game. Jos had a few though, just didnt look up for it IMO. Yoshida is a better player

Disagree unless Boruc is fit and now finds form, but only really Adkins will know if he is good enough right now as with a decent keeper in goal I think we will be ok. If its an inexperienced Gazza and a frankly useless Davis then we will be in trouble. Other than that agree, we dont wanna upset the balance of the squad but a CB to shake up what we have right now, and also a quality wide man to add competition that hopefully has different attributes to Punch and Lallana would be excellent.