Minty

This is all just conjecture. DPS has his opinion on our and other signings, as do we all, and if you're so inclined, as DPS clearly is, then you use that to judge the apparent ambition or preparedness of your club. Most people, I think it's fair to say, aren't quite so harsh, but ultimately none of it can be 'proven' until the season gets underway, and to be honest, no conclusions can be drawn until the END of the season. Only then can we look back at what may or may not have been key to our finishing position. In the meantime this all just seems to be going round in circles.

It doesn't matter now but at the time you were saying we had won gold, our last rider had yet to go... Gold was not certain at that point, if he'd scored 12 or more penalty points, we would not have won, or 8 points and a slower combined time. I think.

Damn my internet coverage buffering... lol

No it's not. If we score an 8 or god forbid more, then it all depends on their last round.

I've opted to watch the video online for any key highlights... far better to get all the action as it happened rather than what the Producer thinks is worth showing, especially, as you say, they have so much to cram in.

Have to say, the BBC website overage is excellent, especially the 'shortcuts' to specific pieces of action and the ability to 'rewind' it back to the beginning and watch it 'as live' if you don't quite tune in in time.

Everything is available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/p00w31t4

The Beeb have used a few commentators and presenters to try and appeal to a younger audience and in the main I think they've been very good. Matt Baker has been a very good presenter, I agree with btf. Quite what they were thinking by involving Trevor Nelson at the opening ceremony I don't know though... Lineker is ok as a frontman but not for anything much beyond that IMO. Balding is excellent, Inverdale has been ok, and the news woman has been fine too. On the commentator front, Baker was really good to listen to. The other one of note IMO is Steve Cram... carving out a pretty good niche for himself and has a good balance of knowledge and excitement to complement the track events. Too many others to recall but they're the ones who stick out.

All the planning and preparation in the world can't guarantee signings. Dig Dig is right, of course, ideally the sooner players are signed the better but to suggest that just because they haven't yet is 'bad preparation' or that there is a 'lack of urgency' is rather harsh IMO... we simply don't know what has been happening and this is just one of many possible conclusions.

Well you seem to have ignored the main thrust of my point about how the team plays, under Adkins' instructions, and continue to focus on criticising Richardson. I'm sure there were opportunities to put SDR through, from several players, and they missed them, but to focus on FR is misguided IMO. End product is what he will be primarily judged on, and as much as I hope he improves and contributes, my doubts remain.

That 'dickhead right back' has a tonne of his own assists to his name. A large part of our game over the last two years has actively seen our full backs push on to support the attack. Our style of play has mostly centred around keeping possession and not playing low percentage balls into the channel behind the opposition defence (whether successfully or not). So in summary, I think it's a bit silly to try and blame Richardson for SDR not delivering the goods consistently, when your issue seems to be more with Adkins' tactics. That's a whole other discussion IMO.

Maybe. Maybe not. None of us can say with any kind of authority. Personally I think there's little point in worrying about it, or using it as any kind of barometer for our progress.

Not me. For all we know, progress may have been made behind the scenes, just nothing in public yet. Or, perhaps nothing has happened at all. I don't know. Adkins said they were looking to get players in and that's good enough for me.

That was a great tackle, and fair play to him for it. But that's not his primary job, hence the discussion has mainly centered on his attacking threat. We have lacked penetration at times and there has been a dearth of quality through balls at times, but ultimately I think it's fair to say most people are judging SDR on what he does when he has got the ball, which is not an unfair barometer IMO.

"Quality trolling". That's up there with deafening silence, happily married and Portsmouth Football Club in the oxymoron stakes.

LOL'ing at some the (Neil) Allen-isms. Forget Iraq, He's the Pompey Information Minister.

Well, he finished last in his semi-final... I did think it was a nice touch however that the winner of his semi, a 19-year-old tipped for the gold, wanted to swap the name badge with Oscar, and then in an interview afterwards said that he was honoured to run against him and thought it was great that he was competing. Fair play. For all the arguments and POV's above, I still maintain that the only way to settle this is through some pretty thorough bio-mechanical analysis, but even then, to ensure parity you need to be happy that his prosthetics deliver the same performance as the average calf/ankle/foot combination... and how do you know what that is? Do you measure the top 100 athletes to find out? Very, very difficult one to overcome IMO.

Composure and consistency. Whether it's when about to cross the ball, infront of goal, or to pick out a fellow attacker, these are the things he lacks. He *can* produce the goods, but not often enough. I agree broadly with S-Clarke. At the top level you have make your chances count. You don't get many. He might improve, and I hope he does, but I tend to find that composure especially, is something you either have or you don't have. He has some good attributes, but without composure, he's destined to remain a bit part player who will be released as we improve the squad IMO.

Surprised no one has picked up on this. THEVMAN has earned my respect for his posts in the past, generally knowing what is occurring within the squad, and so I would suggest this should be noted. That said, of course once someone has got a bit of a reputation, warranted or not, it does tend to follow them around for a bit, and some fans love nothing more than to get their teeth into someone. Personally I trust Adkins judgement, and so far it looks like he is stepping up. He, like all of our players, has my full support.

This post was sponsored by alpine saint.

1-0 at HT.

Usain Bolt is in the house.

4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze for Team GB in the rowing. Pretty awesome.

Loving watching some of these medal ceremonies... the Women's Double Sculls pair look so amazed and overwhelmed by it all, it's great to see such raw emotion. Well done girls.