Lighthouse

Pompey must be doing something right. Having financially missmanaged a club on a truly intergalactic scale, they've managed to find yet another shifty owner and started buying players for £1m again. That kind of lunacy takes genuinely tallent and I think we should applaud all those involved with the club.

Been thinking of joining a gym for the opposite reasons recently, I'm 23 and still have the body I had when I was 15, albeit a bit hairier. I'm the skinniest guy I know, and I know Baj. I'm not exactly going for the beefcake, gym monkey look, just a bit less Keira Knightley.

I thought they said Beattie would be on there too. Could be interesting.

You originally said something cannot possibly make a noise because it cannot physically appear. My point is that thunder and lightning are formed by an electrical dischanrge, which isn't a physical object, but can produce large amounts of light, heat and sound. What's to say so called, 'paranormal activity' isn't caused by some for of electric discharge.

I'm well aware of how thunder and lightning are produced thanks. The point I am trying to make is that lightning is not actually a physical object. It is an electric discharge with no actual mass, unless you're counting the movement of the electrons. Yet it can still make a very loud noise.

What about thunder and lightning? Plenty of noise and bright light, even if there isn't actually anything 'there'.

The grammar on this thread am terrible.

Wonder where he went on holiday with Rickie and Harding. Doesn't look particularly exclusive, if anything a tad overcrowded. Wonder if it was the sqad trip to Vegas.

More striking I think is Plymouth. A year ago they beat us at SMS on the opening day of the season and were tipped to go straight back up again by many. Now they are bottom of the football League, potless and we are basically 3 leagues above them. One day Pompey, one day...

We will win 2-2. Beattie will score a hattrick.

Get behind LTTANO FFS!

I think if the Swindon game taught us anything it's that we just can't make it stick up front without Rickie. Forte and Guly's hold up play is awful and DC is a midget. Barnard is hardly a target man either. I'd take a put on Beatts. He's on a free with a decent payoff from Rangers to boot so I doubt he'd demand extortionate wages.

James Beattie just been released on a free by Rangers

I'll make the obvious comparisson. Jan Paul Saeijs wasn't wanted by Roda JC and he came in and did pretty well for us. Let's not get too 'underwhelmed' just yet. Seaborne and Martin have done pretty well between them overall and Jaidi will do a job every now and then. Up front we have 5 decent and varied options, so we're hardly desperate there either. Welcome Jos. Now prove some people wrong.

Ban this idiot.

In the first half Martin was trying to be a smart arse, pushing the ball away to stop them taking a quick throw in. He got booked then, just before half time, slap head who scored their goal did pretty much the same thing before a free kick. The ref ignored it for some reason, until a few Saints players protested and he got booked. The bloke was clearly frustrated and less than a minute later went in with a pretty rash challenge which certainly deserved a second yellow. The refs only response was to blow for half time for some reason. In the aftermath of all this Harding and PDC ended up having a go at each other as they headed off the pitch.

It was only really Di Canio, who had some handbags with Clarke, Dan Harding and half our training staff at some point during the match. Everyone else was pretty well behaved.

I'd back up what most people have already stated. First half Swindon were dreadful and we made it look easy, without ever getting out of first gear. Second half they seemed to spark into life a little and we failed to raise our game. Far too casual passing the ball around at the back and Bart received a fair few back passes he really didn't want. The midfield looked good in the first half, Morgan and Cork worked well together and Holmes was very dangerous down the right. Lallana a bit quiet, but didn't do anything wrong. Guly and Forte up front just didn't work. Neither can hold the ball up at all, it was easy to see why Nigel brought Rickie on. Player ratings: Bart - 7 Dealt with what came at him. One excellent save at 2-1 and could do little about the goal. A few dodgy kicks, but the defence really didn't do him any favours at times. Richardson - 6 Generally steady, but was seldom troubled. Martin - 6 As above Seaborne - 6 As above Harding - 5 Gave away possesion cheaply at times. Holmes - 8 MOTM looked pretty good cutting in from the right. A couple of dodgy corners, but otherwise decent. Cork - 7 Looked very good first half, quiet second half. Morgan - 7 Classy on the ball, a bit sloppy second half. Had one excellent chance blocked. Lallana - 7 Quiet first half, seemed to liven up in the last 15 minutes. Dubious penalty shout towards the end. Guly - 5 Too casual. Effort just wasn't there. The goal was about all he did. Forte - 5 Without someone to hold up play going forward, he looked a bit lost. As with Guly, his goal was pretty much the only contribution. Subs: Lambert came on to help things stick up front and it definitely settled things a bit after they had scored. Very well taken goal. Don't think the other two subs got a touch.

Few thoughts from the ground. Swindon have been awful, generally our defence hasn't been tested much. Holmes looks very good down the right. Lallana a bit quiet, but the midfield is pretty good and keeping it well. Not so sure about Guly and Forte yet. Jury is out on that one.

I'd go with Bart Butters - Martin - Seaborne - Dickson Knight - Chaplow - Morgan - Holmes Forte - Lambert Assuming Barnard is still injured.

Get in!

Just seen the draw, Stoke have trips to Turkey, Ukraine and Israel. Ouch. Anyone know when the fixtures for the group stage are released?

Would explain why Scottish football is sh*te.

It's probably because all the thick girls get pregnant and drop out of school, thereby only leaving the clever sticks in school to achieve good grades. Or, men are fick, innit!

I really hope it is moved to Sunday personally. Will have to drive down the M4 like Jenson Button to get there on the Saturday, even with a late KO.