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Wes Tender

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Everything posted by Wes Tender

  1. It goes to show that the purchases we made earlier on when we were in the third division were astute buys. Some were players who would do a decent job at that level and in the second division, but others were deemed good enough to potentially make the grade in the top flight too. I've said it before, but a pertinent point is that many of these players were captains of their former teams, so they were leaders, good pros. Both Pardew and Adkins have been good judges of a player and it takes skill to identify the right players at the right time. But an additional factor is that there are only so many places available in the top teams and we have been lucky enough to have the money behind us to be a big fish in a little pond in both of the lower divisions. We have therefore been able to attract the better players and impress them with our ambition and our potential, so that if they stayed with us and played well, we offered the potential for them to either play in the Premier League or at least to raise their profile if they weren't deemed quite up to playing at that level. Players like Lallana and Lambert had faith in our ability and ambition to reach the top, but those you mention like Harding, Hammond and Barnard have done their future career prospects no harm at all by playing their part in helping us get there.
  2. I can gloat for voting yes. I assumed that all the hystrionics coming from the Bologna chairman and the comments in the Italian press were just tactical, in an attempt at brinkmanship, to get the player's profile raised and to up the buying price. I also came to the conclusion that as a fellow Italian, Cortese would be adept at playing this game of poker and when the chips were down, he wouldn't blink first. Although Ramirez is an unknown quantity in English top flight football, the fact that he did very well in Seria A and was on the radar of several other top clubs encourages me to hope that we might have unearthed a real diamond of a player. All those who muttered darkly about the lack of activity earlier in the window surely cannot be unhappy about the quality of these last few signings. Or would they have rather settled for some of those players who were signed earlier for other clubs who are likely to be in the bottom half of the table? IMO, the calibre of player that we have brought onto the bus amounts to a serious statement of intent by the club. All those supporters of other clubs who believed that Southampton are the same outfit that flirted with relegation most seasons in the Premiership and who didn't have two pennies to rub together, are starting to sit up and rub their eyes in bewilderment. It has also come as a surprise to some of our own fans too. Cortese with the backing of the Liebherrs, is starting to look like a man who doesn't make ambitious statements for the club without being deadly serious about them. Whether those ambitions can be achieved remains to be seen, but at least the signing of players of this calibre lends credibility to his aims.
  3. I particularly liked this opinion:- I've found that often the footy fans in the North East are a very well informed bunch. The only thing that colours the judgement of their opinions on the subject of SFC, is that they can't seem to change their opinion on Kelvin Davis and the defence, although Davis has proved since he left them to be considered to be at least capable, if not spectacular. And our defensive shortcomings are in the process of being addressed now. It remains to be seen whether our defence is still weak and only time will tell. But it could be that a lot of pressure is removed from our defence by our attack and midfield improvements.
  4. I can just see Antonio scoring the winner and Jones adding to the jinx possibilities.
  5. I'd certainly think him a good addition. Very similar to another Israeli player we used to have, Berkovic, but seemingly without the attitude problems that he was associated with.
  6. To see whether he has one and if so, whether he actually uses it?
  7. The name scans well with "Kumbaya" so that has to be a possibility.
  8. Roger, I was being sarcastic, as Professor and a couple of others had slated Adkins for not starting "our strongest team" against City. Well, we started with Lambert and Davis this game, but we certainly weren't better in the entire match than we were in the second half against City. I was still irritated when I posted late last night and several posters have identified where we were lacking. I agree with the observation that Lambert came deep attempting to get the ball, but should have stayed upfield. Also that our shape was wrong. Also that we lacked wingers to give us width and speed up the flanks. We played narrow and Wigan dominated the midfield in the second half because they were first to the ball and we were sloppy with our passing. I didn't rate Davis there and expected more intent from him. Hammond is nowhere near as cultured as Davis and not up to Premiership standard, but I'm sure that he would have given more effort, as indeed would Cork had he been fit. Again, I agree that Puncheon might well have offered something different and I'm confident that Lee would also have troubled them if fit enough to bring on as an impact sub. This final week is vital in terms of who we bring in to complete the team until January. But what we have at the moment isn't far away from it, provided that they give more effort and intent.
  9. Our performance today was totally unacceptable. Although we played fairly brightly in the first half, when we went behind, we just didn't seem to be up for it at all. We strolled around the pitch like it was a Sunday afternoon kick about in the park. We dawdled about on the ball as if there was no urgency to try and pull a goal back when the clock was running down, we didn't close them down, allowing them to dictate the pace and we gave away possession too easily. I don't mind losing when our players give 100%, but today they didn't. As others have said, it would be fine if we modelled ourselves on Swansea, but we don't have the pace out wide that they have through the likes of Dyer who is one of our academy products. But neither do we play the ball as fast as they do. Our passing needs to be one or two touch, but instead we pass too often sideways or back and allow the opposition plenty of time to get behind the ball. And typically of Saints, it was a far poorer performance against one of the lower standing teams of the division following an exceptional performance against the champions. Adkins' tactics were criticised in that match by the master tacticians of this forum for him having the temerity to start with Lambert and Davis on the bench. You don't win matches by not starting with your strongest team we were told. Well, we started with arguably our strongest team and the two goals that Lambert and Davis scored against the champions failed to materialise against Wigan. Perhaps we should revert back to bringing them on later.Ward-Prowse when he came on at least showed some desire to put himself about and play for the shirt. A shame that couldn't have been said about some of the players today. Match of the day gave a distorted view of our performance and made us look better than we were. We will probably now falter against Gillingham and smash United.
  10. I bow to your superior knowledge on these matters, as Cortese and Adkins ar mates of yours, so you are privvy to information that I wouldn't possess. We might as well close the threads regarding the speculation about other signings too and just ask you for the up to date list of players with whom we are negotiating signing. Oh, no point in that, eh, as there aren't any.
  11. What donkey work have we done that other buyers wouldn't have to? Will they forego agreeing the fees and selling price with Bologna and his agent? No need for them to sell their club and its facilities to Ramirez? If he wants to play in the Premiership, then that rules out other clubs in Europe. And then these other buyers would have to pay more than us, otherwise the whole charade would look ridiculous for Bologna. Do I detect a softening in his position? Only one side has conflicting demands. We have stated our position, what we are prepared to offer. The conflicting demands are all theirs. To me it looks as if Bologna are using the Italian media to whip up a frenzy in a vain attempt to increase the purchase price, by suggesting that other clubs either in England or Italy are interested in bidding. I believe it to be all bluff. Cortese has the whip-hand and remains calm and resolute. We are playing the counter position of suggesting that we have identified other alternative targets should this one not go through, but that is something we need to do anyway. Likewise, Bologna is also in the position that they need to look for a replacement for Ramirez in case he goes. The sands of time are running out, so the pressure on Bologna is intensifying. An ace up our sleeve this season, is that the Premiership is a massive attraction to players from all over the World. There are only 20 teams, so only about 5/600 places available in those squads. Many of the marquee players already fill those places, or have been signed earlier because of competition over them. As the closure of the window approaches, the number of places available in those squads is considerably reduced and other clubs might have already spent their budgets. So the chances of losing him to another Premiership club have been reduced, strengthening our hand further. The lad is still a youngster and a bit of a gamble. OK, he is predicted to do great things, but whereas we are prepared to take that gamble, will others?
  12. Well, there's a game coming up on Saturday, so instead of whinging about the team selection after the last match, (when the likes of Dave Merrington and Adam Blackmore were probably eating humble pie following a result that had most of the pundits purring at how we had given the champions a bit of a fright), how about you telling Adkins what team he should choose for this next match? Naturally you will be able to qualify your selection based not only on your knowledge of the players' fitness levels, but also on their mental preparedness and the strategy required based on the intelligence garnered through watching videos of Wigan's last matches, which will identify their strengths and weaknesses in different areas of the pitch and different times of the match. So name the team and your prophecy for when the substitutions are likely to be and when they will be made and we'll see how you fare after the match. Naturally, you will be naming the strongest team from the first whistle, as anything else would be playing right into Wigan's hands; but I would be interested to hear what you consider to be the strongest team. If we sign Ramirez tomorrow, should he start? How about Lee if he's fit? Sharp or Rodrigues up front with Lambert, or him on his own?
  13. If you have been to Italy, which you infer you have, then you would know that Italy is a country split in two economically. The North is the economic powerhouse and has a per capita income level that we would be unable to turn up our noses at. They did not achieve that position through laziness in business matters. The South is largely agricultural and more backward. Bologna is firmly in the North the last time I looked, with a long history as a centre of learning and commerce. I'd even dispute whether the delays in these types of matters was caused by laziness, as bureacracy would probably be the more likely reason. Anyway, according to this survey in the Guardian, we are lazier than the Italians, so the delay is probably caused by we lazy English, although it might have been lengthened had we not had an Italian chief executive. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/18/physical-inactivity-country-laziest
  14. Yes, precisely. Although you dismiss that boycott and explain it away as fans not wishing to see crap football, it did exist and was peopled with fans who had genuine principled reasons for not going. I was one of them and know of many others taking the same line. Immediately Lowe was gone, I was back. At least with us, there was a reasonably sizeable faction who had campaigned to oust Lowe and Co and who had concluded that the most effective way to achieve that end was to boycott the home matches. There was a break-even attendance figure below which the club would be operating at a loss, so we knew that if numbers fell below that level, administration was a distinct possibility unless new investment was found to prop us up. Although as you say, the boycott could have been used as an excuse to cease attending because the football was crap, rising attendances when he departed tend to suggest that there was in fact a significant number who had boycotted because of the return of Lowe and the Quisling. The difference between that situation with a Saints fans boycott and one by the Skates fans, is this:- Although a weapon of last resort for us and although the risk of liquidation was real, it was deemed unlikely to happen. Because of our infrastucture, the stadium, the academy, the training ground, Jackson's Farm, we represented something of a bargain for a new investor to buy us out of administration and so it proved. Not only that, but at a stroke, the club was no longer encumbered by all that dross like Askham, Richards, Lowe, Wilde, etc. They all lost their shareholdings, poetic justice when some of them had obtained their shares by dubious means to start with. So a risk considered worth taking. Our strategy was to force administration, during which process new owners could be found. The Skates are already in adminstration (again) and the likelihood of new owners is extremely remote as they have no assets worth discussing, but loads of liabilities. The Skates are stuck between a rock and a hard place over this same tactic. If they feel that is the only way to rid the club of Chainrai and other charlatans who might replace him, then the best way to achieve that would be to organise a campaign to boycott matches until Chainrai is gone. But the end result would also be liquidation, starting all over again at the lowest level, but cleansed. At least it is clear that under their current parlous situation, it would not take much of a drop in attendances before the drop in revenue made liquidation a certainty. But they are torn between the desire to punish Chainrai and the wish to support the possibility of the fans owning the club through the Trust. It is delicious that with Chainrai having departed, they had a real incentive to increase the attendances to help keep the club afloat and that now he has returned, they perceive that the increased revenue through the turnstiles is just going to disappear into his pocket.
  15. When they released these five players as recently as May, you have to ask what was wrong with keeping them and having them play for the club. Three nineteen year olds and a couple of eighteen year olds. http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/Squadnews/academy-news--fixtures/Five-Released-By-Blues-3411.aspx I hesitate to call them kids when we played a 17 year old on Sunday and have started 16 year olds in our first team. But no doubt these players wouldn't be considered good enough to play for the Skates.
  16. This management lark is a doddle, isn't it? Stands to reason, Rodney, play your best players from the start, not the young kid and the wide man. No need to worry about whether they are fit to start, or whether tactically bowling a googly might catch the opposition on the hop because they had made plans to accomodate the team that was expected to play. After all, if Davis and Lambert were each capable of scoring in less than 45 minutes, had they played the full ninety, they would have scored another brace, eh? It isn't rocket science, is it? As for City's so-called World class footballers and their glaring misses, their days are numbered. Why pay all that money for players who are so wasteful of their opportunities in front of goal? They'll be replaced for having off days against minnows like us. Little Southampton had only about 4 shots on goal and scored with 2 of them. Just think how many goals we would have had if we were to increase the number of shooting opportunities.
  17. Yes, it counted for nothing in the table, but I'm sure that Adkins realises more than probably most, the effect that the narrow loss against City has had on the team and their prospects going on from here. The confidence boost for most of them is massive. Most had never played at this level before, against World class stars. But Adkins had probably instilled a belief in them that they might surprise both themselves and the football world if they stuck to the game plan and gave a hundred percent effort. They now know that having played so well and lost so narrowly, they can mix it with any other team in the division. They might respect the top teams like Chelsea, ManUre, Liverpool, Arsenal, etc, but they now should realise that they have a reasonable chance of beating some of them on the day if the football Gods smile on them. I am confident from seeing the progress made by us through the divisions that Adkins assembles a team comprising players with a very singular mindset and character. There don't appear to be the massive egos, the troublemakers and disruptive players seen at many other clubs. Team spirit appears to be stronger than with any Saints team I have watched these past twenty years. One just gets the impression that if we were to suffer a reverse in our fortunes this season, that they would just roll up their sleeves to get themselves out of it. They play for each other. We might still need the last few remaining pieces of the jigsaw to be in place, some additions in certain areas, but in the meantime we have players on whom we rely to give maximum effort. If our match with City were to have been a few weeks later, it would be interesting to speculate how it might have gone with an addition or two to the defence, Lee fit and playing a part, Ramirez signed? But in many ways, playing the Champions in our first match, when last season we were a division below, has not worked out too badly. Anyway, this is Saints. We always lose our first match (apart from last season).
  18. Phil, I wouldn't want to have you on the jury of any trial, when shown such "evidence" you jump to such an erroneous conclusion. The explanation is perfectly simple. His wife set the screen saver to that tropical fish tank one, and Harry is simply tracking the progress of his favourite Guppy across the screen.
  19. Well, you'll have to ask Adkins what his reasoning was, as without it, it is speculation. But as you yourself don't know the reasons, it is futile to suggest that had they been on the field from the start, we might have won the match. There could be several reasons why Lambert and Davis didn't start. In the case of both players, they might still not be 100% fit. With Lambert, it could have been reasoned that it was a very hot day and he would be more effective when City's players had tired a little. Playing Ward-Prowse was a gamble, but most say that he had a very good initiation. So he has his confidence massively boosted and has shown that he is a competitor for one of the midfield spots. Increased competition is a good thing, isn't it? City may have had more of the possession and shots on goal, but they didn't do very well with it, did they? It all counts for nothing unless it converts to goals and in that department there was only one goal in it between us. For a while, when we led, it looked as if we might have had all three points, or at least one.
  20. I have to admit that the naysayers were right. We are indeed showing a complete lack of ambition by not making any marquee signings. I'm forced to admit that my faith in Cortese and Adkins has been badly misplaced. The opening match against the Champions is only a couple of days away and since this thread began, we have only signed some foreign guy with absolutely no Premiership experience. Other Premiership rivals for the relegation drop have made far more and better signings than us, so it would be sensible to revise my earlier prediction that we would end the season in 10th place. We'll be lucky now to scrape the first survival place.
  21. I have read the entire thread before posting and drew my own conclusions as to the general tone of the discussion, which was that there was disappointment that although there had been noises made by the management that targets had been identified for several positions, few had materialised. There were then some dark mutterings about the consequences. The fact that there was no post that said that no signings would be definitely be made is an irrelevance as neither did I say that anybody had said that. So you stopped reading what I had to say beyond that, beyond the point where you misinterpreted what I had said. So you use that as a reason not to debate any other of the points I made. Or perhaps you would agree with them had you read them. If not, if you wished to debate them, feel free. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the season hasn't started yet.
  22. Exactly where I am on this. The season might be only a couple of days away from starting for us and if a couple of signings were to be made shortly, then some will have egg on their faces. Probably exactly the same posters who predicted that we ought to settle for mid-table obscurity last season and press on for promotion this year. And as for all this guff about needing to sign Premiership standard players, well there are too many examples of youngsters being thrown in at the deep end from lower divisions and from academies (ours being a notable example) who have done very nicely, thank you. Why, some even get to play for England with little or no Premiership experience. And there are also too many examples of overseas players having never played in the Premiership who also come here and set it alight with their talent. And just to add to the list, there are also teams like Norwich and Swansea who were predicted to flounder when they were promoted last season and proved the doubters wrong. Isn't Lambert a better striker than Holt? Were those teams filled with marquee signings? I'd never heard of half of them. It is not impossible that an entire team consisting of the team of the year from the Championship, could beat most Premiership teams, provided that they melded together as a team. As Bexy says, team spirit is an important factor and we appear to have that. A team comprising lesser talents can often beat a star-studded team, provided that they play well together with determination and the right mental attitude. As for dismissing the progress that has been made these past couple of years, at the very least it has given us impetus, belief and confidence. It is a track record that demonstrates that the people who manage and run the club know what they are doing and deserve some respect and faith. I'm up for us finishing mid-table and will love coming on here at the end of the season and showing up the wrist-slashers' predictions when this thread is resurrected.
  23. So this Skate can't understand the reasons why we have spent 3 years and nearly 1500 pages discussing the riches to rags saga down the other end of the M27? Perhaps he ought to have a little look at this passage from the Guardian written by his fellow Skate Farmery to give him a little clue, as he is obviously short of the imagination required to provide an explanation:- There it is, summed up very succinctly in a nutshell. The thread has all the twists and turns, intrigue and suspense of a crime/spy novel, but also the traits of the best soaps, with all the accompanying reasons for following them. There are characters who we have grown to love, or love to hate. At one time there is held up the prospect of them being owned by the type of mega-rich characters from South Fork or the Colby's and yet they end up nearing the inevitability of being carted away by Steptoe and Son. It is like the addiction that a soap provides, where curiosity requires one to tune in the next night to see what happens next, but also like the good novel you can't put down because you need to know how it all ends. As has been said many times, it is the gift that keeps on giving. Life at Pompey is but a stage and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages, to paraphrase the Bard. Naturally, the one man playing many parts must refer to Chainrai, but also the Android and Storrie fit the bill well as supporting cast. And just to nail the final hypocrisy in his parting shots, does he really believe for one second that if the same happened to us, they wouldn't have a similar thread, and that he wouldn't be a contributor?
  24. It's either true or a bargaining tactic; similar to the one common in the Far East when buying counterfeit goods at a market stall, where one turns to walk away when quoted a price hoping that the vendor pleads for you to return, offering a lower price.
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