Wes Tender

We have been much more consistent recently and of course allowances have to be made by any reasonably sensible person for the repercussions following the departure of the former manager, as time is required to bed in the new manager. Currently, now those adjustments have taken place, we ARE dominating this league and if we continued in the same vein as the past several matches, we will be comfortably home and dry. And for one who is usually so measured in his comments, I'm surprised that you quote the example of Brighton, who despite not winning the past three games, are still topping the table. But presumably you don't accept that if that current form of theirs from the last three games continued, they might well be relegated at the end of the season. OK for them to have a hiccup, but not us, eh? Yes, they might have beaten us had they scored the penalty, but they didn't. Whether that is because of a briliant save by Kelvin, or an awful shot from Woods, or whether the penalty should have even been awarded, or why we weren't given one for the foul on Lallana, these are all part of the season's ups and downs and what counts is the points won or lost. Other than the penalty, we dominated them for much of the game, so frankly Brighton doesn't hold up as a good example for how they are somehow better than us. But I agree totally with your last line.

There were some on here who stated categorically that the departure of Pardew and the resultant repercussions, had jeopardised our chances of promotion this season. I sincerely hope that they are at least starting to feel that their predictions are beginning to look a bit silly and premature. We are very much in the hunt. The hiccup we suffered can also happen to other team above us. We can take points off those teams, as can they take points away from each other. Other top teams can lose players through injuries, suspensions or in the January transfer window and we can bring in players who could propel us forward. But at the very least we are playing far more attractive and entertaining football under Adkins than we were under Pardew and for that I am grateful.

I reckon he has been hospitalised following an accident. He over-inflated his rubber doll and it exploded whilst administering a blow job.

This

Yes, you can see that and I can see that too. And also that we weren't doing so great this season under the manager who left. But there are those on here who seem to have totally ignored that and think that we are currently struggling. These will be the ones who somehow think that we are in a sprint and not a marathon.

We're struggling, are we? Pardon me for having the impression that we were beginning to pick up after a slow start by Pardew and the dismal performance for those matches when he left. Why should you excuse the so-called top sides for not running away with it and not acknowledge that we are one of them? So they're allowed to slip up occasionally, but we aren't, is that it?

The report was only for the benefit of those Skates who can read, but do not have the intelligence to make up their minds that there may have been some anti-Saints bias in it. What has been conveniently overlooked by the fantasist Skate, is that last season in the FA Cup, we dominated the game against them and they only went ahead when substitutes were introduced that shouldn't have been on the pitch because the Skates were trading whilst insolvent. He seems to have forgotten that at that time, Pompey were a Premiership team while we were still in the third division. But as you say, one hopes that by next season, some calamity might have overtaken the cheats that means that we will be in the Championship whilst they are in this division or lower.

Population of London, 7.5 million. Population of Brighton 150,000. Do you think that there might be a reason why London has more gays than Brighton? I can't think of one off-hand.

Are you insinuating that both the referee and linesmen weren't watching like hawks where the ball was, all match? Shame on you for disparaging them like that! I agree though that Kelvin shouldn't have lost his cool in shoving their player in the back, but the way that Brighton played running down the clock it was frustrating and understandable.

Kelvin wanted to get the game moving, probably as frustrated as the rest of us at Brighton's blatant time wasting. He shoved their player in the back to get to the ball. Their player over-balanced and fell over. No malice intended and the ref saw it like that IMO. Ken Tone: I was in the Northam right behind the incident and it was clearly a punch and aimed at Barnard's head. Where was your view of it from?

Having browsed the whole thread, there is one thing I forgot to mention in my earlier summary and I see that nobody else has covered it. Brighton's no.3 should have been red carded. When the ball was crossed high into the box, Barnard jumped at it at the same time as their keeper, which he is entitled to do. Being Barnard, he put his usual commitment into the challenge. Their number 3 lost his rag and punched Barnard in the face. Because there was a bit of handbags just before where Barnard and he had a bit of pushing each other, the referee decided to speak to both of them, but the rules are clear; if a player strikes another like that, it is a red card. How would the match have turned out had their defender gone off? But it was just another incident highlighting the general incompetence of the Referee.

Agree wholeheartedly that Harding is the best LB in the division and hardly ever allows a player to get past him. As I already mentioned after SCOTN's post earlier, towards the end of the game, Brighton had identified our left flank as our weak point and exploited it. We looked tired there, but Harding battles right to the 90 minutes. Maybe Adkins is allowing Dickson a bit of a run to make his assessment of him and perhaps Harding has to wait until Dickson has a poor game, but Harding could come back in at any time and do a good job as far as I'm concerned.

Brighton are the division's pretenders to the throne. They can't be the real thing, the team with the right to be there because they are the best, or else they would have come here to beat us, instead of playing for the draw. If they were a really good team, one would have respect for them instead of contempt. How can one respect a team which cynically wastes time to run the clock down, a team of divers and foulers instead of one of skillful players? We were the team with bragging rights from the game, the more skillful and cultured footballers. We will beat them at Brighton, because they will have to play to win, as we will and when the game opens up, we will show them that we are better than them. The referee did everything in his power to try and give them the game, including awarding a penalty that wasn't, ignoring blatant fouls and dives and handballs by their players and allowing their goallie to take ages to take the kicks. But the important thing was that if we didn't win, we also didn't lose either. I believe that because of the negative way that Brighton set about the game, we will be the team with the psychological advantage. Things that stood out for me? Of course the incredible penalty save by Davis that kept us a clean sheet, also anotherr game unbeaten at St Mary's even against the supposed best team in the division. The amazing run by Jaidi, who would have scored one of the goals of the season had his finishing been as good as everything he did beforehand. Fonte and Jaidi solid again. The midfield combative, fighting for everything, although I would still have had Chaplow in there if not injured. I suspect that his direct running into the box would have produced something. A very good free-kick by Lambert that hit the foot of the post. We had the upper hand most of the game but couldn't find the goal scoring touch or the killer ball in the final third. Towards the end, we were weak down our left flank and they exploited it. Harding would have done a better job in protecting that flank IMO.

Well, that's very telling about his attitude. He forgot to add that he would want to be at a club where the fans wanted him to stay too, as shooting from the lip like that is likely to lose any support from us too and the attitude from many will now be good riddance if he doesn't want to be here. It's about time he had a good look at himself and wondered why it was that he had such an unsettled career so far. If the various managers he has played under don't rate him enough to want to keep him, the fault might just lie with him and his attitude. I made up my own mind about him when I saw him slouching about with his hands in his pockets at Markus Liebherr's service. I also feel that Adkins is probably a good man-manager and if he were to decide that Puncheon is not worth the extra effort, then it won't be long before he falls out with Millwall too. Although his nose may have been put out of joint because he has been replaced in the team and in the fan's affections by a 17 year old kid, he ought to reflect that had he buckled down and fought back, he would have earned more respect from Adkins and from us.

I've checked and you and I are correct. Hoddle was lured away to Spurs in March 2001 and so we had a vacancy. Redcrapp had just parted ways at West Ham in early May and we appointed Gray in June, after he had taken over as caretaker manager on Hoddle's departure. Gray only lasted three further months before Lowe realised his mistake and appointed WGS. Had we got in Redcrapp after Hoddle, I think that he might have done OK for us. He wasn't the same towards us later anyway having gotten the Skates promoted and maybe also because the first time around when the opportunity was there, he had been cold-shouldered when we had chosen the non-entity Gray.

I'm with you here. We should have got him the first time that he was available. He was living locally and seemed to be up for coming here, but apparently never got the telephone call from Lowe inviting him for an interview.

That might be, but Smears insinuated in his usual snide manner that it would probably come from some PR agency in London, his assertion based on nothing concrete, as usual.

And that is the main point, isn't it? We aspire to be promoted, so we are looking at players that could excel for us at a higher level too. Perhaps if he goes to D & R and excels there by becoming one of this divisions top scorers despite the poorer service that he might get from his team mates there, we might be more interested in buying him once they have taken the risk on him.

Ah! The inevitable response from Smears. Look, chummy, read the OP's question and try and comprehend what he has asked. It was expressed in perfectly simple and unambiguous language and simple enough to understand. I'm going to assume that you have not written any letter to him. Am I correct? If so you are not really qualified to comment on what the response from him would be. The OP is trying to establish that, do you see?

A good response to all those who believe that it is stupid to dismiss the possibility of us signing a player from the fourth division as unambitious. As I said, I'm quite happy for us to pick up promising youngsters and to develop them as teenagers, but a 23 year old that is starting to knock in goals in the fourth division doesn't fill me with excitement that he could do it at a higher level. The exceptions that have been cited, are those who prove the rule and are noteworthy purely for being the exceptions.

If it were us after him, I'd be decidedly underwhelmed. If we got a 16/17 year old kid with the sort of potential of AO-C or Lallana when we got him in as a kid, then fair enough. As it is, where we are now, we ought to be setting our sights a bit higher than a fourth division striker.

I'm all for his continued blathering. He's obviously somebody with a giant chip on his shoulder for some reason and appears to have some insider information which he leaks indiscriminately. It can't be good that such possibly sensitive internal information is being leaked like this, so the sooner he is apprehended and stopped, the better.

"It could be that his attitude isn't right and he has been let go to see whether he comes back with an improved outlook......." Seems to cover it IMO.

So we let go a player on one month's loan to a club in a higher division. The player in question is an enigma. He blows hot and cold. He has the skill, but he only shows it in patches. It could be that his attitude isn't right and he has been let go to see whether he comes back with an improved outlook, or fitter because he is playing more games than he would here. Compare him to Lallana. Their footballing skill levels might be similar, but one is a real asset that the club wish to keep, even in preference to selling him to a Premiership outfit for a large sum of money. Several top flight clubs have expressed interest in buying him. He is a one club player since we signed him as a youngster and he is developing nicely. Puncheon on the other hand has been let go by other clubs already, none really busting a gut to keep him. There are no Premiership clubs fighting to sign him. Perhaps that speaks volumes about him. If he does really well at Millwall and proves himself, then we can get him back, but if he doesn't take this opportunity to shine, then it will be his own fault if he is gaining a reputation as a skilled player wasting his talents, a gifted misfit.