itchen

Told ya!

We will win this game. Despite the fact we are LOSING.

Yep. The moment Alps popped up to add this wisdom has been coming for weeks. We may lose but there's about 40 minutes to go yet. Cheer up.

Why? It's the team that won for the first half of the season.

Funniest thing I've read on this thread. Well done.

But Lib Dems have always made promises they can't keep because they never thought they'd be in power. Still can't quite believe they are.

Now that's just being silly. The people in Pompey, as a whole, are no better and no worse than people in any other city, including Southampton. Some of their supporters are repulsive and offensive and the dregs of society. But name me a football club where that doesn't apply. I work in Pompey with many Pompey supporters and they, surprising though it may seem, are decent people, working for a living, looking after their families and doing their best. They just happen to support their local team. If people didn't support their local teams, we'd only have the likes of Man U and Chelsea left to play. Yes, I hate the way that Pompey as a football club have behaved and cheated their way through. But keep it in proportion. A bit of banter is one thing. Hating all the residents of a city 20 miles away is not really rational or mature.

There's just no point in the match threads anymore, they stop it being even slightly enjoyable. We're topping a league for the first time in my saints supporting life, I'm liking it personally. Might not stay there, but so be it. It's clear now certain posters will never be positive, never be happy and never seem to get much joy from their club. In L1 we definitely weren't going up, they wrote us off after EVERY slip up (one genius in september, go on, guess), then they say we'll mess it up at the end, then that we messed it up only coming 2nd. Then that we'd struggle, didn't spend enough, signed wrong players, didn't sign early enough, players wouldn't make the step up etc. Then that our start wouldn't last long, that we didn't strengthen enough. And then? Then the biggest joke of all, that being top isn't enough, we should actually be miles clear at the top and we've messed it up, we need lots of signings, lots of money spent or it'll all go wrong. No thought towards budgets, no thought that the manager will do what he can whatever the finances, no appreciation of our achievements so far, no apparent memory of all the time we've been awful over the years, no memory of nearly losing the club, no awareness of overspending, no attempt to be positive and absolutely no enjoyment of our club. THAT is why the match threads and their loud minority of tedious wristslitting, bedwetting overreacting pathetic nobheads can fck right off. I agree with every word in that post.

You're right. Obviously, our failure to score in the first 45 minutes means that we can't possibly score in the second 45 minutes. Whereas City's failure to score in the first 45 minutes means that they will certainly score in the second 45 minutes.

I have a suggestion for you...

Not up for it or interested? On what do you base this?

No he's not.

Yep. That's why they are all in the Premiership now.

Possibly. But part of our success has been playing a consistent team who generally know what each other are going to do. It's hard to know where to draw the line balancing the two (which is why Adkins gets the big bucks and I don't). I think we do need to bring in one or two players if we can get the right ones - it's not simply our decision. But I also think that two poor away results is not a cue for panic and despondency (or elation as it seems for one or two people) given what we've achieved this season. We will lose games that we expect to win. Adkins will learn the lessons and I am confident he will strengthen where necessary and where possible.

I think the bigger picture is that we are top of the league and 8 points clear of 3rd.

Oh stop being so melodramatic. Even on your terms, to chuck it away means we must have achieved it in the first place. Nobody is arguing that it wouldn't be nice to have a striker as good as Lambert as back up but would anybody that good come to Saints just to sit on the bench for most games? And, yes, we are all frustrated that our away form is not as good as our home form. It's just that some people seem to take a perverse pleasure in saying this as often and as tediously as possible when we go behind but are largely absent when things are going well.

There will be more if we end up losing. Be fair, they haven't had much chance so far this season.

Does it have a feather in it?

Careful. We'll have no hat tricks here.

Sounds like we're doing pretty well - dominating possession with plenty of attacks, corners and free kicks just outside the area. Rovers keep trying to hit us on the break but so far we've been equal to that. Would probably have scored if Lambert had been on the pitch but Guly and co seem to be doing pretty well. I reckon we'll score more than them in the second half.

A local game for local people?

Lambert?

Bloody hell, was it an early kick off? Putting aside your obsession with seeing the worst in every situation, I'm a bit puzzled by your use of tense. Are you saying that people don't want us to strengthen next month if possible? Because I don't think I've seen anyone say that. What they may have said is that we should strengthen if we can attract the right player(s) but, if not, we've probably got a good enough squad.

He may have played for Pompey but I like David James. Seems to be among the more thoughtful footballers. That said, I hope he has a dreadful game today.

Two more than Pompey have at the moment, apparently.