OldNick

the long contract for Lawrence has to be down to getting a better price for him.

every trick in the book. What integrity Cotterill had went straight out of the window. I dont particularily like him, but I always felt he was a man of his word. Seeing that today makes me realise that he is no better than the lot of them.Good job they lost, he will be out of another league game now.

I did say below par, not a bad game. His distribution was very poor and I expect better of him in that department.

a very good performance. Richardson the only player who was below par IMO. I thought their midfielder Harley was very good and would be delighted if we signed him. Guly was good again. The period in the second half when we created chance after chance was very entertaining. LB must have been a birt rusty as I believe he would have scored before he did had he been sharp. RL was unselfish and I would have loved him to have got a goal he deserved. AL really does need to improve his goalscoring ability if he wants to step up a grade or two. Overall very happy.

Its good to see that DD and Appy have the balls to say they might have got it wrong. Perhaps the posts on here made them look more at his performance and then saw more of his other play. As for LB, I hope his misses were down to rustiness. I would play Guly ahead of him even before yesterday.

DD correct i was questioning Adkins was the correct choice after the brentford performance and the first 15 or so minutes against Huddersfield, but he did something that changed the team and I maybe wrong. That of course has nothing to do with Guly's abilities. If it is so easy to create goals then we may as well put anyone in who can have the foresight to see the pass.

the fee is reportedly 250k a make up bag and a packet of poppers, not sure how true that is though

Bloody hell. who let the dogs out?..................only kidding Ump.

not suggesting that after watching on 5-6 occasions but if you can't see the skill in some of those assists then you will always miss out on the finer things in the game. I mentioned the 2 players as you were rubbishing the art of a good 3 ft-yard pass, not saying he is as good as those players It is not all about running, but football is a craft and only a few footballers have got that. IMO Guly has signs that he has got something about him.

i think you have made a misjudgement, no shame in that and in time will see what a lot of others can in him

I doubt you rated Beardsley or Sherringham in that case. Those 3 yard passes are very difficult in those tight situations.

Turkish, i'm not against him staying or leaving. I believe that if he really wants to leave the club are helpless, it doesnt matter if he is on a 10year contract, the agents unsettle the player so much , that the club are forced to sell. I have put elsewhere that I believe if we got 3m +adds on and the money s spent on the squad I would be happy.

reading the original thread title i thoguht it was going to be about a replay of the saints v charlton youth!!! I was about to call crimestoppers and get the Old Bill clued up about it

As much as i would love to be wrong, i can't see any club outside the top 4 being able to do so, and even they have to fight the lure of Madrid and Barcelona. Personally I have found that having these starlets a curse. I understand that is bizarre, but when you see Norwich who have been able to keep their top players as they are not quite PL and so have been able to climb the leagues without the heart/stars being stripped out. The loss of our starlets has caused so much angst and upset over the years, it can't help the squads morale

The big clubs are not fools, they know the thought of them being interested will worm away at the lads brain and unsettle him. The player may lose some of his form effect the squad and may be more of a hindrance. Do you think his first thought at present is the excitement of walking out at SMS or the prospect of walking out at Anfield ,Stamford bridge etc. That will have a bearing on how long we can hold out for these wonderful prices you feel we will get for him. Taking a good price for him with add ons and perhaps a loan back is the best we can really hope for if the lad wants to leave. IMO, when/if we get back to the PL we still will be a selling club of our top players. I cannot see the situation where players will want to choose us rather than Man U Madrid barcelona etc. Realism rules in my mind, not the fantasy land where the worlds best young players yearn to play in L1 or the Championship

Taking note of your user name i suspect you are not a youngster and so Im surprised that you dont see what Guly brings to the team. I like Barnard for his commitment and endeavor but is he really that a potent goalscorer for us?

I vote Deppo the King of the site. Without a doubt the most entertaining member on here, and he should awarded an immunity card of ever being banned. Iam currently the most successful 'Forum team manager' and so I dont require any other awards. I will accept the award of being 'the most annoyingly right poster' due to my stance of 'Pompey will get away with it' Even i hate myself for being correct on that one, and give myself 100 lashes a night in punishment

I agree about the racist thing being wrong,but your assessment of Fuller is not correct in my mind. Fuller got the wrath of the fans for 2 main reasons 1. being ex pompey 2. for costing only 90k (a bargain). He was never made to feel welcome. The timing was bad for him as we were all frustrated in us selling all the stars and only spending 90k. I bet if we could get a player as good as him for 90k now we would not scoff like some did then

Kicking to the northam 2nd half has been something i have banged on about for a few years. I understand that winning is not just down to what end we kick to, but if you ever want to relive the games we have collapsed in your mind, each and every time is when the oposition has been kicking to their fans second half. From memory the classic Leeds 3-0 up lost 4-3 Relegation season Everton, Boro, Villa Im sure there are many others fans will recall. I know Im getting on and recall the late 60's /70's 80's but in those days it was always that Man u would kick to the Stretford, Liverpool the Kop and even us to the Milton second half. If it gained us 1 extra point over a season then we shoudl do it.Im sure the stats would show our win percentage kicking to the Northam 2nd half would be far better.

you forgot DMG. Saying that it is not down to colour, but a mixture of ignorance, arrogance, a belief that we should have better players than we have, and not recognising that you dont have to run around like a headless chicken everytime you are 20 yards from the ball. The common theme with those listed is the accusation that they dont have good body language.lol. MLT looked uninterested and didnt run his ******** off, he just came alive when he got on the ball. I understand why fans like to see players running and chasing aka Barnard, but if you care to watch Guly did a lot of that yesterday (in all games), it is just unfortunate he doesn't interact with the crowd when they give him praise. He is like Ballotelli (Spl ?)and rarely looks happy.

what about the other 20%?

in the 2nd half he took the defence away to leave hammond a free run and shot, that was one of the many good things he did. I was in the Northam end, but his header did not look as easy at some think it was, he was to the left of the goal and not in the middle, and whilst he made a hash of it, it was not an easy chance from where I was.

All credible thoughts. They also look a decent side and had the players who could cause us problems. NA must have changed something for us to improve. IMO it was RL's superb goal, but no doubt the tacticians on here will tell us what NA did to change the flow.

I think you will find he is a fair representation of football fans, especially if you listen to some of the stuff in the Northam that gets shouted at times.

i agree but i do not believe that Ox is in the same class as bale and never will be. The first time i saw Bale play I was enthused by him, Ox did not make me feel the same. He is obviously a talent, but is it his pace or his overall play that sets him apart?