Our league position is no fluke...

When people say we have had an easy start, it really irks me. We have made the most tackles, which suggests that we are hard working. It is the hard work and graft that has got us to where we are...

Just shows how much we are giving the ball away with the amount of tackles we are having to make to win it back. Also only an average of 2.4 shots on target per game so we're conceeding more than one in five of those, pretty poor by any standard. Just you wait until we face someone decent our lack of ball retention and poor goals against v shots against will bite us on the arse.

They are very good figures. We do look good defensively.

Could it possibly be that we have indeed played very well and we have also been given a reasonable run of fixtures?

Or is this a case of having two notions simultaneously occupying the mind represents too much of a strain for some ...

I think it also has to do with the big teams not really showing up this season. Chelsea and possibly City apart, the usual top eight are playing badly, which leaves a gap in the table that we can jump into. Long may it continue!

Just shows how much we are giving the ball away with the amount of tackles we are having to make to win it back. Also only an average of 2.4 shots on target per game so we're conceeding more than one in five of those, pretty poor by any standard. Just you wait until we face someone decent our lack of ball retention and poor goals against v shots against will bite us on the arse.

WTF you are taking the puss right?

We can only play and beat what is in front of us and that is what we are doing. In the two matches we have lost we have only lost by one goal. I don't think any of the "top" teams will fancy playing us. The only team I worry about is Chelsea.

WTF you are taking the puss right?

I'm meeting the Pope this afternoon. I'll ask him if he's catholic....

I'm meeting the Pope this afternoon. I'll ask him if he's catholic....

If you're passing through the woods on your way to the pope, can you check if bears really do **** in them?

I presume that graphic was from Monday Night Football? What else did they have to say?

If you're passing through the woods on your way to the pope, can you check if bears really do **** in them?

Polar bears don't

Well nothing really surprises me these days, some trolling of the highest order

 

Well nothing really surprises me these days, some trolling of the highest order

Turks has been practicing. His recent Bites-Per-Post ratio is right up there at the top of the table, the boy's hit a streak of form.

Turks has been practicing. His recent Bites-Per-Post ratio is right up there at the top of the table, the boy's hit a streak of form.

Although he's still a shadow of his former self and longs for the old days when he and Essruu would team up and farm bites by the dozen.

Turks has been practicing. His recent Bites-Per-Post ratio is right up there at the top of the table, the boy's hit a streak of form.

He hasn't come up against any of the big boys yet. The likes of Barry Sanchez will surely drop him down a peg but if he can keep it going Turkish could be in with a shout of the top 4 by the end of the season.

Although he's still a shadow of his former self and longs for the old days when he and Essruu would team up and farm bites by the dozen.

At least Essruu is funny though.

Although he's still a shadow of his former self and longs for the old days when he and Essruu would team up and farm bites by the dozen.

The early 00s were the golden time mongboarding though. You could run riot for days on end, having large groups of posters really going for it. The amount of times the banter crew would come on here and take the p*ss was ridiculous. Now the mods have got heavy handed with infraction points and bans meaning that it never really goes off on the main boards any more so you're best off looking for it in small groups on the bigger threads or on the lounge.

People talk about Barry Sanchez and Glasgow as the top boys of today but they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in the old days.

The problem with a lot of the youngster coming through is their more worried about post count and avatars than actually having it. You wouldn't get then wading onto a stadium expansion thread outnumbered and taking on MLG and Franks Cousin for example. They just want to be see on threads looking like they want it but always looking to the mods for protection.

The good old days are gone I'm afraid and if you play up these days you're risking a ban so whilst you do get the odd good row now and again it'll never be like the old days and why Essruu had hung up his keyboard only showing now and again. At least we can look back at the old threads and laugh about them, saying 'I was there' taking liberties on the seating threads, something the posters or today will never be able to do.

He hasn't come up against any of the big boys yet. The likes of Barry Sanchez will surely drop him down a peg but if he can keep it going Turkish could be in with a shout of the top 4 by the end of the season.

Everyone thinks they're a top boy until a top boy comes onto the thread.

Turks has been practicing. His recent Bites-Per-Post ratio is right up there at the top of the table, the boy's hit a streak of form.

Yeah but he has had an easy run so far!

Tom Huddlestone said that tactically we're the best team they've played against this season... and they've played Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/southampton/9545157/huddlestone-applauds-saints

Was in Southampton and speaking to a fellow poster.

While I don't mind Turks, other poster specifically mentioned him and said he was a c**t.

That there boys, is what we like to call mongboard glory. Escaped into real life, y'see.

Tom Huddlestone said that tactically we're the best team they've played against this season... and they've played Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

 

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/southampton/9545157/huddlestone-applauds-saints

Lol at the video linked at the bottom. Phil Thompson "Saints need to score more" - yeah imagine where we would be if we scored as many as all those other teams that have outscored us, y'know like Chelsea, and ermm...well that's it actually.

Yes obviously, it is mostly due to us hitting an awful Sunderland for 8, but still.

Lol at the video linked at the bottom. Phil Thompson "Saints need to score more" - yeah imagine where we would be if we scored as many as all those other teams that have outscored us, y'know like Chelsea, and ermm...well that's it actually.

 

Yes obviously, it is mostly due to us hitting an awful Sunderland for 8, but still.

Thing is, when you actually watch the video, he is asked about any weaknesses or areas to improve and he actually struggles to come up with that... he praises us loads and then says something like 'if i really had to criticise something, they could've scored a couple more' but only after initially saying we had no weaknesses. The Sky headline on that video is rather misleading.

Was in Southampton and speaking to a fellow poster.

 

While I don't mind Turks, other poster specifically mentioned him and said he was a c**t.

 

That there boys, is what we like to call mongboard glory. Escaped into real life, y'see.

That usually happens in my experience too, except it always involves Alpine_Saint instead of Turkish

Thing is, when you actually watch the video, he is asked about any weaknesses or areas to improve and he actually struggles to come up with that... he praises us loads and then says something like 'if i really had to criticise something, they could've scored a couple more' but only after initially saying we had no weaknesses. The Sky headline on that video is rather misleading.

Dammit Mints. Ruining my fun. I just like a lol at Thommo alright.

Sorry.

Take it out on Sky Headline writers instead...?

Thing is, when you actually watch the video, he is asked about any weaknesses or areas to improve and he actually struggles to come up with that... he praises us loads and then says something like 'if i really had to criticise something, they could've scored a couple more' but only after initially saying we had no weaknesses. The Sky headline on that video is rather misleading.

I would interpret what Thompson said as implying that when we meet Man City/Arsenal/Man Utd; the chances we wasted against QPR, Stoke and Hull would not go unpunished. I see that as the difference between us losing all three games and perhaps getting four points which would keep us in the top four.

That usually happens in my experience too, except it always involves Alpine_Saint instead of Turkish

Alpine is very much yesterday's man due to results, whereas Turks has managed to continue under these "difficult" circumstances.

The early 00s were the golden time mongboarding though.

I was a regular on the UI in its very early days. No registration, virtually no regulation, multiple user names, posters stealing one another’s identities, opposition supporters dropping in en masse, several Pompey lunatics in permanent residence – a bit like the forum equivalent of football on the terraces in the 70s and 80s!

I remember one time it all kicked off and led to a Pompey fan posting the name and address of one of the Saints posters, whilst encouraging his fellow skates to go round and set fire to his house … or something!

Have to say, though, in amongst all of the madness and mayhem, there was a lot of good discussion and banter. For a long time now, mainly due to time constraints, I’ve limited myself to posting solely on here; I’m guessing things have become a lot more regulated on the UI over the years?

Yeah but he has had an easy run so far!

Very true, and what if he picks up an injury to one of his key typing fingers? Does he have the depth to keep up the pace?

When people say we have had an easy start, it really irks me. We have made the most tackles, which suggests that we are hard working. It is the hard work and graft that has got us to where we are...

 

Who says we have had an easy start?

We can only beat what's put in front of us / we all start from 0 / it's always XI v XI

..and what about Goals For and Goals Difference etc?

Who says we have had an easy start?

 

We can only beat what's put in front of us / we all start from 0 / it's always XI v XI

 

..and what about Goals For and Goals Difference etc?

Is our start any easier than other clubs? They can't all have had difficult fixtures apart from us.

Is our start any easier than other clubs? They can't all have had difficult fixtures apart from us.

We haven't played any of the usual top sides from the past 5 years other than the two we've lost (away) to, but based on the current Prem table we've beaten both of the teams in 5th and 6th away, as well as a weakened Arsenal (4th) in the League Cup.

The question for me, is have those 5th and 6th placed sides, Swansea and West Ham also had "easy" fixtures?

"Shots faced" and "Shots on target", I am assuming means 1st is the team with the least?

Swansea have lost to Chelsea away, beat Man U away and drew away to Everton but haven't played any of the other top sides except Saints who they also lost to. Lots of top sides to play and probably a little over-rated.

West Ham beat City at home, lost to Man U away, lost to Saints and Spurs both at home. They're actually doing very well considering their fixtures so far.

City themselves have played all of the top 10 already except Swansea, Everton and Saints, which is a pretty tough set of fixtures.

Is our start any easier than other clubs? They can't all have had difficult fixtures apart from us.

Half the league have had to play Southampton, which is tougher than anyone we've faced thus far

If you split the league into thirds with the Top 'Big Club' seven

Chelsea

Man City

Arsena

Man Utd

Liverpool

Spurs

Everton

A not bad, could see them having a run in the cup six group of

West Ham

Swansea

Newcastle

Stoke

Hull

Villa

and a whatever bottom 6 of

West Brom

Sunderland

Palace

Leicester

QPR

Burnley

We have played 2 from the top group (both away), 5 from the middle group and 3 from the bottom group (all at home), so reckon we've had a fairly middling sort of start. Plenty of tough games to come, but also plenty of games that should be 'easy' (by comparision). What it shows is that we are doing really well and winning games against the sides we would probably see as in our mini league. I thought that last year was our best chance of breaking into the big teams mini league with managerial changes/poor squads but it look like this year gives us a pretty decent chance too.

If you exclude the possibility of us winning the league(!) which I think is pretty safe to do, then the next biggest prize is qualification for the champions league, which we have a chance of doing. Imagine getting some of the BIG European sides coming to St Marys!!!! Better than the cup anyday!

Was in Southampton and speaking to a fellow poster.

 

While I don't mind Turks, other poster specifically mentioned him and said he was a c**t.

 

That there boys, is what we like to call mongboard glory. Escaped into real life, y'see.

No it's worse than that in Turk's case - they just shrug their shoulders and say they 'who?' To get nsignificant to register much of an impact

(as he was so kind as to name drop me, thought I would return the favour - quick I better hide or ask the mods for protection.... He is so big and tough )

If you split the league into thirds with the Top 'Big Club' seven

 

Chelsea

Man City

Arsena

Man Utd

Liverpool

Spurs

Everton

 

A not bad, could see them having a run in the cup six group of

West Ham

Swansea

Newcastle

Stoke

Hull

Villa

 

and a whatever bottom 6 of

West Brom

Sunderland

Palace

Leicester

QPR

Burnley

 

We have played 2 from the top group (both away), 5 from the middle group and 3 from the bottom group (all at home), so reckon we've had a fairly middling sort of start. Plenty of tough games to come, but also plenty of games that should be 'easy' (by comparision). What it shows is that we are doing really well and winning games against the sides we would probably see as in our mini league. I thought that last year was our best chance of breaking into the big teams mini league with managerial changes/poor squads but it look like this year gives us a pretty decent chance too.

 

If you exclude the possibility of us winning the league(!) which I think is pretty safe to do, then the next biggest prize is qualification for the champions league, which we have a chance of doing. Imagine getting some of the BIG European sides coming to St Marys!!!! Better than the cup anyday!

Trouble is, your groups don't correspond to the current table. I'd have much rather faced Everton or Man U than West Ham given their form so far this season (though we beat West Ham away anyway). Also, West Brom are currently above 4 of the teams in the "middle" group.

Not sure why anyone mentions Essruu and Turkish in the same breath. Essruu was/is funny, Turkish tries too hard and then pretends he doesn't care when anyone calls him out.

Neither are a patch on Deppo though.

Trouble is, your groups don't correspond to the current table. I'd have much rather faced Everton or Man U than West Ham given their form so far this season (though we beat West Ham away anyway). Also, West Brom are currently above 4 of the teams in the "middle" group.

There's no trouble The9.

I think that my groupings are reasonable, though, as you say there is an argument for saying that our start is tougher than my theory suggests. However, I'm happy enough that we aren't just some fluke because of some anomaly in the fixture lists. If we carry on as we are, our final position will be determined by the results that we get against the big teams as we seem to be comfortably outperforming the other teams in our mini league.

I think beating Stoke home & away and Hull away in one week is quite tough.

I'm not sure that many other teams could achieve that, big or not.

I think beating Stoke home & away and Hull away in one week is quite tough.

I'm not sure that many other teams could achieve that, big or not.

Agreed!

Not to mention beating Swansea and Arsenal away (okay that was in the cup, but how many other teams go there and win?)

There's no trouble The9.

 

I think that my groupings are reasonable, though, as you say there is an argument for saying that our start is tougher than my theory suggests. However, I'm happy enough that we aren't just some fluke because of some anomaly in the fixture lists. If we carry on as we are, our final position will be determined by the results that we get against the big teams as we seem to be comfortably outperforming the other teams in our mini league.

I think your groupings are reasonable too, based on pre-season expectations - but not when based on results so far. Obviously only May will bring the answers to whether we had an easy start or not, though December and January will give us a decent indication.

It depends what you consider "normal": Looking at the table our defeats at Liverpool and Spurs were outliers as we should have got draws at least, and the West Brom home draw was one too. Then again, our wins at Swansea and West Ham might have been overperformances compared to league position.

Anyway, no-one wants to be able to predict everyone's final position based on where they "should" be, it wouldn't be worth watching then.

I think beating Stoke home & away and Hull away in one week is quite tough.

I'm not sure that many other teams could achieve that, big or not.

We did well, and are clearly likely to finish above both of them in the League. My concern is when that 3 game week becomes a regular feature and we're playing the likes of Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal with little recovery time.

Agreed!

 

Not to mention beating Swansea and Arsenal away (okay that was in the cup, but how many other teams go there and win?)

In the last 5 years the following teams have beaten Arsenal at the Emirates in domestic Cups:

Saints, Chelsea, Blackburn, Man City.

Dortmund, Bayern, Schalke in CL too.

Plus domestically a draw with Leeds, defeat to Birmingham at Wembley and they also lost to then League 2 Bradford away in the league cup in this period.

Probably more importantly, you can normally only lose one match per domestic cup per season so assuming a 50/50 split with home and away draws, there should only be 5 domestic cup teams at most on the list plus CL sides anyway, there are 4. But 3 of them are current top 3 Premier League sides.

I think beating Stoke home & away and Hull away in one week is quite tough.

I'm not sure that many other teams could achieve that, big or not.

Absolutely spot on Tom & Gerry!

Absolutely spot on Tom & Gerry!

Indeed, the resin why weare top 4 is because we have been doing what top 4 sides do consistently - best most sides from 6 or 7 down. We have no idea how long it will continue but as others have said lets just enjoy and see what happens - I get the feeling though that RK and the players see the possibilities of a surprisingly good season

No it's worse than that in Turk's case - they just shrug their shoulders and say they 'who?' To get nsignificant to register much of an impact

 

(as he was so kind as to name drop me, thought I would return the favour - quick I better hide or ask the mods for protection.... He is so big and tough )

Just like the days when you use all your posts in a day talking about me, hey pal.

I was a regular on the UI in its very early days. No registration, virtually no regulation, multiple user names, posters stealing one another’s identities, opposition supporters dropping in en masse, several Pompey lunatics in permanent residence – a bit like the forum equivalent of football on the terraces in the 70s and 80s!

 

I remember one time it all kicked off and led to a Pompey fan posting the name and address of one of the Saints posters, whilst encouraging his fellow skates to go round and set fire to his house … or something!

 

Have to say, though, in amongst all of the madness and mayhem, there was a lot of good discussion and banter. For a long time now, mainly due to time constraints, I’ve limited myself to posting solely on here; I’m guessing things have become a lot more regulated on the UI over the years?

In the 70s we took their ends

In the 80s we took their city centres

In the 90s we took their pubs

In the 00s we took their mongboards