SKD

Completely agree - I've been very critical of Redmond (mainly early part of this season) as I've been crying out for him to get a bit of confidence and use his pace to trouble the defense. He started to do it (think last couple of months) and lone behold he became one of our best players, when he's not, he brings us absolutely nothing though, IMO...

Also, how many goals have we scored from set pieces this season (genuine question)? from memory 1 (VVD's goal against Tottenham at home).

This has the potential to be one of the worst games of the season, with both teams lacking quality in the final third. A boring 0-0 is my prediction. My only concern is that Benteke could bully our CB's and they'll no doubt use pace down the wings to get crosses in the box.

This time next year he'll be our best player. Just like Mane, he has the quality, but needs time to adjust.

:lol: 2 out of 10. Was a 5 until you mentioned that the sponsors wouldn't be happy if we don't achieve a point per game average at the end of the season.

Pretty much agree with this. Ake or Zouma (probably Ake given Zouma's recent injury and uncertainty if he'll fully recover) with Semendo would be my choice.

We've historically been very good at spotting a CB so if he does go, i'm not that concerned. For me, replacement would be Ake + another black box special i.e Lovren, Toby & VVD.

Top 20? name 19 better than him? I'd personally say he is the best / in the top 2 in the PL only rivaled by Toby. IMO he'd walk into any team in the world and as you've pointed out, he will only develop and get better. Chelsea with Conte would be a great move for him and his career. Similar to Morgan's move to united, I wouldn't blame him!

I'd say it's scaremongering to try and get the fans on board of this american bloke. We can't afford this, we need him he's our savior ect.... I would absolutely p!ss myself if the the majority reject the takeover

pains me to say it, but they (Pompey) are more of an attractive proposition than Orient. However, Orient is a great example of a rich owner not necessarily meaning success. We got very lucky (well clearly we had the assets so I guess not that lucky), we got an owner (a very rich owner) who put a chairman in place, like him or not, who was very business savvy and got 'football people' in and around him - not sure the same will be said about them. I'm sure I saw somewhere on twitter (I think it was factless Allen) that they believe under their current model the feel they can get into the championship, however it will cost around £20m (seems very high, but then again it came from Mr Allen) to sustain championship football. The simple fact of the matter is: Us & Bournemouth will always get the best kids in this area so will never (unlikely to) make millions on an academy product. With their limited attendances, match day income will be next to nothing unless the massively overprice tickets, therefore loosing fan base (lets be honest, someone coming from USA/China isn't going to choose to go there are they with Brighton and us either side). They are not as big and attractive as they think they are (granted they probably are for L2). Any player joining them, will be doing so for money and money alone. Unless this bloke comes in and builds a new stadium (which will have to be miles out of the city, therefore probably affecting fan base), to increase revenue, they have absolutely no chance and will probably just end up back in administration... Again. I'm feeling some fun times ahead.

Disagree. Play on until that phase of play is over. Either the attacking team score (decision reviewed and stands / ruled out) or the attacking team miss in which case it will not matter anyhow. Personally I cannot see this / TV replays being a bad thing for the game and it will certainly level the playing field. however maybe that's because i'm still bitter about the awful decisions from the linesman in against United (clear goal disallowed) and Tottenham (A hack at Tadic not given as a pen). Let's be honest, the don't get many wrong, so surely it is better to eradicate the few wrong calls.

My god, I don't think I had really realised how bad of a situation they are in, until I had read that. So to summarise they currently have: A stadium that is literally rotting and falling apart, and requires a minimum of £4m to keep it running. No training facilities. No academy. A squad valued at probably below £10m I really do not see what is in this for any investor. I doubt one that is looking to asset strip would want to touch them lot. If this new bloke is serious then he will need to cover the costs of a new stadium, proper training facilities and invest in an academy, you're looking at £100m alone for that.

As said previously, I can understand why they have done it, but agree with what you have said above (they would have received the same amount of marketing had they done it for us). My biggest gripe is that not one other club the PL have charged us £20 this year. In fact every ticket is now £30, some of which would have been £20/£25 last year I suspect. Personally, without looking at the figures, I'd say that the £30 away rule has actually balanced itself out and we're (those who attend every away) not saving anything.

I think the only difference between Everton and us is pay, and probably manager (they'll finish top 7 this year we have been last 2). So you're probably right, he'll go to them. Although we have the old 'come to us go to a top 4 team in 2/3 years' trick up our sleeve, so if he wants more than money, we may be onto a winner.

Which means he probably will as the Echo generally know about as much as most on here.... ***** all

Thanks for the summary, Shroppie. Even with dyslexia it was less of a battle reading that, than it would have been to watch.

This. It seems they are going all out for the FL without any real plan (on the pitch). If they don't come up soon (or actually get a plan together on the pitch), I can see them falling back to exactly where they came from.

He is without doubt the worst poster on here. Always banging on about having a balanced opinion, however cannot accept when someone has a bad word to say about the club. It's hard to deny that Puel comes across very dull and boring in interviews.

Any defender that wouldn't choose Conte is off their head. VVD would be unbelievable in that Chelsea defense.

Why, because they don't want to listen to his dull and lifeless interviews?

If we do sell VVD we will need 2 CB's otherwise we are 1 injury away from being in this position again next year. A combination of Sakho / Ake / Carceres (granted this is based on previous reputation and I haven't actually seen him play) would do for me, suspect it may be the first 2. Realistically everyone is resigned to loosing VVD either this or next summer and Ake coming the other way would certainly soften the blow. £40/45m + Ake, would put us in a strong position to fill the required gaps (2nd CB (Sakho), CM/AM (Sigurdsson)) and that's without considering any other possible/linked sales (Tadic, Bertrand, Cedric). A massive summer ahead, Les!

I rate Tadic, highly. However if we are to sell, (I wouldn't be too surprised if we did) Sigurdsson would be the ideal replacement IMO. Have a funny feeling we will end up with Ben Arfa though.

Yep, I first heard (saints related) it in Israel.. A group of lads a row or 2 ahead of me were trying to get it going all game. Heard Leicester sing it earlier this season, Grimsby 2 or 3 years ago, England start of this qualifying campaign... the list goes on.. for them to try and take credit for it is absolutely laughable. Strange bunch.

For half the season he was. I don't think anyone didn't realise his potential / ability, it was more frustration that he didn't put it to use (lack of confidence I put it down to).

Ignore them mate, there's no reasoning with these people. I've no doubt that those stating that Islamic immigration is not the problem are those tarring all England fans with the same brush. I can't be bothered to read back through, but I'd be interested to see the views of that idiot who was promoting anti Israel demonstrations at the be'er sheva game. One suspects he is not assuming all Muslims are responsable for a minorties actions as he was with the Israelis. (May I add not my view just pointing out his stupidity, IMO of course).