suewhistle

Indeed, and the slowness of the defensive players we had last season in moving it forward also hinders us, along with their propensity to sit too deep. On Sunday Manning, who wasn't the only offender, always seemed to wait for his opponent to close him down and then passed inwards and across. I'm pretty certain that's not what Still wanted, although jumping up and down on the touchline isn't going to give the players more confidence. His half time talks seem to help though, and as he admitted, we wasted the first half. Downes I also found frustrating; he certainly hasn't played at his best for some time, and as a player whose strengths are to keep the play moving some of his passing wasn't good enough. How I wish we had somebody like Lavia or even Ugochukwo (sp?) who could take the ball on the turn instead of simply playing the way they are facing. Archer has obviously been given a task he's not really equipped to do, but at least he's now picked up the work rate and I hope a more physical presence up front could benefit him. A further week of training with all the new guys isn't much, but let's hope it makes a bit of difference.

Thank goodness The Cricketers has outside tables and a pedestrianised road outside.. buzzing..

Every motorway bridge from junction 8 on has police spotters on them plus a helicopter annoying Southampton Airport ATC!

I notice West Ham banned half and half scarves today for their match with Spurs. Will they be available for tomorrow's game, I wonder? 😉 I was just reading the MBM in the newspaper for the game and although he started haven't seen any mention of Mateus Fernandes. How have the 3 ex-Saints performed?

Presumably written by Factless Allen as he is known by many of us, following his interesting coverage of Portsmouth's affairs and various bankruptcies? He also has a most excrucuatingly juvenile style which, if I were being generous, might be due to the audience he is writing for, although I can't believe they _all_ have a reading age of 12. So I'll rely on your accounts here, cheers!

I thought, from memory, that the record crowd was 31,044!:-) At my age and height I didn't see much but at least we got in, just. The previous year my dad didn't believe my urging to be early and walk faster and I was most upset!

Interesting article in the paper today: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/11/girls-who-play-after-school-sport-in-uk-50-more-likely-to-later-get-top-jobs-study-finds This particular line jumped out at me:

Cost? Want to use their bus pass? Mind you, it would make sense if there is a group of you. Personally I'm not going to get the train service to Fratton and a dodgy replacement bus service, so I'll drive. But please can we win so I can go back to my local pub and gently wind them all up as I celebrate..

Badoom tish!

I don't know why but whenever I see the emoticons of Turkish and tdmickey laughing together at a post it makes me think of Beavis and Butthead.. I find it quite surprising that the posters who are so negative about women's football are so frequently on this thread, and one of them even started it! I avoid spending too much time here as it would be a bit of a waste of my time. I'll be there on Sunday and then rush off to see my women's grassroots team of which there are so many more than even 20 years ago..

Is that wig any relation of Michael Fabricant's?

My irony meter has just exploded. Ducky complaining about sexism!

Not through my eyes he doesn't. I think he needs to be played further forward though as Stoke's robust play impacted him and more than it might have done Dibling, I reckon.

Looks like MLG has a new apprentice. Thanks for the effort! It seems Tom Fellows has heard us at our full-throated best, but the game isn't a bad introduction to the others so we can show them that we may be quiet at times but give us something to cheer about and it's a great atmosphere.

So, what's new on this forum? I might have been casting aspersions on his maritime abilities, I might have just been bored, which the reference to the next match indicated or it might have indicated my need for a cuppa. Don't worry about it, I've seen far worse drivel on here.