suewhistle

Third choice: go to training as usual and then check on the car radio on the way home whether it's worth trying to watch the second half..

Go down a pub with Sky and spend the money on three pints. You might not see a Saints win but at least you'll have had three pints..

I thought most people wanted Bazunu dropped, for obvious reasons, similarly there have been complaints when a certain centre back has been played and THB being dropped has been due to his form. So I'm not sure what people want: are you saying people should be played regardless of form or fitness?

The film I saw of him coaching the players at Lens I thought showed him comfortable with them and confident and clear in his coaching. The formal media stuff he obviously hates, and surely it will help when he can do an interview after a convinving win!

Quite. It would be easier if he'd been injured and we then had the excuse that he needed to get match fit.

He doesn't seem very good, but it's patently obvious that his confidence is shot, and we're not getting a representation of what his true level is. We need to put some team to the sword and then bring him on to hopefully get a goal as well, as scoring is the only thing I think will bring any improvement.

OK, I'll tell you next time I make a joke. I hope Dr Who? had fun with his Wainrights and he understood it was a joke.

I'm pretty certain I saw a four for the price of three offer in a local supermarket. They'll go well with this afternoon's wood fired pizza.. 5 would make me a bit burpy though..

Your question doesn't make sense. It implies that they don't want him to succeed, or the team for that matter, and that it is entirely in Robinson's best interests to play. Why do you think he hasn't been played even more by the coaches, their personal whims? Progress isn't linear for young players, it may depend more on external factors which we don't know about, whether growth spurts or minor muscle strains or degree of physical maturity or whatever. One thing for sure is that at the professional level the degree of monitoring is comprehensive. We have seen that overplaying players can cause issues, so perhaps they do have have _his_ best interests in mind?

That's interesting, and I'd probably only comment that Quarshie seems to have potential but occasionally shows his naivety and inexperience and gets affected in a game if he makes a mistake. I'd say Azaz has been a bit disappointing, but I'm not writing off anyone yet. What about Jander who I think should be in the second group?

Really?! Haven't seen anything on here since I put him on mute quite some years ago, and he knows that too. Without getting too personal, you only have to look at the thread subjects he starts in The Lounge and the number of contributions on them to get a measure of the guy. Someone I know who knows him in real life says he's ok, which potentially makes him even sadder as an on-line bully. Thanks for your concern Verbal, but don't worry about me. As for Martin, he certainly will have been maxing out his ISAs for a number of years, and he seems to have the knack of getting quite highly paid free time through contracts (presumably) being paid up. Which team will now suffer from poor defending, sideways passing and a pedestrian attack from his firm conviction that winning badly is a bad thing?

If I were to be grabbing at straws (and I so definitely am) I'd say he appeared to be putting in more effort.. I'm sure the player himself isn't stupid and his confidence must be shot, but I'm not sure what the answer is beyond swapping places with Akachukwu from the reserves for a spell? But although Still might not want to play him it's highly embarassing for his employers and management who recruited him and might be putting pressure on the manager.

- Turning on the fans "I just wish the fans could enjoy the team winning" I bet they do. One win, isn't it?

I saw enough of it and they replayed bits too, but the "negative posters" are mostly the ones who are always negative so I'll stand by my opinion, thanks.

Just back from the pub, still in my kit from earlier training. A quick skim from the thread and I've decided there is a business opportunity in cut throat razors for some of the more negative posters on this thread. I missed a lot of the first half and the half time stats looked in our favour but, as the penalty showed, we aren't that good at putting the ball in the net. We should have done better, but FM, some of you do like to wallow in negativity. I'm pleased for Stewart as scoring for a striker is their raison d'etre and helps future performances. Not always though, as Armstrong's abject penalty showed..

Hee hee. In the pub and I've got a Portsmyth expert next to me.. How bad Saints' support is and all those tiresome clichés. Think I'll have another pint just to listen to his incoherent mutterings.

The scary part is I don't know if you are taking the piss or not!!

I'd rather not have an ID card and I'd leave it at home rather than lose it, but most (all?) European countries have them and having lived in one I'm rather more sanguine about them than some here. As long as Crapita don't get involved!

At the level Valenciennes play there are sometimes teams that I don't know where they come from, and tonight Villefranche! [There's a village of that name I know in Italy!] Also I thought they had the nickname the Canedoise? So without googling can you help Christophe?🙂 PS I also heard Bourg-en-Bresse mentioned??

I'm not sure he received many passes, particularly in dangerous areas. He was taking up wide positions but not receiving the ball, or at least that is my recall - which admittedly is pretty poor these days!

I think this is why a lot of us are having problems!. Watching in the pub I thought the eventual scorer was offside, and was just wondering whether it was a special Anfield rule?

Or the USMNT? I agree with SWLondon that it must be an adjustment or confidence thing, but agree with others re effort. Perhaps he needs a start where WS tells him to run his lungs out for as long as possible being a pain to defenders and then bring on Stewart when he flags. Just get in their faces like Davies, Beattie, Shane Long..

Re 9B.. I once played with a lass who used to have a little swig of grappa just before leaving the changing rooms for K.O. A fast forward who scored some good goals. Perhaps that's what Damion needs, or are they allowed beta blockers?

Yes, and the one I least expected to enjoy but went to watch out of duty..

That was a lot better team performance and some good crisp passing at times which was a definite improvement. The defence was better, actually doing that defending bit, and Wood kept it simple and strong. Quarshie, I thought, looked a lot more comfortable and was calling for the ball. Jander and Jelert looked comfortable, DownEs looked fitter and more effective again, Scienza also comfortable but over-thought the header. Downs is regretful, Robinson we didn't feed at all. Their goals weren't triumphs of amazing play, were they? The second I thought was offside in the first phase when Chiesa received the ball and Ekiteke at that moment was offside, but I've long forgotten the offside laws, particularly at Anfield. The sending off though was hilarious: I commented to a neutral in the poub that he'd just managed to get himself in the book all on his own, and then to take his shirt off shows quite impressive stupidity (or the sort of short term memory I now suffer from). Perhaps there should be a club fine and every amateur club in the area get a free match ball with stenciled on it some appropriately embarassing phrase..