Hopkins

Fonte? I'd like to point out that being dominated in the air by Pericard and being given the run around, and skinned and generally not being able to keep track of Austin, is not criteria for being our best player. He had some nice interceptions, mainly towards the end when Austin had gone off and tried driving us forward from the back but nowhere near our best player last night. Nor was Barnard, who did what exactly? Ran round a bit, put a bad tackle in, screamed at the ref and ran off? Super! Morgan was our only midfielder willing to actually come get the ball and spray a pass and Ox was the only one who when he came on looked like he wanted to have a bit of a go. Connelly did quite well without any luck. Lack of Lambert movement didn't help.

You haven't? Anyway, I have and therefore my opinion is much more valid than yours. Personally I thought he looked exactly like a right footed Brazilian Centre Midfielder would look if he was played Left Wing on his debut in a clash between 2 League One teams. Completely shocked and confused. Horrible decision to stick him out there, his passing was crisp and simple and he was pretty athletic, he's clearly a centre midfielder and I think he'd do quite well there but to judge him on a game where he's played left wing is just absurd. Especially as your basing your smugness on someone else's reports.

This with your attempted smugness in the Arteta thread makes you look like a right goon.

If Shearer gets the job, god help us all. Footballing knowledge = 0. His punditry in SA showed that. "What do we know about Slovakia Alan?" "Ummm, well obviously not alot Gary, umm...haha...umm...(Intense listening into his ear piece).....Hamsik is good" How about you do some research Alan? How about when you know what games you are working on, you learn a bit about the teams? How about you actually try learning something and offer an insight into the game that the viewers have tuned into watch? How about, a young man, aspiring to be a manager, actually uses the opportunity of going to SA as a chance to study tactics, players, different styles of football so that if you are ever given a managers job you have some knowledge to draw on....HOW ABOUT YOU READ A COPY OF MATCH MAGAZINE WHILE YOUR SAT ON THE BOG. In other words...No thanks.

Vasell off to Notts County apparently.

Hahahahahaha. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8955046.stm Having to be told by Levein. Amazing how ignorant the media really is.

Good. Rather Cortese did it now and got on with it rather than just waiting around. Should have done it Pre Season but bottled it. Anyway I'd heard rumours a while back about this being on the cards and Pardew wanting out too but it became a bit of a stand off. Something might have happened to trigger it. Reed has been looking for a new manager for a while now, it was part of his duty when bought in, so I doubt it will be long before someone comes in. Anybody but Shearer. Can't see O Neill or Eriksson as has been suggested but i'd be happy enough with Zola.

No Huddlestone is the biggest joke. SWP over Lennon too. Amazing. Not fussed by Carson, hardly a failure on one game as he's never going to play so what's the harm. Upson will be booted out once Terry is fit so not bothered by him unless he plays in which case help us all. Thank god there is no Carroll though. He's poor anyway, but until he's done it over a few games he shouldn't be anywhere near the squad. Nor should Carlton Cole either though. Zamora would obviously be in if fit though. England so boring and I wouldn't at all be suprised if they struggle against the Swiss.

There won't be an easier/better chance of getting to Wembley ever again after this season (hoping we are promoted). To wish us to lose is just stupid and we will regret it in a few seasons time. It's not a priority but it's sure as hell something we should be aiming to defend when the games come round.

Don't try and act smug about my posts when you clearly don't know the rules. That is all. Arteta is not eligible for England and you should never post again. Thankyou. Good night xxx

Depends on how good he is. Don't think it will be out of sheer desperation though. More down to whether he's good enough to play or not. If he proves he's good enough, he'll play. If he doesn't, he won't. He's a different player to Papa so to compare there abilities is a bit harsh, but the similarities of the deal are obvious. This is a good thing, using contacts you have to make deals. It happens at every club. What also happens at every club is the Manager is not the only one who makes the decision on player signings. It is no secret that Pardew/Cortese/Reed/and the Chief Scout are all communicating regarding deals, and thats the way it should be too. It's always good to have opinions from others, including scouts, Reed, and Cortese (who I have no doubt, only offers the financial side of the deal, arguably the most important though). Pardew would have seen and known enough about this player, who may have had come to Cortese's or a scout we may have working for us out in Italy attention through his contacts and the likes of Reed/Scouts offer their expertise and get info regarding the player too. As I said, this happens at almost every club. Most notably Man United, where Fergie himself has openly admitted he has spent £7m on a player he's never seen before, on the word of a scout who he trusts and has working for him over in Portugal. I'd hate to see your reaction to that deal if you were a Man United fan. Fergie himself has said that's a risk, just like you keep banging on about Gully being a risk (Pardew's words) for us. That happens. Welcome to the world of modern football. It's moved on hugely from the days of Clough and anyone else. It's become about scouting networks, contacts, taking gambles, receiving info from people all round the world, and we are lucky to have a probably much bigger network of contacts than any other team in this division because our funds and ambition allow it. As Pardew also has said a lot, and in one of his recent interviews, we have become a lot more professional in this sense.

No it is not. Someone explained this better somewhere else so i'll use there message as a template. It might be called "a Gentlemans Agreement" but in reality it is the home nations agreeing to invoke the optional clause in Article 16 of the "FIFA Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes". Found here...http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/09/75/14/fifa_statutes_072008_en.pdf It reads as; and item (d) (that is "deleted completely" for the home nations) is the clause that Arteta (or Almunia or any other non english player that has been mentioned) would need to use to be eligible. And this means that until such a time that FIFA makes the decision to "unapprove" this option (the home nations needs to request it) any player such as Arteta is, in all ways, ineligible for the england (or scottish or welsh or NI) team. It isn't simply one or more home nations deciding on a whim that they won't call up a certain player, it is in fact a binding part of FIFA regulations. And while it is fully possible for the home nations to request to FIFA to unapprove this that would bring us into the territory of forcing the issue of a unified GB national team. This is the above rule in action...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ls/7702704.stm The BBC themselves pointing out it means Arteta and Co can't play for England, and then 2 years later showing the lack of thinking and research that goes on in the arrogant English media, by ignoring there own article and going as far as asking Arteta if he wants to play. Even though he can't. I seriously suggest you don't try and act smug on something you clearly are basing your knowledge of the info given to you from the media.

Arteta isn't eligible for England, unless he has at least an English grandparent or has "engaged in a minimum of five years' education under the age of 18 within the territory of the relevant association". People inside the game and media proving once again they know very little about a subject and have decided to jump on the bandwagon before stopping and looking at the rules. dailytelegraph.co.uk

So you think Delgado yet moan about it not being a permanent deal? If people are weary of him doing a Delgado then getting him on a loan is pretty much common sense? Btw, I'm not overly excited by this like others. I'd urge everyone to calm down a tad. The Chievo and Roma links are clearly turd, he wouldn't choose us over them. From now two Italian friends I have spoke to, one on a forum and another I know, both have said his record is due to his pens and Cesena have been wanting him out so they could improve there squad, so he's not a Serie A player. He's not spent much time at any club, and has a few injury problems over his career and that 4 minute video of him that everyone is cumming over, shows him scoring about 4 goals, 1 of which is a pen. 2 Great strikes and some good runs/crosses though but all videos are obviously to be taken with a pinch of salt. The loan makes perfect sense. Alpine moaning and showing his stupidity once again on that matter but totally understand the caution.

Because he could be utter poo? Therefore allowing him to go back to Italy and us get someone better in January? It really is not hard to just have a little think is it? Seriously. I don't doubt you are stupid and will make stupid posts but I seriously doubt you can't have a little think as to what a loan is and its plus points as well as its down points.

From a guy on another forum who is either Italian or just follows Italian football... "do Prado a star player?! ahahahahahah He's been barely average for Serie B bottom-half clubs, and Cesena have been trying to offload him the second they got promoted... I don't know, maybe he'd be class in League One, but I wouldn't hold my breath for such a player... His scoring tally last year was due to him being the penalty taker..."

Don't ever try and compare Rasiak and Berbatov again. Completely different sort of players. One has the football brain of a genius and can get away with being lazy, the other is utter poo.

You've changed your tune. I actually said this the other day and you told me I had a lack of ambition and my post was garbage. Then you refused to reply to me asking what part of my post was rubbish. Just so you know my post mentioned how we might be waiting for players to realise they will not be used at there current clubs and they will either be old pro's or loan signings. I fully expect you to ignore this or abuse me then complain when someone does it to you.

What about all the fans who turned up in shirts and jeans then? Check out the pics on the saints site and tell me all the fans at the back of the church are wearing Saints shirts because they are not. It doesn't matter.

Oh right. Brilliant. Is that the end of the debate then? I'll be sure to do it again sometime as it was so thrilling. Fantastic reply. Don't fancy telling me where my post is a load of rubbish or anything... If only everyone else would just claim something is not an issue when they don't agree with it. Your posts wouldn't get any reply what so ever if everyone did. You don't have a well thought out reply to my post so instead you just claim its a load of rubbish and put a sly little dig or two in there for good measure....Which oh wait, is something you've bleated on about on here for god knows how long because everyone seems to do it to you when they apparently don't agree with you... Well done you utter mong.

His next point proves everyone else's point and you have ignored it. Finding a player willing to be Lamberts back up for a season, and lets be honest that's all a back up will be there for because we'll have to improve the squad more if we get promoted therefore demoting this backup player to nothing, is pretty hard to find. That also doesn't make much sense on a business level. Getting a player to come in and paying him to sit on the bench in the hope Lambert gets injured is pretty much wasting money. Personally, I don't give a hoot about Lambert and I'd want us to get someone good enough to challenge him. However that will only come when we go up the leagues. I imagine any "backup" will be either an old pro on a 1 year contract or a loan signing. Both of which could only become available in late stages of the window where they start to realise they are not going to get a contract to play first team football anywhere or be involved in there current teams first team plans. A back up striker is no where near priority. We need some wingers though and having no idea what attempts we have made in that sense i'm not going to criticise but I wont defend either. Maybe there is something in the rumours about Cortese/Reed/Pardew and chief scout all having to agree on a signing for it to happen, maybe we have tried signing Antonio and the price is well over the top and we are hoping they drop there demands and therefore playing a waiting game...who knows. Certainly not me, and certainly not you either.

No, because Reading hold all the cards. Just think, from Readings point of view, Southampton come to you last year and want to take the winger who has only played in non league football on loan. Reading agree but there is simply no business sense in Reading agreeing a price for a player who would only command a fee of AT MAX 100k at the time. If Reading had agreed a 100k price, how stupid would they feel now knowing they could have got at least triple that. Saints would have had a steal. At the time nobody maybe had expected it, but if Reading agree to it and it goes as well as it did, Reading would have been mugged. Reading don't want that so they don't agree to an agreed price. They might not have expected it but it doesn't mean you don't have it in your thoughts when your negotiating. They hold all the cards if they don't agree to a price, because they know that the worst thing that can happen is Saints don't want him and Reading release him. They don't lose out on 100k at that point because Saints would not have made an offer because he had a stinker here. They agree to a price, they lose in almost every situation don't they? Either Saints take up the agreed price option, meaning he had a good loan period and reading could have negotiated for more or Saints don't want him and Reading are stuck with a player who obviously had a bad time here. With Papa it's different, he would have commanded a bigger fee from Fiorentina and the sort of they they could get even if he goes back to them after a bad loan spell because there are clubs in Italy and others that would have been interested whatever the situation. Even if he had a blinder here, the price agreed would have been one big enough that Saints wouldn't have paid much more even in the best of loan periods.

Well not really. If they had agreed to a price, the price would have been incredibily small back then. He was a player who only played a bit of non league before this loan move. The price would have been pretty pointless from Reading's point of view really, so by him going on loan to us they couldn't lose. Either he had a stinker and he went back to them, nobody wants him and they release him, or he comes to us, has a blinder and he goes back to Reading, they extend his contract and he's in demand. Either they keep him and use his improvement to there advantage or they stick the price up and sell him for a good deal. Agreeing a price last season would have been pointless from a Reading's point of view because it would have been a small price anyway. It would have been well under £100,000. So its well worth taking the risk of losing at a max 100k, in the hope he has a blinder and they get to at least double/triple that price demand now. Pre agreed prices only work in certain situations.

Lambert is almost certainly not going to be involved. Pardew's own words. Pretty sure our team will be strong though. Can't believe people are actually up for us to not take this seriously. Apart from the fact that a winning mentality is something we are striving for, if we don't take this seriously and lose, this board will be in uproar. Add to the fact that we win this, we could get a Prem team or even better Pompey again and I see no reason not to take this seriously.

That was Tony Garrod.