stu0x

For god's sake let's not beat them by 6 though. And if they score 1, regardless of how many we score, we might as well dissolve the club.

True, but the flipside is you radically alter the wage structure within the club. After all, what do you think the likes of Lambert, Lallana, Fonte and Chamberlain would do if they found out Nugent (or whoever) was being paid three times as much as them? If there's one thing the Pompey saga has taught us, it's that the total financial impact of high wage earners at the club goes far beyond the simple cost of the wage itself, it's the inflation to the average wage that is the killer. Or, to give it its proper name, "the John Utaka effect".

Amazing that they make this mistake over and over again. Surely the obvious thing to do (rather than lengthening the pool) is build the touch-sensitive panel into the tiling...

I do

Defamation is a civil matter. The standard of proof is balance of probabilities, not beyond reasonable doubt. In any regard, it's easier than you'd think to prove, even in a criminal prosecution.

But only 2 days ago he outlined his contempt and disgust with a 6-0 win on the live match thread, so you can't use that.

Bompey leading 2-1

Whereas instead we got 2 immediately afterwards, and it is Goodnight Vienna. When did mad uncle Sepp change is so that goals earlier in games were worth more?

Don't. If we get overtaken by Peterboro then we'll have dropped so many points, we won't even be in the race for 2nd anyway.

Peterboro 4-0 up, unbelievable

Doble sent off for Stockport, down to 9

Well so far pretty much all the results are going our way. Brighton losing, and everyone around us (with the exception of Huddersfield) drawing. And we're much better in the second half aren't we?

That was his point, brains. Your rivals, Crystal Palace, are in the Championship. There is absolutely no rivalry between Brighton and Saints. Your existence and fortunes are of no more relevance to us than those of Port Vale or Fulham (to pick two teams completely at random). That being said, it's odd how vociferously Brighton fans seem to have jumped all over the Saints 'rivalry' this season. Perhaps precisely because, despite this being a stellar season for you, your actual rivals aren't directly competitors, as they're in a league above yours (as they have been for quite some time). It's a bit like the England-Germany rivalry. The Germans truly could not care less about us, they're far more concerned with hating the Dutch. In turn, the English couldn't care less about the Scots, and on, and on, and on. Portsmouth are Southampton's nemesis. Not Brighton. Not Bournemouth. So I'm afraid if you want a genuine two-way rivalry, you will have to look elsewhere (try up the M23). Of course, if you're just looking to sate your massive inferiority complex, carry on.

Houses of Parliament

Guly plays best for as a second striker tucked in behind Lambert. He is unconvincing when played in midfield, either on the 'wing' (he clearly isn't) or 'attacking' midfield. The fact that he was a trequartista in Italy means nothing. The style of football is so different, the position arguably doesn't exist over here - it certainly isn't analogous with attacking midfielder. It's no coincidence that he was relatively poor for his first few appearances - when played in midfield - then shone when put up front. What is mystifying is why Adkins now seems to have moved him back to his ineffective role deeper on the pitch - especially since all the business we did during the transfer window (Chaplow, Forte, N'Guessan) strengthens those positions and makes it more rather than less competitive in midfield. Very odd.

Pretty sure the appropriate internet term for this is a 'self-pwn'.

I was at Old Trafford years back when United horsed us 5-1 or 6-1 (I stopped counting!), Pahars got ours after the damage had been done. When they were already 3 or 4 up, Phil Neville of all people picked the ball up well outside the box, went on a mazy run and then blasted it into the top corner. We all stood there in amazement for several seconds before a loud ironic chant of 'what the ****ing hell was that?' broke out, which he saw the funny side of. You know that when Phil Neville scores a screamer it's definitely not your day.

After raging about it last night, I've got a slightly different perspective on it this morning. A point away at Peterboro is no bad thing. Yes it's annoying that the other teams around us won, but there will be times when we win and they don't. What we *should* have done once in the lead (certainly the second time) is revert to how we played against United - compact and strangle the midfield, playing out from the full backs. Seabourne and Harding both had relatively poor games, but they were both very impressive against United - so to say they 'aren't good enough' clearly isn't true. Chaplow was frequently our furthest forward player, which is fine as he seems to have turned into the second coming of Roberto Baggio (or at least a League One version - and without the rat's tail). But with Chamberlain and Guly not exactly being defensive-minded, the midfield got overrun far too often and left the defence with too much to do. Our defence weren't that bad, they just got beaten by two of *the* form players in the division. When Lallana and Lambert tore teams up last season we gave them the credit, we didn't blame poor defending on the other side. Can't have it both ways. JMS reminded me of Lambert from last year and got his rewards. You knew he was going to beat Seabourne and bury that chance. But he got the better of Fonte a few times as well - does that mean Fonte is now suddenly useless? Conversely, at that moment that Lambert broke free and had a chance to make it 5... if that was last season, he would have lobbed the keeper first time. Instead he got beaten for pace by a defender and blasted it straight at him. It seemed to me that he is dropping so deep all the time and has become quite immobile, they are all signs of a loss of confidence. It's not about 'thinking' you are going to beat the man, score a goal, lay off a ball, whatever - it's about 'knowing' it will happen. Form is a mental thing, there's no magic wand to make it come back. Hopefully Lambert's will, but there's a possibility we may have seen his peak. Before we burn effigies of Davis, he made a couple of very good reaction saves and didn't by any means have a shocker. Guly is pointless deployed in midfield unless it's an attacking role, he has none of the defensive discipline required. All his success prior to him signing permanently was as a second striker. That is where he needs to play, or not at all. Barnard and Lambert together don't convince. It is two from those three. Forte had very little time to make an impression, but when he swiped at that chance and almost fell over, the impression I got was "Heskey". Here's hoping for a more successful sophomore appearance. All this obsession with "pace on the wings" meant that, when the time came to make a substitution and what we *actually* needed was to pack and overrun midfield, we had no options. I wonder whether Wotton into a 5-man midfield would have led to a different result... Our second penalty wasn't, and nor was theirs. So you can't really grumble. Darren Ferguson really is a graceless, humourless ****, all the negative character traits of his father without any of the ability. And good to see he still holds a torch for Chaplow. Look on the bright side - imagine what a potential Saints - Peterboro playoff final would look like!!!

Indeed. Ironically, Jerome Boateng was born in Ghana and plays for Germany, whilst Skate Boateng was born in Germany and plays for Ghana.

I think what it shows is that despite our impressive run of form and results over Christmas, we are actually going to have to *improve* to make sure we go up. just demonstrates to those who think we have a god given right to 'walk this league' how tough it will actually be. I'm expecting this to be unresolved literally until the last day of the season. Stressful times.

As you've started the thread by outlining that you don't know what the rule is, how on earth would you know how difficult it will be to enforce (or to adhere to, which is what I think you meant)? In summary, a player who has spent a total of 3 years at any English/Welsh clubs prior to turning 21 is 'homegrown'. It has nothing to do with nationality. Fabregas is home grown, for example. There is a limit on non-homegrown players in the matchday squad. These are PL rules expected to trickle down into the Football League. If you have a quick think about teams such as City, Arsenal, and Chelsea, and the fact that they are meeting the criteria, you would quickly come to the (correct) assumption that it will be of no concern whatsoever to Saints.

Spectacularly underwhelmed. I'm not really convinced by either of the prevailing arguments here. - 'He's not here to score goals' - his goal/game ratio is not only *significantly* inferior to every other attack-minded player we have, it's worse than Hammond's, worse than Chaplow's, worse than *Fonte's* for christ's sake. I don't care what else you bring to the team, if as an attack minded player you can't outscore a centre-back, that's not good enough. It would be bad enough if our strikers at the moment were prolific, but with Lambert currently going through arguably his driest period as a professional, we simply cannot afford to carry a non-scoring attacker. - 'he's strong, athletic, just like Kenwyne was, we can teach him the rest' - not convincing on two grounds. Firstly, Forte is already 24 and by no means a rookie, he was playing for England as an U19, he has most likely already reached his peak and it is an unspectacular one. And secondly, we are not an established, fairly 'safe' Premiership club as we were when we signed Jones (who, incidentally, didn't exactly turn into the 'first name on the team sheet' anyway). We *must* get promoted this season, or will likely face the departure of our two brightest prospects in the summer. We do not need to be taking a punt on a player at a time like this. I really, *really* hope I'm wrong on this one. But if we miss promotion by a point or two, I'm going to be extremely disappointed that we did not do more impactful business this window.

Spectacularly underwhelmed. I'm not really convinced by either of the prevailing arguments here. - 'He's not here to score goals' - his goal/game ratio is not only *significantly* inferior to every other attack-minded player we have, it's worse than Hammond's, worse than Chaplow's, worse than *Fonte's* for christ's sake. I don't care what else you bring to the team, if as an attack minded player you can't outscore a centre-back, that's not good enough. It would be bad enough if our strikers at the moment were prolific, but with Lambert currently going through arguably his driest period as a professional, we simply cannot afford to carry a non-scoring attacker. - 'he's strong, athletic, just like Kenwyne was, we can teach him the rest' - not convincing on two grounds. Firstly, Forte is already 24 and by no means a rookie, he was playing for England as an U19, he has most likely already reached his peak and it is an unspectacular one. And secondly, we are not an established, fairly 'safe' Premiership club as we were when we signed Jones (who, incidentally, didn't exactly turn into the 'first name on the team sheet' anyway). We *must* get promoted this season, or will likely face the departure of our two brightest prospects in the summer. We do not need to be taking a punt on a player at a time like this. I really, *really* hope I'm wrong on this one. But if we miss promotion by a point or two, I'm going to be extremely disappointed that we did not do more impactful business this window.

Yeah I couldn't work that out either. Why not just agree terms to join in the summer. Odd. The buying club doesn't like it, it puts all the risk on them. Let's say we sell Oxo to Arsenal for 10mill, they loan him back to us, and before the end of the season he gets Eduardo'd. Mr Wenger would not be very happy.

Charlton have been like a parallel club to Saints for about 10 years. Both survived arguably beyond their 'right' to do so in the Premiership, both adhered to tight budgets, frequently sold their most valuable players to more 'fashionable' teams. They have even mirrored our slide down the divisions. So by your logic, every player that has signed for Charlton in that period of time was good enough to play for Saints, on account simply of Charlton being interested in them? Perhaps we should have signed every player they targeted, and just used them as our scouting network?