Rasiak-9-

This myth has to stop. Complaining about a hysterical and disproportionate reaction to racism is NOT an endorsement or excuse for racism. By that rationale, you can't oppose the death penalty without being said to be excusing or endorsing murder. I abhor racism. I also however, think that as a seperate issue, the desperation to slander people you dislike politically with accusations of 'racism' for social clumsiness is not only disgusting slander, and incredibly disrespectful and exploitative of black people.

Pretty much this. Pap, do you honestly think that rebellion against political correctness is somehow the establishment or the norm? or that being offensive against our culture of permanent hysteria and sensitivity is the 'safe' position to take when it comes to being successful in the public eye? And I'm neither a conservative, nor do I find Clarkson funny, hell I'm 24 and I don't even drive or have any interest in cars for that matter. However, I do really enjoy Clarkson's stubborn popularity as well as the fact that he's a real fly-in-the-ointment for the PC Guardianista-BBC axis. I wrote a little blog about his '****** moment' not too long ago actually. http://ifwhattheysayistrue.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/bemused-blacks-and-guilty-whites-jeremy.html

To a point yeah; but it is really pathetic when you see grown men who take football any more seriously than the pantomime that it is. I just haven't got a clue how people can get so emotional about things. Its silly. I'll be cheering for the fantastic players and manager that currently represent our club, hopefully instilling some loyalty and reciprocated love and respect so that we keep hold of them. Looking forwards only.

Happy to hear that there is at least one voice of reason here. Honestly not hugely fussed about booing Poch. He was an employee, nothing more, and it was silly to expect loyalty at his own financial expense. Shake hands, thanks for your time, best of luck in your new job, and thats that. We're like a pathetic ex-girlfriend some of us.

A few mates of mine were understandably asking the same question but the answer is honestly, not at all. Not only is he lighting quick, his change of direction, close control and dribbling off either foot is superb. He didn't just stick to the wings either, but cut inside and looked to create something wherever he could. Confident lad too, not just in terms of taking players on but also directing his teammates where to go and where to give him the ball. There were a few crossed wires here and there in terms of the running but those will be ironed out i'm sure. I'm very, very excited about Mané; think he could be a top player for us throughout the season and in terms of end product and effectiveness, he's got every chance to prove himself better than Lallana. Weaknesses? Only really defensive ones. He's stick-thin and whilst he does put a tackle in and try and intercept the ball, he's just so weak that he struggles to give his full-back a great deal of protection. The protection he does give from a defensive point of view is that pacey outlet where one through-ball is released and we've got a one-on-one; but you'll notice he was subbed off yesterday as Redknapp tried to overload us on the right (where their goal came from) as of course Bertrand isn't exactly perfect defensively and Mané obviously not really built for that kind of job as a 'defensive winger'. but yeah, Mané is a terrific player.

Me and another chap at Arsenal managed to get this one going from the surrounding 20 or so of us (left hand side of our lot, near the Arsenal fans). Its a simple chant but I actually think it sounds pretty good. The cold hard truth is we're not going to be able to get decent songs going in the Premiership as the fanbase, even at away games is just far too diluted so you'll just have to make do. But as I say, its a decent song!

One of the best things about the way the club is being run and the philosophy of football that we've embraced and maintained is that throughout the past two seasons, every single player (at least in the first XI) has been completely comfortable on the ball (Jos and Fox probably being the last two who weren't). Its allowed us to play a beautiful, passing style and be comfortable giving the ball to anyone on the pitch. Anyone in attack can one-two it off any one of his teammates and at the back you can be cool and calm knowing that you're not putting anyone under pressure he can't handle by giving him the ball in a slightly awkward position. Gardos, being a 6'4'' centre half really is a testament to that philosophy. Cool as a choc-ice; hard as nails. Looks terrific.

The bookies really fancy us tomorrow. Arsenal are barely odds-on (1.95 on 365) and we're as short as 4.2. If I recall Arsenal have drifted out from around 1.61 yesterday (or maybe even shorter) so they must be very confident that Wenger will try and get away with playing some of his kids.

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much boys. This is nothing against Morgan, but whilst he's always going to put in 100%, the fact is that come the summer, there'll be teams offering to more than double his wages. We can't compete with that, and I'm afraid loyalty has a price for us all.

God bless him I don't think I've ever liked a player more. It almost became quite funny how 90% of the posts critical of him on here were preceded by the most profuse apology despite Jos really, really struggling when up in the Prem! Won't be forgotten. The goal vs West Ham will live long in my memory.

Still feel he never really got a genuine chance. Far too often he was brought on with 15 minutes to go, played out of position when we were defending a 1-0 lead away from home (or whatever) and of course, struggled to create anything, which gave his critics the chance to frantically point "see!? SEE!? he's rubbish!" Still, I remember him in matches against Villa, Newcastle, Arsenal, Everton etc. at home in the first season and he was terrific. Even against West Ham at the weekend he kept the ball very well and looked incredibly comfortable and assured in possession. Ahwel. Best of luck at Hull Gaston.

Sounds very interesting. Sources please?

What exactly do the Saudi's stand to gain from fueling an unpredictable and volatile force like the IS? Their political control over their own country is fairly secure, not to mention the fact that plenty of Islamic extremists don't like Saudi Arabia because of its alliances with the USA and (in Bin Laden's case) the fact that they allowed American troops too near to the Muslim holy sites. I'm not quite sure what their incentive is. If anything I'd assume they'd want to keep them under wraps.

Disagree. I've looked closely and the ball doesn't change its flight. A proven goalscorer runs around celebrating that with a 'mememememe my goal' runaround if they get the slightest nick. Pelle would have done that if he had got a touch.

I agree in principle but his overall form waned towards the end of the season as well. The equaliser away at Sunderland that went in at his near post was poor. Plus Norwich's second goal in the 4-2 where he couldn't hold it/couldn't push it away enough to stop the rebound spring to mind. Shame because he's always had the ability to be a keeper at the very, very top level. Not long ago I remember him being linked with Barcelona when they were at their peak. A mix of eccentricity and lack of consistency has always been his downfall, but he'd be a great backup if we can persuade him to stay.

My opinion? Multi-racialism is absolutely fine. There's nothing in Pakistani 'genetics' that makes a small portion of their community behave in this way or turn a blind eye to it. Multiculturalism however, which essentially advocates that we should treat all ethnic and cultural groups completely differently according to whichever group they belong to, rather than as just parts of an overall culture has been an absolutely huge failure that has only divided people along racial and ethnic lines, which is exactly what it was supposed to avoid in the first place. The idea that you can somehow create community cohesion by removing all traces of the host country's culture as if thats the problem is so delusional its unreal. All races and peoples are equal. All cultures are not. Some cultures are actively better than others. To believe that the kinds of cultures you'd be mortified to see your Western sister or mother live under are somehow fine and dandy for people with brown skin is true, genuine racism.

"Councillors can play an effective role in this, especially those representing the communities in question, but only if they act as facilitators of communication rather than barriers to it. One senior officer suggested that some influential Pakistani-heritage councillors in Rotherham had acted as barriers." pg 93. just before the original quote. So...yeah... apparently not.

Why have we subbed Wanyama? Please god tell me he's not injured as he's one of the few silver linings in this shower of **** and our only hope of eking out a 0-0 down the road on Saturday.

... This was at best naïve, and at worst ignoring a politically inconvenient truth." Page 93.

"Several councillors interviewed believed that by opening up these issues they could be 'giving oxygen' to racist perspectives that might in turn attract extremist political groups and threaten community cohesion. To some extent this concern was valid, with the apparent targeting of the town by groups such as the English Defence League. The Deputy Council Leader (2011-2014) from the Pakistani-heritage community was clear that he had not understood the scale of the CSE problem in Rotherham until 2013. He then disagreed with colleague elected members on the way to approach it. He had advocated taking the issue 'head on' but had been overruled. He was one of the elected members who said they thought the criminal - 94 - convictions in 2010 were 'a one-off, isolated case', and not an example of a more deep-rooted problem of Pakistani-heritage perpetrators targeting young white" Source: http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham

This. Up in the Itchen North we were all chuckling at the mongs around us blaming Pelle and yelling "COME ORN! WIN SUMMING!" when he had two players on him and no red shirts within 30-odd yards of him. Having said that, he did often seem to flick it fairly aimlessly and I'm afraid that considering he hasn't really got an awful lot else to his game, its something he's going to have to be good at. Judge him after 10-15 games.

So... In drawing this debate to a conclusion, it seems like despite the inevitable mongboard spats and infighting, we're actually, incredibly, pretty much all in agreement. 1) People scapegoating and sarcastically cheering a Saints player after one and a half matches are complete bellends and unfortunately there seem to be more of these spoiled, entitled ****s showing up now that we're in the Premiership. 2) Pelle needs time to adapt and deserves our support and encouragement as much as any other player. Given time he may well prove us wrong. 3) Having said that, he has, admittedly, looked very poor so far and as such, the focal point of our attack seriously struggling this season appears to be a distinct possibility that any fan can be justifiably concerned about... 4) ...especially considering the fact that our midfield have barely a handful of goals a season in them and Shane Long has yet to get into double-figures in the Premiership in any previous seasons. 5) As such, Pelle being a dreadful flop is not just a possibility, but a possibility that we haven't really prepared for and could prove very costly indeed.

I'm afraid that with Lallana, Rodriguez and Lambert all having left since last season, the lack of attacking ability from our midfield may well be shown up in this. Steven Davis for instance was a useful utility player last season who was 1) vital to our pressing game and playing at a high tempo under Pochettino and 2) wasn't really called upon going forward as the front three shouldered pretty much the whole burden in terms of creativity and goals. Of course, this wasn't an issue as the job of our midfield was simply to feed the front three. Things are different now. We scored 54 goals last season. Lambert/Lallana/JRod scored 38 of them. Our centre-backs Yoshida, Fonte and Lovren chipped in with 6 between them coming up for FKs/corners. That leaves 10 goals last season in total that weren't scored by either our three forwards or from a set-peice. We've always known that our midfield has seriously lacked goals and now that we've got a striker up top who'll be lucky to get into double-figures this season, that weakness is looking more and more likely to be exposed and prove to be a major issue. Chickens have come home to roost. We seriously need to give Ramirez a go. Not an on-from-the-bench-played-out-of-position-out-wide-for-the-last-15-of-an-away-game go, but a start-him-in-the-number10-give-him-90-minutes-build-the-team-around-him go for several consecutive matches. Pelle/Long may not be a completely catastrophic failure but when you look at how badly we utterly relied on our front three last season and you realise just how big the shoes are that they have to fill, you realise we can't possibly go about this season absolving the midfield of creative responsibility and relying on our strikers the same way.

Steven Davis has been a good player for us but I do sometimes think at times that there's a risk of a 'reverse Ramirez syndrome' whereby we end up swinging the pendulum too far the other way insofar as we overplay Davis' ability because we're only expecting an 'unfashionable' player who cost £800k from Rangers. He's a small chap, can't really beat a man and unfortunately, doesn't really have the skill and composure needed for situations like the one vs. Liverpool. Although he's great at hussling and a valuable part of our pressing game, football is played with the ball as well as without, and the position Davis is supposed to play is essentially, not far off a number 10 role, and a number 10 absolutely HAS to be able to bury chances like that when arriving late in the box. Lampard for example would have gobbled up that chance no problem, side-foot or instep. I guess what I'm saying is that whilst Davis has been superb and an absolute bargain, lets not go too crazy. There is, I'm sorry to say, a cap on how far players like Cork and Davis can take us.

He actually doesn't have to be that breathtakingly brilliant to add a fairly significant string to our bow; a left-footed left-winger.