benjii

I was disappointed with Jan yesterday. If John had come on 20 or 30 minutes earlier i think we would have won. We were solid at the back but absolutely toothless and lightweight up front. Whilst Holmes is out we also need to play a proper leftie out wide. Surman on the wing next game, i hope.

John gave Barnsley more problems in 10 minutes than Peckhart managed all game. He has to start, certainly at home, and we should play with two strikers, especially against dross like Barnsley.

We did.

Dyer: - can't shoot - can't cross - falls over when he dribbles - can't tackle - can't pass - is a burglar (not strictly relevant but....) I'm hoping he'll come good soon.

Oh - ok, cheers. Has he signed yet?

Skacel's injured though, isn't he? I agree it would be nice to have some full-backs though.

Poor diets and a lack of exercise are far more damaging to the children of this country than a few Jackos. They'd be better off campaigning for more disciplined exercise in schools and health food provisions for poor families. It's all a load of nonce-sense.

So it's official that Pompey are being bankrolled by dodgy money.... Who'd have thought it? What a nasty little club.

Paedos are so "in" this decade. Ps. Chris Morris = prescient genius.

How is what Prutton did worse? It is a hard line though. It's not always possible to be certain there was "intent" behind a dangerous tackle. I'm very surprised Guthrie has admitted publically he did it because he was frustrated (ie. he meant to do it) - could certainly face a criminal or civil case now IMO if Hull/Fagan wanted.

I think he might have been back in by now, or in the squad at least, if he hadn't got injured. By all accounts he seemed to be really warming to a "mentoring" role in the reserves.

I agree with the OP, in as much as Lowe certainly seems to have learned a few lessons on the PR front at least. You also have to admire his gumption, whether right or wrong, in sticking with his Dutch vision. I think a few points relating to what has been said that are worth remembering are: 1. Lowe (and Wilde) made a deliberate choice to come back. There was no power vacuum that needed to be filled in the way there was when Hone and Dulieu buggered off. Whether we were up the creek or not, the fact is that Lowe and Wilde said "we can do this better than Crouch and Hoos"... now obviously it's impossible to say what Crouch and Hoos would have done (although they were clearly happy to continue) but I don't think it's right to say that Lowe is impervious from criticism because of the financials. He stuck his head (if not his wallet) willingly above the parapet. 2. "NP was OK, but if he gets Leciester up, y'know... that's what they should achieve anyway." This is something that can be heard quite often from people who were quite partial to Burley. All I will say is that getting Leciester up this year will IMO be a much bigger achievement than Burley getting us up in the play-off year would've been. 3. Still don't trust Wilde or Lowe.

Tis true. There's a Large Hadron Collider in Tesco Millbrook car-park.

Fanny Mae deserve a prize. Amazing name. Absolute genius.

Led Todd now or I want my fiver back.

We used to rule Winchester College at hockey. They were gash. Stuffings galore.

I blame Lee Todd.

I wholeheartedly agree with most of what Sundance Beast has said on this subject. I am greatly shocked!

I don't see the big deal. It's cleaner than clunge fluff.

The "DoF structure" - ie. a top-down system of player recruitment where the first team coach is not the chooser of players - is inevitable as more and more clubs rely on finance from private owners and interested individuals. If you are personally pumping tens, hundreds of millions into a business with no likelihood of return are you really going to trust someone like Keegan, Redknapp or Curbishley with it? With increased financial investment from the owners/directors is bound to come increased hands-on control. The higher the risk, the greater the control required. That principle holds true in general when talking about the financing of high risk ventures. There are few more high risk than football. Easier to appoint a lackey or "yes man" as a low-profile, behind the scenes DoF than appoint a high-profile "manager" with gravitas who fits the same description. Right or wrong, this structure goes hand in hand with the new ownership model in top level English football IMO.

I'm not being funny mate or picking on you (as plenty of others have failed to grasp this rather simple point also) but what part of "insufficient evidence" do you not understand? He has been identified as being present. He has admitted being present. His mate has admitted being present. His mate has admitted that a crime occurred and that he perpetrated it. They have both been filmed on CCTV. He has been found not guilty. Don't you think that if there was any decent evidence against him a guilty charge would have been more likely than not? Entering somewhere without right is trespass - a tort at common law. Not a crime. Witnessing a crime is not a crime. "Possibly" acting as a look out... Surely "possibly" should be all you need to refer to in order to support a not guilty verdict? People need to face reality - BWP was out on a night out. He was possibly acting like an idiot. Man on night out acts like an idiot!! - OH NO!! Excuse me while I wax my cane of moral rectitude.

The minor "technicality" being that there wasn't any evidence!

Probably the second best player I've ever seen in a Saints shirt (behind Matt Le Tiss of course!) and that's no exageration. Since I started watching Saints ('89-'90 season) you can count the number of world-class players we've had on one hand. Probably wouldn't need the whole set of fingers either. That's what Antii was, when he was with us - world class. There were few football players alive or ever who were consistently as faultless and brilliant as he was. I'm not exagerating - I don't think I've ever seen a better goalkeeper. People like Cech ("the best goalkeeper in the world" TM), Reina, van der Sar, aren't even in the same league. We were very lucky to have him.

I did a "roll around" last night. Was a bad tempered game - we'd had a blue card (sin-bin). I received the ball with my back to goal, the defender went through the back of my standing leg so I rolled around, shouted and banged my arm on the ground. Didn't manage to get him sin-binned but obviously made sure of the free-kick. The annoying thing is that it is actually quite painful today so now I really wish the numpty had got binned.