melmacian_saint

I'd like to reinforce after watching the first two games, we were very well mugged by Sporting with regards to Cedric, and I wouldn't be surprised if we sign another CB and Yoshida ends up playing at RB again instead of him at some point.

I'd argue we have been unusually unlucky with injuries to our keepers ever since promotion.

I see all this talk of Koeman being the big gem. Let's keep calm. It was a really good first season, but there were signs of the team (and some of his main signings) running out of ideas and underperforming towards the end. I think our good start was more due to us surprising opponents because no one really knew what to expect from us, but the second half of the season I found that we rarely broke teams apart (the exceptions are the occasional demolitions like that of Villa). This is also the manager's fault. The second season will tell us more about him than what we think.

The team we had under Pochettino was really good, but lacked options. Had we signed Forster then, and got Alderweireld and Bertrand on loan then we would've had a sound defensive line-up to cover for the main options. Shane Long would've been a good sub to Rodriguez and Lambert but only given Osvaldo was an idiot. That was the only thing that team was missing from a successful top 6 challenger. All the rest, I think that time will make it look more and more special.

I wish him well, he was with us right from the beginning (well, actually from when crap hit the fan), and has become a star midfielder who can master any task he's asked to do at CM. Possibly our best performer from the last three seasons in the PL, he is easily on my top 3 players for each of them. Our most painful loss. House-warm CMs are always the hardest ones to replace.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm very skeptical of the potential of a Netherhampton.

Cortese ran out of the Liebherrs money (or patience to give more of it), so now we have to run on our own income. This means that with our current revenue streams (which are average for the PL madness) we have to sell to be able to buy and be competitive.

You haven't seen Cédric cross. We will get one amazing cross, but the other 99 will fly into the Itchen.

This talk of Drachma, FDI and Tourism as the key to Greece's recovery is a bit misleading. Greece's economy has no real strategic sectors. Shipping has no value to the real economy- it's companies are there exclusively because of fiscal advantages. Tourism is becoming a commodity: average spend in segments such as summer holidays or weekend breaks keeps going down with lowering ticket prices and the emergence of more basic forms of accommodation. Foreign Direct Investment is only attracted if 1)there is political stability (no guarantee of that in Greece's history) or 2)there are clusters or industry-specific infrastructure worth exploiting, and a market to cater for. Let's face it, olive oil and feta cheese are not booming. Suggesting that a country with 15 million people can sustain itself or boost its recovery with these sectors, being stuck with high inflation and predictably high financing costs for a good few years, is IMO a bit delusional. And the recent history of the UK economy should teach us how hard and challenging a process of industrial transformation can be. Greece may achieve some stability with its own currency, but it will be at the expense of a long-run decline in living standards and institutional quality. This, after years of hardship, is a sound cocktail for further instability as people see no improvements in a medium-term. I can't really see them leave the Euro or the EU, but surprisingly the strongest case for this will always come from Brussels. The Euro needs credibility, which in the case of a currency is only achieved with time, and a default by Greece at the very first "bust" period of the economic cycle is effectively a default by the Eurozone (i.e. a default by Germany, Netherlands, France etc.). As different a case as it can be, the impact would be larger than many predict, interest rates would rise at a time where the ECB is desperately trying to make the Euro more competitive and "cheaper" for all. For a country to leave it shows that a debt held in Euro has effectively no value as if things get dirty then anyone can just wash their hands and walk away. If Wales defaulted, would the Bank of England be too happy with a Wexit? What about Denmark if the whole of Jutland defaulted on the kroner and dropped it, where would that leave the credibility of their financial system? This is effectively what we are talking about with Greece. A final point about Greece, the birthplace of western civilization. This is true, but it's gone. There is nothing but history and ruins from those times. Modern Greece is closer to the Ottoman Empire and the Middle-East in its culture and society than to most of Europe, and indeed foreign assistance has been constant, either by involvement in war, strategic positioning or simply financial insolvency. And they've profited from that: as a quick example, Greece threatened to veto the entry of Portugal and Spain to the then EEC if its infrastructure development funds were not increased.

I wouldn't have signed him, but I will watch this space.

Benfica can't afford him. And he came from the Sporting academy anyway...

Both Elia and Djuricic can be replaced by better players paying similar fees to the clauses we agreed for them.

I liked the Burnley keeper, Tom Heaton? Also how did Marshall do at Cardiff this season? Might be a good shout to go for him.

Davis has had plenty of the ball, but of course we know what SWF wants.

I don't understand why he hasn't had at least a loan spell. I also never expected him to have as many first team performances as he does already, without first trying it out for smaller clubs. L2 to the PL is a massive jump.

If on form, he's just like Davis but does not defend as much. Of course this could be good when we attack, but the role of our midfield in covering for the full-backs and pressing is important, and he does seem to trot rather than run. Davis might be having a hospital run but one thing he always does is balance the team. Anyway Benfica will not let him go for free, so I don't think it's worth considering him for next year.

I recognize he's had a poor run of months, but what about the rest of team. What has Pelle offered since January? Tadic? Clyne? Bertrand? Very easy to blame Davis, but the fact is that 8 out of 11 regular starters have had a poor second half of the season, starting earlier or more recently! Furthermore, he has had to take on new roles in midfield this season that he is neither good at nor has he ever played in! Last season he wasn't our number 10, yet this season Koeman seems to want him to be that and also be that midfielder that tracks back, covers for the full-backs, and starts play from the back. It's not possible. People don't also mention that very often he does make runs forward, only to find himself with a static Pelle and wingers behind him or marked. Of course he'll get more of these balls wrong, he has to gamble more often on whether they will reach them!

Personally, I think we're as good a team under Koeman than under Pochettino. And the truth is, Koeman has not been able to find an alternative style of play to his initial idea, we continue to play as if teams give us a lot of space, but we now commit less players forward, and rely too much on super performances from players in different positions, which is unrealistic. While verlaine should go join a pompey forum, or watch Swansea matches, Davis has had a poor run-in. But EQUALLY poor as that of: Clyne (head somewhere else, I haven't seen him run down the wing as many times as in the last 2 years) Wanyama (no interceptions, no shots, no presence for at least 4 games) Mané (always on his arse) Pelle (typical signing whose impact disappears as defenders learn more of him) Tadic (read Pelle) Bertrand (his form dipped after the suspension, read Clyne for lack of offensive involvement) We again wasted a transfer window and got two useless loan signings. While there might have been a justification for Elia, Djuricic has added nothing, and I believe their arrival was no more than a moment of arrogance from Koeman after gaining some legitimacy in the eyes of the board after our great start. I genuinely think the likes of Fonte, Alderweireld and Yoshida have been our only fully consistent performers all season, along with Forster and Schneiderlin (even he had his dip), but their injuries have brought us the worst end possible. The only reason I worry for next season, is if Koeman does not recognize the season's problems, and persists in a similar idea. A bad start can really ruin it all way too soon.

You are the most disgusting troll this forum has ever met. How do you even dare talk about agendas. You're clearly here just to vom rubbish about Davis.

If we get an irrecoverable amount of tiredness from knocking out teams from the Faroe Islands then we may as well give up football altogether.

I know people want to build a bonfire and put Davis, the defense and Gazza on top, but what have the front 3 done of any note in the past 2 months? Elia in particular, what value has he added since February?

At least your cousin, our new Paul Scholes, is on the pitch today.

Oh Gazza.

How can people blame Davis for the goal?!!?! You guys are a bunch of idiots

Depends on the perspective...do you know they had the likes of Luis Fabiano and Thiago Silva on their ranks at some stage...yet they didn't perform to their best there.