NeilS

Pompey have quite a few games in the next month, you would think if he has any chance of making it here he will need to be playing most of those and banging in some goals. If he does that he may manage to get a loan at a higher level next time round. He is 20 now, so it is now or never for him in my opinion.

I've been saying this for years. What an outball to have if Guzan catches the ball. Really don't know why we've never done it. The only reason I can think of is that the opposition defenders will come further field in that situation up as they feel safe, but it leaves a big space for our players with pace to exploit and run into. also, if Gabby is up field on his own then nobody from our team is going to be able to catch him and offer support so he will have to go it alone.against possibly two defenders. I would guess that the management feel we can counter attack better as a team that way?

The question is though, are the ears on the guy correct?

Lol, don't start that going again. I expect to see the "it's happening" GIF at any moment.

To be honest I have no idea, I can't say I had heard of him before the WC. I guess most people were happy that we had finally bought a defensive midfielder, which was going to give some protection to the defence. I must admit I was quietly worried as to whether he could live up to expectations. Truth is lots of players take time to settle into a new league, some never do. Fingers crossed he will come good, but I am not expecting to see him at his best for a few months.

The problem is that he was hyped up big time by us fans when we signed him, he hasn't had much of a pre-season with us, and has come from a different country and league that is a totally different playing style to our own. He will take time to settle into this league, and I wouldn't expect to see the best of him until the second half of this season. Of course, he may not adapt or settle, and fans getting on his back isn't going to help him. Hopefully he will be given time by the fans.

Agreed, it is unlikely that he will be starting a game in the next few, earliest I could see him getting a start would be the QPR game. Personally, I think Lambert is doing a great job of gently introducing him into the first team picture. It is only a matter of time for the lad, as long as he keeps improving.

Difference between the two is that Senderos has looked good with two other partners this season, whereas I am struggling to remember Clark looking good with any partner. It is like he drags them all down to his level. Hopefully Okore can step up to the level required, then we won't be seeing much more of Clark in the team, as he will be at 5th choice in the ranking.

I don't know how affected the squad is by this Virus, but it is one game. Lets put it behind us and move on, having a poisoness atmosphere hanging around isn't going to help us. We have a tough run of games still to go and the lads need our full support, not criticism after one disappointing result.

I feared this might happen, especially when I saw we had Westwood and Baker out. Clark has shown time and again he isn't up to top level football, and Sanchez is unproven either way at the moment. My only hope is that we can restore some pride in the second half, and that this doesnt turn into a mauling. I am a bit disappointed as I thought Arsenal would be suffering from Champions League hangover, and it was looking promising, but you can't switch off against these top teams, and we did.

Looks like he has been charged with this racist abuse, and will face a hearing on the 9th October.

I have just had a cheeky £2.50 on Senderos to score anytime and Villa win at 31/1. So that has cursed that then. I had a feeling last week about Gabby celebrating his new contract with the winner at Liverpool, and was tempted with the same bet at 24/1 but didn't do it.

Just out of curiosity, when do our major sponsorship deals come to an end? I have it in my head that Macron and Dafabet deals finish this season? If he can fix us up on a massive deals to replace these then that will be fantastic. We are still well behind the top clubs on that front, although I realise this will be difficult for him to achieve as we don't enjoy Champions League qualification on an annual basis. Then it is a case of what other deals Mr Fox can pull out of the bag. I see we have official car suppliers and airlines, but the likes of Man Utd have that stuff and even their training complex and tea person are sponsored (one of the previously mentioned deals may or may not be true).

Did you read the previous post? That was where i say the award of the contract suggests that Lerner is happy with Lambert. I think the point has been confused between the posts. Just to clarify I am 90% happy that the contract has been sorted. My only gripe with Lambert is the cup exits to lower teams. Which although can happen, shouldn't happen with the regularity that they have in the last two seasons. If he can cut them out, and continue the improvement shown in the league then I will be a happy man. I understand that he has had a tough hand dealt to him, through cost cutting, injury problems etc. So I can see why we have had a tough couple of seasons in the League. Now is the time for Lambert to step up, and show that he can improve us. I would hope that we are now on a more even keel, and can maybe look to invest in key areas in the next twelve months. No I'd not and yes I think you are right, thanks for clarification, thats all I was after really. In regards the paragraph above, I pretty much agree with every word. No worries, when I read back I realised that I had confused which post you were refering to and the one I was talking about. So if I was confused, you had no chance

Did you read the previous post? That was where i say the award of the contract suggests that Lerner is happy with Lambert. I think the point has been confused between the posts. Just to clarify I am 90% happy that the contract has been sorted. My only gripe with Lambert is the cup exits to lower teams. Which although can happen, shouldn't happen with the regularity that they have in the last two seasons. If he can cut them out, and continue the improvement shown in the league then I will be a happy man. I understand that he has had a tough hand dealt to him, through cost cutting, injury problems etc. So I can see why we have had a tough couple of seasons in the League. Now is the time for Lambert to step up, and show that he can improve us. I would hope that we are now on a more even keel, and can maybe look to invest in key areas in the next twelve months.

Well his statement in the summer and the new contract are fairly large clues. True, but sometimes what is said in public statements, and what is said in private are sometimes totally different. See the support of McLeish, followed by sacking. See Downing saying he owed us and was going to stay, to forcing a move through to Liverpool. They are just two of many instances over the years. I am a little sceptical on what comes out on media soundbites sometimes. Yeah but a new long term contract isn't a media soundbite. And, if you read the rest of the paragraph that you part quoted, I write that it appears the are happy with the job he is doing. So I am confused why you are picking on this point?

Well his statement in the summer and the new contract are fairly large clues. True, but sometimes what is said in public statements, and what is said in private are sometimes totally different. See the support of McLeish, followed by sacking. See Downing saying he owed us and was going to stay, to forcing a move through to Liverpool. They are just two of many instances over the years. I am a little sceptical on what comes out on media soundbites sometimes.

Poorly mainly in the eyes of the fans and observers from outside.I have no idea what Lerner and the management think about Lamberts reign as they don't share their thoughts with us, which is quite correct. I clarified the cost cutting in the remainder of that paragraph, and was speculating as to differnt peoples perspectives of the job he has done. It would appear from this action, that they are quite pleased with his job to date. Me personally, I find myself having mixed views on him. Mainly, that he has left it too long to make us a solid defensive unit. Also, he has annoyed me with the exits to lower league teams. I can accept one or two upsets happen over the course of a few seasons but we have had it happen 4 or 5 times now in just over two seasons. However, I am happy with our business this summer, as a lot of the problems seem to have been addressed. It is early days this season though so I am not getting my hopes up that we have finally cracked it as I have seen many false dawns over the years. That is why I would have left it another month or so, but as I also said above I can see why they offered him a new deal now. Hopefully we can start to look higher up the table now, and build from there.

This does seem strange, that a manager who has done poorly gets a new deal on the back of a decent start in the league. I guess it is more than that though. There was talk that Randy was going to sort a new deal with Lambert last season, just before we hit our nose dive right at the end. I guess this would mean that Randy has been happy that Lambert has managed to get us through the extreme pruning of the wages bill with our PL status in tact, albeit by the skin of our teeth on both occasions. Maybe Randy is thinking that even though he is looking to sell the club, there are no guarantees that he will find a buyer in the next twelve months. This leaves him in a dilema because if nobody steps up to buy the club, he can't risk his manager being out of contract and walking at the end of the season. This would leave Randy scrambling to find a half decent manager who would want the job with an owner looking to sell up. I know a lot of people think Lambert has done a terrible job, and nobody would want him so we could easily leave it later in the season to see how things are going before signing him up. That in itself would be a risk, because if we somehow manage to keep up this decent start to the season, Lamberts stock will suddenly rise, and lots of clubs then would be sniffing around looking to poach him from us. Then he would be a lot less likely to sign a new deal. I am fairly happy with this deal, as I believe that we need some stability at this club after many years of turmoil, and I am struggling to see many better options available to us in our current situation. The only options I see are Moyes (Unlikely to come), Pulis (No Thanks), or an up and coming manager who may be good, or could be putting us back to point 1 again. Everyone makes mistakes, and I hope that Lambert is learning from his. If he is, and with more time and funds available to him it could work out well. He has finally done the thing that I would expect from a new manager and that is sorting out the defence, making us harder to beat. Now it is a case of adding bells and whistles, making us more potent up front and pleasing on the eye.

I would just like to point out my mystic meg skills in the pre match thread. Look towards the last few pages. I said Gabby would celebrate his new contract with the winner.

My hope is that currently Vlaar is one of four decent defenders, whereas before he was one decent defender amongst clowns. Hopefully the rest of the defensive unit can hold it together, while Gabby celebrates his new contract with the winning goal.

Scott Murray maybe? I think he was a gut we bought down from Scotland, and went on to have a career in the lower leagues with Bristol City I think. Middleton though I have no idea on.

I was very naive when I said that Benteke might sign a new contract for us if Spurs didn't bid what we wanted, last summer. Look what happened. ??? I was saying that he was likely to be getting offers from all over Europe? I was saying if you don't think tapping up goes on then you are being naive. He may well sign a new deal, but if you don't think the vultures are circling, and speaking of big contracts for Vlaar on a freebie then you are naive. This situation is different from the Benteke situation due to the points in my first post.

I don't think he will sign either. When it gets to this stage of a contract, and with the club and managers position very much in limbo, why would he sign a new contract? This will be his last chance at a nice big contract so He will wait and see what happens, and I imagine his agent has already been contacted by numerous clubs throughout Europe looking to get him on a free next summer. I know this is not supposed to happen, but you have o be very naive if you think it doesn't.

I reckon it will be looked at in the early new year depending on whether the club is looking like being sold, and how well the club are doing. If we are looking fairly solid still and not flirting around the relegation zone, and no sign of buyers then I think he will get a new 2 year deal. Whether he would sign it is another matter? He may have had enough of the stress by then, and if doing well may have other offers coming in.