Wednesday 11 January 2012

No News Is Bad News


Another day ticks by, and still we await the first signing. We had a fortnight between the Coventry game and the Pompey match to recruit new players, and that is now down to just two days. So, there will be no new striker to bang in the goals and no new winger to supply the ammunition, obviously.

So how does Allardyce expect to improve things exactly? Seven consecutive games have yielded a return of one goal or less and Pompey are a better side than Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday! So what new solution can we expect? How is this stuttering team going to be transformed without reinforcements? Baldock's confidence is going to be rock bottom after missing that penalty and Cole is very unlikely to score more than once in any single game. Nolan could score, but who else? The team screams out clean sheets - but at the wrong bloody end!

If Rhodes aint coming, sod it, buy somebody else. And fast. And talking fast, for the life of me I can't believe it is so difficult to identify a pacey winger with the ability to cross the ball on the run. I watched the highlights of the Posh v Sunderland game and although Ferguson's team lost, it was refreshing to see players running with the ball and leaving Premiership players in their wake. Time and again, on the Football League Show, I see no mark players skinning Championship defenders, yet we can't seem to find anybody to play on either flank. It is beyond a bloody joke!

A much greater sense of urgency is needed. Points won and lost in January will determine promotion and waiting to the last minute before we sign anybody is crassly stupid. Of the teams at the top, we have the most difficult game this weekend but there seems to be no hurry to address a situation that is bordering on a crisis. What price Doctor Evil dusting down the same old excuse on Saturday? "Failure to take our chances cost us." Oh yeah, well do something about it you dozy arse!

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

so which pacy and available wingers have YOU indentified???

Hammersfan said...

You miss the point entirely. I say they are "no mark". I haven't got a team of scouts working for me. Anybody with pace! In fact, I would try Potts wide left in a 4-4-2 and encourage him to take on the full back!

el martillo said...

Half of Fat Sam's signings so far have been sick notes, most of the rest have looked average in a poor division, captain fantastic presumably does something special in the changing room because his on pitch performances have been less than inspiring; the best we can say is that Baldock looks promising which is more than can be said for his doppelganger, the leader of her majesty's opposition. On that basis would you be prepared to let the moths out of your wallet? Hang on. Am I making excuses for G&S having short arms and long pockets? I'd better go and have a lie down!

Anonymous said...

Dave says,

Ah, a West Ham post. Well i'll be jiggered!

Pottsy had a great debut but he's been poor since. That's fair enough- it happens with inexperienced youngsters. But to play him as an attacking midfielder when I don't think anyone claims that is his position is not a good idea and could set him back.

Pompey is an important game but its not the be all and end all that your panicky post pumps it up to be HF. We have about 20 games to go, not just one. If we have money it is best to hang on and get the right one in, not just some random player signed cos we can get him in in time for Saturday.

the headmaster said...

Don't panic Mr Mannering. We all know that these things are squeezed into the final 48 hours of the window. The merry-go-round will commence somewhere around friday 27th at a guess. That's just the way it is........somethings will never change......All the rest pf the time is devoid of any meaning; it is just so much bull and newspaper fodder. Look at the bigger picture. Who the hell has actually done business to date?

Anonymous said...

could get dyer from qpr after all hes injured and hughes will want him out.

el martillo said...

Headmaster; "mannerings" are what you're failing to teach my kids at school these days! Corporal Jones always beseached "Captain Mainwaring" not to panic! Personally I think Fraser's "we're all doomed" scenario is closer to the mark at the moment.

Tom Hanks said...

When was the last time you went to a game Martillo?

the headmaster said...

El Martillo - lol! Love a Daily Mail reactionary and #nevermissachancetohaveapopateducation!

Anonymous said...

kevin in manchester writes ...

I do agree Portsmouth will be heart in the mouth time which is strange given our record. we are a point behind QPR'spoints total after 25 games last year and five behind Newcastle's the year before(although the barcodes went on a six game sticky patch immediately after)I guess Huddesfield are holding out for a Prem League club to pay them millions more for Rhodes than they'll get from us. And I dare say its the same with any other likely lads.we are in a sellers market and with goal scorers and killer wingers at a premium it was never going to be easy. we have been through a rough patch- every club does - and to still be second after 25 games - well as they say the table doesn't lie. let's see.

Hammersfan said...

There's rough patches and rough patches Kev. This one looks like skin cancer to me. Rough patches involve you playing well and not getting results; we have been playing poorly and not getting results! Hope you are right but I strongly suspect that you are mistaken.

Anonymous said...

23:00 not getting results? really? how odd, headmaster - you're an educationist - apparently we're joint top, does this mean we have cancer and aren't getting results?

el martillo said...

Headmaster; why does having the opinion that schools are not teaching our children manners make me a daily mail reactionary exactly? I teach in local schools and give my time for free, my opinions are therefore valid, substantiated and unbiased.

The removal of universal school meals was a major contributary factor in my opinion, not only to the deterioration of manners but also to the state of health of the nation. Daily Mail? I hope you're more perceptive in the classroom; oh sorry I forgot, you're a manager aren't you, not a teacher!

darrenharry said...

23:33 - the 23:00 comment was by Hammersfan and not Headmaster? God that felt like landing a plane. Over.

el martillo said...

Hanks: I went to two in December, when did you last make a decent movie?

Anonymous said...

We are joint top, nota premiership club any longer, have a paper thin squad, loads of injuries from key players and are blooding some youth. Why oh Why are you going on this attack of the club and the manager. It is so counter productive and only shows you up for someone living in the past, the very distant past of 86. Our players that are still there from last year were shot to pieces mentally and so to pick them up, dust them down and get what we have I think is a positive. We are not a premiership club now and people have got to realise we are where we are cos we had non commited players, huge debt and some that were quite frankly awful. One of the awful players has subsequently been given a new lease of life under BFS and is playing the best we have seen of him. So lets lay off this eternal bitching.

Hammersfan said...

Trouble is 1133, every game we played against Championship opposition last season, we won at a canter. I haven't seen any players transformed by Allardyce. last season, they looked vastly superior to Championship opponents when they came up against them, this season we are scratching out results and for seven games now, have failed to score more than a single goal in a game. Seems to me that the EVIDENCE suggests we have gone backwards the longer Allardyce has been in charge!

Lord Canning said...

Lots of points made here today.
1.January buys/sales ? Reeks of panic and no guarantee that things will improve. Just over inflated prices for ''no mark'' players.
2.Fat Sam's mid term report says - 'Could do better with more intelligent use of resources and tactics'.
3.We are joint top with half a season gone - adequate? Yes I think so.
4.When to buy -once promotion has been acheived. Prem status will always attract the better players.

One for the headmaster -
I read the Daily Mail and I have a friend who is a teacher and we constantly debate the nice pension she will be getting in later years. Looking at some of the other lady staff at her school I'm very much an admirer of the teaching profession -some of these ladies are very f**kable indeed!.

Anonymous said...

Dave says,

You are so negative HF. We are second on goal difference to a side you rightly praise. So we can't be complete shite surely?

You, me and rest of our support have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. We don't know how much money there is to spend, who we are after and of those- who are available and who would come. So wait and see what happens.

We are not Man City- we can't offer silly money and watch the players roll in. We're a second tier club with enormous debts accrued through the last 5 years or so. So it would be a fair guess that our ability to move in the market won't match teams like the Saints. None of that is BFS's fault is it HF? Concede that at least, eh?

Finally, what we did to championship teams in the cups last year is completely irrelevant. Cup games don't equate to the league. I'd rather see this year's limited but organised side rather than last year's gutless, couldn't care less bunch of toss-pots.

Anonymous said...

Kevin in manchester writes ..

yes, we tonked two (?) three championship clubs last season and we have put four goals past five of them this season. You can't seriously believe that we were playing better under Grant and if he had stayed with the club that we'd be thrashing all comers week in week out.

Anonymous said...

Neil warnocks now free maybe west ham should move for him.

Hammersfan said...

So who were the gutless, couldn't care less tossers? Spector? Boa? da Costa? Obinna? Hitzlespurger? Ba? Jacobsen? They all seemed like triers to me. So the allegation centres on Upson, Gabbidon, Keane, Barerra, Stanislas, Kovac and Hines.

Our record with Upson in the team was much better than without him in the team. Gabbidon is just crap. Kovac only started 7 games in the Prem. Keane only started 5 games and scored twice. Barrera made just 6 starts in the Prem, Hines 4 and Stanislas 4. Quite how they had such a devastating effect on our season is hard to explain, therefore.

Essexhammer said...

With this hotshot Japanese trialist training with the team ,hopefully, he will be the answer to the goalscoring problem.You have to wonder ,though,why his club allowed him to leave if he was that good.Still unsure about the abilities of RHODES cutting it in the higher leagues.Watched him score his 5 goals against WYCOMBE recently,certainly has an eye for goal,as he took them all well.I would mush prefer ALLARDYCE bring in two quality wingers for the left and right sides who know their trade.How much longer do us fans have to wait before we get to see a proper winger at the BOLEYN,its been years.With TAYLOR ,in and out the team,there is only FAUBERT who can work the line ,but he is just not polished enough,too hot and cold.O'NEILL ,I haven't really seen play ,but he has hardly set the match reports alight..another duffer me thinks.

el martillo said...

Lordy Lordy Canning Town man, have you shown your teacher friend your contribution here; I'm sure she'd be really proud of you. If she's good at her job she will have well and truly earned her pension.

I've never had a very high opinion of readers of the Daily Mail and you've only confirmed what I thought; that the minority male readers of that rag are indeed constantly debating, well something like that anyway!

Anonymous said...

Dave says,

HF- Typical of your arrogance you presume to know who I'm placing in the couldn't care less camp. I can't be bothered to spell out who I'm thinking of. Suffice to say can you really not see that the likes of Faubert and Coles's attitude are significantly better than last year?

And do you you really think that a side containing the likes of Jacobsen and Spector under the management of Grant would stand a better chance of going up than fat Sam's side? Do me a favour.

Hammersfan said...

Do identify who you were thinking of. Who have I missed? Did you mean players still on the books? If so, who?

Have I seen a change in Faubert and Cole? No. Faubert is just as crap as he ever was. Look at that moment against Birmingham when he protected his face rather than head the ball. Look how he hunted down that booking to get a day off on New Year's Eve. How many times have I yelled at him this season for not running into space and for not tracking back after losing the ball? I've lost count. How many times has he delivered a cross from deep rather than attack the full back to secure a more dangerous position? Of all the lazy arses, he is the laziest and fattest arse of the lot - and hopeless into the bargain!

Cole is the same Cole, he is just playing against inferior players. If Allardyce has waved a magic wand over him, or shoved a poker up his arse, why does he still regard one goal the absolute maximum he need score in any game, and why is he averaging 70 minutes game time in any match he plays? How desperate must Allardyce be to send on Piquionne as a replacement?

Nolan looks lazy, Collison looks half the player he used to be, Noble is better because Parker has gone, Green looks better because the delivery into the box is poor, with little pace or whip in the Championship. McCartney can't cross, nor can Faubert, or O'Brien - a simple skill to coach surely?

We look shit. We are shit. But fortunately the division is shit.

Anonymous said...

"We look shit. We are shit". You are shit. Your life is shit. You will always be shit. shit shit shit for hf. how shitty is that? no wonder you squeal like and overweight 40 year old menopausal tart that is still on the blob.