acrossthepond

There was absolutely no stopping the first goal, Pamarot charged onto it from the back after a bad cross from a corner that bounced to him. But Benjani managed to get around Cacapa and curled it in. Brilliant stuff from them. We're down 2 after 9 minutes.

And we're now down 0-2 after a Benjani and Pamarot goal.

Holy God. That was a strike and a half. NUFC 0-1 Pompey

Smith as a striker could be promising. I'm really glad that Geremi was dropped. Looks like we might have a decent attacking game.

I'm 100% sure I don't give a damn. Just keep your trap shut, aye? You never have anything relevant to say so don't say anything at all. On to the people who actually want to discuss the topic: I am honestly bewildered at the people saying my earlier comments put a "negative slant" on this interview. If me saying it's a non-story is negative, I don't know what I can say to be positive besides "I LOVE OWEN HOPE HE STAYS TILL HE'S 40." The story is absolutely meaningless and is just something to fill column space with, or wrap your fish and chips in if you like. To The Fish, I never wanted him to say anything. Anyone can talk the talk and Owen has been talking it since he got here. I need to see results now. Owen scoring the winner today, as Alex hopes for, won't win me over, but it'll help. Owen giving his all and putting in a good performance, hopefully with a goal against the Mackems will help more. That's all I'll say for now. It's just time to wait and see as far as Owen goes.

Another moron incapable of common sense. Honestly, R|CO, who are you and why do you have something (nonsensical) to say about everything I write? Simple version for you: Anyone can and will say they're not going. Managers insist they will be the ones to save their team up to the minute they get sacked. Owen can say he's not going until the cows come home and it doesn't make a whit of difference. It is a non-story. If I had made another account and posted what I did, or if this article were about, let's say Emre, nobody would have had any comment. You are honestly just looking for excuses to go after me, and looking for hidden meanings in what I write. There aren't any.

I was quite serious. Of course he's going to rubbish any kind of link away from SJP. There's no way he's going to go "Actually, I was looking at my options..." because then people would really be out for his blood. Obviously he's going to keep saying his future lies at NUFC, even if he doesn't think it does. It's just common sense. Which you lot seem to forget when responding to me. It's a total non-story. Doesn't even bear printing. Should just have one automatically prepared and change the date on it every week. Not sure why you guys reacted the way you did, besides that you think I'm a redneck. I live in New York. p.s. for my part, I don't think he's going anywhere. I think he'd much prefer to ride the gravy train here.

Nothing to this. I think he should have his press agent put together one of these every week and just have it read off by a talking clock or something. He'll dismiss exit talk until the day (should it come) when he leaves.

You can best please me by not being shite. This includes: not taking every throw-in, not taking free kicks, not giving the ball away.

I think he'll save them this season. They'd better get rid in short order in the summer though before he can start to do any permanent damage.

Aye Emre wide instead of N'Zog was a poor choice but other than that he cannot win can he. I guarantee if he dropped Rozenhal and Martins for Faye and Smith and we lost you would be moaning about why the fuck we changed a winning defence and attacking partnership to bring in new faces. Anyhoo as I sad it doesn't matter as I am sure you would moan regardless even if we had won. Somehow I dont think thats quite what acrossthe would have done I'm not sure what I have to do with this topic. But you have spoken my name and called me. Really the strikers had little to do with Saturday's result. We had only two real first-team options in Martins and Owen, both of whom are unsuited to aerial battles, and with the lack of penetration down the flanks that our midfield offered they were never really going to get the service they need, especially Owen. I can't see how putting Smith on for either Owen or Martins would've helped. To be quite honest, for the discussions about the relative value of Owen vs. Martins in the squad, I don't think for a moment that Smith can do what either of them does. I really am not sold on Smith and am beginning to wonder just exactly what it is that he does, besides collecting yellows. I felt that Feye (and Jose Enrique) actually offered some of the limited capability in going forward we had. His aerial balls were less likely to randomly land in front of the other team and I can't see what difference Rozenhal, surely a defensive player, might have made either. The problem wasn't up front or at the back. It lay in the extremely weak midfield selection. Geremi really has done nothing for me since joining and I think the writing is on the wall for him. He needs to pick it up in short order or be dropped. He certainly isn't a right winger and he's having trouble convincing me that he belongs on the pitch at all. We all know what to expect from Butt by now and while his selection wasn't one of the bigger problems on Sat, you know what happens when you send out too many defensive players - you get an overly defensive side like the one that faced Derby and we know how that ended. The big problems were Emre, obviously not belonging on the left wing which I think we can all agree with, and Barton, who didn't look match fit and never looked like contributing. If I could have it to do all over again, it'd be: Given Beye Cacapa Faye Enrique Milner Butt Emre N'Zogbia Martins Owen

Loving that Spuds loss even if it puts Blackburn even further ahead of us. That team is so laughable.

Plenty of teams already do US tours in the pre-season. They get large attendances. The reason why? The EPL is already popular enough in the States. Most football fans in the States support English clubs and are only mildly aware, if at all, of their nearest MLS club. I just can't see the need for flying two teams out to Los Angeles or some equally out of the way location to have them play in front of a crowd of 50% lookyloos 35% general sports fans who came because the tickets were cheap and 15% people who know anything about the two teams who are playing. Having them do it for a league game which actually can matter to the survival of some teams is ridiculous. It makes sense for the NFL because that's a "sport" with little to no exposure outside the States. But football is the world's game. There's nowhere that isn't a market for football, or for the EPL. I hardly think the league's profile needs raising.

Reading finished 8th last season and have the same points now as at this point last season. Not sure what you're trying to prove here, look at our squad and look at theirs. The difference should be obvious.

Terrible loss to be honest, I can't fault us much for losing to the new-look City but Derby and Reading are Championship-level teams we should be beating day in and day out. Embarassing.

Well there's a surprise.

Missed the entire second half, cheered by the goal though. We can win this!

Or 2-0 up, it's not that bad. Calm down Yeah, there's no way we were going 2-0 up. Shit performance. Only proper chance was muffed. It was bad. Need Butt off, the Zog on. Hope you're reading Big Sam.

Stream's gone down - typical - so I'm in the dark. Not impressed by our play so far, Beye's offered a bit going forward but we seem to be giving the ball away far too cheaply and the defence is looking iffy. We'll have to hope to make it into the half 0-0.

Lita's just missed an absolute sitter, should have surely been 1-0. We're missing something. I think it's the Zog. That's just me though. EDIT: Brilliant pass there by Beye, Owen just couldn't get enough on it. That looked promising at least.

What the hell is that? Geremi, Butt, Barton and Emre in midfield? I wonder if either striker will even see the ball let alone score. When is this guy going to realize Geremi is shit? We have real wingers, we need to use them.

What coach let this moron get near a microphone? Christ! "He's black, so I'm sure he's not from London."

Now hang on just a minute. #1: We have won major trophies. We just haven't won any in the lifetimes of most on this site. #2: Martins isn't like Drogba, Shevchenko, or Owen. For example, Shevchenko is a class player. However, The English game clearly isn't for him. Martins has adapted quite well I feel to the English game - it's his quality that people doubt. #3: This is nonsense. Martins has scored some right crackers, and he has the creativity to come up with something spectacular, but he is inconsistent and has probably missed almost as many sitters this season as he's scored goals. I am the last person to slag Martins off, but we can't get too carried away about him or any of our squad. He isn't the next Pele. He's a good striker who we can count on as a workhorse and who will maintain a good rate for us, but he's not Shearer or Les and he's not Drogba or Shevchenko.

It ain't oba till it's oba, Noelie.

I think we have seen this problem more than any of the other "problems that make him rubbish" this season. Against West Ham he rounds the keeper and...sends it wide. Too long to think. Hard bit's done, gets confused, blasts it. Against the Arse he's watched the tapes of his miss a hundred times. So he tries to tap in, having again done the hard bit. It's slow enough to be cleared before it gets to the line. Nobody is saying he'll be a world player of the year. What I am saying is that if he figures out his confidence issues and goes with his instincts (which despite the abuse are not as bad as people make out) he will bang them in regularly and there's no need to talk of selling him.