UPDATED: Martin linked with Town switch as Benson holds Pompey talks (From Swindon Advertiser)

Swindon1984 wrote:
I like Benson myself, and even if not starting feels he can offer something different from the other strikers in terms of height and ability to hold up the ball. Would be a shame for him to leave but Paolo knows best, sure he's got something else up his sleeve.

Stroud STFC wrote:
Can't believe we have let him go - I'm sorry but I think Williams , Collins (& Mooney) have been very poor. I hear people around me talking about their speed, holding up etc but their stats for efforts on goal are pathetic. Neither Williams or Collins are good enough for the championship & hardly at L1 level. Are they better than Connel?? The were talked up before they came here but both had only short spells of goalscorring 'form' - otherwise not v good. Benson is the oly striker that can jump & win a header! That's PDC, I guess once your out of his gang.....

mallorca wrote:
Yet another duuf decision by Pdc. Benson gave 100% and to be honest collins and Williams have not set the CG alight have they. Now the striker from Norwich coming in Chris Martin again will he perform.Still all the best to him and PB if he goes to Pompey. Still we aint football managers yet Pdc makes you think is he right in the head

Even Angrier Monkey wrote:
Impressed with the quality of the 2 loan signings.
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Both played virtually every game for teams that went up as league 1 champions in the past 3 years - so clearly they cant be bad players.

Malkym wrote:
Can't see this Chris Martin thing working - after all Coldplay are crap! :)

Swindon1984 wrote:

Stroud STFC wrote: Can't believe we have let him go - I'm sorry but I think Williams , Collins (& Mooney) have been very poor. I hear people around me talking about their speed, holding up etc but their stats for efforts on goal are pathetic. Neither Williams or Collins are good enough for the championship & hardly at L1 level. Are they better than Connel?? The were talked up before they came here but both had only short spells of goalscorring 'form' - otherwise not v good. Benson is the oly striker that can jump & win a header! That's PDC, I guess once your out of his gang.....

FFS, back to the Connell thing again. We don't have Connell anymore. Fully appreciate everyone's got a right to their opinion but that's a conversation that's going to go nowhere. To put it in perspective, we signed Collins from Shrewsbury, where he hit 22 in 68 games. A decent record. Connell scored 11 in 32 for us - his form elsewhere hasn't always been as good. There's no guarantee when you sign a player they'll do the business for you (I seem to remember a Mr Shevchenko signing for Chelsea and having a torrid time - nothing of his fantastic ability at AC Milan would have led them to believe that would be the case) but we signed players with a good pedigree, taking a chance they would score goals for us. If we'd kept Connell, we'd have been taking a chance he could score for us at a highter level. You've said Williams and Collins aren't good enough for the championship and hardly at league 1, but then presume Connell would have done better based on what we've seen of him playing in League 2. Interesting. On a lighter note, Martin from Norwich looks good though - used to playing at this level on loan and a decent strike record. Of course he could be awful for us but that's the chance you take.

newburymike wrote:
Chris Martin (Coldplay)
Andy Williams

Who next? I believe Michael Jackson & robbie Williams are still playing league football somewhere!!!

London Red wrote:
I can't beleive no one has even mentioned money in all of this!
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Benson was rumoured to be right at the top of the food cahin in terms of wages - so moving him on will free up a massive chunk to improve the squad as a whole
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Benson is not playing and not scoring for us at present so how can he be "missed" (on the field)
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I like Benson but always expected him to be phased out - it has come faster than I expected - but shouldn't be unexpected by anyone
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Charlton moved him on when they became contenders to go up and he was younger then!
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Top bloke, great professional - but not a top L1 striker
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As saisd by the odd sensible poster - it is Martin who should be the compariosn and he certainly seems to have a decent record
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We'll see if it is a mistake if Benson suddenly fires them in left right and centre for Pompey yet Martin does nothing for us
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Are we actually going to give him a chance? Or do we have to do the usual write him off before he has kicked a ball!

EastleazeRed wrote:
If its the same chris martin i'm thinking about he's a quality player. Man utd & Arsenel were rumoured to be after him a few seasons back !

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Malkym wrote:

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Maybe he's related to Dean Martin if he likes a drop of the hard stuff! "Little ole wine drinker him"

Deano is once reputed to have said "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on" :)

Oxon-Red wrote:

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Love PB to bits but the last game I saw him play he was awful, passing to the linesman most of the time.

He is not the only one to be able to win headers and hold the ball up, as Collins can and can do so for a full 90 minutes.

I don't buy the "our strikers are poor" argument because most of the time it seems to be wholly based on the number of goals they have scored and if you don't get one every other game you are no good.

I haven't seen every game but I have seen every home game this season and my observation is the lack of chances that actually come the strikers way. This may be down to poor positioning on their part, poor delivery or a combination of the two. I believe that if these two factors can be sorted the strikers will start to score more regularly.

On Rooney, again I have only seen him at the CG and his time playing has been limited but he has looked okay to me. He has missed a couple of chances but no strikers scores every time. In his defence he has played roughly 550 minutes (6 full games) in total and has three goals. Not a bad strike rate IMO.

Martin could well be a good move with the chance to see before we (possibly) commit to a more long term arrangement.

COYMR

SeanG92 wrote:
Does seem a strange one, but maybe Paolo is just playing the role of The Scientist, and wants to try a few things out, Bnson hasn't been as good this season as he was last and perhaps Paolo has said a move on loan for a bit will Fix You. Anyway get Martin out of Yellow and into the Red and White we better hurry up as well the emergency loan Clocks ticking.

Oi Den! wrote:

Malkym wrote:

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Maybe he's related to Dean Martin if he likes a drop of the hard stuff! "Little ole wine drinker him"

Deano is once reputed to have said "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on" :)

And "It takes just one drink to get me drunk, but I can't remember whether it's the 17th or the 18th".

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers.

I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role.

Obviously against him is his pace (lack of).

On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Chris_Marti

n_(footballer_born_1

988)

Will be interesting.

Mondeaux wrote:

Oi Den! wrote:

Malkym wrote:

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Maybe he's related to Dean Martin if he likes a drop of the hard stuff! "Little ole wine drinker him"

Deano is once reputed to have said "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on" :)

And "It takes just one drink to get me drunk, but I can't remember whether it's the 17th or the 18th".

It may have been Deano or Sinatra who said, "You wake up without a hangover and think, is this as good as I'm going to feel all day?

mikek wrote:
Its seems this season we are scoring goals from all over the pitch unlike other seasons when we have relied on just two or three players. At the end of the day the end result is the same we win games, yet fans choose to knock Williams and Collins who work their tails of and have been very unlucky not to have scored more goals. Just look at the saves keepers have made and the woodwork that has stopped these two scoring more. Why measure a players worth solely on his goal record, there is more to football than that guys. I feel that if the goals are going in elsewhere then that is good enough for me. I remember fans moaning a few seasons back when we only had 3 players scoring most of the goals.

the don69 wrote:

Mondeaux wrote:

Oi Den! wrote:

Malkym wrote:

madterrier wrote:
Benson is the only striker we have that can hold the ball up properly and win (and direct) headers. I think he allows other options, such as playing 4-3-3 and accommodating a second striker in the hole - our other strikers struggle to play that role. Obviously against him is his pace (lack of). On Wikipedia, can see that Martin's strike rate is 1 in 4. Also seems to have a drink problem, if the being barred from pubs stuff is correct. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chris_Marti n_(footballer_born_1 988) Will be interesting.

Maybe he's related to Dean Martin if he likes a drop of the hard stuff! "Little ole wine drinker him"

Deano is once reputed to have said "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on" :)

And "It takes just one drink to get me drunk, but I can't remember whether it's the 17th or the 18th".

It may have been Deano or Sinatra who said, "You wake up without a hangover and think, is this as good as I'm going to feel all day?

Deano also said!If you drink,don't drive,in fact don't even putt!!!!!!!!!

Mondeaux wrote:
Oi Den,

I hope all is well in your world. We haven't jousted much recently. It doesn't meant I don't love you anymore

mikek wrote:
Martin scored 23 goals when in Division 1 so that is a very decent record. Still only 24 and wants to play matches and only has 6 months left at Canary land. Brighton in April 2012 were reportedly looking to a 1.2 million deal for Martin in the Daily Mirror. Benson is 33 and has struggled this season and been easily pushed off the ball and heading has been wayward when he has managed to win one.. Great last season but Charlton got rid so may be his level is Div 2 at best now. Shame as he did us proud last season and is a likeable guy but the future for the Di Canio express is the Championship so Benson would not figure past this season and that's a fact. Hollands looks a great capture and box to box player so that really is another decent signing and scores goals also, very good day at the office I say.