qwertyell

Which one's Emma Peel?

He's in a tricky space, Elliott. He's not quick enough to be a winger. Not physical enough to play deeper. And not dynamic enough to play as a 10. And yet he's a really talented footballer. Albeit with noodles for hair. I suspect he's destined for a career of mid-table mediocrity in a West Ham or a Fulham.

"For fuck's sake, Rasmus - I said Ewijk."

I remember a game at the Dell against Sheffield United where, after a clumsy but not malicious tackle, the crowd were screaming in unison for Iain Dowie to get sent off. The Saints crowd. He was playing for us. Mostly. Probably a nice enough fella, but a slow, lumbering donkey epitomised the team's style under Branfoot, and Dowie became a bit of lightning rod for his manager's failures.

Gone for around €20m three times now, while doing barely anything of value in between transfers. Funny old game, Saint(s).

Fulham bidding for Romulo from Gotzepe. Asking price is €20m. Just in case anyone was wondering why we aren't "all over this". He's got better options than some Championship basket case.

Lyon have just been relegated to Ligue 2 for financial reasons. Go and get Ale Rodriguez back?

Germany u20s.

Don't know how serious our link was, but it looks like Juma Bah is on the brink of going to Lyon on a season long loan.

Pretty sure we all lost.

A wedding at Lainston House. Sitting quietly on his own at a distant table (maybe reading the Guardian), Graeme Le Saux. I assume he was staying at the hotel - or that it's a hobby of his to show up at random weddings and awkwardly hang around on the periphery. Ray Clemence and Ossie Ardiles at a different wedding - although they were definitely invited as the groom had Tottenham links. Still a bit surreal, though: Escape to Victory's Ossie Ardiles. He probably did some other stuff as well. And Simon Charlton at a Romsey pub getting well stuck into a new year's eve, looking the antithesis of an elite athlete in spite of still being on Saints' books. It was a different time. A fatter time.

https://streamin.me/v/39de8405 Just saying (and not mentioning that he missed a penalty in the first match).

The second coming of Glenn Roeder was Jack Stephens-esque here as well. No awareness or urgency to the only danger in the box and fails to get across his man for the first goal, and a feeble attempt at a block that even Will Smallbone might think a bit limp on the second. Again, my concern with people raving about the guy who wasn't good enough to get in the worst defence in the PL (and second worst in history) last season and insisting we build our future defence around him, is that his stock has been artificially inflated by A) not being tainted by this season's disaster, and B) the disproportionate weight given to how comfortable a defender looks on the ball verses whether he can actually defend the goal. Give him a chance, sure. But I don't see how he has suddenly become a better option than the garbage we already have on the books, on account of how misty-eyed QPR fans got watching him contribute to making their defensive record worse as they limped into 15th in the championship.

The scouting department were tasked with finding a direct Che Adams replacement, and simply typed "big lump who can only shoot with his right foot" into Google. I mean, that still makes him better than any striker on our books. But it's a low bar.

I'm not sure how much stock we should place in being young player of the year for the team that finished 15th in the championship. Young player of the year for Watford, who finished higher in 14th, was a striker who scored 2 goals. Should we sign him to fix our goalscoring problems?