Fabrice29

Daaamn, so desperate to criticise and be right that you’re writing him off because of a situation he hasn’t even had a chance to tackle yet. Just enjoy this season for now mate.

Well it probably means he wasn’t spending the night before in Southampton covered in a Saints scarf.

It won’t end. People will continue to over hype sport stars and do silly things like name a tram after them. It’s always happened and it always will. You’re annoyed at the naming of a tram, in an area you don’t live I assume, because it’s a woman who had some recent media attention. That sadly won’t end either.

Yeah I was saying something deliberately silly just like you.

One more saved penalty than Shilton who picks up a CBE.

Nobody tell Farmer about the full video please. Love the innocence.

On the bench for City today so probably not

Fair few faces to spot in here, Le Tiss, Chamberlain, Sunak obviously. Could be massively over reacting here but young lad and his family draped in Saints scarfs…Micah Hamilton?

We are never going to cover everything single base. Teams will find ways to exploit us and we’ll adapt in game and between games accordingly. Manning/left back moving inside seems to have taken place after plenty of criticism Of KWP doing it on the other side. So the decision to bring the left back in has freed him up and allowed his form to improve. That’s good management. Defensively our numbers are actively better too. Chances will happen, individuals will make mistakes and maybe our fullbacks won’t get out quick enough some times but it’s quite obviously we’ve improved and adapted and will continue to do so. It’s a big part of how we play offensively and defensively. I think backing our defenders to defend crosses is better plan than to back them to ask them to defend one on ones through the middle a lot. It won’t always work and that’s okay.

Haven’t said any of that but sure, whatever.

Except, it's nothing like that because that isn't what I said or the plan. It's about risk and reward and finding the right areas to take those. I've no idea by the way, was just a thought and something I noticed as we were actively flooding the midfield to stop Grimes and Fulton dictating things. Winning the ball high and compressing play has been a big part of our success in the defensive side of things and inverted full backs is a big part of that. It means opening up space in wider areas and means our full backs do have to react quickly (which I agree Manning didn't do as well as he could on Boxing day).

Both of these statements are untrue. Easy to rate the one currently playing well, just like everyone did when Sulemana started well. Wingers are naturally inconsistent and can go hot and cold. No difference here. Enjoy both whilst we have them and the options.

Both Bree and KWP drift inside when playing left back. It's not a problem Martin has to or will fix if he's asking them to do it. It's a tactic he employs to cover other areas of the pitch and allows CM's to push higher up and win the ball higher up without the risk of being exploited behind them. Lots of top teams do it, it's a risk, reward thing and based on the results we're getting it seems fine. Full backs have to be out quicker of course when it goes wide, Swansea game for example, I think there was a clear plan to let the right back have the ball as he wasn't as big a threat as their centre midfield or left back for example. Manning is playing the role he's asked to, he's slightly unfairly criticised in my opinion. Especially the role he's being asked to play.

Except that’s not true.

This isn't an attitude thing fwiw. I know a few people seem to think the transfer window closing meant he didn't try anymore. He's simply just that type of player and always will be, whatever league he's in, he's inconsistent.

Fanbase just over hyping the only youngsters they regularly hear of I think tbh. Before this current crop I'm not sure we've had many internationals and actually highly rated kids for a while. Weirdly have a memory of Henrik Kraft even stating that last years U21 group wasn't that good.

Isn't Doyle's contract up soon? I know there was talk about him being tempted to leave last summer as he was worried about no pathway. Be interesting to see how that plays out over January if he's fit.

I admire the delusion if nothing else.

Alright, good luck with all of that.

Opinion based on literally everything we know about us and Ings.

This is not my stance. My stance is we weren't ambitious enough for him when we were at our best and he was leading that, so why anyone thinks he'll come back as some sort of "rather be here than anywhere else" thought is beyond me. He'll go where he's paid somewhere close to what he's on and he can offset that with an interesting challenge. Or somewhere boring but pays him enough to get over it. We're not going to do either of that. Leeds or Leicester might, no idea, don't know much about their ethos or business plan, but I've seen nothing to suggest we're in the business of offering anywhere near 100k a week to anyone who is over 30 now we're in the Championship.

He literally left last time, citing ambition. He also didn’t come back last time he moved. We’re now in the Championship and in no position to satisfy any ambition or make up for it in terms of cash. It’s not happening and I find it actually baffling anyone even entertains these really easy rumours to start.

Because if a good enough offer comes along I think he’ll press the issue. He’s not seemingly interested in signing a new contract so at some stage we have to accept he’s going and this January will be the best price we get. Even if we rationalised that keeping him makes us more money in the long run, he’ll press the issue when he wants to and if the offer is good enough from say, West Ham, in January then good luck to him. Maybe he won’t get that offer.

We’ll get a wide attacker for sure. We were after one at the end of the last window. Martin has actively said we need more goals so will be interesting if the wide player is the answer to that or if they back Stewart. Certainly won’t be Ings Prepare yourself for plenty of agent work on behalf Sulemana wise especially if he doesn’t make the Ghana squad. Be surprised if KWP is here at the end of January as well. Johnson in.

Orrrr.... his agent gets to work early in December and starts convincing desperate fanbases and subsequently recruitment teams, managers and chairman that not only is his man available but he's also the goal scorer he once was still and therefore the answer to all their prayers and as such wages should be of no object. Like I said, if he finds a club willing to pay him, good luck to him. If he doesn't, I suspect he'll just stick it out a bit longer on the wages he's on. The idea of him taking a significant pay cut to play for a Championship club he was quite happy to leave a few years ago when he could just earn the 100k plus he's earning now for another few months, seems very low down on the realistic ladder to me. Slightly higher than the idea of West Ham subsidising his wages to play for someone else for no sell on profit though, so there is hope. That's also even before we discuss the merits of the club, who is desperate to be seen at the forefront of giving young players a chance when they aren't getting it elsewhere, suddenly deciding to chuck a whole load of weekly cash at someone 30 plus. But anyway, lets have a few more pages of chat about it, then when he signs for Everton, Burnley, someone in Saudi, Turkey, another desperate moneybags team or just hangs around at West Ham, we can all blame the club because it was a no brainer!!