The9

Redmond has actually looked miles better going inside from out wide on the break, because when the defence is settled he just goes sideways on the edge of the box. I can see why we're playing Long and Redmond like that, I can also see why it doesn't work as well as having a direct option that gives the defence something else to think about other than the bloody obvious low ball to the runners through the middle - the best that worked today was when it looked like a short pass and ended up being a through ball - if we're going to play like this we need more height to offer a different threat, and we need an actual number 10 to pull the strings because Tadić isn't it - though he's great on the left in a position that also doesn't exist in this formation.

You're a complete idiot. Austin is a superb finisher, we appear to be favouring a system that doesn't suit him at all.

The long and short is that the "character" element can't be quantified, so signing players in the list which the manager has experience of could still trump all the other data.

Damn right we do. It's actually a little less clear than it appeared, we only need two results to change and we're in Pot 4.

Braga, Porto, arguably also Vigo will give you the chance to fly into Porto. Also Arouca if they turn around the 1-0 home deficit.

Nah, it's pretty simple. 48 teams into 12 groups.

Now updated to embolden direct qualifiers for the group stages as they're the only ones not dependent on a result before Friday. Pot 1 Schalke (GER) coefficient 96.035 Zenit (RUS) 93.216 [Porto (POR) 92.616 or AS Roma] Manchester United (ENG) 82.256 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 81.976 Athletic Club (ESP) 75.142 Olympiacos (GRE) 70.940 Villarreal (ESP) 60.142 [Ajax (NED) 58.112 or FC Rostov] Internazionale (ITA) 58.087 Fiorentina (ITA) 57.087 Anderlecht (BEL) 54.000 Viktoria Plzeň (CZE) 44.585 ----------------------------- Pot 2 est. AZ Alkmaar (NED) 43.612 Braga (POR) 43.116 [RB Salzburg (AUT) 42.520 or Din. Zagreb] Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER) 42.035 [Roma (ITA) 41.587 or Porto] Fenerbahçe (TUR) 40.920 [sparta Prague (CZE) 40.585 or Sonderjysk E] PAOK (GRE) 37.440 Steaua București (ROU) 36.576 [Genk (BEL) 36.000 or Lokomotiva Zagreb] [APOEL (CYP) 35.935 or FC Copenhagen] [bATE Borisov (BLR) 34.000 or Astana] Standard Liège (BEL) 27.500 Saint-Étienne (FRA) 26.049 --------------------------------- Pot 3 est. [Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 25.775 or RB Salzburg] Gent (BEL) 25.000 Young Boys (SUI) 24.755 [FC Copenhagen (DEN) 24.720 or APOEL] Krasnodar (RUS) 24.216 Rapid Vienna (AUT) 23.520 Slovan Liberec (CZE) 22.085 [Maribor (SVN) 21.625 or Qabala] Celta Vigo (ESP) 21.142 [Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 20.225 or Hajduk Split] Feyenoord (NED) 19.112 [Austria Vienna (AUT) 19.020 or Rosenborg] Mainz (GER) 18.035 FC Zürich (SUI) 17.755 Southampton (ENG) 16.756 [West Ham United (ENG) 16.256 or Astra] Panathinaikos (GRE) 14.940 ----------------------------- Pot 4 (est) Sassuolo (ITA) 14.087 [Qarabağ (AZE) 13.475 or AIK Gothenburg] [Rosenborg (NOR) 12.850 or Austria Vienna] [Astana (KAZ) 12.575 or BATE] Nice (FRA) 12.049 Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 11.976 [Rostov (RUS) 11.716 or Ajax] [Astra Giurgiu (ROU) 11.076 or West Ham] [Hajduk Split (CRO) 10.775 or Maccabi Tel-Aviv] Konyaspor (TUR) 6.920 Osmanlıspor (TUR) 6.920 [iFK Gothenburg (SWE) 6.475 or Qarabag] Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) 5.875 [Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) 5.775 or Genk] Trenčín (SVK) 5.400 [Qäbälä (AZE) 5.225 or Maribor] Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) 4.725 Beitar Jerusalem (ISR) 4.225 [sønderjysk E (DEN) 3.720 or Sparta Prague] Shkëndija (MKD) 2.950 Dundalk (IRL) 2.590

Incidentally, good to see the transport links to Astana are better than the ones to Kairat last season, that was nearly 24 hours with the stopover in Moscow... you had to leave on Tuesday to make the (3pm BST) kick off time. Also not looking forward to getting messed around with the odd hour when we finish daylight savings.

We don't want to play those feckers with the weather in December or in the Round of 32 in February, that's for sure. Though as their season ends in the autumn it might give us a decent advantage in fitness terms, if not recovery...

An 8 with an end bracket will always give you one of these: unless you put a space in between 8 ).

Update with all PlayOff Round first leg results below: With 3 teams already below us in the Group Stages (Konyaspor, OGC Nice and Zorya Luhansk), we need another 9 from these below: 5 will come from these EL Play-Off Round games where both teams are below Saints: Midtjylland 0-1 Osmanlıspor Astra 1-1 West Ham United Sassuolo 3-0 Red Star Belgrade Panathinaikos 3-0 Brondby Qarabag 1-0 AIK Gothenburg So we need another 4 to go our way from this lot (teams we want to win in Bold, results in our favour currently in GREEN): Champions League Play-Off Round (losers drop into the EL Group stage) Dundalk 0-2 Legia Warsaw Ajax 1-1 Rostov Celtic 5-2 Hapoel Be'er Sheva Europa League Play-Off Round (winners go into the EL Group Stage) Astana 2-0 BATE Borisov AEK Larnaca 0-1 Slovan Liberec Arouca 0-1 Olympiacos Dinamo Tbilisi 0-3 PAOK Austria Vienna 2-1 Rosenborg Beitar Jerusalem 1-2 Saint Etienne Lokomotiva Zagreb 2-2 Genk Trencin 0-4 Rapid Vienna Vojvodina 0-3 AZ Alkmaar Qabala 3-1 Maribor Gent 2-1 Shkendija Slavia Prague 0-3 Anderlecht Istanbul Basaksehir 1-2 Shakhtar Donetsk Sonderjysk E 0-0 Sparta Prague Fenerbahce 3-0 Grasshopper Krasnodar 4-0 Partizani Tirana Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2-1 Hajduk Split The current total is we have exactly the 4 results we need. So Pot 3 at the moment... just. First legs are all complete. You can't really argue with UEFA's coefficients based on the results so far! Meanwhile over in the Champions League PlayOffs on Tuesday and yesterday, all these teams have higher coefficients than Saints, but the losers of the tie will go into the Group stages of the Europa League: Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Red Bull Salzburg FC Copenhagen 1-0 APOEL Nicosia Young Boys Bern 1-3 Borussia Monchengladbach Steaua Bucharest 0-5 Manchester City Ludogorets 2-0 Viktoria Plzen Villarreal 1-2 Monaco Porto 1-1 AS Roma

We didn't play 4-3-3 under Pochettino or for large chunks of Koeman's time though.

Cool, it's been really useful in helping me track down nearby airports.

Clasie looked very good pre-season against Feyenoord last year, fwiw. We don't really play to his strength, which is passing the ball forward through the lines quickly in tight defensive areas - it might be more useful with a proper number 10 to get the ball to though.

I'm going for a 2-0 defeat, early Zlatan header, them having crossed from the acres of space in front of the full backs, and then an hour of both sides passing it around and them defending deep with us (again) not getting the chance to counter. Then we create something from a rare mistake, Long misses a decent chance and they score in injury time just to annoy me. I'm going, like maxi_sopez I haven't been for the past 2 years when we've won, my last visit was Pochettino's first game when we made the mistake of scoring right at the start.

I'm fairly sure the answer to both of those is "Cortese shouting loudly".

Aw gutted. If it wasn't for the fact I'll be spending next Thursday night and Friday checking pots, coefficients and nearest airports I'd have done it for you!

Here's the latest: SønderjyskE 0-0 Sparta Praha (87) Midtjylland 0-1 Osmanlıspor (70) Krasnodar 4-0 Partizani Tirana (75) Göteborg 0-0 Qarabağ (HT) Qäbälä 1-1 Maribor (HT) M. Tel-Aviv 1-0 Hajduk Split (HT) Austria Wien 0-0 Rosenborg (47) AEK Larnaca 0-1 Liberec (HT) Slavia Praha 0-0 Anderlecht (HT) İstanbul Başakşehir 0-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (28 ) West Ham kicking off in 10 minutes in Romania against the lot they lost to last year (Astra Giurgiu), lots of team changes.

Now 2-0 Astana.

Jesus, flapping much? We're hardly likely to sell him for £3m when we paid £8m even if we wanted to get rid of him, which we don't.

Astana 1-0 up after 70 mins, albeit at home in the first leg, but that's good news for Saints making pot 3.

Repost from earlier in the thread due to there being a heap of games tonight... With 3 teams already below us in the Group Stages (Konyaspor, OGC Nice and Zorya Luhansk), we need another 9 from these below: 5 will come from these EL Play-Off Round games where both teams are below Saints: Midtjylland vs Osmanlıspor - either Astra vs West Ham United - either Sassuolo vs Red Star Belgrade - either Brondby vs Panathinaikos - either AIK Gothenburg vs Qarabag - either So we need another 4 to go our way from this lot (teams we want to win in Bold): Champions League Play-Off Round (losers drop into the EL Group stage) Dundalk 0-2 Legia Warsaw (played yesterday) Ajax 1-1 Rostov (played yesterday) Celtic 5-2 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (played yesterday) Europa League Play-Off Round (winners go into the EL Group Stage) Astana vs BATE Borisov AEK Larnaca vs Slovan Liberec Arouca vs Olympiacos Dinamo Tbilisi vs PAOK Austria Vienna vs Rosenborg Beitar Jerusalem 1-2 Saint Etienne (played yesterday) Lokomotiva Zagreb vs Genk Trencin vs Rapid Vienna Vojvodina vs AZ Alkmaar Maribor vs Qabala Gent vs Shkendija Slavia Prague vs Anderlecht Istanbul Basaksehir vs Shakhtar Donetsk Sonderjysk E vs Sparta Prague Fenerbahce vs Grasshopper Krasnodar vs Partizani Tirana Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Hajduk Split

Plenty of EL PlayOff games later, but Astana v BATE Borisov kicked off at 3pm BST, still 0-0 after half an hour. We'd like Astana through (coeff. 12.575 and below Saints) rather than BATE (coeff. 34.000). Saints are 16.756, as a reminder. All the coefficients can be found here: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2017/accesslist/listofparticipants/index.html#201617+uefa+europa+league+list+participants

It was 13 years ago, a lot has changed for all three teams and there's no particular reason to use that one match as a benchmark for now.

Learn the rules or get out, I sez.