The9

Sounds like a ban to me... Forum rules, number 2 on the list: DO check that a topic you want to start hasn't already been posted - saintsweb is very busy, so it may have slipped off the first page.

"On the beach" for "on the pitch", "20 season" for "training session" and "4 4 master" for "for, for Manchester". Not to mention "godfather" for "Watford"! And unfortunately, yeah, I can't be arsed to concentrate on what he might be saying AND then try and think about the context of the response, I just spend my whole time trying to decipher what he's said so I'm not actually registering any of it. It's kinda like spoken TXT speak, by the time you've worked out what is meant, you've forgotten what the purpose of it was. Either way, football has too much empty talking generally, so it doesn't really bother me.

We've already done this thread. It's still on the front page. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?56880-Expectations-for-the-season#.V7Sm75grLIU

Beitar lost 2-1 at home to St-Etienne in EL Playoff first leg. Which is nice if you haven't been to the Geoffroy-Guichard for 18 years like me, but not so great if you want Saints in Pot 3. Still, there are 21 other ties tomorrow to get the upsets started.

In the CL PlayOffs Rostov drew 1-1 at Ajax last night so might be stitching us up, and yes we want Celtic to beat Be'er Sheva and Dundalk to get beaten by Legia Warsaw. In addition Beitar Jerusalem are playing Saint-Etienne in the Europa League playoff tonight (we want Beitar to win that one)... and Beitar are 2-1 down at home with about 15 mins left. All the other EL PlayOff first legs are tomorrow night. I'm currently working my way through potential locations and mapping airports and flights and suchlike, and other things I want to do the following weekend so when the draw is made a week Friday I can just bust out the pre-planned options and book without having to think about it... FWIW, Celtic v Hapoel Be'er Sheva is on BT Sport 2, Dundalk v Legia is on BT Sport 3, and Porto v Roma (tie loser goes into the EL, both seeded above Saints) is on BT Sport ESPNHD.

I haven't even attempted to listen to him after the zzz factor of the first interview he did, had a conversation to this effect with a friend on the weekend too. Can't say it bothers me as I have no interest in the endless speculation that surrounds football any more, only the facts.

He did however, have an injury before the Euros (reported on 7 June before playing 90 minutes on 20th): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3628975/England-defender-Ryan-Bertrand-major-doubt-Euro-2016-opener-against-Russia.html AND he was injured with England in March: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/14382978.Injured_Bertrand_out_of_England_squad/?ref=rss So he might have one of those niggling things that comes and goes which players often play through until they can't.

As a member of the England squad at the Euros, the first game he might have been involved with was against Espanyol all of two weeks ago. Hardly the "majority of pre-season" when some were back training 6 weeks ago. Forster only played against Espanyol for a half and is a keeper who unlike Bertrand (90 minutes against Slovakia on 20th June) didn't play in the Euros and hadn't played since 27th May. Arguably he's missed 1½ pre-season games and the opener, over a period of two weeks. Not really a concern.

He didn't have to comment at all, but he chose to describe Puel as an inspiration, which is also far and above anything he needed to have said to be polite.

We could afford his wages, we just couldn't afford to also up the wages (again) of everyone else as a result of it.

He didn't lose in a single match in the first 17 he played last season for club and country, and only lost one of his first 26 for Man U and France (it was against England) until he suffered a second defeat (and first Man U loss) against Saints on Jan 23rd. Meanwhile without him Man U lost 6 of their other 13 matches in that period. I would say that was pretty comprehensive proof of his effectiveness up until late January (so nearer 6 months than 4, actually).

We have changed it through the groups. I still don't know why people think "the Southampton Way" has anything to do with a specific formation. It's about doing things like ensuring the whole club ethos is geared to a particular style or set of styles. Having one formation and only one formation is a ridiculous idea which leads to a team being completely predictable and easier to defend against, whilst having the whole club set up to play the same way is eminently sensible if the goal is to deliver players to the first team, whether on a short/temporary or long term basis, even if that "same way" changes to stay ahead of formation changes throughout the division. One thing Les Reed is very on the ball about is identifying trends in how teams play and planning appropriately, it's been his role for years and he's written books on the subject.

He was picked to start at Bournemouth, and since then it's been injury. This season it's clearly the formation which means he's out of favour. I'm sure he'd score 20 goals if we set the entire team up to play to his strengths, but clearly the opinion is that we might get better results not doing that at the moment.

I don't think there's any particular reason Thierry Henry would tell people Claude Puel was inspirational if he didn't want to, it's not like you even have to LIKE your teammates, never mind massively big them up for no apparent reason.

Or the new deal he's got sitting around waiting for him to sign it (according to Lungs, who I know is a very reliable source on this, if terrible at reporting what he actually knows in rather than editorialising it).

It's the sensible financial way of doing it - you lose out on a bunch of additional payments if you put in a transfer request. Tbh Fonte isn't going to achieve anything else internationally than he just did, he's got at most 3 years left, I can see why he wants those 3 years to make him as much money as possible. I can also see why he'd want to stay for a number of non-financial reasons, and the club would certainly benefit from having at least one player in demand who chose NOT to leave.

But not as interesting for me as going somewhere completely different. I'm fairly sure the Ibis will be exactly the same and the potholes will all still be there, for instance. Though I wouldn't mind reacquainting myself with the "price-hiked" 50p pint.

Cancerbero (apparently) means goalkeeper, not that that makes it any clearer. Scrimmage is a very old football term (Norwich actually sing about it in their club song "On the ball, City"), back from when rugby wasn't so far removed from football in terms of physicality. Rugby has "scrummages". Scrimmage is also a gridiron term, which again shows the similar origins of the games. Oh, and I'd forgotten Rayo Vallecano were in Segunda Liga this season, so it's not much different to him going to a Championship side.

I'd really rather go somewhere I hadn't already been though... even though they've moved grounds.

It would be the drunkest thing ever, and would also be the first flight and hotel booking I'd be making of the three aways.

Surely as they've just spent 3 years telling us fan ownership is the way to go they wouldn't be interested anyway?

I am fairly sure we can add Steaua to the Europa League group stages now too...

I saw "good job they're not playing Wise as well"...

Tbh I ended up going there twice watching Saints last year what with Feyenoord and Vitesse, though that's not really a problem as I like the place and I've not actually been to the ArenA. Ajax coefficient is 58-ish so either Pot 1 or Pot 2, Rostov are in single digits and would be Pot 4.

1-1 now, but still a useful away goal for Rostov.