The9

Short answer, no we don't. Gazzaniga is improving rapidly, Davis is adequate cover in case Stekelenburg gets injured and Forster might be back before Xmas anyway. Stekelenburg has been nothing short of superb so far, his handling and kicking against Feyenoord was absolutely perfect.

Even with Man U being massive and all, years of Southampton wandering has taught me that down here Arsenal are the second most popular team behind Saints based on "probably better than Sky's methodology" shirt sightings.

That's why I think we've paid him up. That and the "goodbye" tweet.

I can see it being about 2-2 - they're missing the key DM they just sold to us but we're never the most attacking side, whilst we're missing a CB and first choice LB, and Clasie/Wanyama might not have things worked out properly yet so they're more likely to score than not. I won't be leaving the sofa in Hedge End until half 11, likely to arrive at De Kuip about 10 minutes before kick off if we go via Amsterdam for hotel bag drop and check-in.

Finding fragments of it spread around the car park. Is it that? PS Also "in before MLG says "you'll have to ask Ronald Koeman that".

Re: Debayo, he wore 14 one of the recent friendlies (when everyone else wore their allocated squad number). Mayuka's Instagram is doing a good job of implying he's still at the club, he has a picture of him wearing a new adidas training top (over his shirt and tie), so that was a good investment of £33 if it helps get him a new deal somewhere. Pretty sure his contract got paid up, he had a briefly-posted tweet saying something like "goodbye" before it was hastily-removed, probably on his agent's advice. He was training before the end of last season so he's not still got the terrible groin tear he acquired stretching for a cross at the African Cup of Nations (having failed to anticipate the cross in the first place). Is he listed as out of contract on the FA list, I know we didn't actually announce him as released but then his contract term wasn't complete?

Uberlollage. Forty-Forster apparently chose it because FF looks a bit like 44 and he didn't want to keep 23 because of superstition after the injury. All indications are that he'll be back before Xmas, and if he isn't, well, Stekelenburg is a good keeper and Gazzaniga is starting to look like a decent backup. Ramirez is a useful player to have around with the extra games in Europe (hopefully) and his style being more suited to European matches. By "no space" do you mean "we haven't got a number gap?", as there are 3 of those even in the existing numbering, AND we can add higher numbers. Gap at 17 also fits the "number gap" theory, especially given that a centre back wore it last season. Finally...

Luddite.

Not having any difficulty at all, just had to log in, wait, log in again and then buy (though I was adding one for Espanyol not Vitesse). Still took 25 minutes for the thing to tick around. Thinking about it though, it should be a lot less hassle on the Mon/Tues for the away game as [hopefully] only eligible people are going to be trying to log on, rather than everyone who might want one as at the moment.

Ah, but that's a statistical outlier due to Koeman wanting our best pair of defensive players on the pitch for the most difficult matches against the top teams, not comparable to the situation of Yoshida playing against random opponents due to someone else being unavailable. The matches they lost were Liverpool, Everton, West Brom and Spurs away, Man City at home and, er, Sheffield United. Wins included Man U and Arsenal away... It's also quite surprising that they only played together in 19 matches.

I don't think it'll sell out because Vitesse won't sell out the away end and we'll probably also have a load of empties in Block 43 due to our occasional fans being put off by it being a Thursday night.

I've now just seen their home, away and third kits. Bonkers. Home: yellow and green halves (with big ugly yellow advert square on the front). Away: green with yellow pinstripes (with less ugly green square) Third: hideous green orange and yellow hooped thing with big ugly square on the front. Black shorts and socks. Clashes with home shirt.

I was in the end with the astropitches behind in the first half, and the end end at the far end behind the goal second half...

English fans of Vitesse aren't going to struggle to get tickets.

"As expected, the premium crossing area is on the edge of the penalty and inside it (shall we call it the Zabaleta Zone?), where around 5% of crosses are converted. If this sounds low, then consider that the average cross conversion rate is just 1.76%." Here's a fun hypothesis for you: "Success and reliance on crosses are inversely related: the higher proportion of a team’s shots come from crosses, the lower points-per-game. The strength of this relationship is similar to the previous, and, once again the effect is not found in Germany or France". See more at: http://statsbomb.com/2014/10/how-low-can-you-go-assorted-thoughts-about-crosses/#sthash.t0BFd20O.dpuf

If he doesn't play against Feyenoord and he isn't injured you can retain your surprise. At the moment I think we're just giving them all appropriate levels of match experience in pre-season, so Gazzaniga and Stekelenburg played in Salzburg against decent sides, Gazzaniga in Groningen against a decent side, and Davis in the match where they didn't expect him to have much to do. Gazzaniga needs experience, Stekelenburg needs experience behind the actual back 4. Also, Stekelenburg can build the relationship behind the back 4 in training just as well as in an actual match, as long as they don't know what the opposition is doing they have the chance to work on shape and communication.

They're all "ends", you just need to consider the "end" behind the touchline not the goal-line.

Yeah, I think there are two of you, and you're both wrong. His inability to read long balls and tendancy to jump the wrong side of players completely undermine any of the decent stuff he occasionally manages. He's a bottom half Prem centre back if he has to play a whole season, and that's where we were with him regularly in the team. Last season we scored the same number of goals with him on the pitch as we conceded, and this is in a team which scored 21 more league goals than it conceded. We won 54% of matches without him, and 42% with him. That is a massive drop off. All matches W 22- D7 - L16 As a %: W49 D16 L36 Matches with M Yoshida W 8 D 4 L 7 As a %: W42 D21 L37 Matches without M Yoshida W 14 D 3 L 9 As a %: W54 D12 L35 http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2471&teamTabs=results

Again, Feyenoord on Thursday. Not to mention already having done 45 against Valencia and RB Salzburg and 90 against Groningen. The only thing I'll be complaining about is us putting anything other than a reserve team out against Espanyol!

He looked sound defensively against Red Bull Salzburg when the rest of the back 4 weren't impressive. If you thought Clyne's crossing and passing was poor, I'm not sure why you think Cedric's is good, they're about the same - which is fine.

We ARE playing Feyenoord in 2 days, you know. Mix and match opposition standard pre-season to get fitness up.

I think I'd fancy my chances with the opposition defence. He's been great since the first second he stepped onto a pitch for us. Great signing already, will be interesting to see how he copes in competitive matches and with the Prem.

...especially when they've got nothing to do. I am amused by the "Post Quick Reply" button now, given the opposition.

They've said numerous times Reed and Clasie are sitting. I'm surprised you haven't started telling everyone it's a 4-3-3 to be honest.

When the defence he'd be playing behind isn't the defence he'll be playing behind, there's not much point to that, is there?