The9

Anyway, this is completely off-topic...

Absolutely, which is why I said they've been more successful than us in the short term. But it's not a measure of enduring transfer success or club management over a longer period. They captured lightning in a bottle and did everything they could with it. But they immediately reverted to their previous level the season after, because they didn't have the infrastructure to maintain it. At the moment that if they even qualify for Europe again in the next 5 years or reach a major Cup Final they'll be delighted, and I think we're more likely to do that than they are. They're probably just as likely to get relegated, which we're also not - assuming things stay as they are of course, who knows what Mr Gao has planned for us?

I would say probably not, as Man U beat them and drew with them in the two games in the League last season (which also happens to be what we did against them). All this shows is that Swansea had luck that we didn't in each of our one cup finals in the past 6 seasons.

Swansea haven't finished above us since 2013 (when Fulham and Norwich were also better than us). We are clearly better than them at this. Come back about this if Leicester finish above us in the next three seasons, yeah? We've finished above them twice and they've finished above us once since they got back to the Premier League.

You're right, of course. I shouldn't feed the troll.

You're the one making the comparison. Would they have beaten Man U last season? It's not laughable, we're verifiably better at it than them by every measure except that one League Cup win, especially recent league finishes, which are a much better illustration of the long term than the randomness involved in Cups.

Btw if you want to compare Europa League seasons with Swansea, they were also out of Europa League before Xmas, were out of the FA Cup by mid-February (played the same number of FA Cup games as Saints did last season) and also came 8th. But they lost in their first EFL Cup game that season, whilst we lost in the Final. That was also their BEST League finish since 1982, and our worst League position of the past 3 seasons.

Fairly sure we'd have beaten Bradford in the EFL Cup Final in any of the past 7 seasons had we been fortunate enough to have played them at that stage too. They've finished above us once in the 5 years we've been back in the Premier League, and that was the first season we were back up - they were an absolute shambles last season in terms of board direction, transfers and management until they finally got it right putting Clement in charge of the team. Basically proving my point, when they were at their best and we were still building a squad they were better than us, since then we've overtaken them and we don't have the bumps in the road that other teams get without very obvious an unavoidable external factors (eg a European season).

Huge net profit over the past 7 years whilst escaping League One, establishing ourselves in the top half of the Premier League, improving the squad depth and recently delivering consistent top half and European-challenging seasons and then compare it to everyone else outside the megabucks top 6. The only teams you can argue have done better than us are Leicester due to their one-off season (finished below us last season when supposedly we were "poor") and Everton last season - when they spent hugely, and both are yet to show they can finish above us with a league campaign and Europe in the same season. Meanwhile we've finished above Liverpool and Chelsea and within 3 points of Man U twice in the past three seasons. We're competent and focused whilst operating within our means, and most aren't.

No implications, we'll still be signing players who want to showcase themselves and get a big move, they'll just have to accept that we'll sell them when it suits us. There are enough players out there that we'll still get the type we want and if anything it'll sift out the ones with attitudes we don't want anyway. How we re-integrate is really the key to this - and we've done it before with Schneiderlin and Wanyama. The main threat to our model is all of the other teams becoming competent at transfers too, which isn't showing any sign of happening outside Spurs, who still cave in occasionally (Sissoko is their Osvaldo). Everton seem to be moving into the gap between Spurs and us, which is a bit of a concern, but megamoney teams have their own ineffeciencies. Stoke will sign anyone with a Champions League medal irrespective of team needs West Ham will sign anyone and do so much in the press that they get hijacked by bigger money clubs. Swansea seem to have a limited pool of ex-players they get back when desperate - though Clement gives them a few more options as Sanches proves (and he'd be perfect for us in a couple of years if Bayern doesn't work out). West Brom are pretty decent at recruiting players to meet their needs but they don't do what Saints do so very little overlap in targets. Liverpool don't have the foresight to put players in and develop them, preferring to let others develop them first and then pay hugely over the odds of what they could have got them for if they'd scouted earlier and committed to development themselves. Chelsea are completely inefficient in their use of stockpiled players and none of them last long in the first team. Man City just sign the kind of players no-one else can afford and hope they work as a team.

Pure passing stats for defensive midfielders are going to include a whole heap of short and backwards ones - and a DM who can play a more accurate longer range pass is more likely to do it more often, which will lead to fewer pass completions. I specifically remember Wanyama stopping playing long diagonal passes within the first two months of joining Saints because he kept putting them off the pitch. Basically we need to see the stats for forward passes and longer passes to see who's a better passer, 4 yard passes are useful, but they're also pretty easy. http://www.statsbombservices.com/passing-percentages-are-mostly-useless FWIW I also saw this, which puts Hojbjerg and Austin as our top passes given situation, and also shows our goals contribution is spread throughout the team (i.e. we're not a one-man team), but it was from very early last season: http://www.statsbombservices.com/introducing-xgchain

I'd pick Romeu too at the moment, but then he hasn't sullied his reputation by half-assing a season when he wants to leave yet. As a quick and dirty comparison, if you go like for like with first two seasons at Saints: Wanyama 2013/14 - 8th, 56 points Wanyama 2014/15 - 7th, 60 points, Qualified for Europa League Qualifiers (Wanyama also played 2015/16 - and contributes to Romeu's stats to some extent) Romeu 2015/16 - 6th, 63 points, Qualified for Europa League Group Stage Romeu 2016/17 - 8th, 46 points, EFL Cup Runners-up and Europa League Group stages. Pretty close call based on team performances, 8th and 7th or 8th and 6th, I guess Wanyama gets the nod for the overlapping season despite his ambivalence on occasion. In theory this one should be Romeu's best yet. Of course this doesn't include Wanyama 2nd, 86 points, Qualified for Champions League, Champions League Group Stage and Europa League Knockout Stages which puts a different perspective on it too.

Didn't last long though.

Harlee Dean's just joined Redknapp at Birmingham, so maybe Liverpool will sign him for next season before tomorrow too.

Only the fact that the club you join will probably reimburse you for the buy out fee as well, though how much they compensate you for saving them a transfer fee is another negotiation - there isn't a £71m to pocket unless your new club offers it. To confirm, it is the rules, just as clubs only being able to fine players a maximum of 2 weeks' wages is in every contract, and there's also a list of "minimum requirements" for avoiding contract breach when out of favour, both thanks to the PFA. So far all I can ascertain from the whole thing other than Van Dijk wants to leave, is that he's really terrible at spinning cause and effect when there's evidence to the contrary - for instance, when he put the Transfer request in it was because he was getting fined, but he'd already been asked to train with the kids because he'd said his mindset wasn't right (and then it was rumoured he was asked to play in the U23s game which is presumably why he was getting fined. Seeing as he said he'd never refused to TRAIN, but didn't mention refusing to PLAY (which he may well have done given that he hasn't since January and he's been fit since pre-season began), you'd have to assume that's an accurate assumption. Quotes below "I feel I have no alternative after I was given notice of the Club's intention to impose a disciplinary sanction against me of a fine equivalent to 2 weeks wages. I will be appealing what I feel to be an unjustified sanction and their inability to follow the correct disciplinary protocol in due course. I would also like to make clear that I have never once refused to train. I can confirm that I was asked about my frame of mind and for all of the reasons mentioned above I was open and honest in saying that I did not feel I was in a settled mindset given the circumstances" Anyway, I can't see us selling him to Liverpool for less than whatever their last rejected bid for Coutinho was, and I can't see us selling to anyone else for under £70m. Whether we manage to resist the temptation to flog him for a massive sum and avoid the hassle of reintegrating him is open to question. One thing that was unequivocal was Reed's insistence that Hoedt was signed to play alongside Van Dijk. Hopefully that doesn't mean we sell them both to Liverpool.

Well, I was when he tangibly couldn't be ar5ed for any game not against the top 6 and got himself sent off three times, but that was only the last season he was with us, he was excellent before that. The quote dragged up by Nordic Saint for some reason from a thread dead for over 18 months comes from prior to Feb 2016, which was right after his sending off against West Ham, which came almost immediately after he served his suspension for a red card against Norwich - so, no, he wasn't very good for us against the run of the mill teams at that particular time. My post above on this page says he was very good against Man U and Arsenal in between those two games, pretty much in line with the "only tried against teams he wanted to sign for".

I should think it's got more to do with the other 19 superfit outfielders hammering it around the place, with the opposing ones constantly leaning on you, pushing and pulling, necessitating millions of tiny muscle adjustments just to be able to stand up, and that going on constantly for 45 minutes at a time interspersed with rapid multiple sets of sprinting etc, rather than any lack of fitness. Any of the outfielders could run at pace for hours on end, it's all the other stuff that takes it out of you. Having said all that, not playing in that environment often enough also deadens your reactions and you soon look off the pace.

A silent "fel" eh?

Worth pointing out that Mitchell would have known about Wanyama and Alderweireld from being at Saints anyway, so arguably it's only 3. And Trippier has only started 13 games for them in 2 years, so that just leaves Son and Alli.

No, there are plenty of people who can see past the tedious rubbish being spouted by the usual suspects.

All the evidence you need of Reed's involvement in the coaching set up can be seen in our goal kick routines from L1 and Championship seasons, lifted straight from this document: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Guide-Basic-Team-Coaching/dp/0340816007

Haven't bothered to read the other 200 pages of this thread, so apologies if this is already posted, but there's already a precedent from Andy Webster. The regulations are that if you're under 28 you can buy your contract out once there's 3 years remaining, if over 28 it's 2 years. So Van Dijk couldn't buy himself out, even if he wanted to, for another 2 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_ruling

He's doing reasonably well, 4 goals in 307 minutes so far, basically a goal a game. Should be on target for the predicted 15 by January if his injury isn't serious. He did get called "OLL-oohfulla" rather than "Oller-fella" on Channel 5 last week, however. Don't get too carried away though, Frank Nouble has a fairly similar 5 already for Newport in 429 minutes of L2/EFL Cup/Checkatrade so far, and that's as many goals as Nouble's EVER scored in a season in a career that took in 4 appearances for West Ham before 8 loan deals and 6 free transfers in the subsequent 8 seasons, mostly at Championship and League One level. Scoring goals in L2 is no kind of indicator of future Premier League success. Though if he wants to go and make himself properly famous I'm all in favour as we've got his match-issued Europa League shirt (from a game he wasn't in the squad for).

Just for the record, I was at Victorious all three days and I saw precisely three Skate football shirts the entire time (though a few more bootleg t-shirts with the football club logo on them and a couple of polo shirts). Anyway, under 10 in three days, on Southsea Common. We did sit behind a bloke on the train who was absolutely p155ed off his face at 11:45am, and spent the train journey from Cosham to Southsea rambling on about someone on the train he knew to be a scummer, and blathering on incoherently about it being a real city and singing a song (at noon, in public, on a non-football day) about how this particular scummer was scared to go to Fratton (where he was at that exact moment). At one point he also berated his friends for not telling him where they were on the train when he got on. I wonder why? I swear he didn't have enough brain cells to bump into each other. He had a lovely moment outside Portsmouth & Southsea station too, when he realised he had arrived, but just stood there rocking for 10 minutes while we queued for the cashpoint as he tried to gather the brainpower to work out where he was going and what he was doing next. Dunno where his mates were.

They're doing well considering they're boycotting the competition. Aren't they? I mean literally nothing has changed...