The9

I'm observant enough to know that you never, ever, discuss his actual ability. Your defence of Lambert seems to consist of "he's a legend" and "I think he's great", as opposed to his actual skillset or any kind of tactical analysis of what he can and can't do. I've been asking for us to bring in a player who can take us up a level up front since the winter transfer window in the Championship, and you've been taking it as a personal slight against Lambert every single time - the club must have thought Sharp could do it for a while, as no-one buys strikers for 6 months' use and we could have just paid a loan fee if it was just about getting us up. However, we have finally got to a position where we can actually attract that player who should be able to do it all, better than anyone we already have, and I cannot wait to see if it does take us to another level. Could take a little time to settle, but all the signs are that we've just jumped a couple of league places. We haven't brought someone in to "lighten the load", we've brought someone in to replace an existing starter. We're yet to see who it is (it could be Puncheon), but guillotining popular players before they get past their usefulness isn't unprecedented under the present regime, just ask Barnard, Chaplow, Sharp and Hammond.

You know what, I've been searching for this for months to try and find what I actually said about it : http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?39554-Wigan-Build-Up&p=1450865#post1450865 I even repeated it later in the thread, clarifying that I said it before we signed Rodriguez "who is probably going to play more than both of them". As it happens, Rodriguez played in 37 matches, Lambert in 38, Sharp in 3. Not far off though, and Lambert's lack of injury (which was the basis of most of my expectation re: games played) was very unexpected.

You're lucky I don't post what I actually think about the situation now, I think you'd probably have a breakdown. By the way, this is my third post on this topic, you're not very observant are you ?

I wouldn't usually post a PM, but in this case...

Maybe pop down to the stadium first ?

This season, probably, yes. There's a World Cup in the summer though, shop window and all that.

Forgot about him. Just as well.

Depends if it's on with no reserve and a 1p starting bid. I'd go to about £3 on the off-chance.

His mum ?

Just for the record, I did PM offering to buy it, no reply. Strange. I would definitely want to see it on eBay first...

Wanyama, Boruc and Hooiveld are all decent Prem players of varying degrees, but two of them are starters in a side supposed to be challenging for Europe... Steven Davis has also outshone our £12m Uruguayan so far.

Thought I recognised the username... buyer beware? : http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?44975-Nike&p=1697947#post1697947

A very good question !

Gonna need more details about it before I bite like a sucker...

Guh, add a "c" to the title, keyboard failure... also turned out there were no Italy games in the recaps... soooo...

With the assistance of the articles on zonalmarking.net and a Google search... a few bits about Osvaldo's roles and formations under his last three managers at Espanyol and Roma, plus a chunk on Pochettino and Osvaldo together getting tonked by Barca... December 2010 : Espanyol 1-5 Barcelona (Osvaldo scored though...) "Mauricio Pochettino played a variation of his usual 4-2-3-1... The key feature of the game was two high defensive lines and lots of pressing. There were two inevitable outcomes from this – there were lots of bookings, and there were lots of opportunities to play balls over the top. Why was Pochettino using this approach, then? We know from the way Barcelona thrashed Real that they love using the pace of their strikers in behind the defence, and we also know from the defeat to Hercules that they struggle when sides sit back behind the ball and park the bus. The reason was because Espanyol have had success against their more illustrious neighbours in recent years by getting into Barcelona, closing down Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and not letting Guardiola’s men play. Their last three results against Barca had been a win, a draw and a defeat – and the defeat was a narrow 1-0 thanks to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty. Therefore, whilst it turned out to be counter productive, the offensive tactics from Pochettino made sense – his side had previously used them effectively, and given the atmosphere and the nature of the game, sitting back at home probably wouldn’t have been wise." "Pochettino’s instructions to press Barcelona resulted in Juan Forlin following Messi into deep positions, leaving Victor Ruiz on his own at centre-back with a huge hole alongside him. And, time and time again, Barcelona cut through Espanyol incredibly easily. Messi would move deep, Forlin would follow, the gap would become clear and Villa and Pedro would sprint into it to collect a through ball. The first, fourth and fifth goals all came from simple through balls to find either Pedro or Villa in behind. It was as simple as that. Something similar happened at the other end, when Daniel Osvaldo outpaced the Barca defence to grab Espanyol’s only goal, but the home side were outclassed. Pochettino stayed true to his side’s style – the style that brought a 100% home record before today. “Barcelona played almost perfectly, and what we did today was not enough”, he said. “Theirs is a great team both individually and collectively.” Guardiola was equally complimentary on a night of good-natured rivalry in Barcelona. “We just had our most complicated game of the season so far. They are our city rivals, but more importantly we just beat a very good team.”" Sep 2011 : Dull 0-0 with Inter under Luis Enrique, 3-4-3 Osvaldo on the left : Nothing else to add here but to show he's used out wide too. Oct 2011 : Rome Derby : 4-3-1-2 "When Roma didn’t have the ball, Bojan Krkic and Pablo Osvaldo moved wide near to the Lazio full-backs. Then, when the possession was turned over and they moved into centre-forward positions, the full-backs started to track them, narrowing and leaving space for Angel and Rosi to overlap." Dec 2011 : Luis Enrique Roma v Barcelona Tactics : http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/14/luis-enrique-roma-tactics-barcelona/ "Enrique switching Osvaldo and Lamela against Juve seemed to be to bring more balance to the side – Osvaldo then offered forward runs from the right whilst Lamela came inside and let Jose Angel forward on the overlap" "The draw with Juve showed how far Roma have to come in this respect. The nature of Enrique’s system, generally with forwards deployed on the wings (Pablo Osvaldo, Bojan Krcic) means it’s essential to press high up to let those players work in their favoured zones." "Wide forwards : A mixed bag – Osvaldo has broadly done well but still doesn’t look suited to starting wide – he’s a natural central striker " - this was 2011, though. Sep 2012 : Inter 1-3 Roma (Roma now coached by Zeman) "As the game went on, it became increasingly frantic and lacked shape. There was more and more space in the centre of midfield, and this benefited Roma, who attacked directly through the middle of the pitch (whereas Inter were going down the left or hitting balls over the top). The third goal of the game was the crucial one – Roma played quick passes just inside their own half to get the ball forward to Totti on the halfway line, who immediately hit a glorious ball through to Pablo Osvaldo, who finished beautifully. It was the most obvious example of Zemanlandia so far this season – a thrillingly direct goal that stemmed from vertical running and straight passing." "The tactics of the two coaches – particularly Zeman – influenced the style and feel of the game, but the result tonight was more down to good individual performances, particularly from Totti (who played more passes than any other player, including the best one of the night for Osvaldo’s goal) and Osvaldo (who picked up a goal and an assist, but also was dismissed in stoppage time)." Jan 22 2013 : Roma v Inter http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/01/22/roma-1-1-inter-bradley-guarin-sum-up-serie-as-obsession-drivers-rather-than-creators/ Osvaldo starts as lone central striker : "Roma’s front three played different roles. Francesco Totti was left-sided but came towards the ball, turned and played passes for midfield runners (and the other two forwards), Pablo Osvaldo drifted across the line and made runs in behind the defence, sometimes switching with Totti, while right-sided Erik Lamela started deeper and tended to run with the ball." "as Totti brought Ranocchia up the pitch and Osvaldo darted in behind, Inter encountered problems in that zone, as Osvaldo was marginally flagged offside early on." There are lots of promising-sounding snippets that tie in with the way Saints already play, a striker who can play across the front 3 or in behind someone else, in a high pressing game. What it also suggests is that we'll have a new element with some runs from deep, and maybe this will tie in with our slightly longer passing as seen in the West Brom game. If nothing else this brings home some of the huge teams Osvaldo has already scored against, and that doesn't include him and Papa Waigo turning over Juve !

Pretty sure the aap3 deal's already ended once. The fact they don't even have their names on the U21s kit means the terms are different to last year so they must have renegotiated, and someone decided against it, whether that was the club wanting to keep the U21 shirt free (either to sell to someone else or to stick it to the sponsors just as the useless gold text makes it almost invisible), or possibly just the sponsors not wanting to pay more and not thinking the U21 shirts was value for money.

Don't forget the massive swathes of empty all along the front of blocks 1-3 as well as 43 and the away end against Wigan - useless ticketing system and camera angles made the place look much more empty than it was.

I see Saints v Sunderland has been upgraded from Extra Time to NBC Sports Network. Nice.

Interesting article here about the legal ruck going on in Kenya for a bit of the U23 solidarity payments due to the numerous clubs he played for before he joined Celtic... http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000091453&story_title=Kenya-battle-for-wanyama-millions-ensues-as-club-petitions-fifa

You mean he just decided to pitch up at Palace on the off-chance and the club doesn't know ?

Having revived the "15 leaving" thread, I'm pretty sure it's only 11 out at the moment, including Puncheon.

This new guy can play out wide, yes.

I get slagged off when I point this out.

I note from the link above that their snazzy, jazzy, superduper Flash website of 2010 has been replaced by one of those crappy generic ones (yes, I know). As for the "get yourself in the Team Pic" shamelessness, most teams that do that do it for free, and include thousands of fans at a time surrounding the team. Is there some kind of precedent for making an entire City's inhabitants bankrupt by shamelessly exploiting the same limited pool of support over and over ? Surely with the worthless shares of nothing and the repeated calls to fork out for the same stuff over and over they're going to run out of cash... I mean credit... soon ?