The9

Stop talking sense, idiots are trying to be idiots here. There has been a LOT of propaganda football though, mainly because we didn't have someone to unlock defences or create space, and little alternative to slinging low crosses in. But you're right that some people have gone mental. Koeman got a load of goodwill due to his great start and record finishes, Puel hasn't got that in the bank yet, and people choose to ignore his accomplishments.

Yeah, saw that. I've booked up Milan and Prague without them already, waiting on the club before (probably) going via the route I've identified, but not considering this because I really don't like trip-sharing and would rather navigate myself - and it was £599 when I saw it too.

You can play any formation you like with the players they can afford and still get away with it though. We need to maximise efficiency and minimise stuff like learning curves (and, more obviously, not buying players so late we drop points due to glaring weaknesses first, which also happened last year until Van Dijk joined).

We can score from counterattacking with the current tactics, but we haven't really tried to counterattack since pre-season, and it should only really work against teams that attack us anyway, but we have gone behind in all three matches nevertheless. The possession approach doesn't work against an established defence because we haven't have players to create the space - though it might if Boufal is anything like as good as he's meant to be.

That's the main problem, I think. The mentality of a couple of the midfielders was clear on Saturday, especially when Davis was haring towards space in behind their defence with the ball and chose to cut back and we played the ball back to Targett with their entire team between him and the goal. It's fine to set up to counter, but if we do, we need to shift the ball forward to the wide strikers quickly and support in numbers. Keeping possession is also ok, but both work a lot better if you're already leading, and don't expect us to be able to do both of those at the same time! Hopefully now we've a club record signing at the tip of the diamond (if he's Saints fit soon enough) we'll be able to unlock even established defences, but I do still worry we're not giving them enough to think about or encouraging bad defensive decisions which lead to chance creation rather than just shots from range.

The defensive shield that conceded in the last twelve matches of last season?

Koeman was also in new contract negotiations which always meant he might go rather than be a lame duck too.

You seem to be overlooking the fact that football clubs are so careful with the science and physical tracking that the only way players get injured now are from direct contact injuries or high-speed twists. So there's not much left to be out as a result of apart from joint injuries.

Signing that number 10 with Boufal certainly won't hurt, hopefully his ability will open up space for others that Tadić hasn't whilst playing out of position. I still think we need to show that we offer an aerial threat to really get defences on edge, but it might be that Boufal can run at people Mané style and create space for others like that.

I came to this thread to make a joke that Charlton's name change will never catch on and they're just copying Sheffield Wednesday, and instead have been delighted to discover we have a player called Cucina, who presumably is actually Cuco Martina. Won't he be on Curaçao duty?

He's also the one responsible for perpetuating the myth that we won 6-3 against Man U in the grey kit match because he uses the same stat sheet year on year and us against them is always on the box.

The things Savage is most guilty of are massively overreacting and enormously blinkered bias. I'd rather listen to elderly people chew.

Yeah, they've underdelivered again on travel plans so far, original wording was "hoping to bring you...". I'm now "hoping" that it means they've got some killer pricing because anything over £500 and pretty much anyone can do it cheaper.

This is correct. A McDonald's about a mile or so away where the main buses drop off and the nearest Metro is. When I was there last year the 5 Tram to the ground wasn't active as well, which made it a dull trek to the ground or a circuitous bus, and a random bus-hunt back again. They do have the infrastructure outside to put on a load of trams and buses from the enormous car park, but they weren't using any of it when I went.

Has to balance it with picking the players who he wants to keep happy as well, especially if they're doing well and will be needed when we have Europa League games too. Long is, as you say, better suited to the counter than Austin, so it makes all the sense in the world to play Austin in a match where we'll have more possession. Personally I'd have picked Rogriguez and Long (blah blah, refer to the point I've been making for two weeks about needing to threaten high crosses as well as through balls), but I'm picking my preferences match by match rather than with a mind to picking two teams a week and making sure players are motivated and sharp when they're called upon. Plus he's probably still testing his ideas of players' abilities in actual match situations, there's nothing that recreates the live tactical ebb and flow of a match other than a match. I'm fairly sure he's confirmed Austin doesn't like defending though.

They were similar in that we had exactly the same problems from the personnel in that system and did exactly the same thing, and the manager made substitutions which got us back in the game (Hojbjerg 3 minutes before the goal against Watford, Rodriguez who scored yesterday) after going behind due to poor decision-making on the pitch (yesterday that was more by the ref than anyone though). We had six times as many shots on target (and nearly 5 times as many shots overall) against Watford, and nearly 4 times as many shots on target as Sunderland and 3 times more shots overall. All that happened in amongst the fury about the awful refereeing and the frustration was that Sunderland and Watford both took their chance(s) better than us. The second half of last season we were disproportionately good at scoring from chances created, we're just reverting to our average.

I think you misunderstood. On commentary when I watched it back it was mentioned that there was a pattern on the pitch which we'd need to get rid of for the Europa League. I looked at it from various angles and assumed it was intended to hint at Virgin Media with the V/M type pattern, without being too close to actual advertising that would make it not allowed. Clearly the rules in the Europa League don't allow for such fanciness.

The odds will make it pointless.

Players are constantly trained and retrained in systems and tweaks to deliver results against specific opposition threats all of the time. They're all used to being "made to think differently". Misplaced passes are NOTHING to do with systems.

Clasie isn't even getting a game, Ward-Prowse isn't starting, why would Reed get a game when all he's done in 2 years is run around laying in late tackles? Romeu and Hojbjerg are perfectly capable and the latter has looked like one of the bright spots so far.

Ok, well firstly we didn't really play a high pressing game for the past two years, so... He's managed a team to the Champions League semi-finals. That's as good as anyone we've had as a manager. Van Dijk is entitled to be p155ed off, we've conceded in 14 successive competitive matches... and Puel was only manager for 3 of those. I don't think the system suits the personnel at the moment, but they clearly have plans to add a playmaker, and if that's the new system the manager wants people to learn, then it makes sense to teach that and use it even without the players in place. They can always fall back on 4231 if necessary but without Pelle that probably doesn't work that well either, which is probably why the system was changed anyway. It *might* work with Austin there but he's not going to win or hold up the balls forward needed to link the supporting attackers. Can't take all the credit for suggesting we play Rodriguez to make the defence think about having to defend anything except through balls of course, though I didn't see anyone else suggesting it on here.

Nope, because it's on tv and the only game where there was doubt about the kick off time due to it being Sunday was Hull.

I went in January last year, Duomo is the massive cathedral in the middle, well worth a look even if you're not religious. Other than that... I was fairly unimpressed tbh, a few museums and stuff, decent shops, but... not as much as I thought there would be - but then I'm not particularly into architecture - of which there is plenty. Trams and buses are good to get around in and out of the centre, I also did the San Siro tour and they have a small museum-type set up at the ground too. No idea if the number 5 tram line to the ground has reopened, it was closed when I was there, which meant a bit of a stomp, getting on for a mile, from the nearest bus stops to the stadium. Food is very good and not that expensive to get decent restaurant meals, though the exchange rate has gone to crap since I last went. Anyway, here's a pic I took of the away end (up the top there) at Inter 0-1 Torino in January 2015. That will be us. Also, bloke in the hat doing a great impression of Crab Lungs (it's not him though).

Those were the days... when it took me all of Sunday to recover from running around a pitch somewhere in Southampton at 10am, usually with 10 or fewer men, before I realised (half way through the season) that the secret to quicker recovery was "not trying in the first place".

We discovered last year that waiting for consensus in a group of more than 2 people is expensive as hell when it comes to booking flights... This year I was actively objectionable to anyone trying to join the process.