Ex Lion Tamer

Alcaraz's wages are probably a bit high for a bench player. Makes sense to let him out on loan and see how he does in a different environment

You're still against Russ' methods?

The Carrillo situation was a symptom of a deeper problem, which was that the board weren't facing up the fact that Pellegrino was out of his depth. They didn't want to own their bad manager choice so they threw money into backing him. In the same way that Carrilllo didn't have the data to justify his signing, neither did Pellegrino have the managerial record to justify his appointment. Board level decision making had gone completely awry

Che Adams is basically false nine. Great build up play, not so great in front of goal. If we get goals from the wings, then perhaps the latter part doesn't matter so much

I think you're on shaky ground here David. Not only was he brilliant for us but he did a phenomenal job with Spurs, getting them to second place finishes and a Champions League final. It hasn't worked for him at PSG and Chelsea - he needs a club to sign players that fit his system and I'm not sure he's been getting that

Is this the same poor temperament that Sulemana supposedly had but which Martin seemed genuinely shocked to hear mention of?

If he gets a half season of first team football then he could be a starting player for them next season. That's the incentive

Interesting signing. I wouldn't have thought that he would have any long term issues from the cancer now he's had the all clear. However he hasn't managed to regain his starting place for Bournemouth or Wales. Perhaps it's just the time out of the game and he needs first team football to get up to speed. Given how good he was, I wouldn't think there's be an option to buy on this one

Come now. Obafemi's goals against Chelsea and Scotland showed real skill

I see him levelling out at Obafemi's level. Not a world beater but decent to have around

"Eclipse the £5m fee paid for Calvin Ramsay" could mean anything over that amount, and a £5m fee seems cheap if he's going to be any good for us. I'd expect him to cost £8m or so.

Martin has us on an 18 game by picking the "gaffer's boys" rather than the best players. OR I think he wants Stephens' leadership qualities in the team but agree the it isn't working

To be honest I think Martin's comments were a bit disrespectful, but respect has to be earned. We need to be real about the fact that regardless of party leanings, Sunak has been degrading the role of PM and politics just like Johnson. The above is just the most obvious example. Here's some more: https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2023/12/19/sunak-may-have-undermined-trust-with-claims-to-have-reduced-debt--watchdog/ https://fullfact.org/news/claire-coutinho-labour-meat-tax/ https://news.sky.com/story/tories-urged-to-delete-social-media-labour-attack-post-featuring-swearing-bbc-newsreader-13025141

That goal saving challenge at the back was a fantastic moment. I thought Edwards defended pretty well against him at times though

Tasty: I do think those away games we have left against the big teams will be tricky. I'd back us to get draws in some of them though and hold our ground

Stephens shouldn't be playing full back. I will die on the hill

It may have created an opportunity that time but if you keep kicking it long then most of the time it will come straight back, pinning us down in our own half. What he should have done with hindsight is pass to his full back. It was that simple

Not wanting to sugar coat it too much as it was pretty awful, but the calculation is that playing out from the back gains us more goals than it concedes, even if it does look really stupid when it goes wrong

Watch Adams' movement for the goal, terrific stuff https://x.com/SaintsExtra/status/1740816452402209157?s=20

I don't think Baz lets that goal in if we don't have the two goal cushion

We've created a ton of chances in that first half. The goal will come. There may have been periods of "walking football" but they've generally been followed by a chance. Slow, slow, fast. Ready to pounce

But if we'd sacked him when they said we should, he would never have had the chance to turn it around

I haven't particularly paid attention to this tactic with our full backs but my general understanding has always been that a narrow defence is the best way to park the bus and stop goals? Let the opposition have the flanks where they can't score and then deal with anything that comes into the centre

In the spirit of bringing ourselves back down to earth after a great win, there's three issues that I am worried about: 1) jack Stephens should not be playing at fullback 2) we will not find things as easy when teams come to defend against us. We may well find ourselves playing "sideways football" as we struggle to break teams down 3) related to that, we still need a clinical "fox in the box" striker to break the deadlock against tough teams