Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan

I feel like I've seen an ex and she's with a much bigger more handsome man based on Abbas' efforts against us this season

There was a small sided tournament earlier in the summer that some English teams played in that was really fun to watch because it was more like this. It was clearly a gimmick but interesting to see how a 7-a-side tournament of professionals went, and it did seem to suit the women's game more. I've always thought it is interesting that there isn't such a range of physical differences in the women's game between positions, the centre backs for example aren't particularly tall like in the men's game, you could quite easily put Leah Williamson in most positions on the pitch and she'd look comfortable because she's athletic enough to do most roles and physical enough, but to compare to England Men's you wouldn't want John Stones in many positions other than where he has played. England have a real shot at the final now, Italy don't look any better than Sweden or the Netherlands and we've now (admittedly a bit scrappily last night) got past both.

I was born after 88 so I'll take your word for that. Sweden have a couple of good players and can be a force on their day. Bizarrely their captain was plying her trade in the Championship last year for London City but was comfortably a level above nearly everyone else in the leauge.

It was a good game with quite a lot of drama. Think the most mis-matched quarter final will be Spain Switzerland, but otherwise it is a very good tournament so far in terms of the matchups. Makes me realise how good a proper 16 team tournament is, like the early 2000's Euros where every game felt like a big deal

I'd personally have good old Fabrice Fernandes on the right, cutting in onto his wand of a left foot...

You need an angry Rooney ideally, get him a bit wound up and nothing stopped him

Started watching football properly in 2002 so there is some definite nostalgia picks here, and a real flair of Joga Bonito going forward... Playing a 4 2 3 1 Neuer Lahm Puyol Carvalho Carlos Gerrard Makelele Messi Kaka Ronaldinho R9 Subs: Niemi, Cafu, Svensson, Schneiderlin, Totti, Henry, Beattie

Think it means that shirt pictured is available for sale next week. Next year's kit will be months away still, especially as this season's is still full price

The close-up of Beattie celebrating then seemingly shouting "no" at himself for celebrating against us, like it was instinct to celebrate but not what we actually wanted to do

Interestingly announced on the website as "Men's First Team" rather than U21s. As with a few signings this year, looks to be one brought in ready for next season or to go to Turkey next season, rather than to help us stay up

There seems to have been an awful lot of player turnover the last year or two, looking at the squad list for the most recent match I'm not really sure who a lot of them are! Seems we've loaned out a few who were regulars in favour of WSL academy players, assumedly to help the books balance a little more.

Ben Brown named as red-ball captain. He has experience and will play every game barring injury so makes sense.

Can we make Lallana watch this on repeat this week in the vague hope he remembers how good he used to be and turns it on again just for one game

I think Armstrong did a good job there when asked last season but basically because he just ran up and down a lot. Not sure anyone we have is technically or physically good enough to be in midfield

I imagine it's also to do with staffing. If you're only opening 3 stands, and you know you're going to need the Itchen open anyway because it houses all the hospitality etc then it makes sense to close the stand that no-one needs to go into anyway.

Will be interesting to see once we are mathematically down if any of the u21s get moved up for some experience in the dead rubber games. Dipepa scored 2 last night and has senior experience from Port Vale so may leapfrog Ballard in terms of who is next in line

That is very sad news, Vince is a very important part of the club, would be sad not to have him as captain for a year. Baker and Turner are down under at the moment on a Lions tour and seem to be doing ok, will be interesting to see how often they bowl in tandem for us in the championship

Can't say I'd mind being pulled in front of the head of HR there...

Agreed, you look at the stand-out back 3/5's over the years and a lot of them play with one more dynamic player in the back line to account for it having 5 defenders. Bertrand did it for us, you look at Chelsea under Conte and they had Moses as one wing-back so played with Azpilicueta as the wide CB so they still had the defensive strength to cover it. Even back in 2002 in the world cup, Brazil played with 4 traditional defenders, and moved a midfielder into the back 3 to allow Carlos and Cafu to move further forward. We seem to be stuck playing 5 traditional defenders with their skill sets not really being optimised. I think a better balance would be to have a more attacking wing-back option. So something like a back 3 of Taylor, THB and Wood. Taylor has the experience to be a leader, you optimise THB's on ball ability as the middle pendulum, and Wood can cover the right space well. You then play KWP as a Wing back, and someone like Fraser on the other side, so it isn't just 5 defenders who don't have the cutting edge we need from the wide positions.

Seemingly it'll be a defender who suits his style of play but isn't actually an upgrade on what we have to slot in with James Bree and Nathan Wood

He took over as Chris Hughton's number 2 at Brighton back in 2016 when a certain Nathan Jones left to try his hand at managing

Bravery and risk seem to be separated by a very fine line. I'd like us to be brave, Russ wants us to be risky. The best Saints teams I've seen haven't been risky, but build on better fitness and solid foundations. Under WGS, Poch and Koeman we had a dependable back 4 which didn't change unless necessary, and two solid midfielders in front of them, generally a defensive minded player, and a better passer both who could run all day. The brave players were the front 4 or so, or those bombing beyond them who could make runs in behind or take on a man, knowing the foundation was behind them. It is a simple tactical suggestion that we don't have. Bridge used to bomb on, knowing Marsden would be there if needed to hold back. In the same way Lallana could take a man on, knowing that if he lost the ball, Schneiderlin would get it back for him. We don't have that now, we just play risky football in our own half, there is no foundation of defensive ability or numbers behind the ball to help. KWP should be able to make runs like he did against Chelsea, but there should be someone covering so situations like Chelsea's second don't happen where we lose the ball and instantly give them a 3 on 2 in our defensive third. We should take care of the ball in our half, then take the risks further up the pitch. Against Spurs, we really need to try and start with some basic foundational play. Play an actual midfield, in front of a back 4, they will have Kulusevski running from deep so we need someone who can run with him and stop him cutting in, rather than a back 5 split wide inviting him in. Use the full backs to progress the ball to the wide players, and move the ball inside further up the pitch.

Not really the match to take anything away from other than a good experience for the youngsters. We have three games this week and this is the least important, so the team was basically the normal bench and u21s, the captain brown doesn't even usually start for us. Against a WSL team, that was just about experience more than anything

This might have been covered (I've not read all 23 pages) but it was frustrating seeing corners be taken short when we had the tallest player on the pitch being marked by their left back at corners.

The reality is, we don't have good enough players to dominate the ball at this level and think we'll win, we need to approach each game with a mindset of "what gives us the best chance of winning here" instead of always playing Russ ball. The next game is Liverpool and they will press us high and over-run us. Albeit a different manager on both sides, but we scored 4 against them not that long ago, and a lot of that was direct running in midfield and in behind, the same as how Forest beat them. For me, Dibling and Fernandes would be key, but also we know they want to play high and in behind us, and Salah is a quality we can't leave one on one. I'd play 4 at the back (5 just leaves a gap between LCB and LWB for Salah to have) and put KWP on Salah. Mccarthy is our best available shot-stopper so he has to start. Sugawara has the pace we need, and I think there is a good partnership in Bednarek and THB we haven't fully seen. To counter their midfield, I'd play Downes and Lesley (I know he's not been very good but hopefully in a double pivot he works better). I'd then have Fernandes as a 10, Dibling coming off the right, Armstrong off the left (his defensive work-rate and pace in behind would be of use) all playing with Archer as the focal point trying to get in behind. We'd play at least 6 behind the ball, but with the intention Downes and Fernandes move the ball quickly between the lines, and the front 3 are all happy running in behind or playing a bit more direct.