gio1saints

I know the stats from last season as well. I think a good season is if we make playoffs. And IF we do that I’d imagine we’d be favourites. In other words 3rd best.Very Good chance we will but not a guarantee imo. However , to start from the basis that because if the end of last season performance we will roll over opponents this year , is NOT the team talk or fan talk that I think will add to our chances. Treating Watford away like they stole our chance to EPL is a good tool because we will get nothing strolling into matches with a superiority complex. Colchester were not easy and we could have conceded several times. In the championship we cannot give two goals start to every team…

Complacency. Saints were not good enough for automatic last year and start on minus four this year with much stronger new competitor opponents in wolves and West Ham especially. My expectation is another tough long season in which we struggle but make play offs. Then we should be favourites. The sense of injustice that we hope may inspire the players every match is going to be useful but most of all at the end of the season in crunch matches. Inbetween I reckon many teams will use the result v us as a benchmark - and raise their game - they know we could have been in EPL instead of Hull. Not one easy game this year starting with Colchester.

Agreed. It’s an important move, but a good one, for Jay. Being a sub for most of this season in the championship is not as good as playing at San Siro etc versus CL type defenders and of course the many tough Italian defences he might face. He scores and assists there then his value rises a lot more than same in the championship.

I think the main issue Saints may have with their RS offer is that maybe it is fully pricing in that he plays <50% of the time largely coming off the bench . Maybe even as little as 30% if he comes on with 30mins to go for Larin. RS and his advisors want to / do believe he is a 100% player. A championship starter. And priced his contract accordingly. Other Championship clubs may / will know of this discrepancy and the offers he is getting may not be mush better but simply add an extra year to the contract and goal bonuses.

Good tactical adjustments and well spotted. Are you an analyst? This second half adjustment is starting to look like an “ automism “ - but it absolutely benefits from a target man centre forward type in Larins absence. The Championship defences we face may have big CB’s or they may have fast Mobile CB’s - but they rarely have both so if Plan A is not working it’s essential to have Plan B, C etc. With the players we have we have variety- except without Larin that is…

Agree totally. Looking at one of our more predictable patterns of play in the latter part of last season perhaps gives a clue: Whenever we engage in that stupid keep ball game in our own penalty area and the opposition had gone full press and it was getting dicey Tonda used the default option of either Peretz hits ut long central (or lobg diagonal ) OR full back hits it long into the wide channels. In the latter nippy wingers are required. For the former it needs ability to compete aerially and physically for the ball. Latin is the only player we have, currently competent for that role. In his absence, currently, we are constrained to hit it wide from wherever we are. This has even lower chance of success than any of the hitting it long expedients in the scenarios outlined. This suggests to me in absence of Larin Tonda will put either Damian on ( but god please are we really down to this?) or buy another robust CF who can handle himself aerially and physically hold ball up and pass it to one of ours and, oh, can score as well. That’s what we need. Not another small forward.

I’ve a hunch Shea may go to Newcastle now they’ve got rid of another MF. If so I expect a healthy fee seeing as they have unloaded bothGuimares and Tonali for big wheelbarrows of cash. Can’t be shortchanging saints when we know how you price your own MF players…and I’d guess we want £25m plus easy add ons making it £30m in total.

Even though what I’m about to say will trigger the usual hate mail and even though I want Tonda as our Manager and even though I hate everybody dissing him like hypocrites theres one thing has always worried me about this case. Tonda claims he did not know it was not allowed. That’s the bottom line. And he’s stuck to that story. Is Tonda fucking thick as shit ? Or simply normal intelligence but being disingenuous? Which is more likely? Occam’s razor and the fact he is a professional in this area suggests it’s more likely he’s making it up. I’d say at least 90% + of the posters on here knew there’s something off about spying on opponents - at very least double check the rules - and know that, surely, Tonda must also know that. To claim otherwise is either blind loyalty or I’ve also got some magic beans for sale I can see you know your magic beans…. I wish he’d of just fessed up, not have me believe a lie. Damn it though I’m as bad as everyone else. I’m going to suspend my disbelief and sing his name anyway. What has this game got to. Integrity and respect my arse.

I think : £200k fine and 5match touchline ban. Reasons : There’s no direct equivalent precedent and there is no menu list of sanctions. Lots of cases of touchline bans but nothing exactly like this - which importantly included our incredibly costly disqualification from the play off final. It’s not directly relevant that we were disqualified from the most valuable match in world football - but it’s a big punishment sFC have already sucked up - and the world and surely the tribunal will know it. Aggravated by : (1) bullying allegation - unproven but it may come under the list of things that they state can aggravate ( meaning makes it worse and attracts a higher penalty). (2) Lying to tribunal ( I believe proven - could be wrong!) this will certainly aggravate the penalty. (3) Repetition : admitted doing it not once but three times. Mitigated by : (1) Saints Confessing up and quick hands up cooperative approach. (2) No previous convictions for Tonda in UK. (3) Saints previous good reputation as a club. (4) - my suspicion that they know the case has big holes in it that a big protracted and costly legal appeal battle might exploit if they go too far - so they may look for a Goldilocks penalty - not too low not too high to preclude that.

Whatever the fine is it will be peanuts compared to what fee Saints will get when Tonda gets headhunted by a big epl or goes back to Germany to manage Bayern or similar. That’s is what the owner is banking on.

IF Rogers is worth £117M then that’s v helpful in our stance vis Leo, Charles, etc. A new benchmark has been hit, and what with the MF fee that also strengthens perceived provenance value of being ex SFC. Say we were to sell Sam Edozie( who reminded me tonite he can run with the ball )the figure achieved for Rogers potentially just upped Sams value a little I’m sure, certainly Leo’s.

Maths and common sense surely determines that “the devil we know “ - RS - on a free is likely a sensible & smarter bet than on any unknown striker for £9m? which is what yiu get for £9m - potential not medals. Just his ability to blend into the squad and know how we play and his role in it instantly instantly is worth £££££££. He is not a world beater but he’s plenty good enough at this Championship level. If there is a cost effective way to take him back , and surely that’s not brain surgery to work out -SFC should do so.

Very logical but I /we don’t go to matches to improve the gross profit. We go to watch the team and most of all the one player who has got a bit of magic about him. One bit of skill per match is probably enough regardless of score line. I do mnt know how many more matches I will get to see so I’m kind of greedy. I want to see what Leo can do this year. I don’t care what his transfer to those tosses in North London might facilitate in terms of new CM’s etc. Leo is a once in a long time player. A joy to watch at times. Not many of them around but if playing he’s worth the ST / home or away ticket alone irrespective of the other 21 players.

The goodwill TT got for making the Semi was smashed by the sheer pathetic manner of our defeat. Most of us can accept Get beat bravely, get beat by cheats, get beat with bad luck, get beat by better team- but when the single biggest factor is your manager making high quality England players look like a bunch of hopeless amateurs that’s not on. TT subs made it like he tried to win the WC semi final managing a plucky but inferior second division team trying to hold onto a lead vs a proper big club in the FA Cup. That was humiliating to watch. England are not some WR 275 shit team. We had every right to stand up to anyone and give our best. Not adopt that inferiority approach. Not Good enough. He cannot manage Eng again.

Agree with all the sentiments. Agent Tuchel lost us that match. When we took the game to Argentina we were a match for them and deserved our lead. But I’ve never seen such a disastrous management decision by an Eng Manager as what that cxxx Tuchel got up to with those subs and formation changes. England so clueless in defence those last twenty minutes. Ultimately he blinked and Argentina did not. An English Manager would have told team to fight to the death and keep going forward not concede all that space and possession. We could have beaten these. And effibg Spain too if Manager had a spine and some balls. This is on him not the players. SACK HIM