gio1saints

Appreciate the thoughts Bermudasaint. 😇.

Somewhat Worryingly he looks to me like an alternate to Stu. Stu, 31 and 32 in March I believe,? who is in last six months of his contract also..or Charlie or Aribo. All sameish position and he’s hardly what youcall a right winger so Why need another of these - unless one of them is off????

All identifiable improvements agreed and all part of the advanced PB playbook required of the team @benjii- but I still consider the critical element to be the players mental speeding up and finally realisation , understanding THEN execution of the PB playbook. The identified improvements have come a priori because the players better understand where they are meant to be & what they are meant to be doing every second on the pitch, in and out of possession. Better Coordinated pressing off the ball as you’ve identified as a noticeable improvement happens for instance because ( most) every player now instinctively knows more often to be in the right place to do it- not have to work out what’s the instructions for this particular scenario and then do it. Those microseconds make all the difference in the timings and how it looks and how effective it is. Just one player not playing from the same song sheet can make the whole team look rubbish. NB. we do have a noticeable tendency still to leave the opposite flank winger relatively free and our fb is often tucked in at that time quite some distance away. And when skipper JS comes on we do play even faster from the back like he is pushing us to do it even quicker even better. Great reason to keep putting him in the team cos he is driving towards not just not losing but excellence and higher standards.

Or as I prefer to describe, second best at professional fouls 😁

Now that the rest of the team seem to know what they are doing and are meant to be doing in most given situations it has meant that we have the luxury of letting our class act do his stuff more often. KWP has been given licence to hurt the opposition because we are more solid and competent defensively as a team now. When we were weaker KWP had to play a more restrictive defensive role. Now stronger he’s got licence to kill. Reminds me of the licence Saints gave MLT which only came off the back of the rest of the team working their butts off around him and knowing what to do ( apart from just give it to MLT 😁) out of possession.

That table shows only Sheff Wed get more cards than us. We are second bottom of the fair play league. @Appy was correct in identifying the teams use of the tactical foul as a standard tool . It’s been obvious that RM likes a “ good” foul or his players “ taking a card” if it stops a goal or goal action and he’s given his tacit consent if not encouragement to the team to keep on doing it. We will see a red or reds no doubt from it one day but so far the benefits ( of less goals conceded) seem to outweigh the potential downsides ( playing with ten men) .

I still don’t see the Ipswich squad as strong enough to sustain there form second half of the season. We will eventually overtake them is my view and get automatic. First or second depends on if LCFC can do a Saintsy 4 losses in a row but it’s unlikely not impossible. Our #1 competition is Leeds. The play offs will be Leeds, Ipswich, WBA and Coventry.

We’ve stopped playing ponderous football because the players have started to master the skill and the thinking speed required to play the PB game. As an analogy that may make it clearer: It used to take me a while to knock up a spaghetti carbonara (what should be a relatively quick to make dish) - I’d leave bits of egg shells in, splash grated parmigiana over the floor, bits of guanciale would be of varying sizes, pasta water would boil over - any number of f@ck ups or inefficiencies evident in my kitchen work basically - but nowadays I can do it fast and do it well. I did not change the ingredients or the order in which things were done, the cooking times or anything. I just became efficient and proficient at doing it so it looks like Im doing something extra cheffy. 🧑‍🍳😇

Kick off is 2pm today. I think it’s live in UK. Hoping both he and Tall Paul get on the pitch would be delighted to see good performances from both!

He’s got to stop this scoring and assists per minute thing going on when he makes his off the bench limited minutes appearance because it’s making everyone who’s written him off look a bit premature. 😂

Saints under RM ( and notably quite a few of our recent managers) have a noticeable policy of attempting to regain possession very quickly once its lost. And in particular for the saints player so dispossessed to swiftly lead the effort to regain possession, aided by his closest teammates I’m not sure it’s been all that Opponent dependent. Ive tried to think if we’ve done this more against weak teams than strong and I don’t think there’s much if any difference. It’s default standard procedure home and away whoever we play. It’s situation dependent for sure. At start of most matches we always compete especially strongly to regain possession, ditto last five minutes. Once and if we have scored a breakthrough goal we often attempt to put the boot to the neck and attempt to “ swarm” our opponent. Another situation is If we are 1-0 up with only minutes to play - saints may produce a more subdued and defensive shape retaining version of the policy - but that’s the same v good or weak teams. Its certainly easier against a weaker opponent than a strong opponent ( meaning technically less able to hold possession under pressure) but I don’t think I’ve seen us change this policy much if at all versus stronger or weaker teams in this league, this season. Interesting concept though, that it may be tuned up or down according to the opponent and I think there’s s seed of truth in that - though it comes with a health warning because as soon as we start to consider teams as inferior ( or vice versa) to us and hence more appropriate for us to attempt to take liberties with regaining ball possession ( school playground bully style) we invariably come a cropper. That’s why overall I think it’s a default policy but one in which RM encourage the players to be situation aware, and dial it up- or dial it down accordingly.

Occam’s razor : The most likely explanation is probably the correct one. The last response is the right answer. The myth of the “ adjustments” needs putting to bed. All this begrudging of a manager and his team who’ve worked so hard is unseemly guys.. The factors why it took a while to get going was 1. because it takes time to learn a new system. And the learning time required is not necessarily linear. 2. Players were overloaded with instructions and were taking time digesting them. RM admits he probably stuffed them too much too fast. But it was the same stuffing not anything different. As soon as team started to get fluent in PB football RM style and shave microseconds off reaction times all of a sudden it looked like we’ve made adjustments and are playing it forwards and faster - and by inference to the argument proposed- because previously they were told not to. Inherent in the “ adjustments” mythology is that the team were specifically told to fanny around our six yard box and ultimately give the ball away or hit 450 passes in each half mainly from goalie to Cb without looking dangerous. NOT to play incisive attacking PB football. Despite RM saying that this was exactly what he did NOT want us to do. To think otherwise is just bloody mindedness. It’s a myth. nonsense. Saints been trying to play possession based incisive attacking football from the start. Go back watch his interviews where he explicitly repeatedly says he wants to move the ball faster more forwards etc. He didn’t change the tactics. The players just got better and better at it until suddenly- it seems to have clicked and we operate at a consistently high standard . It takes fewer touches to be in optimal position to take advantage in various parts of the pitch. Nobody has learned new skills. It’s still football but we do it faster more accurately more decisively now. It’s not a tweak it’s called evolution learning and getting better at a skill. Go back and read every interview with him and the players snd compare to now. Back then they were learning now the passes movements spaces covering etc are microseconds faster and done on instinct based on repetition and learning.

Now now trousers, a non sequitur it may be - but the new manager would have had to equal a record that has stood for over 100 years just to be as good as RM.’s record The likelihood is exceedingly low that a replacement for the third manager jettisoned in a year at SMS could equal or outperform that unbeaten record. I concede it to you as you’re technically correct - but from the real not semantics world point of view you know it’s so unlikely to be not worth counting.

We lose a couple of matches the football geniuses above will be back in force saying I told you so. Guaranteed. It’s the fair weather support cynicism rule. Only as good as your last result approach. Patience and faith is for losers. Ronnie O’Sullivan is acknowledged as the Snooker GOAT. On the recent Amazon documentary there’s was a telling conversation in which he said he would rather lose playing winning snooker than win playing any other way. Because he was only interested in winning the right way. It’s been a long time since we not only had a Manager who wants us to win and win in the right way, but moreover actually physically delivers that right way winning with his team So nowadays I’m glad people are realising that, yes, fundamental change from being a shambles of a club to something we could all be proud of, and a part of, does take time - and that it’s not linear. And that, yes, it does requires bravery and yes it’s a process. And no those words are not trendy hipster bullshit. It’s just RM saying it as it is. Truthfully. SR fucked up no question getting us relegated - but boy have they reacted to that adversity well and pulled off a Masterstroke in recruiting RM - and keeping him - despite the pressure put on them to yet again fxck around and appoint yet another manager like so many of you were undoubtedly hoping would happen.

Thank goodness the now repentant football geniuses hating on him - and anyone who defended him, didn’t get their way and he was sacked off eh?

You have got to be having a larf. You want people to believe that disrespectful shite over a player of such consummate skill that he can pick and choose which games he will score in and which he will not? And a further twist is that it’s all according to the transfer window opening and closing so that he only scores or “ looks good” when he can be transferred? And it follows by this logic that when the window is shut he also actively decides and chooses to not score and not play well? Because, obviously he is an utter c🤡nt of a player taking the p❌ss out of the hand that feeds him? If you believe that’ Che only plays well by design at certain times - and not because he’s inconsistent and pretty much always has been for us - let me show you a nice bridge I’ve got for sale near St Mary’s. Itchen bridge could be yours for three beans. Honest.

Plus was on a yellow

Dominant first half. Should be 3 or 4 nil, as usual. Great finish by Che. A def penalty not given to us. More cards to come second half I’m sure. Am predicting a penalty to saints also. Law of totting up the fouls. Ryan on fire just hope his injury not serious and he plays on second half. SW are massive but ideal for our nippy forwards. Do same again we surely must score at least another. SW will need to score two at least to beat us. Not to tempt fate but 100 year recird is 45 minutes plus injury time away….COYS!

I think he will start today. Quite happy at thought of him AA and RF leading the attack supported by our Stu and probably Flynn and Will to add some defensive rigour - though Shea could start instead of Will and no complaints from me. If Che leads the attack he also is putting himself in the shop window so has every possible incentive to play well and indeed score.

There was one giveaway during the 2nd part that revealed something I suspect he did not want to giveaway. His whole demeanour adjusted when talking about bringing in a quality player who (loosely paraphrasing) likely knew what it takes to play in the championship / (inference probably that they had already done so). That body adjustment / demeanour change which also came with a micro second of introspective thought Usually means “ oops that’s a leak “ in body language terms. Remember he’s trying not to give the game away on transfer targets but to appear open and forthcoming at same time. That’s not startling news because both Benson and Brookes tick that box for Burnley and Bournemouth respectively but there are one or two others that do fall into that category - Carvalho of course we missed but there’s an ex Sunderland player at Man yoo and one or two others similar but not quite as fitting the “ quality” standard that RM says is vital potentially also on radar or even standby. Also RM strongly Suggested it’s not gonna be another green back like Joe O’Brian but potentially somebody ( by inference) not phased at having to fight v established experienced player / internationals for that starting slot. Just my observations / impressions from his words and how he said them body posture his breathing & colouration , gestures etc.

Coalporter rowing club? I thought it was free or time restricted parking in that under bridge kind of area ? I saw they’d blocked off the space near the ( open on match days, fairly rough but authentic clubhouse bar) with some cars at the last match but hitherto it’s had free spaces as long as yiu are there early. After 1.30 -2pm forget it. Disadvantage of paying a tenner to park at the various unofficial places nearer stadium is that with all our sell outs it’s usually going to take ages to get away. Unless you leave with five to go ( which is more like ten with injury time -BOOO!) If you are willing to watch us score our usual injury time goals, wish to give three cheers to the team at match end etc and don’t mind having a little walk post match you can avoid the frustration of just sitting in traffic ten minutes, save that tenner, get your 10k steps under your belt and probably get home quicker by parking a little further out.

Yep sorry. More like 22-25mins.

Free Park in and around Junction Inn, nr St Denys station - a pleasant water facing walk via The Itchen walkway leads you straight to SMS. That’s also 25 minutes but it’s quite a social one as it’s 99% Saints fans.

Spoiler alert : Do not read below if you wish to know who did it. ❌ PS it was not the Butler. But it was close. ……..;It’s possible this clue alludes to EManuel Benson, and the analysis is moderately compelling though not absolute. I dare say one could make a case for any number of applicants for this positional vacancy out of the pic - there’s also a nice reference to St. James Park in there if you look close and if anyone is actually bothered that is as that’s not the point of this entertaining smoke and mirrors fun. 100% transfer info records - like 19 games unbeaten records - are not to be taken for granted and sullied by wild google searches etc. I can get you in touch with a bloke for “ aBienvenu Manuel” flag if you need as he’s getting a nice stream of biz from me whst with the Polish Jan and Scottish Stu flags plus “ Saints are 20 match unbeaten record breakers” 85ft foot long mega banner me and all my volunteer chums are unfolding after full time later today. 🤥 But Maybe it’s Amed Diallo after all. Or Mason Mount. 😂

Bitterne Br station or nearby. 22m walk from there.