Holmes_and_Watson

I thought any number of things were going to go the other way yesterday. Tarkowski's challenge which absolutely took out our player. I thought Bedders was going to get his marching orders. I thought Young was going to get booked. AA ended up picking Fernandes up out of pity. I thought they'd managed to bundle the ball in, when it had just gone wide. I thought Beto's header was going in. 2 games in a row he's been in tears, it means that much to him. I didn't think their effort was onside, but expected VAR to adjust the lines accordingly. Lots of drama, and lots of relief to get the points on the board.

A tall, physical focal point for clearances and to occupy their defenders. Keeps the game stretched vertically for Everton. In practice we didn't really get anything up to him, a d got no breaks that could have been passed into him. But there was an idea behind it.

Tsk. Wolves have got 2 to take the lead against Palace.

Great to hear we're going to be a big European club. #martinforever #tenyearplan

A win! A very nice goal to get it too. We're at our best when we get to use that crisp passing to stretch the game. But we so often pass it back before it gets near those positions, we see little of it. Aribo on for Lallana a decent move. Adam was the first to start giving the ball away and struggle defensively. The second half showed a lot more of that. We made a lot of unforced errors. Not for the first time we don't look fit enough at this level. Dibling on for Manning was a good attacking substitution. We suddenly had directness and spark. Les and TP coming on late were meh changes. Fernandes and Archer had done well. We did nothing to use TP's height and Les had looked off the pace v Stoke. We lacked any penetration for a lot of that half, with Everton just waiting for our errors. Our goal came right after Beto hit the bar. A minute after our goal he had the ball on the net again. KWP unknowingly just making him offside. Ramsdale had to make a couple of very good saves elsewhere in the game. Great to get some points. But it's a game you'd be looking to win, and we struggled to get it.

We've done nothing this half. Everton happy to let us pass it about. Sure enough, one of our passes is poor and they get the best chance of the day.

Martin will be pleased by that. Lots of possession. A fair bit of space for AA and Archer to move into. We had a little spell of quick, central passes that then went wide with Downes and Manning adding advanced support. Manning was inches away from getting on the end of one, thanks to a Pickford deflection. We are, as always, an error away from conceding. Everton had more efforts, despite the low possession, a couple being scuffed from decent positions. We're trying to be very clinical against Everton's more direct approach. We really need the 3 points, so will Martin take any risks second half?

We've got our 2 shouty players in today, but not much physicality. Might miss Aribo in there.

Lallana a head coach elsewhere after learning his trade under Martin during the 10 year plan. A sad parting of the ways, but no shortage of hungry coaches eager to learn under master Martin.

Hair

Jenrick was the one I heard with policies, while she seemed to have a bit of handwaving, continuing attacks on some topics, and fluffy things about change from previous errors. She's going to need to attract more than the reform side to stand a chance.

Yeah. We have the possession. We have spells where we are in control, looking for attacks. But we inevitably can't move teams and create chances frequently enough. So we look like a flat team, who always have at least 1 goal to give away.

Cripes! Trousers is a pawn of the Reptilians who want to change Earth's environment to what they prefer to live in! Sorry Kraken. Couldn't get MLG, so had to settle for MLT for the above.

Yeah. The system is about control through possession. The players are instructed to create movement and chances on that basis. Sure, gaps in opponents lines will be where we create that movement. However, the team won't risk the system basics to hunt opponents down or be more open against a faltering defence.

Like the Puerto Rica and garbage comments, there's been some attempt to be outraged by this. But there was plenty of context, picked up by more reasoned news sources, to show this as a sign of Trump's isolationism/ protection of the use of US Forces. In reality, the US defence industry is not going to want to go into decline. So possibly a Trump tenure with less direct US involvement, but one that's happy to sell lots of toys to nations that will be filling in the gaps.

He has that optimism of someone who knows he has built the steps towards a successful outcome that is now tantalisingly close. He can see it, the players have worked towards it and the board are comfortable with the progress. Such a good time to see the journey unfold.

Not the worst. Up there with the most ineffective in the PL, but Nate and Selles' tenure there too. It is a system designed not to let momentum increase risk, making it probably the most frustrating when it isn't working.

Derry's pretty much nailed this. BBD gets goals in teams with a far more open game. He's further up, and running at defenders in a little bit of space. He can come in from a little wider, but has not been spending his career hugging a touchline. In a passing system, allowing opponents to reset and moves to be generated from deep, he is utterly wasted. Archer, BBD, TP and AA all offer different things. None of them best suit Martin's system, and all suffer in it as strikers.

This will not happen. Martin has always said he will not change. Let's see how "close" we are and how much we "enjoy" tomorrow.

The "close" comments were exactly what was said by our last few managers. Martin has been chippy on that sort of thing, because he doesn't realise it's all been heard before.

Breaking news... Southampton fans seen over Europe hoisting grand pianos above the doorways of successful managers. 🙂

I didn't know that. I hope someone tells Russ.

I caught some of Harris's speech in front of the White House. Impressive setting, but you're right that Hi Viz Don is front of the news I've seen today. Harris's team wary of leaving openings in any interview, let alone one lasting 3 hours. Trump isn't worried about that and Vance would be fine there too. It just connects Trump to voters and adds to the remoteness of the politicians Trump complains about. Looking forward to them both on a zipwire tomorrow.

Every one of those touted as the next best thing by the same people I heard say the same about Martin and Jones.

Tea