Holmes_and_Watson

Emotion

Not all saintsweb posters will be as bad to meet. 🙂

Soak

A lovely watch. Thanks for sharing it.

Agreed. Potter will have to hit the ground running. There's already an undercurrent over whether he's a big enough name. If that's not happening, he's either out the door, or the new owner is going to be a lot more patient than the last.

Porous

It does feel that we've lost part of our national identity. The respect she was held in by so many around the world, was across generations. Her dignity and duty over long years made her the face of our country, through good times and bad.

Lallana will be in charge for 60 odd mins, before tiring and going down the tunnel, leaving Crofts in charge for the rest.🙂

The first person I heard being asked about it on he radio was Ralph. As it's radio, I couldn't really tell if the compliments were through gritted teeth, while he held a "what about me?" sign. 🙂 They also said that Chelsea's owner is wanting to get away from hire and fire, despite having just axed Tuchel. They will be looking to emulate an identity like pep and klopp. Potter will be someone who they think can do that. They will probably not be spending such massive amounts regularly going forward, and make better use of all the talent that goes through their doors.

Horror

It was mentioned on the radio the other day. Considering what a financial basket case Barca have become, I thought it was funny. As long as Griezman doesn't throw toys anywhere over only getting that number of minutes.

It did cross my mind how Ralph would view this. Brighton's approach supports Potter's work. Ralph has worked with buttons for a couple of seasons before this, and he has his Leipzig experience. We have played some cracking football under RalphBall. He must dream of using it with the resources of a Chelsea. Not seen as highly as Potter though.

The comments weren't as blunt as I thought they were going to be. It's in Ralph's interests, and the club's, to use this as a cautionary tale of a move not working out. They can then bring it out, when the next star-of-the-future considers joining a big club. The articel did also mention that Beach is getting along just fine. So, it's going to be right for some and not others.

Agreed. There are lots of different manager/ player relationships. Sometimes, an incoming manager with clear ideas of the system he wants, will not want too many dissenting opinions. That can be with the best of intentions, if the system containing lots of, lets call them automisms, will break down otherwise. or if it needs time to settle in, before it can be adjusted. That can go against the instincts of various players, used to different systems, or who prefer more independence. If the new system can be improved or where the player feels some changes can be made, it can be difficult to get it accorss in a way where the manager won't be defensive. So even if the player also has the best of intentions, the relationship can breakdown. It's not always that the player is being difficult/ causing unrest. Different parties having to be open to each other's views.

Price

Trousers

Sniff

That JWP has stayed through multiple contracts! Abject failure! 🙂

I hope he does really well in Turkey, and I'm interested to see how he does in a different set up. He's been through a few managers here but until this season has always played over 25 games a season and often over 30. I'd seen him a fair bit at Norwich. I thought 11odd million was quite a lot for him. He might not have been one of the players who has moved on for a big profit. But his appearances show he's been an important part of the squad since his arrival, and we've not lost out with his contributions. Partly due to where he plays, it can be a frustrating watch. Taking on players is always going to lead to some lost possession. Holding the ball up, waiting for others, where someone could have been taken on, can be seen as negative. More than others, I've always felt that he's followed the instructions from the bench. Both when being told to attack defenses and certainly in the more risk averse tactics, where he's stopped himself pushing forward. I guess that's led to some criticism and some inconsistency. But he's always seemed to diligently get on with the knocks and come back into the team. Even Pep grabbed him out of frustration at one point. Nathan said "He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. "I told him I was doing what my manager asked me to do in the game. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less." He's been pretty versatile in where he's been asked to play for us too. He's scored some really good goals for us too. Hopefully he'll do well in a team looking at the top of a table.

Nice. Thanks for the link.

IIRC Oriol dropped a hint about new pastures last season. Possibly contract extensions were being discussed. No doubt the club were keen to lower the wage bill. We've seen a number of players flit in and out of the team. Along with form, and in the back end of last season desperation, I think part of that has been down to off field things such as the contracts. Lavia has started very brightly, and I think the club has made it clear that not only would there not be a new contract at equal or better terms, but that minutes would now be limited. Romeu's form also dipped a little towards the end of last season. I think that it had a wider impact on the team, due to his importance. Injury, a season up to that point of pressing, general loss of form in a constantly beaten team could well be factors, and even all the factors. And possibly just that little loss of an edge from talks not going anywhere as well. I'd not expect either Ralph or Oriel to say anything publically. They are both professionals. It's not an uncommon situation in football either, where every player has an move on date. It's not uncommon for contract talks not to work out either. I think SR and Ralph have seen how hard it can be to move players on decent Premier League wages on. Also how that impacts improving the squad and the resources to bring others in. Romeu's probably the most regular starter of that group of players with contracts running down. At least Oriel got dropped for his replacement. Che got dropped for the attacker who never even joined us, as an extra motivation towards a move. No doubt Romeu could still do a good job for us. With Lavia now injured, I think we were, not for the first time, all too keen to move people on in favour of the next, bright young player coming through. It's a long, tough season and the youngsters are all going to need breaks at some point. I'd have hoped that we'd have seen the sense of keeping both, even prior to Lavia's injury for what's a key position for us. That is second guessing what Romeu wanted in any talks though. Hopefully the versatility of AMN will help us out here. That's how I've seen it anyway. Hopefully, it's not a sign I'm going to think tin foil hats are fashionable tomorrow. 🙂

Screw

Oh no, it will have been McCarthy's fault. But Redmond gets an assist. 🙂 Redmond's the one I think of trying to walk the lines of RalphBall. I think at the end of last season, he just said stuff it and thumped one into the net. 🙂

Bazunu's reaction was one of knowing he had a good chance of stopping it , had it been a clean hit, and frustration that it was the bounce of a mishit that took it past him. Much more important was us getting caught with such a large gap down that side. We'd either overcommitted, or someone had gone missing. As we were on the attack when it happened - KWP forward and Mo on his rear after trying to slide a pass through to set up a good chance -I'm thinking the former. That's a difficult balance. Too over cautious and you end up with a Redmond being told to pass it across or back all the time. Too forward thinking, and you have a Redmond taking on players, losing the ball and the team trying to hurry back: The Redmond Dilemma. 🙂

It's a statement of our defensive confidence.