Holmes_and_Watson

Gah! Armed it in.

I thought on balance, Wolves looked more likely, with Saints looking to contain them, and then break. Mo nearly put someone through for us, just for them to break for their goal. Was it KWP who was supposed to be back covering for that? I thought at first Bazunu could hav edone better, but the scorer didn;t hit it cleanly and it chipped past him. We'll have to change our gameplan eventually in the second half. But we'll see how the first bit of ti goes as we didn;t look out of it by any means.

I thought we would be in for Kalajdzic ourselves. COuld be crocked before the end of his first half?

He could:- Be one of the few players to make it through to hold down a regular spot in the first team - Mount, James Due to a lack of striker options, get enough ad hoc game time in cup games, and as an impact sub in league games to jkeep him happy. Get more lucrative loan moves to European trophy level clubs, do well enough to get game time on his return. Secure any number of loan deals to mid table or lower clubs. When he finally leaves, people will be reminded that he hadn't left years before. Vanish into their squad, without kicking a ball for the first team. I the first half of last season, I was hoping he might come back here on loan so he could continue to get regular first team football in the Premier League. I also thought his development might be better served by playing nearly as much football at a club playing in European competition. As everyone's form dipped last season, and there seemed to be a bit of a peeved Ralph reaction to Broja, I thought it would have to be the latter. Chelsea have a cottage industry of laoning out players. So, if he's not getting decent minutes this season, I'm sure they will be able to find him a hime to develop.

Seven

Yes No, but one will Yes, in part due to contracts No, it will be the likes of Salisu 🙂

Hopefully. We've liked what we've seen from Mara. This period will see him get a lot more minutes and settle in.

I guess it was the wages/ lengthy contracts that managed to keep them mostly together as it was. But as they slip further down, more and more will be making noises. On the back of Parker's comments, it looks like a nudge to his employers to pay him off.

I half expected a last gasp Broja bid, with Chelsea bringing in a forward. I'm quite fond of a lot of the outgoing players, but the new owners have certainly pushed on with a refresh. Not all kids either,but older players with untapped potential too. I wonder if the Redmond deal will go through.

While I want Jack to do well, I also want Bournemouth to continue to ship in loads of goals and be one of the three definitely keeping us safe. While he might not have been the first choice with us, 's been no bad thing to have him availalbe as squad player, able to do a job when required. He has looked good in short spells. Perhaps longer first team runs will allow him to get past any set backs and settle into playing regular first team football. I've always liked his attitude on the pitch, and thought he'd improved under Ralph.

He did okay for Ross County last season. I thought he'd be perhaps be moving up a little. Hopefully he'd be getting lots of minutes this season.

As above, I hope everything's okay. Not necessarily a bad thing to realise you'd much rather be where you were, homesickness aside, and trust in Saints having that clearer pathway into the first team squad.

Green

What?! Have Everton had a rhyming epic thread for him all this time?! 🙂

Like so many others, he quickly became a favourite player and I'm really sad to see him go. I was happy when we got such a quality player at such a good price in the first place. He may have had to bide his time to get first team opportunities at first, but he was always clearly capable of stepping in, as he did here when we had a few deaprtures. We always looked at our best when he was the heart beat of our midfield. Particularly in the last couple of seasons. When he wasn't playing, generally the team didn't either. His superb work rate, good tackling and physical presence were assets enough. But his development had also given him techncial skills that not many others in that role would have. He could still have continued his solid service to us for a couple more years. But the club are looking to move in a different direction, and I'm pleased he's got a good move. I'll be watching out for him to see how he gets on. A great bloke who loved his time with us and was loved in turn by the fans.

Looking forward to Ronaldo arriving, with a bit of a cough, through all these smokescreens. 🙂

Probably easier to get than Ainsley Maitland-Niles. 🙂

I hope you're not going to try and convince us that Gakpo and Saga rhyme 🙂. The Cody Coda would have had a ring to it...

Scrappy game, with a JWP free kick getting us the points.

Sounds like they've put an under offer sign on him, in the hope of getting a bigger fee. Here's hoping.

Chicken

We didn't overcommit to a high pressing game, which was part of our undoing last time. But when we did trigger tonight, we really put them off their game. And we were relentless in doing it. Moi and AA constantly getting into good positions, and harrassing. Adams was a great outlet. Smart and sneaky as well as skilled. He bullied their defense. They tried falling over a lot for a while. But when that, and their mewling didn't work we had an advantage over them. Our own defence worked really hard as a unit. We had a very physical looking pairing, but they worked intelligently off each other too. Cover from Perraud (another who worked his socks off as normal) and the excellent KWP. Having Djenepo, now more comfortable at Perraud's positon, come on is a good bonus. It freshens things up as Perraud generally runs himself into the ground. Djenepo has the pace to keep teams on the back foot too. Lavia offered plenty of support form the back, lots of skill to give himself space and time to make the right choices and link up going forward. Let's hope it's nothing more than a niuggle that took him off. Such a good feeling to have 7 points on the board.

wow. Nosebleed. 🙂

Yeeees!! Such a good win. Loads of good performances. And what a difference between this performance and last season!

COuld do with seeing more nbite from Aribo. Not winning too many, and we could do with giving Adams the chance to hold it up.