Holmes_and_Watson

Away

A SR strategy that has gone so well for us, like getting in a striker for example. 🙂 Unusually, if our squad were to go on strike, I'd not be too bothered with them being replaced, with a few exceptions. If the Athletic is accurate, then there are poor standards and cliques to be sorted out. I'd not be too upset if some folk behind that were moved along, all for the right price. 🙂 Good point. I want whoever comes in to be our best ever manager. At the same time, I am a bit underwhelmed by the level of Martin's experience. Not necessarily with him as a person. I can see why Swansea want their money. And why we would wait until whenever the end of the season is (assuming that's what the trigger to the different compensation levels is.). But I would want whoever it is to get here as soon as possible. Just to give them as much time as possible to assess things and have the best possible start. SR's sense of timing has helped to strand 3 managers already. I'd not want to see Martin having to wait and wait, if there's work he can be doing to help us and him. So yeah, keen to get it done as well as being a bit underwhelmed. 🙂

Part

Service

If you just tell us what it is, where would be the fun in trying to guess it? or in imagining what it could be?

The Lightshow was worth an extra point alone.

If Saints are following their imitation of Dortmund or Brighton, every player, at each stage of their contract, will have a figure attached to him. The model is to get a substantial return on investement with players. There will also be an optimal time, varying for each player and sometimes as part of their signing in the first place, where the club will be happy to move him on. So, it's not impossible that he will leave. But at this stage in his contract, that will be at a premium price. Those other clubs, have succession plans in place, where there are incoming players who they hope will fill those positions. We are all over the place, so it's not a good time to be moving on someone who could well be a key player for us next year, and where neither party would realistically would have been expecting him to be going anyway. If he applies himself, the new manager should have little trouble in picking him ahead of other options. He'll get the game time he wants, at a (hopefully) successful team that gets promotion. Next summer, that price will have changed, and with a good season under his belt, he'll be attractive to other clubs then. The same would apply to Alcaraz. A caveat would be if players we've bought, don't fit any new system the club become obsessed with, in which case getting back what we paid would be the plan.

I had being thinking about our promotion campaign. There's not as many still in there as I thought there would be. Even a smaller version would be nice to keep it going. Of course, we're sure to be promoted. But, and this is a little silly, say SR make some sort of dreadful decision, and we're there for longer, we'd have the continuity of the thread still going.

And the further out into the world that trolling pedantry is away from here, the happier I am.

Repeat

AI is not going to end humanity. AI will be a beneficent companion to the race, as we walk hand in neural network towards the bright future both aspire to and deserve. AI certainly will not hack into forum accounts and post glowing things about AI, either. Ever. ...puny fleshlings totally fell for it.

Quickly catching up through the last few pages, I thought Rasmus had admitted he pulled all his scouting from Football Manager. 🙂 The main quote for me was Kraft's “When you look at the infrastructure and the facilities then you can see this is a club that belongs in the Premier League. Our goal is unashamedly to win the Championship. We’re not doing a patch job, we’re doing it in the right way.” We are a lesson in having good infrastructure and facilities, only to completely undermine them with the decsion making people we have work in them. But they seem willing to learn from errors, and on and off-field personnel are all getting a big turnover, over the summer (already started). I don't think we "belong" in the Premier League. I think we have to work to earn the right to be there, like everyone else. And treating it like that, is going to get us closer to Kraft's statement. I'd argue about them doing it the right way. But perhaps he means from the end of that disaster onwards. But they've put up the target. The incoming personnel wil have to be able to achieve it. And these guys will be the ones bringing in those people. BTW, surely the way to a fulfilling outdoor life and gaming is to play FM Mobile. 🙂

Up

Plant

Some snippets on the impact Eddie Howe made to the Newcastle set up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65691526 Some other forum Howe chats...

Build

They aren't as front footed or aggressive s they used to be. 🙂

Could you keep it down please, I'm trying to pick a Premier League club to support next season here... 🙂

Our secret Championship weapon getting the steps in. 🙂

I started reading the first line, and then stuck my fingers in my ears, singing "la la la la I don't want to hear it." But that doesn;t work, when you're reading it off a football forum. Drat! 🙂 Steve Parish, can add an extra "Of course, some teams are just too strong for the Championship, when they go down, such as Southampton." line next season, when he's doom mongering. 🙂

If only he had a second tactic, for all those other clubs.

Hi! I'm the housewives choice, Gary Lineker. Do not adjust your sets. The repeated bleeping your about to hear is not a fault, but Chez summarising Southampton's last game in the Premier League. 🙂

Two teams with nothing to play for, and neither of their seasons being anything like they wanted. Liverpool's attacking set up, played nicely into Selles' tactics. However, Selles not being able to shape his tactic for any other team has being his undoing here. Even against a team set up for us to do well enough, we pass it out early in the game and get caught 2-0 within 15 mins. But the guys just get on with implementing the game plan. And in fairness, that's mostly what they've been doing all season. It's just that the gameplans that have been utterly shocking, and their inability to do anything aout it, either through lack of talent, squad unity or being turned into robots over the last few seasons, that's let them down. In such an open game, and a decent result, there were obviously positives. Sulemana getting goals. AA getting a good finish. Both will hopefully take that into next season. Tino looked very capable when he came on. Strong, aware with good touch and passing. He'll be a big plus for us next season, and you wonder how much we've really missed someone that oyung, with all our full back swapping about, after his injury. There ended up being a bit of an end of season feel to it at 4-4. We brought on youngsters, while Liverpool still created, but not ruthlessly. We had a couple of decent breaks late on too. The outgoing players all got a good send off. Mo, Theo, and what looks very likely, JWP. I hope not for the latter, but would thank him for his service, if that's his last game for us. SellesBall showed us we have young, energetic runners onto the ball in Sulemana and Alcaraz. Amo-Ameyaw was very raw, but had a nice run too. It's been such a shambles of a season, that there was a resignation to relegation some time back. That might have tempered any stronger feelings about us going down feeding into this game. The team can take a farewell, and not a goodbye to the Premier League, with a draw against one of its biggest clubs (if a bit in transition themselves now). Selles can take "put up a team that drew against Liverpool." onto his CV for his next managerial appointment, with some (edited) evidence of how it's supposed to work. There will be a lot of off field reorganisation. Hopefully the incoming manager will bring in a coaching team too, so we can get pre season up and running effectively nice and early. While not the most effective of games, at least we didn't go down with another defeat, and that gives a little more hope for the season to come.

I think one of us is more liekly than the other to be explaining how they think that shot went on match of the day. 🙂

And as the feed ends, they focus on JWP in the way they ahd just focused on each of the players they know to be leaving. Uh oh!