Holmes_and_Watson

Hate to necro a thread since I'm not long here, but.... David Connonlly is doing co-commentary tonight. Before the game, the Harry Kane stroy came up, along with gentleman's agreements. Connolly said he had such an agreement with Saints. That a new contract was on the table for him, as he dealt with his dying mother and he needn't worry about it. Then he had an (other) knee injury and that agreement vanished. Instead he was released.

Barcelona wonderkid joins Saints! Xavi Jr stated that, although the Hoof it up to the Big Man approach of The Gaffer was reknowned, it was the work under Sgt Major Shouty that he was looking forward to most. I was watching clips of old England and Scotland qualification runs at the Euros and, despite lots of nostalgia for the times, things look good for the current squad.

In the old days:- Game Coach: Normal training Individual Development Coach: Staying on after training to practice a few things, like free kicks. 🙂 Done well, and there's no reason to think it won't be, there are loads of positives in having developing players shown individual care, attention and defined goals, in progressing all their skills. Not only will it make them feel far better supported, it will develop standards that should see even those who don't make it here have careers in the game and show prospective talents that their development lies here.

Can't really have asked for a more positive set of young signings. Arguably, it sort of fills in the gaps that were supposed to be filled by our own Academy (assuming everything had gone really well there). Hopefully it will be a case of all of them stepping naturally up into first team football, from clubs where their pathway was blocked, rather than being thrown into the deep end. And that they'll be the core of a Premier team, rather than something with echoes of the Lowe era. Focus on the half full glass...focus on the half full glass...they are insane signings...insane...

Well, that would improve the goalkeeping, but would we still need some extra depth up front? 🙂 I picked up FM21 on the eve of the Euros. I'd read that there wouldn't be much transfer activity due to Covid. Then Real Madrid came in for McCarthy. I just stared at the screen, wondering just how much influence MLG has managed to get there over the years. Then I bit their virtual arms off.

Saints are wary of older payment methods after they got stung from the Britannia Player Club, forgetting to tick the "no thanks" box at the front of the catalogue, and ending up paying full price for Carlillo.

Seeing Tino in the starting line up, certainly shows players at other clubs there's a clear pathway into first team premier league football. Looking forward to seeing how this line up gets on.

A good season for me would be 14th. Anything above that and I think we're punching above our weight. It seems every season I set my sights a little lower, as the resources of other clubs gets that bit bigger. I thought 12th would have made for a good season last time out (without predicting the great form, followed by the dreadful run). The loss of experienced premier league starters is another worry. But then, I was even more concerned when Shaw/Lovren/Lambert left. That was years ago and we survived just fine.