coalman

Having one fewer centre back means an extra man in midfield so hopefully there will be more options. Plus having one fewer centre back means they have to move it quicker between them so (again) hopefully we'll be less static and harder to mark. This may be wishful thinking on my part though.

Given Stewart's injury problems and we ran him into the ground last time I get why he might have done that. Dropping Fellows when we're finally playing a formation to get the best out of him seems really odd. Matsuki isn't really a winger. I think about the formation he could've picked and, while I'm not delighted, this is much closer to what we've wanted albeit with slightly differing personnel.

Agreed. We should always be looking to improve the squad however we can. If that's from a better player being available to buy / loan then great. Otherwise it's putting the hard yards in in training and improving both the individuals and collective that we have. The trouble is it seems like both our recruitment and our off the pitch activities have been misfiring for quite a while. Were I in charge I'd want to know why our players don't seem as fit as other teams around us and how whatever we're doing in training doesn't seem to translate to on pitch performances other than here and there. As that seems the thing we have most ability to influence and, right now, no sane player is going to come to the basket case that is Southampton.

If we don't play a back five we'll be forced to leave at least one of our top passers out. Can we really afford that for a match of this importance? Without Manning's ability to hit perfectly weighted through balls there may be fewer goals for example.

Don't worry, Rasmus has at least one Gronbaek in him every window. And we'll need to sign some kid to farm out to a sister club if we're to prove the multi club model.

I'm saying Rasmus is a child pretending that magic exists and that he's Ben Kenobi. Believe me, if the Force was real I'd have managed to choke someone with it by now 😉

Last seconds of stoppage time. Fair play for Bournemouth for playing for the win and not sitting back.

Just goes to show it's worth taking a punt on a striker with injury problems...... cough.... Stewart. Sport Republic: turning dumb luck into bad decisions since January 2022.

To be fair the times we've spent more than £15m we've wound up with gems like Sulemana, Lemina and Onuachu. I can see why they'd be nervous.

Sorry I meant to put "statistics" in air quotes. I in no way meant to imply that Ankersen's process represents any kind of rigorous mathematical approach.

They don't have the benefit of Ankersen's statistics based no-watch scouting moneyball setup so they're forced to go watch players and spend cash on them. That's why they missed out on players like BBD and Archer.

Meanwhile Bournemouth are 2-0 up against Liverpool. A lesson in moving the ball forward with urgency when there's the chance.

One might argue that the bigger risk was to rebuild the team around that core of players (again)

Oh good - we're in the middle of another process and we still haven't gelled as a team after the summer transfer activity. Looks like Martin left a copy of his big book of excuses behind when he left. Living and breathing the game sounds like the new version of "the players trained really well this week".

I would say calling someone a Fat Steven Gerrard is a sign of respect. Gerrard was an incredible footballer.

There's a lot of words there that all appear to be "blah". Obviously, I didn't bother to read it.

Another club jumps on the wannabe Brighton bandwagon with a data led approach. The name's Bord, James Bord https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jan/23/sheffield-wednesday-james-bord-united-poker

All well and good but have they solved their rat infestation problem yet?

Sounds like a good age to bring him back in to bring some experience to the dressing room. He can join the U21 to 1st team coach pathway behind Lallana and Romeu. Get it done, Rasmus.

It depends what his goal is. If he thinks he's bought a lucrative player trading empire then you could argue we've broken even (maybe even slightly ahead with Goztepe) despite two relegations. Just imagine how much money he'll make when Rasmus reworks his Brentford magic. Note I do not subscribe to this viewpoint but I have been in enough meetings with billionaires where similar nonsense was peddled. It's unlikely that Dragan's primary interest is how successful Saints are. Unlike Eckert who apparently lives and breathes Southampton.

I genuinely believe that Rasmus is the only "football" person in the room when Dragan talks about Sport Republic. And Rasmus has stats and spreadsheets to "prove" everything is working as planned. Throw in the fact that we've largely recouped what he's spent on transfers and he may not see there being a problem.

Oh bugger, you're right.

Yes, and Bazunu has a 100% clean sheet record when playing for Stoke.

I'm not sure our dressing room needs more dysfunction 😉