chiknsmack

There was a similar reasoning behind the Hasenhüttl/Klopp high press; some large percentage of goals are scored within a small number of seconds of a change of possession, so the goal was to force turnovers high up the pitch and then have a shot ASAP.

I took notes on Downes in the first half because I've been really disappointed in him slowing down the attack and wanted to know if I was just biased and remembering all the times he turned back while ignoring all the times he went forward. 35 notable plays in the first half (33 touches, two others; pressing Pickford and letting a man run past him on the break). Six positive plays, 11 negative, the rest neutral. He does turn back as much as I think he does. On one of his neutral plays he received the pass from Fernandes while wide open in space, looked to turn and play back before eventually doing the right thing and playing forward. Even one of the six positive plays was one where he was slow to make himself available and slow to play a pass just outside his own box, but eventually played it forward/wide to KWP. His instinct is to play backwards, probably in large part because he receives the ball either with his back to goal or his back to the right-hand touchline (which, being right-footed, sees him want to play passes to his left, ie. backwards). In the second half when he switched to the left of the midfield two and Aribo came on on the right, the KWP/Aribo connection was MUCH better than the KWP/Downes one. You could argue for Aribo on the right and Downes on the left of a midfield two (as we saw after Aribo came on), but I think there's also an argument the midfield two should be Lallana on the left and KWP on the right, with Sugawara at RB. On paper Lallana and KWP sounds like a lightweight pairing, but they're both very good with the ball and both very experienced. In games where Russball works and we control possession (obviously I'd prefer to be more defensive-minded against clearly better sides) we're likely to see more attacking action from that pairing than from Downes and anyone. If Lallana can only play 45 minutes you then have Downes to come on and shore things up if needed (ideally on the left where he's more inclined to play forward). It was notable that today's gameplan led to many occasions where Downes was the furthest man forward. I'd much rather have KWP being the furthest man forward in those situations; he's more likely to pick the right pass or score a goal. Plus KWP in midfield gets both him and Sugawara on the park, when they're two of the best 5-8 players in the whole squad; certainly both better than Downes.

If I were in charge I'd be trying to stay in the PL. Ramsdale, KWP, Sugawara, Dibling, and Fernandes are all good enough for a mid-table PL side, and it's better to start next season with those five and try to find another eight or ten of the same over the next few seasons to become an entrenched top half side/contender for Europe than to go back down to the Championship and MAYBE keep one or two of them. I disagree with point 2; I'm not assuming we're already down with a relatively weak squad. (I AM assuming we're down with the current manager; RM would legitimately need a miracle to stay up). That said, if staying up isn't an option, I'd probably keep RM. He's gotten promotion before, and the squad he'd have next season would be stronger and more used to his style of play than the one he got promoted last season (assuming we only lose the above listed five, Charlie Taylor who left Burnley because he didn't fancy another season in the Championship and so presumably would ditch us too, and a couple of youngsters like SAA). But where would that get us; back in the Prem with RM at the helm and a weaker squad than we have now? Then giving him eight or ten games before considering sacking him if we don't have a double-figure points haul? If/when we get to that point of consideration, do we keep him again and accept relegation again so he can get promotion from the Championship for a third time in 2027/28? The plan to become a yoyo club and hope we don't slip up and become a midtable Championship club is a dumb one; the plan MUST be to become an established mid-table PL club because mid-table in the Championship (or worse) is hardly a life worth living (though I know some of you disagree and apparently would enjoy following the club when they win ten or fifteen games a year in the Champ or L1 with affordable tickets). Keeping RM doesn't accomplish that, so even if you're certain that keeping him means we're down this season and will walk the Championship next season (which is my position), I can understand giving him the sack now. With respect to point 3, I think we'll struggle to sell KWP. An acceptable club can give him an acceptable contract and give us a few million quid in January, or they can wait until July and give him the few million instead as a signing bonus when he signs as a free agent. If I was him I know which one I'd choose.

We sounded out Schmidt around that time too.

Alcaraz was clearly our best player in the last six months of the relegation season, then Martin comes in and he's suddenly not good enough for the Championship.

Username checks out.

He lost control of the game, but the VA players lost their heads too. At 3-2 I was hoping a win wouldn't let that be overlooked, but having dropped two points there should DEFINITELY be some discussions within the team about it now.

BBD is right footed and likes coming inside onto his strong foot to shoot. RM likes wide attacking players to come inside onto their strong foot (so he prefers right-footed left wingers and left-footed right wingers). The problem is that BBD isn't doing a whole lot of "coming inside", so is left looking rather impotent. In an ideal world you'd have a left-footed LB making overlapping runs so BBD can either drift inside to the half space on the edge of the box and shoot from there or make a near post run as the LB goes to the byline and looks for a pullback. Or you'd have BBD on the left of a front two so he doesn't start as wide and is able to find a central position on his strong foot while also being available for back post crosses from the right. Our two best fullbacks are both right footed, so we have KWP looking to drift inside himself which means he and BBD would be occupying the same space if both did what they want. So instead BBD stays out of the way out wide, contributing nothing. Dropping one of KWP or Sugawara for Taylor is probably wrong in a "put your best players on the pitch" sense, but probably right in a "get BBD further inside where he can have more of an impact" sense. The correct answer is probably to keep the LBs and, if you're then going to have a front three with your wide left attacker staying wide, replace BBD with a bona fide winger. I thnk there's definitely a player in BBD, but in his current role he offers nothing.

He's a £35m player right now. If we stay in the prem he and Fernandes should each be worth more in two or three years' time than we sold VVD for. He's already left for a bigger club before and didn't like it. You don't think he could stay as long as we're in the prem a la Le Tiss? To me there's every chance he becomes a Grealish-level player who, instead of leaving his boyhood club, doesn't want to sit on the bench for City. A couple of years in the prem and a core of English internationals Ramsdale, THB, and Dibling, plus Portuguese superstar Fernandes would go a long way to cementing us as a top half side, which is the SR goal. It might require a different level of wages than we've seen from Liebherr/Gao, but SR have already thrown plenty of money around.

He came running in and put his hands in the face of both Alberto and Caca, then hid behind a bigger teammate (pretending to hold him back) when Caca went after him. Smart play from Charly; he knows how hard it is to score when 11 vs 10 so he decided to make it 10 vs 9.

The obvious inference is that a different manager and play style will not be happening soon.

I've heard a rumour he makes Messi look shite. (He's played on the right a few times, and his role if he plays wide in a front three will be cutting inside onto his strong foot rather than getting to the byline, so he should be fine.)

By the sounds of things he's not good enough for the French third tier. Goztepe could use another CF, but if we fail to sell Tall Paul and Martin has no interest in using him then there's an obvious match there since he's proven in Turkey (15 in 21 last year).

24:45

Fits the SR plan of Bijlow and Sellhij. He looks like a good keeper for our system and in general, and I personally love an aggressive/decisive keeper which he seems to be.

Fernandes isn't a DM. He was an AM for Sporting's age group teams, he's now a CM. He's much more Alcaraz than Downes, and is taking his spot (YHGTI, hopefully displacing Aribo/Smallbone before selling for two or three times what we paid for him in a couple of years) rather than being Downes' backup's backup.

My first time watching Valenciennes and early on one player stood out. Of course it was the only one I'd heard of, Kayi Sanda. He handled his individual duties with some obvious class and was telling people what to do like he was running the show, which is impressive for a 17yo. Poha also stood out (not just for the obvious reason; he defended really well too) and the keeper did well when called upon. I thought Buades and Venema also played well, and if someone teaches Oyewusi how the offside law works he could be alright too. The left side is a bit of a concern; the defending was average and the better attacking plays - bar the goal - came down the right. They could've done a better job of seeing out the game too, with more focus on ball retention and maybe going to the corner flag in injury time. But you can never be too upset with a win and a clean sheet.

September 13th, vs August 30th for England. Two games before the English window closes, one more (the day after that) before the Turkish window closes. So if we bring in a deadline day loan striker who isn't ready to play vs Brentford the next day, there's the option to play Onuachu and then still sell him to Turkey.

I've gone looking for stuff other than shirts (the "wine" coloured travel gear from two seasons ago, the yellow third training shirt with the trees from last year) and couldn't find it. It's hard to justify £25 or £30 for shipping on one or two items (even if two or three days to get to my doorstep on the other side of the world is crazy if you think about it). And it's hard to justify paying full price for any of it, even if the stuff other than the kits (the "cast iron" training gear, that shirt, the "alpine snow" third goalkeeper's kit) is all of interest to me.

Here's some more. Dreams are free. BBD in the PL last year scored 6 in 14, the equivalent of 16 in 38. Stewart in the Championship scored 5 in 7 (with three assists) before doing a hammy, then came back to score 5 in 6 before doing an achilles. 10 in 13, or the equivalent of 35 in a season. BBD scored 14 that season - 40% of the total Stewart was on pace for - so if he's good enough to then be the equivalent of a 16 goal winger in the PL the next season then Stewart is a 40 goal striker in the PL. "We have a 40 goal striker waiting in the wings" is more fun than "We have a National League keeper keeping the gloves warm for a Sunday league keeper and haven't had a decent striker since 1982". And just as true.

BBD scored 6 in 14 for Sheffield Utd last year - a club in a similar situation to what people are expecting for Saints this season - which over a full season is ~16 goals. Is he better playing off the left of a front three than playing centrally? Yes. Would he still score plenty of goals up front with Arma in a 3-5-2, with RWB Sugawara's great crosses from the right and either an attacking LWB doing the same on the left or, more likely, a defensive LWB sitting in beside Downes and two midfielders pushing up (probably Smallbone centrally and Aribo/Dibling/Alcaraz/whoever drifting to the left) to aid the attack on the left? Also yes. If Ross Stewart ever comes right - having looked far too good for League 1 and even too good for the Championship in limited appearances - he could well score 10-15 goals himself in the middle of a front three.

Re-signing him was a wise move, but we don't know if he's capable of being good enough to fill in for 6-12 months? Those things can't both be true. The wise move would've been letting him go and bringing in someone who is definitely good enough to fill in, especially as the club are apparently sticking with Bazunu once he's fit so we don't need to find the money to buy anyone but instead just get a loan in. And ESPECIALLY since, as you rightly say, without a top class keeper the whole enterprise is doomed from Day 1.

It's not that McC is any better than Baz. It's that the whole gameplan and formation changed with us being less able to play out from the back due to McC's shortcomings, and the changes that were made are the reason we were promoted. "We only got promoted because of Bazunu's injury" doesn't mean "Bazunu got injured and a better keeper came in". It means "Bazunu got injured and a worse keeper (wrt playing out from the back) came in, so the gameplan changed to involve the keeper less and play three CBs".

If we're dreaming that big then let's get Lunin. He was fantastic for Real Madrid last season in the absence of Courtois, but he won't be unseating Courtois as number 1. He's in the last year of his contract. Perhaps, if we can't find the money to buy him, Real could sign him to a new deal and then loan him to us to put him in the shop window in England and prove he can do it in the PL.