pingpong

Southampton interim manager Tonda Eckert's main tactical change has been introducing a clear, disciplined pressing structure and a focus on cohesive attacking movements, which has reportedly re-energised the squad. Under previous manager Will Still, a criticism was a lack of focus on what substitutes should do, and a generally low mood. Eckert, by contrast, has implemented a simpler, more direct approach that emphasizes: Renewed energy and collective standards: Eckert has re-established collective standards and improved morale in a squad that had lost direction. Detailed positioning: He has reportedly given specific instructions, particularly to central midfielders, which has allowed wide players like Tom Fellows and Ryan Manning to get into more attacking positions. Less in-match disruption: Some observers have noted that Eckert makes fewer disruptive changes during matches, which may provide more consistency.

Lots of people with problems, not seeing many (realistic) solutions. Look at who is out there right now. If we we are waiting for a corberan or a farke, I think that's ok. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials

Seems like a fair bit of competition for managers, and only low quality available. We're in a good position to hold steady with tonda and see if the landscape improves in December January. Middlesbrough more attractive than us right now. Waiting to see who gets sacked from the top leagues over the next couple of months is a valid strategy.

Betting closed, with tonda top at the time. I wouldn't mind him, if he gets it we should get behind him, he's already the most successful saints manager we've had since the promotion year.

I was replying to someone making the point that we had to lose so many games before he was dropped. It was two.

We lost twice before baz was dropped, to stoke and hull. The 8 games with mccarthy, we won 1, drew 3, lost 4. The 2 games with baz back, We've won both of them. Any manager with a brain will pick the keeper we win with, and that's baz...

Odds check: Rodgers, Carrick and corberan shortening. Eckhert, Martin and O'Neil lengthening.

Us getting a win is unusual, hard to know what our celebration patterns are.

We looked good going forward, but wood having a mare, and defence in general slow to react. Baz keeping us in it with a couple of excellent saves, I've not read the comments on here yet but assume some humble pie being eaten! Think we'll score a couple more second half, actually fun to see us play the early balls more today. Now I'm off to see what you lot said during the game...

It kind of does, in that it shows the betting patterns have suddenly shifted and the odds shortening in this instance shows there is credible info out there that something has happened to encourage betting on that person.

If we are criticising the mnf appearances as our main source of recruitment, where martin and still both sounded good, what do we make of someone who comes across as absolutely shit?

Another 3pts from bazunu, that's 9 so far this season with him in goal, higher return than with calamity McCarthy.

Would have been a simple catch if the guy wasn't two yards off - can't blame the keeper for that, he was correctly judging the flight of the ball and the positioning of the players.

Good to see baz back, hope he gets the same leeway fans give to McCarthy when he, for example, jumps out of the way of the ball to let the opposition score a goofy goal, but suspect he won't. Fortunately, not a concern today as we will keep our sheet clean and scienza will get his first hat trick.

I have a concept, that I think some people in here already adhere to - become an anti saints fan. Just support whoever is playing us. You can still go to your local stadium, and you win or draw nearly every week. There's a lack of a long term league target, but you could get lucky and lose a bunch of cup games to get to a wembley game once in a while.

He looked furious to me, can't say he isn't showing emotion.

Back 3 again, not sure why he still persists in such attacking formations when we need to be more solid.

Scienza? Charles? Azaz? Fellows? Armstrong? Fraser? Jander? We're not short of people to create chances,that's why we create so many. Having said that, most people saying we should have got Moore would never have said that in the summer.

The other advantage of having two goalkeepers on the pitch is that it gives us an extra space on the bench for outfield players and more options - if McCarthy gets sent off, baz can move back into goal. I hope at least we're considering bringing him on in the 85th min when we are 1-1 and need to score - if we're going to insist on passing it to the keeper for the final minutes of every game we may as well make it a keeper in the final third of the pitch.

So bazunu is probably our best passer of the ball, definitely our best header of the ball. Can he run? I think he probably can't tackle. I'd be quite happy to see him as a central attacking midfielder, he can stroll around le tissier style, stay onside, and just score from all of our set pieces?

So do you think advertisers are putting diversity ahead of money? Personally I think it is incredibly naive to think that they are doing anything other than trying to sell as much product as possible, and personally, I think they do a shit ton of work figuring out what works and what doesn't. They'll know their target markets and what appeals to them. There are also a lot of misleading stats on this. I did a research study on this a couple of years ago, and the proportion of BAME actors in adverts was roughly equivalent to the proportion of BAME people in urban populations. People complaining seem to see the one black woman in an ad and not the 5 white people who are also in it.

3 at the back again, I do wonder if we need to show less attacking ambition and focus on clean sheets, after what happened at Bristol - a solid back 4 with 2 cdms rather than so much width, yes it gives us a lot of attacking choice, but it leaves us too open, and we're not performing well enough to take so many risks. I guess still is feeling the pressure and can't afford to be cautious.

Policing is another matter entirely. We all think it is unlikely we will have genital inspections. It's likely this just results in people using the law as an excuse to bully people out of toilets who they don't like the look of. The initial ehrc guidance, which is our only current clue to the direction the full guidance will take, talked about biological women "being excluded from women-only facilities where reasonable objection is taken to their presence based on their appearance or attributes." It's based on the concept that everyone "can tell", which is a bit like the toupee fallacy.

I'm not sure it's great, as the upcoming system seems like it will be looks based.

We're agreeing, the old system we've had for decades is fine, and supreme court and ehrc shouldn't be making laws and guidance based on appearance. But that's where we are at the moment, unfortunately.