Mozz

From Liverpool's statement confirming the transfer on 9th August 2018: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/311249-danny-ings-liverpool-southampton-transfer

Neither do the German rules, didn't really stop Red Bull though. Leipzig aren't actually called "Red Bull Leipzig" but rather "RasenBallSport Leipzig" ("Lawn Ball Sports Leipzig") which they conveniently shorten to "RB Leipzig".

Two of Ings' three PL penalties last year (Brighton home / Huddersfield away) were basically carbon copies of the first Koln penalty; the big stutter/slow down and then wrapping foot round ball to send it bottom left. I wonder if with the second one on Saturday he second guessed himself as the keeper didn't go early and he'd already pulled one bottom left.

The news story announcing the game on Feyenoord's website did seem to highlight it is being different to the other pre-season games, referring to it as "the opening game of the 19/20 season" and "the traditional opening competition": https://www.feyenoord.nl/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/openingswedstrijd-seizoen-1920-070619 "Feyenoord receives Southampton in opening match Feyenoord will face Southampton in the opening game of the 2019-2020 season. The traditional last exhibition game in De Kuip before the start of a new season will be played this year on Sunday 28 July. The kick-off is that day at 2:30 PM. Season ticket holders have automatic access to the traditional opening competition."

Bit of a random question, but does anyone who went to the previous Feyenoord friendly recall whether beer was available in stadium for visiting fans? Looking forward to the novelty of having a pint whilst watching the game but believe Dutch football can have a bit of fan trouble so didn't know if sales were restricted.

This is the full text:

Just to note that a Cedric return to Portgual is unlikely anyway unless it's back to Sporting. The terms of the transfer when we signed him included a clause that if we sell him to Porto, Braga or Benfica then the fee has to be at least 30m Euros and 50% of the fee must be paid to Sporting.

For me it was losing both Ings and Long. With their pace and running they gave Palace's backline a torrid time and meant we always had outballs & could pressure from the front. Given Ings' fitness issues I presume Long was slated to go the full 90, hence only the one striker on the bench. After they both went off we were left with Austin up top on his own who doesn't offer the same mobility, resulting in the ball coming back as soon as we cleared our line and subsequent building of pressure.

Wonder if the timing of the illness line also lines up with Malcuit opting for Napoli. The “Southampton were willing to pay £18m” line from the mirror, coupled with the current sell to buy situation makes it appear that it would have been Cedric out and Malcuit in as unlikely we’d feel the need to stack so much at right back with more pressing needs elsewhere. Could there have been a situation where Cedric has kicked up (late in the day), saints have been willing to sell (consistent with Ralph’s comments earlier in the summer about not wanting to keep players against their will), but only if able to replace (Malcuit) and when replacement couldn’t be secured he has been summoned back?

It's not just limitations of the online platform. Up until last season you could buy multiple general sale tickets without having to attribute each one to a different customer number. This changed last year so that every ticket had to be a linked to a different account. Was a complete pain when trying to buy a bunch of tickets to the Sevilla friendly for family members that will probably never go again. Doesn't surprise me about rules not seeming to apply on the phone though. I generally find them pretty helpful.

Given that in the last three years of kits we have only seen the Virgin Media logo in block red or outline white it is entirely possible that their 'brand style guide' does not allow for any other colour variations. Having seen brand guides for other companies in the past they are usually very restrictive in what can be done with the logo, especially when it comes to colours.

Interesting (only to some I’d guess!) that the shirt spotted for sale in the shop in Hong Kong has a heat sealed crest. As such either replicas will now carry the heat sealed crest (as opposed to current embroidered) or that’s a player issue shirt which has found its way in to a store.

It also lacks the "We March On" on the rear of the neck that has been present on all UA replicas thus far but not the player shirts.

From last month: ”Aston Villa can confirm that the club and its technical partner, Under Armour, have mutually decided to end their relationship. The global sports apparel and footwear brand has provided performance matchday kits and training wear for Aston Villa for the past two seasons. The club would like to thank Under Armour for their support over the past two years and would like to wish them all the best for the future. An announcement on a new technical partner will follow in due course.”

From as in Spain just under an hour ago: https://futbol.as.com/futbol/2017/08/31/primera/1504195354_807646.html

I've been thinking exactly the same thing. The ref whistled, made no real hand gesture other than pointing to his head whilst calling physio on which suggested he had stopped play for the head injury, but then play restarted with a dead ball from Joe Hart at the spot of the Noble challenge. As such it looks like far from considering sending noble off for that shocker of a challenge, he deemed him the victim and gave West Ham the free kick!

I haven't seen it back, but from my seat behind the goal I thought Jack Stephens had a bit of a 'do I/don't I try and get something on this' moment in the middle (ultimately settling on don't) which is what caused the delay in Forster commiting across to his far post.

The price that displays when you hover over a block isn't necessarily correct. There are two different prices in the remaining blocks depending on whether the seat is located in the front (most blocks £56) or back (most blocks £40) half. When you hover over a block it looks like it just displays one of these prices. I think the only way to confirm the price of a seat when buying is to select it and then add to basket. I would guess this is because the ticket site is built to support our regular ticketing at St Mary's where each block is a fixed price no matter how far forward or back the seat is located.

Glad that the red appears to be plain material as part of a bespoke shirt rather than a bad iron-on panel over stripes. Could be wrong, but I think Spurs use their own font (Liverpool/arsenal style) which I'd presume would be independent of kit manufacturer so may not get an idea tonight. Given our irregular European qualification guess we could just be going with white PL numbers/letters.

Interesting (or not) note, but Sports Direct (both West Quay and Eastleigh) seem to be selling unannounced alternate home socks (white with red hoops/logo/writing) with the red 'home' socks available on the Saints website nowhere to be seen.

Both North and South were split into two "sections" prior to the draw with groups A-D coming from section 1 and groups E-H from section 2. We were in South section 2 with Skates in South section 1 - Can't see an explanation given for this, but given the teams kept apart we can probably guess.

Lime green, or "poision" :-| http://store.saintsfc.co.uk/Product/ProductItem?id=0000-13568

Glad I went to the store rather than order online as the line at the bottom of the OS stories stating "The new Under Amour kits are a standard fit. For a full size guide, please click here" is inaccurate given the word "fitted" is printed on the shirts themselves. Best fit for me was between 2-3 sizes up on the Adidas Climacool shirts. At least going up in size on this one doesn't bring with it the crazily long length and arms of the own brand effort! Also, noticed a couple of differences between player shirt and replicas with the badge embroidered on the replicas and the solid red panel under the arm missing.

The "5 first team players" selection rule only applies to the EFL teams. The selection rule for invited clubs is that six of the starting eleven must be Under 21.

Out of curiosity I worked out the cost of 19 individual match tickets at this years prices and the Kingsland Centre (where the £682 renewal ST's are) totals £801 (8 X £46, 3 X £43, 8 X £38), a difference of £119. Also had a look at the difference for the reduced renewals in goals as this is where I am and 19 match tickets totals £725 (8 X £42, 3 X £39, 8 X £34), a difference of £155 over the ST renewal of £570. To be honest I was a little surprised at the differences as to me it had seemed these had eroded over recent years.