The Cat

He needs to work on claiming crosses but that should come with experience. Don't forget that De Gea was pretty inept at that in his first season in the Premier League as a young keeper. Last season people complained about McCarthy letting in near post shots and now there's people saying Bazunu is stood to near his post. Also love the fact he's written off as another Angus Gunn after a few games. There's barely any keepers playing top flight football at his age. He's at a high level, playing in front of an extremely young CB pairing with no recognised defensive midfielder in a team devoid of confidence. I can't think of a tougher situation for him to be in.

Skates drew 1-1 at home to Fleetwood who took 91 fans to the game, haha.

I bet there a Leicester fan saying exactly the same on their forum right now.

We've defended pretty well to be honest. Bazunu had made some good saves and the CB's have been excellent. Walker Peters and Stu Armstrong and fault for the goals, both of which were preventable. Nothing going forward though, probably the lack of belief we can pass through their midfield so are resorting to long balls.

Loads of teams use zonal marking from set pieces. Ask all the managers that use it why, I don't know.

He isn't, we zonally mark. Haaland is just stood in the area near him.

Stuart Armstrong complete garbage giving the ball away for the second. One thing you can't do in these types of games is give away possession so cheaply. Man City's attackers make most defences look like traffic cones.

His vision would have been blocked because the CB was stood in front of him. Also the shot was hit very hard.

Flemming Pedersen? Has got Nordsjaelland to the top of the Danish Superliga with a very young team. Was briefly at Brentford in 2016. Has a philosophy which would fit at Saints https://www.itsjustasport.com/articles/2020/1/2/flemmingpedersen https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/welcome-fc-nordsjaelland-youngest-team-europe-football-revolution-1891156

Bodo/Glimt are playing Arsenal tonight, good opportunity to sound our Knutsen while he's in the country.

I'm not sure how much their fans even know about this. Woman at work who has a season ticket was completely oblivious to the game even happening.

If anyone is sadistic enough to want a ticket to this, my mate has 1 adult and 2 U18's available.

When is Doyle fit? I thought he was only out for a month or so but not seen him mentioned at all since he got injured at the start of the season.

What formation do you go with for this? We have decent enough defenders to play 3 CB's now.

I heard a report on World Service where they interviewed some of the crowd. It was full of people who had been bussed in, local government workers, factory staff etc. Many refused to be interviewed, others said they didn't know why they were there. The reporter said there was no atmosphere. Speakers were trying to get the crowd cheering but were ignored.

I take my kids and mostly the day is about spending time together, chatting shit in the car, finding a decent place to eat and having a laugh. The football tends to get in the way of the rest of the day! You say you live 2 hours away. What's your local team? Surely better for your son to support them than jump on the bandwagon of a team 2 hours away that they have no reason to support other than the fact they are currently good.

Possibly the best player review I've ever read. Can't quite work out if the bloke likes him or not though.

3 of Mac Allister's goals are penalties and 3 of Trossard's are because he played up against Alexander-Arnold so none of them really count.

Tickets on sale now, just bought mine.

I can't believe you bought your son the kit of an English team that isn't Saints. Doesn't matter that he was 6, you have to instill these principles early. What's that going to teach him ffs? You've pretty much encouraged him towards the world of half and half scarves and getting the bingo bus to away games already, haha.

I am weirdly fascinated by the car crash viewing that happens when we are really terrible. Like that Doncaster game when we had 14000 in the stadium and our fans in the Northam were fighting each other. Or the Ipswich game when the whole ground stood up and sung "Swing Lowe" Got to take the rough with the smooth being a football fan. It's what makes the good times so much sweeter.

They beat Pompey. I'm guessing he was alluding to you supporting them because your post wasn't frothing at the mouth for Ralph to be sacked.

Been in and out and weirdly the only bits of the game I've watched have coincided with Man Utd scoring. Not seen one Man City goal.

Probably signed him to train him back to fitness so he can make a difference in the future but sadly Lavia's injury and Diallo's poor performances have meant we've had to chuck him in earlier than expected.