revolution saint

No, to be fair I think he absolutely could fill that void Eriksen has left and I urge all Saints fans to tell Spurs supporters this. In fact I think he's probably better than Eriksen. The meltdown when they realise he's not will be priceless.

Nothing gets past you does it Charlie? You must be like some kind of MI5 genius or something! OK, I'll admit it - I've never ever seen him play but tell me one thing - how on earth did you figure it out?

He needs to sort his hair out. I presume the photo was taken pre-lockdown so there's really very little excuse for that kind of behaviour. Outside of that I've been raving about the kid for years - pace to burn, wand of a left foot, hammer of a right foot, great touch for a big man, great in the air for a little bloke (leaps like a salmon!), does the simple things well and the complicated things simply, great composure for one so young and hungrier than Ghandi. The kid has a bright future (hair aside).

Don't forget that Armstrong can also play in the middle (and when he was at Celtic that was his preferred position). Personally think he's found his best position in our system and would be a shame to move him but could certainly do a job if either JWP or Romeu are injured/suspended. Also got Smallbone and this Jankewicz fella so although it would be good to get a replacement of some sort it's not an absolute necessity (and it's important to keep some sort of pathway to the first team).

I'm pretty relaxed about the PEH replacement. Club have known for ages that he would be off so they've had plenty of time and probably have more than one target they're working on. Weston McKenzie did sound pretty good but won't be long before there's another link to someone unknown that sounds even better. Normally AB is pretty spot on with these things so I don't think WM is gonna happen though.

Harry Wilson is dog turd. No way does he fit the profile Ralph is looking for. The lad will be last name on the team sheet for a division one side in a few years time.

Genuine question - is Mangala that kind of player? Precious little info on him that I can find except that he has dainty little ballerina feet and can dance through tight spaces. Not a bad attribute to have but doesn't normally come with the "powerhouse" package.

So basically it's just the same group of players but more closely aligned with the first team and a bit more oversight from Ralph. File this under why weren't we (and everyone else) doing it anyway. It's the same with all this moneyball nonsense - just good scouting nothing particularly revolutionary but a fancy new name for something that's been going on for years (admittedly a bit more data around now but the principles would have been the same).

Agree Watkins does look a good player but difficult to judge how well he'll do in the premier league. I guess the question is whether he'll be better in his first season than Che Adams after a season of adapting to the pace and power of the division and starting to show some of the form people were expecting from him. No one really knows the answer to that so it's a gamble (as all transfers are). Course that's assuming Adams would go if Watkins were to come in. It's not really a priority for us and I don't see Ralph giving up on Adams yet either. Defence looks as though it's getting sorted and as long as we replace Hojberg then I think we're in a better position than the start of last year. I'm still hopeful that Djenepo will play a much bigger part this season and will remain fit. Generally speaking I think the system we play is quite difficult for players to get their heads around and be fit enough to operate so there may be a longer acclimatisation period for new players than would otherwise be the case.

RB Leipzig were linked with Matty Cash back in 2017 when Ralph was still managing them. That was before he was converted to a full back but could be something in this.

Theresa May is taking over the club and has a plan to get us back into Europe. Can't wait to see her dancing and celebrating when we win the Champions League.

Honestly, I really don't understand why you keep insisting that Hojberg is not a ball winning midfielder - he's one of the best in the league! I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but quoting stats that back the very thing you're arguing against is just bizarre!

My money is on Folarin Balogun: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/folarin-balogun/profil/spieler/503770

I don't understand why you keep on about Hojbjerg not being a good tackler and ball winner. The stats you refer to are pretty clear that he is.

Sherlock more likely.

Sorry, should have made it clear the myth was that it was they bought it thinking it was Tower Bridge. I've actually been to Lake Havasu (which is why I know all about it). Very nice place too.

Apologies for getting all pedantic but that's an urban myth and never happened. Must be all those drugs n stuff. Anyway, I agree would be a superb deal if it happened and not sure why PEH has (it seems) Spurs and Everton fighting over him but I'm not about to argue them out of it.

Jeez, you absolute muppet! Julian Lewis is a remainer? What planet are you living on? Personally I'm just glad for the first time in my life I don't have an official conservative as my constituency MP.

TBH Neither has been outstanding. They're OK but I don't think either are going to have stellar careers at the very top level. If we let one or both of them go then I'd be doubtful it would be something we might later regret. One option no one seems to talk about is maybe moving Redmond back into a more of a central striker role - seemed to do OK there last season and would give a bit more opportunity for Djenepo (if he gets fit again).

I'd agree that equality of opportunity is a good starting position and both you and hypo are right about that. I'd also argue that some degree of equality of outcome makes for a healthy society but that's another argument entirely. However, how do you explain black graduates being twice as likely to be unemployed than white graduates? These people presumably have had good parents, have got qualified and yet still lag behind - they can't all have been slightly worse than the white candidate. In academia I think it's something like 16 - 18% of academics are BAME which is actually a higher representation than the 14% of the population so that's a bit higher than you would probably expect but they only make up 2.1% of senior positions. Same with football - a higher representation when it comes to players but a pitiful level at the management and coaching levels. I don't accept that it's because they're not attracted to these positions - it's that they don't get them (and they've had decent experience/qualifications/good parents). You're right - you won't get a completely proportionate split on everything and at a micro level you will obviously see more pronounced differences due to the small numbers but as a country we should be doing much better. It's too simple to blame this all on bad parents / poor opportunities because even when that isn't the case BAME people have worse outcomes. As I say, I don't have the answers - no one has all of them but we can recognise that this is a problem and has been for decades. It's all too easy to blame a lack of opportunity but that doesn't tell the whole story.

Hi Hypo, thanks for replying. So if it isn't unconscious bias then what's the reason for under-representation? I'm assuming here that you accept that there are organisations and pay levels where BAME are under-represented? By the way, you seem to be under a bit of a misunderstanding about representation as a concept - those lower paid jobs would also have a fair representation of BAME employees (so in the case of the UK about 14%). Given BAME people are under represented at higher pay levels then they're actually over represented at the lower and unemployed levels and so it's hardly surprising they're not calling out for more jobs of this kind. As for how you tackle unconscious bias I'm afraid I don't have all the answers and wouldn't pretend to. All I'm pointing out is that with regard to employment (in this case) BAME people are proportionally worse off than white people. Hope that helps!

I'm not sure why a F1 team is any different to a builder's merchant in Bradford? Anyway, the point is that BAME people are under represented in many jobs. In F1 Mercedes have said that only 3% of its workforce are BAME despite BAME people making up 14% of the (UK) population so there's a clear disparity for you. Forbes found that black graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts - why do you suppose that is? I think the problem is that as a society we've largely eradicated overt racism but at the very least unconscious bias is still there and the stats bear this out. We can't really hide from that anymore. So, we can moan about the forms protests take, the language being used or whether we should be forced to take a knee or not but it would be very difficult to deny the thrust of the argument which is that BAME people get a raw deal when compared to white people. Anyway, I'm not having a go at you Lighthouse - your post just caught my eye.

Bit of a bump on this one but seeing as we've had a couple of transfer links with potential Brentford targets does this mean Phil Giles is the fella they had in mind as a player trading expert? Transfer links: Arsenal kid: https://tbrfootball.com/report-southampton-one-of-many-clubs-interested-in-arsenals-folarin-balogun/ Ljubicic: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8489905/Brentford-weigh-Rapid-Vienna-midfielder-Dejan-Ljubicic.html Would seem to tick the boxes in terms of what we want and presumably wants to stay at Brentford until the season is over. I don't know much about him and it's speculation on my part but he seems to have a pretty good record at finding decent players.

OK here's a question for you: Why exactly do you think we've suffered more excess deaths? Obviously not the governments fault in your opinion, in fact, it seems to be anything but that. So they're completely blameless, is that it? Or are you arguing that we've fared no worse than anyone else? I've got a job to do pal and I can't be arsed to subscribe (busy enough as it is) so I won't be replying so take your time.

Prepare to get the virus under control so that track and trace can work at manageable levels and prevent unnecessary deaths like, I dunno, virtually every other European country and China. Seems if the plan was to allow a manageable spread then we did a bloody sight worse than everyone else did and took us longer than everyone else too. I'm not claiming unlucky by the way - I'm claiming total shambles.