sydney_saint

I think the fact that so many people are against something that, despite their protestations, has zero negative impact on their life (nor has the organisation they so rigorously oppose), and a positive impact on others, tells you all you need to know about the size of the problem.

Quick question for stattos on here, or at least those with better memories. Did JWP miss a freekick between his Villa goals and his United one, or was it 3 in a row? Obviously not including those he crossed/didn't go for goal before MLG jumps in....

These are all things that are considered in a scientific study and why they have control groups. Studies don't get published in journals without a strong methodology, clear controls and mechanisms to identify trends. For example, in the Glasgow study it says this: "We conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare mortality from neurodegenerative disease among 7676 former professional soccer players (identified from databases of Scottish players) with that among 23,028 controls from the general population who were matched to the players on the basis of sex, age, and degree of social deprivation." Honestly, I'm gonna with what the science says rather than anecdotes. More needs to be done with more studies, but the initial results show there is a link.

I don't quite understand your point? They are 3.5 times more likely to die than the average person due to neurodegenerative disease. The bit around been fitter and having less heart issues etc is true, but also irrelevant as they aren't mutually exclusive. We are talking about the link between heading and illnesses related to that part of the sport that happen later in life. Studies are showing that there is a link. But yeah sure, fitness is good and will often lead to a healthier fitter life. Which can still be done if heading were to be either limited or eliminated. Personally I'm fairly neutral on it, I would hate to see heading disappear or be reduced. But if scientific studies are showing that there is a strong health impact then that need to be taken into consideration

I'm genuinely sorry that your family has been hit hard by this. According to the Alzheimer's Society, the main published research on this is by the University of Glasgow which suggests professional footballers have a 3.5 times higher rate of death due to neurodegenerative disease. Which is considerable. There also seems to be two other big studies in the pipeline. If both of those have similar conclusions, then there needs to be a serious discussion, even if the conclusions of that discussion are to continue on as usual. I think it is also important as many footballers won't have known the risks when getting into the sport. In sports like motorsports and boxing, the risks are fucking obvious. And each of those participants knows the risks going in. I don't know how many footballers are genuinely willing to have an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease to play the game. Some sure would happily die on the pitch for the cause, but other won't. One area I would like to see more research on amateurs. Again unlike motorsports or boxing, football is played by millions and millions of amateurs. I get amateurs will be heading the ball alot less, but they will also be heading the ball with terrible technique. I used to avoid heading at all costs cos I was never shown how to do it properly. It would be horrible to think that amateurs had a higher risk as well.

I think we have a bit of an issue with the middle '2' in the 2-2-2. Ings and Che pick themselves when fit. As do JWP and Romeu. But that middle 2 aren't quite doing it either in attack or helping out defensively. Redmond has been more off than on for a while now. Armstrong hasn't looked good since he got COVID (no idea if that is related or coincidence), Walcott is okay but has issues around passing and shooting that have blighted his whole career, and Djenepo I really like, but still very, very raw. Youngsters that have been tried there like Smallbone and Tella do not look ready. It's a niche position so I get players have to learn how to play it, unlike say Ings who gets to play the way he learned. But I'm finding none of them are making a real clear statement that they own that position. The positive is that most of the positions are sorted. JWP is playing at a phenomenal level and we have Ings to come back in. Beat Brighton and things are still looking very, very good.

This is happening too frequently and Ralph needs to address this. To be the side that tops the dropped points table indicates to me that it is as much tactical as it is mental. There are plenty of mentally weak sides in the league that don't do this as frequently that we do. I could be wrong, but I find we enter this zone between attack and defense when we have a lead that doesn't really work. We don't do a Burnley or a Newcastle, or more flattering a Mourinho, where we close the space and put the team behind the ball. We still leave a few upfront like Walcott, Che + 1 of Armstrong/Djenepo/Long. Not enough to be effective on a counter attack, but also means there is more space our defensive players have to cover. We should either commit to defending, or commit to picking them off or get further up the pitch. Of course it doesn't help players like KWP and Vestagaard losing their heads. I absolutely love Ralph, but for the love of god no more Long. I value what Long has contributed to the club and have always liked him. But dragging this out is only gonna tarnish him. Time to leave him out so can't even be tempted to put him on. On a positive, JWP was fantastic, as was Che despite no service. And ultimately we are competitive which we weren't 18 months ago.

This is now a coaching issue. Our performance today, against Wolves, even against Villa. If it happens once then it is a players issue. But this is happening multiple times and is now a Ralph problem

I would haul Armstrong off for that. Lads are digging in, grafting their way. And you try and take them on. Cutting into the middle of the pitch. With no pace or reputation for beating your man. What did he think would happen

In the spirit of the Oriol thread, I wanted to do a big shout out to a player who rarely gets one but should. Bertand in my opinion has been one of our most important signings in this premier league stint. For over six years he has produced consistently good performances and racked up over 200 appearances. Nearly always a solid 7/10 and sometimes higher. I can't really remember a time in those six years where he hasn't been the clear first choice position for left back. This has allowed us to focus on other positions as well as get stupid money for Targett to put into the rest of the team. He also seems like a really decent guy despite sometimes playing with a face like a slapped ass! I don't think anyone would have blamed him for trying to push for a move when he was left out the England squad for the world cup. He could have been a dick about it, stoked up some rumours in the press and tried to force a move to a bigger club. But he has stayed, knuckled down and still remains a vital cog in the machine. He's only just turned 31 so could still have around 3-4 seasons in that locked in position. Just an all round nice guy but most importantly, a very good footballer.

I'm sure in an hour I will be feeling very happy about the result, but right now a little bit frustrated by that final 30. The good news is that whilst we capitulated, unlike Spurs against West Ham, we didn't drop any points whilst doing so. That's a big plus that the lads learned a valuable lesson without any actual repercussions. But can't do that again, it was terrible game management, and the middle '2' i.e. Armstrong, Walcott, and Redmond must help out better defensively. Disappointed with Diallo. He should be trying to make a good impression and that was a lazy performance. Whilst the penalty was theatrical, it doesn't excuse his piss poor lazy tackle. Hopefully like the rest of the side he learns from this, as that is unacceptable at this level.

I'm really am at the end of my tether with Redmond. He is now 26 with over 200 EPL appearances. He plays like a talented nipper starting out his career. He is allowed to fluff those every now and then. But he still fluffs them nearly every time. I don't think he will ever be the player he promises to be,

Yeah you are right! At that stage my emotions were more rampant then they have been for a good long while whilst watching Saints and wanted blood!

Really struggled to see the end of that, vision was almost entirely distorted by the blue jizz from the commentators. Great fight back, second half all over them. Thought JWP and Romeu were magnificent in the centre. It takes a hell of a performance to take control of the centre of the pitch against Chelsea. Lost my shit at Tella refusing to cross it in at the end. Vestegaard transformed this season. Real brave performance by the lads against a side with just so much more resources.

Lol he has been absolutely appalling. But a fantastic turn and goal. Much rather that though, he's in the team to take risks, create chances and score, and he's done that, even if it has been ahem unorthodox

At what point that Adams transition from unlucky to not good enough? Due to lack of any other option, probably quite a while longer. But at some point he has to start burying these chances.

Really shows why we need a new centre midfielder. It's not that Romeu isn't good enough to start quite a few games. But unless he's grown 40 feet since the last game, the ball is gonna be by-passing him. And he is too ponderous with the ball to make those quick balls before Burnley set up their defensive shape.

Seems positive. We get to build our club brand in a good footballing country with decent market, plus access to promising youngsters, whilst they get access to equipment, coaching techniques etc. To get one of the better clubs in West Africa as well is really cool as well.

I'm a bit worried that after four full seasons with us, he is almost the same player as he arrived. He was good in 18/19, but also best of a terrible bunch. But so many of the issues he had when he first joined, like knowing what's going on around him, when to take a player on, when to release it, where to release, are still the same issues he has now. Look at how much JWP has progressed in those four years. Stephens too.

He looks neat and tidy to me. Could work in a midfield 3 with the right players around him. But not what we need in a 4-2-2-2. Djenepo would be far more useful

Redmond isn't the biggest reason why we are losing. But I want to see much more from him this season. Hes 26 with a couple of hundred EPL appearances. Yet still is playing like an inconsistent raw kid straight out of the academy. Needs more direct output. And take more ownership receiving the ball, not losing it cheaply and making the right decisions.

I find this comment lacking a lot of respect. Steve has served our community selflessly and often without thanks for over a decade. You have been a major beneficiary of having a stable platform for such a long time, with over 30,000 posts. We take this for granted, but our forum has generally been superior in terms of user contributions than alot of forums of similar sized clubs. The selfish thing to do would be to just walk away. Or to give the site over to a random person. Imagine if this had been your baby project for over a decade. Would you just hand it over to some random person? No. I'm not saying it is the case that Steve is looking for new ownership. But if he were, I assume he wouldn't want to hand it over to someone without 1) Ensuring that person genuinely had the skills to look after and maintain the forum, 2) that the person is in it for the long haul. We don't want someone to take over, lose interest in a year, and be in the same position 3) Has the financial capacity to plug things if there is a gap in subscriptions, like Steve has admitted to doing (the oh very selfish man). These things take time to find the right person(s). We just need to be patient for a little longer, don't throw our toys out, and especially -don't add further stress, and we will have an answer soon enough

Just read through this thread for first time. Sending my appreciation to @stevegrant for trying to fix this, but also for looking after the forum, often praiseless, for all these years. I would have liked to have thought that over a decade of holding this forum together and fostering this community would have given you more goodwill. Especially as there is hardly anything going on with Saints at the moment. It's not like we are gunning for the title with two games left. But there are certainly plenty who do appreciate it. And trust you to sort this out (if you don't just pack it in, which, looking through the comments, I wouldn't blame you).