The Kraken

And the “go and support Pompey” klaxon goes off yet again 🤣🤣

“Wilcox will know him from Man City”. Joe Hart hasn’t played for Man City since 2016, a time when Wilcox was working for City’s academy. And Hart is vastly experienced because he’s 36 years old. And, as said above, he wasn’t required at City because it was reported at the time that he was poor with his distribution. Not sure I see much wisdom in this, even if he is likely to be better than Bazunu (low benchmark).

Excellent value on that deal for Saints. It also shows other clubs (West Ham, I'm looking at you) and our players that, while the club will allow players to welcome to leave, thy won't be held to ransom on price. Getting somewhere around £75M for Tino and Lavia would represent great business and go some way to offsetting almost every other failed transfer that has happened in the past 12 months.

While it may benefit the game as a spectacle, you have to think about the logistics of it especially as grass roots level, providing smaller pitches and goals would be a logistical nightmare.

Precisely this. Martin gave an interview 2-3 weeks ago and practically said as much, he said we’ve got a huge squad which is a problem and that some need to go, even training with a full squad is impractical due to its size. We’ve really not done much to address that so far: we’ve got rid of Orsic, Elyounoussi, Walcott, Diallo, AMN; but they’ve been replaced in number by Smallbone, Tella, Manning and Charles plus Amo-Ameyaw seems like he’s also now a first team squad fixture. I think we all know that Lavia will go, Salisu looks like he’s out the door, and I still expect JWP will go. Then we still have all the wait and sees like Tino, KWP, Alcaraz, Onuachu, Sulemana, Adams, Bednarek, ABK, DCC, Lyanco, all of whom (individually) it wouldn’t surprise you if they left. Our squad is too big and so far we’ve done nothing to alleviate that. Edit: here’s what Martin actually said. "We have a huge squad. Just in terms of training numbers, it is really big. “There are going to be days where we can't train with everyone when we are preparing for a match, but we will be professional and respectful towards them and that’s what we expect in return.” “It’s natural that people will have to start leaving otherwise we will end up with a huge squad and I don’t think that is beneficial to anybody.”

I’ve thought this for ages, it’s absolutely crazy how the transfer window goes on for weeks after the season kicks off. Just creates total uncertainty for clubs. I’ve got no problem with the loan window staying open longer but transfers should be all done by the start of the season imo.

Sad to see all those outside the CoT throwing insults at those of us on the inside. Jealousy isn’t a good look fellas 👍

You can also add in the fact that he had moved down the pecking order, he was no longer first choice and he didn’t start any of the last 4 games of the season he was here before his transfer. Can’t blame him in the slightest for moving.

Yes, we know we’re going to bring in some new players. But, as Martin himself has said, we need to get rid of players for that to happen, and it’s looking like people need to leave before the club will bring their replacements in.

Jim maybe wasn’t a shouter but he was absolutely a protector. I read his book recently and he talks about it as his role here, plus players like shearer, rod Wallace and MLT have mentioned it too, they always knew that he had their backs and would stand up for them.

Thought we played good football throughout tbf. Just some poor decisions, Edozie being his infuriating blind-ally self, and really as said earlier my me and plenty, no real focal point up front to play through. We played some nice looking stuff but not enough of a breakthrough threat when in their area.

Gonna be an interesting august. Martin gave an interview a week or so ago where basically said we need to get players out of the door. Think we need to shift on the likes Lavia, JWP, Adams and Onuachu before we get any more incoming in those areas. If we can’t get rid of the, for the price we want then it’s a bit worrying.

We really need a strong presence up front. Look back at our last Championship side, class throughout but with Rickie Lambert up top we had a proper focal point. He could drop deep and play it, he was an aerial threat, you could ping it up to him and it would stick. And he could hit them from distance too. The likes of Tella and Edozie would be much more of a threat with someone like that to play off. As it is, up front we look very nice but just not threatening or clinical enough, and it almost pointless to put a cross in as there’s no height to attack it (how many goals did that side score from headers, RL got loads at the back post and other players did too).

Lovely move and ball from Alcaraz, think Armstrong could be greedier there and take the shots himself.

To get nowhere near it he’d literally have had to jump out of the way.

Weak goalkeeping, that was straight at him. Not as much of a blunder as his previous games but he’s got to be saving that.

Adam Armstrong looks like he’s getting his mojo back. Think the PL was too big a step up for him, and doesn’t help being played out of position. He could yet prove very important for us this season, season liking the look oh him in this setup compared to Che.

It is, when it goes right. When it goes wrong we’re very vulnerable to the turnover.

That’s quite the injury list already. So what does that give us for a side? I’m guessing it might be: Bazunu Livramento - Stephens - Lyanco - Manning JWP - Charles Tella - Alcaraz - Edozie AArmstrong Salisu would obviously be a better choice than Lyanco but I get the feeling the club are preparing for him not being here, same for Lavia though he’ll likely get minutes. Also the Edozie spot is between him, Djenepo and Amo Ameyaw. Always an option for Manning to go in the middle and KWP on the left, depends what the line is with JWP. Definitely think Charles needs some game time at CM though.

Treat them well, they can lead the way.

And that’s fine. No one should be asking you to nod along, it’s an extremely complex scenario with no easy answers. In fact I often find it difficult to get onboard with myself; I want to accept everybody’s wishes to live their life how they want. But that comes with limits, especially when it impinges on the rights, risks and vulnerabilities of biological women, whose opinions are the most important on this rather than a bunch of men on a football forum. I just think it’s important to get the basics right.

If you want to put forward the opinions of experts who say that sex=gender I’m more than happy to look at those arguments.

There is plenty of information out there though, and that should absolutely be your starting point rather than asking someone on a football forum what their personal interpretation of what a woman is. Your question is pretty much irrelevant. When experts in their field like theWorld Health Organisation tell me that there’s a difference between gender and sex, I tend to sit up and listen to them rather rather than people like Lighthouse from the internet who say there isn’t, and that it’s sinister to suggest such a thing. When countless other experts in their field reinforce the fact that sex is biological, gender is sociological, I listen to that too. When those same experts tell me that gender has been fluid for centuries across the globe with multiple examples, again I endeavour to learn more about why it goes against the flawed concept of sex=gender. That’s the point. It doesn’t answer any of the more important questions like how we go forward from here, but at it at least frames the starting point.

He’s a strange one, seems to be quite a divisive character. His whole scenario with Ghana from the start was very odd, seems like he’s not the most popular of players behind the scenes. Very good player on his day though and definitely PL level, prob needs to play alongside someone older and more experienced, knuckle down a bit, listen, and refine his play.

Tbf I’m sure if the situations were reversed we have some fans on here speculating the same type of thing. Burnley just re-promoted, a seemingly excellent manager and a team on the up, Tella being back at a club that didn’t want him before and loaned him out. Understandable they’ve got some fans who come to that reasoning, and I dare say there’s a lot that’s appealing to Tella about a move. I just hope he does see value in staying with us, but if he doesn’t I feel fairly certain that £9M is about half of what would be needed for us to let him go.