The Kraken

Geezer must have to shave 3 times a day.

£90 a ticket 🤣

Just saw a plug on bbc for a series called The Football Academy which focuses on Saints. Seems like it’s a 16 episode season. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001dhcl/the-football-academy I saw a similar one recently for Palace which was really good, so this is likely we’ll worth a try.

That article is doing some pretty good straw-manning: “Those who look at Gareth Southgate’s slightly cautious approach and demand he shoehorn in half a dozen of England’s array of gifted young forwards are living in a dreamworld.” Who has ever said that we should play six forwards? Anyone who has suggested it doesn’t know what they’re talking about, but I’ve certainly never heard it. England played the ‘right’ formation last night. A central striker, two wide players who can get behind the striker but also create a good press and keep play high up the pitch. Then, behind them, a three who can offer defensive rigidity while also finding space in the attacking third when we are on the front foot. There was no difference in formation to last night and the Iran game, just a massive difference in how it was executed. USA showed exactly how to press high up the pitch. The only times we got through were through combinations of good, slick, quick passing play with players supporting each other closely. We’ve got the players to do that too, and we’ve got the players on the bench to replace them when they get tired (we’re allowed 5 subs which should more than cover it).

I dunno, in some ways I felt for Kane a bit. His touch has been brilliant and he receives the ball up front so well and can turn defence into attack. The game against Iran totally played into his hands as he had willing runners off of him each time, Sterling and Saka supported him well, Mount wasn’t good but made lots of space, and Bellingham got up the field in support. Last night there were times when Kane had nobody running beyond him or in support. Kane did look a bit laboured at times but I thought that was exaggerated by the lack of options around him. I thought Sterling was awful,both in possession and out of it, he should’ve gone for foden at half time. Saka did alright first half but was far too quiet second half. Add in that Trippier had a nightmare and did nothing going forward while looking shaky at the back, Shaw had a couple of good runs but couldn’t find his players a lot of the time. Also, USA did a good job of pressing us high and breaking in numbers quickly which then scared the life out of our defenders and coach, and we shut up shop. Its a return to Garethball - keep it tight and hope to nick a goal.

We didn’t have a shot in the second half. We had one shot on target all game. If that doesn’t count as an absolutely shit spectacle then I’d hate to watch us playing worse. It was abject all over the pitch. Edit, stats say we had 3 on target all game so I was wrong, I can barely remember any apart from Mount’s shot in the first half. Though I nearly dozed off second half so I might have missed bits.

Being as we are in the same side of the draw as France then, no, I don’t think it’s worth a bet. Not impossible but I reckon unlikely.

Doubtful. It’s created a media storm in some European countries who already agree with the armband but, in reality (and as pundits like Roy Keane and Ian Wright agree) all it has shown is that footballers have morals right up to the point where they might have to risk something, then it’s all about self preservation. I imagine Qatar and FIFA are patting themselves on the back about how well they suppressed it all. Infantino cares about the issue so much that he spent an hour long press conference shilling for the Qatari point of view.

They’re bossing Belgium at the moment.

Alphonso Davies with a miss from the spot. His TWar reputation as the best right back in the world now in tatters.

A terrible game just flickered alight. Wales remind me of watching Saints under Jan Poortvliet.

Well the IQ average would go up considerably.

Excellente

Ralph Rangnick got that job not so long ago, so it maybe a while away. Pretty sure RH’s ‘headline’ 6m deal was extremely enhanced by bonuses for euro/CL quali, so hopefully if right we won’t be on the heavy end of that. But it’ll still be a good whack.

It’s quite cool that you’ve only been on this forum a few weeks and in that time you’ve got yourself your own little one way e-war going on. Thumbs up.

I don’t understand why their logo is of a lion at a rave.

Sounds like the players are getting a week off before anything happens.

Kenwyne? Paul? Dave? Confusing.

Well that’s quite simple then. Pick any game where Saints picked up a point or three (there’s not many), see if Bazunu made any saves from shots on target. If he did, then he’s helped us earn points. It’s a brutally simplistic answer and it doesn’t prove much of anything, but it’s what you asked for.

Well, we had a bonzer strategy of bringing in a guy who used to recruit for the Man City youth team, we let him him sign a bunch of untried nippers from Man City for huge money and expected they’d slot straight into our first team, then he left us straight after the transfer window shut so that he could go somewhere else. Its not the best strategy I’ve ever seen. When you write it down, it actually sounds even more daft than it was.

It’s only because of the money they’ve spent, apparently.

Just watched the BBC interview with him. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63523917 Let’s be honest, he’s not really saying anything we don’t know. I’ll say that I have more faith in him than I would have in Ralph to sort out the problems he talks about: too passive, gave them too much time, need to work harder off the ball etc., but that’s what any new manager coming says. He’s definitely making the right noises. We just need to see how that translates to changes on the pitch.

I’m not going to get on Bazunu’s back, but I do think it is one of our biggest problems. Our goal difference is one of the worst in the league, and we’ve had one clean sheet in the league all season. Of course, not all of those are down to Bazunu; but when you go somewhere like Liverpool you need to frustrate them and keep it tight. Gifting them that after 5 minutes is just a body blow. There’s been too many goals conceded where the finger can justifiably be pointed at him. I thought Bazunu’s saves today were excellent. But he also had a couple of flappy moments in addition to the first goal. He really needs to minimise all of that that. On current form I think he’s perhaps on a par with McCarthy and not as good as Forster was last season, and that’s a real problem.

Youngsters? I remember reading Garry Nelson’s book back in the 90s, and back then he said he made a living out of running the channels.