The Kraken

Fucking hell how has he missed that?

Brighton very quick on the break, we seem to be most vulnerable when we give away posession up the pitch.

Yep. Germany and some other countries have standing which is less restrictive than this. England is one standing space = one seated space and is mandated by Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/safe-standing-at-football-stadiums-to-be-rolled-out-next-season Under licensed standing, fans are allowed to stand for matches in allocated spaces behind a barrier or a rail in areas of persistent standing. Each supporter has to occupy the same area they would take if they were sitting, with a traceable, numbered ticket. Seats cannot be locked in the up or down position, so fans can can sit if they wish to, and the standing areas cannot affect the views of other fans. Other parts of the grounds remain all-seated and fans are expected to sit in these areas.

To be honest I can see us losing more than an entire team, and we’re going to need replacements in almost every position. I think Bazunu stays, and hopefully Livramento too given the nature of his injury. But I could put together a proper XI of players I think will leave: Big Willy, KWP, ABK, Salisu, Perraud, Lavia, JWP, AMN, Alcaraz, Adams, Walcott. Then add in others that could go; I’m thinking Stephens will go, Bednarek might get some interest, Orsic will surely go, Eluseless and Diallo look likely to be off, and there’s been reported interest in others like Lyanco and DCC. So, yep, this is going to need a monumental overhaul if just half of those players leave.

Well, not exactly an inspiring choice at first glance but I’m going to remain open minded about it all and just hope for the best. An important factor is to get someone in very early to oversee the squad overhaul and start to build a team in their mould. So that could be a positive.

I’m going to miss our games against Palarse, Chelski, Liverpoo, Man Shitty, Foolham, and the rest of them. Although, guilty pleasure: albeit a relatively uncommon saying, whenever I hear of the Arsenal referred to as as Bumnal or The Bummers it does make me titter somewhat.

😆 and now the echo have cottoned on to the fact that their poll is redundant, they’ve removed the feature to view the results.

Fun over. In yet another show of obsession about us, the skates have got hold of the poll and are piling in on Gavin Bazunu. He used to play for them, you see.

Big Joe now clear in third and has his eyes on second spot. Get those votes in for Joey Slow!

Out of interest, what in particular do we know about Wilcox in this regard?

Yes we did. He played at CM plenty in the first half of the season. He was piss weak there, just really poor, and thankfully Lavia returned from injury and lack of fitness as the season went on. AMN would be equally ineffective at centre midfield in the championship, he needs to be jettisoned asap.

Joe Aribo getting anything more than 3 votes makes it very obvious that people are taking the piss.

This aged well.

I voted for big Joe. Come on Saintsweb, let’s get Joe rocketing up the leaderboard, he’s fourth right now.

Yep, this. I remarked on this a while ago, he stopped posted very abruptly and without any seeming announcement of leaving, he was quite prolific up to that point. As you say his account hasn’t been accessed for two years now so I sadly assume he passed away.

He’s a professional footballer. He basically doesn’t lift a finger in terms of moving house, his agency will sort it all out. He may not be looking to move but offers will come in, and having to move around England is going to be the very least of his troubles. I hope he stays but him being ‘settled’ is hardly any sort of factor.

I’d have Wanyama instead of JWP, and I think Pelle edged it over SRL. Tadic Lallana Mane in support of the beautiful Italian, so inferior to the utter shite we have now who unsurprisingly can’t score goals.

Again, I’m not sure what you’re disagreeing with, that’s basically what I said.

For Tino, not much for him, just would be nice for fans to see him get back on a pitch and come out of it unscathed. I don’t think he’ll be risked though. For the kids, there’s absolutely nothing to be lost by getting them involved with the first team squad. Nothing to lose at all, and if anything it might actually give them a little bit of a feel good factor after a year where we’ve had a bloated squad and very little sight of the youngsters. As reported by the athletic and various other outlets there’s been concern that the path to the first team squad has just not materialised, we’ve spent huge amounts on players and some of those signings have just ended up going training with the kids. So if it gives the kids just the tiniest bit of reassurance then I don’t see it as a bad thing personally.

Very much this. The new manager needs to be directing the recruitment team right from the off. Throughout all of last summer it felt like completely the other way round and it seemed to me like Ralph had little involvement with who we were bringing in. If we leave the club to it we’re likely to have a huge squad rotation and end up with a group of players that don’t fit the style of whatever manager we appoint. It’s such an important managerial change to make, it has to happen very quickly.

Would be great if Tino could get some minutes before the end of the season, though from what I’ve read it sounds like me unrealistic to expect anything more than a cameo appearance. Definitely need to start filling the bench with some of the kids, even if it’s only to given them 10-15 minutes at the end of a game. Also make sure players who are definitely staying are involved, we can give up on the likes of Theo and Elmo.

Can’t see that too many would be disappointed with Rodgers either? My only concern with him would be that it’s a bit too much of a project, the squad needs a complete and utter overhaul. I personally would welcome Marsch, I wasn’t too enamoured with him coming in to keep us up but I think with a running start in the championship he could be a good fit.

It’s not cherry picking at all. It’s demonstrating the run that we were on with Ralph before he was dispensed with. And I’ve already said I think Ralph would have had us closer to safety than we are now, which kind of gives it away that I think Ralph would’ve got more points than Jones. Not really sure what you’re arguing against other than two or three points here or there.

Agreed. We’d have been closer to safety I think, but I think all the signs were there that all was not well behind the scenes. A win at Bournemouth and draws against West Ham and Arsenal had papered over the cracks of what had been a very poor start to the season. We had 12 points from 14 games under Ralph and were just about to play Liverpool away, so all likelihood under him we’d have been 12 from 15 and on a run that had seen us lose 7 of our last 10 games. We looked on course to replicate the end to season 2021-22, which was an absolute disaster and should’ve seen the end of Ralph way before he eventually went. Theres far more to blame than just Ralph, but I don’t buy into this romantic notion that he’d have turned it round and kept us up. I do think we’d be going into the run in with a shot at staying up, but all signs I could see were that it was an under motivated squad who had run out of ideas. Anyway it’s moot, it’s all spilt milk under the bridge now.

Most of them will be putting more effort into finding a new club next season and ensuring they go into the summer injury free.