Sheaf Saint

It's also a lot to do with the 5-0 defeat at Sunderland though.

One thing that's really stood out for me this season with JB is that he never seems to be caught badly out of position and then having to bust a gut to get in a last ditch block/tackle, like he used to with alarming regularity (and varying degrees of success) in the PL. The first thought that occurs is that he's up against inferior attacking players in this league, of course. But I wonder if it is also partly to do with now playing in a completely different system than he was being asked to under Ralph's management? I heard the taters mention on Saturday that he has had more touches than any other Saints player so far this season. Maybe he looked calamitous at times in the PL because he was just never really suited to that style of play, where we expected to have less possession than our opponents and he had less protection in front of him due to our high pressing tactics and, when Romeu wasn't playing, our inadequate DM options.

It's about how much of a loss you are allowed over a rolling 3 year period. Yes, we spent a lot of money in the summer 2022 and January 2023 windows, but we recouped all of it and more in the summer of 2023. The sales of Lavia, Tino, JWP, Tella and Salisu brought in over £170m. Obviously you still have wages and other costs to consider, but then you also have TV money and gate receipts incoming to balance that out. I don't think we are as cutting it as fine as some people are making out. At this stage, loans are just good business sense when the club will be reluctant to fork out large sums on transfer fees when it's unclear what division we will be in next season.

I'm certain he would be much more effective in this team in the PL than he was previously. He's playing in a system that suits him now, unlike previously when the whole team was devoid of confidence and he was either played as a lone striker or in midfield, and never given a decent run of games in either position.

Was just having a little browse on Owlstalk. They are very complimentary about us, but scathing of their CB Diaby. They reckon DR has a real blind spot there. Another great performance, and it's lovely to see us finally putting teams to the sword. 19 goals (and only one conceded) in our last 5 home games isn't to be sniffed at. Shame Ipswich won, but if we keep up our form it won't be long before we overtake them and stay there.

Dibling coming on.

Was it a fetish site then?

WEE MAN!!!!!!

That's a bonkers call from the ref not to play the advantage.

Oh Arma! Golden chance for 3!

There it is!

How is that a foul by Arma FFS!

Turning the screw on them now.

AFTER he took out Smallbone.

Pretty sure VAR would have given that.

That looked a penalty all day long.

Settling down now after a nervy start. If SHW carry on like that, there will be plenty of gaps in midfield.

Nailed on yellow card there. Not given.

Yeah we know that, but who scored?

Likewise. I watched him plenty of times for Everton and he's far too error prone.

I seem to remember back in the late 90s, we signed a young striker about the same age as Mara. He struggled to make much of an impact at first, looking a bit out of his depth at times and lacking in athleticism and finishing ability. But you could see he was trying and we persisted with him, despite him only scoring 5 goals in his first two seasons and going on a horrendous run of nearly 18 months without a goal at one point. He had some absolute stinkers during that run, and everyone was bemoaning how crap he was and suggesting we get rid of him, but you could see there was a decent player in there. And then, one day, he started banging them in and went on to become a club legend, scoring the goals that took us to a best ever PL finish (at the time) and the FA cup final in 2003. At this stage in his career, Mara looks a better player than Beattie did in his early days with us, and moving him on before we've seen the best of him would be a bad move IMO.

Not yet. There were a handful left in the corners when I went to get mine just now.

Wanting to see your team win a CL trophy makes you an entitled little shitbag, does it? OK then.

For the same reason that we loaned them Tella last season - to get a decent loan fee for a player that is deemed surplus to requirements and put him in the shop window to attract a decent permanent fee the following summer. There's no room for petty grudges when you're talking about a potential multi-million pound deal.