saint1977

Just a question of whether another really heavy defeat is worth taking on the chin for RH to decide he’s had enough. Don’t think the club can afford to sack him and it’s a nailed on 20th place if he stays as he will remain as stubborn or cragfast as he did yesterday and has been last 6 months. I like him and it’s a great shame, but yesterday was his final opportunity to show he had evolved over the summer. He hasn’t grasped that if you do something a certain way 20 times and it still doesn’t work, keeping on exactly the same won’t change the outcome. The lack of subs, especially KWP, and selection of McCarthy, was just bizarre and Pellegrino/Branfoot esque. The one time things had to change was v Leicester after Vesty sent off and should have been a turning point, but Mr Dogmatic made an immediate return. I will go 6-1 United, should enough for most managers to say this isn’t working out, but if two 9-0s won’t do it….. I always want Saints to get a result but the worst result is a 2 or 3 goal defeat where Utd ease off against lower league standard opposition, at least if they are ruthless like v Leeds we might see some change.

I’m finally getting on the change train, Ralph out. Good first half but second half a repeat of the last 6 months. Obvious some of the players were tiring and no excuses today about injuries or weak bench, yet bottles making a sub and Benitez totally had his number. If they won’t sack RH, Gary Cahill as player-coach and Ralph upstairs as DoF. I saw enough talent to stay up but needs organisation and pro activity. As for starting McCarthy after the Bilbao horror show….

I was at that game if it was a 4-1 defeat, 0-0 until just before HT, Gough scored a header as part of 4 goals in 10 minutes including a mix up between Claus and Jonah resulting in the former looping a header in super slow motion beyond the latter. Jeffers pre Arsenal got a couple. Marian got one back IIRC. Kevin Davies’s first game back I think as well swapped for Egil. Two other memories - bloodied Saints and Everton fans outside the ground who apparently had fought Liverpool fans before the game. From talking to them it sounded like the Reds kicked off at both parties and pool balls and cues were being used as weapons. There was also a group of Saints fans waving £50 notes and chanting ‘there’s lots and lots of money in the south’ in the days before the north started voting Tory. Being called a southern Tory insert expletive was not unknown at northern away games in the 1990s.

Likewise, been married/in a relationship for nearly two decades so not totally up to date with that scene but some of my friends have met and now married/families via sites like Match.com and broadsheet services. Maybe those are considered old hat by early 20s people now? The rise of incel sites on the dark web has been a danger though, both in Europe and Oz but especially the US if you’ve read some of the books by authors like Laura Bates who has researched this stuff. The volume of hate brewing seemingly often has tragically an outlet somewhere. The tabloids, as ever, are rather missing the point slightly on the firearms issue, which does need a closer look at but the motivation is the issue, he would have found another weapon or obtained one illegally. Glad I was starting dating in the 90s and early 2000s when tech like Tinder wasn’t around, sounds horrific and reducing people to a meat market online.

Yep, in a nutshell. Far better options being mentioned earlier in the Vestergaard thread for £15m. I don’t know how Liverpool manage to mug clubs off for such big fees for their unwanted dross - Ibe, Solanke, Brewster and now Phillips. It was bad enough when Les was in awe of them like a starstruck boy but since we binned the stupid twit, how about we buy a decent player for that money from someone else? Before someone says we did well out of Ings, we did, but Liverpool probably didn’t think he’d do as well as he did, and he was still injured regularly.

You obviously weren’t a supporter in 2004/5 judging by that comment and having to watch a half pissed Claus, Jakobsson who made Vestergaard look like Usain Bolt, then there was Davenport. The Villa home game was the stuff of nightmares. Then there was Higgy and his OGs although by far the best of the 4 by that stage.

If we sign Phillips you can start planning your Championship away trips for 2022/23. A slow Championship centre half. Relegation guaranteed when paired with equally slow Bednarek when Salisu injured or rotated, having sold the very slow Vestergaard.

Surprisingly I voted this way as well. Fraser has limitations but Alex has gone to pieces since the second 9-0 as Angus did after the first. Fraser has worked on some of his faults eg more proactive coming off line. McCarthy looked decent until the new year apart from his kicking but appalling after that, barely even L1 level. It can’t be much fun being a keeper behind that defence but some keepers seemed to thrive on it eg Johnstone last season, Marshall a few years ago at Cardiff. We needed a new keeper this summer but this is the last of the Sanatogen/Scottish midget disaster signings and contract extensions to get rid of and not quite enough recouped to do it, but only a year left on their contracts.

Some Liverpool analysis just after VVD got injured on Phillips - https://www.thisisanfield.com/2020/10/rhys-williams-billy-koumetio-nat-phillips-liverpools-three-centre-back-options-assessed/ Suggestion that Liverpool might be open to buy now pay later deal https://www.thisisanfield.com/2021/08/liverpool-open-to-2nd-buy-now-pay-later-deal-for-nat-phillips/ The lack of passing range I can cope with but the lack of pace with it is a killer. Sounds like an English Bednarek. A couple of posters have mentioned Kamara, much more the type of player that suits RH’s system.

I smell fish, specifically ammonia from skate. The days of Pompey signing Adam Armstrong like players (Nugent) are long gone and this lad looks handy, did well at a good club (Vitesse) as a teenager last season and the European Champions just renewed him on a 5 year contract so they rate him but needs more experience to compete with £100m signings like Lukaku. Be happy with your 25 year old squad players from Gillingham. We might send you the odd cast off of ours to be a good neighbour. I’ve been critical of the club this summer and over the last 5 years but every post of yours is a little pop without any context.

Adams yes but that’s a crazy statement overall. Tella - looks promising but dozen or so starts and 1 PL goal. Perraud should be a PL level player but let’s see, Salisu started to look decent back end of last season but no more PL experience than Tella really. Did do the business in La Ligue for Valladolid tbf. Then RH seems to be suggesting the Ings money will go on 2-4 players. More craziness. Salisu would have been c35-40% that figure last summer - we won’t be buying his type of potential - we are looking more at Mikeal Nilsson and Stig Johansen type signings in comparative values hoping one of them comes good. Lets just get the relegations out of the way and finally be free of Gao and co, even if it’s a long way back.

18th or worse unless the striker and CM recruitment goes exceptionally well. It’s very hard to reverse momentum that bad from second half of last season without huge surgery to the squad. The new striker is going to need time to settle in which Ralph doesn’t have with the tough opening fixtures. A new manager - as I don’t think he will survive another tonking like Man U or Leicester - may be in place as early as October. I think Ralph has been a bit shafted on the transfer front but the team cannot play as open as they are. The Championship centre backs and keeper hopefully will be protected better by Romeu staying fit. It’s possible that one or two teams will be even worse and Saints stay up with a couple of upset results against the top 6 somewhere if they are tired after a tougher European fixture where they sustain injuries. Uninspiring either way and not the point of moving from the Dell to SMS. Maybe relegation is the only way to be rid of Gao so the penny drops that a relegated asset has no value.

Ended his career there, in fact collided with a goalpost early-mid 90s for Pompey reserves v Saints reserves and broke his leg IIRC which was the end. Player I enjoyed watching, had a prolific start with hat tricks v QPR and Newcastle and his scoring record was up there with Lambert and Ings for a couple of seasons. Like Rickie, good striker in the lower divisions for years beforehand. Fell out with Chris Nicholl and loaned back to AFCB and then Saints did well to get £800k to QPR. Not sure he was fully fit by then and seem to recall some knee issues. Was a good player, good touch and great finisher, not the paciest or most mobile so not sure how he’d get on today. Good players find ways. Enjoyed a coaching career in the States as MLS got going again.

Ings also himself said in his first interview at Villa that it had been done for a while and that he’d had to keep it very quiet (presumably because of the link to the Grealish chain) even from his father.

This x100. Quite happy with the Ings sale, he would have regressed back to Hughes era levels this season and as I’ve posted there were equal risks in him signing a deal and leaving for free next season for both club and player given his injury history. This is the least risky option for Saints and Ings, risk for Villa but with the Grealish money a calculated one which could well pay off provided they don’t expect a full season. I don’t think he had ever forgiven the club for being released as a kid so thank you for the 20/21 season in particular and the start of last season with the performances and goals. It’s another player and only really Bridge and Lambert I’ve been sad to see move on over the years. Where I’m frustrated although not surprised is when Danny has let the cat out of the bag that this has been sorted out for the three weeks. So the replacement deals should be done in the time, they’ve known for many months he wasn’t renewing. Reactive bit good, but as ever a lack of drive and pro activity. Now clubs know they have the Ings money and prices go up. Limited funds are not an excuse for lack of drive and urgency, or organisation.

Muppets. Would imagine it’s a game of brinkmanship with Blackburn who are as badly and stupidly ruined as SFC by owners clueless about football, two shit boardrooms playing chicken. To say ‘cheap’ the day after selling the local lad and decent player - which was a good deal btw - is not ideal messaging to the fans. So the gains from the Ings deal get wiped out as all of the prices go up on targets. How difficult is it to get a deal signed with Villa, Grealish deal not done yet for a few days and get the replacement in the bag and then do all of the PR? Lack of funds gets blamed but it’s lack of organisation, strategy and organisation really. My point is that I’m quite happy with the Ings deal but the club do not seem prepared in terms of having fees agreed for replacements and being ready. That means you get mugged for more afterwards as clubs want a chunk of what you are just receiving. I agree the club has cleared some deadwood well although their choice to stick with Reed as long as they did. That’s reactive, let’s see how they do with being proactive.

SFC were going to be anyway with Ings, KL shafted the club by selling to Gao who is probably just looking to move money out of China and Les Reed then added huge shavings of incompetence truffle, doing more to ruin SFC than Lowe, Wilde and Askham together. Milan Mandaric honestly couldn’t have done a better demolition job if he was trying deliberately to earn praise at the rusty park. Getting £30m for someone who would have miss half of the season however great he was in 2020/21 - minus £2m to Liverpool - ain’t the problem.

Good deal for all parties, 4 year deal on £100k p/w with his injury history would have been a huge risk. Selling him is a risk but Villa exceeded the valuation - Liverpool get their bit but Adam Armstrong should be done within 48 hours if SFC wants him. With Obafemi going the other way there should be enough to get Delaney in to boost the midfield. The displays last season after Rom got crocked at Leeds were pathetic. Vesty will be off as well so reinforcements there as well. I think they will go down but they might have done anyway with an injured and ageing Ings on a huge millstone contract. Biggest transfer needed is a new owner.

I expect he’ll say this is a fake and the Guardian and the government are colluding https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/04/fit-and-healthy-man-42-from-southport-who-rejected-vaccine-dies-of-covid Should have been watching his daughter get married and have a family.

Even better if they can actually register them to play. Westwood wouldn’t have a lot of pace but with his alleged BO issues (according to skates I know) he might get a few free headers in the box with defences reluctant to get too close.

Hoping a Ligue 1 manager somewhere is thinking ‘why don’t you come on over Valery’.

Lol at the thread title, the mods having a bit of fun and why not indeed. Good signing, might help restore a bit of the club’s esteem for developing talented young players to break through after the Les Reed debacle years. Even with a buy back clause, he will need to force his way into the side and play really well for 2-3 years, with the players Chelsea have bought in those positions. Win win if he does and SFC gets back to turning a good profit on players again. There will always be the odd dud but no Carrillo or Hoedt disasters. It seems a more sensible option than what Man U wanted to borrow Williams.

You forgot about this as well https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-clinton-guantanamo-idUSL1N2L81OU I see vaccine rates much lower in Trump strongholds even as the Republican senate leaders and state governors launch a push to boost take up. Not a coincidence one would think. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/07/28/here-are-the-republicans-most-likely-to-refuse-the-covid-19-vaccine-poll-finds/?sh=19a85244735f

If he doesn’t sell at a loss and the club is relegated I dread to think what the PRC authorities will do to him if the asset becomes a total liability worth nowt.

Don’t know if racist as such but another example of why Nigel Farage is a Neanderthal dinosaur https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/29/rnli-donations-soar-in-response-to-farages-migrant-criticism Good on Javid for making a sizeable donation to the RNLI