ant

Would've been bang up for this, but that kick off time kills any chance. Seems they've marketed it as a 'family friendly' time; even just half an hour later and I might have been able to get down.

I'd go to Borough Market for grub and do the Bermondsey Beer Mile, before training from London Bridge to Eltham Meantime a shadow of their former selves since Asahi took over. All IMO. Just need to draw them now. 😉

Grobbelaar helped distribute a shitload of dodgy money.

Seems more desire-driven than pragmatic, to me. If we can continue winning games by the odd goal then I don't care how the points keep rolling in. Not to suggest we're on anything like the same level, but the lazy argument on United under Fergie was that they were 'lucky' to score goals late or last-minute. Decent teams find a way. Our persistence and ability to grind out results is a feature of the way we're playing, not a bug.

He's improving the fee we'll get for him. Good.

One of my least favourite away days ever. 12.45pm kickoff. Think we left Southampton at 3 or 4am, as we decided we wanted maximum beer time beforehand. Found Sunderland to be a grey, drab shithole; the only place open was Spoons. Then we had to endure one of the worst performances under Poch. Mates got so smashed beforehand that after the match they went for 'a nap' so that we could head out in the evening. They never emerged from the hotel room. Drove home in silence on the Sunday.

Even less than that! Just £90k. In football terms, barely even worth bothering with a fee.

Next you'll be telling me we aren't by far the greatest team the world has ever seen. 😳

He can moon us, flip the bird at us or quite frankly do whatever the fuck he likes if we keep winning away.

I like this analogy. The alternative/extra curricular activity to the 'back to basics' approach is to re-examine what was working in the first few matches. The philosophy we supposedly play to hasn't - IMO - been in evidence since QPR. Everything since has been bitty and directionless. A chaotic group of strangers. Rightly or wrongly we're likely to persist with Martin. So he and his team need to very quickly identify whether: a) the players don't understand his tactics (but they managed to initially...); b) whether they're literally incapable of carrying them out (plausible in some cases); or c) whether they can't be arsed (can think of a few suspects). My personal feeling is that it's a combo of all three. With selling the likes of JWP and Tella being key contributors to b). They were more capable of delivering Martin's ethos than those that have stepped into their positions.

Kinda interesting if you look back at who played in the skates game, assessing what's happened to us in relation to that group. Even relative to the context of 2019, it wasn't full of superstars. So there really wasn't room for regression. Yet we did. Generally through failure to replace departures with similar quality, or relying on bang-average players for too long. - McCarthy. Given a new contract, entirely without merit. A wage millstone ever since. Technically replaced, but not adequately. - Bertrand. Was allowed to depart at about the right time, but wasn't really replaced like-for-like. Sometimes leading to KWP having to play at LB. - Bednarek. Was OK as cover in the PL, but recruitment to better him was a failure overall. Which his reintegration confirmed. - Yoshida. Was allowed to depart at about the right time. But was better cover than what we've had since. - Cedric. To be fair we played a bit of a blinder with Arsenal & Cedric. One of very few positions where we've recruited well. - Ward-Prowse. We surrounded him with crap, often didn't play him in his best position and then actively flogged him off. - Romeu. Wanted to go, but we didn't have to sell. Meant we pinned all of our hopes on a physically-developing (if extremely talented) 18yo, incapable of playing every game. Still not adequately replaced. - Hojbjerg. Had his flaws, and could be argued we did decent business on him. But between Oriol and Pierre we've not had a decent ball-winner since. - Ings. Not convinced we could've kept him, but it's been an utter clusterfuck since. We've cheaped out, played a risky waiting game, overspent in a panic... And none of it's led to a replacement. - Adams. Would've been good enough as a support striker but was tasked with leading the line; see Ings section. - Obafemi. Was playing a wide forward that night. Probably right to let him go. But reminds me that we've not really had decent wide attackers since the Koeman era. - Redmond. Was normally the starter in the position Obafemi played. Blew hot and cold, but chipped in with goals and assists in a way that we've never replaced. - Long. Was already little more than a bit-part player, so N/A really.

I've just been MLG-ed on Twitter! Where do I claim my introductory pack and badge?

If it can organise a fucking midfield then I, for one, welcome our new cyber overlord.

Asking/expecting Bazunu to catch anything feels pretty brave.

Look, we've tried several different managers over the past year and it clearly isn't working. No manager. That's the future. Can't get fired if you don't exist.

Inclined to agree with the OP. If I wanted to spend my afternoon listening to an overweight bloke moan, I'd put on that video of Mitch Le Tiss balls-deep in his missus.

My attitude's normally 'any chant over silence', but fucking hell. He's picked a pretty route one method to out himself as a sex offender.

How have I never seen this golden thread? 😁 Surely some feel a bit daft reading this back?!

Only just seen this comment, but you can have both. Pochettino certainly did when he was here.

Yes, yesterday was a shitshow. But reading the comments here it feels like many were primed to attack at the first possible opportunity. Almost a perverse glee to it. Personally, I believe we'll learn from this. And if we don't, those gunning for Martin will fairly swiftly get their wish.

He's a cretin, with a long history of bad takes. If his outset on Saints matches his outset on life it's a wonder he manages to get out of bed in the morning. Alpine Saint for the Pokémon generation.

We've never struggled with atmosphere and/or limbs after a goal. So it just seems unnecessary. Kinda crushes the genuine reaction.

Surely my favourite ever post on here. This thread. 😂

Could it also be that rather than paying in instalments they've offered to pay more (or all of it) upfront?

Well. All feels a bit odd today! 1. Having won our first game of the season; 2. Having won, full stop; 3. It essentially being the first day of the league today - but there being zero stress or pressure on us. The Adkins-ism of "don't get too high when you win" certainly applies. But after the last few years, allow me this temporary little buzz, please.