Midfield_General

Nope. All the real fans have been priced out so it’s just a bunch of boring middle class people and corporates sat in their $100 replica shirts quietly munching their hotdogs while a League 2 standard game unfolds before them. FIFA have taken the game away from the people, ruined the format and killed this tournament.

Weird that they have a carefully scheduled three minute hydration break but don’t stop the clock for it and just treat it as injury time to be added on by the referee

He's about to become a free agent, so any calls would be going straight to him/ his agent and for as long as he's without a club I doubt he'd be cutting off anyone who wanted to discuss offering him a contract

Don't forget Aribo...

Also Gilly, who he's worked with in every job, has said he's staying at West Brom so he'll need a new no.2.

Given Leicester's financial situation, you'd think that they're going to need to try and offload a lot of their more expensive players (if they can), and replace them with cheaper, 'bottom half of the Championship / top of L1' -level alternatives. It's going to be genuinely fascinating seeing what he asks League One defenders, in particular, to try and do. With us and Rangers, the centre halves were expected to be the passing fulcrum of the whole system - continually showing for the ball, playing with their heads up, bringing it out of defence and finding the accurate pass to feet into midfield to start the build-up. They were also expected to receive the ball under pressure and play when being pressed. Jan Bednarek (75 caps for Poland) and Jack Stephens (156 Premier League appearances) struggled with it, albeit against better opposition. But how is some League One lump going to adapt to that?

Leicester forums seem to think it's pretty much done on a 3+1 year deal and will be announced this week. Also on a very big wedge, if rumours are to be believed. Leicester board feel they have to work hard to 'attract' him, so they're offering top whack for Championship level, let alone L1. If so, you've got to take your hat off to him really. Given that his seven year career reads one notable success, two unmitigated disasters and a lot of mid-table mediocrity, the man is certainly gifted at talking a rich sucker out of his money.

Is it possible that given how most of the rest of the game has moved on from possession at all costs, and after his chastening experience at Rangers, he’s used his time away to reflect and maybe evolve his approach? There aren’t many who are still sticking to the pure, old school, death by a thousand passes tiki-taka any more. Even Pep has been mixing it up and going more direct more often this season. PSG move it through the lines and attack with speed. Bayern are all about wingers creating for an old fashioned centre forward. Arsenal focus on set pieces. Liverpool fired Slot for his team being too slow and ponderous. The elite have evolved past slow, possession-based build up. I wonder if he’s been paying attention to that.

It doesn't help that football has reached a total saturation point generally. In the days of Italia 90 you used to get one game a week on TV if you were lucky, plus the big cup finals - that was it. When a World Cup came around and suddenly there were three games on a day for a month, it felt like some other-wordly event that you wanted to immerse yourself in because it was soon going to end. Now there are multiple matches on literally every day of the week, throughout the year, plus god knows how many summer tournaments, all of which have been expanded, plus the non-stop relentless media coverage on and offline so it's just a constant rolling feed of more football content than anyone could ever consume and it doesn't feel special anymore. Just more football matches to go on top of all the others. Then throw in the fact it's in the States, the 48 team format creating loads of really boring games and removing most of the jeopardy from the group stages, and half the games being on in the middle of the night, and it's a recipe for indifference, at least until the knock-outs start.

He's 28 and has already been relegated from the Prem three times so far. If goes to Cov, he can get one more under his belt to join the storied ranks of Rob Green, Marcus Bent and Carlton Palmer who all got relegated from the top flight four times. And if he wants to go for the record, as a keeper he's still got plenty of time left in his career to match the relegation GOAT, Hermann Hreidarsson, who managed it a genuinely impressive five times.

Loving all this Saints-related chat, just what the main board is for

In talks with Wolves: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c70yz917vkko

https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/139479-martin-out/

They will train like beasts

Looks like we’d better get the thread warmed up… https://talksport.com/football/4309541/russell-martin-leicester-city-managerial-return-efl-league-one/

Not since the 90s

Yes he's shown that at Prem level he's a one goal every 12 games man - those don't grow on trees

Crouchie, Ade Akinbiyi and Paul Onuachu as a front three

The more I think about it, the more I think we should hold the line on this one. Make him an offer of a short-term deal but one that prices in the many risks that he brings (which is what it sounds like we've done), but if he doesn't want it, move on quickly and let someone else take on the risk. He's decent, but he's not irreplaceable and not worth being messed around for. Now we've had a season to reflect on Spors' ability to pick a player, and its become apparent that Downs was more of an anomaly and he does actually know what he's doing, I'd feel fairly confident now that we could find someone decent enough to contribute what Stewart would, or more, while carrying far less injury risk. I'd be tempted to call his bluff.

Which Premier League side is going to be shopping in the bargain bin for someone who's only managed 40 appearances in 3 seasons, can't do 90 minutes, can't do 3 games in a week and has a less than 1 in 3 record at Championship level? As a comparison, Armstrong only just about got signed by the useless bottom side who were already planning for the Championship next season, and he's a proven, multiple 20+ a season Championship striker who's always fit. I like Stewart as a decent Championship option when he's fit, but if he wants to be a starter then he's not exactly going to have top teams queueing up. The Championship is his level. If he's after a two year deal from someone and we're only offering one, then you can understand why he might want that from a security point of view, but if that's what he's holding out for then he's taking a massive risk. Personally, I'd call his bluff, wait to see if he gets through the World Cup first and then re-assess. He could very easily get injured again, and if that happens we can just sign someone else, but he's screwed. Or, if he's not going to sign after we looked after him, just say OK then mate, well that's a shame but so be it, and fuck him off. Cyle Larin, 8 goals in 16 games and much more reliable in terms of fitness, has just been signed for £2.5m. Hull got McBurnie on a free and he got 19 in 42. So there's clearly plenty of other proper value to be found out there at centre forward at this level if you know where to look. It sounds like he doesn't think he owes us anything. Fair enough, but we don't owe him anything either. That's football.

Tell that to Prince Andrew

From Alfie's latest piece it sounds like he's staying for now, but will be out if he makes another mistake: Solak, who believes the sanction meted out was grossly disproportionate, has explained his stance and more in a new, wide-reaching interview. "We looked deep into the mistakes we made and the reasons, and we didn't find anybody there with a kind of malicious intent," Solak told the Daily Echo. "We found, unfortunately, a lot of misunderstanding and bad co-ordination, and a bit of arrogance or ignorance, but I don't consider these capital. "I don't think heads need to roll for these offences. I still believe in the integrity of these people, and I believe that now they have learned their lesson. "I have never fired guys for making a mistake. I decided to keep all the people in the wake of this incident, but not that I will keep all of them forever. "They will not repeat their mistakes again, and I will do a lot of stuff on my side to make sure the mistakes are not repeated. Now, I can put that aside. "Then I think about their capability, about their ability and skills, and whether they make sense for us to be here. It is about what's best for the company." https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/26170108.southampton-owner-solak-opens-spygate-transfers-finances/?ref=twtrec

Obviously there's not a lot to go on there regarding whatever the complexities are, but given the support that's been given to him by the club, you'd hope that Ross would repay that and sign if it's a fair deal.

If the £2.5m fee being reported is accurate, then for a known quantity who has just come to a new league, scored in 8 in 16, and shown that he also contributes a lot occupying defenders and holding the ball up for others even if he's not scoring, again that is an amazing bit of business. You can't get a decent youth player for £2.5m anymore, let alone a proven 1-in-2 centre forward. Hats off to Spors, he's smashing this so far.

From Sparta Prague to Troy Deeney. That poor woman