Midfield_General

The most thin-skinned man on the planet, pathologically unable to take criticism or just ignore it, decides to become a football manager - a job where you basically very publicly take shit for a living. So strange. Now he's not our problem I find him utterly fascinating. I kind of want to draw them in the Cup at St Mary's just to see how he deals with it.

Yeah, Archer's goal was the absolute opposite of what they usually appear to be coached to do. It was basically an example of how much more effective the players we have at our disposal could be if they were set up and encouraged to play more directly, more often. Spotting space in behind a high line that hasn't had time to set, and playing a quick, long pass in behind for a rapid forward to run onto and slot. We hardly ever see that, even though Archer, Dibling, Cornet, Armstrong, Fraser (and maybe even Sulemana when he's fit) could thrive on that sort of approach, and Fernandes and Lallana are more than capable of supplying those sorts of passes. Btw, how good was Fernandes in that moment? Working hard to track back, a great tackle to win the ball from behind his man without a foul, and then an absolutely perfectly spotted and weighted pass to exactly where Archer wanted it. Beautiful. Great control, run and finish from Archer too. A really lovely goal all round. Feels like a glimpse of how much more dangerous we could be if we played on the counter-attack more.

Yep, the way he was talking on Sky before the Bournemouth game he has definitely got his eye on it. Whether he would get it or not is another matter, but he was definitely putting himself in the frame, and he'd probably get an interview at least. Also if Carsley shits the bed against either Greece or Finland in the next few days then the conversation might open back up about the England job, which he specifically said he would love to do. Either way, if he stays in club football then I think he wants an underachieving team with decent resources who are looking up, rather than a relegation fight. I think that would rule us and Wolves out, although it sounds like they're backing O'Neil for now anyway. If the Everton takeover goes through I could absolutely see him there, being given all that lovely new investment money to spend and the attraction of a brand spanking new stadium. Or West Ham, if they end up canning Lopetegui.

I don’t have any problem at all with corporate hospitality or the club finding new revenue streams however they can. High-end experiences for big-spending clients can be very lucrative, and if people or companies want to pay for them then absolutely fair play to them. I’ve been to plenty myself as part of my work. Spurs, Man City, Arsenal, West Ham all do excellent high-end packages, and I’m sure Everton will be great too. It’s not the way I like to watch football personally, but I can see why people like it if they’re more casual fans or they’re looking to entertain clients and they’ve got the money. What I find very amusing though is the disparity in this specific example between how they’ve described it in the sales copy, and then what it looks like in the visuals. If you’re going to go in hard with the superlatives in sales speak like that, promising unparalleled luxury and lavish opulence for £300 a ticket then great, but then you have to deliver, otherwise you just look ridiculous. It’s like those Winter Wonderland or Willy Wonka experiences where people get sold this magical vision and then when they get there they find out that their £300 family ticket has bought them a border collie with antlers stuck on it and a pissed-off-looking elf smoking a roll-up in a car park. When you over-sell and under-deliver you’re asking for trouble. And as far as the Knightwood Lounge goes, they either need to rein it in with the copy, or they need to hire better interior designers because £300 a ticket is a lot of money and just putting a neon sign that says CHAMPAGNE behind the bar in what looks like the phone charging bit of Stansted is going to lead to a lot of very pissed off clients.

All that drumroll in the description about rare exclusivity and a one-of-a-kind lavish environment and then you look at the photos they've mocked up and it's basically a fucking Costa 🤣 🤣 🤣 Nothing says 'opulence' like high chairs, fluorescent strip lighting and a lovely bit of laminate flooring. I've seen a Spoons more lavish than that

There's also a proven psychological aspect where people are much more likely to buy in and take responsibility for something they feel they have been able to have input into. Basically, if someone says 'Here's the way we're doing it, get on with it', it's very easy to feel distanced from it, so when it goes wrong you can feel that it's not your fault because it was never your idea in the first place. You don't take responsibility for it. Whereas if someone invites you in, says 'I'm thinking we approach this like this, but I'd love to know what you think', and you feel like they're listening to you, you're much more invested in that because you feel like it's something you've contributed to. You want it to work more, and you're less likely to psychologically disown it. The principle is called 'teamship' - it was a big part of the ethos of the England rugby team in the early 2000s, including when they won the World Cup under Woodward. (Maybe we should get him back in...) I'd be amazed if our players feel properly bought into a system that is clearly forced on them whether they want it or not, which means they are made out to be losers every week, and which regularly makes them individually look like idiots. Especially when, like after the Bournemouth game, they get thrown under the bus afterwards by the person enforcing it on them. I'd imagine if you asked most of our players whether they'd want to try a different way of playing, they'd bite your hand off. They all want to win as much as we do, and they're the ones with the cameras on them when the current system fails (again).

I heard an interesting thing about Hurzeler at Brighton too. He has a way he wants to play and has introduced that to the players this season, but he also regularly invites feedback from the players, asking them how they feel about it, whether there’s anything that they would change about it etc. Basically using the system as the basic idea but then continually evolving it in line with what the actual players on the pitch are comfortable doing, and feel works for them.

Yeah, something like that. Not many teams are going to sit deep against a side like us that they perceive to be crap, so that should mean that there's usually going to be space in behind that we should be able to exploit if we're set up right to do it. This is what I'd like to see given a proper run of games: Onuachu Archer Dibling Lallana Fernandes Downes (Then when Lallana runs out of steam, push Fernandes into that more advanced role and put Aribo or Les alongside Downes) Archer and Dibling both want to be running into space with the ball at their feet, so have Onuachu provide a focal point, holding the ball up to let them both run off him, and get Lallana and Fernandes focusing on getting their heads up and providing more penetrative through balls like the peach from Fernandes for our goal yesterday.

I think you’re right re Potter who has turned down Ajax and has got his eye on bigger clubs than us (based on his chat on Sky on Monday night I think he thinks he’d have a shot at the Man Utd job). Why do you think Moyes would be out of reach though, out of interest?

One of our other best chances in the second half came from Sugawara absolutely pegging it up the right on the overlap. There was a 1-2 in the box, and then a low cross across the 6 yard area that we couldn’t quite get on the end of. That sort of run though is exactly what Suga wants to be doing and is very effective at. It could be a real weapon for us. It’s frustrating when the handbrake of the system is put on that sort of thing when presumably that’s what we saw in him when we bought him.

Positives: - Archer took his goal really well. Playing off the shoulder like that is clearly his game, so if we're going to play him then we should play to his strengths and give him something to run onto - Onuachu looked good when he came on. Not just for his height, which we actually didn't really play to (surprise), but some really nice touches on the ball and generally looking like a good, confident footballer. Would definitely at least give us a focal point, hopefully this is the beginning of us giving him some game time - Bednarek is never going to be the most cultured player but made a lot of important blocks and challenges, especially in the first half - Dibling is class and when played in his proper position on the right will cause anyone problems, which made the decision to move him from there into the centre-forward role against Bournemouth, ahead of five other centre-forwards, even more barking mad - Fernandes has definitely got something about him and looks like a good signing. I just hope we don't break him.

The commentary on the stream I had said it was a calf strain, and that it was apparently a new injury rather than a recurrence of one of the previous ones.

I missed the first ten minutes but from what I saw after that - First half - we did exactly what you'd hope an underdog recently-promoted away team would do and put 10 men behind the ball, defended like bastards, rode our luck a little and frustrated them. They had a lot of pressure but for all that they only had one shot on target and you could see they were getting rattled. Exactly what you want. Second half - as soon as we got a goal we started playing 'our way', and then we almost looked too confident if that makes sense, basically trying to play Arsenal at their own game, which is exactly what they wanted. Rather than just trying to keep on with a massed defensive shape and hitting on the break, we immediately became much more open, started trying too many passes, started the suicidal playing out from the back against one of the best pressing teams there is, pushed too many people up and just played straight into their hands. Overall, we deserved to be level at half-time for sheer effort, and although our goal was obviously completely against the run of play, you could argue that once we scored it was set up to be a perfect backs-to-the-wall away performance smash-and-grab. We just needed to keep defending like we did in the first half. But conceding immediately, down to a poor individual mistake, put paid to that. Ultimately two of their goals were down to individual errors by us, and you just can't give a team of their quality chances like that. In summary - individual errors killed us, and we tried to play too much football and predictably got picked off when we should have just shithoused it for 90 mins.

Stewart was a calf injury. New injury apparently, nothing to do with previous ones. Not sure if that’s good or bad.

Re: The conversation on TalkSport: It was interesting - it seems that someone at the club is now leaking to the press because they were giving a direct quote attributed to "a senior source behind the scenes". I don't have the quote word-for-word, but to paraphrase it was along the lines of "There is concern over the way that results have gone at the start of the season. We are looking to Russell Martin to rise to the occasion and prove that he can make the changes necessary to improve. The club wants him to succeed and he's got the support of the board for now." The two bits that really leapt out were: - The bit about looking to Russ to make changes - suggesting to me that they are not happy with the style of play and the gifting of goals and aren't prepared to sit back and let that continue. Which is slightly awkward timing, given that Ramsdale has also done an interview today talking about how Russ won't change the way he plays for anyone. - The little 'for now' kicker at the end. On the radio that was something that they jumped on and mentioned several times over, as it feels like it has been very deliberately mentioned in that quote to show that the microscope is very much on him Overall, it felt like a 'real' quote that was being read out, rather than Crook or some other knobhead giving it their 'I've been led to believe' nonsense. What we don't know of course is who at the club might have said it. Could have been the tea lady. But it seems that the club are very much watching how we do in the next few games and are looking for change and improvement, and want that to be known enough that they're now briefing the press on the quiet.

I sincerely hope you're not 21

No we didn't, we played the first half in a 4-4-2 / 4-2-2-2 with Dibling and Fernandes as the two up top. Dibling looked poor in that game because he was taken out of the position he's been consistently far and away our best player this season (down our right, running with the ball at his feet at isolated full backs) and put into a position he can't play (in the centre, trying to win headers and first balls, being battered by centre halves). Because of course he was. Fernandes was sort of playing off him as a strike partner, also looking completely lost and ineffective because he was being played out of position as well. In terms of team selection and tactics, it was genuinely the worst I've ever seen from a Saints manager. And I saw Branfoot try and replace Matthew Le Tissier with Paul Moody.

Sulemana can play down the middle I'm sure his injury's not too bad, and we need an attacking bench, so if we don't name a reserve keeper we can squeeze him on 👍

Anyone could pick a Russell Martin XI. Just put five centre forwards on the bench with no recognised striker on the pitch, drop a top quality full-back, freeze out a German international, make Stephens captain, force them to play out regardless of how much they're being pressed, substitute four of them at once on 60 minutes and then throw them all under the bus afterwards. There you go. I'll do it. Now we can sack him without worrying about who will manage this all-important fixture.

Why do people keep going on about some poxy charity match, like it has any bearing on anything? Who gives a fucking shit

Any sensible person would abandon any thoughts of trying to play out against their world-class energetic press, put nine men behind the ball, station someone quick on the half-way line to try and nick a breakaway, and just try to get out of there without a humiliation so we can move onto trying to get something from the Leicester game. After last night's absolute shambles, Christ only knows what Russ will do. He's lost the plot, so if he sets us up in a mental way, we concede early and our heads go down again they like keep doing, then it could be a cricket score if they're in a ruthless mood. I hope we're keeping Ramsdale wrapped in cotton wool this week because he might be the only thing keeping it vaguely respectable. Genuinely dreading it now.

At least there's a connection there, from when he was on Saints books as a kid

Yep we played two strikers first half. And with Onuachu, Stewart, Archer, Brereton-Diaz and Armstrong on the bench, the players we put in the two striking roles were Fernandes and Dibling. Weakening the striking positions, midfield AND creative/ wing positions in a single stroke of insane team selection, in a game we had to win, with not far off a full, fit squad to choose from. It was mind-bogglingly fucking mental, and was the moment I realised that for as long as RM stays in charge we’re just not giving ourselves a chance. It’s a limited squad anyway, but to wilfully choose to deploy the resources we’ve got like that is somewhere between incompetent and deranged.

I think Jim Smith is unlikely

Not only that - we actually played two up top in a 4-4-2, and with 5 actual strikers on the bench the two we played in the striker positions were an out of position winger and an out of position midfielder. Not only was it mad in terms of weakening the forward line, but it was a double-whammy in that it also removed two of the only other bright spots we've had this season, namely Dibling on the right and Fernandes in midfield. I literally can't begin to understand the thought process for doing that. It doesn't make sense on any level at all. It's absurd.