Midfield_General

Southampton, Ipswich and Palace in the hunt for 18-year-old Rochdale centre back George Nevett: https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2024/06/11/premier-league-new-boys-ipswich-join-crystal-palace-and-southampton-in-the-hunt-for-welsh-youth-star/

Jack ‘The Ripper’ Stephens Alan ‘Dennis’ Neilson Ted ‘Bundy’ Bates

I reckon our kit for next year might have a Saints badge on it

Get to fuck, this is getting silly now 🤣

Yep, apparently so - no idea how that’s supposed to work

Everton reported to have opened talks with Chelsea for Broja for £30m. https://x.com/jacobsben/status/1799807492429697396?s=42&t=yx-nO3PhK9WdSZqAccORKA

Just wait until we’re in the bottom three at Christmas, Russ is looking at the boot and the little rat fuck throws his hat into the ring for the manager’s job

They used to play Papa Was A Rolling Stone as the ‘hold’ music while the last few minutes of the games played out, then drop The Way It Is once all the games had finished and the final scores were ready to announce for Saints, Pompey and Bournemouth. I can hear those opening piano notes now as Grant Coleman says that Saints were held to a 2-2 draw by Everton at The Dell…

Even by Hodgson’s standards, that was breathtaking.

Yep, and even with that vastly superior squad we still couldn’t get past the quarter finals! One thing that game last night showed is how lightweight that team is. Without Maguire and a strong physical presence next to Rice there’s a real danger they’ll get bullied, especially in the air. At CB in particular we look very vulnerable because neither Stones or Guehi are particularly strong in the air. If I was Serbia/ Denmark/ Slovenia I’d be piling in crosses and corners. We’re quite powder puff.

I know it's a friendly and at this point they're all just trying not to get injured, but my god, that was a tough watch. All that attacking talent on the pitch but still looked out of ideas trying to break down two basic, compact banks of four. 'Trent' (tm) was particularly poor when he came on. Had four or five chances to put a telling ball into the box, and not one of them found a man. The hype around him is way out of proportion for what he actually offers.

THB looks like obvious captain material and looks likely to play most games. Or Downes, if we can sign him.

I think that’s what he’ll start with tonight, with a view to that being the CB partnership for Serbia. I really, really hope we don’t find ourselves in a position where we need to play Dunk. Still amazed he made the squad, every time I’ve seen him play for England he’s been all over the place.

Yeah I was thinking at centre back. If the choice to partner Stones is Guehi, Dunk or White, I know who I’d pick. I know a lot of Arsenal season ticket holders who all say he’s been very solid there when he’s played there. Very decent at defensive mid as well.

It’s a shame about White. He’d walk into that side now.

If THB has a good season then the £70m from Liverpool next summer to replace van Dijk should come in handy

They're also only allowed to name a 26-man squad for the Iceland game, rather than the 33 for Bosnia. So if he already knows who he's taking and he just wants to use the last friendly to try a few things, there's no point drawing it out and keeping the ones around who he knows aren't going to feature in that match or go to the tournament.

Yep. With the attacking options we've got I think we'll breeze through the group and the quarter finals just outscoring the weaker teams without really having to worry about the defence, then we'll get schooled by the first team who have the quality to exploit our weaknesses at the back, which will almost certainly be France in the semi final. Defences win international tournaments, and no way does that squad have enough in defence or defensive mid to win it.

Straight into the top ten of greatest Saints names of all time if it comes off.

Gomez is in because he can play all across the back and if Shaw doesn’t get fit we’ll need him as cover for Trippier at left back. Dunk has been an absolute liability every time he’s played for England and I’m stunned he’s in, even without Maguire. God help us if he has to play against any of the big boys, he’ll get torn to pieces. Wharton’s a weird one. Loads of potential for sure but is someone as risk-averse as Southgate really going to trust him when the pressure’s on in a major finals? Got Walcott 2006 all over it, that one.

Just to be contrary, in our relegation season we beat Chelsea home and away, drew with Arsenal home and away, drew with Man Utd away, drew with Spurs, drew with Liverpool and knocked a very decent Man City side out of the league cup. Our problem was that we were absolutely shite against everyone else.

Wolves the only club to vote to scrap it

With anything to do with Matty it's 100% innocent until proven guilty as far as I'm concerned 😉

Would be a good appointment for them on the face of it, though he’s not really a possession-based manager, so if he comes in then either he or the current team might need to adapt their approach. He’s not a like-for-like swap for Maresca in terms of style of play.

To be absolutely fair to him, Karius was later found to have been suffering from a concussion when he made that mistake, after that wanker Ramos elbowed him off the ball. No excuse for the first one, mind. That really was a shocker. Even though it cost Liverpool the CL in such a comedy style, as a former keeper myself, watching that game was the worst I've ever felt for a player who wasn't ours. It literally felt like watching someone's career being ended in real time.