Midfield_General

'SFC are in advanced talks with Burnley to bring back Nathan Redmond. Redmond will replace Sulemana who is being moved on - a club in France has put in a bid for him. Club see Redmond as good value as part of the transfer profile strategy that they are employing this summer - experienced voice in the dressing room to help the younger players, still well-respected by the coaching staff and in the last year of his contract at his current club. Discussing 2 year contract. £2m fee, wages around £45-£50k per week. Talks well-advanced. Both clubs keen, just need player to agree personal terms. Hoping to have it concluded in time for player to take part in pre-season from 18th July.' https://southamptonrumours.co.uk/ Big if true. And Defensive Captain is a trustworthy source I've heard. Yours, Midfield General

It’s coming to the Premier League this season - except it’s not going to be ready for the start of the season, so will come in half way through, and the Prem uses Nike balls rather than the adidas ones which have the right chip in them for the automation, so it’s still going to need to be checked manually after every decision. Another seamless integration of technology, nice one lads 👍

That would be a shrewd bit of business. He’s only on 325 grand a week until 2027, so maybe we sell St Mary’s and bring him in?

Shaw’s injured. Trippier might look a bit less lost at left back with Gordon ahead of him though.

Yep it’s fucking criminal. Talking after the game about ‘not having someone who can play the Kalvin Phillips role’ - sweet jesus. Philips wasn’t that good in the first place and then has been absolute dogshit for well over a year. It’s not like he was an irreplaceable mainstay of the team who’s broken his leg on the eve of the tournament. To not use the million friendlies we have had in the 18-month lead-up to find the team, and to start flailing around ‘trying things’ once the tournament has started, is beyond belief. I’ve tried to support him but even with years to prepare he’s completely out of his depth and it’s embarrassing to witness.

31 and available on a free - would seem to fit the current profile. Would be a decent enough addition. Same article also says we’re still looking at Brereton-Diaz and O’Hare, but it’s the Sun, so, y’know.

The thing is, quite aside from the general over-defensiveness, it really isn't hard to analyse why we generally look so poor. We've got a very right-footed right-back playing at left back, a right-back who's never played defensive midfield before playing at defensive midfield and a number 10 playing on the left. Kane also looks nowhere near fit to me, he was barely moving yesterday, barely even breaking into a jog. He's had back problems and he looks nowhere near ready fitness-wise. And no, I don't think scoring a tap-in that bobbled straight to his feet makes in any difference to that. Straightaway that's four issues out of eleven positions. The whole left side is a complete mess. Trippier is so right-footed that he just doesn't work as a left-back in a four - he's so easy to defend against when he comes forward because he comes inside onto his right literally every single time. Throw in Foden ahead of him who wants to be in the middle or the other side and it means the whole left side is fucked and there's no width at all. Then factor in the TAA abomination and other players trying to compensate for him not knowing where he's supposed to be and it's why it looks such a shit show straight off the bat. I don't particularly rate Gordon but he actually plays on the left so play him there because he can't do any worse than Foden has been made to look. Gallagher, Mainoo and Wharton are all deep-lying midfielders so play one of them there. And if Kane isn't fit he needs dropping, at least Watkins can fucking move. You end up with a side with fewer 'star names' but one that actually has the basic look and shape of a football team. England always do this forcing of square pegs into round holes and then wondering why it fails, it drives me spare. He won't make basic fixes though. He'll keep playing people out of position so the shape is a mess, we'll scrape past Slovenia, then scrape past Poland or someone in the next round, and then out we go to the first big team we play who have the managerial nous to identify the multiple weaknesses being needlessly inflicted onto this side as well as having the players to exploit them. Same as it ever was. Such a missed opportunity.

That’s the madness of it. He’s had ages to prepare for this. If he wasn’t going to take Henderson he must have known that ages ago, so should have been finding the alternative way ahead of the tournament. Yet he leaves it until the actual competition begins to start experimenting with mad shit like TAA in midfield, something that any average fan could see wouldn’t work. I’ve really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but that’s bang up incompetence.

I’ve tried to give Southgate the benefit of the doubt, I really have, but with the bizarre forcing into the side of TAA and the way they drop back, become passive and stop pressing every single time they score, against the most average of opposition - it’s becoming very difficult to see what he’s trying to do at this point.

‘The best passer of the ball in the world’ 🤣🤣🤣

Why do you think that Sadio Mane's career has any bearing on the career of Kamaldeen Sulemana? They are completely different players and completely unrelated to each other. Judging the value or potential of one by the performance of the other is completely illogical. I'm surprised you of all people don't know this. (Welcome back, btw)

Nice. I'm going for a sensational return for Nathan Redmond.

Insane signing. Will we be plundering his current club, Nissho Gakuen High School, for more talent? They certainly sound young. But are they hungry?

Oh I know, I don't think it's what will actually happen - just what I personally think is needed to go into the season feeling confident. I know it's not remotely likely!

New PL-Quality GK KWP THB New PLQ CB New PLQ LB Downes New PLQ DM Armstrong New PLQ AM Fraser New PLQ CF Bench made up of some combo of: McC, Bednarek, Stephens, Smallbone, Aribo, Edozie, Charles, SAA, Stewart, Lallana, Ghoddos, Ings Sack off: Bree, Manning, Sulemana, Mara, Adams That would have a decent chance (dependent of course on how the signings work out), but even then there are question marks over Arma and Fraser as PL-quality starters every week. Jesus, we have a big task ahead of us, no doubt about that.

Yeah, any combination of that side is going down. I think (hope) that the Ghoddos/ Lallana type signings (and rumours like Ings) would just be about picking up decent-ish squad players available without a transfer fee at this stage of the game, and that the 'proper' signings would start after the Euros once the focus comes back onto the league.

Dolly Parton And to think people say she’s just a big pair of tits

Yes, it is.

Janny B starting for Poland vs. the Dutch

I know. Have a word with @gio1saints will you

So what we've established here is that Adam Lallana has got more England caps than Flynn Downes. What a true titan of the international game. I hope they've got a red carpet ready.

Yeah, it's not quite as impressive when you stick to what's actually true, is it 🤣🤣🤣

I’m not upset, but if you’re trying to make a credible point maybe post stuff to support it that’s true rather than really obviously not true?

I mean that’s just complete and utter bollocks isn’t it.

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