Midfield_General

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.

Thank you all for your input. After a tough selection process the squad is: First XI: Peter Shilton (Drink-driving, 20 months ban) Ulrich Van Gobbel (Fraud, 4 months prison) Claus Lundekvam (Assault, £500 fine) Thomas Hajto (Manslaughter, 2 years prison (suspended); Cigarette smuggling, 180,000 Euro fine) (Captain) Jhon Viafara (Cocaine trafficking, 11 years U.S. federal prison) Dennis Wise (Assault, 3 months prison) Nathan Dyer (Theft, 60 hours community service) Neil Shipperley (Van wanking, 12 months community order) Jordan Robertson (Death by dangerous driving, 32 months prison) Kerry Dixon (Assault, 9 months prison) Nile Ranger (Fraud, 8 months prison) Manager: Harry Redknapp Assistant Manager: Lawrie McMenemy Youth Team Coach: Bob Higgins Chairman: Gao Jisheng Subs: Bruce Grobbelaar (Charged with match-fixing and conspiracy to corrupt, tried, got off (just) despite 'adequate evidence of dishonesty') Fabrice Fernandes (Drink-driving, 100 hours community service) James Beattie (Drink-driving, 100 hours community service) Triallists: Bradley Wright-Phillips (Charged with theft, tried, cleared for lack of evidence) Mark Dennis (Charged with assault and threatening to burn down someone's house, tried, cleared) Lee Barnard (Charged with assault, tried, cleared) Guly (Charged with drink driving, can't seem to find out what happened) Roving club ambassador: Frank Worthington Top summer transfer target: Quincy Promes Sponsor: LD Sports

(Allegedly)

Claus got arrested twice in a month, surprisingly not for drugs, but instead for drink-driving and assault

Crime/ sentence? EDIT: Found it. Tried for assault but cleared. Bench.

On another thread there was a mention of former persistent transfer rumour Quincy Promes, who ended up getting sentenced to six years for helping to smuggle 1,360 kilos of cocaine. While Promes never actually signed for us, it did get me thinking - do we have a full Saints Criminal XI of players who got done by the police either while playing for us or afterwards? Some that spring immediately to mind are: Jhon Viafara: got 11 years in 2021, again for coke, this time trafficking two tonnes worth £21m. Pretty impressive crime and sentence, so a good shout for captain Nathan Dyer: got 60 hours community service for stealing from a nightclub cloakroom Neil Shipperley: got a 12 month community order for wanking at people from a van Bradley Wright-Phillips: got arrested and charged for the same crime as Dyer, but ultimately got off due to lack of evidence - maybe he could go on the bench Mark Dennis: didn't he get done for GBH back in the day, and the club sacked him? Any others?

Late 80s Jimmy Case and early 90s Terry Hurlock forming a formidable and hirsute central midfield partnership in that side

Great player for us, a bargain at £7m and scored some fantastic goals. Always enjoyed watching him play, brought some quality to our side and wish him all the best with his next move.

Yep. Our recruitment is going to be absolutely massive. Of course it will be a step up, but IF (and that's a massive, bright red, flashing IF) we recruit reasonably well and are well-set-up and well-managed to wring the best out of what we have, there's at least half the league there (the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Ipswich, Leicester, Forest, Wolves) where I don't see why we wouldn't look at those games thinking we could get something. They're obviously not all going to struggle, but they should all be teams considered beatable on their day. In a league where 36-37 points is probably enough to keep you up, home and away there's 48 points to play for there, just for starters, before you get to any of the big boys or even the mid-table likes of West Ham, Palace, Brighton. It's also worth bearing in mind that even in our relegation season, with a poor side by PL standards who were otherwise stinking the place out, we still beat Chelsea home and away, drew with Arsenal home and away, drew with Man Utd away, drew with Spurs, drew with Liverpool and beat a perfectly respectable Man City side in the league cup. That was also with a revolving door of managers, two of whom are now managing at a much lower level. Overall we were crap, and we lost way too many of the games that should have been considered 'winnable', but we also found a way to grind out results against the big boys surprisingly often. So it's not impossible. We'll need to find that again. Big summer of recruitment ahead, that's for sure, but I'm feeling weirdly upbeat about it at the moment. Must be the residual high of the play-off final not worn off yet. It will probably instantly evaporate the moment the fixtures come out and shit gets real.

I know. It’s like Pep deciding to have a crack at the Brentford job. But it was the money of course - it was the height of the Moshiri/ Usmanov spunkathon, when they pissed hundreds of unsustainable millions up the wall, kick-starting the series of events which sees them now so utterly in the shit.