Graffito

The sun always shines on us in Brighton, literally if not metaphorically. I intend having a good day despite the football. Though a Saints goal or two would be nice.

Enjoyed reading that. Makes me nostalgic for those days, when the club had character and soul.

Agreed, it’s on the manager. Was this really the match for the “cautious” Selles to introduce such a high risk tactic? It was shit or bust and ended up being both.

Home games are all a blur and have been for some time.

I remember coins being thrown. Mad decision to put them on the shelf above us.

“This is a club that has been slowly stripped for parts, that has gradually lost most of its expertise on the pitch and much of the expertise off it. This, perhaps, is how it ends up hiring a new manager, sacking him after 14 games and then considering Jesse Marsch of LinkedIn as his replacement.” True that. And “Jesse Marsch of LinkedIn”. You’ve got to laugh.

The Newcastle players celebrating with their supporters at the end. They think they’re through. I trust that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Saints’ players and coaches. It’s only half time. Better teams than Newcastle have fucked up when the pressures on.

Yeah that’s how world cups are won. Get it in the mixer.

Advised to take “alternative transport”. What fucking alternative transport? I walked. And got soaked. Walked 12 miles today. But the football was worth it wasn’t it.

I’m moving to Eastbourne next month after 40+ years in London. I researched the trains. 2 hrs 40 mins to nearly 3 hrs when you add the train journey from Eastbourne to Brighton. I believe Southern to be quite useless. Going via Clapham Junction is more expensive and no quicker but maybe more reliable? Evening matches at St Mary’s look to be impossible. I’m a season a season ticket holder and go to most away matches so sadly I’m going to have to scale back. Not keen on driving. Hope Eastbourne is worth it.

Non standard English. Perfectly understandable and acceptable on a football message board.

He appeared to be bending Vince’s ear about it during the presentations too. He should take a leaf out of Vince’s book and stay calm under pressure rather than sitting with his head in his hands or biting his nails like he did before he went in to bat.

They’ve got three world class divers now.

“He arrived confident in his conviction that you could control a game and set the rhythm for your team with a central midfielder who was neither particularly strong nor overly physical. This is what he had done in the past with Xavi at Barcelona and Joshua Kimmich at Bayern. But he quickly found out that approach did not work in the Premier League. In England, you need a central midfielder who is powerful in aerial battles and wins 50-50s. Rodri is a good example of what he thinks he needs. Also, he expects his central midfielders to act as a defender when a centre-back moves forward, so they must have the physicality to cope with being in that position.” “His view on refereeing is also well known – he is firmly of the belief English referees are far more lenient than their continental counterparts. This has also affected his decision making, as he feels you need players who are physically bigger and stronger to cope with it. If you get knocked down, you’d better get up and be ready to go again as clashes do not get rewarded with fouls as often as they do anywhere else“ “Guardiola accepts that sometimes control and possession is not enough. Tactical acumen takes a temporary back seat to raw courage as emotions take over and it becomes a case of ‘all hands to the pump’ as an opponent piles forward. This is one area where he knows things can be improved. Ruben Dias displays a calmness and clarity in his decision making in moments of stress and panic. He is an example to follow.“ https://bbcfootball.info/how-english-football-changed-guardiola/

Wolves

Ah great. Thank you.

I travel to football by train all the time. In my experience trains are generally worse on Sundays. Re Burnley, no idea how I’m going to do that without staying over. And I imagine refunds are out of the question.

It was less obvious last night than against Villa. It’s real. It’s a factor in the outcome of matches. I was at both matches and it was as clear as day from the first minute at Villa. They wanted it more, as RH acknowledged https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/hasenhuttl-southampton-aston-villa-newcastle-6778668

Thanks for the info about the rail service for the West Ham match. 22.30 is better although I see this is the 22.00 service departing at 22.30 not an additional train. And they’re 10 carriage trains often seem magically to turn into 5 carriage trains by the time they get to Central. I wonder if this reduced timetable is more about cost cutting than covid.

I emailed south western rail this week. No reply so I rang this afternoon. The short answer is they won’t be putting on an a later train to get us home after the match. I pointed out that they put on a later train in the opposite direction for the Tottenham match recently but I was told they won’t be changing the timetable this late in the week. It will be interesting to see what they do for next week’s match against West Ham. If it goes to extra time they could have a few hundred angry hammers to deal with down at Central. So it’s either leave early or drive or get the coach back.

Are you sure trains don’t go from Northumberland Park to Liverpool St? Could be wrong but I thought they did, via Tottenham Hale. If so, comes down to which of Northumberland Park and White Hart Lane has the longest queues or most frequent services. That I can’t say, it’s quicker for me to walk home that use either.

Dunno about new manager, this lot needs a shrink.

Point of note; three central midfielders on the pitch as well as three centre backs coincided with our best spell in the game.

3 weeks to go. No need to shit the bed.

Big match coming up. Safe from relegation. No injuries. Job done. Was that it? Was that why Bertrand agreed prematch that it was difficult not to have one eye on the semi final? As fans we want the players to die for the shirt. Unrealistic. But at least put in a bit of fucking effort...against apparent no hopers, who thoroughly deserved to win by a greater margin than three goals. Contrast the character of this bunch with the nucleus of the teams that came up from League 1. This is a group of players that’s very difficult to like. Without Romeu it’s powder puff. Finally Ralph. What’s with the late substitutions? Unfair on the players who want to stake a claim for the semi and puts no pressure on the “first team” which knows it’s the “first team”. Put a bit of backbone into them for Sunday. Your job.