CanadaSaint

Maybe utilize squad players in their strongest positions - even if they lack first team experience. The CB dovetail is crucial, especially if McCarthy is behind them. I'm okay with Lyanco if it's forced upon us. Bree has played there before. But I've got more chance of becoming the next pope that Perraud has of being a centre back. I'm completely bemused by tonight - not because some players didn't show up (we've seen it all too often), but because Martin picked a line up that had trouble written all over it. It's almost like he wanted to make a point to people behind the scenes. It just went more pear-shaped than he expected.

It’s like an infection. It was plainly evident last year – lots of “go-through-the-motions-itis”. Nobody – least of all Selles – had the balls to confront it. He just kept picking them, so it just kept spreading, game after game, and Selles quickly became part of it. Martin needs to start hacking it out before it gets him too, and it sounds like he knows it. If it costs some money to rid the club of this shit, so be it. Money well spent. But he also needs to look in the mirror tonight. You don’t need coaching badges to know that playing Lyanco and Perraud as CBs, with McCarthy behind them, is shit waiting to happen against ANY opposition.

One thing that struck me after last night's game is that the "quality" of the players we bring in might be less important than their ability to fit into the style we'll play under Martin. There was more "pass and move" in last night's game than in pretty much any five games put together last year. It's often not the pass that creates the space, but the move. We had that in abundance last night. It's why there were multiple legitimate MOTM candidates. That raises another point. Sure, Wednesday were knackered well before the end of the game because they'd been chasing our pass-and-move shadows. But it also took a lot of energy to play the style we played, so I think we've done a lot of unheralded work on fitness in pre-season. Physical and mental. Whoever we bring in needs to fit with that.

I think it's the U.S. version of the same rights deal but I'm not sure. DAZN showed last night's game, and will show Plymouth Argyle (A), Sunderland (A), and Leicester (H). However, they will not show our 3 pm home kick offs - Norwich City and QPR. That's as far as DAZN's published schedule goes right now. If it's the same on ESPN+ it's likely the same deal.

Thanks - my bad. But same applies - dreadful referee.

He played well but I think he needs a target with some physical presence in the box - it would help him to focus his final delivery. AA is definitely not that kind of visible target. IMO Adams should have been on at least 20 minutes earlier.

As Clarky said, every season they clamp down on something or other, but then it gradually peters out. I suspect that will happen when it starts screwing up programming schedules for the broadcasters. At least as alarming, for me anyway, was seeing Lee Mason in the stands in some kind of observation or assessment role. How badly and how often do the members of this cosy little fraternity have to screw up before they get banished into oblivion?

Exactly. JWP has never been one to pick out a defence-splitting pass, and he never seemed to launch much offence last year after losing his long-term sidekick, but he has one of the best "engines" in UK football (something you only miss when you lose it), and he's a consistent 6 or 7. If we get the ball forward faster this year, which we will, he'll have more FK opportunities around the box - against lower-level 'keepers. He's very close to being worth more to us than to anyone else, so I'd be happy enough if we keep him.

I hear you - totally. All I'm saying is that I don't think he's as bad as some claim, and that I think he will improve - out of the everyday pressure of playing on a losing team committed to a tactical package that was never going to work. If you can't score goals, every defensive mistake - whoever makes it - will kill you. The club knows he's not performing at the required standard, but - whether we like it or not - clearly don't view a new #1 keeper as a priority. They may well be giving him until the January window to turn things around. Regardless, I find the constant Bazunu slagging - even blaming him for goals that weren't his fault - quite frustrating.

I haven't been pleased with Bazunu but I don't think he's as bad as many on here make out. Like a lot of others, with far more experience under their belt, he fell victim to the organizational, tactical and motivational gong show that was last season, and the defensive chopping and changing. He's 21, and most keepers peak in their late-twenties/early-thirties. We're clearly not going to bring in a #1 keeper, so I think it's time to park the negativity and give him a chance to develop.

Yes, if you subscribe to both. But I'm going with DAZN (ESPN+) for $199.99 CDN, which should cover a good 60-70% of our games. I'll pay £10 for Saints Play for each game it doesn't cover (but I'm definitely not watching an illegal stream for those games because that would be illegal 😎). The SaintsPlay £170 is a really bad deal for us overseas folks (where an international deal exists) because so many games are excluded.

I posted this on the iFollow topic but it's better here: So, as best as I can tell, the main option for fans in Canada is obviously DAZN. However, that $199.99 package will not include home games with a 3:00 pm kick off. Those would be available through the just-launched SaintsPlay for £10 per game. I'm not sure if it will be the same for fans in the U.S. and other countries. Does anyone have any further insight? Addendum: Yes, the games covered by DAZN (and likely ESPN+ in the States) will be EXCLUDED from the SaintsPlay fixtures due to the international deal. So your best bet is likely to be ESPN+ and SaintsPlay for the games it doesn't cover. Watching the Championship is going to be quite a bit more expensive than watching the PL was.

I think we have done pretty well on this deal. There have really been three Tino's. The first one was the "can't miss" superstar of his first season. The second one was the Tino who occasionally seemed to shut-off mentally and lose the player he was marking, and the third one is whatever he's going to be after a very serious injury. As sorry as I am to see him go, after watching Tino #1, we've de-risked our investment and we now have money in the bank to strengthen where we need to strengthen - with more to come from Lavia. Hang onto your hats - this could get exciting.

So, as best as I can tell, the main option for fans in Canada is obviously DAZN. However, that $199.99 package will not include home games with a 3:00 pm kick off. Those would be available through the just-launched SaintsPlay for £10 per game. I'm not sure if it will be the same for fans in the U.S. and other countries. Does anyone have any further insight?

I’m pretty sure the difference was 500,000.

I'm not at all convinced we're interested in him - or maybe we've known all along that he's not interested in us. If we viewed Piroe as a major target, why would we piss off Swansea with all that haggling over Martin - and with not that much money at stake?

We won't know how good this side is capable of being in the Championship until we have someone consistently threatening at the sharp end. Bringing in a quality striker would be transformational. Piroe keeps getting mentioned and he could well do the job, but I hope we didn't shit in our own nest by haggling with Swansea for so long over Martin. That false economy could work against us, so I really hope we have a good fallback option. That may well be the difference between Top 3 and mid table.

Salisu is one of those who will frustrate the hell out of us when we see him performing well in the PL. He's a talented, physical, left-footed CB with his best years to come. His problem isn't his ability - it's more between his ears. He needs good coaching and motivation - none of which was present during last year's coaching shit-show. It didn't help him when we started playing KWP at LB or LWB, or when Perrault pushed up but couldn't get back in time, because that gave him too much real estate to cover.

The dominoes are starting to wobble. It was always likely that Chelsea would come in for Lavia because they started sniffing right after he arrived here; their interest is likely to deepen at the thought of him ending up at Liverpool - and vice versa. i hope that’s the first one to fall because it will be big money, and there’s no way that he (unlike JWP) could stay here. It might take a while but when it happens I think we’ll move quickly on some targets. We may be may pleasantly surprised because I think we’ve been working to a clear recruitment plan - not necessarily involving the names that the non-ITK bloggers keep claiming.

Are there any updates on Saints TV coverage this season? In Canada we can subscribe to DAZN but I think that will only cover games that aren't a Saturday 3:00 pm kick off - which may also (not sure about this) apply to ESPN+ in the States. And we're still not listed on the iFollow site.

This time of year there are dozens, if not hundreds, of domino scenarios out there. The question is which departure will start them falling for us. Despite their comprehensive nest-shitting last year, I have faith that the club's leadership team will end up with a highly competitive squad; I'm sure their dominoes are lined up. While our squad is certainly bloated, I'm hesitant to say "good riddance" about some of the potential departures. They're not bad players - they're good players who were unable to maintain form and motivation within a shit-show coaching environment, or who just didn't get a chance under that utter numb-nuts, Selles. It'll be frustrating to see them shine elsewhere.

I think our player judgment is understandably suffering from “what have you done for me lately-itis”. The biggest problem last season was not the “kids”. It was that most of them didn’t get an extended chance to settle in their natural role, the pitiful lack of leadership from the senior players, the loss of Romeu’s invaluable skillset, the failure to sign a striker (or play as though we actually had one), the shambolic Jones spell, and then Selles persisting with a dire, no-ambition, keep-possession-until we’re forced to hoof it ‘style’ that never worked and was never going to work. Everyone, including the players, could see it, but not Selles. KWP and other senior pros didn’t suddenly become crap players. They were sucked into the vortex created by the gong show going on all around them. I’m good with a young side with some senior leadership figures – a side that can grow and mature together under a manager who sets the team up with some real ambition. Only then will we find out how good the “kids” really are. Everyone said we needed a rebuild. That’s what a post-relegation rebuild looks like.

I get that Hypo, and I completely agree about Alcaraz. Not only was he talented and committed in every appearance - he was pretty much the only one who seemed genuinely hurt and frustrated when we lost; one who gave a shit amidst an ocean of ho-hummery. But I’m not convinced that keeping Tella or getting twenty million for him amount to the same thing. We’ve yet to prove that our recruitment is capable of making that a sure thing. Far from it, based on our recent history - especially when it comes to goalscorers. With Alcaraz, Tella, Tino and a few others, we’re creating the nucleus of a really talented young side - players who can mature together. And we haven’t yet risked a penny of the transfer budget.

I’d say one of the biggest “no brainers” is to bring Tella back. He’s torched most of the defences we’ll be playing against, and scored regularly. We had absolutely no torching or scoring last season. This is a young player trying to build a reputation and a career, so there’s zero chance that he’s going to sulk and go through the motions. Sure, it’ll take a little early man-management, but he’s far less risky than someone that we “think” will work out.

This pitiful wimp of a manager makes Claude Puel look like a balls-out, gung-ho, kamikaze tactical maestro. I hate losing but I absolutely despise the kind of abject surrender we've seen under this asshole. The only reason he'd ever look himself in the mirror is to make sure there's no dandruff showing. Sickening.