redkeith

I lost interest in the england team after Keegan retired as a player. Since then I have been unable to relate to it because if the rejection of good players at unfashioanable clubs in favour of the likes of John Barnes, Ray Wilkins and the like who contribute nothing( John Barnes got something like 90 caps, on the back of that goal in Brazil, and 2 crosses in the defaet to Argentina. The times when I have got more investedhave been the tournaments when the shoe in's have got injured and the team has suddenly improved. In Mexico Hodge, Ried and Bracewell came in for Wilkins and Robson and England got to the QTR's. In Italy, John Barnes injury lead to a change in formation and then the Semi's. Since then, nothing, although I did wan't them to lose after the way Venables and Hoddle ignored Le Tiss. I did get excited when Rickie scored against Scotland, but that was still tempered by the way that Roy wouldn't put Lallana and Lambert on the pitch at the same time, despite thier understanding of each other's game. For Euro 2016 only 3 CD's were included in the squad, none of whom would get in the Saints defence. The latest squad includes a 30 plus Man Utd substitute as Captain, and Lingard, another forward who has managed to look very average in a mediocre Man United team. This obsession with the big 6 has not worked in the past 30 years. I would much prefer to see players like Davies at Hull, who has put in a season and a bit of good performances in a struggling team, but Smalling and Cahill are picked instead.

Saints played a low energy game, never pressing that much, just keeping their shape. Going forward, Targett was not pressing forward like Bertrand does, and Martina had a shocker on the other flank, 2 seconf half crosses aside. Redmond was ananymous and Long had a shocker. His confidence is so low at the moment that he seemed to be hiding from any half chances. His touch just on the final whistle summed him up to day, playing the ball behind himself, to the two men he was trying to beat. The midfield was solid though, Romeou was MOM by a mile, and Claiise was good too. Yoshida did ok, bar hsi casual cleareance that was belted wide, and VD was good, apart from missing an early sitter. All in all a decent point.

MOM the whole lot of them. Great performance allround, good team shape. Two DM's is so last year !

Thre is a greaqt podcast interview with Rudd Guillit on the Guardian recently plugging his knew book about football tactics . In ther interview he said that there are really two types of 4-3-3. The midfield is always a V shape, and it depends on wether the v faces one way, with 2 defensive midfield and one attacking, or the other way, with only one DM. According to him, the second way is more attacking, as more players are able to get forwards. Makes sense to me.

Missed the first 40 minutes, as I didn't realise the kick-off time I saw was local time, not GMT. DOH! Played really well, great movement and should have scored more. I was a bit worried about the rotation, but it seemd to work. If we are playing twice a week for 2 months, then you have to let the sports science guys have some input into the team selection. No point in playing someone who is in the red zone and putting him out for 2 months. Proper strickers finish from Charlie, and a good substitution at the end, to provide more help against Montero .

In Russia it is going to be a Mansun Family game.

So it is Ok to come on here and moan about your favorite scapegoats after a 3 nil home win, but not Ok for someone who has actaully been to the game to mention that they could not get home due to the incomptence of a management team that should not be left in charge of anything above a Hornby gage. Back to the game. I thought the forward movement was much better and allowed us to by-pass Tadic at times. I would be disappointed if redmond is chosen as one of the front 2 against Swansea after that. Martina is a strange player, in that his normal crossing can be woeful, yet he can produce and inch perfect cross with the outside of his boot. Midfield looked good, and the defence were rarley in trouble. Yoshida made some great interceptions, and one horro back-pass. I think we need some Japanese code words to let him know when he is safe to roll one back to the keeper.

Good perfromance, the diamond worked quite well. Long should have had a hat-trick, but the 2 decisions at the end, not giving a blatant free kick right in fron of the lino, and them a very soft penalty. Gutted .

That, and the Allardyce sung to Coldplay have scarred me.

£48.50 from Bordeaux

Forster/McCarthy Cedric/Martina/Pied, Fonte/Yoshida, VVD/Gardos, Bertrand/Targett, Hojbjerg/JWP, Romeu/Clasie, Davis/Reed Redmond/JRod, Long/Austin, Boufal/Tadic That looks a resonable squad, with cover in all positions. In an ideal world, I would like to have seen Reed or JWP go out on loan and someone with a bit more muscle brought in. It is a bit of a gamble with the fitness of Austin and JayRod. Jay used to play in a postion thar would suit the diamond, but Austin not so much. Austin would however give us the option of changing formations. Remy or Bony might have improved us, but there is no quarantee that they will return to their previous form. Think James Beattie, great for Saints and then steadilly worse at Everton and Stoke.

The defence should be the same as last year, so no real problems there, but having only one DM ( Romeu ) can leave them exposed. As for the rest of the midfield, Peire can play anywhere, although he did get caught in posession a couple of times yesterday. The wide midfield in this system should be for box to box players. JWP, Claise, Reed and Davis are not DM's and they are certainly not AM's to sit a t the top of the diamiond. That only leaves box to box as an option, or reverting to the Koeman system where the AM does a lot of defensive work and doesn;t create so much. Up front we have options, with 2 or 3 players that could get into double figures, if fit. The real problem seems to be giving these forwards freedom to get wide if they want to. Hopefully that can br worked on in the next 2 weeks. Don't kid youselves that it was all perfect under Ron. If you scan back to last season there were lots of complaints about Tadic on the right and Mane's position too. Puel did change the game in the 2nd half, by swopping Pierre over to the left side and offer Targett some protection, and the Tadic substitution did bring Redmond into the game more.

Nice for me as St Etiene and Bilbao are my closest options.

Looked a lot better in the 2nd half, particularly when Pierre came on. The foward movement got a lot better and Tadic and Redmond started getting wide. If the 2nd half is how the top 3 are going to play every week then I will be a happy bunny. However, until PH came on we were being bullied in midfield and we lacked height across the pitch. Cedric looked a bit rusty, but he should not have been left on his own with Deeney for their goal. When Shane long retires he should have a double DVD set, one with hos goals against Germany and Villa, the other with his comedy air shot in the 2nd half!

Sorry, I should have put the sarcasm emoji in there, he does look very good. Seems like a natural morgan replacement.

The diamond fprmayion really needs a proper no 10 and we don't have one. Isgrove and Tadic were forced out of position to try and fit in. The diamond can work, but it is also easy to nullify if you mark the top and bas of ther diamond ( something like that anyway , from Jonathon Wilsons excellent book "Inverting the Pyramid"). On a more postive note, Hesketh looked good, as did all the young defenders and the Bayern reject. As for the dimond experiment." It's 4-3-****ing-3! "

The problem with this at the top level is that the worst culprit for effing and beeing at the officials is Rooney, and it would be too embarrassing for the FA if he was only playing one match a month, and then suspened for the rest.

Hope he does stay, even though he was in mid winter Pelle mode when I saw him play in Toulouse. If he does stay, can we see if Everton are interested in Batman ?

This is what Phillipe Lecerc of the Guardian podcast has to say about hime. https://www.theguardian.com/football/audio/2016/jul/03/germany-finally-get-the-beating-of-italy-just-euro-2016-football-daily 18 minutes 18 in All sounds good.

I've been working as a volunteer at EURO2016. Asked a guy at work, who coaches a local team , and he said that Puel is a very good coach, but it is his way or the highway. Very strict on discipline. Sounds promising to me.

Saw him score a belter against Monoxo in the league cup. Not the finished atricle yet, but a great left foot, ver good dribbler, think a young Adam Lallana, but with a shot on him. Hope this is right, as I e-mailed the club about him after that game.

I know that there are a lot of mountains out there, but that pitch seems to have a hell of a slope on it. All of the actin has been at the same end.

To show Spurs why we don't like them, I think everyone should go dressed as Frank Saul! My dad still hasn't forgiven them for it .

David Conn has produced this clip which explains the whole thing, showing the layout of the end . http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2016/apr/26/hillsborough-inquiry-anatomy-of-a-disaster-video In 84 I followed the obvious path into the centre tunnel and spent the whole match being crushed and lifted of the ground, unable to move away. Friends of mine went in the side pen and had plenty of room. The Leppings Lane end was always an accident waiting to happen. Saints fans were lucky, the Liverpool fans not so.

From the city of York, first it was Terry's All Gold, now it's football comedy gold!