WALK DMC

Maybe I'm a naive old fool, but I'm not surprised by the delay and remain unconcerned with the absence of a formal agreement. Contracts can take ages to negotiate and sign off. They require multiple contract lawyers to assess, amendments to be discussed and agreed which adds time even when both parties are keen to get it over the line. Before the FA decision, I'd be surprised if either party had the desire to sit down and agree the finer details while the possibility of Tonda being banned was still there. I suspect that there was a gentleman's agreement to agree a new contract once the FA decision were known, but it will take time to formally agree. Of course, there are dangers with this approach (see Ross Stewart), but for now I remain confident that a deal will be signed.

I thought it was interesting that he left Leo on for the full 90 minutes on Saturday. On that basis, I wouldn't be surprised if Edozie starts tomorrow, as he did against Norwich.

Yet another successful evening game for Saints last night. Since the beginning of last season, we've averaged 2.27 points per game (PPG) for evening matches, but only 1.55 PPG for day games. Using last season's table as an illustration, extrapolating that over a season is the difference between winning the league by 9 points, or coming 7th. It is beginning to look less of a statistical anomaly and more of a preference (maybe the night time atmosphere ?) Either way, I'm now pleased that we've got Middlesbrough on a Friday night 🙂

I've not seen one. I just asked our friend AI a few days ago.

Jander missed the Villa friendly due to injury. It's not looking good for Pompey or the foreseeable future, as you say, he will need a few games to get up to speed.

The Austrian transfer window remains open until tomorrow, so perhaps a deal with Salzburg can still be agreed.

I watched the first 15 minutes of the Lincoln game last night. Every opportunity they got from free kicks, throw ins and corners they would hoist the ball into the penalty area. We're not a big team, and we've seen in the past thay these tactics can cause us problems. Peretz is a great goalie but he does seem to struggle with crosses. On the basis that Larin is better in the air and stronger physically than Mubama, I'd keep him in to support our centre halves defend from set pieces. Plus, as it was a Tuesday game, he has an extra game to recover. I dont think that Saturday will be pretty to watch for the faint hearted.

I think that this rumour may have legs. Tom Fellows didn't fully impress last year, so right wing is a position that I can see us recruiting for. This guy is experienced, he has played around 60 games in La Liga. However his best stats were in 23-24 when Espanyol were in the Segunda division, so perhaps the step up has proven difficult for him, which could be why they are willing to let him go. He is a good age (25 this month), but Youtube highlights are very limited. Of what there is, he looks like a classic winger (reminds me a little of Ton Fellows!). Might be a Twitter rumour worth watching.

Dragon's repeated references to building a team for next season sounds as though the season ticket renewal letters are about to be sent out.

In the article in today's Guardian, it stated that any penalty points deduction could be applied in either the Premier league or Championship. I don't know if they are right, merely that they they stated it with certainty. Middlesbrough to train for playoff final in case Southampton are expelled over spygate | Middlesbrough | The Guardian

What I really like about Larin is when we get the ball out wide, his first instinct is to make a run into the 6 yard box. His goals against both Oxford and Blackburn demonstrated that, and he makes many similar runs every game which aren't always picked out by our crossers. Now that they are getting used to him, they'll know exactly where he is and the type of ball (low, hard) that he likes.

Last month they drew at both Coventry and Middlesbrough both 0-0 scores. They will not be push-overs. For both games, they only had 25% possession, so unlike Norwich I expect that we'll see a low block (for those of you of a certain age, read "park the bus")

I assume he has been rested. Charles is also not in the squad.

Interesting stat ? We've kept more clean sheets (3) in the handful of games that we've played 4 at the back than the 2 (Swansea/Millwall) clean sheets achieved with 5 at the back over nearly 25 games. The clean sheets with 4 at the back are the the two recent games v Stoke & Sheff U and the home game in September against Pompey. It does make you wonder why both Will & Tonda were so stubborn in giving it an extended go. Of course, it may be absolutely nothing to do with formation, just the fact that Mssrs Manning, Bazunu and Wood have been removed from the team ............

On the basis that they're unlikely to risk starting Stewart in quick succession, I'd assume that Cyle will start all our evening games and FA cup ties. So in the next 6 weeks, that would mean 3 evening games and 1 (or two if we get through) FA Cup matches. And as you say, he'll probably start coming on for Stewart after the hour in other games. That's a load more playing time than he has been getting in Holland. Let's just hope that he can make a decent contribution in all of those games. Plus of course, if Stewart picks up an injury the playing time could be significantly more.

Stewart is out of contract in the summer, so with his injury record there is a chance that we won't offer a new contract.

Don't forget the 3 play-off games 🙂

My favourite is when Stephens wins a header, but it goes straight into the air rather than away from goal. According to Opta, the percentage of ariel duels that our centre halves win are: Quarshie - 59% THB - 56% Wood - 46% Stephens - 43% A "very good " percentage in the Championship is around 70%+ won, good is around 60%+ won. As always, stats need to be used carefully, but these do seem to back up my own impression of our defence's ability to defend crosses. Strangely though, I'd probably prefer Jack to Quarshie for Sunday's game. I think even with his obvious limitations, some games call for experience and this is probably one of those matches.

Shame that this game isn't an evening kick off. This season, Saints have a points per game (PPG) of 2.3 for games played in the evening (w5, d1, l1), but have less than 1 PPG for those games played in the day (w4, d8, l9). If our evening matches form was across the season, we'd be 7 points clear at the top of the Championship ! Alternatively, we'd be in the bottom 3, if our day form was across the season. I think that this anomaly, is because we had quite a few evening games during Tonda's hot period when he first took over. Not sure that it means much, but I thought that it made a nice change to discussing XG.

I agree, however the team were clearly lacking in confidence, so if we can get a run going then I think further improvements will be seen. We've missed Charles so it will be a big plus to get him back. He has more height and physicality than our other midfield players and can even held to defend set pieces. I'm not blindly optimistic, but i thought that the performance yesterday was an improvement and if we'd taken one of our other chances it could have been relatively comfortable.

Robinson is still only 18 years old. And even when things aren't quite coming off, he still has a touch of class about him. Give him another year or two and he'll get more consistency.

This is a difficult window. We're probably going to be playing Championship football next season, although there is a chance that we could make the playoffs, but alternatively we could still get sucked into a relegation battle. Not knowing what league we'll definitely be playing in next season adds a further complexity to buys in January. Shopping in January means that the pool of available talent is small, the price a premium and what is the purpose of buying now ? Why spend on a forward that will cost more than in the summer, when we'll probably still be stuck in the Championship anyway ? We clearly need a physical forward who can hold the ball up and knock in a few goals. However, would it be better to wait until summer before finding a permanent solution, or alternatively bring someone in using the loan market which would be a low risk e.g. a young gun from a Premier reserve side, or (my preferred option) an experienced forward who isn't getting any younger but has seen it, done it and can lead a line for the next 4 months ? It is a difficult decision and as SR have demonstrated time and time again, their decision making in the transfer market has been found wanting time after time over the last few years. I'm not confident that we'll get a suitable replacement this January.

I nearly did make a comment about moving deckchairs on the titanic when I wrote that 😀 I think going to a back 4 for the last 20 minutes was a more significant change and actually thought that the team played better during that period. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that our centre halves are small, just that we have a lack of physicality across the whole team. By removing one of the centre halves we reduce our size/height further. As I said in my last paragraph, I believe that is a risk worth taking.

II don't think it is completely fair to say that he doesn't make in-game tactical switches. Against Millwall, he moved THB to the centre of the 3, with Wood on the right. I think that he wanted THB in the centre as he is the best passer of the three. At H-T he switched it again, so that THB remained in the centre, but Stephens moved to the right. In the last 20 minutes or so, Stephens moved to a position close to Right Back, with Fellows ahead of him. It was close to a back 4. I think our issue is that we have a very small team and the Centre halves are our only 3 tall/physical players. I suspect that he keeps with playing 3 centre halves because of this. Even with these three, we're pretty awful at defending set-pieces (even on Saturday we had a few moments that we got away with). I'm not defending Tonda - When he took over from Still, I thought that at last we'd at last consistently play a back 4. I was in despair for that first game v QPR when he trotted out a back 5 AND brought Bazunu back. We very rarely control a game for any length of time (even when we were winning his first few games). I'd like to have another midfielder so that we actually dominate the ball and play the game in the opponents half rather than spending long periods where our dodgy defence are under pressure. Again though, none of Downes, Bragg or Jander are physically imposing. I'd like to get a Victor Wanyama type to start bullying other teams. Shea Charles has been a loss as he is tall and physically strong and we've missed that. I just hope that he uses the Doncaster game to experiment with a back 4, with a proper right back (not Stephens ) and see if an extra man in midfield changes the dynamics on the pitch.

The Newcastle forum makes interesting reading, they have a low opinion of Ramsdale. It's actually like reading this forum but substituting the word "Bazunu" for "Ramsdale". Aaron Ramsdale - Page 81 - Football - Newcastle-Online