malcolm waldron

Are you saying we should go for Areola then? I'm up for that and the Bournemouth connection (is he a fan?) wouldn't bother me......

I think you and I have got the same club contact - as I was hearing his name over the weekend. I follow German second division football very closely and I'm fairly sure I saw his team lose 5-0 to FC Magdeburg at home. They were very unlucky and on another day it might have been only a 4-5 defeat or, with a wee bit of luck, maybe they might have stumbled to 5-5. Someone with that kind of nous and ability would be ideal for Stoke away on a Tuesday night. My main concern is his age. At 43 he's presumably too old for us.....?

I think we need to give him time and see how he plays under a new manager before using some of the extreme comments above. However, I did think a few weeks back that if we wanted a floaty, non-tackling, non tracking back attacking midfielder in our team then didn't we have one before deciding he should be loaned out to Millwall.....?

My sources tell me that this was actually confirmed last night and Oriel had his first training session today. When the session was over allegedly he invited Flynn Downes, THB and Manning to stay behind in the changing room with the door shut for a quiet word. Unconfirmed as yet but allegedly shortly after an ambulance had to be called to Staplewood to treat a 26 year old cockney and a 23 year old northern primadonna. Reports that a 29 year old 'irishman" was last seen scrambling over the fence and heading towards Dibden have also yet to be confirmed.

Said the same thing last night after the game. Before it we were wondering which Championship lump would bully us this time - of course the answer was Sinclair Armstrong when he came on. I remember him from his QPR days back in 23/24 and while his career may have stalled, my god did he give Wood and THB something to worry about for the 2nd half. And we brought on Damian Downs.....

We say the same thing every home game walking over the bridge to the ground with Rickie staring back at us from the mural. What we would give to find the equivalent now from League 1.

Pretty much agree with everything there so I think we watched a similar game. My only comment is on 'dropping the 3 CBs'. Didn't we have 3 CBs and Fellows / Manning as wing backs - with Ryan F then replacing Fellows at HT.

But doesn't that assume Ramsdale was happy to stay? The summer feels a long time ago now but it was hardly a surprise he went back to the Premier League was it? The problem was that it was on loan and then we decided to do nothing about the position, I suspect, because we'd paid a fortune for Bazunu and were hoping he could play a lot and at least hold that value. Who knows, he might come good in his 4th season with us......

Wasn't there a fairly obvious corner (at least to me, sat at home watching on TV) given as a goalkick to Liverpool towards the end of the match??

But not used now is it? Anyways, back to football matters. Will he play 3 or 5 in defense tomorrow? 😉

Are you American? If so then fair enough....

I think this for me sums it all up completely. Watched him for the first time in a pre-season friendly (Villareal?) and what struck me initially was how physically small and unimposing he looked. That obviously hasn't changed and I suspect is a reason why so many goals fly in, because (a) he doesn't fill the strikers eye line and (b) when the shot or header does come in he can't reach far enough to deal with it. As many have said above, I viewed the unresolved summer GK situation as a true test of where our clear thinking and strategy was, and so far it doesn't look great (good save against Wrexham aside).

Plenty of people have expressed concerns over the manager, so I'll not add much to that one - other than to say in all 5 league games so far it's not clear (to me at least) what it is that he's trying to do. With the previous incumbent (RM I mean) you could clearly see the intent whether you liked it or not. But what really bothers me is that there was a long injury delay (15 mins in??) where Still could have used the opportunity to reset having got through the opening 10 minutes in a derby, got everyone calmed down and sorted out the space between players - and yet that time appeared to be wasted. He needs to get better - and quickly.

But surely Ryan has played for Bournemouth against us hasn't he......?? 😉

I've no issue with it too - it's exactly what Brighton and Brentford are doing, in fact their models are built on buying in cheap(er) young players, developing them and then selling on to the 'big 6' for a huge profit - and don't get me started on little Bournemouth. The problems occur, as we know all too well, when certain people (looking at you Les Reed) start to believe their own hype. 😠

Shannon (his parents are massive fans of the former windmilling, horse race loving Saints legend).

Let's face it we're not going to be buying a striker are we. We've already bought one and regardless of how he's looked (very average so far) I don't see the board sanctioning another one. What a difference a quality Championship goalkeeper and focal point striker (Ross Stewart??) would make.

I enjoy your posts H&W - and your era-defining user name! Genuine question - you post a lot, and with a fair bit of detail, about the Gers. Any reason? Second team?

Might have missed it earlier but is it on Sky Sports + tonight?

Far too sensible a post. I think it would land better in future if you used 'fella' or 'pal' at the end of a couple of the sentences.

But don't forget - we only got 12 points last season which means we're in no position to negotiate apparently.....

Does anyone care what Dawson thinks - nice bloke that he apparently is though. It's like asking Tim Sherwood for an opinion. Actually, I take that back - it's not as bad as that.

Have you not been following Luke Shaw's career - including that fairly brief spell where it all started?

Can we show Rangers fans the 90 minutes of Rotherham at home last time round for them to really appreciate the intricacies of what they can expect when the pride, bravery and process really kicks in in October.

Losing a home grown player to Everton. How depressing......