benjii

Fair enough. His comments were light-hearted but they did imply a lack of professional integrity on the part of the ref. However, what really irritates me is how managers are allowed to spend 90 minutes berating the 4th official and acting like hysterical tarts on the side line without any recourse in most cases. Klopp is one of the worst for this. His touchline behaviour is disgraceful but, obviously, it's Liverpool so never mind.

I didn't have to upload any vaccine proof to do the form online, I just had to make a declaration. I don't live in the UK, so maybe it's a different form if you are UK resident going on a trip. Like I say, in any event, no authority at Heathrow checked it, either airport or border control, so it seems pointless, unless a failure to take a day 2 test is the trigger for action and follow up, by which point we are 4 or 5 days into someone bringing a new variant in.

I flew into Heathrow yesterday. Before I departed the airline checked if I'd filled in a passenger locator form, but there was no check on vaccine status. When I arrived at Heathrow I was waved through the electronic passport gates and that was that. No check on travel history or vaccine status. I presume the Day 2 test result is logged centrally, hence the need to put the booking reference on the locator form, but it feels like a strange system that lets anyone in with essentially zero verification of covid or vaccination status until test results which will be available 3 days after entry. It feels like it would be extremely easy to circumvent red list quarantine.

I flew out to Italy... the next day on a holiday booked before the fixtures were out. Ball sacks! I did go to Prague and to Israel though. Both performances were diabolical. But still a good laugh.

I thought Djenepo actually did really well yesterday. Him and Perraud created a lot of good positions in the first half and got the ball into the box from dangerous areas. Perraud has to start, IMO. As others have said, it seems harsh to drop someone after our first win, but the opposition was rubbish and despite dominating the game we did only score one goal. It is a bit of a selection dilemma now given our attacking options are all much of a muchness.

Easy to fix, you just make it very clear at the start of the season that any dissent will get a yellow card straight away, as will bad language. A simple step that football could take to make it a much better sport. Also, anyone who touches the ball after their team has been penalised or given away a deadball or fails to rapidly get 10 yards away gets an automatic yellow. Again, other sports don't suffer from this crap and it is easily fixed. The referees could have a positive impact on the game and make their lives much easier at the same time by being clear and strict about these things, instead of worrying about whether a sleeve is offside or getting the on pitch ref to revisit marginal decisions.

Yes, best wishes and good luck.

KWP is the better all round player at the moment, in my opinion. Tino is better in the air, which is useful against some teams. I would start KWP and Perraud. Not sure why Ralph have himself a selection problem by dropping one of our best players unnecessarily. Should have made Tino wait for a chance. The other option is to play them both but I doubt either of them would do a better job further forward than e.g. Redmond. Could play a back 3 with Tino in that, I suppose.

Number 4 is obviously the preference, however it's hard for anyone not worth at least high 9 figures to make any sort of impact on an established PL team, so you're looking at a very small pool of people. The guy at Brighton has done well for them to get them their PL infrastructure but they're only a bad manager and a dodgy transfer window away from relegation trouble, like us. If you want a long-term step change in the competitiveness of the club at PL level then multi billions is what is needed. But, frankly, even then you're competing with other multi billions so it's no guarantee. What's really needed is an overhaul of PL rules to level the competition but that won't happen. P.s. MCFC ownership is basically sovereign wealth, same as Newcastle. It's not some random "dodgy individual".

Sunny uplands don't have cold winters?

Sooner Ashley than Gao, any day. Yes, Ashley is objectionable and seems like a twat but he: a) definitely has money, b) brings a corporate sponsor which verifiably exists, and c) hasn't been involved in any capital crimes, as far as I'm aware. Obviously Craig David / David Frost / David Gower / Matt Le Tiss / Mickey Fialka consortium is the dream ticket but in their absence Ashley would be an upgrade.

https://amp.ft.com/content/1855b290-d02c-4f9e-b05b-d67df1ec350e?__twitter_impression=true Pretty much nails it. Shabby downward spiralling country gets the cultural custodians it deserves (Goa included).

Sounds a bit dodgy, mate.

‐--------------Niemi-------------- Dodd---Svensson--van Dijk---Shaw ----------Oakley---Ekelund------ Bale----------Le Tiss-------Pahars ---------------Beattie------------- Subs: Flowers, Clyne, Bridge, Alderweireld, Schneiderlin, Mane, Lallana, Lambert, Paul Moody.

It was Mount, who went past Diallo. Apart from that, good point.

This is never a red. It's one foot, it's low and the contact is low and is only made by the end of his foot. That's a joke. Back to VAR getting involved over nothing.

Goal aside, we've been decent enough. Tella and Redmond have done well, Armstrong looks lively and KWP has been one of the best players on the pitch. Unfortunately, our lack of physicality as an XI looks liable to cost us against a team with 3CBs, a CB at RWB, plus Lukaku and Loftus-Cheek, who are big buggers. Our right side has been ineffective going forwards. Walcott very poor and missed a sitter. Tino running down blind alleys but defended pretty well. Perraud on for Walcott please and move KWP over there. P.s. right call to disallow Werner's header. Clear whack on KWP's ankle to turn over possession and create the attacking play.

Our attacking midfielders are poor, in terms of goal output. This is a main reason why we are rubbish, particularly given that we do not have defenders or central midfielders who score regularly either (aside from the odd JWP free kick). Djenepo, in particular, is utterly dreadful, as far as figures go. Same goes for Elyounoussi (should never have been brought back into the first team squad) and Tella, albeit with smaller samples. Figures are for Saints only. Redmond: PL games: 172. PL goals: 20. Goals per game: 0.1. Expected goals per season: 4. Walcott: PL games: 23. PL goals: 3. Goals per game: 0.13. Expected goals per season: 5 Djenepo: PL games: 50. PL goals: 3. Goals per game: 0.06. Expected goals per season: 2 Elyounoussi: PL games: 20. PL goals: 1. Goals per game: 0.05. Expected goals per season: 2. Stuey: PL games: 92. PL goals: 12. Goals per game: 0.13. Expected goals per season: 5. Tella: PL games: 20. PL goals: 1. Goals per game: 0.05. Expected goals per season: 2. These numbers would be OK if ONE of these players was on the pitch in a Steven Davis role but we play two of these every match, sometimes three. I know people will say our strikers font score many either but that's an area where we have, at least, brought two new players in. These "number 10s" are the exact same bunch that are proven to be ineffective. We have made two big mistakes over the summer: 1) not trying to improve at centre back 2) not trying to improve at "10"

And Stuart Armstrong. Redmond and Djenepo average about one or two goals a season each and Elyonnousi is dreadful. We have a bunch of Championship forwards and attacking mids, plus Adams, who is a good player but will never be a prolific PL scorer. This is the folly of spaffing money on “project” signings whilst leaving the actual starting XI bereft of quality.

Why do the same three or four numpties have such a strong desire to make themselves look stupid on every thread?! I don't even think they're that old. More middle aged than old gits yet they're already like a thick Victor Meldrew tribute act. Fucking sad and funny in equal measure.

https://zuishek.medium.com/southamptons-press-and-the-hypnosis-of-pep-guardiola-2dcf986923e5 This shows the work that goes into our preparation and training.

Ralph certainly seems to have become more pro active in recent weeks. Better use of subs and more flexible tactics. For about 15 minutes before half time yesterday we were playing like this: ----------------Macca------------- ---Bednarek---Romeu---Salisu--- Tino-------JWP-------Moi------KWP -----Armstrong-------Redmond---- ---------------Adams--------------- I'm still not convinced by some of his starting selections but now he actually has more than one full back on each side and some options up front it will hopefully help his confidence. I'm convinced some of the touchline inertia has just been a mental block caused by fear of failing. Let's hope we can win on Tuesday and in the upcoming home league matches and build a decent base away from the bottom 3.

Decent for 15 minutes and there are definitely chances here but we've been quite fortunate not to concede. Since Stephens went off we've been playing a weird 5221 with Romeu at sweeper and Elyounoussi in central midfield. I sincerely hope we do not continue with this in the second half. Elyounoussi really shouldn't be playing. Simply not at this level. Redmond gets one on one and plays a shit cross. Surprise! Armstrong is a good runner but looks like he lacks a bit of touch. Go back to the 4222 and bring Tella on for Elyounoussi.

Mental team selection as usual.