saintbletch

I listened to "The Game" podcast with Phil Jupitus, Gabriele Marcotti and I think Henry Winter last week down the gym and they were waxing lyrical about Hodgson and the fact that Fulham are one of the best drilled teams in the league. They also said that there is a myth that he was poor at Blackburn. I must admit I thought he had a bad time there - but I guess the stats must suggest otherwise.

Pedantry here but ironically I think RH would pronounce "r" perfectly. When the "r" is aspirated as in "arr" he wouldn't have a problem. It's when it's not aspirated as in "wruh" that he'd struggle... ...I think I should get out more.

Agree with the OP and share the same "oh no not Wotton" attitude. But he made a difference yesterday. We lined up a clear 4-1-4-1 when not in possession which then turned into a 4-1-3-2 or 4-1-2-3 in attack, but Wotton never left his position in front of the back 4. I'm a little embarrassed to be advocating such apparent negative tactics at home but if it gives us the ability to move more players forward more quickly then I guess I'd like to see Wotton given an extended run in that role. Can't believe I said that 'out loud'.

Hmm. Cortese is currently in correspondence with a Nigerian General helping him to get his money out of the country, a 22 year old bored and lonely Ukranian girl who wants to come to England and a Canadian pharmacy who have assured him that he will be able to keep Mrs Cortese very happy.

Too early to tell IMO re the manager. Pas Dieu is interesting ART - is that the origin of Pardew (Etymologically)? And if so what would that translate to - Not God, not religious, heathen, etc.

It's funny how two people can see things differently. I was left thinking if only our midfield had played Papa in earlier he'd have been onside. He'd got himself isolated one on one with a defender a number of times but never got a ball that he could chase. But I'd agree there were other times when it looked like we had Bradley back. And as for God Awful, that's just not a reflection of his starting debut IMO. He didn't have a great game but I thought he did a lot of running for the team and showed great discipline by covering his full back well - unlike Mellis who seemed to wander into all sorts of positions leaving his full back exposed on the break. I was concerned that we didn't get to see Papa's alledged pace one on one. He seemed unable/not confident enough to try to go past players. What was clear to me last night was that we need some pace and if Papa doesn't have that then we're going to struggle for goals this year.

He was still on crutches at the open training session but with no cast on his leg. When asked when he'd be back he just said "soon".

I'll pick a couple up for you InvictaSaint. That is as long as you don't expire from swine flu before reimbursing me.

I'd agree with all of that. The only concern I had against Brentford was that he continually looked for the sideways/backwards pass. That might have been because of lack of movement ahead of him or because he didn't know his team mates well enough. I'd like to think he's going to get the ball forward quicker as he beds in. He didn't shirk a challenge either. A good acquisition I'd say and better than Wotton which is good enough for me.

Reading this is like watching a David Lynch film whilst suffering from alzheimer's. A classic thread.

This thread appears to be the first evidence of time travel. I think the OP is caught in some weird other dimension. That's the only logical explanation. That or he has the wrong page bookmarked. Thanks for letting me be part of this guys. Classic.

LOL. But surely it's Werther's Originals not chocolate.

Over simplified. We obviously need more height at set pieces but the goal came from the second phase. That is all.

Best bit for me I think he's identified part of the problem with our formation last year. Our full backs didn't venture forward enough to support the wide players. And with AP's predilection for attacking football I'm really looking forward to seeing us getting in behind teams more and asking a few questions.

Isn't that s a bit too idealistic? Nothing wrong with ideals but realism means that none of this is likely to happen soon. I agree that some form of adjustment has to happen but these are businesses not footballing 'clubs' now and as such you can't place restrictive market conditions on a business. It won't work and in some cases it's just not legal. I like the idea of a spending cap for each league and perhaps outside of the Premiership it might work. But if the top clubs believed they would be losing their ability to generate wealth and to then spend it to ensure they continued to generate more wealth than others, they would pick their toys up and form their own league. The formation of Premier League is an example of exactly this in action. Formula One recently tried to impose a cap on spending and when the governing body went too far the teams exerted their power and threatened a breakaway. The result was back tracking by the FIA. Also, and I could be wrong on this, but I think UEFA has power and jurisdiction over English clubs. FIFA's power is in the rules of the game not the structure and management of the leagues. Something needs to happen but I fear that we will have to get closer to Armageddon and see some large clubs in significant peril before there will be sufficient agreement to make it happen.

I broadly agree with this but others on here I'm sure would cite what some would see as previous reckless spending. Others still would say that we now have a club that is free of debt, with many creditors disadvantaged and an owner who has picked up an absolute bargain with infrastructure that will continue to give us an advantage over the clubs around us for seasons to come. So there does have to be a penalty. I wrote to Mawhinney suggesting that in these troubled economic climes the footballing authorities should be more lenient. But I didn't get a response. Personally I would favour a system whereby promotion is not available to a club that falls into administration for a set number of seasons but otherwise they start on zero points. I think that would be fairer and would not send some clubs into the spiral of debt and relegation that I think we certainly will see. We were VERY VERY lucky.

Thanks for the clarification Bailey.

Yeah I don't doubt that S-Clarke, but I'm not sure I'd jump to the conspiracy conclusion immediately. I guess if Raidi turns up playing for an English league team then there may be something to the "saving face" angle. Otherwise I think I'll believe that everything was agreed but the WP stopped the deal.

Or Bailey was misinformed?

Presumably he's met the criteria previously (something about playing in a certain percentage of his national team's games and if memory serves his national team must be within a certain % of the top of the FIFA rankings - although I could have made that bit up) but now doesn't. Could Birmingham extend his contract and loan him? Messy I guess. That's a real shame.

BUMP 136 members in the SaintsWeb league so far.

Why were their comments made as if he still was a Birmingham player? Were they old comments or is he still potentially a Birmingham player? I thought I had read that his contract had not been renewed and was therefore a free agent. Either way it sounds like they will be losing exactly what we need.

Yep. It doesn't cost to enter teams. In my experience it's the best way to maintain an interest in the goings on in the Premiership ( until we return ) and provides a year's worth of banter with the mates in your league(s).

I agree eurosaint - very OTT. The only defender ever to win FIFA world player of the year was a 5'9" CB. So height, as Perry has proved throughout his career at higher levels, whilst being incredibly important in the team as a whole, isn't essential. And speed whilst also being important isn't as much of an issue in League 1 if the team defence is organised correctly. Personally I've always been impressed with Perry's performances. I'd love to have a team of players who can read the game as well as he does.