shurlock

Fair play- hope you enjoy your away day at Goodison and can actually physically see the game.

Nonsense- sounds like a convenient excuse. Some of the top six may have got stronger (as much due to coaching as personnel) but we're talking degrees rather than large magnitudes as the Arsenal and City games showed. The Spurs team is more or less the same side we faced last season -if anything the Spurs sides we faced last season which included Toby and Lamela were stronger. While I don't expect us to beat the big sides regularly -let alone hanging around the top six, I do expect us to be more competitive and confident. We have been in previous seasons -and your examples to the contrary are as facetious as they are flimsy. No, a more convincing reason for the regression is that we've not really strengthened or successfully replaced departing players. Part of that is due to ambition of the board; part is due to execution of our recruitment policy and part is due to the recruitment philosophy itself. There's a certain arrogance in primarily targeting young players who are invariably raw and may or may not pay off. Whatever happened to balance in our recruitment: mixing youth (which has its merits) with experience? Steven Davis remains one of our shrewder buys in the last 3-4 years for precisely that reason but is the exception rather than the rule. It's even less likely without an assertive manager like Koeman at the helm. The cynical answer is that a balanced transfer policy doesn't represent the same cash cow for the club, even if it promises greater on-the-pitch success.

Washsaint going schizo again? Spends half the season castigating others for voicing concerns, then spends the other half well and truly shîting the bed. Puel out? Don't be a moron.

What's romeu doing?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/28/ministers-lack-courage-to-admit-complexity-of-brexit-say-civil-servants Strikes me as the same mix of naivety and denial that characterises our finer brexit specimens on here.

He lived just round the corner from me; the tributes at his gaff are taking on princess di proportions, though I guess ***** with selfie sticks didn't exist back then.

Don't follow the logic of that one.

You didn't/don't rate either. Will Pochettino be wearing a blue tie?

Morgan's not coming back. He's too proud to even entertain the thought.

Les- remind me of the precise wording of the referendum question. Yours Shatlock

Les did they vote for access to the single market - not inconsistent with being outside the EU? The referendum certainly didn't ask voters whether they wanted sovereignty over all their own affairs? That's more wishful thinking boll**ks from you, the arch purveyor of wishful thinking boll**ks.

Freudian slip? Not a real fan of his music but rip.

And what? Good CBs tend to have longer shelf lives than strikers.

No news is good news. Hostage videos inspire more confidence than Les' updates.

That table was from two years ago. The goals for column also included the 8 against Sunderland which was a proper freak result.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?50279-GoodbyeGuly&highlight=Glasgow+Saint+banned#.WFJ6CJbfXCQ #goodbyeglasgow

1.5/10 Glasgow Saint was banned.

I'm afraid to say that's completely bogus. Even we accept that raw shots on goal, unadjusted for quality, are a good measure, no complex phenomenon such as shots on goal is determined by a single variable i.e. possession. There are so many other confounding factors that may be correlated with possession and shots on goal that will bias your estimate. As I say your point is completely bogus unless you control for and disentangle these other factors.

You were born for this. You're a natural leader pal.

Agree with c, though re. b you might argue we play with 3 holding midfielders instead of 2 given a combo of Romeu, Hoj, JWP, Clasie, Davis and Reed rarely drive forward.

Call it what you want, point stands regardless. We tend to be quite narrow in the middle of the park, leaving the fullbacks exposed.

Howe's tactic of doubling up down the wings worked brilliantly last season. Even though that was (initially) against a different formation i.e. a back three, I can see him trying something similar and exploiting the narrowness of the diamond.

I don't think we created nearly enough chances or looked sufficiently penetrating. Obviously if Jrod's gilt-edged chance goes in, we win and the mood is different on here. But how many other times did we genuinely test the keeper? Bertrand's long range shot was about it. More generally how often do we get behind defences or create overloads? Time of a move is the best predictor of chance creation -the lower, the better. But we rarely play at a quicker tempo. Our best chances come from pressing the opposition into mistakes. But we are at times schizophrenic: we don't know if we're a pressing side or a counterattacking side. I hoped the strange obsession with a 'striker' would have ended with the signing of Austin. Even with him in the team, though granted he's been quite wasteful, we don't look significantly more threatening. Arguably a more aggressive and dynamic midfielder, a proper no.8 who can drive into space and commit players from central positions is a bigger must.

It's painfully obvious you don't care about popularity Except when you pile in and pick on easy targets, presumably because it's sanctioned by others. You're a cowardly **** as well as a crushing bore.

Given your standing and popularity on this place, I take that as the highest compliment pal. By the way, do you ever contribute anything football or subject-related on this place? #crushingbore