Monk

It’s Puma…

Diallo since publicly stated his love for Sunderland and denied the Boro move. Allegedly, the message shows him saying ‘the only club I’d join on loan outside the prem is Sunderland.’

Did I say something wrong or you agreeing? It appeared every other block cleared reasonably except ours.

Perhaps I haven't phrased it well enough but his means of executing his philosophy has improved but I couldn't disagree with you anymore, it's clearly evidential and even RM has gone on record and said he's adapted. His philosophy provided a solid basis and without adding the ever insulting and latest trending terminology, it had it flaws which were both easily exposed both in and out of possession. However, you can clearly see some of the fine tuning he and the coaching team have made to make his philosophy more cut throat. 1) CB's will make more combinations and 'recycle the ball' by using more variety of bounce passes to to draw an opposing player to step out from central areas. Before same CB's would put their foot on the ball and await the press before shifting the ball to play through, usually resulting in the second pressing player successfully turning the ball over. 2) GB is looking to play quick from both goal kicks and times he secures the ball, before the opponent set up their press or block. 3) When we press, CB's and DM (usually Flynn) are visibly closer to the frontline, where previously we would press with the attacking and midfield players and defend with the defenders, which allowed teams to play through the lines easily, especially Ipswich and Leicester. 4) Approach play into the final third would only rely on one of two things, the full backs running with the ball inverted or Saint's playing position football and only passing to players to the starting position they're in. Now we have seen more varied runs from deep from the midfield CM's and ST into an offside position to act as a decoy and a fair few diags being attempted. Like I said, he's evolved the means to get his playing philosophy to be more effective and I much prefer the tweaks he's added in, we look like we have more intent to score compared to before.

Enjoyed yesterday, with the exception of the dickheads standing on the staircase trying to get out of Block 34 in Kingsland (stay in your seats if you want to applaud the players). First 20 minutes it very much felt like the old ‘all fart, no poo.’ Relied on playing around their deep block and awaiting the ‘perfect’ goalscoring oppo which didn’t come. We then started to see some runners from deep to stretch their back like (kudos to Stuey) which allowed for quicker combos in between and beyond their defensive lines. I thought our pressing was very good 9/10 and you can see teams really work on a set passing pattern against us from their goal kicks. Once we figure these out, it becomes even harder for them to play between the thirds. My ultimate issue with RM was his arrogance of his playing philosophy early on and inability to evolve it. You can see that it has now started to be evolved and our tempo in possession CAN (not always) be quicker and more varied. (Coincides with CC appointment maybe?) Really enjoyed being back at St Mary’s, including the old boy in front constantly shouting ‘kick it’. Obviously it was lovely having the day off from working ‘you know where’! Thanks for all the recommendations for parking, stuck to the norm and parked under the Itchen.

Driving in for the first time in a long time (got the train last time), any recommendations on places to park from 13:00? Gotta get back into Sholing/Bitterne after to get the kid.

Stream went down. Che goal any good?

Any streams actually working for anyone?

I’ve been quite the critic of RM and his playing philosophy in the past. Hands up, I’ve been massively impressed and enjoyed the last two performances. We seem to have a more explosive intent to play forwards and both in between and behind the opponents of late. Our ball retention appears quicker, with purpose and tonight saw a specific game plan with the number of deep runners beyond their defensive line allowing us to okay both in behind and in between their lines. Fair play, signs of that RM is evolving his playing philosophy and it does appear to coincide with CC appointment.

All fart, no poo. Appreciate we’re 12 games unbeaten but the reality is Mark Wotte would have this group as a top 6 team. I hate Martin’s ignorance with his philosophy on two parts; 1)The ball retention is wasted with the lack of intent to hurt. We’re always seeking the ‘perfect’ goal which can’t be scored unless 60 passes have been made. We attack with one predictable phase and absolutely no chaos. 2) if you watch our combination play, especially from the CB’s, it’s the same triggers and pattern every time. We rely so heavily on one central opponent eventually stepping out/being unbalanced, once that happens only then will we play between the lines. If that doesn’t happen we just repeat and repeat. Taylor BH is itching to hit our 9 or 10 more often when he has the ball. It’ll be nice to see Aribo carry the ball and have a pop a bit more often, he’s got the beating of their CM’s. This team could be SO much more.

Nothing less than I would expect from an Arne wearing hipster. I bet you drank Madri until you realised it’s Carling too. Wonderful stream though

Anyone got a link to a stream please?

Currently at FP working, who are currently comfortable 2-1 up and top of the league. We’re getting fucking ridiculed by this lot in the stands. Have we been poor again?

Do you know what my friend, I'm not surprised one bit you fashionable devil you.

Similar to NJ, he has this arrogance about him that suggests his playing philosophy is already 'mastered' in his eyes and the players are the ones who need to learn it. There is no evidence of any progress or evolving of his philosophy, given he has 'better players' than he did at Swansea and MK Dons. His philosophy is already 'flawed' with the passing patterns, player starting positions for said patterns (and set pieces) and his pressing set up all incredibly naive. Two key patterns you can see teams are using to exploit us is; playing through our unstructured set up in DF/Midfield through our press (teams that play with a '10' will be licking their lips). The second pattern is almost an extension of those teams playing with a 10 or have numerical advantage of CM's, playing reverse passes when attacking the width of our penalty area. We don't operate with a typical DM/4 who sweeps and protects the back four, so when the winger has the ball we defend the 6 yard line a priority for any balls across the goal but completely ignore the checked or delayed runs on the edge of our box. I'm not a fan and I'm already on the notion that I don't want him here at all. Plus I can't stand that he's constantly dressed like a mannequin from Zara or ARNE.

And that little cunt Chaplin goes straight to the Chapel End.

I know we've dropped out the Prem but fuck me you would've thought we've dropped into the Wessex Prem with how shit the stream availability and quality is in the Championship.

Playing out from the back/through the thirds: Observation from Brighton's ball possession and progression against our own. Brighton move the ball at all times, there's no delay on the 5 yard passes, running with the ball, it's constantly moving and shifting the point of attack. These five yard passes/dribbles constantly allow for Brighton to seek progressive passes, regardless of their location in the pitch. So the out of possession team are always adjusting, whether it's by pressing or shift their block across the columns to follow the ball. All of their final third attacks are 'explosive' almost an attitude of commitment to creating a goalscoring opportunity. Runs to support and those of decoy are done at top speed and with numbers, the ball is zipped in and patterns happen quickly, not passively... unlike our own. It's almost as if their playing philosophy is 'see it, do it'. When RM's Saints have the ball in our third, we look to draw the press directly to the ball carrier by delaying the pass, whose intention is to shift and then play through the press. The problem this causes is if the press reads our intended pass (usually intended for a showing CM), the press usually dictates the location of our next phase which is now a player being occupied by his pressing counterpart. This is a result of the initial pass being constantly delayed and the pressing team having the time to suffocate our passing options with numbers (wouldn't happen as much if we moved the ball quicker). Our playing philosophy sometimes feels like 'see it but don't do it as they've seen it too'. As for our general out of possession model, we are so easy to play against 'between the lines' and if you add in the fact we can't deal with overloads/runners we're a recipe for disaster against teams that attack with numbers and speed. Some defensive stats of interest (be careful with stats, not always contextual): Gav has faced 32 shots and conceded 15 goals, that's a goal every other shot he faces. KWP's current defensive stats have him averaging just one interception every 90 minutes, and Saints conceding a goal every 38 minutes he's played, surprisingly his ground duals won are high (not what I was originally forecasting). Ryan Manning... stats are inconsistently captured but one website has him only winning 1 out of 3 defensive duals so far.

Chaplin will give us plenty and I mean plenty of shit if he scores. Even more of a skate than Mason Mount.

Well fuck me, I wasn't expecting us to be this shit. I'm not a fan of this playing style, it's so easy to play against and we are awful in transition. Approach the final third at speed, then completely stop.

Any streams? Stuck in the office!

Not a lot happening so I've been binging a couple of the football documentaries recently and stumbled across Fever Pitch which now has a second series. Saints feature in episode 2 fairly heavily as they feature the pressures between a title win compared to a relegation scrap. Be warned, large feature with Rupert and Harry but interesting either way.

I'm not for the lip service of players training away from the group because 'they don't buy into the project'. Sully is a sizeable asset to the club, but more importantly an essential player that offers us a quality we don't have. The whispers of the last 5 days have been really concerning if they're true, the club need to put their foot down and take control of the situation more predominately.

but now we're offering favourable terms for Paintsil 🤔 Where is this?

Miovski, lad at work is an Aberdeen fan and raves about him (perspective important here). I've watched nothing other than highlight reels and liked both but Miovski is on the score sheet all the time.