HarvSFC

Time to switch off?

How does one even get a job like his? Do you start off by making some dead cert claims on Twitter and then gain a reputation once they all come off, get a cushty job at a lowly reputable radio station and then just throw a load shit, some sticks, the others, well it was all the source’s fault! I bet he’s on a fair wedge to, to create a few false rumours.

Yeah, from what I remember Illingsworth wasn't too popular, as he became "the voice" of the fans, when some didn't agree with certain comments. Ultimately, it came to an end when it was a clash of egos between himself and Cortese and there was only going to be one winner given the relative power both had at the club. The fans forums are fine as well as Semmens' communication with fans. He's not making himself a public figure/chasing the fame like you see some boardroom members do with outlandish statements every other week. Neither is he completely shut away, like you expect Levy is with Tottenham supporters and Gao is here. I think we've got about as much as you can expect to have from the board level at the moment. Maybe we can bring Ralph Krueger back as the voice of the fans?

Van Dijk, Fabinho, Alexander-Arnold and Jota rested tonight for Liverpool, but otherwise a strong starting eleven. Guess there is 5 subs.

Fulham, Arsenal or Wolves looks good if you really don’t want to do Saints, although two of those are the early kick off. Chelsea or Man City at a push.

Another universally disliked new idea.

I always find it hard to judge based on international youth caps. Obviously, there is the odd talent in there, but also a lot of the squad is made up with filler players with those who excel fast tracked through their age groups. Like, our very own longstanding goalkeeper Harry Lewis has an England Under-18 cap. For a wider scope, and looking through the archives of the 2014-15 Under-18s squads, Callum Burton has 9 England youth caps, now the backup keeper at Plymouth at 25, Ted Smith has 9 England youth caps, now retired at 24 after being released by Southend and Sam Howes, 3 youth caps, plays for Horsham. There are successes like Pickford, Woodman and Ramsdale, but a lot of these players also fade into obscurity. We've been burned previously off the top of my head by Angus Gunn (26 England youth caps) and Lee Molyneux (18 England youth caps). Of course, if he does sign then I hope he's a success with him also being a Saints fans. We do need a new Sam Vokes, who gets linked to us every window because they're a fan. But, I wouldn't judge his quality based on how many youth caps he has and would hope that he's more of a Simeu signing.

After revisiting Hughes' record here, I can again understand why he hasn't had a club since. Just the five wins in 27 matches, an 18.5% win percentage. Jeez, we gave that man a three year deal. Worse than Pellegrino's 25% win record from 35 matches.

Ashley put down £40m on Joelinton and then £20m on each of Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Wilson and Willock in the last two years. The only major sale in that time period was Perez to Leicester for £30m. It's one of the modern day myths in football.

They pissed a lot up the wall on McBurnie, Brewster and Ramsdale. To be fair, I think they made a profit on Ramsdale, which won’t be accounted for. But they’ll have to flog the other two for free with just the one Championship goal between them this season.

Newcastle haven't won a game this season, Norwich have won two in 12, Burnley have won one in 12, Leeds have won one in six (also a two in 12'er), Watford have two wins in seven, Aston Villa have one win in six, Brentford have one win in seven, Leicester have two wins in nine, Everton have one win in seven, Palace have two wins in eight, Brighton have 0 wins in seven and finally Manchester United's one win in eight. Our three wins from five doesn't look too bad against those 12 teams. We're eighth in the form table. This is what the current Premier League is.

That’s the wrong player to come off. At least Adams can link up play to Broja, Diallo should be off.

Putting Sargeant on helps us.

We’ve got to kill off a team at some point, surely? Would make sense for it to be against bottom of the league and opposition containing Krul and Hanley. Come on Saints! Burnley vs Palace seems like a cracker and Howe ball is well underway.

The one advantage is that there’s an abundance of quality right-backs at the moment, we have two of them! Liverpool have Alexander-Arnold, who will be their mainstay for the next few years, likewise Chelsea and James. City have Walker and Cancelo. Walker’s 31, but isn’t showing any signs of slowing at this current time. Arsenal have Cedric and got him out of their side with the young Japanese right-back Tomiyasu, who has started well. This leaves just Manchester United as the only other realistic move Livramento would make and Wan-Bissaka is having a poor season. They did spend £50m on him, though, so may be reluctant to give up so soon and they may hope a better coach can get more from him, given his strengths are supposed to be in his defending.

I miss being fed lines that never came through.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59330673 More good officiating.

On a scale of Pilchards’ builder to Guan/K Billy

Sorry San Marino, but you'll never hear the end of this and the score line will be brought up in every one of your matches for the rest of time.

We played a back four plus Foden, Mount, Sterling, Kane and Grealish against the mighty Hungary just last month and it didn't work and we drew 1-1. I know it's only San Marino, but it doesn't do any harm to pick a system and then stick to it. The wing-backs are also key attackers in this formation.

We’d overlook all the cringe that comes with Lingard if he had the same return here that he had with West Ham. But, if he’s going again this January, then West Ham will 100% be in for him again and they’re a more attractive destination than we are. Not sure about Newcastle, but they will be able to cover more of his wages, which I guess was the key reason why he stayed at Manchester United in the summer.

He’s playing the Ings replacement a bit too well.

To be fair, the last time the team worked from home (lockdown), we came back as Manchester City. Norwich's time to prepare for the match with a new manager is ticking by too.

At least we still have first dibs on the Chelsea youth.