Saint86

To each their own, but for me Carl Anka's work was routinely some of the best football journalism i've read in recent years. He wasn't just "quirky", and I'd argue having a "bigger voice" in journalism is a sign of ability. But anyway, given he wasn't a saints fan and he was very good - i think we were lucky to have him. You may not and that's personal preference. Although, the praise and benchmarking people do against Carl is a sentiment that gets echoed on here, and you'll also see it on the Athletic comments on the odd occasion he covers a saints story. If the Daily echo has stepped up to offer that kind of work as well then that can only be a good thing. Bring on the spoiling 😁.

Lovren over fonte as well 🤣

Yeah sorely missed is Carl, think we were spoilt when he was covering us. If the echo are turning out stuff like that then I'll start giving it a read again.

Just taking the statistical analysis, xG is a average statistical view. You can't really argue with the xG stat for the game since it's based on a significant amount of statistical data - but Chelsea are a top team with great finishers generally - so they should over perform it. Equally forster can still make several great saves from good finishes (that overperform xG) and still let in more than is predicted by the stats. Chelsea were on it, so was forster. Given the domination they enjoyed they could easily have had more.

Nah mate, it's Ralph's fault we're not challenging for Europe. Shit manager init. Nothing to do with impatient fans wanting him gone.

Good post, sums it up well. Sometimes it feels like the ones who want him sacked live in some alternative world where this squad should comfortably be mid table and challenging for Europe. No. Just wish some fans could get a dose of perspective and apreciate that their frustration at saints' progress might well stem from under investment, not this manager. Chances are whoever we replaced him with wouldn't get as much out of the squad nor be as loyal. Give him another season or 2 with the upwards trend on squad quality and see where we are. And besides any of that, his job is pretty damn safe post takeover, so no point getting to worked up about it.

Backed for 3-4 seasons? Your having a laugh mate and enbarrssing yourself, our place in the net spend table doesn't lie! 🤣🤣🤣 And how the hell can you say we haven't improved?! Jesus, but talk about a biased outlook... We were utter dog when he took over, it's a miracle we are still in the league given the players he's had and what he's had to shift / spend. We don't have a good squad even now. It's improved but it's a work in progress. Losing to the European and world champions who were clearly due a reaction is not the biggest deal in the world. The sack Ralph brigade are on par with the lot that were never happy prior to relegation, that wanted sturrock over hoddle etc... and look how that turned out. Unless there is a clear upgrade available you keep Ralph as its proven he'll keep us in the league, he wants to be here, and he'll work with what he's got to improve the squad and finances over the long term.

Any decent streaming sites left?

Think its not at all surprising given its vs Chelsea. Tino should have a lot of motivation going into this one...

If that rumour is true, then i am surprised he wants to be back up to a golden glove winner with many more years ahead of him. We need a keeper with the ability, ambition, and mentality to become a good premier league no.1. We don't want another backup level keeper - and Johnstone would be kissing his england hopes good bye with that kind of role.

I don't personally have an issue with what MLT puts on twitter because he should be allowed to put whatever he wants on twitter. Its fundamental to protecting free speech and the society we live in, but equally it doesn't mean people have to agree with him. What MLT can't do is expect to put stuff out there that clearly conflicts with his role as an ambassador for the club or his employment requirements. And specifically in this instance, i think basically everyone would agree he's a fool for commenting on war crimes with anything other than condemnation. Fundamentally though, his opinions shouldn't impact on what he's done for the club and city historically, nor the joy he's given to the fans. Its a shame for people that can't differentiate between his career as a sportsman and his takes on world events... Although I'd query why anyone would attach any particular credence to a footballer's personal opinions (or any other celebrity for that matter) on fields other than their profession.

It would be interesting to see, but by the time he surpasses beckham i'd image it will be with significantly more games (so assume more freekicks) - albeit in a worse team.

That video title is incorrect 😆

Attended a very interesting lecture on this recently. To paraphrase a global energy director from a leading global energy and construction consultancy: To provide 3 days of power (excluding personal/commercial transport) for a city the size of Tokyo would require approx. a decade of the current global battery production. That in turn requires colossal environmental damage to largely untouched ecosystems to mine the raw resources, land area and new power generation to produce the batteries, and ofc the batteries themselves contain a not insignificant proportion of fundamentally toxic waste that is non recyclable. Plus, about 70% of the world's cobalt comes from child slave labour in the Congo. They wrapped up by terming the current drive for batteries as the next big environmental disaster. Their verdict was that we should be pursuing life extension on existing plants, securing a reliable baseline supply (nuclear being a reasonable part of that), carbon capture where possible, and basically everything we can to push towards a hydrogen economy as soon as possible. In short, said person was not a fan of the current direction of global energy strategies and particularly battery dependence. But I guess its a case of "batteries" are where the money is now, so that is the way it will go. Some people will get very rich, and some people will get tremendous self worth out of their Tesla's etc. And the problems will be pushed down the road for the next generation.

#Facts (before MLG tries to garotte 😨 me, i mean this in relation to your first sentence). I also agree with your opinion as expressed in sentence No.2 😙.

He is a world class player on his day - but he's been stuck in a toxic environment with Madrid fans for years. He delivers for Wales time after time as well as on the biggest stages of all in continental and Spanish football. Its clear he only players when he really wants these days, but if Saints could afford to get him for a couple of years (and he wanted to be here) we'd be mental not to.

They didn't stick around long enough. But a good effort (for their short stint) none the less!

Apparently they're planning to shut down the Hamble and Hythe terminals (amongst other sites nationwide) from next weekend. Dread to think what that's going to do to fuel supply/prices (and energy prices generally), as well as harming businesses. Feel its very ill timed with everything else that is going on.

Was in Leeds weekend and it was stunning weather - probably not the case this weekend....And on current form its hard to see us winning either...

I would personally Play rice, JWP, and Bellingham in a midfield three and let the opposition deal with it. Bags of energy, drive, and defensive steel without being overly defensive. If england want to play a pressing game that can recycle the ball and feed the big man / tricky wingers - then that would be a good engine room. In front of Rice, JWP, Bellingham you'd have Grealish, Kane, sterling. Would be a tasty side. But it all depends on Southgate's style of play. I think it was Egg above who was saying that JWP might just miss out and i am inclined to agree sadly. I suspect he'd get a place if he was at a bigger club though. As for KWP, i think he should be in the squad based on his versatility and all round game. Think he offers a tremendous amount and we're very lucky to have him at saints. Weakest area of the team remains Central defence. No great picks there and all of them are much of a muchness. For wing backs/full backs we really do have an embarrassment of riches. Would have Watkins in the squad as a No.2 to Kane.

Yeah but what he said was bollocks let's be fair 😅. Outside of the whole branding point (which was wrong), wealthy owners (foreign and domestic) have been distorting football for almost as long as I can remember - it's not particularly new. Look at the early history of the first football league teams and you'll find start up teams with rich owners coming in and starting/funding clubs / poaching players etc. I also don't see the issue with owners having clubs in different countries that will never play each other competitively. Its the equivalent of owning multiple comolimentary businesses - which is standard practice. If people hate it then why do they still follow football? And ditto, why do you still follow saints as we had a billionaire owner funding us through league 1, the championship, and our return to the prem. I loved it when we were signing up lambert, fonte etc... but we only managed that because we had rich owners. Can't have it both ways!

Some good clips in there.

For ability and physical prowess I would say bale had it all on paper, and his performances at the top level lead me to say he probably is the best Britain has ever produced... But he also seemed to have an attitude that he really wasn't fussed half the time - which highlights both just how good he was (that he could just then it on to such a level), and also frustrates because there is no doubt he should have taken over from Ronaldo and Messi for me... but apparently he couldn't be arsed and would rather have put his feet up in the sun playing golf and taking his frankly obscene wages 😅 But let's be honest, that's fair enough 👍. Also he has had a lot of injuries in his later career.

Imagine KWP will be in the ear of any player wanting to go to spurs. And not in a way that is positive for those north london bottlers.

I thought the club's debts were taken care off as part of the takeover, hence the cheap price?