Saint86

Sure whitey 🙄👍. Penalty not given for Sunderland vs Ipswich today that should have been as well. Not going well for the bin var brigade. There really is no logic for having technology that affords refs a better chance to make correct and fair calls, and then just binning it off. I just hope saints can go through the season and not get screwed over in an important way.

That ball is clearly over the line, the norwich player hasn't kicked it in that image yet which means it would have rolled further as well. But regardless, the view is square on looking along the line and it's out... The world Cup one (another great example of var being used to get a correct decision) was in when viewed square on from above / in plan. So that Norwich one is another example of what happens without var - already the points being decided by its absence and an avoidable ref error 😞

So change the rules or how it's applied. I personally just can't get on board with the particular viewpoint that, "they tried it, it was bad in that guise, and so the whole thing should go on the bin" 🤷‍♂️ - And I know that isn't everyone's stance.

Absolutely no way we should be ditching var. "Var gets some decisions wrong and we don't like it... so let's go back to a world where decisions were wrong all the time and huge errors were made on a game by game basis... it's okay really, we're happy gabbi's 3rd Wembley goal was incorrectly ruled out... the game flowed 🙄". Not to mention a plethora of other shocking decisions over the years that could have sent us down, Charlie austin's parklife rant, that doucoure hand of God goal for Watford etc. spring to mind. And those are just saints related. Which fan in the country doesn't remember our world Cup exit after lampard's goal was ruled not to have crossed the line vs Germany? A refereeing error is a refereeing error, but choosing not to use technology that can help the refs is just idiotic. The people asking for this are basically happy for us to lose the play off final due to a lack of var. The refs are the issue, not the technology.

He would actually have suited that Wednesday game a lot. The number of crosses we put into the box where it was crying out for a big forward to get in the end of them!

He's got a lot of skill, needs to learn some composure for the final product in the box, and he's far too weak currently. If he can improve both of those aspects he's got a bright future.

What is going on with KWP if We're signing Aarons? KWP was great yesterday and is definitely a player we should be trying to keep

Stats for Bazunu if people are interested. Fairs badly on shot stopping whichever way you swing it - see PSxG +/- (goals against vs post shot expected goals). Comes out fairly well for his kicking. 50% of passes and 67% of GKs launched more than 40yards. We played with him as one of the longest and most common kickers in the league (tactical), but he still had a competitive completion rate at 33.7%. Surprised me on the crossing front, one of the higher stop percentages at nearly 8%. Better than Macca and much better than forster (surprise surprise 😄). Does well for sweeping statistics as well (again tactical), but one of the higher avearages for completing defensive actions outside the area per 90.

I believe he's referring to post shot expected goals. I.e. a statistical breakdown of how likely a keeper is to save a shot after its been hit - i.e. for given placements, powers, ranges etc. statistically how many are saved.

That was only in December... Bit of a concern if Martin can lose his call that quickly as well. Will be tense moments this year like as not.

Arsenal and Brentford ranked 4th and 3rd for set piece goals last season, so on the face of it not a bad hire - Especially if we keep the FK GOAT.

Agreed. We've done very well here imo.

Why are you arguing with the boo boys, they'll find any reason to have a go at the club. May as well be skates.

No. Reality is that Bree has shown absolutely nothing for saints to imply he should be near our matchday squads. And would be pretty confident that KWP is off given his contract situation - surely we won't let him leave on a free.

I think it massively benefits us. Out of the 3 possible big sales, Tino would be the one i am least fussed about. Hasn't looked great in preseason and has suffered a lot with injuries in his time here. A large part of his game was his pace/athleticism when attacking down the right, and after the ACL there is no certainty right now whether he will ever fully recover that part of his game or what impact it will have on his ultimate potential. It also means we are in a much better spot now financially, and we really can wait until late in the window with transfer sales - which might well push up how much we get on Lavia/JWP or others... teams will know they've got to pay the asking price or risk someone else coming in.

The guy with 11months on his contract...

Selling one of our best starters is not, "slimming the squad down" - nor is signing a couple of new players with those funds. What we need to do is shed a load of our CB's and attacking players that are not good enough and surplus to requirements. We need to make one big sale, and since it seems highly unlikely we can keep Lavia here long term (and motivated) it is likely to be him. Especially if we can get £50-60M for him.

I think FFP rules are different between the championship/EFL and the premier league? But i don't know what happens re losses in the championship/prem years being considered once a team has been relegated/promoted to the other division.

Selling him for £40M makes little sense tbh. Keep him and we get promoted and then still get to sell him for a minimum of £30M next summer...

Don't disagree, but offset somewhat by the fact we'll have relegation wage clauses in our other players and i also have no idea how those are structured. Onuachu was a mental buy at £18M sadly. But DCC was only £8M(?) so cant see that we'll lose badly on him?

Thought i'd do a summary of our transfer dealings so far (sorry 😋) and consider it against the parachute payments and likely financial imapct vs the wage prem situation. Sales so far (wages are assumed savings compared to prem levels) Salisu = £15M and assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) Orsic = £3M and assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) Moi = Assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) Theo = Assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) Diallo = Assume a nominal £2M fee and £50k/w (2.6M/year) Willy and Liz = assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) between them. Assumed transfer subtotal = £20M Assumed wage saving per year = £15.6M We know Lavia is going to go for minimum £45M and assume £50k/w (2.6M/year) Assumed transfer subtotal = £65M Assumed wage saving per year = £18.2M Likely we see sales of multiple players from the following bracket: Bednarek - £10M? DCC - £7M? Lyanco - _£7M? ABK - £20M? Aribo - £5M? Onuachu - Nominal load fee and wages (assume £50k/w or 2.6M/year) Adams - 10M? Djenpo - £7M Lets assume we bank about another £35M from that lot - Say Adams, Bednarek, DCC, Lyanco, and about £15M in wage savings - including Onuachu). Assumed transfer subtotal = £100M Assumed wage saving per year = £33.2M We'll also bank circa £50M in parachute payments in the first year, plus there is the new championship TV deal for which we seem to be quite popular. So in total, yearly savings of around £185M, spend to date of £12M, which totals out as CIRCA £170M for the year currently. Obviously this ignores balancing the wage bill longer term vs the reducing parachute payments. Note, this also excludes a relegation wage clause being in most of our players' contracts, whereas i guess(?) i could probably knock off another 20% of remaining wages and still be conservative on that front? Although against this we will have outstanding transfer payments on previous buys i guess. I can't remember what the predicted shortfall was in predicted as part of relegation? But i would imagine that with the Lavia sale (and assuming medium success in shifting some of the bloat as above) that we should be in a fairly solid spot? The two other possible sales are JWP for at least £35M and £100K per week (5.2M/year), and Tino, for whom i guess we'd bank £15M-20M plus wages. But i think the above highlights that we probably do only need to make one major sale from a financial perspective?

I wouldn't sell him for less than £40M. He's invaluable to us on many levels, he'll play every damn minute, and he'll comfortably hit double figures this season. He's the captain and has a long contract - our big sale is clearly going to be lavia for at least £50M (despite others saying we'd have to take £40M earlier in the window), and sales such as Salisu, DCC, Diallo, Orsic etc, will all help in raising funds and reducing the wage bill. We don't need to sell all the family china - especially if it means gutting central midfield in a martin possession heavy side this close to the season starting. Charge west ham a premium! Can always strike a deal with JWP that he can move in January / next summer if promotion isn't on the cards as well.

I thought it was very strange at the AZ Alkmar when he came off. Usually friendly subs are done quickly. But JWP came off by himself with time allowed for the fans to applaud him off. Equally though, JWP didn't acknowledge anything special about it such as clapping the fans back etc.

I think they'll stick with him unless it's terrible. Could see it becoming a "trust the process" style season with division amongst the fans and loads of high scoring games or nearly results.

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