Redslo

Frankly, after seeing the opposing goalkeeper score against us last year, I now consider our goalkeeper to have had an off day every time he does not score.

NBCsn, the network that carries the Premier League in the USA, is broadcasting a 1 hour episode of Premier League Download (which I have never before heard of or watched) called "The Southampton Way" on New Year's Day at 2:30 pm California time. I have no idea whether this has already been shown in England or how someone in England can view it, but I thought I would give everyone a head's up so you can look for it if you want to.

I don't think we can sign other premier league club's players during the season. We can sign players from other countries whose contracts are expiring. I am basing this on how things work in Football Manager. I have not researched the rules.

I just published “I make Predictions (Round 19).”

I posted “Good Luck Bournemouth.” http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

It is probably not just Chambers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11308606/Revealed-The-truth-behind-Arsenals-terrible-injury-record-and-how-your-club-shapes-up.html

And I want to thank everyone who, for the most part, make me welcome in the Southampton FC community even though I am an American who still has to work hard not to say soccer. I hope you all had a great Festivus and will have a convivial Kwanzaa.

replicant?

Oddly enough, my mother's stripper name is "Bearsy Full Member."

And we could loan another player from Chelsea.

Since, I assume it is ok by you if I continue to blog, even if I am wrong, have a Happy Festivus.

I don't quite understand this comment. I am not using baseball statistics for football games. At times I use the same philosophical approach that is often referred to as moneyball but, at its core, that is about looking for hidden sources of player value that are not commonly recognized and obtaining that value for your team cheaply. (Of course, since I don't actually run a football team I am not really doing that, but whatever.) There is no reason the method can't work in football just with more difficulty because baseball is peculiarly susceptible to analyzing individual components of the game independently whereas football is peculiarly not susceptible to that approach. The second part of your comment is demonstrably wrong. The fact that there might be some way for someone to gain a betting advantage does not mean betting will not occur. There will always be people with less knowledge, incorrect knowledge, or who let their emotions take priority over their knowledge. You might as well assert that no football matches can possibly be fixed because if they were everyone would bet on the winning side. In fact, there will be people who do not know that the match was fixed. The same is true with football pools. Plus, if I figured out how to always get every game right, I might keep my technique secret and just win the money for myself. Also, there will always be random factors that are not determinable so that no sport (or any other human activity) will every be completely predictable.

I just posted “I Make Predictions (Round 18 ).” http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/

Bet you are wrong.

I agree. It would be foolish to lose a BPL caliber player whom we use often and when we do use him he is of critical importance.

Given the UK's work permit rules, I am not sure there is any way to do this. http://www.inbrief.co.uk/football-law/footballer-work-permits.htm That being said, DeAndre Yedlin got a work permit to go to Tottenham. He has played in 10 USA international games but only four were non-friendlies and the USA played in 20 non-friendly games in the past two years so he did not meet the 75% requirement. Apparently, the authorities decided was a "player of the highest caliber" or would be "able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in the UK." What might help is if Southampton were in a position to loan players to MLS teams and generate favorable publicity in doing so. I don't know if it is possible and MLS roster rules are a quagmire. We will have a better idea of what is possible when we see how much Manchester City helps out its New York City franchise. However, the disagreement over the fate of Frank Lampard may foul that up.

This is not actually correct. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-10/nfl-cheerleaders-battle-teams-for-minimum-wage

And another--well admittedly not as interesting, but still relevant http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/11301027/Southampton-2014-the-calendar-year-reviewed.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11308606/Revealed-The-truth-behind-Arsenals-terrible-injury-record-and-how-your-club-shapes-up.html http://www.football-oranje.com/why-dutch-clubs-sell-their-best-players/

I agree. I just think it is more likely than us being relegated.

I just published “My Scouting Report (January 2015 edition).” http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/

http://www.football-oranje.com/twente-midfielder-to-have-a-trial-at-southampton/

The disparity between the best and worst teams was much smaller then. As a result, relegation occurred with better records and championships were won with worse records. The world is much different now. I suspect that one team will be relegated this year with fewer points than we already have. It is (I am guessing) more likely that all three relegated teams will end up with fewer than 29 points than it is that we will be relegated. But nothing is impossible.

The Glazers abuse of Manchester United has been better covered than I could ever do at http://andersred.blogspot.com/ although I wish he would post more often. As you can undoubtedly tell, doing the predictions is easy now that I have set up the system--although I do enjoy being slightly better, on average, than the real expert. The fact that you like my research based posts in encouraging and discouraging at the same time. They are a lot of work--I have been doing a scouting report for the January Transfer window and have already spent 8 or 9 hours on it and it will not be done for several more. My look at what the results after nineteen games mean on a historical basis will probably take a comparable amount of time. But I have more spare time this week than I have had in a month or more. So off I go.

So in our remaining 21 games we will score 31 goals and give up only 6. Yet we will go 10-6-5. Clearly, the five losses must all be 1-0 losses. Very likely, the six draws will be 5 0-0 draws and a single 1-1 draw. That means that in our ten wins we will score 30 goals and give up none. Does not seem particularly plausible to me.