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Saints 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday - Saturday 3pm


goodymatt
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15 minutes ago, whelk said:

Soft spot for Wednesday. Chatted with few of their fans in pub beforehand. Glowing in their praise for us and talking about first game of season and how much we all don’t miss PL. Walking down to ground also overheard a group talking about how much they liked Saints. Notice loads applauded for the clapping tribute too. And boy do they like Danny Rohl. Really hope they stay up.

Me too always quite liked them. My son’s mates dad is a big Wednesday fan we were talking this morning and he likes us too. Wednesday are a decent club with a good fan base and another one with a bit of investment could be a decent premier league side.

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49 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Huddersfield, Watford, Coventry, Norwich all away games we lead into the late stages and didn’t win. 8 points dropped along with Rotherham at home makes it 10. We’ve been brilliant lately but we need near perfection 

Worth pointing out that winning those would now have had us level with Leicester. It's a ridiculous standard I agree but still room for improvement. 

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6 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

What’s the most visits a team has made to St Mary’s without ever winning a game? That was Wednesday’s eight unsuccessful visit in all comps, they last won here at the Dell in 1997.

Didn’t Newcastle go something like 30 years without a win? I can’t remember how many games it was but we had a ridiculous record over them. 3-1 down in the last minute and drawing 3-3 at the Dell, remember being 2-0 down against them and beating them 4-2, MLTs ridiculous two goals to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win when we were absolutely crap, last minute penalty in 1988 to win 1-0 when we hadn’t won for something like 18 games. At times it did seem like someone had put a curse on their visits to us. 

Edited by Turkish
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22 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

What’s the most visits a team has made to St Mary’s without ever winning a game? That was Wednesday’s eight unsuccessful visit in all comps, they last won here at the Dell in 1997.

We had a very long unsuccessful run against them in the 70s and 80s I think., broken “ only” by cup QF win in 84.

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2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Goals were great but some of that was in part because of what we had done previously tiring Wednesday out and they imploded. 

Good point well made. Unlike many matches earlier, we were front footed from the beginning, and although it seemed a bit frustrating for the first half an hour or so, that was mainly due to SW defending well, and I was still very happy with our performance at that time. We were consistently putting them under pressure, and by doing that from the get go it causes the other team to eventually tire, with the flood gates then opening. The opposite of the pedestrian stuff earlier, which was wasting half a match.

Well done RM!

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1 minute ago, Dark Munster said:

Good point well made. Unlike many matches earlier, we were front footed from the beginning, and although it seemed a bit frustrating for the first half an hour or so, that was mainly due to SW defending well, and I was still very happy with our performance at that time. We were consistently putting them under pressure, and by doing that from the get go it causes the other team to eventually tire, with the flood gates then opening. The opposite of the pedestrian stuff earlier, which was wasting half a match.

Well done RM!

Agree, 4-0 flattered them to be honest. Could have been more. We absolutely battered them. 

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1 minute ago, Dark Munster said:

Good point well made. Unlike many matches earlier, we were front footed from the beginning, and although it seemed a bit frustrating for the first half an hour or so, that was mainly due to SW defending well, and I was still very happy with our performance at that time. We were consistently putting them under pressure, and by doing that from the get go it causes the other team to eventually tire, with the flood gates then opening. The opposite of the pedestrian stuff earlier, which was wasting half a match.

Well done RM!

Absolutely. The reason I loved that 20 minutes after half time so much was because you could just see the pressure ramping up on them and how tiring it would be to keep the defending going. 

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4 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I forgot to put a little smiley on that 😞 I was just thinking about Bednarek's position being a bit untouchable. Now that Stephens is back, someone with some different skills and someone who Martin picked out as a leader in the group, he may not get quite the full games as he had, as Martin will want to keep all 3 sharp. For exactly the sort of scenario where one' of them isn't 100%. Stephens will be thrilled we're doing so well, even if that's going to restrict his own minutes a bit.

You do realise Bednarek was booked and taken off as a precaution just in case?

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3 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

You do realise Bednarek was booked and taken off as a precaution just in case?

At the time, I just thought Stephens was getting on for some minutes, with us well in the lead. Smallbone going off meant that Stephens could pass from deeper too. 🤷‍♂️

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5 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

At the time, I just thought Stephens was getting on for some minutes, with us well in the lead. Smallbone going off meant that Stephens could pass from deeper too. 🤷‍♂️

Nope it was to save a red card and a very good substitution

Edited by Give it to Ron
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1 hour ago, LGTL said:

One thing we do brilliantly is winning back possession inside 5 seconds of losing it. It’s crazy how often it happens, and Downes is a master at it. 

We also love a tactical foul too, which helps, pretty sure we have the most bookings in the league. 
 

Found the whole Rohl thing weird from some of our fans in build up, acted like he was the secret behind any success we had with Ralph, nonsense, he was here six months wasn’t he?

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5 minutes ago, Appy said:

Found the whole Rohl thing weird from some of our fans in build up, acted like he was the secret behind any success we had with Ralph, nonsense, he was here six months wasn’t he?

Ralph wasn't the same after those first six months, and Rohl is doing a good job at Sheffield Wednesday. He will keep them up. 

I see today as more of a focus on how well we are currently doing rather then any drawbacks perceived on an opposing coach.

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20 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

Ralph wasn't the same after those first six months, and Rohl is doing a good job at Sheffield Wednesday. He will keep them up. 

I see today as more of a focus on how well we are currently doing rather then any drawbacks perceived on an opposing coach.

We had three or four very good spells after Rohl had gone, he was good when he was here, but to suggest we weren’t any good when Rohl left is a bit much. 
 

But of course, we’re doing brilliantly, I’m probably not used to writing something positive without any drawbacks, reflection of the last few years I expect! 

Edited by Appy
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29 minutes ago, Appy said:

We had three or four very good spells after Rohl had gone, he was good when he was here, but to suggest we weren’t any good when Rohl left is a bit much. 
 

But of course, we’re doing brilliantly, I’m probably not used to writing something positive without any drawbacks, reflection of the last few years I expect! 

I know what you mean. Just wish I could actually get to St Mary's to see it in person.

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4 hours ago, Turkish said:

Me too always quite liked them. My son’s mates dad is a big Wednesday fan we were talking this morning and he likes us too. Wednesday are a decent club with a good fan base and another one with a bit of investment could be a decent premier league side.

I've always liked Wednesday as well, great club, decent fans.

Was good again today, St Marys feels very very different again and rightly so, great atmosphere.

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3 hours ago, LGTL said:

One thing we do brilliantly is winning back possession inside 5 seconds of losing it. It’s crazy how often it happens, and Downes is a master at it. 

Yes, and that is why we can afford to try lots of more ambitious attacking long and through balls. High reward when it works, so well worth it against opposition who are of lower calibre where we can quickly get the ball back, when inevitably it doesn’t work every time.

 

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51 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I've always liked Wednesday as well, great club, decent fans.

Was good again today, St Marys feels very very different again and rightly so, great atmosphere.

Wednesday fans were excellent and loud for 15-20 mins but then fell mostly silent as did most of the stadium, thought it was really flat in the circumstances. Plenty knock it, but the only time the place really wakes up is with the goal music after we score, then quickly settles back down into a low hum.

Noticeably less skate chants thankfully but does limit the song sheet!

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52 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Yes, and that is why we can afford to try lots of more ambitious attacking long and through balls. High reward when it works, so well worth it against opposition who are of lower calibre where we can quickly get the ball back, when inevitably it doesn’t work every time.

 

Saints under RM ( and notably quite a few of our recent managers) have a noticeable policy of attempting to regain possession very quickly once its lost. And in particular for the saints player so dispossessed to swiftly lead the effort to regain possession, aided by his closest teammates  
 

I’m not sure it’s been all that Opponent dependent. Ive tried to think if we’ve done this more against weak teams than strong and I don’t think there’s much if any difference. It’s default standard procedure home and away whoever we play. 

It’s situation dependent for sure. At start of most matches we always compete especially strongly to regain possession, ditto last five minutes. Once and if we have scored a breakthrough goal we often attempt to put the boot to the neck and attempt to “ swarm” our opponent.

Another situation is If we are 1-0 up with only minutes to play - saints may produce a more subdued and defensive shape retaining version of the policy - but that’s the same v good or weak teams. 

Its certainly easier against a weaker opponent than a strong opponent ( meaning technically less able to hold possession under pressure) but I don’t  think I’ve seen us change this policy much if at all versus stronger or weaker teams in this league, this season. 
 

Interesting concept though, that it may be tuned up or down according to the opponent and I think there’s s seed of truth in that - though it comes with a health warning because as soon as we start to consider teams as inferior ( or vice versa) to us and hence more appropriate for us to attempt to take liberties with regaining ball possession ( school playground bully style) we invariably come a cropper. 

That’s why overall I think it’s a default policy but one in which RM encourage the players to be situation aware, and dial it up- or dial it down accordingly. 

Edited by gio1saints
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8 hours ago, Colinjb said:

Ralph wasn't the same after those first six months, and Rohl is doing a good job at Sheffield Wednesday. He will keep them up. 

Absolute myth. Something fans have made up and latched on to as a stick yo beat Ralph with. 

We had some of the best football spells under Ralph without Rohl. Lockdown football run, culminating in sitting top of the league, was incredible  

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What a difference RM is making. Love going to St Mary’s for the first season in years. 
And last year a scared, inept, confused and depressing premier league saints needed penalties to beat a league one Wednesday and you honestly couldn’t tell who the PL side was, with all the financial advantages.

This year we’re in the same division and we looked worlds apart. Shows what confidence, coaching and mentality can do when added to the monetary help.

Let’s make it count and get promotion!

Game itself - after the first minute panic it was never in doubt, just a matter of when. We wear teams down and now have the confidence to not panic if it’s taking a while. No surprise we’ve turned 1-0 leads from 60 minutes into absolute thrashings 4 times in a row at home. Just need to have the belief we can do the same on the road - we certainly have the quality.

Excellent performances everywhere, KWP brilliant again. ArmA with a goal and 3 assists and still not MOTM which Fraser earned with a fantastic display. Special mention too for Downes - our control of midfield when he plays is crucial and he makes it look easy. It’s staggering for his age.

Enjoyed the Dibling cameo too. 
 

Hope Wednesday stay up - another person with mates connected to the club and I’ve always liked them.

Finally, about as bad a ref as we’ve had this season. Good job it didn’t matter but he was dreadful.

Well done again to all the players and coaches - barely put a foot wrong and all deserve full praise for that display!

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9 hours ago, Appy said:

We also love a tactical foul too, which helps, pretty sure we have the most bookings in the league. 
 

Found the whole Rohl thing weird from some of our fans in build up, acted like he was the secret behind any success we had with Ralph, nonsense, he was here six months wasn’t he?

Quite the opposite, Saints are near the bottom. Other teams are resorting to fouls to stop them.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/fairnesstabelle/wettbewerb/GB2/saison_id/2023

 

Screenshot_20240114-092435_Chrome.jpg

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Difference is that we are passing and moving, able to switch the tempo up and down. When the tempo goes up, few teams at this level can live with us. Fourth goal was a piece of art but all the goals were well worked. Downes superb at winning it back and re-starting moves. Defence solid and KWP such a threat coming forward. AA would prefer to play centre forward but this season and Blackburn shows he is so much more effective cutting in from wide. Che picking it up again after his autumn lull.

Great to watch after six years of dire, slow home displays, bar Ralph’s first season.

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47 minutes ago, macca155 said:

Quite the opposite, Saints are near the bottom. Other teams are resorting to fouls to stop them.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/fairnesstabelle/wettbewerb/GB2/saison_id/2023

 

Screenshot_20240114-092435_Chrome.jpg

That table shows only Sheff Wed get more cards than us. We are second bottom of the fair play league.

@Appy was correct in identifying the teams use of the tactical foul as a standard tool . It’s been obvious that RM likes a “ good” foul or his players “ taking a card” if it stops a goal or goal action and he’s given his tacit consent if not encouragement to the team to keep on doing it. We will see a red or reds no doubt from it one day but so far the benefits ( of less goals conceded) seem to outweigh the potential downsides ( playing with ten men) . 

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1 hour ago, Harry_SFC said:

It's the other way round. We are the second worst in the league! 

Opps my mistake sorry. However good to see, we are no longer the whipping boys, dishing it out a little as well.

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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.

 

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4 minutes ago, Monk said:

Obviously it was lovely having the day off from working ‘you know where’!

If you've had anything to do with their usual winter capitulation then take a bow, sir! :)

#agentmonk 

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1 hour ago, Monk said:

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?) 

Your “issue” with RM for me is actually one of his strongest attributes. Massive change was needed, he stuck to his philosophy and principles, allowed the building blocks of transformation to become solid as fuck. We had a blip in September where RM thought we were ready to take the next step in the journey but we weren’t, he’s taken that owned it and sorted it. He’s a seriously good manager, not everyone seems to be comfortable with that and are looking for reasons why he shouldn’t be recognised as such. 
 

We all make mistakes, reflect, own it and move on. 

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8 hours ago, farawaysaint said:

Even the Sunderland spanking

perhaps not quite the same situation.  By this time we had already used 19 different players, and Stephens had been injured in the previous game,

and It was Holgate's nightmare debut (after he had only signed two days before and most likely hadn't been introduced to everyone) .

 

JWP and Tella  had both gone.  It was only  2nd outing for both Downes and Fraser .... and no-one had really come to terms with " Russ ball ".

We were 3-0 down at HT  ...and the game was already lost.   Bednarek was injured during the game but stayed on, but Holgate went off after  

64 minutes and was replaced by Charles in only his 3rd game.   Adam. A  up front with Edozie  (!)... who was ineffective and  Adams and Fraser

both came on after 45 minutes  ...as well as an (unfit) Aribo but it made little difference to the result. 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Monk said:

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.

Somebody had collapsed at the bottom of the stairs to the concourse. People were being directed to the concourse exit at pitch level. This caused more congestion than usual.

 

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5 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Your “issue” with RM for me is actually one of his strongest attributes. Massive change was needed, he stuck to his philosophy and principles, allowed the building blocks of transformation to become solid as fuck. We had a blip in September where RM thought we were ready to take the next step in the journey but we weren’t, he’s taken that owned it and sorted it. He’s a seriously good manager, not everyone seems to be comfortable with that and are looking for reasons why he shouldn’t be recognised as such. 
 

We all make mistakes, reflect, own it and move on. 

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. 

Edited by Monk
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Nothing to do with the game but spoke to two of my nepehews today who are Orient fans and were at the game. Apparently they were all singing the saints are going up all through the match. Anyway, made me chuckle.

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36 minutes ago, Monk said:

It appeared every other block cleared reasonably except ours.

Majority of the crowd around us in the Itchen were leaving on the 85th minute. Four nil up at home and still people leave before the end of the game. Could understand if the score was reversed, but why not say and celebrate at the final whistle? 

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1 hour ago, Monk said:

Did I say something wrong or you agreeing?

It appeared every other block cleared reasonably except ours.

Relax Carlos. Just suggesting why block 34 may have taken longer than usual to clear of “dickheads” as you call them. Not me. Final whistle and I’m off like a whippet. I hope the poor soul who took ill or had a fall is ok. 

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On 13/01/2024 at 21:36, Give it to Ron said:

You do realise Bednarek was booked and taken off as a precaution just in case?

Jan also went to 8 bookings on Sat

https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=72632

IMO a 2 match ban will come in a few weeks. It is important to get Jack up to speed to play 2 games in a few days (Sat/Wed etc) when he gets to 10.

 

Ryan is not far behind on 7 and I expect him to get some stick on Sat from their fans so we may have 2 players that the Manager has worry about. 

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1 hour ago, Saint_John said:

Jan also went to 8 bookings on Sat

https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=72632

IMO a 2 match ban will come in a few weeks. It is important to get Jack up to speed to play 2 games in a few days (Sat/Wed etc) when he gets to 10.

 

Ryan is not far behind on 7 and I expect him to get some stick on Sat from their fans so we may have 2 players that the Manager has worry about. 

Nicely spotted. Players get 2 games suspended for reaching 10 by the 38th match ( source google).

That’s both Ryan and Jan out probably around beginning Feb - on current form. Hopefully JS and a fit again James Bree at that time ensure no major loss in personal or momentum. 

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1 hour ago, gio1saints said:

Nicely spotted. Players get 2 games suspended for reaching 10 by the 38th match ( source google).

That’s both Ryan and Jan out probably around beginning Feb - on current form. Hopefully JS and a fit again James Bree at that time ensure no major loss in personal or momentum. 

But our next game after Swansea is the FA Cup game at Watford, any bookings picked up then don't count towards a league ban. Time enough for Bree to get fit enough to replace Manning - I would pick Bree anyway.

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6 hours ago, waylander said:

But our next game after Swansea is the FA Cup game at Watford, any bookings picked up then don't count towards a league ban. Time enough for Bree to get fit enough to replace Manning - I would pick Bree anyway.

Think Meghoma proved himself capable of stepping up for a game or two as well.

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