The Left Back

Cracking performance and result. It says something that I'm a little disappointed we didn't push on and win. We didn't hold out, after weathering the first 25 minutes while working them out, we out played and out fought them. So proud of them I simply don't get this attitude. If its banter it's not funny. If it's analysis it's inept. If it's support it's weird. Stephens was superb, nuff said. Thought Atwell had a good game...but that was a penalty to me and a deliberate stamp. I really felt he'd give it after standing up to the Man U whingers and divers all game. #obsessed Couldn't agree more. Romeu my mom today

Certainly not by you. Me I'm not trying to sweep it under the carpet, just move on from it. Something you seem unable to do. I see you are paying for a subscription now. That's bad news for the general cheeriness on here that has been present in the last few weeks.

f**k me there’s some depressing names high on that list. Even gladder we have Ralph

I'm surprised we've had nothing much to say about Che for 3 months, it took me ages to find this thread. To me he really has established himself now as the first choice striker for us. There's so much to his game to be happy about. Of course he could be more clinical in front of goal but that applies to all our forward players given the chances we create. But his all round game has come on so much since he joined. His link up play, holding up of the ball, passing, movement, fitness and his play out of possession are just really consistently good now. The reason for bumping this thread was his headed goal on Wednesday. In the early days his heading in front of goal seemed a weakness but the technique against Spurs was top class. The ball was slightly behind him and he was grounded, so to generate such power and accuracy was excellent. I'm obviously hoping we keep Broja but Adams' form gives me belief that we are not over-reliant on one forward.

This makes absolutely no sense. Nor does this. Fcuk me when we won the thing in 76 was it hollow cos we scraped past Villa and Bradford and got a lucky semi final draw? Hollow victory - what does that even mean?

Cricketers is best but my mates always end up in the Brewhouse, which is pretty lively and shows footie.

I'm not liking the sound of that @MinskWhatever you are facing I wish you all the luck in the world. Thanks for this thread (which I've really enjoyed) and also for being a reasonable, fair, progressive voice here.

Top priority for me is a first choice goal keeper. Someone comfortable on the ball as well as doing all the things a top keeper can do. Second priority is the hardest to find - a goal making, goal-taking number 10. People talk about Tadic but he's not really a Ralph type player as he doesn't do enough off the ball. So a Tadic-type with team work ethic. It's a shame because it could/should be Redmond - he's occasionally shown it but just not often enough - such a frustration. Third priority is a striker to replace Long. If Broja stays then I think we can go for a young undiscovered talent. If Broja goes I think we need someone more established. On the topic of Broja, I imagine we'll be communicating with Chelsea and his agent regularly over the coming months so will know the lie of the land well before the window opens. I don't think we'll get a repeat of the Toby drama - one way or the other it will be done as the window opens and known about before. After that it all gets more nuanced and depends on who's leaving. A back up for Romeu perhaps? Decisions to be made on Jack/Moi/Moussa - but not major ones, either they stay as squad players for the last year or get sold for smallish money. One thing not mentioned on here yet is the impact of our new ownership. Firstly it might just feel a more ambitious place to stay; there's sometimes a buzz in a club that we don't really get to see but that keeps players from looking elsewhere. Secondly, if we are going to be the head of a pyramid of clubs then talks may already be happening with other clubs and player movement might be one of the early signs of progress.

I'll join the very small minority. I think upbringing plays a much bigger part than nature, particularly the very early years. So I am not saying it's just about his money or status but I am agreeing with @Saint_clark on a couple of things. Firstly that we are largely a product of our primary care givers and secondly that, with the wrong upbringing, excess fame and fortune will breed entitlement and a lost moral compass, along with providing an environment in which bad behaviour can escalate unchecked. @eggI'd be interested in knowing who the esteemed behavioural psychologist was as this is a topic I'm interested in. The nurture v nature debate is a fascinating one and by no means resolved by the psychologist community.

f**k me are you two still at it@Dman and @TWar ? Don’t you get bored of this?

Have to disagree. MLT had the ambition to be a prem footballer. He had the class. If he was around now he would have been taught the right work ethic and fitness/dietary regime. And to compare Dele to him is an insult to the years he almost single handed lay kept us up.

You ask a profound question (even if you didn't realise it). Apologies to you and others if I am teaching grandmother to suck eggs here... Business cases for infrastructure spending are notoriously difficult. They require a creative, broad and long view of return on investment. The easy bit is the implications of letting the stadium decline to an unsafe standard. It's easy to justify spend in that case. After that it gets harder. You can't prove having red and white striped roof supports (for example) generate any income, so why bother? These things have to be taken in the round. A stadium that looks tired, unloved, old, whatever will start to put off sponsors, players and (some) supporters. A modern, well maintained, inspiring stadium speaks of a club on the up. These things can be converted into a business case but it's not straightforward. One trick is to find ways of upgrading infrastructure as part of a business plan that is stronger - e.g. renovating the whole stadium while enlarging it. I wonder if the new owners would be more ambitious about a bigger stadium than previous ones, given we are going to be the flagship of their stable (mixing metaphors!)? Another might be to tie infrastructure into a sponsorship deal - ie a refurb so that a new stadium sponsor can get its livery displayed everywhere. Or tie a refurb into a business case for other uses of the stadium - eg concert venue. So it's not easy - things like the padded seats are easier to justify as they are linked to price increases and therefore ROI is clear and measurable. But that is very old and conventional thinking. Plush seating in a run down stadium will only work to a point. Personally I think the stadium does need some fairly serious attention, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen this summer. The roof needs a good clean, the screens modernised (finally) and some fresh branding everywhere. I'd also like us to do something outside the ground with the gas towers, railway line and all the approaches. The pitch is world class, the rest of the stadium needs to be at least premier league standard, which is a much higher bar than 2001.

I've been watching this ever since I read the article (about three months ago). it is definitely a thing. When the ball goes out of play for the first time after 60 minutes someone sits down, gets medical attention and at least half of the test of the team trot over to Ralph for extra coaching and a drink. Last Saturday it took until 63 minutes (as Man City just keep the ball alive so well) and it was Stuey who did it.

I'm sorry but this post shows a profound lack of understanding of how logistics works.

Pretty much everything has been said. Fantastic game, fantastic atmosphere, fantastic goal, fantastic team spirit. Shame we couldn't hang on, particularly with such a soft goal, but otherwise a magical late afternoon/evening. One thing I'd like to add regarding the formation and the Redmond topics. I'd say we were clearly 4222 for the first 30/35 minutes - there's no doubt about that in my mind. Then we went to 451, Armstrong moved inside (from the left where he'd unusually been) Redmond swapped to wide left and Broja to right midfield. It was a change that didn't work, Broja looked totally lost and Redmond had a bit of a mare on his more usual side. During this period there was a lot shouting and arm waving between Redomnd and Bednarek, with Ralph joining in from the far side. It looked like a few of the team were having a right go at Redmond for not tracking back for the Sterling chance, and later giving the ball away in a dangerous position. So my reading is that Redmond was hooked at half time for that last 10/15 minutes indiscipline. Him and Armstrong had both been excellent prior to that in the 4222. Second half we looked much more like 442, mostly because we had so little of the ball.

Define quality of life

Why would he quit? He's behaving in exactly the way most people would have predicted. In fact he's been pretty much entirely predictable. I've no idea why he was voted in but it wouldn't be because of his giant moral compass. The only way he gets to go is if he gets stiffed by his own party - they're famous for it. Even the so-called legendary leader Thatcher ended up being the shown the door by those closest to her. As for what difference would it make if he quit I would guess not much. The damage he's done to the reputation of our political institutions is just a more extreme version of something bigger and more troubling. I don't think we can rely on anyone in the current system to be able to lead our country through the post-Brexit, post-Covid, climate-emergency, socially-unsettled, economically-polarised challenges we are facing. Me? I hate what the tories stand for. More than that I'd vote for anything that changes the current political system.

You took the words right out of my mouth

Not sure how to insert properly but thought this article was worth adding here https://www.in-common.co.uk/2022/01/19/5763/

Webster is a family friend, who grew up north of Romsey. A brilliant lad who I would love to see do a Tino and join us next season.

Interesting debate going on about centre halves this morning so thought I'd join in. I actually think we are pretty well stocked in this position so don't think we need to buy unless there is a real bargain to be had or gem to be unearthed. I prefer our CB options compared to most of the teams around us (and even prefer ours to West Ham's and Spurs). What I particularly like is there are 4 who can all be relied on to take the shirt and they all bring something a little different. Those wanting us to ship out Bednarek and 'upgrade' I just don't see that working or being a good idea. Changing out settled members of a performing, happy squad is not going to do anything for the spirit we've seen over most of this season. And I actually think Bednarek has been pretty decent this season. Yes he had a dip second half of last season but frankly who didn't? To say he's regressed under Ralph is just agenda-driven nonsense. And to say he's petrified of balls coming in the box is laughable. Salisu is the current pin-up CB and is clearly our number 1. He's fast and with good anticipation. But he's still young and learning and actually in the last few games hasn't been quite as good. But he's only going to get better. Stephens has become much more dependable and solid. He's also a good presence for the team. And he is the most gifted at bringing the ball out of defence. I could see him (or Bednarek) asking to leave if they don't get the game time given where they are in their careers but that's the only scenario I can see for change (other than catastrophic injury). Lyanco is very interesting. Apart from being too early to tell how he'll turn out my initial thoughts is that he has all the tools. If he can keep his head in a good place he could really develop into a top class defender.

Rishi is a good old Southampton lad but he's still a tory. No idea on what version of tory he is so could end up being very close to Starmer on the political spectrum.

It will depend on two things. When did the pin-head dance take place and who was invited. If it was early in pandemic then only one angel per pin head and only for an hour a day. Later 6 were allowed on the pinhead providing they could stay 2mm apart. And possibly only outdoors. etc etc etc If the dance took place in a government building then there would be no limit to the number of wine-drinking, cheese-eating fairies allowed, and in any case, that would clearly be a work event and not a dance party.

This is how they tidy up mess at the palace. BBC News The Duke of York's military titles and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen, Buckingham Palace has announced. Prince Andrew will also stop using the style His Royal Highness in an official capacity, a royal source added. The duke's roles will be distributed among members of the Royal Family. It comes as he faces a civil case in the US over claims he sexually assaulted a woman when she was 17, which he has consistently denied. A judge ruled on Wednesday that the case brought by Virginia Giuffre could continue, after he tried to have it dismissed. Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "With the Queen's approval and agreement, the Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.

Brentford lost because we scored 3 more goals than them. Brentford lost because we outplayed them. Brentford lost because we outfought them. Brentford lost because we outthought them. They didn't lose because of their errors. It was very fluid. I thought we were most often 532 when without the ball and 442 or 352 with the ball. The midfield 3 were very mobile and interchangeable. Our centre halves took many of the throw-ins. As for this week, I can see us playing three at the back again, KWP in for Tella or Redmond and that might be the only change.