Charlie Wayman

OED

pedant noun /ˈpednt/ /ˈpednt/ (disapproving) a person who is too concerned with small details or rules especially when learning or teaching A pedant will always insist that you ask for ‘fewer’ items rather than ‘less’. Fewer postings from you would be perfect, sir!

So how ironic will that be with Villa & Leicester fielding teams of ex-Saints. Do you think Bertie has had a word with his mate Vestergaard? Wonder if Ings & Targett are trying to get their Academy mate to join them?

Honestly, I do not think we are ready for this challenge whatever the locals are saying about their own team. It seems we have to make do and mend insofar as fielding a competitive team is concerned and it might be a few more weeks before we are fully back up to strength and fighting fit. Two key players gone, two more sidelined for one reason or another during pre-season and a trio of promising but relatively untested youngsters* almost guaranteed to be starters. By no means the best condition we have been in at the start of a new season. From what we have seen in the friendlies, for me the best team that can be put out next weekend will be :- Forster; Walker Peters - Stevens - Salisu* - Perraud*; Romeu - Diallo*; Armstrong - Armstrong - Redmond; Tella - Walcott. I am expecting a dour match and at best a goalless draw but more likely we will lose of 0-2. We might be living on our nerves a bit until this transfer window closes and potential wanna ways have to face reality and knuckle down for the fight.

Well, that's pretty much the end of pre-season and here is where we are, two of our best and most experience players have left, two more have not featured so far and will be nowhere near ready for PL action and one or two of our regulars like Bednarek are seemingly all at sea. We have brought in a couple of kids with potential and a full back and there is an outside chance of a striker coming in who will not be ready to slot into the side for a week or two. Could there be a worse possible situation for the toughest of starts? Navigating the weeks ahead will be a perilous journey for sure. Will the team have the character to recover if they start badly? Romeu as Captain can be relied on to fight to the end, Tella looks up for a scrap and maybe KWP, Armstrong and Redmond will give their all but who is there beyond that? Salisu and Diallo are relative novices in this league and will make mistakes as they settle in to starting roles. Djenepo and Adams are unreliable and Walcott's situation is puzzling. Carrying an injury? Whatever despite a new contract he didn't figure much in pre-season. The going is going to be tough. Based on what we have seen so far our best XI seems to be; Forster; Walker Peters - Stevens - Salisu - Perraud; Romeu - Diallo; Armstrong - Redmond; Tella - Walcott.

why not Walcott?

No knee jerk reaction from you thank goodness.

I have checked the ACB website but no indication of a stream or indeed on the SFC OS. Anybody out there with newer information? Fingers crossed🤞

Obviously he wasn't.

What is most telling is that even average PL players like Ings, Bertrand and likely Vestergaard and Poster Boy (apparently) want out even though they had been a huge part of creating the mess we find ourselves in. When the bigger rats leave with their suitcases you know the ship is about to founder. Why are they queuing up to leave? Perhaps they are fed up with having to follow the instructions of Watson, Davis & Co rather than Hasenhuttl? Placing our faith in youth is probably a misjudgement as we need to stay in the PL long enough for them to develop their full potential.

Can you buy a used striker and have it delivered to your door? Cazoo! Yes you can!

It was me! People laughed then.

What a save from Forster, world class.

Interesting that Elio is preferred to Theo tonight in what looks almost like our best XI at the moment. Guess they will shuffle things around for Saturday. Odd that the club will offer us access to Levante's stream but can't be arsed to do their own?

Ridiculous allegation.

Anybody know if the match is being streamed on the OS on Wednesday?

Are you completely insensitive and devoid of any empathatic human feelings towards others? This is one of the most crass and distressing posts I've ever seen on here. Shame on you

Frankly, total rubbish. Huffs and Puffs but not a demolition expert! £6m is a joke and not because it's too low.

Top Google, Top Wiki

The youngsters were getting a chance under clubman Frank Lampard but now that he has been ousted to make way for another foreign manager with a big budget from Abramovich, they probably feel it's best to move on.

If you think that's all there is to it then we really are in trouble. We have two weeks left to determine who plays and who does not, to work out our best team and get them playing together and working on partnerships and tactics. The days of turning up on the day and making it up as you go along are way past or hadn't you noticed? and to MLG Of course I realise that. See my post above where I see you do agree on time running short. To Other Critics I paid £8 to watch both matches rather than scrounge them for free through illegal links to dodgy websites and watched every single minute of both games. My comments were based on what I saw, not on wishful thinking and a quick watch of highly selective highlights.

Not sure what Ralph was trying to achieve today. Starting XI today will never be our starting XI in the PL. A game of two halves, the second being a snore-fest. What did we learn from this shambles? Not a lot! Tella is a future star; Ings just isn't at the races for whatever reason; we need Vestegaard back; Perraud has a lot ofwork to do to replace Bertrand adequately. Let's hope the games next week are more meaningful for the season ahead. Still, Swansea need my £5

... plus his Academy mate Matt Targett is there. Also don't forget he scored two free kicks against Villa last season so they know what they can get from him.

Will be interesting to see if he plays against The Swans tomorrow or has picked up yet another little knock on his calf. Let's be objective, Grealish scares the wits out of opposition defenders and is surely worth far more than JWP, who obviously isn't rated that highly by Southgate and that must count for something in the minds of other clubs. He needs to convince that he is more than a one trick pony and not particularly good at that trick. £35m is fair tops I'd say.

Not quite the £100m investment many might have hoped for and new screens and pictures of our Golden Poster Boy seem odd priorities. Some decent new loos and an end to smelly rot-your-socks urinals would have been a better place to spend £2.5m especially now that dodgy local craft beers will be on offer. I mean who in 2021 has a urinal in their house?