SaintBobby

I was at Wembley. Utterly dire.

100%. I don;t think there's been an error yet of note - nor any serious agonising delays.

Not bad from England at all. Shearer, Lampard and Rio getting a bit carried away on how “excellent” we were. Solid. Not much more. V disappointed in Croatia, they looked poor for World Cup finalists. Progression to 2nd round almost certain after that. Still don’t expect us to get much further than that though.

There's all sorts of stuff I'd watch on TV, but i don't think should be broadcast. HTH.

I agree, it was terrible that the BBC didn't switch back to the studio more quickly. The other thing I found weird - and bizarre - was that they used those flags to over the stretcher as they deparetd the pitch. To my mind, this meant for sure that he was dead. Also, there are no reports yet - are there? - about what actually happened to him? Stroke? Anyeurism? Heart attack?

If JWP played for Burnley, Turkish - for one - would be fawning all over him. Because Burnley would then have at least 7 players who could improve the Saints starting XI 😂😂😂

When does the announcement for the 26th slot get made? Tonight?

The bit that irritates me is every time they take the knee, the commentator says the players are "once again, sending a very clear message". What exactly is the message? If it's just that we abhor racism, great. If they disagree with BLM on defunding the police and replacing capitalism with Marxism, I'd like the PFA or players to make that clear. I'd like to boo those last two propositions, but it's a bit unclear to me what the players are really signalling. It seems either (a) obvious or (b) wrong. I just don't know which.

It's definitely a political gesture to take the knee. It's not neutral. The Black Lives Matter organisation supports, amongst other things, defunding the police and the overthrow of capitalism. Fair enough if you support such things. But (a) I'd rather keep politics out of football as much as possible (b) it's perfectly fine to boo if you want.

I think he looks great and is still improving. He’s probably a starting XI player for me - although some may argue that he’s only remarkable owing to the flatness of the surrounding landscape.

I think he should call up KWP rather than JWP. I'm worried England are now desperately short of right backs.

I'm not so agitated JWP misses out. Gutted for him, obviously and it must have been a marginal call. Am more worried we are taking, what is it?, just 5 midfielders to go along with 4 right-backs.

This looks pretty reasonable to me over the long-term. With the exception of the recent absurd hike for a cushion...

I can think of better things to spend the money on. Especially as money clearly is tight. On the basis of what we’ve seen, I wouldn’t take a punt.

I think the key question is whether Ralph has learnt anything and can adapt. If we go into next season, having sold a couple of top players and not really replaced them, with a “one more heave” strategy, we won’t do well. But can Ralph adapt? Obviously any signings will matter, but also whether he can change, adapt or improve the way we play. Jury out on that, obviously!

It’s all a bit flat at the moment, but I think they’ll be 3 worse teams

Maybe. Although I guess they haven’t sold out of general season tickets either. I was pretty pleased when they brought in the Saints bar option. I was willing to pay a lot more than c£600 for a season ticket but not £3,000 per seat in a box. That said, I’m sceptical that I’d be up for paying £200 or £300 each season just for a cushioned seat.

Possibly. Although they've failed to sell out the Saints bar allocation in the last few seasons.

Lampard underperformed, for sure. Got to think Chelsea have a reasonable chance of the title next season with Tuchel. He's beaten Man City three times in the last few weeks, no?

It’s terrible timing. It’s also a weird price point. I have season tickets in the Channon suite/Saints bar. They are £1,600 a pop. A pricey, luxury item for sure. But in addition to the coveted padded seat on the halfway line, you get 3 free drinks a game, a reasonably adequate lunch, a free programme and access to the lounge 2 hours before and after the match, interviews with ex-players, lots of screens showing Sky/BT Sports (and the early/late kick off matches). No real queues for the toilets - and for smokers you can pop out for a smoke at any time. Appreciate that it’s not an option for everyone and the atmosphere is pretty dire in that part of the stadium, but if people are tempted to buy a very expensive season ticket, that seems a way better deal than £1,000 to just get a cushion.

At the Leeds match, one of the staff in the Saints bar/suite told me they expect the “standard” match against reasonably decent European competition at St Mary’s on the weekend before the season starts. Hardly a surprise, but thought I’d pass it on.

Looks to me that you might be able to imagine both sides settling for a draw. That’s enough for West Ham - a win doesn’t push them any higher - and may well be enough for us to maximise our league position, depending on scores elsewhere. Probably only impacts the latter stages of the match and only then marginally, but maybe makes the 3/1 on the draw a bit tempting.

Have West Ham definitely qualified for Europe? If Saints, Spurs and Everton all win, doesn’t that leave them 8th? Is that sufficient? I’m losing track of the qualification rules - especially with this third new Euro competition.

It's a "must win" game.

I thought that it is no longer a red if a penalty is awarded? Deny a goal scoring opportunity outside the box and it's red. Inside the box is penalty and maybe a yellow. Or have I made that up?