Tommy Mulgrew

I think we shall do well in this top v bottom game. I can see Manning having Salah in his pocket the whole game. Ditto, Bree with Gakpo. Archer will bully Konate and van Dijk and soften them up for Tall Paul to come on and score with ease, brushing Alison/Kelleher aside. Sully will roast TAA and create the chances for TP to score. On the other side, Dibling will skin Tsimikas at will. Talking of Will, Smallbone, Les and Aribo will smother Liverpool’s midfield and ensure we face only two shots on target all game. Gravenberch and MacAllister don’t know what hit them. Fernandes does enough to ensure a lucrative summer offer to move to Anfield. Macca, coming on for the injured Rambo, will chew gum throughout and impress with saves from both short and long range. He dominates the box and punches all Liverpool corners away, at least all those that do not go to the opponent, loitering on the edge of our area, whose shot is blocked by the rapidly closing down Smallbone. Liverpool’s inevitable penalty is beaten away from danger by Macca with aplomb. Sugawara and Welington stand like a colossus repelling the late Liverpool onslaught in the 23 minutes of extra time. ABK and THB outmuscle Nunez and Diogo Jota every time, shutting out all threats to our goal. Yes, we play 4:3:2,1 and it works a treat. 0:2; who saw that coming. A real-life David and Goliath story that ends with Callagher, Merson and Sutton eating the Anfield turf. Who cares about merely beating Derby’s points total? The greatest escape of all time is well and truly under way. We finish a point above Wolves in May and all of the previous games this season are lost in the mists of time. Juric is hailed as our saviour and the Northam is renamed in his honour.

Some rare sightings in the latest u21 game: Southampton: McNamara, Payne, Fry, Moore (Abu 64), Kayi Sanda, Bragg (c), Robinson, Sesay, Stewart (Dipepa 45'), Udoh (Charles 79'), Larios (Akachukwu 45) https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/u21-report-saints-3-3-sunderland

What is the Italian national debt like? Perhaps we could suggest that Italy buys out Dragan to rid us of SR once and for all. Ciao.

That augurs well for next season if we do not sell him. He seems to think and move more quickly than other players on the field, not what I could say about many of our team this season - I know we are in a different league but we won’t be next season. He seems to have bulked up a bit and does not get outmuscled as much as he did when playing for us last year. I’d certainly prefer Charles to Smallbone in our midfield in the foreseeable future.

For those wot don’t know, Plainmoor is Torquay’s stadium.

Although the thread is about us and the skates, your reference to the south coast did not seem to me to relate only to local rivalry. I saw both Exeter and Plymouth do much better against recent premier league opponents than we did this season and I would not fancy our chances against either of those two south coast clubs if we were to play them right now. But you did say ranked, not whether we could win and we still rank higher than either. I nevertheless believe we would safely thrash Torquay, which is now not even in the national league but in the NL South, but is certainly not a rival club of ours. (I wouldn’t go so far as MLG in quoting Exmouth otherwise where would we stop? Beer Albion?) End of present discourse, I suggest, my friend.

Watch out Torquay; the mighty Saints are coming to get you!

“every little helps”

Perhaps Juric should watch the Saints women play: Remi Allen has them in a 4:2:3:1 or 4:4:2 formation most games and we concede at a rate of one goal a game. The extra player in midfield that playing only two CBs gives you should avoid the wide open spaces we have been seeing in front of the defence and reduce the endless oppo runs to the heart of our penalty area. It might mean we play one fewer full backs, too. 😉 I know plenty of others have said something similar on here; I just thought I’d add my tuppenceworth to the debate.

The Chuckle brother is way beyond tiresome. Can someone please bar him from reacting to posts? prttty, prttty please!

VAFC 0: FC Rouen 0. A missed opportunity. 😩 But VAFC win2:1 on yellow cards! 😃 A bit like us, really. 😇

Whooooossshh!!!!!

Paul Chuckle 1 Paul Chuckle, why on earth do you persist with all these emojis on MLG’s posts? It makes you seem to be a prat of the first order. Perhaps you are.

I’m on the hook.

Juric’s ideas and Spors’s ideas seem closely aligned. Good. The future’s bright; it’s red and white! Hopefully.

Please explain, @sotonjoe.

If you mean your comments to relate to all other threads on this forum, not merely this one, I did not realise that you, albeit subconsciously, hold MLG in such high regard. 😉

My source at the club (could be the one that @MB knows) said we did not want him at all; apparently Ivan asked SR to get Victor Hugo in from Goztepe, where he is a regular starter and playing well, to strengthen our midfield, especially with the problems at present with Downes, and we ended up with Victor Oh doh instead. Oops, I mean Victor Udoh. 😉

Hello @MB. I see you joined on 20th November 2006 yet this is your first post. Care to explain your unusual forum behaviour? Just curious.

Nooooo! Brian O’Neil every time. 😃 (See Wednesday 5.37p.m., above.)

To put Benji and others out of their misery: David Prutton married Jenny O’Neil, daughter of Brian O’Niel, who played in midfield for Saints in the 1970s. https://www.saintsplayers.co.uk/player/brian-oneil/ We need someone like Brian right now; he would certainly liven up our games this season - at least until he gets sent off. Interesting story in that article that he never owned a pair of boots!

IMO, possession is not the answer; our experience with Martin showed us that. What we need is two proper defensive midfielders of Premier League standard in front of a back four. The trouble is we do not have those players. Of those available in our squad, LU and FD are probably the best we can do but one is too inexperienced at this level and the other is having a bad season. Aribo has deputised to the best of his ability but does not have the right skills. Cpn. Jack is definitely not the answer. Neither is Manning. Smallbone is totally the wrong type of player. We are stuffed as far as I can see unless we get two DMs in; and that will not happen. So, onwards and downwards it is, then. 😥

IMO, MLG has autistic-like skills, as you all well know. Your viewpoint to him is just as hard to understand as his is to you. Show some understanding and compassion please. MLG has said he read the whole of gio’s post before highlighting what he sees as a contradiction in its text. You either see the contradiction or you don’t; it’s not the end of the world either way. Just accept he has a right to see it as he does. I wrote about that type of thing a couple of days ago on another thread. It does not seem to have had much effect. Hence this post, which I hope you will consider in the spirit I intend. As some of us see it, at present this is beginning to become bullying again. Let it be. Just seen MLG’s latest post re an offer to Reading - we do like to collect left backs!

Oh, the memories, courtesy of the Toon. Good and bad ones in this list of past games: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fabian-schar-turns-air-blue-30846655

I am not sure whether this article has been mentioned on here before. Certainly I had not read it until now. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2k887nzlno Imagine if Ivan can repeat Gasperini’s feat here in the Premier League. A few interesting quotes: … Gasperini has learned to accept that the better he does, the quicker he loses his best players. The Goddess can thrill but she must always sell, and Gasperini is back at square one at the start of nearly every season, teaching, developing and transmitting his footballing ideals. In November it was announced for the 9th season in a row that Atalanta had closed their accounts in profit. Since Antonio Percassi became president in 2010, the club has made nearly 600m euros in capital gains. Over 400m euros of that came when Gasperini was installed as coach, proving just how well the coach has developed players into stars coveted by the biggest European teams. … Under Gasperini, Atalanta have sold a plethora of exciting talent for sizable amounts of money. Whether it be Rasmus Hojlund to Manchester United for £72m, Teun Koopmeiners to Juventus for £46.1m, Cristian Romero for £42.5m or Dejan Kulusevski for £29.7m, La Dea have been well compensated for Gasperini's ability to extract talent and dedication from talented young players. … "I worked with coaches like Mourinho, Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez, but nobody like Gasperini. He taught me so much on a human, technical and tactical level," remarked Thiago Motta in 2016 when still a player for Paris Saint-Germain. … During training, my players need to struggle; those who aren't used to working hard scare me," Gasperini told the Guardian. "I had never seen such intensive pre-season training as Gasperini's with Atalanta," exclaimed Duvan Zapata. "There were moments when I thought, I simply can't do this. I can't. I'd wait 30 seconds and then go again." … A tactical genius, Gasperini's teams are instantly recognisable for their fluidity, relentless attacks, and intense and aggressive pressing. Yet in a league built upon neutralising strengths, Atalanta have rarely been exposed - in fact they appear harder to beat every season, even when playing every three days. … His ability to exploit the potential of his players while remaining faithful to his footballing ideals has ensured Atalanta's success. Players feel confident, empowered to trust their instincts but also aware that life is hard under Gasperini. … We can but dream. 😇 And that hope applies to both us fans and Dragan.