Tommy Mulgrew

And we’ve got Downes and … … … . Oh, and Lesley. And Stephens. Not quite Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi is it?

Thank you for responding, gio. It seems to me that you essentially agree with those who do not share your, I would say “blind”, optimism. I asked you to explain why you believe in your optimism that playing in the way Martin wants us to play will succeed in the EPL but I think you have not even tried to do that but have instead merely reiterated your belief. My conclusion is that you are unable to justify your belief and that that belief is wrong. And that, by agreeing with those who disagree with you, you know that already and you are just stubbornly sticking to your point of view. As for your stoning point, my intention was to see the justification for your belief and was not to bring down scorn and hatred upon you. I hope that your critics have got their ire out of the way now and that they are aware of your sensitivity to some of their more extreme posts. BTW, a more flexible approach by our manager to our way of playing does not necessarily mean a change of manager but most certainly does if the present manager refuses to even adopt the flexibility that he adopted at the end of last season. Given the possibility of Martin staying here for the rest of this season, and perhaps even beyond, I expect many who post on here would welcome a less extreme and a less ever-present version of Russball - RussoRalphball, if you like.

I’m waiting for gio’s reply. So far, the silence has been deafening.

Probably explains why we got Lallana.

How do you think we shall ever be competitive in the EPL by playing unadulterated Russball, which results in few goals (for us), with players who are nowhere near as good as those in up to 19 other teams who play less extreme PB football complemented by variations of playing style that lead to goals (for them) being scored? We shall always be behind, doing our walking-pace version of chasing every game, and no more competitive as we are now. I cannot fathom how you believe we can do it.

Ibrahim Maza: 18 year-old at Hertha Berlin, apparently, not merely Endrick. https://www.footballfancast.com/southampton-plotting-january-loan-move-for-real-madrid-endrick/ Attacking midfielder. Looks promising. Seems we are planning ahead for MF’s replacement already. But … In true Saints’ style likely to cost less than his predecessor. In that way lies SR’s profits ever increasing and Saints’ ever downward league position trajectory (as if it needed any help). 🙁

Is that why she is married to you? Just asking for a friend. 😉

Two 18year-old saviours in our team. Wow! Yet another record for Saints!

We have been promoted to the first division or premier league before. Each time we stayed in that league a long time before being relegated. During that time we sometimes played well and sometimes played badly; sometimes we were exciting to watch and sometimes excruciating. Now we are tying something different: bravely trying a revolutionary way of playing with the intention of overturning the EPL world order to become one of the big boys and thus deserving of gio’s support and admiration. The trouble is that our way of playing is not revolutionary at all: plenty of other teams do it, and much better than us, too. And those teams play with a pace and intensity that we can only dream of; and they vary their style to suit the opposition and the occasion. We do not do that; we play an exaggerated version of possession football, which reduces our ability to score and thus win games or draw them. Without wins or draws, we do not accumulate enough points to avoid certain relegation. How can us non-believers get excited by ploughing a lonely but brave furrow if all it does is give us a worse chance of survival in the premier league than we would have if we were to play to the strengths of our squad of players and try to win games and hence stay in the EPL, where most of want to play for as many seasons as possible? Absolutely barking mad.

Nobody has yet posted this from yesterday so I thought that I would: https://saintsmarching.com/southampton-jan-bednarek-speaks-openly-mental-health-matters Good to hear him conquering his demons.

Anyone else noticed tightness in Portsmouth bottoms or front bottoms? 🤪

And, what is more: one of the style of play points, “aggression”, which might be regarded by some as a positive trait, is merely a propensity to suffer red or yellow cards by giving away fouls; it has nothing whatsoever to do with a high level of commitment to winning the game. So, another weakness, then!

The Russell Martin effect so far, according to WhoScored.com: + Strengths (Team has no significant strengths) - Weaknesses Finishing scoring chances Weak Defending against long shots Weak Defending against through ball attacks Weak Protecting the lead Weak Aerial duels Weak Avoiding individual errors Very Weak Defending set pieces Very Weak Stopping opponents from creating chances Very Weak Southampton's Style of Play Short passes Possession football Attacking down the right Aggressive Playing in their own half © WhoScored.com

That article reads as though we shall loan-out GB in January and get him back in the summer for pre-season before starting next season with him as our number1. Yet another fine mess we’re in, then.

Now that Ramsdale has put his finger up to Russ and got it unfortunately damaged (remedial op on Wednesday, apparently), we have the prospect of Macca in goal for a game or two or three. The last time Macca played a few games last season, we cut out much of the fannying around in our penalty area and became more direct as a result and therefore got promoted. Perhaps we might surprise one or two of the top clubs we play soon - clutches straw - and Russ stays longer than he otherwise would. I’m not sure that I really want us to do well while Rambo is injured after all. 🤔

RVN now available - has left MU.

But, when we played them, we got nowhere near Brentford. Anyway, except for Man City, we don’t copy anyone; (we have to be different): no bravery in doing that. How can we be proud every week if we merely copy what Fulham do? Fluke goals are not for us, no sireeeeee; we just have to score a perfect goal each and every time. And if we manage to walk it into the net after a slow build-up in which 11 different players touch the ball that counts for double and increases the value of our possession %age by 10 whole points. “That’s the way to do it”. 😇

I note how many fewer goals the women concede than the men (I know the quality of female attackers is different). How about swapping coaches? 😉

If true that we are after Lewis O’Brien, we seem to be preparing in long-term planning mode: preparing for league 1 the season after next. ☹️

At one point you could see TP gesticulating animatedly to our defenders to get the ball out to the right wing and for the winger/wingback to get it up the pitch and cross it into the Stoke penalty area. Quite comical really. Who would have thought that our players would need on-pitch instruction on how to attack the opposition’s goal. It was definitely needed, though, and I commend him for the coaching lesson. But it had f*ck all effect, even though we were supposedly pressing for the winning goal. Thank heavens for James Bree.

Sorry, no. I think it was a viaplay one but I think you cannot now watch the Saturday matches.

I think you’ll find they will be in the squad in the Championship next year: hardly a massive waste; more like a wastelet. It strikes me that Macca is much better than Rambo in coming for crosses and generally commanding the goal area. Perhaps not so for near-post shots, though. Looking forward to see how he does against Stoke on Tuesday. Ditto BBD.

Indeed, he said it again yesterday after the match and seemed proud and brave to have done so. In his speech, no sign of the pragmatism that he displayed in the play-offs last season. But I have to say that I believe that I can detect a more direct evolution of our usual slow and ponderous way of playing out from our goal area in the last couple of games. We now seem to play a lot more on the break than we have done hitherto. And that is not just because MC dominated possession against us. What we need to do in the forthcoming games is to dominate possession much further up the pitch, well away from our goal. It was notable that yesterday we seemed happy to fanny about with the ball in our penalty area, let alone merely in our half, whereas MC were determined to dominate possession only in our half. Hence the game being played almost entirely in our half of the pitch. We defended heroically for the most part but we’re fortunate to escape with only a 1:0 defeat. I have watched a Dutch stream of the match and at half-time the commentators spent most of the break analysing the mistakes in our attempts to pass our way up the pitch. It lasted a lot longer than Walcott’s analysis of our successful attempts. I hope we go into the Stoke and Everton games with confidence and a willingness to play with pace and more directly forward to the three furthest-forward players.

That is a seriously good result for a team playing over an hour with 10 men against a big-name team unbeaten in the first eight games.👏 30% possession, 19 shots and 7 on target v. 70%, 14 and 3. Stoilov obviously does not believe in Russball. The two promoted teams are 5th and 6th after 9 games. I wish it were like that in this country. BTW, until now I did not realise that Lis is captain. Juan played 70 minutes and Victor Hugo was subbed-on at 94 minutes.

Really? I have to say that from what I have seen so far the reverse is true. And we are much, much better at this style than when we started. The problem is that the style is shite. And you mention courage. I rather think that doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result is insanity. And the longer he is here, the less likely we are to win a game. IMO, of course. (I’m now half expecting us to beat Citeh.) Good try, though, Gio. 👏