Saint Troy

31076

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he was the answer, but saying it's been proven he wasn't is hilarious! He didn't play so it proves nothing! He could've come in and done brilliantly or terribly and that would've proven something. It's the same as saying it proves that buying ronaldo (thin), messi, bale wouldn't have ended our slump!! Hope it goes well and a good move getting him out on loan, fingers crossed for him

Rather than is he any good this is the question is was thinking of... are his qualities repeatable. Sounds like you think he is an excellent physical specimen which is likely to be true but I cant help but think that he just has a historically top attitude for physical work and is willing to run himself in to the ground. What hours do pro footballers train these days and could/should they do more to be able to meet Longs standards. Cant help but feeling they could do more.... he say.... sat on his large backside on the sofa

There was chat about Shane Long and moneyball attributes on a separate thread which got me wondering about his attributes. Im comfortable believing hes an average striker in terms of goal scoring and creativity but also very happy that his work rate / ethic creates us opportunities. But what does the last bit really mean? Shouldn't every single player be able to do what Long does in terms of his chasing down etc? Are clubs missing a trick by not pushing their players more or is it not quite as simple as that. Its possible that this style of play actually reduces his impact in front of goal but cant help but think seeing him perform does make me think that very many of our players underperform either physically or in terms of actual effort. Im not a pro footballer (by a long way) so maybe this is unfair and is it not as simple as people working harder, is it physical, physcological, tactical or just complete nonsense!

Different thing really. Buying someone cheap and improving them is one thing. The other is buying someone undervalued - by that meaning their attributes are undervalued - and adding them to your team to improve a certain facet rather than being undervalued and then being able to improve them and sell them at a profit. Moneyball is about the value already being there just not being understood by other people, they are immediately of more value to your team the moment they arrive rather than improving them

Its not really that though. Its more about the team than about individual players like that. The idea is that baseball can be broken down in to many constituent parts and although star players can often do them all, the star players can be replaced by average players that are good at one thing. So a player who tries to hit home runs etc the whole time and gets on to base is less effective than a guy who hits the ball a maximum of 1 yard but always gets on base etc. It doesn't probably translate to footy that well anthe idea would be maybe that up front Beattie and Ormorod score 30 goals between them then that doesnt matter if Beattie scores all 30 and Ormorod none if he sets up all the goals. The partnership scores 30 which is as good as two 15 goal strikers. A 15 goal striker costs more than Ormorod but his attributes contribute the same to the overall stats of the team. That's how i understand it anyway. Not sure that at 12m Long is truly a great Moneyball player - yes he works hard and this does create goals but whether this outweighs the other attributes you would expect from a 12m player is another thing

On the youtube interview I heard it as no new suspensions from palace and not many injuries at the moment rather than no suspensions and injuries. Really feel like we will get something from this (oh well)

One of our clear processes in the club is the "pathway to the first team". I wonder if we feel we need to beg and pay high wages for cork when Reed is up and coming? Not saying I fully agree with it but it's a theory

Couldn't agree more about the terrible priorities - how we don't look at diving etc but can voter with this is pathetic Also, and possibly more importantly, does this mean Tadic no longer has the joint assist record???? This would be crazy if true

Player has every right to jump a bad challenge and still get a free kick so in that sense contact I think is completely irrelevant. Only question is will fletcher get to his touch and tap in, if not poss not pen? Poss not red card? Either way who cares!

Faxes go through a third party and therefore there is proof of sending etc. emails can just be made up a bit

May be nonsense and only based on youtube clips and dodgy streams so far this preseason but I think we may end up shooting a bit more this season and certainly from distance. May not be where the goals come from but you never know it may add a couple.

Im not sure how this all works in any way but if international recognition is ever a contract trigger then this could be a big deal and would include the likes of Lambert, Shaw, Lallana, Rodriguez, Schniderlain with possibilities of Clyne/Chambers/Cork not out the question completely. Maybe Adam did change after his England call up!

Typical not itk disclaimers etc but..... Ditch paper and bits of twitter apparently linking us to Vlaar. With some of the other clubs that have been linked I've been surprised we're not keen. Older head around some younger guys and a good cb, if be keen

Didn't say they can do it, just a definition of ambition really. That said, it seems very comparable to a club like ours breaking in to the top four to me. Matches our ambition well possibly, again though not saying it will certainly happen

Unless you know something about the company we don't then I'm afraid you simply don't know what the word ambition means. It's about the future, to do with drive, aspirations and missions and for an understanding of our ambition you need to know our new sponsers ambitions not their turn over. Local business, good quality products, similar ambitions and drive to our own, represents our brand well I think

I think this is exactly right. When wv plays it seems every single ball from gk or centre backs goes to wv who comes short. When he's not playing I notice les that this is a particular persons role. I don't think this helps us as its a bit easier for the oppo to set up against the same play and we feel a little more rigid when set up like this. His first thought is often the pass backwards a little more than cork so all in all makes us feel a little more free flowing with jc. Maybe!?

Personally think it just as bad as Osvaldo getting suspended. It's clearly an impact on performance and prem players should be setting a good example as well. It's a choice and one they should be making correctly if they actually take their job seriously. Top players smoking is not an excuse for it being ok at all

Oooh who were the two players? I may have missed it in the past if you've said, but being a saints fan I have a slight masochistic streak so be good to know!

This could fit in timing wise in terms of the fall out immediately after the Lallana/Clattenburg incident? There were rights and wrongs to the incident and how it was handled of course but if Cortese was given a task of not getting in to such scrapes then this could have been a big sticking point and proof Cortese was in it for him and not the owners?

Slightly evading the point there! The point was that the forum is not made up of internet users, it is made of of people who choose to follow saints in a large way via the internet. The rest of my post explains why some cant get immersed in saints as much as theyd like and so to state that most people use the internet seems a bit irrelavent to me and the point being made. Im not fully sure of the point of this thread. If the fear is that crowds long term will drop to a point that the atmosphere is terrible and that will reduce your experience on match day then it makes some sense. Otherwise I really don't see what is "galling" about someone else being interested in something you're not? If this is a thread about what I hope it is then it would be interesting to know how many saints fans go less because of streaming live games that's true. Its not really that interesting to know who often people go and how many watch it on the internet really in my opinion and certainly this isn't related to how many people go to games in the way you are inferring. I really want to go to see saints more and more personally because I can see how entertaining the games are and love the football we're playing. My missus wants to go more because of the same things. Probably will end up going more personally because of streaming than I would otherwise.

Or is it just no surprise that on an internet forum, the people are often interested in watching/following/supporting saints via the internet - makes perfect sense to me. I live outside Southampton so chat in the office isn't about saints, don't get to as many games as I would like but that's life, internet forum is always there and can watch games on the net. On top of that that thread is relevant to every saints games of the season so far all joined in to one and all the other threads about individual games etc aren't combined so adds to this distortion. There may be some truth in the number of people able to go, and to go regularly, times are hard generally so people are saving, working when they can etc and one thing you can knock on the head is a trip to st Marys knowing that you can watch it for free. Its maybe a shame but its not as drastic a problem as the figures you present I don't think. In terms of whats more worthy its a slightly odd question for a few reasons. Nether is particularly a worthy action - its really personal taste, prefer matches live and transfer gossip or find out which stream is best, its up to you, its a forum so the answer by your stats is selfexplanitory! I wonder why it would be interesting to know how people watch saints? Hopefully not because watching saints live is more worthy. Hopefully because its interesting to know how peoples points of views of players and performances as well as the club in general are formed etc? Saint Troy (go when I can which is a few times a season these days with work and money but if not there watch live nearly every week with the missus - she very very happily gives up the odd full weekend to saints and 90 mins in front of the laptop with a drink but not so keen on a season ticket which would bin all our time and money)

Adam certainly earned another go from the start both this season and on Friday - seems a very attacking midfield though in there an wouldn't be surprised to see one of those drop out for someone a little more defensive perhaps?

Interesting to compare the prices - Gaston 12m and JWP "academy". Academy isn't a price which may be the case on the balance sheets when they are sold but in reality each player through the academy who makes it or doesn't has a price and be interested to know if anyone has a good (or even terrible) idea what it costs us to produce each youngster. Back to the stats - the way I read it (and can only half see it) has JWP as the best crosser from open play - his free kicks and corners lower that, not surprising as corners can be a bit of a lottery and his free kicks are often really well flighted into the area just in front of our fwds and they can easily be missed and going a tiny bit wrong means no one gets on the end of em. Hes a great little player at the moment and I love that MP is willing to let him shine on the back of his talent and hard work instead of someone on the basis of a price tag.

I agree that this is interesting -there was an interview with Morgan v recently that (although the translation was very bad) was really interesting. It gave the impression there was more than one platform for the press but when I look at it I do sometimes wonder how this is triggered. Can anyone shed any light on this? I sometimes wonder about the amount of times we press hard when a player is in his own half receiving the ball whilst facing his own goal, could be nonsense ive made up though and be interested to know if anyone knows more or has some guesses