mrfahaji

That's true, but given that's the case, I hope we don't end up getting rid for silly (little) money. Would kind of defeat the object of selling one of our better assets!

That's the danger. Which is why clear and obvious mistakes that can be spotted immediately (or within a short timeframe) are decided by VAR and everything else go with the ref's call makes sense. I can handle losing to an 'offside' Lukaku goal where his knee is offside by 1cm, but not if he is 2 yards offside. Of course there will still be the argument that more (or fewer, depending who the decision is for) decisions will be deemed "debatable" and therefore the ref's decision will be used at Old Trafford/Anfield etc, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Agree with those hoping he gets another shot. I'm a little concerned that we are so keen to offload him though - sounds like perhaps Hasenhuttl (or someone else) has made up his mind. I'm much more inclined to go with his gut than anyone else, but do find it a little odd that of all the players out on loan, Boufal isn't the one most likely to be reintegrated. Of course, it might also be something to do with the player himself, maybe he hated it and doesn't want to come back!

Yeah I actually agree with that, I was just singling out the idea that "contact" seems to be gradually becoming the requirement for "foul". I wonder if they could have a time limit on a decision and if they can't decide within that time limit (e.g. 30 seconds) then it clearly isn't obvious enough to overturn. Then everyone could accept that there will still be debatable decisions - some people might even rejoice that controversy can still exist - but anything extreme will be prevented.

Ha - that too "He's ENTITLED to go down there". I understand that players go down because if they don't, they don't get the free kick/penalty even if they are fouled, but cannot stand this shift in view that falling over is an acceptable choice in the game.

Not so sure on that, but we don't need an upgrade on Stephens, we need someone who is better than all our current centre backs. Stephens is the worst of the lot, and I feel Bednarek, Yoshida and Vestergaard all have something to offer, but none of them are stand out players and any combination of them (in a 2) leaves us pretty weak at the back. Don't think Gibson is that player, especially as one of his problems is his lack of pace.

Yep that was a good one - in fact that was the one that was put to a fans' vote as 1 of 5 (I think) options. I also liked the UEFA Cup shirt the following season (despite the plain red back) and the 05/06 shirt. All own-branded. Perhaps the key is having striped sleeves? That Brentford one above looks decent too! But I fear that's too complicated for UA to manage.

That in itself is questionable to me though. Is contact automatically a foul? Surely it has to be sufficient contact to impede the player? But nowadays a player throws themselves to the ground and everyone looks at the replay and deems "there was contact".

Why doesn't he? He's quite quick, can play wide or centrally, puts in a shift... not quite sure what part of Hasenhuttl's style makes him unsuited to it?

It's fair to pose the question 'why can't Targett be good enough'? For me the key thing is his lack of pace. Partly defensively, which as others have mentioned is more exposed in a four than as a wing back, but also going forwards. His crossing is good but that is usually from deep. I get the impression Hasenhuttl is gearing us up to get to the byline more, and Targett doesn't seem to be as well equipped for that gung-ho-overlap type of full back play, especially if he is required to operate like that as part of a back four.

Agree on this, not just because it catches keepers off guard but also important because in the PL you don't usually have time to get set for a strike - take an extra split second and the chance is gone. The finish vs Sheff Wed at 01:00 is particularly good example of how quickly he takes the shot after controlling the ball. However, how much of that is confidence? He was on a great run last season so probably trusted his instincts more and saw the results. In the last couple of games of the season we saw Danny Ings overthinking his chances or waiting too long to take the shot - almost trying too hard - as a product of his lack of confidence.

Tend to agree that centre back (and probably also Goalkeeper) is a position that favours more experienced players. Not saying a younger player can't be good, but I'd prefer us to make an exception on the age thing for CB if we find one good enough.

Looks a decent fixture list for Southampton. Not so good for me as the away games I was hoping to attend this season aren't great timing.

Yep, which is why Yoshida, for all his deficiencies (although he put in a number of storming performances last season), is still an important defender for us, as he is the only one who can cover the ground quickly.

In fairness, "man moves closer to the in-laws, realises his mistake and moves to the other side of the world" isn't actually such a far fetched scenario

Appreciate the inclusion of the superfluous 'slammed'

Tend to agree. Not sure if our recent form of showing better against the top teams enhances or diminishes that though...! Also I don't think catching the top teams while they're not quite at it is as much of a thing now. After 5 games (sometimes less) the top 6 normally comprises the usual suspects. (Though I think the promoted sides are still very much ones to avoid, especially at their grounds).

Quite. I think the problem for Gabbiadini is that he didn't seem to suit the style of play. Given that Pellegrino played sideways slow football, Hughes was a bit more direct and Hasenhuttl plays high pressing counter attack, you might say that his lack of versatility makes him a poor signing, but there was always a sense that we didn't maximise his potential rather than him simply not being very good.

Not sure how relevant Redmond is when talking about straight line speed #mythbuster

Saw something on Twitter today showing Tommy Widdrington's tackle against Port Vale. Quite ridiculous.

Just seems a bit churlish to dismiss his achievements on the basis that they could have been better, when some players cost more and contributed less. He might not have scored that many to be top scorer, but he still did it! You're right, he has been disappointing (not helped by this season being particularly bad), but I think that's largely because at £4m most thought we had a bargain and expectations were higher than they would normally be for a player at that price.

Yeah, the source I refer to appears to be a pretty good one in terms of 'who' they are, but most of what I hear from them just sounds like something they have read or just made up... pretty annoying really.

Funny, I just heard something similar from 'a source', and that as a result Austin is leaving. Googled it and didn't see anything, but now seen this which makes me suspicious of whether the source is just reading the Sun and repeating rumours as truth.

Yeah that’s what I thought. I think we should give Boufal a chance and hope he impresses, but if he doesn’t feature next season then we only really have Redmond as a player who runs at defenders (and Sims, but he still has other areas to improve). On the other hand, if Boufal does step up then is it a disaster to have another attacker who can open teams up? Of all the positions, attacking midfielders/wingers are probably the ones you need most options for.

Spoke to some Belgian friends about him recently (well actually I was mainly asking about Maehle because one of them is a Genk fan), but they sent me this link about Djenepo which isn't in English but the video shows some of his play. https://sporza.be/nl/2019/04/01/degryse-met-djenepo-heeft-standard-misschien-de-edmilson-van-v/ A few extra bits, either opinion from the Belgians or quotes from the article: "oh he is talented. He is described as a playful or even slightly crazy player but at the same time a really good guy" "at the end they say in the past year they have worked very hard on making him look around him while he's on the ball, because he used to stare into the ground too much. but they say they're now quite happy about his vision of the game, while still pulling off good dribbles" "he's more of an attacking midfielder or winger"