mrfahaji

First reaction is that I would have preferred stripes and in general I like stripes. However my favourite kit is the one from - unfortunately - the Pellegrino season, and I also own the sash kit from 2010/11. Add to that the fact that UA seem intent on doing something weird with their striped shirts and refuse to let go of the should/chest block template, I'm prepared to withhold any ire for this one. At least it has a decent amount of red and white on it, unlike our effort from 2013/14. I wish they could have found a way for the sponsor to be a little neater and inkeeping with the sash though. And considering we only used the same design 10 years ago I don't think it's massively innovative. But UA regularly disappoint on that front. Funnily enough on the promotional picture of the home shirt, the background (red & white separated with a thick black line) strikes me as a potential 'different' design we could have - red & white halves similar to Feyenoord. It would look smart, still be red and white, closer to "stripes" than a lot of other designs and not many teams play in red & white halves.

When is his contract up, next season? He hasn't done enough to earn another one, and I can't see that he'd be desperate to stay anyway, so pretty sure we won't have him much longer. His time with us has definitely been disappointing, can't argue that. However I think he has had some decent moments - of all our poor signings, he has at least had some good games (I've been to two matches this year, and he did well in both). Plus after a fair bit of turmoil he at least came back this season, worked hard and contributed. He might not have been a great signing but he hasn't been one of the worst! Always thought he had potential, but not sure if he will ever fulfil it. But Jack Stephens was pretty poor for years, to the extent that I was pretty confident we would lose if he played, and he seems to have miraculously turned a corner. Maybe that's temporary, maybe it's because he's a centre half, but it shows it can happen. I'll always want every Saints player to be good, just feels like quite a few people on here almost want Boufal to be rubbish. Also, that screamer he scored against West Brom - they may have been a crap team, but we couldn't break them down until he did what he did, wasn't like he scored the last goal in a 5-0 win!

I just meant that previously people used to criticise him for not putting a shift in, and when he has a good game from a defensive point of view - in a match where the team’s focus was on defending - he gets criticised for not being creative. I’m disappointed with him second half of this season, but it just seems to me some people are looking for any excuse to slate him.

Right, thanks. Given we had 10 men and seemed to trying to salvage something from the game, does he not deserve credit for putting a shift in rather than pelters because he didn’t create anything? Pretty sure one justification for Redmond’s place in the team - of which I don’t dispute - is that he might not get many goals or assists but he is a better “team” player and works hard... There was a match recently - Burnley? - where we needed Boufal to step up creatively and he didn’t, so fair enough. Just doesn’t seem like this is the right game to single him out for.

Didn't see the game past about 25 minutes but I find Glen's match reports to be generally fair and often reflect my thoughts when I have seen the game. He says in his latest blog that Boufal worked hard and did well even if the game didn't suit him much. Surprised me to read that given the comments on here.

When you put it like that...! I don't mind someone buying the club as an investment, and would prefer that to someone who just wants to spend like Man City have done, as I just don't agree with that approach. It would be nice to have someone who at least allows us to spend some of the money we make by virtue of being a Premier League club (as well as the players we have sold). I like the idea of us being 'self sustainable' but it feels like we have been taking the cheap route for some time. Yes, I know we have paid too much for players and are paying silly money to others, but most clubs can say that, and most clubs haven't sold players like we have. If a new owner was a roll of the dice I'd say we're probably on a 2 or 3 at the moment - it certainly could be worse with a lunatic in charge like Hull or Charlton have, but equally there isn't much to feel lucky about with Mr Gao.

I thought Buendia looked good when he came on against us. At the time I didn't know who he was - I remember trying to work out what his name was! - and then discovering that he had a great assist record, so wasn't a case of confirmation bias!

"Dave Johnson I've been a fan of the club since 1976..." - Glory Hunter

"Frazer Richardson" must have sounded awful, and I can't even work out how "Jermaine Wright" fits into the song! At least Moussa Djenepo does actually fit, ha. I always found the "Richard Chaplow" chant amusing, just not a name that is suited to a football chant (mainly the 'Richard'). The "Rory Delap" chant was terrible because everyone started at a different point and it ended up just sounding like a tuneless speaking of his name. Not a big fan of the Shane Long chant because the original (I think?) "Giroud" worked because it rhymes with "Hey Jude". Always chuckle when we use it

I recall people liking them to Fulham with their spending at the start of the season, Villa fans were unsurprisingly defensive saying how their spending was "different" because it had more thought behind it or something... wonder if they still think that?

Yeah, as they were at Villa Park. Two wins against them coming at important times in the season. I know the goal at the end suggests the win was inevitable but we don't half make it hard for ourselves. I get that it's not easy to score, but towards the end at 1-0 you shouldn't be having pot shots like Obafemi and Armstrong (and Adams a little bit) were doing. By all means try and score, but try and work the best opportunities rather than giving up the ball easily. While Obafemi is extremely frustrating, I thought Adams did pretty well. The assist for Armstrong was superb but he was also unselfish in putting Obafemi in before (though the pass wasn't great). Had some nice touches to keep our moves alive, just not sure he's picking the right shots atm. Maybe Ward-Prowse's position is RB (even though he has been great CM this season), another impressive display - keeping Grealish quiet in the process as he did vs Zaha - and when things were a bit frantic it always ended up with JWP and we seemed to get out of trouble. Thought Djenepo looked dangerous, but other times a bit sloppy. Armstrong and Hojbjerg had good games and Smallbone was impressive - very tidy on the ball but also got involved. Ings a bit quiet, Long did well and actually looked the bigger threat. Romeu was shocking when he first came on but towards the end of the game got some important challenges and passes in. Back line generally good though Bertrand had a few dodgy moments near the end (that short ball to Hojbjerg that allowed them to break...!)

Thought this looked like a goal but assumed it shouting at him for shooting previously so it wasn’t a spoiler...

So frustrating...

Lol. This time! He’s ex Birmingham so is bound to score... or something...

Yeah, understand from a pressing point of view but as you touched on earlier, if we need to keep the ball they’re not the ideal candidates.

Because we get tired.

Starting to look a bit tired. Pressing up front has gone. Long still a nuisance but less intense and a bit sloppy, maybe he’ll be subbed soon.

In the words of Sunday League football - “it’s their own time he’s wasting lads!”

Was it but stephens? McCarthy seemed to have plenty of time to clear it.

Yep. That McCarthy error would normally have ended up as 1-1 too...

Surely his Shlong?

Yep, and to pick out that ball with outside of foot was sublime. As was his (totally unnecessary?) flick to Bertrand earlier in the move

Just said “here’s Hojbjerg at his best!” Shortly followed by “and there he is at his worst”

Agree that if the opposition are out of position then we shouldn't delay, but I'm sure most of our defensive passing happens when they are in position. JRM mentions possibly the most important thing in all this - don't concede the first goal. Of course it's a bit of a paradox because the opposition sits deep, we are forced to play it around, our defenders make a mess of it and we concede, and now there's even less reason for the away team to attack... but IF we were to score first we'd probably see a lot more of the style we have seen in our away matches. Liverpool can probably do it because they have the lead so the opposition have no option but to attack, and then leave space in behind, not to mention the quality of their players of course!

Yeah but we can't do that at home because the other team sits deep, so we don't have an opportunity to counter. The reason we pass it round at the back is to try and draw the other team onto us and create more space to knock the ball into. We encourage the other team to press so that we can exploit the gaps they leave. I agree with you that we're not very good at it, and perhaps we shouldn't be doing it! But the tactic of the defenders keeping the ball is explicitly part of "getting it forward quickly" - because if you simply want us to get the ball forward asap, you're calling for aimless long balls and I don't think anyone really wants us to do that.