mrfahaji

Please do not class me as a 'new fan', I was alluding to the fact that the managers, players & media complain about the fixture congestion (which you have mentioned yourself), so presumably that's one of things they want to change? I also think having a 'winter break' for one week seems totally pointless, I can't even see the argument for an arbitrary week off in February. At least if they had a two week break in January after the busy Xmas period I would see the logic in it. Personally I am happy with Christmas fixtures. I would, however, take out ONE match and put it somewhere else. But that's mainly because with the TV scheduling it means some teams end up getting a significant advantage over others because of how many games and 'slots' there are. But I'm not an advocate in any sense of stopping or massively reducing football over Christmas.

A winter break, for a week in February... How does that help with the amount of games played over Christmas? Would it not be better just to take out of the xmas games and plonk it somewhere else less congested? Not quite sure how having 1 week off in February is going to suddenly propel the England team to success. And the FA Cup shunted to midweek, how convenient. And no replays from 5th round onwards. How much further do the FA want to bend over for the PL? (fwiw I don't outright disagree with no replays, it just all smacks of a deal that only suits the PL. Again.)

Yep. I would say this news is the beginning of the end in terms of football as I know/love, but in truth that was in 1992. We are just hurtling towards the abyss a lot quicker now.

By all accounts isn't Boufal a nice guy? And not necessarily a 'bad egg' in terms of team spirit? His attitude in terms of expecting to play, not wanting to warm up, wanting everything on the pitch to be about him, making ill-advised comments to the media etc is a different kettle of fish, but all that doesn't mean he is a bad influence on the rest of the players.

Fair enough, I also remember him looking lively for Midtjylland against us (though didn't he only come on as sub in one game?) My concern is that when I watched the staple youtube video of all his best stuff, his play is very reminiscent of Redmond, in that he looks like he has quick feet but he never actually takes anyone on. He just cuts inside and passes every time he's faced with a defender. Now I know these youtube videos don't accurately portray how good someone is, but I'm guessing it is meant to demonstrate his best stuff, and surely taking people on would be included in that. At the very least, it gives an idea of the style of their play, which doesn't appear to be very direct at all. Of course, it could just be a product of playing in Spain. No doubt Keith Gillespie and Stuart Ripley would be taught to cut inside and pass if they were playing under the guidance of managers like Pellegrino. Will be interesting to see how Denmark use him. Interestingly I just googled him and it says "a right winger for Celta Vigo", and I think I recall him playing right side for Midtjylland, yet in virtually all the clips I've seen it shows him playing on the left (cue another Redmond comparison!)

You seem to be a fan of Sisto. In all the clips I've seen of him he appears to do exactly the same as Redmond - i.e. cut inside as soon as he is faced with a defender, before passing the ball off. I've barely seen him go past anyone (whereas Promes, on the other hand, is very direct). Have you seen enough of Sisto to know that this isn't a true reflection of how he plays? Or do you think that given we seem to destined to play this way (hence perservering with Redmond on the left), we may as well get someone who plays that role a bit better?

29 isn’t old though. Jesus I hope not else that makes me positively ancient! Fonte was 33 wasn’t he? Tadic has a couple of good years yet. Of course it depends on the amount we could get. We need to be able to recruit someone who creates chances and they don’t usually come cheap. Someone offers £25m, then I agree with you. Someone offers £10m, I don’t.

#freesadio

Sort of agree. Don't know that the best managers are normally the ones who don't win anything, but certainly about this obsession with winning things. Ultimately Spurs are being scrutinised for their lack of trophies because Pochettino has elevated them to that level of expectancy. Would Pochettino be deemed to have done a better job if Spurs had finished 7th each year but during that time won a League (or even FA) Cup?

Zidane leaving Madrid. Thank god we got Hughes signed up.

Except only half of it was madness really.

Although I agree with the overall sentiment of your post, I think most of the applicants seem 'relatively normal', aside from the fact that they have put themselves forward for this position... who is the "only one" you refer to? Genuinely interested to know which profile stands out, in case I missed the one worth voting for.

Agree on this. The family thing is definitely true; although Saints were my local team, I'm sure my Dad being a season ticket holder since he was a kid and then taking me to games from the age of 5 had a lot more to do with it. On the flip side, I think it's in the 'Football Ramble' where they discuss how there's always someone who supports Barcelona because they were really close to their Uncle's dog who was from Barcelona... I'd hate to support a team where I felt I needed to justify why I supported them - "Man City are my team, but I actually supported them in League One", "I'm a true Liverpool fan, I stuck with them in the dark days of finishing mid-table in the 90s", "I started supporting Blackburn in the mid-90s, mainly because I liked the rose on their badge".

What has that got to do with anything? I am mocking Sterling for claiming that “I shoot with my right foot” is somehow a deep and cryptic message. Don’t get all sanctimonious over a jokey post which clearly doesn’t reference or imply anything about his dad’s shooting.

If they are your local club then 10. If they're not, 0. Apply rule to the entire world.

"I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning." Wow, that's deep Raheem. However did you come up with something so profound?

Hope not, I much prefer the look of black numbers on our shirts, to match the other bits of black. Maybe it's just because that's always been the way for our shirts (unless white numbers on red).

Yep, it's them. My Dad did some work with them when he had his own football kit business. Went to their head offices that overlook the national stadium in Bangkok.

I'd never hope for one of our younger players to be sold, but if it was a straight choice between Targett and McQueen I'd rather we kept McQueen. I feel like Targett is closer to fulfilling his potential so if he is still a way from being good enough now, he never will be. Even though he's probably a better defender, I recall Targett having more dodgy games than McQueen - perhaps simply because he has played more, but also because his lack of pace is exposed more easily.

Another season without a trophy for Klopp. But I wonder if he'll get the same focus and criticism as Pochettino, even though Klopp inherited Liverpool in a better position, and they have spent far more money? Doubt it.

Feel a bit sorry for Karius. Don't feel sorry for anybody else though. Obviously our former players (well AL, DL & VVD at least), but a special shout out to that pr1ck John Aldridge, whose face has been everywhere in the build up. Gutted.

Come on Fulham! As well as being walking distance from my house, I don’t want John Terry to win promotion, and if Fulham get promoted it’ll be easier knowing Jokanovic wasn’t going to be an option for us. When it comes to today’s football, this is the ONLY game I am interested in. The other one I will wait until I see the score at some point and that’s about it.

Agree that having extra white on the kit looks good, I'm not against it because it's more Stoke. Some of my favourite Saints kits have more white than red. Don't agree on the black though, perhaps I don't see how a colour can be 'dated', but I think it adds crispness to the red & white (equally maybe the collar could have a black trim). Dark Navy work also work, just not royal or light blue for me. In the same way I think the shirt suffers from having a red/white sponsor. The kit above looks similar to our aap3 kit in the promotion year, but the sponsor being in black looks a lot better because of the contrast - in my opinion!

I quite like the red/white one, but it does look a bit 'Stoke', not helped by the presence of blue on the shirt. Trims need to be black imo.