Since it's the end of another decade for cricket , I thought why not reminisce about they great decade of cricket we had. I would focus on team India as it's the team of which I can claim to have followed the majority of the matches.
2011-12
The first year of the decade , Indian team was the No: 1 test side since 2009 , dominating at home and being extremely competitive abroad winning in NZ , Eng, drawing in SA and fighting well with Ponting's Australia down under all in a span of 3-4 years. To add cherry on top of that winning the World Cup meant this was the peak of Indian cricket and given where we were at the turn of the century it was one heck of an achievement to reach this position.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still pretty shit.
2012-13
As big as the highs were , who knew the lows were going to be just as deep. The no 1 test team team crashed and burned in incredible fashion and got white washed in two consecutive series in Eng and Aus , tons of legends had to retire and if that wasn't enough the nail to the coffin was hit by Sir Alistair Cook and his men when they beat India in their own fortress after 28 years when Panesar and Swann taught Indians how to bowl spin and I think at this point the stumps , bails , bat and ball basically anything to do with cricket should have been burnt and sent to England at that point. Funnily this series was my introduction to cricket as a 11 year old who despite being in india didn't know the name of a single cricketer other than Sachin Tendulkar.
Phew, Anyways the horror show ends here, or does it..? Though it doesn't feel like much now , but at that time when Pakistan was visiting for the first time after the terrorist attack and beat India in an odi series in India , it felt like a huge deal, I guess it was the series where we discovered Bhuvi, and during those days he used to swing like a banana albiet a bit slower, his wickets of the first balls on debut where fucking ridiculous. Regardless we did fine in ODi compared to our standards back then when we never used to win odi series in SENA , and Virat Kohli's thrashing in Hobart stands out even to this day , and to think that his 183 is still his highest after 43 fucking hundreds is a miracle.
Anyways the redemption in test cricket came when Australia visited India. We didn't know at the time , but in retrospect the worst Australian side I have ever seen play test cricket and poor bastards thought they could sneak a victory against this depleted indian side and they rightfully got demolished due their pathetic attitude towards homework and trust me Nathan Lyon back then was so bad that it felt like he was a club bowler , didn't know the dude would develop into the beast he is now. Luckily wade was shit then and now , the loud mouth's constant though.
That 4-0 victory over the fake team which tried to convince us that they were thev real Aussies is what I consider to be the beginning of our journey in becoming one of the best test teams in the world again, though is was not to happen any time soon , still this is where I can trace it all back , this is where Ashwin and Jadeja showed a glimpse of what they were going to do to the poor visiters for the rest of the decade , plus by this point Pujara and Rahane where abvious standouts in the middle order , along with Kohli, even Murli Vijay who a lot of people don't like , which goes over my head as he is unironically the best test opener for us this decade and yeah we were never able to find him a proper opening partner , and by the time he went completely shit , we had zero openers performing well for us in any conditions other than home.
Also who can forget Shikhar Dhawan's debut test century and Dhoni's double century.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still shit.
2013-2014
Now this was the year where we won our last ICC trophy of any kind, it's a shame they scrapped champions trophy after this year.Who knew Rohit Sharma's move to the opening spot would give us one of the finest batsmen in coloured clothing the world has ever seen. By that point even with his ridiculous talent™, it seemed like the final days of him getting anymore chances , if he had failed miserably there.
There was a great odi series against aus at home, Rohit scored the first of his three double hundreds, poor Ishant have away 30 runs off an over to end his loi career forever.
Faulkner was a good cricketer during this time who was supposed to achieve big things , he batted and bowled pretty well in this series.
Sachin played his last series , at the time it was quite a relief , and also very emotional , never seen a test match as jam packed as that in India , maybe the pink ball test against Bangladesh was close. Shami was the revelation of the series , and his reverse swing exploits in his debut match is still the best spell of reverse swing I have seen by any Indian this decade.
Now as the winner of champions trophy which basically means we where the champions among champions at a time when we ourself where the world champions , we went with all our super sayen power to tour South Africa.
This was my first away tour as a fan to any country let alone the land where Steyn breathes fire.
First odi of the match , SA comes wearing pink , I laugh and make a few cringey pink = girly jokes. My first introduction to Steyn on Live telly and bruh the talented Rohit Sharma didn't touch the ball for his first 30 deliveries. I dunno how one can miss so many consecutive edges, maybe the balls where too good to get an edge , in that match Virat scored a four of Steyn with a straight drive when Rohit was being treated as if he was a drunk no 11 , and to this day that reminds me of how Virat is a cut a above Rohit regardless of how many mental gymnastics the mentally challenged brohit fans do to claim otherwise. Anyways we lost 3-0 in that series as expected but during those days even ODIs felt like impossible to win in SA for us. Also de dock announced himself with three centuries in all the matches that series.
That test series was Kohli's first in SA and he had a lot to prove back in those days , and he did and iirc so did Pujara. The second test is what everyone would remember where SA almost chased down the world record total, god the bowling was pathetic then.
During this time an awkward young kid with an even more awkward bowling action bowled for MI on debut , and it didn't seems like much at the time , just that he was awkward.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still pretty shit.
2014- 15
Then we go to New Zealand and baz scores a triple century and makes us fuck off.
The t20 worldcup was pretty good for us we went into the finals , Sri Lanka bowled really good at the death, basically every ball was a wide yorker and this was the beginning of a long stretch of losing on the finals or semi-finals for us in the decade.
Now comes the groups first test series in England , I meant just in essence , dhoni and Ishant had played their before but still this was the India in transition, the first test was a draw all I remember is Murli Vijay had a great knock . The next match at lords is one of the most important matches for us this decade , before this I guess we hadn't won a test match in SENA countries since I guess 2008 when we won in NZ 1-0 , I mean come on , I guess we all should be glad things aren't that bad now and we do win atleast a test in most places we play and other teams have to, lots of the times , work there asses of to win against us in their own backyard. Now Rahane scored probably the Indian test century of the decade according to me , and also his favorite century as claimed by the man himself after his exploits in the Boxing Day test recently.
Now hear me out , Ishant got his career best figures in the second innings here , but this is still a time when he was pretty mediocre, and even though I don't want to take any credit away from him , a lot has to do with a collective brain fade from England while playing the short balls from Ishant. Anyways we won and it was a great day, sweet victory in SENA after a long time after two matches we led the series 1-0 , and tbh if we were Sri Lanka or Pakistan we would be going on home after avenging our home test series loss, but no the big boys have to play 5 test matches FFS, nothing much to say here Bhuvneshwar Kumar was our best batsman and bowler that series , we got fucked really fucking bad by Anderson and yeah 3-1.
But even more than that the series would be known as Virat Kohli's lowest point in his test career [ yet (๑•﹏•)]. The world found out that he is no Tendulkar and does have a severe flaw in his technique playing the out swinger. And to be honest we all know that to some extent he still has that flaw , unlike Williamson and Smith who basically have no major flaws in their technique. Yet I would say he is the second best test batsman of the generation after Smith.
Atleast back in the day England used to be a piss poor odi side who played like it was the 70s , and we won that series , but it was not sweet enough to compensate for the thrashing in tests.
Now next we move on to the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Aus, Dhoni called it quits as a test cricketer and Virat takes the helm ,it was basically a run fest, Virat and Smith both scored tons of runs , and we almost won a test in Adelaide , but it could have been worse given how Mitchell Johnson blew England away and South Africa too, but the pitches maybe weren't that conducive or he declined a bit or both , anyways it was basically chat shit get banged for him that series anyways. We lost 2-0 , but this was a series where we could say we played respectable cricket.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still quite shit.
2015 - 2016
We weren't in great form as an odi side around the time of the world cup as we lost a series pretty badly to Australia , who where eventually the champions , Starc was breathing fire back then.
But we won every match in the group stages , and finally lost to Australia in the semi-finals. Fuck Starc , he's too good. No problem we'll win in 2019.
Now in the test world we have had lots of back to back tough series , all the players where new , but by now lots of them where quite experienced and settled in the squad.
Now many people like to say that Indian wins in Sri Lanka shouldn't be counted as away wins and it's still the sub continent etc etc , but before 2015, the last and only time india beat Sri Lanka in Lanka was in the early nineties. Now during this time Sri Lanka was still a great team especially at home they still had Sangakara , Herath both at their best and on top of that they had Karunaratne , Thirimanne and Chandimal. Also remember the time when Angelo Mathews was one of the best test batsman in the world? Yeah he was the captain. The first test match went to them after a second innings collapse from India , that would be the last test Sri Lanka wins against India and they played 8 more tests after this. Anyways India came back triumphantly to win the next two tests to get only their second ever test series victory in the supposedly easy land Sri Lanka and this was to be the beginning of a very dominant period of test cricket for India after which, eventually they'd become the country with the second most number of months as world no 1 in test cricket after Australia since 2003 when the icc ranking begun.
This was the first series where Ishant Sharma started to show some improvement.
Next , South Africa visits India for a test series. Now South Africa has drawn their last two test series in India and I would even go on as far as to say they were even better than the legendary Australia when it came to test cricket in India. Virat Kohli at this time wanted to get really spin friendly wickets as according to him many teams around the world create green wickets and all to get home advantage , there was lots of complaining from faf , but any ways they got thumped 3-0 for the first time ever in India and that was the beginning of a very dominant home stretch.
One highlight was the blockathon from ABD -Amla and also twin centuries from Rahane in that test which where the only centuries in the whole series iirc.
Now India goes to west Indies and get a convincing test series victory, now WI us still a good test team at home , they have beaten good sides like England and Pakistan but they always fail to show up against India, so that's that.
Note than Ishant was still a bit shit.
2016-2017
Next New Zealand visits India , and get ravaged 3-0 with huge margins , India used to always be a dominant side at home , but this was starting to get scary, Ashwin and Jadeja were unplayable literally every match.
Next comes England , the winners of the last series between the two in India. Oh the revenge was cold and sweet , the way we destroyed them was something else , huge scores , losing after scoring almost 500 runs multiple times , triple hundreds , who can forget the hundred from jayant yadav. This was a massacre, and it was due since a long time.
Now as you know Kohli and Shastri were quite cocky by this time, so were the fans and I mean can you blame us? Australia came after a lot of preparation, fuckers where praising Ashwin as the Bradman of bowling to jinx him. The Pune test was a shock, this was before Steve Smith's redemption in the Ashes and as an Indian fan the only other time I really saw him scoring lots of runs it wasn't really tough conditions and on top of that it was at home. This Pune test changed that, I think I have seen the best test batsman of the generation , and maybe even for the next 30 years. Kohli went fishing for that series , and we were again in the backfoot after the first innings of the second test. But then as Ashwin had warned Aussies didn't get a considerable lead , and Ashwin had them for soup . The last test was again won by India to finish a well fought test series.
We all know what happened in the t20 world cup, we reached the semi , and WI thumped us. Who can forget the Ashwin no ball , atleast I mean maybe it's just an anomaly surely an Indian bowler can't bowl a no ball in another major icc knockout match right? Right?
Note that Ishant is very very slightly shit
2017-2018
Okay I have a confession to make. I may have lied about something , ok I admit there was a champions trophy in 2017. And yeah we got thumped so bad , that idk what to say, fairytale stuff for pakistan though , tbh I don't remember them beating us in any other match since 2013 , but probs to them they won the second most important match between us this decade , after the icc wc semi final.
Atleast after the champions trophy we decided to bring in Kuldeep and Chahal and with the rise of Bumrah and even Shami we started to actually become a good bowling side in one day internationals.
We started to not only win at home in loi but in SA , NZ , Aus and that too convincingly, the only loss I remember during this time was probably against the future worldcup champions England at their home , but then again they are probably the greatest odi side probably only second to the legendary Aussie side.
Now we tour Sri Lanka again and by this time Sri Lanka has detoriated quite a bit , they aren't their previous self and don't have Sanga , Herath and Mathew is not his former self. They get thumped 3-0 at home and it's probably our first overseas whitewash.
Next they tour us and we are arrogant enough to act as if this is practice for upcoming overseas tour and make green pitches and all. I remember the Delhi test with pollution and yeah two matches where drawn rather surprisingly still India won 1-0.
By this time you can see that Ishant is slowly improving and his performances are becoming much better.
Now India visits SA and this time India is an experienced side , they are still not a world class bowling line up , but that was going to change , and that happened here when Bumrah was given his test cap. There were lots of questions about this , people where saying that he cannot get swing or seam and his action was not meant for test cricket etc etc, anyways it didn't even take much time tbh , he was an instant success just like he was in loi and took decent amount of wickets every innings , India lost the first two test matches , but all those matches were close , popular consensus is that ABD was the diffrence , India won the last test match which was on a green mamba of a picth, and Bumrah takes his first fifier in the last test match and rest is history. It's too early , but still he is easily the best fast bowler India has ever had, greatest not yet solely due to the fact that some others have more years of service.
Note that Ishant is finally bowling as one of the best bowlers.
2018-2019
Now we go back to England , all eyes were on Kohli , I think he played one of his best innings that match playing with the tail to keep India in the game. Yeah India was in the game a lot of the times infact , yes the scoreline was 4-1 , but this series was well fought , still England were the better team , but India got one famous victory in Nottingham and yeah that's that.
Pretty disappointing , a similar result was predicted down under. Who knew Warner and Steve Smith had diffrent plans , they did their noble deed and we're kicked out of the sport for an year , and yeah this did play a part in giving India a huge advantage.
So yeah we visited down under and as we all know we thumped Australia , should have been 3-1 if not for the rain in Sydney , it was a historic series win , the bowling we faced was still the best in the world. Pujara played the series of his life , and Indian bowling was as good if not better.
In ODIs we are doing really well but still haven't found a good middle order. And yeah we never found that before the world cup.
Note that Ishant Sharma is one of the best bowlers in the world.
2019-2020
Back to back odi series against Australia , both win one of the series at the opposition's home , but we beat them in the WC. We again reach the semi finals and again just like last time lose in the semi's , at this point if we didn't have a decently stacked trophy cabinet we would be the chokers of the decade.
We visit west indies and I think I see Bumrah bowling the best he ever has , he was literally unplayable before getting a stress fracture , which gave real scares to all of us.
Next South Africa visits India again and if last time was a thumping , this time was a complete annihilation , even the pitches where pretty balanced and our pacer out bowled their pacers , tbh it wasn't even a contest , they looked like club cricketers , except faf, he was the lone warrior. 3-0 , but we all know SA is going through a crisis, so nothing surprising.
Bangladesh visit India for 2 tests and again if SA had one batsman doing well , Bangladesh had zero. The day-night test was the most fun test match in terms of crowd participation since Tendulkar's farewell series. But in terms of cricket it was completely one sided.
Note thatIshant is one of the best bowlers in the world
2020
By this time we have been the world no 1 test side for 4 consecutive years , and rightly so according to me , we haven't been world dominators or something , but we where still the best of the lot.
But the biggest disappointment atleast for me in the decade after the England series in 2012 , came when we toured NZ , yeah Ishant Sharma wasn't available , but the way we got rolled over in both the tests after making so much progress in all these years was very disappointing , but we can consider it of as only 2 off tests but still it was very disappointing.
On top of that being white washed in odi series was also pretty humiliating and one concern has to be the ineffectiveness of the odi bowling side recently. But one thing is the middle order is doing slightly better plus the world cup is in India , so bowling won't be that much of a problem I hope. It's still a long way.
We white wash them 5-0 is a T20 series with two of them in super overs and that was very satisfying.
Then Covid hits and the world goes into a frenzy.
We visit Australia again in 2 years , and start by very poorly losing the first two ODIs , the bowling looks problematic.
We redeem ourself in the t20s though and since the next two world cups are t20s I guess that's good that we are consistently winning.
And at the fag end of the decade we play the first test in Adelaide , we start well considering Ishant isn't available again , we get them quite cheaply getting a handy lead , at the end of day two we where thinking of scoring another 200 runs atleast to get a good enough lead to win the test match. In probably the worst session of cricket India has ever played in their 88 years of playing this game , we get all out for 36 , and rightly everyone starts prediction a 4-0 whitewash , I mean who wouldn't.
I guess one of the best test match victories for the country not just in this decade but in our entire history came as the last test match of the decade.. Coming back from an all time low , not having Kohli , Ishant , Bhuvi , Shami and Umesh getting injured mid game , with two debutants India makes a great comeback coming back from a historic low.
That's that, it has been a great decade , certainly India's best decade in terms of win rates and results and all and even icc trophies , not getting atleast one ICC trophy in the later end of the decade dampens the fun a bit , let's hope that changes in the future. The biggest thing to happen is certainly getting good fast bowlers in the second half of the decade.
Exciting times ahead , we probably have more talent coming through every year in domestic than ever before, especially in fast bowling , currently very excited for Kartik Tyagi , and also hope nagarkoti and Mavi don't get lost , Natrajan , Siraj , Saini are all good. As usual lots and lots of batting talent coming through, also a couple of exciting wicket keepers in Rishab and Ishan kishan and even Sanju , if Rahul can keep well , that's the best case scenario for the loi teams.
All through the decade IPL has evolved into a mature league and is only going strength to strength .
One thing which has detoriated a bit I feel is our fielding which was top notch for a long time from champions trophy 2013 untill recently. Lots of catches being dropped and there's no excuses for that.
I think in the first decade of the century we went from a average team to a good team , this decade after a blip early on , we have transitioned easily into a top 3 team irrespective of the format. Without a doubt the most successful decade for Indian cricket in terms of results , the 2000s died for this.
At the end I want to have a word for Ishant Sharma , for the majority of his career he was the most mediocre cricketer I have ever seen , he was statistically the worst fast bowler to play the number of tests he did with a bowling avg of about 38-40 , I don't think anyone except Ishant himself would have ever thought that he would be averaging around 17-18 accross the world over a 3 year span , and I for one never thought I would say that he is one of the best test bowlers in the world. It's one of the greatest cricket career redemptions ever and I for one respect the hell out of the dude. Being mediocre wasn't his fault , he was still the best the country had produced for a long time and that was probably more frustrating, that we had no choice. Regardless he has 3 tests to go to reach 100 tests and I think he is certainly among the Indian greats and without doubt a vital part of the greatest Indian bowling unit ever.

Here's an in-depth breakdown of Super Bowl LV:

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We have made it! All 256 regular season and – since this year – twelve playoff games are in the books and there is just one matchup left to decide who will be crowned NFL champions. There are so many storylines leading up to the big game – the GOAT Tom Brady versus the kid Patrick Mahomes, two of the all-time great tight-ends on either side of the ball wearing number 87, the Buccaneers becoming the first ever team to host a Super Bowl in their home stadium, Andy Reid after all this time of coming up short, potentially winning back-to-back titles, while Bruce Arians is looking to finally get his first ring as a head coach and potentially becoming the oldest one to earn one in history, and many others.
As I do every year, I wanted to give a detailed look ahead to the big game, where I break down who these teams are, kind of how they got here and how they match up against each other. To do so I put together analysis of each offense and defense, plus where each could have the advantage, then I take a look back at when these two teams first met back in week 12, explain what they have and/or should have learned from it, give you an X-factor on either side of the ball for both and finally hand out my score prediction, while explaining what I believe will happen.
Let’s dive into it!

Buccaneers offense vs. Chiefs defense:

The Tampa Bay offense has been transitioning throughout the season. Early on it was Bruce Arians’ system with a lot of 12 and even 13 personnel, trying to establish a gap-scheme power run game and taking play-action shots off it from under center. And then a second offense was kind of implemented, which was more suited to what Tom Brady was used to in New England, where they spread the field and attack defenses with the quick game. However, it really was two separate playbooks almost, that they worked in. I think we have seen a little more of a symbiotic relationship, which I believe Byron Leftwich has had a big role in putting together. They motion their backs in and out or use their receivers as pre-snap coverage indicators at a much higher rate, letting Brady be surgical in the quick passing game, but still attacking vertically and using Gronk and the tight-ends as that extra in-line blocker to get enough time, because Brady still more than enough juice in his arm to push the ball down the field. Since week ten, Cameron Brate has also played about 41 percent of the snaps and I believe he gives them more versatility in what they can be from two tight-end personnel, since he can basically be a big slot for them. Their receiving corp as a whole offers a lot of versatility, whether it’s Mike Evans moving more into the slot this season, Antonio Brown being able to line up at any of the receiver spots or specialists like Scotty Miller to attack down the field.

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It’s a well-established narrative that if you can get to Tom Brady early, he becomes a much less effective passer and if you look at the five games, that they have come up short in 2020 (Saints twice, Bears, Rams and Chiefs), they have lost the battle up front offensively. Since their week 13 bye, following their last loss to Kansas City (including the playoffs), they have gone undefeated whilst averaging 34.3 points per game, with at least 30 in all three postseason battles. Looking at those games in particular, the defense was dominant at New Orleans and set up scoring opportunities directly, but against Washington and Green Bay, they completed a combined 11 passes of 20+ yards. So it is still very much about the big plays through the air (finished top three in 20+ and 40+ yard passes), but the efficiency of this offense has really gone up to a different level. At Detroit they were so dominant that Brady sat out the entire second half, then they scored on all but one of their possessions against Atlanta and now over this three-game road playoff run, they have had only three combined three-and-outs and turnovers in each of them. A big key to that has been the Bucs offensive line keeping Brady clean, as he has gotten sacked only 11 times over their active seven-game win streak and just once in all but two of those contests. To go with having better solutions to beat the blitz in their system.

https://reddit.com/link/lcn8vq/video/5o8inlufbif61/player

Unlike a lot of modern NFL offenses, that have incorporated more RPO elements and try to create numbers advantages in the run game with spread sets, Bruce Arians still brings that old-school flair with multiple tight-end sets and the power run game. There’s not a lot of wide zone blocking, but rather they create vertical movement at the point of attack with a heavy dose of duo, get those big offensive linemen on the move on toss plays and then I love watching those receivers get involved as blockers in the box – especially Chris Godwin, who they seriously have leading up in the hole or trapping three-techniques. When they run play-action off those looks, they use a lot of seven- and eight-man protections and try to hit defenses over the top, whether it’s deep crossers and posts or straight go routes down the sideline. As much success as they have with that recipe, when you look at the analytics, their tendency to run the ball on early downs shows there’s plenty of improvement in terms of efficiency, which is something I want to see them do in this game, to not get behind the chains and allow the Chiefs defense to be as creative on third down. When they go into shotgun and spread the field more, they look for ways to attack the middle of the field with their inside receivers primarily and when they see one-on-one on the outside with Mike Evans or Antonio Brown, they will take their shots. Double-moves are a large ingredient to what they do, especially out-and-up routes.

For the Chiefs defense, they looked like they had carried over that momentum from last year’s Super Bowl run into 2020, not giving up more than 20 points in any of their first four games. In week five, the Raiders out of nowhere exploded for 40 points and handed them their only loss outside of week 17, when they rested several starters, before having three more great showings at Buffalo, Denver and then hosting the Jets. But since then, they have allowed at least 24 points in six of their final eight games. Part of that negative turnaround was the injuries they have had in the secondary and the lack of takeaways (one per game). The biggest piece however has been their inability to keep teams out of the end-zone when they got close. Looking at the whole regular season, no other team has allowed their opponents to create a higher rate of their red-zone trips into touchdowns (74.1%). That’s why so many of their games stayed close deep into the fourth quarter, which I’ll get to more in a little bit. When you look into play-calling, you can see that they played a lot more zone-coverage and rushed only four or five, because they simply didn’t have the guys their could trust to cover in man. Outside of one game, where they felt like they had a great feel for the opposing route-patterns, which I’ll get to soon.

https://reddit.com/link/lcn8vq/video/kab5kwvkbif61/player

Yet, once again, that unit has stepped up in the postseason and the two things that stand out to me are defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s brilliant game-planning and their ability to stop one-dimensional offenses. When I look at what they did against the Browns, if you take away one 23-yard burst from Nick Chubb, Cleveland’s elite running back duo was held to 78 yards on 18 carries, as Spagnuolo gave their opponents a lot of looks that they didn’t want to run into and then had a safety drop out of the box late. Then in the AFC title game, to take away Buffalo’s dynamic passing offense (which ranked top three in all major categories), they played a lot of cover-two and two-man, where their DBs pressed the hell out of the Bills receivers and then they played a lot of different versions of those two-high shells, like invert cover-two or bringing Tyrann Mathieu down as the MIKE in Tampa-two basically, which forced Josh Allen to hold onto the ball. What I can promise you is that they aren’t afraid of bringing heavy pressure and then having their coverage defenders well-schooled in the concepts they should focus on taking away primarily while the Honeybadger is often allowed to move pretty freely as the robber. Frank Clark hasn’t quite lived up to his contract, but he has had big moments in the playoffs these last two years, Chris Jones is one of the most disruptive interior D-linemen in the game, who they can move all over the line, and they have several big bodies they can rotate through to stay fresh and eat double-teams.

Chiefs offense vs. Bucs defense:

As much as we all love the Kansas City offense and we see them as this unit that blows us away with flashy play-designs and throws over the top, they have really been alternating their approach over the course of the season as well. When you go all the way back to their season-opener against the Texans, you see that they used more of a West Coast and RPO-oriented attack to punish a defense that played a lot of soft zones and invited them to throw the ball short. However, two weeks later at Baltimore, they were destroying the Ravens’ single-high safety and man-coverage principles by letting their speedy receivers streak down the field and call double-moves at 15+ yards of depth. Then three weeks after that, when they found themselves in a rainy setting at Buffalo against a soft interior run defense, they pounded the ball 46 times for almost 250 yards on the ground. So they have shown the ability to adapt to their opponents. However, with several injuries on the offensive line – most notably a turnstile at left guard and those two tackles, which will now both be out for the Super Bowl – and opposing defenses taking the approach of using a lot more split-safety looks and trying to take away the big play, they have turned back into being more methodical in their plan and putting together long drives. In the AFC Championship game in particular, with Patrick Mahomes coming off a turf toe injury, their gameplan and drive charts look almost like what they used to with Alex Smith, in terms of the West Coast designs and those glance or slant routes on the backside of RPO concepts.

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When you look at this KC offense, they have had large stretches of getting static in games and as great as they are at moving the ball between the 20s, they are only 14th league-wide in red-zone touchdown percentage (61%). Some people may not realize this, but since their week eight blowout win over the Jets, they had not won a game by more than six points until the AFC title game. That is due to a combination of tendency to start slow, their poor red-zone efficiency and the inability to run the ball consistently with all the movement they have had on the O-line, having rushed for 135+ yards just three times all season. With that being said, Darrell Williams has been a big factor as a power runner these playoff and rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire should be back to full health. In addition to that, they find other ways to put the ball in the hands of their skill-players quickly, using the speed of their receiving crew on bubbles and speed sweeps, to go along with well-designed longer-developing screens, such as the double swing-fake and then middle screen to Travis Kelce. They also use their star tight-end quite a bit on those power shovels in short-yardage situations and I believe their most effective run play is the speed option, because of the way Mahomes can manipulate that end-man at the line.

https://reddit.com/link/lcn8vq/video/eopgbempbif61/player

While I have seen them run anything from 23 personnel to going empty with Kelce detached from the line (so basically a five-wide situation), there are a few things the Chiefs love to run. Their go-to formation is a three-by-one set with Kelce as the single receiver, mostly flexed out wide, but also in-line. In 2019 they ran three verticals from that trips side and then had Kelce on a shallow crosser over and over again. This year they still run it quite a bit, but they let the tight-end run more corner or curl routes, to allow inside receivers from the other side attack the middle of the field and isolate their backs against the linebackers, in addition to running power that way. And then they motion someone like Tyreek Hill or Mecole Hardman across, which for the most part gets opposing defense to move into two-high coverages and play off. So if KC runs either one up the seams, there’s usually a ton of space underneath. The two things that take this offense to the next level however, are trick plays and off-script production. What makes Andy Reid and Eric Bienemy great is not only their ability to exploit defensive schemes, but they are so creative and don’t shy away from throwing reverse passes, underhand shovels to their fullback or digging up tape from the 1948 Rose Bowl. And then there’s all the thing Mahomes can do off script. That guy is so slippery to extend plays while continuing to look downfield and his pass-catchers are so adept at adjusting on the fly and finding the open areas, especially that sixth sense-like connection he has with Kelce.

I have been higher on the Bucs defense for pretty much the entire year, which was really up and down for them as a unit. They have had moments of dominance, like keeping three straight opponents to under 50 rushing yards each or holding Green Bay’s number-one ranked offense to just 10 points in their regular season meeting, but they also gave up a combined 72 points in their first two meetings with the Saints and got lit up for over 450 yards through the air when hosting these same Chiefs back in week 12 (I’ll analyze that matchup in detail in our next segment). During this playoff run however, they have really stepped up in big moments to get them to this point. Whether it’s forcing four turnovers at New Orleans or sacking Aaron Rodgers five times and making a historically great red-zone offense settle for a couple of chip-shot field goals at Green Bay. When you look at their duo of edge rushers, Shaq Barrett is tied for the lead-league in QB hurries (24) and only three players in the NFL (all DBs) have forced more turnovers than Jason Pierre-Paul (six). Then they have the most dynamic linebacker tandem in all of football, which are heavily involved in their pressure packages and make it nearly impossible to get outside the tackle box in the run game, and now with Vita Vea back in the lineup, they have a wall on the inside that nobody can run on consistently. That’s how they finished the regular season as the clear number one run defense in the league. The secondary has been the problem child at times, especially when defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has put them in pure man-coverage, but by moving their safeties around more to bracket and help in certain areas of the field, they have really improved in that department.

https://reddit.com/link/lcn8vq/video/meu60dlrbif61/player

Bowles is an aggressive play-caller by nature and they have created a lot of problems for opposing offenses by bringing one more than you can block (blitzed on 39% of plays). It has bitten them in their behind at times as well, but from what I have seen on tape, they have been more strategic in how they use it. Especially on third downs, I love how they have used their safeties as moving pieces, having them key on certain areas of the field or defending the sticks. In the NFC Championship game for example, one of the biggest plays of the afternoon was that Aaron Jones fumble at the start of the second half, when the Packers thought they had defeated the man-coverage with a shallow crosser to Jones whilst picking the underneath coverage, but Jordan Whitehead raced up from the other side of the field and jarred the ball loose just as the RB tried to turn upfield and convert on third down. That willingness to drive on routes is also apparent when they run quarters coverage and you see Whitehead and rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. break on the ball, looking to take somebody’s head off, while they are also heavily involved in their blitz packages. That combined with those guys coming off the edges, Ndamokung as a bully on the inside and a pretty unknown contributor in William Gholston has them ranking in the top five in sacks, pressure percentage, turnovers and tackles for loss.

Examining the first matchup:

Like I already mentioned, these two teams met back in week 12. The Chiefs jumped out to an early 17-0 lead in the first quarter, with Tyreek Hill racking up over 200 receiving yards over those 15 minutes already and the Bucs offense having just one combined first down over the first four possessions. Kansas City was in the red-zone once more mid-way through the second quarter, but a Shaquille Barrett strip-sack gave Brady & company the ball with some life and they were able to go on the board. That really got things to click and they fought their way back to being down only three, despite a couple of interceptions for Tampa Bay’s QB killing drives, because after scoring a touchdown on their initial try for the Chiefs, the Bucs defense really stepped up and held their opponents scoreless the rest of the way. However, Mahomes and Hill were able to run down the final four minutes and close the game, not giving Brady’s troops another chance, as they were coming off consecutive TD drives at the end, to secure a 27-24 victory.
While the Chiefs certainly took their foot off the gas pedal and tried to run the ball more, which KC outside of what Mahomes did, rushed for only 59 yards on 16 carries, I really thought this was a breaking point for Tampa Bay as a team. The offense started finding a groove and the only two drives that didn’t result in points from that final first half possession on, ended in picks. The defense on the other hand adjusted what they were doing in coverage and held that explosive KC attack to just ten points through the final three quarters. So while I think the result may be a little deceiving and the Chiefs could have easily won by double-digits, I look back at this as more of a launching pad for a team that has been the best in the NFC from that point on and now represents that conference in the big game, with a chance to learn from their early mistakes. Here are a few things that really stood out to me when they first met:

When you look back at the ridiculous first quarter Tyreek Hill had at Tampa Bay, what really stands out is how much he was left one-on-one in coverage, often times with Carlton Davis, who has had a good season in general, but is a bigger corner who ran in the low 4.5s at the combine – no way can he keep up consistently against the fastest man in football. Davis did follow Tyreek for the most part, in particular when he was the single receiver or the #3 in that trips set with Travis Kelce soloed up on the opposite side. And the Chiefs did a great job of creating those one-on-ones with motions, where they moved Kelce in line or forced Davis to trail Hill, when he came across the formation from that trips alignment. Tyreek’s two long touchdown came on a subtle double-move after they motioned Kelce in and then on a streak across the field as the #3 from trips. That opened up the middle of the field later on for Kelce on hook and dig routes. Something else Kansas City did in the first half particularly was using more 12 and even 13 personnel than I had seen from them all season long. They still couldn’t run the ball a lick out of those sets, but they were effective in the passing game when used, especially chipping both those guys off the edges for Tampa, with one of the TEs and the running back.

https://reddit.com/link/lcn8vq/video/8b7dchqzbif61/player

Tampa Bay called a lot of passing concepts with five-man protections early versus Kansas City bringing an array of blitzes (18 on 42 drop-backs). Especially on third downs, they were able to create at least one free rusher and then they had one or two defenders bailing out to take away the middle of the field. However, the Bucs made some very effective adjustments in the second half with hot-route to defeat those blitzes and putting that “bail defender” I will call it here in a bind, with a seam and spot route underneath for example. Of course the Chiefs still got two interceptions off Brady, that stopped promising drives, but when you look at what went wrong on those plays, first Ronald Jones overset to the outside trying to pick up Tyrann Mathieu off the edge, which led to an underthrown deep ball by Brady that was brought in by Bashaun Breeland along the sideline, as Scotty Miller got pushed out wide on his release, and then Mathieu got an INT of his own, as Mike Evans didn’t recognize the pressure and the ball went off the helmet of a blitzing Daniel Sorensen. In general, they were able to get the ball out quickly – especially to their tight-ends – to take advantage of limited resources in coverage and on the final two drives, when KC brought heat almost every single snap, they were punished for it.

What each team can take away:

A couple of adjustments that I already saw in the first meeting or that I would like to see for each team would be:

For the Bucs, the one thing I want to see most is using more dummy counts to show pressure pre-snap and give Brady a clear picture. Whether they try to block it up with the tight-ends and backs in protection or alert the hot read, the more information they can get from a Spagnuolo defense that prides itself on disguising pressures and coverages, they more adept they will be at defeating those. Once they do that, this could turn into a chess match, where the Chiefs show something different intentionally to make Brady kill the original play and then have to pull the ball down anyway, as the picture changes once the snap is off. And something else they should take advantage of is isolating what is a below-average group of linebackers in the passing game. Their RB core isn’t overly impressive in terms of their receiving abilities, especially when you look at the amount of drops we have seen from Leonard Fournette, but maybe they dig LeSean McCoy out more for this matchup and see if he can win on option routes and Tampa actually put AB in the backfield a couple of times in the backfield in their prior meeting, only they ran him downfield on wheel routes.
Defensively I already saw some stuff that I really through quarters two to four, in terms of using their safety tandem to bracket Hill and Kelce on a lot of snaps and on key downs in particular, forcing the ancillary pieces of that offense to beat them. I will mention one of my X-factors and his role in how that “gamble” could end up in the next segment, but those two guys accounted for 55.5 percent of Kansas City’s total passing yardage. So it’s certainly a chance worth taking and if you go with a game-plan, where your two stand-up guys on the second level are more involved in covering space underneath, as Tyreek may be utilized as more of a decoy that runs off the deep coverage, you can eliminate a lot of yardage after the catch, since teams that rush four and play coverage have been the ones giving the Chiefs some issues at times. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want the Bucs to not use their linebackers as blitzing threats. They should try to cover up the open gaps with those guys and create one-on-ones across the board, to enable their edge rushers to dominate against KC’s backup tackles. And something the Browns against them a few times, which I really liked, was rushing four or five, but not giving up assets in coverage, as they had somebody drop out to replace those blitzers and still create a free rusher.

https://preview.redd.it/enx2gsi8eif61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=1de643c848aefd212231c5e7a3059c580c0967b7

On the Chiefs’ side, I really liked the plan of chipping those two guys off the edges, as I already discussed, with an extra tight-end on the field, and while they are a spread-oriented offense, they had a lot of success when they used 12 personnel and threw the ball out of those looks. Because you can’t cover the whole field and have to take away what Kansas City sends vertically, those TEs and backs are often times all by themselves as they release into the flats. If that happens, like it did in their prior meeting, Mahomes has to take the free yardage and open up the deeper areas of the field again, as the Bucs have to re-adjust. The other thing I can tell you for sure is that the Bucs are obviously terrified of Tyreek burning them deep again and I’m sure there won’t be many chances to just attack their corners in man-coverage for big plays. So if they give Hill a lot soft cushions, they have to repeat what did to the Bills’ Tre’Davious White in terms of getting him the ball quickly on smoke routes and forcing those guys to tackle their electric receiver. While vertical prowess has to be used as a decoy, in terms of putting him in the slot of those three-by-one sets and having him run up the seam, while you attack underneath that. If you get Mecole Hardman one-on-one with their third-best CB on a post-corner route, while the flanker runs a hitch or square-in to bind the guy on the outside, that could be free money.
When I switch to defense, they had a ton of success bringing the blitz and not allowing Brady to step into throws. I would certainly say they were happy with that game-plan and they have reason to feel confident in the guys they have on the back-end, with the way they have showed out so far in the postseason. However, I have now talked about this at length and the Bucs have watched that tape over and over again. There is no way, those guys will be as ill-prepared to counter those pressure packages as they were back in November. Hell, Brady was dicing them up in the fourth quarter and I just detailed how those two picks came about. So Steve Spagnuolo can still bring the heat in certain situations and test Tampa Bay in their ability to pick up the blitz, but he has to be more strategic in how he uses it. The second thing to consider here is how you mask those linebackers, when you decide to utilize them more in coverage. Those players can be very effective as downhill thumpers in the run game, taking on pulling guards and filling holes, but they aren’t great in space. The Raiders in their two matchups against Kansas City had a lot of success attacking that area of the field with crossing routes. Chris Godwin and Gronk would be guys for that task, so maybe if you have them to one side, the opposite linebacker is the one you blitz and you bring down Sorensen or Mathieu to replace him in that hook-area, while looking to pick up anybody working across the field.

X-factors:

https://preview.redd.it/3hthyyz2cif61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=05ce975ec5a0319694f3e404cce356c9e82c60c4

Buccaneers – Aaron Stinnie & Jamel Dean

I’m not going to give you a name like Scotty Miller here, because at this point, he is more likely to catch at least one deep ball than not. Ronald Jones’ health will be key as well, to give the Bucs that physical one-two punch out of the backfield. However, I’m going with their starting right guard Aaron Stinnie, who just got his first two starts of the year during these playoffs. The Bucs O-line has been dominant over the course of this seven-game win streak, like I already mentioned, holding opponents to just 11 sacks combined in those games and an average of 115 rushing yards during these playoffs, despite some tough competition. Alex Cappa was one of the road-graders on the interior for Tampa and only missed three total snaps throughout the regular season, before fracturing his ankle mid-way through their Wildcard game at Washington. Stinnie has since stepped since then and played pretty well, but he was also responsible for the only sack on Brady in the NFC Championship game at Green Bay, when Kenny Clark went right through him on a bull rush. Well, the challenge will not get any easier, as I’d expect the Chiefs to line up Chris Jones in the B-gap as much as possible and try to exploit that matchup, on passing downs in particular. That’s why it will be crucial for Tampa Bay to stay ahead of the chains, unlike they did in the first matchup, and slow the rush down a little bit. Good thing Stinnie is lined up in-between arguably the top rookie right tackle of 2020 in rookie Tristan Wirfs and one of the better centers in Ryan Jensen, who will be looking to land a rib-shot on the guy over Stinnie, on the snaps that he is uncovered for.
As for the Bucs defense, that whole group of corners will have to step up in a major way, as they hope to slow down this explosive KC passing attack. Obviously, Carlton Davis’ name will come up a whole lot early on during the broadcast, as Tony Romo and Jim Nantz show what Tyreek Hill did to him early on in that week 12 meeting, and I could see Hill be matched up with Sean Murphy-Bunting in the slot a whole lot as well, but since I expect the safety to that side to keep his eyes constantly on him, when he lines up inside and makes it easier to bracket to some degree. Instead, I’m looking at Jamel Dean, who primarily is Tampa Bay’s field-side corner, unless they have Davis travelling with the opposing team’s number one receiver in certain matchups, which I wouldn’t expect, as the Bucs coaches go back to the tape of that first matchup. If Todd Bowles is smart – and from what I’ve seen from his as a coach, as much as aggressiveness may have hurt him at times, he is – he will build on what they did in the second half of that last game, when he used his two safeties to bracket Hill and Kelce almost every snap and forced the rest of that receiving corp to beat them. That puts the spotlight on guys like Sammy Watkins if they line him up more at Z, Demarcus Robinson and others, as those guys will pretty much be one-on-one with Dean. While the coverage numbers would indicate otherwise – in part because he draws the easiest assignments – to me he is the weakest link of this secondary and has been highly vulnerable to double-moves. The Chiefs might be burn him once more on Sunday.

https://preview.redd.it/tof7xfc4cif61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=acd57311d38bd8217491b102f927017514a6b1bd

Chiefs – Andrew Wylie & Juan Thornhill

I thought about going Sammy Watkins here for the Chiefs offense, because he hasn’t suited up for them since week 16 and he hasn’t caught at least five passes in a game since week three, but averaged almost 100 receiving yards during last year’s playoff run. And you should also get accustomed with who wears number 48 for them, because Nick Keizer may have only caught six passes through the regular season, but he has become KC’s TE2 on the depth chart, playing just over a quarter of the snaps, and he could have a key role as an extra protector or chipping those edge rushers. Instead, I’m going with KC’s new starter at right tackle, who was slotted in at RG for all but one game so far. With blindside protector Eric Fisher unfortunately tearing his Achilles late in the AFC title game, Mike Remmers – who originally replaced Mitchell Schwartz on the right end of the line – is now switching sides and Andrew Wylie is sliding one spot outside. And he will face a tough task, after only having started one game on the edge against the Saints and now getting a heavy load of Shaq Barrett, who primarily rushed off that side. Let’s see if Wylie has the quickness in his kick-slide to counter Barrett’s speed and if the latter can get him on a dip-maneuver, like he beat Eric Fisher for a strip-sack on when these two teams last met. Steven Wisniewski will step in at Wylie’s original spot, but he has been one of the most dependable veteran linemen of the last decade in my opinion.
Defensively, I’m looking at the guy who missed Kansas City’s Super Bowl run last year, after an excellent rookie campaign. Their secondary was the star of the show against Buffalo, to send them to the Super Bowl, by disrupting route patterns at the line of scrimmage and not allowing receivers to separate late. A big reason they felt comfortable doing that was their safety tandem, with Tyrann Mathieu being in more of a robber role and dropping down in Tampa-2, to go along with the rangy Juan Thornhill, who broke up four passes and nearly picked off two of them. Steve Spagnuolo has those safeties doing a ton of late rotations, bailing Daniel Sorensen out for two-high shells, Honeybadger turning into a freely roaming robber and often times Thornhill ending up as the deep middle safety. As a single-high defender, he makes it almost impossible to push the ball down the hashes and he has the ability to make plays outside numbers. That will be crucial against all the deep balls Tampa Bay attempts and if one of those corners loses Mike Evans or Antonio Brown off the line by lunging in press, he could be the guy who decides if there will be a 40+ yard gain or maybe even an interception, if Brady puts too much air under the ball and tries to give his receiver time to track it. I can’t wait to watch that chess game between the Chiefs’ second-year safety and the ultimate student of the game in Brady, who will try to manipulate him with his eyes and body language, in order to keep the defender away from where he wants to go with the ball.

Prediction:

On paper, the Bucs have the better and healthier roster at this moment. You look at the offensive line in particular, where they still have four of their day one starters, while the Chiefs’ only full-time starter at his original position is center Austin Reiter and they will have two guys at those tackle spots, that have barely never played there for Kansas City. In terms of pass-catchers, it’s hard to argue that you could put anybody above the Chiefs group of track stars, but you don’t need a full hand to count off the teams that you would put ahead of the Bucs. There is also a pretty clear advantage on the defensive line for the home team, when you look at them being top three in pressure percentage, while KC is outside the top ten. And while I would give the Chiefs the nod in terms of the back-end, seeing how they have stepped up so far this postseason at full health, the Bucs’ group has made plenty of plays to take them to the Super Bowl and linebacker is not even a competition, watching Devin White and Lavonte David fly around the field. And of course, they have the number one rush defense, while the Chiefs rank 21st, and they are both average at running the ball themselves.
Schematically, Tampa certainly has to make some adjustments, as I have already discussed in length, having solutions for the blitz packages Steve Spagnuolo will throw at them and not allowing the Chiefs two main weapons to beat them. Right now, I give the clear advantage to the reigning champs when it comes to the coaching staffs and as great as Brady has been for two decades now and the how clutch he has been on the game’s biggest stage, we may be witnessing the one guy, who has a chance of dethroning him one day as the GOAT. Spags has a proven track record of success against Brady and I’m sure Andy Reid and Eric Bienemy have been in the lab, cooking up new things to throw at the Bucs defense, figuring out ways to score points all four quarters, but in the end it comes down to Patrick Mahomes being able to make plays nobody else in football can. Shaq Barrett and JPP could have a field day against these two backup tackles and I think Todd Bowles will also have a couple of things up his sleeves that the Chiefs haven’t seen, but last year’s Super Bowl MVP is the ultimate equalizer. He will shake out of a sack and find Kelce for a huge third-down conversion and he will have another like twelve-step drop and fire a deep ball off his back-foot to break Tampa’s neck.

https://preview.redd.it/njt5v586cif61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=2c20c0b875bf0f9fb7d19841500f93ec8ad78f42

Chiefs 34 – Bucs 28

So give me the Chiefs here and I’ll take the chalk with Mahomes earning MVP honors, winning back-to-back titles and setting the foundation for a potential dynasty in Kansas City.

If you enjoyed this breakdown, I would really appreciate if you could visit the original piece!
Also make sure to check out my video on the ten biggest questions heading into Super Bowl LV!

Deadline Day Thread

Seen a request for a megathread so thought I'd chuck this up.
Should update every minute and just pulls from BBC transfer page. This was rushed, might not work properly and twitter links aren't working nicely but figured better than nothing.
Auto-update link
TRANSFERS

Aberdeen
- In: Fraser Hornby (Reims, loan), Callum Hendry (St Johnstone, loan), Florian Kamberi (St Gallen, loan), Ross McCrorie (Rangers, transfer)
- Out: Curtis Main (Shrewsbury, transfer), Bruce Anderson (Hamilton Accies, loan), Scott Wright (Rangers, transfer)
Celtic
- In: Jonjoe Kenny (Everton, loan)
- Out: Olivier Ntcham (Marseille, loan)
Hamilton Academical
- In: Bruce Anderson (Aberdeen, loan)
Hibernian
- Out: Stevie Mallan (Yeni Malatyaspor, loan), Jamie Gullan (Raith Rovers, loan)
Kilmarnock
- In: Zech Medley (Arsenal, loan), Brandon Pierrick (Crystal Palace, loan)
Motherwell
- In: Eddie Nolan, (Crewe, loan), Jordan Roberts (Hearts, loan)
Rangers
- In: Jack Simpson (Bournemouth, transfer), Scott Wright (Aberdeen, transfer)
- Out: Brandon Barker (Oxford United, loan), George Edmundson (Derby County, loan), Ross McCrorie (Aberdeen, transfer)
St Johnstone
- Out: Callum Hendry (Aberdeen, loan)

BBC SUMMARY

Celtic confirm Jonjoe Kenny loan deal
Rangers announce long-term deals for Jack Simpson and Aberdeen's Scott Wright; Brandon Barker and George Edmundson depart on loans
Kevin Nisbet staying at Hibernian as Stevie Mallan departs for Turkey on loan
Fraser Hornby, Flo Kamberi & Callum Hendry arrive on loan at Pittodrie, Ross McCrorie signs permanent deal after leaving Rangers

POSTS | via BBC | ^{rushed this, might not work properly}

Time	Title	Content
0:13		The window is shut but we'll keep the live page going until 1am just in case anything happens. Clubs may make some late, late announcements. If you're off to bed then good night and thanks for joining us on the live text throughout the day. And keep an eye on the BBC Sport Scotland website for all the latest news. Remember to join us on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, where we've Scottish Premiership action. Lets see how many of these new signings make their debuts.
0:09	Who has signed who?	Here's the deals that have happened todayAberdeen In: Fraser Hornby (Reims, loan), Callum Hendry (St Johnstone, loan), Florian Kamberi (St Gallen, loan), Ross McCrorie (Rangers, transfer) Out: Curtis Main (Shrewsbury, transfer), Bruce Anderson (Hamilton Accies, loan), Scott Wright (Rangers, transfer) Celtic In: Jonjoe Kenny (Everton, loan) Out: Olivier Ntcham (Marseille, loan) Hamilton Academical In: Bruce Anderson (Aberdeen, loan) Hibernian Out: Stevie Mallan (Yeni Malatyaspor, loan), Jamie Gullan (Raith Rovers, loan) Kilmarnock In: Zech Medley (Arsenal, loan), Brandon Pierrick (Crystal Palace, loan) Motherwell In: Eddie Nolan, (Crewe, loan), Jordan Roberts (Hearts, loan) Rangers In: Jack Simpson (Bournemouth, transfer), Scott Wright (Aberdeen, transfer) Out: Brandon Barker (Oxford United, loan), George Edmundson (Derby County, loan), Ross McCrorie (Aberdeen, transfer) St Johnstone Out: Callum Hendry (Aberdeen, loan)
0:07		All done at Motherwell, but look out for another piece of business tomorrow. . .
0:03	Transfer window closed	That's the window closed, though as long as clubs have put through their deal before midnight they can announce them whenever they like. Hamilton say they'll reveal more tomorrow. Clubs can also still sign free agents.
23:56 1 Feb	McCrorie now officially a Don	Ross McCrorie has now joined the Dons permanently on a three-and a-half year deal. The 22-year-old midfielder, who initially arrived at Pittodrie on a season long loan, has already made 23 appearances and scored twice. McCrorie tells the official Aberdeen website: “We’ve still got a lot to play for this season, with some big games in the coming weeks, so there is much to look forward to. “It’s great to see Fraser [Hornby] joining the team, someone I know very well from Scotland Under 21 squads, and I know he’ll be a fantastic addition for us. ” https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356389971201052674
23:53 1 Feb	Rangers confirm Wright move	Rangers confirm Scott Wright has signed a four and a half year with the Ibrox club, and joins the club straight away rather than in summer. Wright tells the official Rangers website: "I’m delighted to be here at this massive club and can’t wait to run out at Ibrox for my debut, and then hopefully in front of a full house in the not-too-distant future. “It is a real privilege to have the opportunity to work under a manager like Steven Gerrard and speaking to him and Ross Wilson, I am really impressed with how everyone at the club all have the same aims and ambitions. “I cannot wait to meet my new teammates and get started as a Rangers player. " Rangers manager Steven Gerrard said: “It is very pleasing to have Scott for the rest of this season. This will give him the opportunity to gain some valuable game time in a blue shirt for the rest of the season. “Scott is a player that I have admired and I believe that we can utilise his skill set within our system. He will train with his new teammates tomorrow. ” https://twitter.com/RangersFC/status/1356389584926633984
23:51 1 Feb	McCrorie and Wright deals imminent...	Ross McCrorie's loan from Rangers to Aberdeen about to become a permanent transfer, which surely means Scott Wright is also about to be unveiled at Ibrox, with the Dons playmaker having already agreed a pre-contract. Right, the race is on. Who is first to confirm - Aberdeen or Rangers? https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356388944464719872
23:33 1 Feb	O'Donnell extends Motherwell contract	Not a new signing, but Scotland full-back and BBC Sportscene pundit Stephen O'Donnell has extended his Motherwell deal until the end of the season.
23:28 1 Feb	Rangers confirm Simpson transfer	Rangeras have signed defender Jack Simpson on a four and a half year deal. The 24-year-old has English Premier League experience with AFC Bournemouth, and this season has made 12 appearances in the Championship and FA Cup. Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard tells the official Rangers website: "We are delighted to have Jack here. We have been aware of him for some time and excited to finally have him. "Clearly it’s a bonus to have him here now earlier than initially planned. His presence makes us stronger and we are all looking forward to working with him. "
23:20 1 Feb	Aberdeen sign Kamberi on loan	Aberdeen have confirmed the loan signing of Florian Kamberi from Swiss side St Gallen. The former Hibs and Rangers frontman is the third striker to sign for the Pittodrie side this evening, joining Fraser Hornby and Callum Hendry. Out go Sam Cosgrove, Curtis Main and Bruce Anderson. Manager Derek McInnes tells the official Aberdeen website: "Florian has shown his quality in our league over a period of time and again, once we knew there was an opportunity to get him, we pursued it quite vigorously. "He seems enthusiastic to be here. He has got undoubted quality, experience in this league and we’re hopeful that will help him settle quicker. I’m positive he can have an impact between now and the end of the season. ” Florian will be subject to a work permit process and subsequently, won't be available to face Livingston on Tuesday evening. That means his debut could be against Hibernian at Easter Road at the weekend. https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356381635302854663
23:16 1 Feb	Edmundson leaves Rangers for Derby on loan	https://twitter.com/RangersFC/status/1356380593886519298
23:14 1 Feb	Aberdeen signing on the way....	https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356380180181344256
23:08 1 Feb	Ntcham to sign permanently for Marseille in summer?	https://twitter.com/Kheredine2018/status/1356374907425320961
23:04 1 Feb	Barker leaves Rangers on loan	Brandon Barker has moved to Oxford United until summer. https://twitter.com/RangersFC/status/1356377004808040452
23:00 1 Feb	Nolan joins Motherwell	Eddie Nolan has joined Motherwell on loan from Crewe Alexandra on loan until the end of the season. “Eddie is a vastly experienced defender and we’re glad to have him,” said manager Graham Alexander. “I’ve faced him many times with my previous teams and know what he will bring. “He can slot in anywhere across the back four, giving us good competition across all the defensive line. ” The 32-year-old started his career in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, spending time on loan at Stockport County, Hartlepool United and Preston North End. Nolan has more recently spent time with York City, Blackpool and Crewe, and has been capped three times for the Republic of Ireland. https://twitter.com/MotherwellFC/status/1356376532382441474
22:56 1 Feb	What are we still waiting on?	Rangers are expected to announce a signing or two. Aberdeen have been strongly linked with Florian Kamberi. We're also keeping our ears to the door at Motherwell, St Johnstone and Hibernian. And who knows who might spring a surprise or two before the night is done. Remember, although the transfer window in England closes at 11pm, up here in Scotland we keep it going until midnight.
22:48 1 Feb	Hamilton to reveal more tomorrow?	https://twitter.com/ScottBurns75/status/1356369353730625538
22:39 1 Feb	Ntcham joins Marseille	https://twitter.com/OM_Officiel/status/1356371025714405376
22:30 1 Feb	Main leaves Aberdeen	Curtis Main was a surprise signing for Aberdeen two seasons ago. After just seven goals in 42 appearances he's been allowed to leave to join English League One side Shrewsbury Town. Main, Sam Cosgrove and Bruce Anderson have all departed Pittodrie this evening, with Derek McInnes bringing in Fraser Hornby and Callum Hendry. There's still time for one more arrival before midnight. . . . https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356369268196204544
22:29 1 Feb	One in, one to go at Fir Park?	Motherwell sign Jordan Roberts on loan from Hearts. And we're hearing it may not be the last signing the Fir Park club make this evening.
22:22 1 Feb	Treble for Celtic	Celtic Women make their third signing of the day. They have already brought in Jacynta Galabadaarachchi and Mariah Lee. https://twitter.com/CelticFCWomen/status/1356361688237293568
22:15 1 Feb	Roberts joins Motherwell from Hearts	https://twitter.com/MotherwellFC/status/1356365207820496906
22:10 1 Feb	Lennon not leaving
22:04 1 Feb	Rangers signing imminent?	https://twitter.com/RangersFC/status/1356362557427249153
21:57 1 Feb	Hamilton end long chase for Anderson	Hamilton Academical have signed Bruce Anderson on loan from Aberdeen until summer. The 22-year-old made a dramatic debut for the Dons at 19, coming on as a late substitute against Rangers and scoring a last-minute equaliser. Since then he's had loan spells at Dunfermline and, earlier this season, Ayr United. Accies boss Brian Rice said: “I’m delighted we’ve finally managed to add Bruce to the squad. This is one we’ve been very patient with because we have been interested in Bruce for quite some time. Thankfully we’ve managed to get it over the line on deadline day. “Bruce should fit in well with what we’re trying to do here at Hamilton. He’s a penalty box striker who will compliment the attacking options we’ve already got, so we’re looking forward to getting him started. ” Anderson will join up with the squad tomorrow and could see his first appearance on Wednesday night against Ross County.
21:50 1 Feb	Celtic latest	Jonjoe Kenny has joined Celtic on loan from Everton for the rest of the season. Celtic boss Neil Lennon wanted the 23-year-old right-back to replace Jeremie Frimpong, who last week joined Bayer Leverkusen. Lennon also hopes to sign a central defender on loan before the midnight transfer deadline. However, the club have missed out on Preston North End's Ben Davies, who has joined Liverpool. Meanwhile, Olivier Ntcham could leave Celtic before the transfer window closes, with the midfielder having been linked with Marseille in his French homeland. Read more
21:45 1 Feb	Anderson becomes an Accie	Out of favour Aberdeen striker Bruce Anderson has joined Hamilton Academical on loan until summer. Hamilton have also released Justin Johnson and Tunde Owolabi. https://twitter.com/acciesfc/status/1356357612162445312
21:39 1 Feb	Kilmarnock done for the night	Kilmarnock have signed two players on loan from England - Zech Medley and Brandon Pierrick. But, it's unlikely there will be any other moves in or out tonight. Read more here
21:32 1 Feb	Kenny joins Celtic	It's not exactly been a secret, but Jonjoe Kenny joins Celtic on loan from Everton. The right-back replaces Jeremie Frimpong, who last week signed for Bayer Keverkusen. https://twitter.com/CelticFC/status/1356354512164966402
21:30 1 Feb	More Hendry	Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was happy to make his second signing of the day, signing Callum Hendry on loan from fellow Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone. He tells the official Aberdeen website: “I’m delighted we’ve managed to secure Callum on loan. He’s a player we feel can, not only give us a physical presence at the top of the pitch, but he is a player with great potential. “He arrives, along with Fraser [Hornby] and he gives us good options in the forward areas. We’re looking forward to working with him. ” Both players go straight into the squad for the visit of Livingston tomorrow night.
21:16 1 Feb	Hendry joins Aberdeen on loan	https://twitter.com/StJohnstone/status/1356350366468681728
21:05 1 Feb	Medley joins Kilmarnock from Arsenal	Zech Medley has joined Kilmarnock on loan until summer from Arsenal. The 20-year-old is described by Arsenal as a tall and powerful central defender. He spent the first half of this season on loan to English League One side Gillingham, where he made 18 appearances. That's Kilmarnock's second signing of the evening, having brought in forward Brandon Pierrick from Crystal Palace earlier. https://twitter.com/KilmarnockFC/status/1356346687627948032
21:00 1 Feb	Celtic sign duo	Celtic women's side have made two signings this evening. The wonderfully named Jacynta Galabadaarachchi joins from Napoli. And fellow forward Mariah Lee has also made the move. Summer Green, Anita Marcos & Brenda Castellano all left in January so needed replaced. Fran Alonso's side are currently third in the Scottish Women's Premier League, two points behind Rangers and Glasgow City. https://twitter.com/CelticFCWomen/status/1356316388609064960
20:49 1 Feb		Scottish midfielder Jack Harper is on the move in Spain again. He's joined Villareal's B-team from Getafe on loan. https://twitter.com/Eng_Villarreal/status/1356319844031995906
20:38 1 Feb	Nothing happening at Tannadice	Info from Dundee United is unlikely any business will be completed this evening so no move for youngster Lewis Neilson to Leicester City.
20:36 1 Feb	Gullan moves to Raith Rovers on loan	As predicted by BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin, Jamie Gullan has left Hibs on loan, signing a deal until summer with Raith Rovers. https://twitter.com/HibernianFC/status/1356339804569542657
20:23 1 Feb	Davies stays in England	There were reports Celtic were after Ben Davies, but Liverpool have won the race to sign him. https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1356331105914396672
20:18 1 Feb	Kilmarnock sign Pierrick	Kilmarnock have signed Brandon Pierrick on a loan deal until the end of the season from English Premier League side Crystal Palace. The 19-year-old told the Kilmarnock website: “I’m buzzing to get started and I’m looking forward to impressing and showcasing my talent. “At Palace, they prepare us for men’s football and I’ve been researching Kilmarnock before making the move here so I can’t wait to get to work on the training pitch and meet the rest of the group. ” https://twitter.com/KilmarnockFC/status/1356335360977072130
20:11 1 Feb	Hibs confirm Mallan's Turkey move	Hibs confirm Stevie Mallen has moved to Turkey. A move we brought you two hours ago https://twitter.com/HibernianFC/status/1356332463828725763
20:07 1 Feb	More Hornby	Was probably obvious, but Reims have tweeted to confirm Fraser Hornby's move to Aberdeen is just a loan and there is no option to buy. Hornby tells Aberdeen's Red TV: Delighted to be here. It was something that I really wanted to do, and when the opportunity came about I had in my head this was the place I could come and show what I'm about. "We've been talking most of the month really about what the best thing for me to do. I wasn't playing as much as I'd like to this season due to an number of circumstances. So we had the conversation before the end of the window and this feels like the right thing to do. " You can read more on the story, and quotes from manager, here.
20:03 1 Feb	Sterling joins Morton	They teased their were signing a Champions League player earlier, and here he is at Cappielow, Kazaiah Sterling. With Scotland now having two Champions League qualification places, his chances of getting there with Morton have doubled. . . https://twitter.com/Morton_FC/status/1356331523138605056
19:52 1 Feb	Hendry next to move to Pittodrie?	St Johnstone midfielder Callum Hendry could be another addition for Aberdeen on transfer deadline day. That would make space for a late addition to Saints squad. . . the clock is ticking!
19:43 1 Feb	Morton tease	That's what we're talking about. Let the guessing game begin. . . . Tweet us on #BBCSportScot with your guesses. https://twitter.com/Morton_FC/status/1356323937160810496
19:40 1 Feb	Moves for Gullan & Wighton, and what about those Stewart rumours?	Potentially one more piece of business for Hibs tonight with striker Jamie Gullan possibly heading out on loan. Dunfermline are hoping to agree deal with Hearts for Craig Wighton. The striker is in the final four months of his current deal with Hearts and the Fifers are keen on a pre-contract, but would take him now if terms were favourable. The suggestions that Rangers winger Greg Stewart could be on the move to either Motherwell or Ross County appear wide of the mark. Information is he is going nowhere for the last few months of his contract.
19:35 1 Feb	Hornby signs on loan for Aberdeen	Aberdeen have signed Scotland U21 forward Fraser Hornby on loan from French club Reims until summer. The 21-year-old former Everton frontman signed for the Ligue 1 side in summer, but has not appeared in the first team since September. Hornby has 10 goals in 18 appearances for Scotland U21s. After Aberdeen drew 0-0 for the second time in four days against Livingston on Saturday, boss Derek McInnes said the club needed a new number nine. That's one in the door, will they add another before the night is out?
19:29 1 Feb	Deal done at Aberdeen?	https://twitter.com/AberdeenFC/status/1356323619601850369
19:23 1 Feb	Swap deal	Thomas Duncan has left the chat. Andrew Southwick is taking over the live text from now. First deal of the day is trying to order the gaffer a takeaway, that I told him I ordered half an hour ago.
19:17 1 Feb		You can browse a list of ALL the Premiership ins and outs from this window here.
19:16 1 Feb	What's happening?	Here's a quick recap of where we're at on this, err, quiet deadline day.
19:10 1 Feb		We've had stories on Hibs, Aberdeen, Rangers, Celtic, St Johnstone, but it's been pretty quiet at the rest of the Premiership clubs. The current global pandemic is probably the main reason for that. Still plenty of time for a few twists and turns of course!
19:06 1 Feb		Currently crawling to the finishing line in about 15 minutes, when I can get my dinner, and a brave colleague takes over. Any chance of some news?
19:01 1 Feb		https://twitter.com/ArbroathFC/status/1356316548730937346
18:52 1 Feb		Will Scott Wright make an impact on the Rangers team? Or will he be a squad player? What do you think Rangers fans? Get in touch on Twitter @BBCSportScot.
18:47 1 Feb	Wright heading for Ibrox	Aberdeen and Rangers have agreed a fee which will see Scott Wright move to Ibrox now. The player had signed a pre-contract to join Steven Gerrard's side in the summer. But he will move south in this window after the Dons accepted an offer understood to be around £175,000.
18:43 1 Feb		https://twitter.com/richardwinton/status/1356310999930970112
18:39 1 Feb		All gone a bit quiet, after a wee flurry of news. St Mirren chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick now on Sportsound. His club doing brilliantly. Might he upgrade the top-six finish prediction????
18:30 1 Feb		Is Derek McInnes planning to respond to a run of four goalless draws in eight games by fielding a team of 11 strikers? https://twitter.com/robertthomson55/status/1356306786865860615
18:24 1 Feb		In the new age, deals are announced at the last minute as clubs prepare the scintillating social content and 'exclusive' first interview with their new man. Won't someone think of the journalists? Nope? Fair enough. https://twitter.com/BenjyPalmestatus/1356306778628255746
18:16 1 Feb		Sportsound is on air NOW - hit the speaker button at the top of the page to listen. https://twitter.com/kennymacsport/status/1356303973649690627
18:11 1 Feb	Simpson is Ibrox-bound	Bournemouth's Jack Simpson has arrived in Glasgow, as he looks to agree a switch to Rangers tonight, having already agreed a pre-contract to join in the summer. Excited, Rangers fans?
18:04 1 Feb	Nisbet staying at Hibs	Kevin Nisbet will NOT be making the move from Hibernian to Birmingham City in this transfer window. The Easter Road club have turned down all approaches by the English Championship club for the player they signed last summer from Dunfermline for £300,000.
17:59 1 Feb	DONE DEAL	A real live transfer. . . https://twitter.com/StJohnstone/status/1356300829632978944
17:50 1 Feb		As if this season wasn't going bad enough for Celtic, and you're somewhat bizarrely beaten to a signing by the Premier League champions, who are basically filling their injury-hit defence in the short-term. https://twitter.com/RonnieEsplin/status/1356236345929306114
17:46 1 Feb		https://twitter.com/saintmirrenfc/status/1356295044291063810
17:42 1 Feb		Aberdeen fans, if you finish tonight with Florian Kamberi and Fraser Hornby as your striking options, would you be happy? With Sam Cosgrove going out, are those two adequate replacements? Tweet us your thoughts @BBCSportScot. Or, you know, vote with your thumbs. . .
17:36 1 Feb		Some interesting quotes from Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who seems clear that he's not leaving the club anytime soon. "Why would it be my intention to go?" Lennon said, when asked if he had considered following chief executive Peter Lawwell out of the club at the end of the season. "Peter's decision has got nothing to do with my position at all, or my coaches or any of the players. So I don't understand the context of the question at all. "
17:30 1 Feb	Comings and goings at Fir Park?	Motherwell have already announced Robbie Crawford and Charles Dunne are hanging about at Fir Park for longer, but will there be more coming in or going out? It could be a late one tonight with signings expected in, but looks like captain Declan Gallagher, who was linked with a move away last month, may well be staying. Keep your eyes on our live page for more updates.
17:25 1 Feb		Interestingly, Celtic boss Neil Lennon also said earlier that Olivier Ntcham is in talks about a move away from the club. That one's been in the pipeline for a while. Plenty talent, but not really shown it consistently enough for Celtic. Or should the club have got more out of him?
17:19 1 Feb	Celtic await Kenny arrival	Celtic manager Neil Lennon says a loan deal for Everton right-back Jonjoe Kenny should "signed and sealed" at some point. The Celtic boss wants the 23-year-old defender to replace Jeremie Frimpong, who last week joined Bayer Leverkusen.
17:15 1 Feb	Busy night at Pittodrie...	Reports circling that Aberdeen have paid £150,000 to get Ross McCrorie's move made permanent now (was meant to be £350,000 in the summer), with Scott Wright heading to Ibrox immediately rather than in the summer. https://twitter.com/ScottBurns75/status/1356281147421040650
17:00 1 Feb	Wotherspoon signs new Saints deal	https://twitter.com/StJohnstone/status/1356285988629319684
16:50 1 Feb	Nisbet: staying or going?	Robert Grieve, the Scottish Sun's chief football writer, reports that Hibs' striker Kevin Nisbet wants out, after Birmingham City had a bid knocked back. Earlier today, head coach Jack Ross said both Nisbet and Ryan Porteous, also the subject of interest, trained this morning and are in his plans for tomorrow night's game against St Mirren. It could be a tense wait for Hibs fans tonight. . . https://twitter.com/robert_grieve/status/1356248104438288386
16:42 1 Feb	Ibrox activity	Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall said in a news conference earlier that Jack Simpson to Rangers is "more than likely going to happen" today, bringing forward his move having signed a pre-contract deal to switch to Ibrox in the summer. His Cherries team-mate Nnamdi Ofoborh is also expected to sign a pre-contract, having agreed to move to Wycombe on loan for the rest of this season.
16:34 1 Feb	Saints still eyeing Gilmour deal	St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson is hopeful of adding at least one new player to his squad - but is also surprised that his phone hasn't been ringing about midfielder Ali McCann. Davidson reckons the 21-year-old Northern Ireland international has been his best performer this season and McCann was in the spotlight again with a fine winner in Saints' 3-2 win away to Kilmarnock. "I think I'm just going to switch my phone off tonight," the manager joked. However, Davidson is still hopeful of completing the signing of former Arsenal midfielder Charlie Gilmour, the 21-year-old who has impressed on trial after being released by Norwich City.
16:26 1 Feb	McEneff checks in at Hearts	https://twitter.com/JamTarts/status/1356268108688797704
16:22 1 Feb		Scott Burns of the Daily Record is reporting that former Hibernian and Rangers striker Florian Kamberi is close to joining Aberdeen on loan from Swiss side St Gallen. What do you make of that, Aberdeen fans? https://twitter.com/ScottBurns75/status/1356274685412061186
16:18 1 Feb	Aberdeen 'admire' target Hornby	Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is "very busy" trying to get in a striker to replace Sam Cosgrove, according to assistant Tony Docherty. The Dons are hoping to sign Scotland Under-21 top goalscorer Fraser Hornby on loan from Stade de Reims. "He is certainly a player we really admire and we think is a good young player and would be a good addition," Docherty said. "You are never there until you are there. We are endeavouring to do all we can as club to get things over the line. " On Rangers' immediate pursuit of their pre-contract signing, Scott Wright, Docherty said: "I can't comment on that, other people are working on that as we speak, purely speculation at the moment. "
16:11 1 Feb	Not a signing, but...	https://twitter.com/MotherwellFC/status/1356271339548631050
16:08 1 Feb	Welcome!	I've settled in with a coffee and massive slab of cake from the canteen, all set for a long night of transfer activity (or not?). Will Kevin Nisbet leave Hibs? Can Aberdeen replace Sam Cosgrove? We'll have every in and out of the night, and plenty of errr 'banter' in between. Stick with us.

Pre-Match Thread: Arsenal v West Brom

Results of r/SaintsFC subscriber census!

Thank you all so much for participating! We ended up with 173 responses!
We have reached out to the winner already to let them know they've won!
Here are the responses to the survey:
76.6% of you are only a fan of Southampton, and 21.1% of you also support other teams outside of the premier league

Here we have fewer responses, so 65.9% don't support any other teams. 6.6% also support Sampdoria, 1.2% also support Eastleigh, and the rest are a long list! If there is interest, I can post the full list of everyone that is supported by Saints fans on SaintsFC.

1/2 hour drive from Southampton 22.9%, North America 20.6%, Southampton city: 14.7%, Within 1 hour drive of Southampton 7.1%, South of England (exl London) 8.8%, Rest of UK 8.2%, Rest of Europe 7.6%, the rest less than 3% each.

37.1% 21-25, 26.5% 26-30, 12.4% 18-21,15.9% 31-40, 4.1% Less than 18, Rest less than 2%.

40% Have supported Southampton FC their whole lives, 14.1% started in the Koeman era, 13.5% started in the promotion era, 10% in the Championship/ League 1 era, 9.4 % in the Pochettino era, 7.6% have supported since before 2005, 3% have joined since the start of the Hasenhuettl era, rest less than 2% each.
Favourite SaintsFC moment: (I have done some editing to make it not too long, repeats have been removed, memories that are more about Southampton FC than the sub itself have been removed)
The Ralph Hasenhuettl mug lottery
Pirate Ralph
Pirate pre-match thread the other month. Made me absolutely crack up
All aboard the Ralph train
Every upvote party
beat pompey upvote party (and the match discussion threads)
Actual win upvote party
Home win upvote party a few years ago. We were shite that season so seeing the whole subreddit in one moment of joy was a good feeling.
Portsmouth April fools ting
Pompey losing in the playoffs thread
Beating Pompey
Honestly any of the creative contests for gifs/drawings/memes
The Wilf Zaha and Prowsey memes
The jokes after JWP pissed off Zaha into getting a red
The day of memes after we beat Liverpool
The 'stop the count' meme + Top of the league memes
Gabbiadini meme thread
Gabbiadini as jesus
Memes about topping the table
All the memes. So many talented people on this sub and they always make me laugh
April fools saints
Becoming Vatican FC on April Fools
April Fools!
April fools when we became an actually religious sub
When we became a religious saints-based subreddit on April 1st one year
When we changed the sub to look like /pompey I think that happened at some point.
Ralphmania
Part of the ship, part of the crew
idk ngl, the Jessica comment after That match
Getting the discord on the sidebar and that taking off.
The meltdowns after a couple of losses
Liam and Adzi arguing
All of them, love the sub
Anything that has to do with the amazing song "Southampton in Europa"
Salisu signing
Transfer megathreads every window
The transfer threads and making me genuinely believe we would sign Weston McKennie (seriously just being able to stay connected with other Saints fans, I don't know any personally)
Probably you lot knowing about players I've never heard of in the transfer threads
When Gabbi scored that goal vs Swansea and the sub went WILD
The reaction after the 1-0 vs Liverpool
After the 9-0
Imbracing the "incedent" from last year into comps for guessing the correct minute it was mentioned
Joining SaintsFC and finding another Saints fan that lives in Columbus, Ohio that I could go to bars and watch matches with
Prediction Thread
Hearing from other Saints supporters in the states’
9 nil mug competition
Seeing total saints podcast posted on here great podcast
Granny Bengali
I don't have any one favourite moment but just enjoy the sub for how awesome everyone is 99% of the time.
Automod replies
People downvoting auto mod for posting fan responses (the drunken Romanian one etc)
Shane long, semi final, titanic music
Discovering it!
Just like the discussion here
Anything from theralphexpress
SeaRoads becoming discord mod
Not a moment as such but I love the effort people put into the transfer threads.
8-0 Sunderland
No game without lurking in the matchthreads
Following along in the match threads
All the match threads
Not a specific moment, but just having the pre and post match threads in general to "hang out" with other fans
Ralphampton
Joining the sub
Cup final celebrations
Shitposting competition
The Josh Sims picture licking Koemans tears after we beat Everton after Koeman left
No Boufal, No Party
Southampton mafia era
Southampton mafia
when i first found the sub and everyone was nice and chill
Nice community
Watching the sudden shift from hating Romeu and Vestergaard to loving them this season. Greatest redemption arc I've ever seen in my short life.
My first post was received really kindly. Everybody seems incredibly rad.
Whenever people talked about an incoming Yoshi overhead
Very recently getting a welcoming response to my first post in the community after lurking for months.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favourite Southampton FC memory?
Championship promotion celebrations and pitch invasion
Attending the demolition of sunderland (Southampton 8 - Sunderland 0)
Long scoring in the second leg against Liverpool in the league cup semi-final
Mane's second against Liverpool to put us 3-2 up against them after being down 0-2
Recency bias again but the absolute scenes of beating City 1-0, live on the Beeb no less
The comeback against liverpoil under Koeman, Long knocking liverpool out of the league cup, beating pompey 4 - 0 in their hovel
Just rising from the dead in league one to where we are now!
Stop the count - going top of the PL
In the stands for boufal goal vs westbrom
First game I went to when I was a young lad - 2-0 win against Coventry in 2006
Che Adams goal against City - Che's first goal
2-1 over Leicester last season - Redemption against Leicester
First game I saw at St Marys' (2-0 W vs Liverpool)
Being at the europa qualifiers and seeing the international fans who had travelled.
Mané scoring the winner to come from behind against Liverpool, making Koeman run down the touchline to celebrate with the team despite problems with his ankle.
Europa league
League Cup final, Gabbiadini was onside - Being at Wembley when Gabbiadini scored the equaliser
The comeback from 2-0 down to beat Liverpool 3-2
Le God Bangers
Being at Wembley to see the jpt final
Tadic getting naked
Rickie Lambert scoring for England with his first touch
Winning the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Best day out, and the look on Markus Leibherr's Face afterward will always stick with me.
Southampton 2 - 1 Inter Milan
The 4-0 Coventry promotion game
Beating arsenal 4-0 in 2015
Le Tissier last goal at the Dell... not so keen on his more recent stuff.
Coventry home, promotion season
Promotion from League 1
Shane Long winning goal v Liverpool in EFL cup semifinal
1976 FA Cup final
Beating Liverpool at anfield for league cup final
Mané making it 3-2 against Liverpool
Beating Liverpool
Sadio Mane's fastest PL hattrick
Rickie Lambert scoring for England with his first touch
Southampton 8-0 Sunderland (I was there!! The first ever football match I watched live)
Beating man United at old Trafford
Delap goal vs Tottenham
Coming from behind 2-0 to beat Liverpool 3-2
Smashing pompey at fratton and seeing ings celebrate in front of the skates
Long’s goal against Liverpool in the League Cup semi
League Cup Final. So much hype and anticipation
Promotion back to the Pl
Graziano Pelle's fucking insane goal against QPR
As a new fan, when I first saw the club play online. I just knew.
8-0 Sunderland
Beating Man City 1-0 with Che Adams' goal
Mane hat trick
Shane Long winner vs Liverpool in the league cup semi-final
Semi final against liverpool
3-2 against Arsenal in Ralph's 2nd or 3rd game in charge. Knew then that we finally had a proper manager
8-0 vs Sunderland
Mane hat trick or sexy bastard Pelle in general
Being at the Europa League game when we beat Inter
Going back to leciester
Promoted back to prem for the first time
Le Tiss last goal at the Dell? His lob over Schmeical? Ricky scoring against city in the first game back? Long against Liverpool? Gabbi's Wembley hattrick?
Seeing mané score the fastest hat trick at the stadium
First match at the Dell. League cup against Peterborough. Won 2-0
Probably 6-3 v utd, or when bengali finally scored, or tiss vs newcastle
being at Wembley for the Johnston's paint trophy final or Long's goal against Liverpool in the league cup semi second leg
Josh Sims run to set up long to beat Pool in the cup
Southampton 3 - 2 Liverpool 2016
Shlong scoring against the Pool at Anfield to send us to Wembley
Watching the 2017 FA cup final against Man U at a pub full of Man U supporters.
Gabbiadini scoring the winner against Swansea to keep us up - Being in the away end for Gabbiadinis goal V Swansea
Long semi final goal
6-3 vs United (Ostenstad scoring while we were still celebrating previous goal)
Watching Saints beat City with a City fan
Got to see Cedrics first saints goal against Wigan
Gabbiadini’s goal to avoid relegation
Going to wembley in the efl cup
Prowsey’s free kicks
Watching the boxing day 4-0 Arsenal game with my Arsenal-supporting brother
Promotion pitch invasion or League Cup final
Being at St Mary's for promotion to the prem
8-0 Vs Sunderland
Either Long's goal away at Anfield in the Cup or beating pompey 4-0
Mane vs Liverpool
Beating all of the big 6 in 2016 I think it was?
JWP fk winner against Spurs
8 nil sunderland
LeTissier scores last goal at the dell
Promotion to the prem and going on the pitch with my dad
Saints 8 - 0 Sunderland
First time going to St Marys in 2008, we lost 2-3 to Charlton Athletic but it was the birth of something special!
League Cup Final vs United
Pelle goal vs Chelsea 2015 - First time I really felt we could beat anybody on their own turf
Beating inter milan
EFL cup final
Promotion to Prem
Johnson Paint Trophy Wembley
League Cup Final. Dad managed to get us tickets and despite us not winning. It was a great game of football, and a stand out performance within years of grey mediocrity.
Being at White Hart Lane in 2003 to see Saints beat Spurs and put Hoddle out of a job.
Coventry 4-0
Stop the count
MLT last goal at The Dell
League Cup semi final
Win against Liverpool 3-2 comeback under Koeman in 2017(?) with mane missing a pen
Losing 3-0 at home to west from in 2013 . First time at St.Marys
Shane Long goal against Liverpool in cup semi final
The cup win against Liverpool, or Ralph crying. _
Man Utd 6-3 At The Dell
Going to the dell every home game for our last season there when I was four with my grandad.
Beating pompey
Visiting England for the first time to see them play (and lose) to man city at the etihad.
Hasenhüttl appointment was a dream come true
Promotion to the Championship
In my lifetime - winning the JPT. I was there at Wembley and it was a great day
When I met Le God and Lambert in Macau
David Hirst kicking the ball into Archers Road at the Dell... no actually it is probably watching us beat Arsenal 4 nil on boxing day when martina scored that worldy.
Last game in the Dell
Just gabbiadini
Beating Pompey in their own back yard
Going to the FA Cup final in 2003
Pitch invasion going to to the PL with Rickie on our shoulders
Shane Long Vs Liverpool EFL cup
JPT southern final second leg against MK Dons at home
Beating Liverpool 1-0 in the semi final
Southampton in Europa - EUROPE BABY
Johnstone's Paint Trophy win - attended final with my father
beating liverpool
My one and only visit to St Marys. A dull 2-2 draw vs Brighton on a Monday night under Hughes.
Che Adams stunning goal against city last year after his drought was nice
Promotion to the PL
Beating Liverpool in the league cup semi
First game at St Mary's, on a terrible run, put 5 past Villa 👍
Any part of Gabbiadini's residence gaha
Watching Shane Long send us to Wembley with my Nan
My first match when I had just moved to the South Coast against Bolton, taking notes on players performances and being shocked that Jussi Jaaskelainen seemed to have spidey sense reflexes to stop us scoring
Le tissier free kick against villa to equalize at the dell.
Beattie last minute winner against united in my first ever game as a kid.

Rickie Lambert is SaintsFc's favourite player, closely followed by James Ward-Prowse. Matt Le Tissier is in third, above Maya Yoshida and Graziano Pelle in joint 4th.

No real surprises here! Ralph gets 63.9% of the vote, Adkins gets 19.3%, Pochettino gets 7.2% and Koeman gets 4.8%.

Almost all of you own at least some Southampton FC official merch!

https://preview.redd.it/72hytwqrloe61.png?width=626&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bf15ae0f8d195d84706ffb8e8660378b309e25c

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Most people have attended at least some home matches. Less than 10% have a season ticket!

Almost 50% have been using Reddit for more than 5 years!

Favourite Southampton Chant?
"He's got Zaha in his pocket"
Armstrongs
Cars and Mane
Cuco Martina
Fratton park is falling down
Gabbiadini Lamborghini
Go Redmond Go
He plays on the left, he plays on the right, Dusan Tadic makes Lallana look shite
He stands just over 6 ft 3, Rickie, Rickie etc...
He's one of our own
It's Magic Tadic and Grazianooo
James Ward Prowse my lord
Jason Puncheon! He went for a shit.
Jimmy Saville, he's one of your own (to Huddersfield)
Johnson Paint trophy, you’ll never win that
Jose Fonte baby!
Just chanting romeus name
Last christmas i gave you my heartt!!! The very next day you gave it away THIISSSS CHRISTMASSS ILL GIVE IT TO HASSSSENNHUTTTTLLLLLL
Lee Bernard Bernard, his shot is fucking hard, he's wanted by Scotland Yard, Lee Bernard bernard
Loved the old Tadic chant
My all time favourite was the one about Mane being fast
Oh When The Saints
Our Claus, in the middle of the street
Pompey got battered 4-0 at home
Pompey scum
RICKIE LAMBERT SOUTHAMPTON GOAL MACHINE
Southampton ‘Till I Die, Red Army
Southampton in Europa
Stu Armstrong
Wake me up before you go go (djenepo one) but we rarely do it
Wanyama, the mighty kenyan
Wanyama's in the jungle
Wash your mouth out son
We all follow
We are Scum, we are vileeee, John Westwood is a peadophile... OR It's magic, you knowwww, TADIC AND GRAZIANOOOOO
We fucking hate you! We fucking hate youuuu! Dejan lovren we fucking hate you!!
We hate Pompey
When I Was Just a Little Boy
When I Was Just a Little Boy
When the football was so shit when we went all the way down to league 1 and we'd sing 'let's all have a disco out' of desperation
YELLOWS YELLOWS
You signed Whittingham, we signed Pochetinooo, Pochetinooooo
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best new Southampton Chant in 10 words or less? (Highlights, will post all if there is interest)
Hasenhuttl, Hasenhuttl, won't you win a trophy-ootle
Wake Me Up Moussa Djenopo (to the tuneof wake me up before you go)
Baby Give it Up but it's Moussa Djenepo
We’re the scum my lord. We’re the scum
KWP runs down the wing and puts crosses like a rocket, runs back defends and puts strikers in his pocket
Fuck you, we’ve got Hasenhüttl
♫ The hills are alive, with the sound of ROMEU'S PICKING UP HIS 69th YELLOW CARD OF THE SEASON YEAH BABY!!!! ♫
We like to Bertie (set to the song that has We like to Party in it)
Jannik! I never doubted you! Jannik! He's saints through and through! Jannik! Get your head on it! Jannik! He's got a 6ft dick! Jannik! He's a tall lanky sod! Jannik! You're my Vestergod!
(To the tune of "Everywhere we go'oo") Jannick Vesterga'ard, repeat, Is really fucking ta'll, repeat, He may be quite slo'ow, repeat, But he can kick a ba'all, repeat.
(To Middlesbrough’s goal music) DUH DUH DUH DUHDUH DAN N’LUNDULU

Most people found us by searching for us!

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And that's it (the feedback for the mods and ideas for the subreddit will be kept private).

I hope you all enjoyed reading about yourselves! Congratulations on being 10k strong! :)

Love from u/nomfull and the rest of the mods xoxoxo

Le Bilan Infinity War - Mid-Season Special

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to a special edition of Le Bilan. For a little more than a year now I've been writing these weekly recaps about Ligue 1, a league that may not be the best in the world but still deserved more attention on /soccer.
I would have probably stopped doing them if it was not for the constant support from the small but very passionate french community on here who constantly provides me help, ideas and inspiration. That's why I wanted to have them on board for this one-off. So I gathered the Avengers of the french /soccer redditors to let them talk about their respective clubs and what happened to them so far this season.
I would like to thank everyone who accepted to participate in this collective work, it's been a real pleasure reading all your contributions.
The regular Bilan will be back on thursday after matchday 18. In the meantime, enjoy this one !

Ligue 1

Olympique Lyonnais by sugima

After the final 8, and the 4th harvest of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City by Maxwel Cornet in 2 seasons, we have only Ligue 1 and the Cup to play. No Champions League or Europa League, due to a 7th spot when the League decided to terminate the 2019-20 season. After 6 matches (1W-4D-1L), this season felt like it would be a second shit season in a row in Ligue 1 : 3 draw games against opponents who are in the 2nd half of the table (Bordeaux, Nîmes and Lorient), and one against Marseille who played 70 min with 10 men. Add to this an outrageous amount of crosses all going into the void, and Rudi Garcia was ready to miss a European spot twice in a row. But this awful streak came to an end, and OL won 29 points out of 33 in the following 11 matches. Despite this successful streak, these matches still include some poor performances compared to the expected standard of one of the richest French clubs : the 7th match against Strasbourg who came back from 0-3 down to 2-3 and could have equalized in the last minutes, the 8th match against Monaco (4-1 win, 4-0 lead at half-time with 4 generous gifts from Monaco's defense, but Monaco dominated the whole 2nd half) or the match against Brest at home (15th match day), where OL conceded the equalizer on a last minute penalty when Brest was down to 10 men (again ...). The difficulty to keep a result with an extra player on the pitch seems to go on, and often coincides with Garcia's choice to sub off an attacking player for a defensive one. On the bright side, our midfield now performs better than the past seasons, which helps the whole team.
Best player : ?
I'm not sure. Thiago Mendes seems to have replaced his ghost from the past season, Lucas Paquetà and Tino Kadewere also performed well for their first half season.
Revelation : Tino Kadewere
He was recruited as a good Ligue 2 striker last winter, stayed in Le Havre on loan and ended best scorer of the 19-20 season with 20 goals scored. Many recent Ligue 2 great scorers have failed in Ligue 1 (Charbonnier, Bozok ..), and there are already many strikers in Lyon, so I was afraid of the result. He turns out to be an intelligent player, and more than a pure striker. Let's see if he confirms on the long term.
Final place : Champion
(Despite Rudi Garcia)
With PSG and LOSC still involved in CL and EL respectively, we have to be a title contender until the end. We also improved our midfield and attack during the summer. There's still Maxwel Cornet playing left back, but it doesn't matter as long as the rest of the team plays well.

Lille OSC by PAT_The_Whale

We started the season very well with a 1-1 draw against a CL contender (Rennes), which is something we’ll see a lot during the season: Win against mid/low-table teams, draw against CL contenders. There were only 3 exceptions: draw against Nice, loss against Brest (only loss in the league so far) and draw against Saint-Etienne, and we can count the wins against Monaco and Montpellier as exceptions too, but in my opinion they are rather EL contenders. Our last two games of the half-season are against Angers and Nîmes, which means both are winnable. In that case, we’d beat our previous point record by mid-season, 42 points instead of the previous record of 40 during the 2013-2014 season (we finished 3rd).
In the EL, it’s the contrary: 2 wins against 3rd placed Sparta Praha, 1 win and 1 draw against 1st placed AC Milan, 1 draw and 1 loss against last placed Celtic. Fun fact, we were the only team to not win against Celtic, meaning that we gave them their only 4 points. Because of that, we’ll have to face Ajax instead of Red Star Belgrade.
Best player : Renato Sanches
Even if he is often injured, he singlehandedly destroyed AC Milan’s midfield and is one of our main creative forces. When he isn’t playing, our wingers and strikers have to be more creative. When he is playing, they can focus on being available, which makes a huge difference.
Revelation(s) :
Burak Yilmaz : Came out of Turkey, 35 years old. Nobody expected him to be this good.
Yusuf Yazici : He was absolutely shit last season, then ruptured his ACL. He said he worked hard to get back into form, and man did it work well. He’s become very good this season, a complete turnover for him.
Sven Botman : We sold our big CB talent Gabriel for 30M. Then we bought some no-name from Ajax who couldn’t even get to their first team. That man has serious world class potential. So fucking good.
Xeka : He was good 2 seasons ago, but nothing spectacular. Then he injured himself in the end of the season. Next season, he’s clearly below his level, we thought that the injury ruined him. Now comes this season where he often replaces Sanches because of his injuries, and he’s been better than 2 seasons ago. Not our most important player at all by far, but he’s also had a big turnover, and has shown to be very important.
Final place : 1st-3rd
Lyon don’t have to play Europe, so they get a form advantage, but we can safely say that Lille and PSG probably won’t be winning their respective competitions, so that advantage might not last. PSG might also stop getting unlucky with injuries. Jonathan David might figure out how to score again. It’s extremely hard to predict the league winner this season.

Paris Saint-Germain by Rerel

On the 24th of August 2020, Paris got defeated in its first final of Champions League against the German champion Bayern Munich. The LFP, who is the reigning body of Ligue 1, got the genius idea to start the season on the 22nd of August, before the CL final even took place.
Such generosity from LFP and the 8 Covid cases the team had, led to a poor beginning of the season for Paris. With 2 defeats against Lens (7th of Ligue 1) and Marseille (5th) right at the start. There were two more defeats against AS Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais later. PSG has never won the Ligue 1 title with more than 3 defeats. This season is definitely more challenging for the Parisian club who has to catch up on both Lyon and Lille to hope to win the title of 2020-2021.
In Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain also had a difficult start with two defeats against Manchester and Leipzig. But with an incredible turn of events, they managed to win both return legs against the group leaders and take the leadership of the group of death that sent Manchester United going to Europa league. Mainly thanks to Neymar with his 6 goals contribution in Champions League for PSG.
The unexpected recruit and success of Paris this season must be Moise Kean. The 20 years old striker managed to already score 7 goals in Ligue 1 and 2 in champions league. While invisible at Everton, the young Italian prodigy managed to win playing time in Paris earning the trust of his manager and beneficiating from Icardi's mysterious long term abductors injury.
While PSG is currently behind Lyon and Lille in the Ligue 1 table and a sudden managerial change has appeared... There are quite a lot of perplexity on the future of the club results this season. Qataris club owners seem to have lost faith in their German coach Thomas Tuchel and now resolved to chase the Argentine Mauricio Pochettino to replace him.
The fan base has been quite divided on this managerial change. A strong side of Parisians felt the team lacked identity in its playing style. While the other side defended the results Tuchel managed to achieve. The truth is that both sides are right. Indeed, Tuchel didn't have a team identity and style. He changed the tactics very often to adapt to injuries, competitions, opponents. The players themselves had doubts on some of his decisions: playing Marquinhos in the midfield, Danilo in defense, then reversing this situation completely, going with a 3-5-2 formation. PSG viewers noticed the constant lack of pressing and stability the midfield has without Verratti.
Can we blame it all on the ridiculous amount of injuries in his squad? (highest in Europe) Surely, PSG fans liked Thomas Tuchel, some of them only liked his first 6 months at the club when he looked like tactical genius. But the German manager has been looking fed up for quite some time and his communication showed it. It's also rumoured that he lost the support of some players after the 2nd leg against İstanbul Başakşehir.
Best player : Neymar
Revelation : Moise Kean
Final place : 2nd

Stade Rennais by ThePr1d3

What can I say about that first half of the season from Stade Rennais ? Probably the same that can be always said for this club. It's been a wild ride. Following that club is extremely interesting, deeply frustrating, even disappointing at times but God damn if it isn't rewarding, and the most exciting experience you can get. And those past few months have been all of that in a nutshell.
After an unexpected change in the administration, the club was entering the season to confirm its new ambitions, or fall back into averageness. The transfer season was encouraging, with the signings of Aguerd and Rugani (loan) to reinforce the CB, of Guirassy as a much needed competition to Mbaye Niang, of Terrier as a versatile deadly wingestriker, and investing in the young Belgian prospect Jérémy Doku. But the unexplainable loss of Raphinha to Leeds put a huge stain on the window, losing the highest performing offensive asset and only quality left footed winger, thus preventing Stéphan for playing with two inverted wingers like the past seasons...
And as far as results are, the club started like a cannonball (just like last season), ranking first after 6 matchdays and undefeated for another week. But, again just like last year, the start of the European Campaign really took its toll on the team, recording a sensationnal November month (6 defeats and a draw) and plumetting to the mid domestic table. Worse thing is, Rennes only managed to score 1 point in the UCL while performing more than decently, and being far from the embarassement they were supposed to be. But a severe lack of efficiency (3 goals, 2 being pens for more than 50 shots) on both areas, crippling injuries of key players (Camavinga, Maouassa, Terrier) and bad luck (Nzonzi suspended for kicking a bottle of water, Dalbert conceding 2 pens and getting a red in the first 40min vs Chelsea etc) meant the end of the club's Europeans aspirations, even missing on a well deserved EL knockout stage.
Fortunately, the month of December was a turning point with 4 victories in that many matchs (then again, last season the team went also undefeated in December after being kicked out of EL), and ends the year in a solid and promising 4th place.
Best player : Steven Nzonzi
Rennes's principle asset this season is definitely its midfield. The trio of Nzonzi, Camavinga, Bourigeaud is one of the strongest in the league, and is the main reason the team has shifted from a quick projecting offensive playstyle to a controlling, great at combining one. And out of those, Steven Nzonzi is probably the best element for the team. His calm and collected attitude bring serenity to the play, and you'll always see him go back in front of the CBs to allow nice and proper start of the play. His vision and quality of pass is something we've never had in Rennes, and his defensive positionning allows Camavinga to shine as a box to box midfielder.
Revelation : Adrien Truffert
After the long injury of our star left back Faitout Maouassa and the disappointing performances of emergency loaned Dalbert to fill his role, young academy player Truffert took it upon himself to secure the left flank, providing an assist for the equalizer and scoring the winning goal in his first appearance vs Monaco. After that, he managed solid regular performances, showing good defending for his age, and a rare crossing quality in front.
Final place : 3rd-5th
If we get spared by the injuries (which should be, given we won't have to play 3 times a week anymore), and manage to fix our efficiency problems up front (the infamous 15 shots on the post in 17 matchs), we should be a force to be reckoned with for the remainder of the year. I only rate Lille, Lyon, Paris and maybe Montpellier as being a better side than Rennes, though Marseille always somehow manage to get good results despite their level of play. I expect us to keep growing as we've done so far.

Olympique de Marseille by LondonNoodles

What could have been? If there was a movie made on OM's 2020-21 first half, that would be its title. Some of us would say we're almost relieved that Marseille is not in the top 3 at the end of the calendar year, as it would paint a false and unfair representation of the poor quality of this group, and the sadness we've felt watching an empty Velodrome filled with so little ambition. Yet, despite the horrible Champions League campaign that will be forgotten as "an accident", Marseille have not only won enough games to be in the podium race (with 2 postponed games to play), they've showed glimpses of collective talent, like in the first half of the game against Monaco, or the first half against Rennes, or even again the first half against Nantes! See a pattern here? Yes that's right, before trying to confront our ligue 1 rivals, our biggest challenge yet again will be to face our worst enemy : ourselves! As is tradition alongside Christmas presents and Provence's 13 desserts, we will be thrilled by the many names of star european forwards that will pour in the press until eventually we settle for the one name that no one really wanted. But the question for 2021 really is : if this team can step up and find the missing gears, what could be?
Best player : Steve Mandanda
Crazy to think of how many points he must have saved us in his career and in this half season alone. What a legend of the club.
Revelation : Pape Gueye
Didn't get much playtime yet but showed undeniable qualities, the game against Rennes before his red card he was absolutely phenomenal on the pitch. Thank you Turpin!
Final place : 4th
PSG will reclaim their crown, Lille look solid second, Lyon will fight it out and probably get above us.

Montpellier HSC by JeanneHusse

It's been a great start of the season for Montpellier, despite our current 8th place. We fixed our main problem from last season, which was us getting plowed by everyone when playing away from home, and if it wasn't for a few surprising loss (Dijon, Lille), we would be sitting around the 4-5th place right now. Der Zakarian even found some tactical flexibility, by departing from his beloved 3-5-2 and trying out a very offensive 4-3-3, led by a Mavdidi-Delort-Labord front 3. More surprisingly, he doesn't hesitate to field a midfield that would make Guardiola proud, by using one sentinel (usually Ferri) and two offensive midfielder, Savanier and Mollet. We can now be more adaptive depending on the type of opponent we're facing.
While Savanier is by far our most gifted player, and the beloved son of La Paillade, he's been suffering a few injuries recently, enough for Andy Delort to steal the spotlight and be our starplayer. The man has been scoring screamers left and right, pressing like a madman and feeding assists to Laborde, forming one of the best attacking duo in the league this season.
Most of the team is pretty much the same as last year, but we really improved on our wingbacks. Replacing Oyongo on the left, Ristic is probably this season's revelation. He's no Bédimo or Roussillon yet, but he's shown great promise, whether it's on a back-5 or a back-4. On the other side, Souquet, while being useful, was never that great a wingback. Thankfully, Junior Sambia finally stepped up to the plate after years of disappointing performances as a midfielder. Now, he's killing it on the wing and we can finally end the mouring of Ruben Aguilar's departure to Monaco.
If we keep at it, and don't repeat the same mistake against smaller teams, we're in contention to grab a Europa League spot. We've shown against Lille that we can battle it out with the best teams in the league, and apart from the current top4, I don't see a team that is so clearly above us. It'll be tough, but this might finally be the year we get this freaking 5th place !
Best player : Andy Delort
Revelation : Mihailo Ristić
Final place : 5th

Angers SCO by EastOfEden_

The fans went into this season a bit worried given the turmoil at the helm of the club (our director of football and talisman Olivier Pickeu being fired after 14 years of service, our president being sued for sexual assault...) and the loss of key players during the transfer window (Santamaria and Ait Nouri most of all), with very little of the big money made on transfers over the last few years being reinvested (Pepe, Toko Ekambi, Reine Adelaide, Tait). But as usual we've been very pleasantly surprised by the performance of the team, although nothing should surprise us from Stephane Moulin, who manages to have this team play pragmatic (some may say defensive) football and get results when it counts.
The core of the team, with the exception of the departing Santamaria and Ait Nouri, has been mostly unchanged, and the new recruits Bernardoni in goal (who is without a doubt our club's revelation this season) and Coulibaly in midfield have gelled nicely with the team. The biggest change has been the repositioning of Fulgini as a 10, which has allowed him to shine and contribute quite a few goals and assists as our best player of the first half of the season.
Best player : Angelo Fulgini
Revelation : Paul Bernardoni
Final place : 9th-11th

OGC Nice by erjiin

A mid-season crash after a promising start. After a nice (lol!) mercato, saluted by the press and almost all supporters, the season looked interesting. A lot of departures, almost all key posts reinforced, some youngsters in defense to play with Dante, the arrival of Morgan Schneiderlin, Rony Lopes, Hassane Kamara, the young forward Amine Gouiri and after a while of Jeff Reine-Adélaïde. The team seemed ready for Ligue 1 and Europa League... It began slowly with Patrick Vieira still struggling to find his way (and to convince the supporters he was the right man). However after a logical defeat again PSG at matchday 4, the machine seemed to take off and at matchday 9 the club was classed 4th, with a convincing draw against Lille (1st at this time) and a 0-3 win at Angers. Unfortunately at Angers happened also THE drama: Dante, captain and technical leader of the team has been badly injured (ACL) until the end of the season. It turns out the team and particularly the young CBs weren't ready at all for this. After 5 defeats including one at home against the last of Ligue 1, one against Monaco in the derby of Côte d'Azur and an elimination in Europa League, due to his incapacity to solve the problems, Patrick Vieira has been fired and replaced by his assistant Adrian Ursea. Adrian Ursea himself has barely managed to do better than Vieira but must compose with injured players (Dante, Atal, a lot of others), out of form players (Lopes, Dolberg), a prone to mistakes team (at least one goal leading mistake per game in recent games) and even a COVID outbreak at the facilities. Now the team is 12th, depressed and has a huuuge need: an experimented CB (and maybe also cocaine but it seems it's not allowed during games) However not everything is dark and some players have delivered: JRA has been very interesting lately, Amine Gouiri is a joy to watch, Lotomba is a good RB and Hassane Kamara a good LB.
Best player : Jeff Reine-Adélaïde
Revelation : Amine Gouiri
Final place : 6th
The club is looking for defensive reinforcement, as i'm optimistic I believe that with them and the comeback of injured players, we will do much much better.

Girondins de Bordeaux by NotMeladroit

After an eventful summer highlighted by a controversial logo change, a close call in the yearly DNCG hearing and the appointment of Jean-Louis Gasset only 11 days before the start of the season, Bordeaux started the season pretty well with 9 points in the first 6 games and only 2 goals conceded with 5 clean sheets. The Girondins didn’t concede a single goal in their first five games at home starting the season with an impressive 3 goalless ties streak! The end of 2020 was less impressive with 18 goals conceded in 11 games and 3 defeats at home in the last 4 games. The month of November was a clear example of Bordeaux’s incontinency this season from a 4-0 defeat at Monaco with 3 goals conceded in 4 minutes to 4 points earned in 2 games away at Rennes and PSG.
Best player : Hatem Ben Arfa
Despite being signed only in October and after only 158 minutes played in the 2019/2020 season at Real Valladolid, Hatem Ben Arfa is already a key part of Bordeaux offence being involved in 1/3 of the goals scored this season with 2 goals (2 game winning goals) and 4 assists, all of them in the last 7 games of 2020.
Revelation : Paul Baysse
Paul Baysse shining with his hometown club at 32 is unexpected but very welcomed. After not playing a single professional game with Bordeaux at the start of his career, Paul Baysse returned to the club in the winter of 2018. But the rise of upcoming star Jules Koundé made him ride the bench and being loaned out to Caen for the 2018/2019 season. He returned from his loan last season but was put in the fridge by Paulo Sousa and didn’t play a single minute. But injuries to habitual starters Pablo and Laurent Koscielny and trust put in him by coach Jean-Louis Gasset made him the center-back with the most minutes played so far and a key part to Bordeaux main strength, its defence ranked 7th in the league.
Final place : 9th-14th
Unless Bordeaux goes into a hot streak to end the season like they used to do to qualify for Europe this past decade, they will finish midtable between 9th and 14th too far from European spots battle but comfy enough from any relegation scares. The defence is the main strength of the team but the team is not well drill enough to be consistent over a full season and the offence is underwhelming, already being too Ben-Arfa dependant, despite having interesting offensive players.

FC Nantes by qqsharp

In view of the general situation of the club :

A mafia president involved in large-scale tax fraud cases
An unofficial "sports director" even more crooked, who led the club to a raid on the training centre for dubious transfers.
The appointment of Domenech, a mediocre coach, unfamiliar with modern football and deeply irritating, who pushes the limits of the absurd and ends up turning the fans against the management.
The probable closed-door sessions for the rest of the season that will undermine the atmosphere of a normally boiling stadium
An already limited workforce with executives in decline (Pallois, Touré) and probably ready to be plundered in January
A series of catastrophic matches in progress reminiscent of Strasbourg 2007-2008

I don't see how Nantes could end up in any other place than the last one. If it could at least give us the opportunity to get rid of those bastards at the head of the club who are always trying to smear our reputation...
Best player : Ludovic Blas
We don't score much, but he is always dangerous and has managed to take over from Simon and Bamba, who are like the team at the beginning of the season, weak. Fast, sharp in front, unfortunately a little bit inconsistent but a really interesting player.
Revelation : Randal Kolo Muani
By dint of looking for mediocre 9s everywhere (Coulibaly, Emond...), we end up realising that when you are Nantes the solution often comes from within. Twice man of the match (without scoring a goal but not being spoiled by the VAR...), he has a sense of purpose and it is only sadly logical that we talk about a departure in January for him.
Final place : 20th

RC Strasbourg by Colyris

This season started with a good number of players affected by the COVID just before the start of the season, which must have complicated the end of the preparation, and the start of the league. It should also be noted the absence of fans at home, Normally La Meinau is almost always full. There we have only one victory at home out of 8 matches. It's not brilliant. But the absence of the fans does not explain everything.
To put it simply, it's going to be a complicated season.
The main problem of Racing, for me, is quite simple: we concede too many goals for God's sake!
Defence hasn't been our strong point since our return to L1 but we've taken 32 goals in 17 games. That's almost 2 goals per game, it's complicated to get good results like that. Hopefully Sels will come back soon and correct this problem a little bit. Clean sheets guys please.
The positive point of this beginning of the season is probably the Ajorque/Diallo duo who are doing rather well, 6 and 5 goals respectively. I was rather skeptical about the arrival of Diallo at the very end of the mercato (10M€ from Metz) but considering the results it works.
Best player : Mohamed Simakan
I mention a defender whereas just before I said that defence is the problem, but Simakan is overall solid (even if 2 handballs -> 2 penalties against Metz =/). And above all there are starting to be rumours of contact with Milan. I have no illusions with the current situation (thanks COVID + Mediapro) we'll probably sell but I hope at least at the end of the season and at a good price (more than 15 M please). Seriously PSG are buying Diallo, Kehrer 30M+, ASSE is selling these 2 defenders 30M+ and so on and I feel that we will accept an offer at 15M-). Otherwise probably Ajorque, with 6 goals / 5 assists.
Revelation : Habib Diallo
It's not really a revelation for league 1, but Habib Diallo is interesting over this half season (5 goals / 3 assists). I would like to see the Ajorque/Diallo duo start more matches together.
Final place : 16-17th
I think it will depend on the resumption. The January matches are against Nîmes, Lens, St-Étienne, Dijon and Reims. They are almost all direct opponents for the survival.
If we win 4 out of 5 matches (it's Christmas, let me dream.) we could maybe finish 12-13th, but it's likely to be a battle to the end for survival, hoping to finish above them, like 16-17th.

Ligue 2

Toulouse FC by THZHDY

After a less than ideal 2020 (the club went winless in 23 consecutive games from october 31st 2019 to september 26 2020, (331 days) and a much deserved relegation, the club has found new hope. New ownership in the name of RedBird capital and Damien Comolli's leadership, a new manager (Patrice Garande) many new transfers and a focus on youth academy players allow us to sit in 3rd at the winter break, only 2 points behind first place. Since that 3-1 against Auxerre that marked the end of the winless streak, Toulouse have won 9, drawn 3 and lost only 1 game (a 4-5 thriller against Valenciennes, with their right back scoring 4 goals)
What happened? Solid recruitment, and players who look like they finally give a shit. Most of the new signings making an extremely positive impact. Stijn Spierings, a Dutch CM signed from Bulgaria, scored 6 and assisted 1 in 10 games (5 penalties) and has brought much needed composure to the team. Branco van den Boomen is a dead ball master, Brecht Dejaegere is a leader in the midfield, and Rhys Healey is on a major scoring spree, having scored in each of the last six games.
Top scorers: Healey (8), Spierings (6), Antiste (6)
Best player : Rhys Healey
His scoring spree earned him the Ligue 2 player of the month award for December.
Revelation : Amine Adli
His new role as a second striker and his partnership with Healey is amazing, he's scored some beautiful goals, and he's an academy product.
Final place : 3rd and a playoff loss
We have a tough schedule ahead, we play all of the top 8 in the next 7 games, so if we manage to get out of that still within reach of the top 2 I can see us getting promoted again, I'm hoping for 1st place obviously.

AJ Auxerre by PrisonersofFate

Auxerre has been in a bad situation for years. Once a strong team in french football, L1 Champions in 96, french cups and a strong academy, things went sour with the relegation. A chinese businessman bought the club back and invested enough for them to survive.
Auxerre in L2 have been disappointing since they got relegated. It's maybe the first time they have a shout to get promoted again, and that's thanks to the good work of Jean-Marc Furlan.
Furlan is really a L2 coach, who will promote a team often (Troyes twice, Brest). He tries to get good and offensive football and things start to work now.
Best player : Mickaël Le Bihan
Mickaël Le Bihan scored 13 times already and is the biggest threat in the team, he is clearly the best scorer of the league.
Revelation : Hamza Sakhi
Of course, going to the stadium this season is hard, and even watching the games thanks to Mediapro (I canceled my suscribtion) but I always liked to watch Hamza Sakhi, a hard working and creative midfielder.
Final place : 5th
I reckon Auxerre can push to the top 5 and play the playoff to get promoted again. The city would need that.

En Avant Guingamp by sgdbdjos

A season to (already) forget. No more ambitions to climb in Ligue 1 : remaining in Ligue 2 is the objective now. 15th after 17 games, 16 points taken, 16 goals scored (0.94 point and goal / game).
A disaster, given that the EAG is the 3rd budget of L2. 10 games without a win series in progress...
The causes: players are not at their true level, no team spirit, character or soul.
Coach Bazdarevic is struggling to convince, and the two men who made him come (Gravelaine and Desplat) are no longer at the club.
A "novice" and very (too) discreet president who has just taken the position. A too large staff (31 players) which should be reduced to the winter mercato.
We are clearly on a season of transition, it will be necessary to avoid the disaster of a descent in national and rebuild behind.
Best player : Ronny Rodelin
31 years old, 2 goals and 1 assist, he is one of the only engines of the Guingamp attack this season.
Revelation : Matthias Phaeton
20 years old, he has already scored three goals in 9 games, each time coming back into the game.
Final place : 12th

National 1

Red Star FC by ziggurqt

I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to talk about Red Star. But before talking about their whereabouts, a bit of trivia, shall we? Contrary to popular belief, the name of the club isn't a translation of “Étoile Rouge”, as it was named Red Star from the very beginning in 1897 by its founding father, namely Jules Rimet. For those who missed the story, Rimet was instrumental in development of football in the early age, as the founder of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the first World Cup trophy held his name until the actual trophy went lost (a first time in 66 in England) and probably melted for its gold in Brazil later on. I actually planned to say much more, but I don’t want to hijack the thread for my own profit (maybe I should plan a more thorough thread?). Anyway, being born and bred in Seine-Saint-Denis for 30+ years (but living in Montpellier now), this club is all kind of awesome, despite never being in the front stage in our living memory.
So, where’s the club now? Red Star plays in National 1 (third division). The start of the season was rocky to say the least (no win in the first four games), but they came back brilliantly and now are holding a solid third place (2 points behind the first). To tell the truth, and not being ashamed about it, I had a kind of football burnout just before the whole COVID situation and I’m still holding back. But the club has an amazing network to keep tabs on the ongoings of the club. So, truthfully, I haven’t watched a single game in its entirety since 20/21 but I feel I can still provide decent insights.
Best player : Cheikh Ndoye & Mayoro N'Doye
Revelation : Damien Durand
Final place : Promoted

Table

Ligue 1 Table

Next matchday

Wednesday 06/01, 19:00
FC Nantes - Stade Rennais
FC Metz - Girondins de Bordeaux
FC Lorient - AS Monaco
Stade Brestois - OGC Nice
RC Strasbourg - Nîmes Olympique
Wednesday 06/01, 21:00
Olympique Lyonnais - RC Lens
Olympique de Marseille - Montpellier Hérault SC
AS Saint-Étienne - Paris Saint-Germain
Stade de Reims - Dijon FCO
Lille OSC - Angers SCO
Previous matchdays :
Season 2020-2021
M1 - M2 - M3 - M4 - M5 - M6 - M7 - M8 - M9 - M10 - M11 - M12 - M13 - M14 - M15 - M16 - M17
Season 2019-2020
M12 - M13 - M14 - M15 - M16 - M17 - M18 - M19 - M20 - M21 - M22 - M23 - M24 - M25 - M26 - M27 - M28

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