Saint Albert

Commentators wondering why Gabbiadini is not coming on...

Carrillo would look better if he had Gabbiadini to play off.

Payback is a *****.

It’s defo more of the same, which is frustrating because Stoke are poor, and are basically a one man team...still we haven’t lost yet. I’m sure Pellegrino’s rousing the side with another of his patented motivating halftime team talks.

Boos at the whistle for halftime. I didn’t think we were that bad. Stoke sat off the ball, leaving us with lots of possession but no penetration. Best chances fell Stoke’s way, I suppose. Last weekend against Burnley we struggled to deal with their aggressive pressing. We at least look more comfortable this week. The home supporters are not sounding too impressed, though.

Ironic cheers when the Stoke keeper catches a ball...not sure if aimed at him after last week or us for not shooting.

My autocorrect does that to Tadic, as well.

That save by McCarthy was so good you couldn’t see it in real time, but it’s there on the replay.

Scissor tackle from behind on Lemina. No card. Lemina’s not looking too good, but he’s back up.

A bit of retribution from Hoedt on Diouf.

Replays showing a deliberate stamp by Diouf on Hoedt, missed by the ref.

Lucky that shot was right at McCarthy.

I wasn’t expecting to hear Status Quo leading us up to the kickoff.

Commentators on my feed having their first dig at Pellegrino: we have more goals on the bench than on the pitch, which explains why we are in our predicament apparently.

Part of me was hoping against hope that he’d start Gabbiadini, knowing full well that he wouldn’t. Gabbi must have flushed Pellegrino’s emotional support hamster down the toilet at some point this season, resulting in a lengthy period in the doghouse.

I’d probably play Boufal ahead of Redmond and Hoj ahead of Rom. Still, Redmond was not too bad last week, hopefully the crowd can lay off him today.

Blimey, Sims is starting.

The Saints game will be the only QF without VAR. The other three QFs will have it... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5455959/FA-stick-VAR-FA-Cup-final.html

Here’s the beeb’s relegation analysis. They reckon Saints will end up in 16th with 39 points... http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43202293

The Telegraph has a piece analyzing which teams have the toughest / easiest run-ins, here... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/03/02/10-premier-league-games-go-teams-have-toughest-easiest-run-ins/

Or textbook Pellegrino.

If you’re referring to the reindeer from Frozen, yes he would probably be slightly better than Pellegrino. If you’re referring to the former England manager, well I suppose he couldn’t be much worse. As has been stated previously, it unfortunately looks like Pellegrino’s here to stay for the duration of the season.

I read another article (can’t remember where) which stated that Silva was a non-starter for them because he views himself as being above W.Brom’s station. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has the same attitude to Saints. I can see Allardyce getting the sack in the summer, and being replaced by Silva. Everton and Silva probably deserve each other. Assuming that the club’s plan is to stick with Pellegrino to the bitter end this season, I wouldn’t want a mercenary like Silva to join in the summer. I only really liked him as an emergency short-term option to dig the team out of trouble, but the club does not seem to recognize that we’re in an emergency.

I expect a lineup similar to the Burnley side, if Pellegrino resists the temptation to go ultra conservative and play three defensive midfielders. It would not surprise me at all if Redmond starts again. He was alright at times against Burnley. I’m going to restrict myself to simply hoping that Pellegrino only plays two of Romeu, Hoj and Lemina. The problem with all the suggestions of attacking lineups on here - Carrillo striking up a partnership with Gabbiadini, Sims starting, Boufal starting etc is you tend to feel a little disappointed when the reality of Pellegrino’s actual selections sinks in one hour before kick off. I’m pretty sure that Pellegrino regards Sims merely as an impact sub, to be used in tight games. Saints have a particularly difficult time playing teams that press, and defending high balls. I wonder if Lambert selects his team and tactics accordingly.

I’m not fussed about the referee getting in the way for the tying goal. After that, it still required Redmond to do a good job carrying the ball to the penalty area (he looks decent in a central role), distribute it to Sims, who played a lofted ball to Carrillo at the far post, who played it (a little behind) to Gabbiadini, who came back to the ball and finished after getting tangled with Long. There were many opportunities for Burnley to intervene after the ref got in the way. After Decoure, I don’t think we need to apologize for strokes of good fortune that occur in our favour this season.