Ex Lion Tamer

Taking the pessimistic view, not having Ings will force Smith to go back to one up top, and back to the formation that worked for them last season. It will also mean Buendia can play in his preferred position

I always liked that he was good at heading. Not just a typical winger - a proper all round player

Javier Hernandez is still playing. But they're definitely rarer. Is Ronaldo a poacher now? He doesn't move much

The thing is, I can remember Lineker breaking the offside trap and running through on goals loads of times. He definitely got his share of tap ins though

Covid safety? So villa could have him available sooner?

Sorry TWar but a poacher is someone who relies on movement in the 6 yard box or at a stretch the penalty box. No running allowed. What we could perhaps debate is whether any players are solely poachers by this definition, but that's definitely what a poacher is https://sportmob.com/en/article/954118-top-goal-poachers-in-football-history

Man Utd have dithered over Ole and now they've missed out on Conte. What a mess

If he had 200 shots and only scored 28, then that wouldn't be clinical. Step up to the Prem and he may only get 50 chances, so he needs to be more accurate or he won't score many

Blackburn fans told us when he signed that he wasn't clinical. He was just getting a lot of chances in the championship. It's definitely something he needs to improve but it is more than just form

That didn't work out well for VVD because he had to stay with us for another half season when his heart clearly wasn't in it. We're speculating about his character now but I'm not sure most players would sign a contract like that just for the money and then be prepared to kick up a fuss to get a move

Can anyone say that if they were Salisu, they would be signing a new contract? A good season this season and he'll be wanting to test himself at a higher level. Thinking optimistically, perhaps we could get a one year extension but I don't see much more

If we can actually be clinical for a change then I think we can win this one

He's had one good performance, following a shaky one. I think he needs more time to be eased in

I don't have evidence but I feel like the better / more skillful team usually wins penalties. So we matched Chelsea on the day through hard work and organisation but ultimately their quality told in the shoot out

It's a decent point though that although Theo's wage looks excessive, the club will have looked at the total cost compared to an equivalent player and decided it is better value. It just looks weird because Theo is getting a bigger % of the money

If you libel someone then the burden of proof is on you (and Saintsweb) as the publishers, not him

Players are clearly still playing for him

There's no way he could have generated any pace on the ball from that cross. It would have been powderpuff into the goalie's arms and pelters from saintsweb

Potential club legend if he can keep on playing like that

You have to say that the players are still playing for Ralph. Terrific pressing

It's less that Ralph doesn't have a clue and more that he cares less about winning the Carabao cup than he does resting players and giving others a run out

Leach has backpedaled on this

Quite hard to pick the weeds on this one but as I understand it, Lowe was executive chairman and had identified Wotte a number of years earlier. Wilde backed the appointment of Poortvliet and was somewhat responsible as football chairman but I wouldn't assume he was the driving force behind it simply because he gave the press quote. http://www.prostinternational.com/2021/03/09/mark-wotte-ruperts-message-was-clear-from-day-one-there-is-no-budget/ Wilde certainly didn't get his way when replacing Poortvliet: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/4357374.wilde-i-wanted-british-boss-for-saints/

Until the current regime make managerial choices equivalent to Wigley, Gray, Poortvliet, then they're not comparable. Also Lowe thought he knew it all whereas Gao has the humility to stay out of the football side

I like to think it will be different if we're struggling in the relegation zone