Chez

I don't know you SS, but I certainly don't despise you for not taking the vaccine and I am sincerely glad you didn't get covid and die as a result. However, I am not sure you really understand the process of bringing a vaccine to the public. Or did you just mean - when you said "rushed out" - that it `went quickly' rather than `steps were missed'? Either way, be well sir.

I don't see this at all. Our centre backs are pretty good ball players. They don't make me nervous at all when they are on the ball. Suicidal passes? Can you give a few examples. I can't recall a single occasion a CB has fucked us when passing out from the back this season. World class? No, but Salisu for example pings a decent ball with pace to full backs. I've never been a Bednarek fan, but he handles the ball OK and keeps it simple. We don't "piss around" with it at the back*. You have to keep the ball at this level. Tell me which top ten side doesn't play out from the back? *kiss of death right there

If you block everyone that is critical of you and don't follow anyone that has contravening opinions, you don't tend to get much balance. I saw a video interview with MLT a week or so ago and he pointed to a change in feedback on twitter, whereby he had received a lot of criticism initially to his posts/beliefs (about 80% critical and 20% supportive) but as time went by that split had reversed. I wondered if people on here think that is that indicative of UK society as a whole - I guess as time went by more people will have become sceptics about COVID/government policy etc. - or is it just a sign of an echo chamber as people stop following him on twitter that didn't agree and more started following him that did?

I think playing matches is the shop window. Photos of them training are more like the sales bin with a hand written "99p" sign on a luminous piece of card.

Seriously. Do you expect every player that is dropped to make an immediate transfer request? Players work damn hard to get to the top flight. You don't quit that dream just because things don't go well straight away.

Agreed. Not sure why fans are writing him off completely. OK, so it hasn't gone as well as everyone hoped, but get his confidence back in the summer and maybe things click into place again.

The praise Ralph has given him on recent months feels like its a precursor to a new deal.

In fairness, he put in some bloody good shifts for us last season, working up and down the line relentlessly and never shirking his defensive responsibilities. I was surprised at his work rate and that must have impressed Ralph (who obviously wanted to sign him). For me, he didn't look a player on his last legs, although the absolute pace certainly wasn't there and without it he doesn't really offer much in terms of flair, creativity or goal threat. I wonder if Long has impressed in the same way and will also get a new deal? I wonder also, if that will work out as well or we will all think we should have parted ways this summer too?

Even if we paid, say, 75% of his wages, Championship clubs are still going to be pretty wary of signing a player that has been injured a fair bit the last couple of seasons. They don't have much to go on in terms of form and current ability. Not sure he's going to get too many opportunities between now and the end of the season too. How many loans are they allowed to sign? Is there a limit these days? They won't want to `burn' one, when a good couple of loan signings from the Prem (see Forrest) can really transform your side.

Saying he "doesn't advocate war" does not correct or re-clarify his original post in any way. Its irrelevant in fact. He either stands by what he posted in that we should not trust what we are being told by the media about the atrocities in Ukraine, or he backtracks and says that he has no reason to doubt the reports.

nice, but dim.

is it just people with left of centre politics that are unimpressed with his tweet about there being doubt about the atrocities in Ukraine? Also, have you confused `left' with `liberal'?

I lean towards 1. He really isn't terribly clever and just because he has opinions that are different to the masses, that doesn't make it so.

he is available, on a free, in June. You are right to say that other `mid table sides' could offer much bigger wages than us.

Rodriguez pre injury. That's a good shout. Boy was he flying. Love the username by the way. I will have to accept being his second biggest fan.

I wonder how much he'd want paying? He ain't getting another £600k a week contract, that's for sure...

I thought you were a stats man? He scored against West Ham and that was 6 games ago, not 9. Not that scoring is the mark of a good performance or not scoring the mark of a bad one. Oh, and it's not true at all that has form dipped prior to the team. He was outstanding at Old Trafford and good against Everton too IMO. The first game that you could really have a pop is Norwich, and he wasn't terrible, he was just a bit ineffective as they parked the bus. The next game was West Ham and he came off the bench and won it for us. Villa and Newcastle he wasn't good - but who was? Against Watford he came on as a sub in the second half and he got 27 minutes against City.

that's not true though. It was Broja's excellent hold up play that started the move that lead to Che's fluffed shot. Nether Che or Broja had good games yesterday, but the service was shite and we created pretty much fuck all. That's partly on them of course but also a reflection of how the team has ben playing.

all sounds about right to me (except I think Long will be offered a new deal), lots of decisions for the cub to make this summer, but in the end it will be the players that dictate how things go. None have to leave if they don't want to. Increasingly, players seem to be seeing out contracts (which is a worry if we need to make funds from transfers to survive).

gotcha, but £140m of losses over the last three years and a £90m debt mean we certainly will have to sell players over the coming years. If we can get good money for players we don't need/want like Vestegaard, brilliant, but in general interest will be for players we would like to keep.

I think thats why the two strikers didn't have good games. So many long balls that gave them little chance to get attacks going. Apart from a couple of short periods were second best and always seemed to be running towards our own goal. When we did play it short it was in crowded areas and lost the ball. Leeds have done this a few times over the last two seasons and the end result has been ugly. Less so yesterday. Our by fault of design we had men behind the ball and didn't get caught. I hope it was by design and we have learnt from previous mistakes.

have you given up hope that he gets his confidence back and it just all clicks next season? Or do just think he doesn't have `it' and never will?

I didn't realise he was only 28. Its been a roller coaster of a career at Saints, with his form and confidence coming and going. There's been a lot of negativity from fans at times, so if an opportunity arises in the top flight, I can see him fancying it. A fresh challenge, a new start. Difficult player to set a fee for. We really could do with some funds to bolster our transfer kittythis summer. The attacking `flair' players like Djenepo, Theo and Tella haven't done much this season - so we might need a couple in that area of the pitch. Our issue then becomes finding new talent at a price we can afford. Minamino seemed to be the player Ralph wanted, but that move seems less and less likely.

To another Premiership side? Not sure our change of ownership makes much difference when it comes to `moving players on'. Redmond will be here next season if he wants to be. As will Theo. They are the ones that decide, they have the power. All be it, they face a season being paid not to play.

I thought it was months? I hoped for more from him today, but both strikers were ineffective. A lot of that has to do with the service provided to them, which wasn't always good. He's scored 9 in 32, Che 8 in 27. Armstrong 2 in 25. Long 2 in 15. Let's hope one of those or Tella can step up next week against Chelsea.