Saint Keef

Always proud to be a Saint, but especially so since lockdown. Ole actually said before the match that we are the fittest team in the prem and when you are the fittest team you score injury time goals.......all 10 minutes of injury time!!!! Well done lads. Difficult to pick a MoM.

Richarlison and Mina (Did you see him having a go at Che having climbed all over him and flattened him) come across as a real obnoxious pair. I bet their dressing room is a real bundle of laughs with those two in it. I bet its non-stop hilarity and jokes. I bet Carlo Ancelotti goes home aching from laughter with those two. Actually has Ancelotti ever smiled?

Obviously disappointed with 1-1 when, we could (should) have been 3-0 up before they scored and they would have been dead and buried. However, the style of football we are playing is great. Slick passing, great movement, attacking mindset and closing down from the front. Players getting stuck in....and smiling! Compare all that to the style of play we had to endure under Puel, The Clown and to some degree, Hughes although I acknowledge Hughes saved us from an almost certain drop and who knows where we would have been by now if we had dropped. Ralph has turned so many of these players around and long may it last. I'm always proud to be a Saint, but especially so at the moment. Disappointed with a draw at Everton having completely outclassed them?......that ain't so bad.

So let's see how next season pans out and how the shirt will be remembered...... Top Four finish a Champions League = "The best shirt we've ever had. Let's stick with the sash forever" 5th to 8th finish = "Really nice shirt. It got us into Europe. Maybe let's have a sash again next year" 9th to 13th = "OK, we tried it.......it wasn't the worst kit ever, but let's have stripes back again please" 14th - 16th = "Phewwww, that was close. Now get me stripes and make it without a damn bra" Bottom Four = "It wasn't the players fault, it was that bloody sash shirt.......oh yeh, and that bloody sponsor's logo. I'm gonna see if I can get a couple of quid for mine on ebay" FA Cup win = See Top Four Finish. (Sorry - not a blue away kit please - too much like the nasty neighbours)

About three years ago I said to my son, Jack Stephens will play for England one day. I agree, he has made some mistakes along the way, had a few ups and downs, been absolutely slated on here, but I still think he will play for England. He must be on Gareth's radar after Sunday. Not only was I impressed with him under pressure on Sunday but when he got the ball at his feet in the box, in the main he didn't just hoof it out (a couple of times he did) but he was playing intelligent balls out and setting up possible counter attacks. And yes, as stated above we have a settled CB pairing and that makes a big difference. As someone else said, he also marshals the defence and is showing leadership skills. Well done Jack!

If I remember rightly - we paid about £8m for Armstrong. That is looking like an absolute bargain now. To me, he's looking like a £30m + player now. He suits Ralph's style perfectly and is chipping in with assists and goals. As I said in another post he must be one of the first names on the team sheet.

A very smug and satisfied feeling today........mates who are non Saints fans have called & emailed me saying they were actually cheering Saints as they watched it, something they've never done before. One mate, a Spurs fan (I know....he can't help it) said he punched the air and cheered at the final whistle. Don't worry, I won't reciprocate if they beat Everton tonight, although a couple of Everton injuries to key players tonight and I might raise a discreet smile.

Three of us. Shane gets a lot of stick on here, mainly for his finishing.....and I agree, I wish he would score more, but his off the ball running, creating panic in opposition defences and creating space for others (Ings) is invaluable. By all means play Shane Long for the first hour and then bring Che on with half an hour to go, to hopefully nick another goal. That's not to say I don't think Che has a big future here - so pleased he scored a "worldy" yesterday. He looked like he was knackered when Ralph took him off yesterday, so half an hour against "the dugouts" might just suit him. That's my thoughts.......however..... I think Ralph will think completely opposite......start with Che and bring Shane on with half an hour to go when their defence is knackered so he can cause them havoc then. Anyway, I'll leave it to Ralph.....he seems to know what he's doing.

Superb. Best home performance for a very long time. Obvious credit to the back four and McCarthy, but for me, a special mention for Armstrong. He has been great since the break and must be one of those whose name is first on the team sheet now. The whole midfield looks very balanced and we are certainly not missing PEH, in fact, I reckon our performances without him have shown an improvement Shhhh......Don't tell Spurs though. Well done to all the lads.

Just watched City demolish Liverpool. Everytime I see Foden he's getting better. Hopefully they'll rest him on Sunday and bring in.......Oh.....David Silva. Anyway, apparently "Wickh thwack kackth chack wickth Liverpooooool thwick chwackh kickth wickth thwack kwackth thwick ackthually" ............according to Jamie Carragher

Watching Everton v Leicester. As a kid, I listened to The Beatles. I was a Beatles fanatic. Watched every interview and understood every word they sang and said in their Liverpool accents. Cilla Black was always on TV. Couldn't stand the woman but understood every word she uttered. Jimmy Tarbuck. Didn't like him at all, but understood every word. Countless others all with Liverpool accents. The Liverpool manager, Mr Klopp isn't from Liverpool. Isn't even English. But I can understand every single word he says. I can understand countless other foreign accents. Why then......can I not understand a single word (well about one word in six) said by Jamie Carragher. My heart sinks when I see he is the pundit on a game. Why on earth do Sky persist with him. It's just a constant stream of unintelligible babble. Surely I'm not the only one. ps - Leicester look poor.

The three teams I'd like to see go down are West Ham West Ham and.... West Ham

Not sure we'll ever be able to wipe it from the memory. It gets mentioned at least twice in every TV match commentary since.....

Danny Ings has been excellent for us this season. No denying that. But his career has been blighted by serious injuries and he is only one nasty twist, turn or tackle away from the next one. If he got another serious injury that would probably be it for him and his value would be zero. What is Mo Salah worth in the current market? What is Aubameyang worth? Kane? Vardy? Aguero? Sterling? Jesus? Mane? etc etc. The goals speak for themselves and he is up there with those guys right now based on this season's performances. If someone came in with a decent offer.........£75m - £100m I think we'd take it. I think we paid around £20m for him, so not a bad profit in 2 years. Only this time, (as with much of the VvD money) DON'T WASTE IT!....although I'm guessing some of the VvD money was used to buy Danny Ings so maybe not all wasted. I don't want to see him leave - we need him - and obviously Covid19 may affect the market value of the players mentioned. I would also say he seems like a decent sort and in a sport normally bereft of much loyalty, he might just want to stay with Saints to repay the faith we showed in him and helped him resurrect his career following his injury hit time at Liverpool. But, as long as he's banging them in for Saints I'll be happy.

We didn't seem to miss PEH at all against Watford today. I thought Romeo and Smallbone both looked far more composed. Better at breaking up play and far better distribution - and normally playing it forward as opposed to PEH's stray passing, mainly sideways and backwards. Anyone of the supposed bigger clubs who saw PEH's "performance" against Arsenal must have serious reservations about signing him. Frankly I thought he looked a liability, clumsy in the tackle and very poor distribution. Not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but In some respects I see similarities with Jose Fontes situation. Club Captain. His head is turned by talk of apparent interest from so called bigger clubs, (how much of that is agent talk?) and thinking he can do better than Saints. Look what happened to Jose when it turned out the "bigger" clubs (Man U in particular I recall) weren't actually interested. A very dodgy move to West Ham which was far from successful and resulted, as far as I know, in the end of his career in England. PEH has been a reasonable player for Saints, but to me, nothing out of the ordinary. Average sometimes, poor too many times and rarely above average. So......(tongue slightly in cheek) what are the chances of PEH ending up at West Ham? - seems like just the player they will come in and spend some money for, thinking they have outdone arch rivals Spurs......who weren't really interested after he assisted in gifting Arsenal a couple of goals. Just saying.......