St Louis

I would also swap Gunn for McCarthy too, looks far more assured to me (definitely for Tues night!) Gunn didnt swap the Man City bench to sit on our bench, so we had to start playing him sooner rather than later. But I feel that was quite harsh on McCarthy who was playing well and getting international recognition.

Mings said himself in his England Press Conference that Saints released him for not being big enough.... "There is not a lot I haven't thought of in terms of what could and couldn't happen. I don't hold any grudges over Southampton. I don't hold any grudges over the decisions they made because if I'm completely honest they were probably justified at the time. *I wasn't quite big enough, I wasn't quite physically developed enough to maybe cope with the demands of the game*. It will be a fitting story if I made my debut at St Mary's and came full circle." Mings added: "I don't think it would feel any more or less special doing it at St Mary's than it would anywhere else." Comes across as a decent lad and well spoken: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49586525

We pulled out of signing Jamie Vardy at the last minute as we werent sure he could make the step up from Fleetwood, and instead opted for Tadanari Lee, as he was an international and could help us tap into the asian markets. Wonder what happened to both of them!?

I would imagine our scouts look at a little more than just the ‘goals scored’ column... The kid needs a chance, clearly has decent attributes. I’m confident he will do OK, a goal will do his confidence the world of good.

Thanks Chaps! So thats 3 to check out then... The Evening Star The Battle of Trafalgar The Prince Albert

This gets my vote too!

Really looking forward to this one! Anybody have plans for where to drink? Always nice to mingle with a few Saints beforehand. I found this online, so we will probably do this before and after.... "Outside Brighton Mainline Station there are a number of excellent pubs'. Phil Kramer recommends the Evening Star, on Surrey Street. It is away fan friendly and only two a minute walk away from the station. It is in the CAMRA good beer guide and serves real Sussex ale and cider" - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186273-d2264054-Reviews-The_Evening_Star-Brighton_East_Sussex_England.html "After the game the bars at the ground remain open. The North Stand stays open to 8pm on a Saturday. So if you want to avoid the queues at the railway station then stay at the ground for a beer and watch the late kick off game on the television screens. They also display the departing train times on screen too, so you know when to leave"

Good stuff, hope so

Eh, Do you have a cabbage for a brain as well as face!? I work in sales and have no problem at all having the club call to try and sell, they obviously need to. My point was that I was surprised that tactic is needed to put bums on seats for such a big game, and I’ve never known it before. I think others managed to understand the point...

OK, lets be pedantic then. No, he didnt literally beg me, but I think you understood the point. Yes he was just trying to do a job, and Yes he was persistent in trying to sell me the benefits of buying a ticket. My point was that I find this unusual, and a tactic I have never known or heard of at Saints (emails, social media, etc in the past, but not calling fans to try the hard sell), and I presume that's a sign of how we are struggling to sell tickets to this match.

So, for the first time ever in my 30 odd years following Saints, I have just had a phone call from the ticket office asking me if I'd like to buy a Man Utd ticket. I have Membership+ this season (or whatever its called - still hasnt turned up yet anyway!) but I cant make the Man Utd home game as I am away that weekend. I needed to repeat this a few times for the operator to take No as my final answer! Are we really that desperate and struggling to sell tickets that we now need to call fans and literally beg them to come? If we really have sold so few tickets for when the mighty Man Utd come to town, then that tells me the club seriously needs to review the pricing structure. Tickets for the big games used be like gold dust. Have we finally reached tipping point? What next, calling me to ask if I want to buy a Home Shirt? Oh wait... maybe that call will have to wait a while longer. Am I alone or has anyone else had this call?

Agreed! I honestly would replace Gunn, Valery, Vestergaard, Romeu and Ings next week with... McCarthy, Yoshi, Cedric, Hojberg and Boufal. And I’m not just being knee jerk after today, I honestly think the latter 5 are upgrades on what we started with today.

I'm sure Ralph also knows that Yohida is the better player, but sometimes he will base decisions on more than just training/matches. Yoshi could be fatigued, poorly, not as fit as others yet, slight knock, etc. Of course Ralph knows better than us lot

According to Big Al, every goal will be checked:

Exactly right! As marginal as it was, under current FA rules that was offside. It’s not VAR’s fault that the rule is stupid and any body part can be offside even by an inch (they should make it only offside if daylight between players IMHO). VAR just analyses and decides based on the rules. Anything that makes the game more fair, works for me.

I agree, its completely embarrassing. Of course he was tempted to stay here on his high wages, with only a year left (before a nice bosman), I wouldn't have blamed him for sitting tight unless a tempting club/wage came along that suited him. His biggest crime is that he's a Berkshire boy who supports Liverpool.

My issue with it, is that the blokes from Berkshire and supports Liverpool! That's what makes him a moron!

Haha, is there? And what is that reason, out of interest? FWIW, I think the kits are awful, but the video was good fun (if youve seen Fyre). It's good to see a light-hearted side to the club after the doom and gloom of this season.

Maybe I'm just putting 2+2 together, but... The club have just launched a (god awful) leisurewear range called 'Inspired by Ings': https://store.saintsfc.co.uk/Product/ProductList/57600 Surely you wouldn't do that for a loan player, a month before you return him to his club. I know our commercial team/club shop is bad, but they cant be that stupid, can they?

I agree, I dont think Long is the long term solution, I just think he is the best option we have now. Hopefully Ralph will be able to bring in a striker who has a mixture of composure, strength and pace this summer

I think we look a far better side when Long starts than when Ings starts. I feel that Ings' general all-round game is OK, but he does slow down our play. We looked electric in the first half last night, with Long, Armstrong and Redmond stretching Watford all over the place. They were forcing the Watford defence into all sorts of mistakes (even after 7 seconds!) Long's finishing may not be the best (although that was a beautiful dink last night!), but I for one think we look a better team with him on the pitch, and I bet Redmond et al like the extra space he creates for them.

Off the pitch, the club has to be run like any other business, and currently they feel that the squad is too large and the wage bill is too high, so players need to be moved on before bringing in more. I dont think its literally that we cannot afford another penny, they are just trying to balance the books.

Ditto, we stole a point, and I'm happy to take it and run onto the next one. As many have said, we would probably have lost that game under previous managers, and the most important thing is that Palace didnt pull 3 points away from us. Ralph is working miracles with a bang average squad. Cedric clearly better than Valery too, etc but if he didnt want to be here, then I'm happy for him to do one and for Ralph to have faith with the players that do. I'm sure if we can stay up this year, Ralph will start to shape his squad in the summer, we just need patience and to keep putting points on the board, even the undeserved ones. Onwards and upwards....

Couldnt agree with you more! Nobody on here has any idea what goes on behind the scenes, right at the top! Saint86 has no idea whether Reed was moved on as he also didnt want to see the prize assets sold every season like us, its just easy to presume it was all Les's fault and what he wanted. I would hazard a guess that the DoF would actually be the one that would want to keep the best players, as he is judged on team results/position, etc whereas the owners hold the purse strings and want to balance the books and make profit!?