John Boy Saint

Rather bizarrely whilst watching the Arsenal v City game Sterling had marginally almost invisibly impeded a player, ref blows Sterling gets the arse and spikes the ball like a spoilt brat denied sweets by his Mum, and Moss just has a chat with him - Martin Tyler is amazed Sterling has gotten away without a card, then pipes up with a gem he should deliver more often - saying how certain players in certain teams seem to get off much lighter than players in lesser teams or words to that effect - I immediately thought you just had to watch the assault on Djenepo the day before, Kante was a card, Werner I could see why not, Alonso got pinged, and Kovacic if that had been Romeu would have been carded.

Right we are at last into the 30 points now - let’s get the hammer down. Leeds are proper Jekyll and Hyde - who knows what’ll be.

We must have gotten something right if Tucal is mithering about being ineffective in the final 20% of the pitch. Salisu looked comfortable, as has been said already some of his piercing passes through the Chelsea midfield were sublime, Djenepo certainly earned his corn today, poor bloke must be black and blue after the beating up he repeatedly took. Best part of the result breaking into the 30’s at long last.

Just about everyone slipped about at United due to the rain down that dugout side (as mentioned elsewhere Djenepo made it look like he was playing on Ice) - it also probably didn't help that you have been given your chance, and at Old Trafford too, and your mate is trying out the showers before 2 minutes of the game are up. Playing against a potent attack, one thought possibly trundling through his head "please please don't f**K it up, just win the ball" - again as I said previously, he was about the only bright spot in that game. We don't have the money to go and splash out on a secondhand right back with a season or two on the clock - so we have to make do with what we have, there was obviously huge reservations about Valery and Vokins for them to be shipped out. Derby in the cup for Ramsey was 2 seasons ago, thats bloody harsh to make that then 18 year old still wear the badge from that night - if we did that for all the nippers given a spin, then we may as well pack up the academy. And as I have also said before, actually sat in the ground watching Wayne Bridge, Gareth Bale, Luke Shaw, when they came in for the first couple of games they all looked a bit shaky but the seasoned pro alongside them kept an eye on them and helped them through. Jan had his hands full at OT that night so the lad had to muddle through pretty much on his own.

I say Ramsey too. The lad had a baptism of fire in the Man U game but for me was the brighter glow in a pretty dim night, might be scarred by the scoreline, but was likely more worried about Djenepo over with him flying into challenges like a Pigeon tagged by a passing car, a few of which he was lucky to get away with.

Given that we have played a game nearly every 3-4 days since 16th January, and now having nearly a full week to recharge. Hopefully we will be able to get back towards the type of performances that we are all use to seeing from Saints before Christmas. We looked leggy yesterday especially after the air vanished out of our balloon on that penalty decision, Redmond looked to have had a slightly better game for us, but that is likely down to the fact that he hasn't played as much as most of the team over that time period so was a tad fresher. We now know that KWP is broken once more, so we have a week to get young Ramsey bedded in more rather than fanny about at right back with square pegs for round holes (personally I thought that he was about the only positive from the OT game), he has to be better than Djenepo back there as he looks like an accident waiting to happen, or maybe that his legs going in all directions fooling my eyes. On paper and given our recent form it does look like a bit of grim prospect of a game, but as a Saints fan of many years as always I have hope.

Pen against Bertrand just let the air out of our balloon - “not again”.

Armstrong’s been hogging the hairdryer at half time 😀

At the end of the game I thought we had moved through it with a minimum of effort, after an opening flurry of activity the game seemingly dropped to a pace that suited us, to conserve energy and bide our time. I have a customer up in Wolverhampton and all the lads in there are season ticket holders at Molineux, so just for a bit of fun we have a WhatsApp group for our games (they use it for their own games too - which is quite amusing) they weren’t to happy with their teams performance and a bit of falling out of love with Nuno seems to be building up there. Thought Salisu did pretty well for a first outing, especially given how long he has been out from competitive football, on first viewing seems to have all the tools in his box to be a fine addition to the squad.

Reckon Redmond said to Long when he left for Bournemouth - “Shane - if you have no use for it can I have your first touch of a trampoline?”.

PEH having a stinker in the Everton v Spurs game, helped Evertons first then gave a sloppy pen away.....ooops

Shame our one of those deploys the parachute, pulls on the hand brake effecting an excellent 180° and heads in the other direction.

Mike Riley needs to look in the mirror himself - the bloke was a arrogant self centered egotist when he was on the whistle. There was friction after our Villa game with Dean then the not too insignificant events at the back end of the game at Old Trafford, he should have been taken of the roster after Jans red was rescinded. But nope let’s wheel him out again Saints must have been going “eh” Fulham and West Ham behind closed doors probably also went “hmmm”. Unless Riley himself is keeping the field clear of any “upstarts” with an eye on his throne. Dean is one of the refs allegedly on £200k per year, think he is 50 so heading towards the end anyway - but that’s a bit of hole in the wedge to have the tap turned off on. Of course the weird bit in the Beeb piece “he will still officiate the Brighton Leicester cup game” - you are still the ref and if you have numbskulls making threats why not just take yourself out of the spotlight.

Ha-ha Alison catches a case of the McCartheys 🤪

How soft was that Pen for Salah

Top and tail of it, once we went behind we were bloody woeful, for one Puel was screaming at VVD to play it to McQueen in acres of free space on the left, every time the ball out of defence went right into heavy traffic Puel and McQueen tearing their hair out in frustration - we could have drawn or won but squandered chance after chance - at the final whistle Saints fans voiced their displeasure at the performance - pretty much “we’ve turned up at some expense - and you buggers couldn’t be arsed to match our effort” - The majority of fans were voicing their displeasure at the lacklustre performance as the players came over to clap us - Shane Long got half way towards us (he hadn’t been great) hearing the noise wasn’t “good try lads” clapping etc - theatrically motioned his arm as if saying at the same time “ah f**k the lot of you!” Turned around and walked to the dressing room - quite a few other players faced the music - McQueen got a bit of a clap as pretty much everyone shared his frustration with ball after ball went the other side into the crowded side - With hindsight I often wondered if this game was an early player power 2 finger salute to Puel.

Fucking brain fart FC

The boy needs to strike a match blow it out and snap it - to break the bad luck.

I could swear Nicola Adam’s is on the co commentary 😁

I made sure that both my Girls got to see The Dell we sat up in the East Stand (as I had never been up there myself and felt I needed to) for the last pre season friendly Real Sociedad (?) so cheap too, they must have been 4 & 5 the 4 year old more fidget eyes than pants, "look at that what is it?" bizarrely the 5 year old locked on the pitch most of the game....... so you're spot on, very few born after 1994 are very unlikely to have known The Dell. My first outing was 21st January 1978 v Notts County 3-2 Saints - My hero back then Phil Boyer bagged a brace - which made my day. 13 years of age, 4 chums made our way down from Tadley north of Basingstoke on the 50p weekly shopping bus. 2nd outing 5-0 spanking of Blackburn 1st April 1978 - Phil delivered again, think I might have had my programme signed by him too. Great days 13-14-15 on the train down from Basingstoke sometimes in fear of our lives, having a great wheeze that has a smile on my face as I type.

Whilst being a year old, this goes someway to explain the (struggling to find the words)..................the bowl of Spaghetti that the rules are, into the whys and why nots of the retrospective diving bans. Up until Jan 2019 only 2 players have received retrospective bans for diving and that was back in 2017 when the rule was put into place. When you read it you can picture the scene in the reviews room "Right Charlie for Athletic dived, deceived the official into awarding a penalty, Bob the Town player received a yellow for being in the vicinity" - "Right Fred pull up the rule book pages on this issue" "Hmmmmmmm - f**k it: thats far too convoluted, we'll be here past midnight!". https://www.cityam.com/premier-leagues-diving-problem-fas-rules-have-failed-clamp/ Every single one of us has seen clear and obvious simulation on TV and not seen anything given. I would imagine after the Bednarek fiasco there is a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica (look it up kids - oldies google) sat on top of a can marked Worms, trying to stop a single one of the buggers coming out........many questions but as its only Southampton it'll blow over by the weekend. .......there you go (unless its been changed since) Mike Dean is the man on the Whistle for Fulham v West Ham Saturday night. So you can stand looking at a screen for over a minute, make a final decision that the everyone else in football is calling as wrong, then the appeals committee goes on to deem as wrong, and you are back out next match in your (alleged) £200K a year job, as if nothing has happened (His mate Lee Mason is once again standing with his hands in his pockets as 4th official Spuds v Baggies Sunday - for an alleged £48k a year I guess you don't expect to do as much running about).

Me too 😃

.........it’s the exclusive access to the VAR Comms that tickled me.

Same as you (except not in my 70's) - and the wall to wall footie these last 2 weeks especially has suddenly become numbingly boring. I've been going down the Saints for 44 years, it has become an addiction. I have had the odd period where, work, the arrival of children, (15% interest rates on the mortgage) have shifted the priority and my regular attendance has been curtailed. Watched absolute rubbish week in week out but still had my day out at the weekend to look forward too. There was once 4 of us who would go home and sometimes away together, the turnstile was a time machine when we clicked through onto the concourse we were 14 again, ribbing each other and laughing at complete cobblers until we had to go home at full time. Alas since being in the Premier League again one by one they have walked away mostly disillusioned by the product of the league. All of them found it hard in August but by the end of October/November the overiding desire to go had passed in them. Bizarrely its been Mrs JBS who has stopped me going the same way as them, she is footie mad, and knows her onions so enjoys the day out too. Like has been said, there is a danger that those ST holders who don't have Sky or BT might well have also crossed that threshold my mates have. As I have said earlier in this thread, fortunately going to football isn't a considered purchase these day, and the money in our heads has been spent, and like you it just makes next season cheaper if it comes.

Tad harsh, as the game went on he got better and more assured, of course United targeted him, if the boot were on the other foot I would expect us to do the same. To say he "clearly isn't up to this level" is a comment worth ordering a few bags of to spread around under my Roses and Rhubarb. Wayne Bridge first outings looked green, Gareth Bale looked wobbly first few games, Luke Shaw first games was being positioned by 1st Team regulars, lad from the academy had a baptism of fire last night he did alright...........in fact it might just turn out to have been very good for him.