John Boy Saint

Bit of a conundrum with both Djenepo and Redmond. Djenepo plays by the seat of his pants and you could say his footballing brain works faster than his already fast feet, on the flipside Redmond is less frantic but his brain doesn't work as fast as his feet have the potential to do. Djanepo will take the risk to take someone on without hesitation, when he gets robbed of the ball he will instantly go to win it back, but his over exuberance if his first attempt fails, sometimes draws the foul and possibly a card. Then we become hamstrung as his immaturity puts him on a knife edge not for him but keeping 11 on the pitch. Most teams have worked out when Redmond has the ball no matter how fast he is going - double up on him and 9 times out of 10 you will just stop him in his tracks, while he ponders what to do, the oppos defence can set themselves, if he throws caution to the wind and doesn't think, just lets his ability take over like Djenepo he can be a proper handful. But if he loses the ball if you are paying attention to him, he stops and starts pondering what might have been, or "what if I had done....." suddenly he remembers that the boss wants him to pressure the ball at all times whenever its in his zone by which time the ball is already 1/4 of the pitch away and he has to sprint to where the work is needed. They both have qualities otherwise they wouldn't be playing in the Premier League, one is random like dropping a match head of Sodium metal in water, the other is a bit more cautious. Both are capable of producing that perfect moment.

Think we might have played that Joker with Che on the last day of last season when he bagged a brace. One of which he had no right to get but he managed to slide the ball through an impossible gap between keeper and post.

Quite weirdly I watched the catch up extended highlights on Sky - having answered an email I was waiting for just as I was heading towards the wooden mountain to Bedfordshire. Get upstairs and Mrs JBS was snoring her face off (denies it obviously) with the TV on still and the game playing. Whilst first half we were a bit flat, second half we were much better, as has often been said “you defend from the front” the introduction of Danny Ings just gave Brighton something else to think about, other than don’t concede a foul just outside the box. Many comments already on here were about us not playing the best, but watching back without having to peer through my fingers we played what we were up against, a well organized team but lacking “in the red zone” thankfully. I think most of us are very guilty of watching through nervous eyes as we all know from the past we can put in a good gutsy performance and yet walk off the pitch empty handed, and a kick in the whatsits like last Sunday in injury time just fuels the fear. Admittedly there are times where we just fanny about with the ball and get stupidly robbed, at the same time we play so many balls where you think jeez we got away with that, many of those balls are likely played with a bit of deception only players we can’t afford spot and possibly pick us off. KWP won a ball where he made the Brighton player run with him and past the ball, KWP had obviously taken the snapshot in his head of who was where, stopped spun round and passed the ball upfield, Brighton player was still heading towards the seafront. At the end of the day we won, fortuitous penalty or not - we are in 5th because we deserve to be there. Thought Vestergaard was very good, as was Romeu, be interesting to see what happens in midfield when we get another hot and cold ref who hands him a soft yellow before the cut off.

Deffo Fonte about 4 foot outside the box infront of the Lino - Ref Peter Walton (yup him off BT Sport) pointed to the spot without hesitation - my mate and me up behind the goal just looked at each other in disbelief Fonte just shrugged his shoulders.

Ah you didn’t receive the memo earlier in the week on that.

Have you seen his car jeez - he is a very very lucky boy - car literally sliced In half - that is a lot of high octane petrol just going up instantly

Mrs JBS was stood between TVs - just heard OMG! They just replayed it horrible smash

Fucking amazing

Oh Joy Alan Smith AGAIN Redders MOM then. Bugger changed ends

I was watching and cooking dinner and watching in chunks, the bit I saw to prompt my comment it was a bit grim, a whole series of incomplete easy passes

There was a bit in the Daily Snail today saying Gao was playing hard ball on the asking price to the point of upping it based on our good start, they were saying about the loan he took out as the Chinese had tightened the strings on monies being invested outside China being tightened. Apparently the septics aren’t happy with point of view this based on a few good results - which is hardly a surprise as they are having to secure a loan to cover the purchase price. Surprised that Andy Oldknow hasn’t emerged from the woodwork to find a buyer.

This Everton v Leeds game could be subtitled “The Bun Fight” ..........either way pretty turgid fayre: what time is dancing on?

The grass was too long - Strachan asked the groundsman to skip the last pre match cut and not water the grass. Funny really as we had to play on the same surface.

You’ve been watching too much Ice Hockey refreshing the team on the fly I had a mate from Toronto his step Dad managed a local Junior hockey team, they drilled changing on the fly to the point where the very moment the off coming players skate left the ice their replacements skate would be on it, and they would keep the puck moving to stop the other team changing, back then pro hockey players life span operating at optimum levels was 2 minutes then it fell off a cliff, they had it down like clockwork and breezed the league - these were 11-12 year olds. Intermission over

No Steve you have turned the clock back too far mate, wrong Everton game Jan 2019 "season before last". This one https://www.skysports.com/football/soton-vs-everton/390984

It’s a yep and yep from me too.

Sorry Steve look again it was deffo Scott - he has a face that looks like a scowl is the easier option.

Keane was sent off in the 6-3 - someone kept chipping at him bit like JWP on Zaha today and the Red Mist decended

Really?!!!! That long?

Well the Ref for this one is Jonathan Moss - get in front and he will let it flow in our favour - just as importantly the VAR ref for this one is Martin Atkinson............some might consider that as The Slow being guided by The Blind.

Ref Graham Scott failed on that front in the Game against Everton season before last (When he found what felt about 2 hours of additIonal time after the 90 were up). Stuart Armstrong had the ball in the Everton half by the corner flag got properly taken out by an Everton player, they both end up on the deck and Scott gave Everton a free kick - Armstrong gave the ref his tuppence worth on the decision earning a yellow, everyone in the Chapel Itchen corner was also chipping in their personal thoughts on the decision and when the yellow was given the volume from the crowd increased even more. Then the weirdest thing happened all parties on the pitch were moving away but that corner of the crowd were still voicing their displeasure - suddenly Scott spun round took a couple of purposeful steps and just glared at the crowd - to the point where you honestly thought he was going to whip out the yellow card again and book everyone in that corner. Quite a surreal moment to witness in a full stadium.

Good point and if you take away the nervousness of watching through Saints supporting eyes it was a good game. Like with other teams we tried to take them into the deep water but Wolves are a well organised team and kept dragging us back into the shallows. Wolves fans I was chatting to on WhatsApp with maligned the defence for our goal, but if you watch closely when the ball bounces off the Wolves defender by the goal line most players would have just let that go for the corner - Wolves defence accepted it had gone for the corner Except Che seized upon the opportunity in that moment of dalliance saw Theo was free and pinged it over to him, all whilst Wolves players were still thinking to get set for the corner. That is pin sharp thinking. Bit of a shame they equalised but the chances they had only to be thwarted by Alex at some point the coin was likely to fall in their favour given the players they have.

Sky 8pm - its often mentioned in the box at the top of the Forum Thread listing for future reference.

My customer up in Wolverhampton set up a WhatApp this morning just so poor me on my own can be picked on by all the Yam Yams working in his warehouse. Could be interesting as all of them are Season Ticket holders up there and without doubt know their footballing onions.

Mr Perma tan - Andre Mariner on the whistle for this one - wind blows in all directions when he is reffing our games.