John Boy Saint

After our game 3 cheers for having the IPL to watch - what I could be bothered to watch of the other 2 games they were pretty grim especially the Manure v Arse game even more so after the hullabaloo in the build up from Sky - but then Man U v Chelsea same blockbuster build up same damp squib.

Thirty seconds added on for their 2nd goal malarkey - ref wasn’t a select group one so he’s going to make sure he betters his chances of making that step up with a decent assessment - certainly showed he wasn’t grade one ref.

I’ll have some of what your smoking - pretty certain Ralph will be needing a few tokes too before he gets anywhere near putting the pen through Ches name relegating him to the bench!! 😁

In the games I have seen and he has been playing - he has looked a bit of a handful more often than not. In the Chelsea game last week aside from Che we looked small in stature as a team. Seeing Dan on the pitch yesterday leaves no doubt he is a big lad.

Blimey was that a year ago! I really had no idea..................I mean nobody sent me a card or owt...........well that stayed under the radar. Yup agreed same team. Its a PPV 12pm kick off on Sky Box office Sunday. (without wishing to get ahead of ourselves, I note that our next game at home v Newcastle is Friday 6th Nov 8pm on Sky Sports Main Event - hope the IPL game will be over by then).

Think the observations from Karen Carney just about says it all about this game, correct me if I am wrong but Everton skimmed the crossbar and rifled a free kick straight into McCarthys hands. Apart from that you did wonder when they might start playing given the hype of recent weeks. Last 20 minutes were pretty surreal they looked like they had been at a lock in until 3am that morning we just went into energy conservation mode, in reality they looked wary of us almost as if they knew if they got daring and attacked us we would pick them off. Ancelotti has reams of experience, but the fact that he had cashed in his chips using up all the subs before the hour was up, is very complementary to Ralphs set up and the lads execution. Not having the piped crowd noise it was interesting to hear Ralph encouraging the players, even in the last minutes when the game was securely and N'Lundulu was running across the Everton defence in pursuit of the ball, Ralph is urging Dan to keep going. Adams is such a deceptive player, a bit of a unit, strong, and I think his size masks his pace, most defenders are going to think twice about taking him on because if they don't get it right its going to hurt as they just bounce off, if N'Lundulu can cut the mustard we have the ability swap one mobile unit with another, which is going to keep any defence on its toes. All that said, as a Saints fan of many years some of our play whilst crisp and neat, you still have that feeling in your gut that its going to go wrong at any minute, but then when we lose the ball in close play we do seem pretty good at getting it back now.

She nails it here - said similar to Mrs JBS at the final whistle last Saturday "Football is about working hard and having tempo and intensity. That's what Southampton have. They drown you. it’s very subtle Aside from their goal when we nodded off after equalising - Chelsea could hardly touch the bottom 2nd half.

I think since Bill Green our then Head Scout sadly passed away in 2017 he left a rather big hole in the place. Maybe with the wealth of targets not coming through like they once did the club has decided to get on and get the scouting department sorted. On top of this in our current Covid Pandemic situation, hopping on a plane from the UK to have a look at someone in Spain then France etc, incurs self isolation upon return, and in some cases upon arrival from the UK. As football still chugs along the need for players still exists, and missing out through someone sat on their backside expensed up in a hotel room for 2 weeks is no use to the club. So they may just as well get a Johnny on the spot who can then, if needed, isolate at home with no big expense incurred.

If this lot were to break away - then quite rightly they deserve to be expelled, denied the right to play in the PL or EFL. If this “super league” were to turn into a flop and fall apart, then this lot should not be allowed to breeze back to where they were, but all the way back down to the bottom of the pyramid and earn their place eventually at the top table. That way grass roots football will get the money they need through home gate receipts and the exposure that the “big 6” being in their league would bring. When the Glaziers took over Man U and mortgaged the club to finance the take over, the Uproar from the true United fans was immense and a new football team was spawned FC United (?) 1000’s of Man U fans turned their back on the Glaziers and went off and supported this FC United who gained the right to play in one of the Northern Leagues - most Chairmen of the teams in this league weren’t too happy with the seemingly easy entry into their league. Pretty certain one of the most vocal was the chairman of Leek Town - that was until 2nd or 3rd match in, they hosted this FC United. On match day Leek Towns little ground was bulging at the seams as 1000’s of FC United descended upon them - and fair play the LT chairman the following week held his hands up and admitted he was wrong in his initial objections as the gate receipts from the huge additional support FC United brought with them had pretty much put the club in the black for the next few years.

If I was going to open a candle shop - Liverpool would top my list of possible destinations.

Yes! That's the Glen reports we like - must have laughed out loud twice at the very least. Cheers

Seeing as Diallo was on the bench and had a spin out for a few minutes, I'm guessing that he is somewhere up to near Ralphs readiness, with Theo out due to it being against his home club - and we don't know what the Armstrong situation is re his Covid positive test, maybe we will see him on Sunday from the start with JWP (seeing as no position is a challenge for him) and him switching positions through the game. When KWP has a trip up the wing JWP often slides into right back as cover, and we all know JWP has been used at right back before.

Be interesting to know the results for the whole weekends PPV - tonights 5:30 game I can imagine would be pretty low, bit like our game v Burnley probably was at 8pm on a Saturday night, only die hards would be watching it especially up against the main channel Saturday night family big guns. interestingly Newcastle fans boycotted their PPV game and apparently raised over £20k donating the £14.95 to a local food bank charity, the most they have collected from matchday collections outside the ground is £5,800, amazingly they had donations from outside the UK too. Seeing the result bet quite a few were glad they didn't watch it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54597058

The way MOTD highlights got later and later into the match, I thought one of these is going to nick it at the death.....................by all accounts it was a hard watch.

Stood on the 11th Tee of the local golf course the other day with my Nephew not long moved here from South Africa, when the dusty blue hue from the bushes caught my attention "blimey just look at all of those Sloes there's flipping loads", confused he was "whats? where?" then spent the rest of the hole explaining the mystical art of Sloe Gin and Vodka.

Just as aside I saw Southampton FC Women progressed with ease in the WFA Cup qualifying round breezing past Helston albeit 3 divisions below them 11-0, they are a pretty ruthless team that don't seem to know how to take their foot off the gas - just a shame the league was cancelled on them last season as they are currently playing well above the standard of the league they are in. Also it seems La Liga is a bit weird too, Real Madrid had an upset at home over the weekend with newly promoted Cadiz scoring in the 16th minute and hold out for the win. The La Liga top 4 looks different right now Real are top, Getafe (beat Barcelona) Cadiz, Granada - Barcelona down in 9th

I too was one of the handful who coughed up the £15, pretty glad I did (Mrs JBS said as much at the final whistle), obviously not as sharp as some on the intricacies of navigating the t'internet. Entertaining game and considering the money Chelsea had splurged in the summer, that money talked early on. Ralph had no doubt tipped the lads off on Werner but until you face him in the flesh, all the words in the world are going to leave gaps for a player like him to exploit. Bit like Danny Ings sometimes he squeezes off goals that didn't look possible just before he hits it. I thought even at 2-0 we didn't look that bad, just thought the way the ball was bouncing to Chelsea we looked small in stature as a team in comparison to them, despite being in White which is physiologically a team kit colour to make you look bigger. Despite being 2 down our heads didn't drop as they have in the past, we got busy and Chelsea quickly looked a bit ordinary. And well done Ralph for sticking with Che, last season you could see glimpses that he has football between his ears just at times a combination of trying too hard to score hampered him. The lad is a bit of a unit, strong, powerful and not that slow, his steal and pass to Ings for the opener, if that had been one of the media darlings pulling that off they would have been fawning over it for hours. Like Shearer said on MOTD once we got that goal our confidence shot up. The not giving up from Che for our 2nd was impressive, I did wonder if he had gone down after Kepas clip whether we would have been awarded that penalty, or if he hadn't scored it would have been pulled back on VAR. But that level of industry and endeavour from Che is the kind of blood and glory you want to see in a Saints player. Since project restart (and the first 3 games aside) there is something about the way we now play, one thing is for certain we are blooming fit I guess playing the Ralph way you have to be, which is probably why unlike other teams when we get a new body in they are not propelled straight onto the front line (much to all our frustrations) this is likely due to them not being Ralph fit. With Theo (who I thought played well) Ralph could see that seasoned experience would carry him through the game, and he would likely give a steady solid performance. I think most of us can see how Ralph wants us to play, last season pre season Martin Keown had an interview with Ralph, and the sideline from PEH was the "we want to be horrible to play against", obviously that fell out the window somewhat. More recently once we get a hold of the game we seem to have a flow that is a bit like Lava, in that when we apply pressure it is steady and relentless - still got away to to go but you can see the idea. What is also interesting is that Ralph is still willing to learn the vagaries of the Premier League, the kamikaze high line from the defenders seems to have been tempered from the first 2 games, but the keep ball we played in the dying minutes on Saturday at 3-3 in Ralphs RBLeipzig days, he would have been demanding the team to get the ball in the box and finish the job off, instead of taking what we have and walk away with the point.

What a goal to make it 3-3 football is bloody nuts right back to the IPL

Redmond gave up!!

Yesssssssss Adams car crash at the back

Not right now but have been - KKR my team as my Dad was born just up the road. very entertaining

We can get back into this - Chelsea deffo look wobbly under pressure around their box. Werner v Bednarek exposes how slow we know Jan is.

Woohoo easy Ings

Too easy

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