woodsaint1

Lets face it, we arent sacking Ralph anytime soon. 1. We cant afford to 2. We've went all in with handing him free reign on decision making right across the senior and youth ranks (playbook etc). 3. Gao has literally no interest who is in charge and will not intervene, even if that threatens us with relegation Ralph would need to become disillusioned with the club and the financial constraints placed upon it, or walk after we get relegated. Sadly the current sutuation is another consequence of having an invisible owner. With our 2021 record, Ralph would have been sacked long ago if we had a serious owner. Until that changes we'll not be able to distance ourselves from the trapdoor and its only a matter of when we fall through it

Indeed. Shearer would have a field day with PL CBs these days. Was always good at getting tight, grabbing the shirt and rolling them easily

Salisu deserves as much criticism as Bednarek for the goal. Pathetic attempt at providing cover, got caught flat footed. 2v1 and Jimenez mugged them off

15 of our last 21 domestic cup draws have been away from home according to Adam Blackmore. Mike Dean must be involved somehow

Terrible handball decision against Bertrand, was smashed at him from 3 yards away. That being said, we were pretty poor second half if I remember. We need a win here, points against City, United, WHU will mean little if we cant beat the likes of Wolves at home. They were well beaten by Brentford last time out. McCarthy Tino Bednarek Salisu KWP Tella Romeu JWP Redmond Armstrong Adams Would like to see S Armstrong back involved if hes ready, though will likely be from the bench. 2-1 Saints. Armstrong and Redmond

Kneejerk comments are a prerequisite round here, did you not see the state of the City build up

You'd rather he not make any mistakes, but inevitably defenders do. If he does make one its best to do it early in his saints career and in an early round league cup tie. Hope he learns from it. We've seen Salisu kick on after a nervy start to his saints career

Smallbone back in training but probably too soon for him. It would be this sort of game that we need to give JWP a rest

We should definitely employ the 4-1-4-1 again. Learn our lesson from last season that if we try and take them on its not going to end well. Not interested in glowing words from Pep, its all about picking up points. The only changes I would make from Saturday are Adams for Armstrong (better point man to get us up the pitch and Armstrong can be a late impact sub if we're still in the game with 20 mins to go) and either S Armstrong (if fit) or Tella in for Redmond

Hes been excellent. Thing is hes done this before in his Saints career where he puts in a stretch of good performances but then it all comes crashing down with a clusterfuck of a mistake. If he can maintain the consistency then him and Salisu can be a great pairing for us going forward

Id go with..... Forster (but it wont be) Tino Salisu Stephens Perraud Armstrong Romeu JWP Elyounoussi Armstrong Adams 2-1 Saints - Both Armstrongs 👍🏻

Late winner too. Super for the lad

🤔 werent we linked before?

West Ham looking at Czech players again. Close to signing defensive midfielder Alex Kral from Spartak. Would have been a good addition for us

Thats your opinion. My opinion is that most keepers make that save with ease. It wasnt even in the corner. He will cost us more points than he 'earns us' this season thats for sure

McCarthys stop was referred to on the clubs twitter as a brilliant reaction save, but to be honest it was a good height and 9/10 keepers arent beaten by that header at their front post.

Still doesnt stop some whining on the match thread

Alot of this strategy is obviously being driven by Crocker, but I imagine Ralphs reluctance to use many of the kids last season when injuries mounted has also influenced it. Ralph even said himself that they werent ready but it appears we're addressing that and adding youngsters who can be called upon if needed

Whats up with Vestergaard? Doesnt even make the Leicester squad and they're having to play Amartey CB again

Would go with Forster Valery Bednarek Salisu KWP Redmond Diallo JWP Elyounoussi Broja Tella Whats apparent from that lineup is how much we need a backup LB and another CM (with Smallbone being injured). Would prefer not to play Valery, or play KWP out of position but needs must. Same with one of JWP/Romeu having to play again. Heres hoping that Lyanco is being viewed as a low lying DM and we're still in for another CB. Ralph did mention about interest in a CM a while back but it seems to have gone quiet on that front

He was quality in the first half last week. Will take him time to reach the level of fitness required for a PL full back (in a Ralph team too), its a huge demand compared with the u23 football he was playing

Their net spend is about minus 150 million the last three years before this window. Doesnt buy you success as the anoraks on here would tell you, but its a nice luxury to have an owner willing to put his hand in his pocket. All the while we're treading PL waters with our sell before you buy approach. Depressing

If it works out like that, thats the issue for me, not Lyanco. Will wait to see him in action before making any judgement, but we needed to be signing a first choice CB, not 4th choice. After the defensive shambles that was last season, none of our CBs could feel hard done by if they dropped to 3rd/4th choice (Salisu the exception as hes only had a limited number of games). I rate Bednarek but he was dreadful at times last season so does not deserve to start. He needs to know that his position is at stake and needs to work his way back in, same with Stephens. Its unlikely to be the case if Lyanco is brought in as a squad filler. Unless the club are going to move Bednarek on and bring another new face in. Extremely unlikely but he was linked with a move away last season

Lovely goal 😔

95% of this board (including myself) didnt even know who Lyanco was at lunchtime today. Fast forward a couple of hours and the majority have wrote him off because of a 5 minute youtube video, the tweets of some Torino fans and the low price tag. Id be inclined to trust those at the club whose job it is to analyse the player in depth based on what qualities Ralph wants at CB, not the experts on here. Our transfer business the last two years has been solid so they've earned the benefit of the doubt imo. Ings was wrote off by plenty on here, KWP was the same, S Armstrong, Adams, the list goes on. Be plenty lining up to say "I told you so" if his debut is anything other than top drawer. Maybe give the guy some slack and judge him after a few games, its not hard