woodsaint1

Alright Claude.....we heard you first time fs

Speaking of new managers. Our Nige is back in management with Charlton Athletic. Great appointment for him and good to see him back in management

Love the positivity....but have you seen us play in 2021 so far. Personally think we'll win this, although it'll be tight. 2-1 Saints. Che and JWP

A firesale wouldnt be a bad thing for us. Would force us to move on some of the jokers who have been weighing this club down for 3/4 years (some of whom we'll get pennies for anyways). And it wouldnt necessarily mean selling anything that moves. The parachute payments are a decent buffer for the first year or two. Just look at Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford who have been able to keep pretty much the same team they went down with. Certainly the latter two would have a considerable wage bill similar to ourselves. It becomes a serious problem though when you dont bounce back the first two seasons

Theres an international break on the horizon and an FA Cup Semi Final at stake, we dont need to rest players

Minamino is cup tied. Replace him with Redmond (Championship is his level isnt it) and the rest looks good. Can see Ralph sticking with Bednarek however

Our own players are even trolling the club/fanbase. The lack of fans at games has given players a comfort blanket and dilutes the significance of our bad run. If St Marys was packed yesterday those players would be getting absolute pelters for that performance and rightly so. Then they would maybe recognise the s*** we're in and avoid joking with opposition players/liking their social media posts

Ralphs playbook is having the desired effect I see. What is going on throughout the club!!

Bit a wasted thread in my opinion because I dont think Ralph will be going anywhere anytime soon. Whether thats a good thing or not, well the jury's currently out. Firstly, we've pretty much declared that we're all in with Ralph. He's allowed to make all the decisions on the footballing side of things and is working on the infamous 'playbook' which will dictate how all teams at the club will play (given the frustrating passive style of football we've seen in 2021, my excitement for the playbook's prospects is declining but time will tell). Given our investment in his ideas/philosophy, its highly unlikely we'll be sacking him, even with relegation. We cant afford it for a start given current finances and the fact that we're still paying off previous sackings. But it's also clear that we're playing the long game with Ralph, even if that takes us into the Championship (unlikely this season but next season? I wouldnt rule it out) From Ralph's perspective, why would he walk away from such autonomy. He wouldn't get this control at any other club in a top league. Not to mention Ralph's stock has taken a hit these last few months, so there isnt going to be much interest in him for a while from any clubs considered to be a step up. He could walk with relegation, but he appears to have emotionally invested a lot into the club and the plans he has. I imagine for his own pride he would want to stay and put things right by getting us back up.

This is embarassingly pathetic

Bertrand is absolute pish

After tomorrow we wouldnt have a game in hand. But a win tomorrow would essentially seal the deal for us. 39 points will be enough and with the likes of Palace, Burnley and West Brom to come we'll pick up 3 points there no worries. Thats the players incentive tomorrow, win and we close the door on Brighton, Newcastle and Fulham - making it a three way fight if it wasnt already. We can then turn our focus to the FA Cup

All for giving Elyounnoussi a chance, as you say hes done well at Celtic. Could probably do a better job than Redmond right now tbh. The rest - Valery, Vokins, Hoedt, Lemina etc are just not good enough (Lemina could be but hes never arsed). If we see attempts to reintegrate these players upon return then it points to a clear lack of transfers and proof we're in deep s***

Underwhelmed. We're that skint we've no other option but to consider players out on loan to provide much needed depth. They're out on loan for a reason. Buzzing for the return of Elyounoussi, Hoedt, Valery, Lemina and Vokins in the summer 😒💩💩

Their game against Brighton next is huge because after that they have Spurs, City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester, West Ham still to play. Away to Burnley and Fulham wont be easy either

Did Adams steal your girl? You're dislike for him is getting a bit weird. Looking at the players hes scored more than this season would suggest that he would get in quite a few teams outside the bottom 6. I dont know who you would expect a club of our size and limited finances to have to accompany Ings

Spot on and proves what a good return he has for a second striker. He could have easily had another 4/5 if it wasnt for bad VAR decisions, narrow offsides and a bit more composure at the critical time. Think any team outside the usual top 6 clubs would be delighted to have Ings and Adams as their two main strikers

Dont get this at all and there will be critics of Ralphs selection on here no matter what. Even if we had fielded our best side against City we would have highly likely lost anyways. Plus it would have been stupid to throw KWP, Diallo and Minamino in for the 75-90 minutes given their recent injury woes. It was a no brainer for Ralph resting them and a few others. The only one I questioned was Forster being rested, but then again hes spared his confidence taking a beating.

If a keeper wasnt high on our transfer targets for the summer, it should be now. McCarthy has been poor for most of this season and Forster is now the clear number 1. Hes made a number of glaring mistakes this season (including another tonight which could have seen him sent off), gets beaten too easily at times and doesnt seem to inspire confidence to the defence in front of him. No idea what his communication is like, but he doesnt seem to be a strong presence. That being said, the defence in front of him were poor again tonight. Yes its City, but how many mistakes were there. Worried for Sunday given that Brighton have been creating chances for fun and its only a matter of time before that perseverence pays off. If we make the same silly mistakes then we'll come away empty handed

We dont know how to park the bus, that has become blatantly obvious under Ralph. He needs to develop different strategies in order to do well in the PL. Im glad we had a go tonight as opposed to parking the bus, but there will be times when we need to fall back on that strategy (being down to 10 for example)

We've pretty much a team defenders out there tonight and we've still managed to be defensively inept.

Forster has yet to concede 9 in a game. Until that happens hes number one. McCarthy will be back for the Brighton game then 😀

Good professional job today, could have been alot more but the three points was all that mattered. Armstrong and Tella both excellent. Adams, KWP and JWP played well too. Thought Bertrand put a good shift in today and was notably emotional when Che's goal went in. Dont see that very often, but possibly disproves what some have said on here about him not caring, or just strolling around until his contract runs out. Perhaps he is extending after all but time will tell

Christ. You clearly dont like him, but just take it on the chin that he had a very good game. Yes he missed chances and yes hes frustrating at times, but as I've said previously, hes a second striker and also offers alot to the team in hold up play, passing and workrate. If you look at other lower half PL teams 'second strikers' - the likes of McBurnie, Robinson, Joelinton, Wellbeck, Mitrovic, Wood, Fabio Silva, Ayew, Rodrigo - none of them prolific in front of goal, some dont even offer a hold up option. I'd take Che ahead of all of them and today showed why. Stepped up when Ings got injured. We do need better competition for that spot though. N'Lundulu and Obafemi dont seem to offer that

I remember well the criticism/abuse Vestergaard took on here getting used to the PL (some even put Hoedt ahead of him 😂😂), now hes deemed our best CB. It will take Salisu time to adapt to the PL aswell, not to mention hes only 21. At least now hes seen first hand how physical the PL is compared to La Liga