Holmes_and_Watson

whew. Back on his feet.

Uh Oh. Could McCarthy be warming up?

My next line was going to be that we've set up to contain them (which considereing our record won;t work) and then Mara goes up and puts it in the net. Even if it was offside that would have been another incorrect comment in a minute for me. Can't moan at the team until I up my comments. 🙂

Ah. I am corrected. Sorry Mr Manager.

Keeping possession for more than a few seconds would help here. No idea why Adams isn;t starting. Must be his turn for the naughty corner.

It's a bit one way at the moment.

Saints Fire Sale! Get your discounted players here! 🙂

Explorers assembled - check Boat built - check Quest revealed and underway - check But our heroes encounter the skeletons of Saints' previous transfer duds...

Sorry

Language

Order

If this sets a precedent for rumour threads, as per the really desperate "A thread each for any half decent rumour", what's to stop someone flooding the board with any old rubbish link? They'll point to this thread and say "what's good for the goose, is good for the garner." 🙂

Appointment

Tape

Bite

I tuned in just in time to see us conced a soft second goal. Some animated discussions on the Saints bench. - good to see something there rather than just Ralph pacing up and down. Subs worked well, allowing us to change the shape (not seen the first part to see how horrid 3 at the back was) I don't know if Leeds dropped back a little, but Djenepo and Adam Armstrong looked lively down that flank, with the former tiring before being subbed. Surprised not to see Perraud in the squad. Surprised not to see Redmond in there either. I get that the club are trying to move players on, but it seems like there's a rotation where one week they're dropped and the next they get game time. Not healthy for anyone concerned. I'd like to think that things will settle down towards the end of the window. But it probably won't with no one seeming to want any of them, or waiting as we seem to be to get some financial leverage in the deals. Lavia continued to impress. Bednarek looked very unhappy to be the one subbed. One of them had to be. I can see that it might be his turn in the naughty, dropped corner for the next game. As much form ,as him being one that we might get some pennies for. We look so much better in a formation that allows KWP to attack with enough bodies around him to support. Aribo, Adams (we could have really done with that holding up ability last week. What was going on there?) and then Mara with a lovely pass for the assist. From the bit I saw, we worked hard against a team with a 2-0 lead. How it got to that stage will be interesting to see/read. I can get why he thinks 3 at the back works. But I've not seen our players to be able to defend it, and give us any attacking threat. We looked comfortable with the shift. But was that because Leeds had shifted after going 2-0? Would we have been able to do that from the start? So the bit I saw was nearly all a positive Saints. looking to score goals. But if that was following an utter train wreck of 60minutes there will have to be some long hard looks at the manager. I optimistically went for a 2-0 win for us. But it was a game we needed to win, and should have. Had we not fought back from 2-0 down, and Leeds had sauntered to a win, it would have been hard to see how RH could have continued.

Going for a 2-0 Saints win, although could just be 1-0 due to both teams running out of puff in the heat. RalphBall v2 avoids high energy pressing in these conditions, allowing Saints to get a lead and keep it with their new formation.

Wasn't there a debate here, where someone held up the xG for the game saying that it wasn't that horrible? Then having to be told that Chelsea let us off the hook for large parts of the game.

Bat

I was a lost soul. But Roman oppression allowed me to find my purpose as a member of the Judean People's Front.

Changing personnel for a cup tie isn't that unusual. He gets to give squad players minutes, gives a break to others and gives players opportunities. Were the team that keen to play West ham? Did it disrupt the momentum they had? Was it that fragile that, once lost, couldn't be recaptured? Or was it something to do with personalities, like Ralph being super smug about the win? Making it clear that he could put anyone in his super tactic and get a result? Is there another reason it would upset some players? Or was it just that teams figured us out around the same time, and we failed to adapt?

Like SITS I just read this a couple of weeks ago. An easy read covering both Saints and his achievements since.

Soup

Yup. Vote Banana. 🙂

Oh yeah, it's only the height and not the goalscoring record that would make Ralph interested in Lewandowski 🙂