OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Also agree with this though difficult call Baz or Willy in goal. Can't see us doing a lot in the January transfer window. BBC Gossip says we're interested in some Lorient striker, Moffi, and hopefully we'll also get in a midfielder but ultimately, it's about getting the most from our threadbare squad. Here's hoping the turnaround starts today.

Watched him score the injury time third on Tuesday when I had a small wager on a 3-0 Man U & Burnley double. Tella's definitely in my good books! He's got an eye on goal and I'd bring him back. He's a bit of a lightweight and I'm not sure you can have him and Edozie in the same team but we need options

Are those calling for McCarthy's return the same as those insisting Baz had to go straight in to the 1st team at the start of the season because of the options open to us? A fully fit McCarthy may be a shot stopper but his distribution is awful and bordering on shambolic. He's also very quiet and doesn't direct the defence like FF used to do. And remember last year's game against Brighton when Mac felt a niggle so called JWP back on the line allowing them to score a last minute equaliser? Maybe Willy Caballero can belie his years and show us that Argentina have more than one useful goalkeeper.

Got to agree. We need someone in midfield who can do what Lavia was doing at the start of the season. Atmosphere at Leicester was fantastic. Then Chelsea. Instil that positive collect from defence idea and move forward through midfield and we've a chance, but like Saint Garrett said, who can do the job in midfield? Lyanco? Stating the obvious but we need to avoid relegation. Forget the nostalgia about going down and playing in the Championship/League 1. It was fun walking on the hallowed St Mary's turf after beating Walsall to get promoted but if we get relegated this time, I sense could be playing in the lower leagues for many many years.

Every manager has a shelf life and NJ's looks like it's going to be very short! What's happened to Ruben Selles and Carl Martin? At the start of the season, there was talk of Ralph starting to listen to them and act on their advice. Surely they must be able to give NJ some guidance. He's got that "I don't know what to do" face which is all I remember about Pellegrino.

Hope NJ doesn't but if Adam Armstrong plays, watch the runs he goes on. Against Lincoln, he seemed to run behind central defenders and you're thinking, there's no way anyone can find a pass to you there.

Totally agree. We can't do 5 at back and midfield were absent in first half. And can the lads who keep letting off flares in the Northam concourse (happened at Sheff Wed and again tonight) please save a couple to shove up AMN's a*se!

Close. Ordered them on 5th and got them Tuesday. Depends on postal strike days, but you've still got three days to go

The best product I bought from the Saints Store was the large umbrella. Black with the Saints emblem in gold. Looked quite classy. I liked it so much that when it got stuck in my golf bag, I sawed the bag in half to salvage the brolly - sadly, I also sawed through some of the spokes. Now, I don't think they even sell oversized brollies.

It is a sham, but I'm still pissed off that the spineless knobs at the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga didn't get together and say "F@ck off", this is a summer tournament, we're boycotting this nonsense. Instead, we get these pathetic symbolic gestures like 'taking the knee, rainbow captain's bands, woke, woke woke', and sad old gits like me prefer to watch recent games like Exeter, Woking and even dare I say it, Pompey/Derby - despite that rumoured paedo ringing that f'ing bell every minute...he really is a true bell end!

Baz, even at his age, is an upgrade on what we had. He doesn't boss the defence, his positioning is a little off, but he is quick to come out and snuff out danger and his distribution is pretty good.

Agree with Lee On Solent. I'm looking around seeing who are relegation candidates - Notts For, Wolves, Bournemouth, Leeds - and then I go and watch us v Sheff Wed and shit, they matched even outplayed us. Felt a little more confident after watching us today on a stream. Lavia is quality, Edozie has something but surely, surely we've given A.Armstrong enough chances. Try someone else.

Granted that was a shitty performance but don't remember thinking WTF at the initial team selection... Anyway, thanks Ralph, you gave us some good times , some iconic times (not necessarily in a positive way) and there should be some players saying thanks too. Think KWP has already been mentioned but JWP has also had a new lease of life...until this season...

Exactly this. Liked his attitude to Cup games (never got over Poch's team against Sunderland) and if we had landed a half decent striker in the summer and a midfielder who could pass forward, not too sure we'd be saying goodbye to him now.

Exactly. We've got a mediocre squad and with arguably our three best players missing against Arsenal, the Ralph Out brigade will still be lamenting our manager if we lose. Replacing Ralph is not the answer. Another manager will guarantee relegation. Remember slobby chops? Ralph is reactive but the fact is there is no magic messiah who can turn our players in to world beaters. And for those who criticise our lack of ambition, we spent money over the summer without selling any of our better players.

Standards are slipping on the forum. A day to go and still no-one's written it's a Must Win game 😉 JWP takes his head out of his arse, kicks the ball forward from a free kick just outside the penalty area. Cue the golf swing and one nil Saints!

Arsenal brought in Jesus and Mohamed and they're not doing too bad! Religion may be the answer! Problem is our last two managers were the dinosaur Hughes and the 'where the fuck am I?' Pellegrino. Ralph comes in with his motivational spiel and high press mantra and that works for a while, but now what do we do? The team is seriously shit. No attack, no midfield. A new manager isn't the answer. Somehow Ralph needs to convince Che that he is Pele and that Diallo/Ely/Aribo are De Bryne.... or we need a hypnotist!

Exactly. He's spent our pot over the summer kissing a lot of frogs hoping one or two will come good, and now he knows there's not a lot left for future transfer windows, he's off to spend another club's money. Total arse!

So true. I used to like Dalek's comments on this forum and now I'm often agreeing with S-Clarke. Today was depressing. Saints v Derby 1974 my first game and actually can't remember a worse attack or also a worse midfield. But back line is strong. Get Ely and Diallo off the pitch. How they made it as professional footballers is a mystery. At this level, positive mindset is so important. 5/6 games ago after our Chelsea win, we were looking forward to the season. WHU and Bournemouth could be Ralph's last but change the mindset and I've a suspicion we will win both and he'll be around for a while.

Too right! I'm piss*d off because we're only taking an 1800 away fan allocation for this game and that was sold out before it got to premium members. Yes, we could get walloped, yes it could be a standard 4 or 5 - 0, but I reckon there's also a good chance that Ralph pulls a rabbit out the hat and we get a draw. For Saints fans not living on the South Coast who like the atmosphere at away games, we understand we can't always get tickets for the London matches, but c'mon SFC, at least take a full allocation for other games. The atmosphere at the Kingpower this season was fantastic...some places we seem to get a result and this time only 1800 fans will get to see the result of the season!!

Talented but the ultimate confidence player. You could see it by his half-hearted tackles. The team's moved on. No place for Nathan now, I'm afraid.

My first Saints manager was Lawrie Mac. Since then, I really liked Glenn Hoddle and I could never get in to the Poch lovefest, but we have taken on more than our fair share of clowns. It concerns me that Ralph seems to be making increasingly erratic decisions (Stuart Armstrong as target man!) and it was not clever for him to say he'd be retiring in two years because that seemed to start our nosedive, but the odds are, we lose Ralph and we'll get a muppet. Playing 5 at the back against what could be the team to challenge Man City for the title seemed ok in principle and when we went one up, the decision almost looked inspired, so I wouldn't judge him on last Saturday's game. And forget the end of last season (though the atmosphere at the Amex when we equalised was my memory from last season). Once we knew we were safe, you could see the team had nothing to play for. I'll be at Leicester and got my tickets for Wolves today. After these and Leeds we'll get a better idea where we're heading this year. Like Spyinthesky said, give it 6 games.

nta786 has written a comprehensive reply, so this is just to add our experiences. We have found the Premium Membership (£40/35) really useful for buying away tickets. Also living close to London, we tend to go to 5-10 games a year and my teenage son much prefers the away atmosphere. The tickets normally go on sale for premium members at 9:30am and you need to call/go online then to be in with the best chance of getting a choice tickets. This year we went to Chelsea (had very little choice of seats), Watford (good choice but mostly near the front), Norwich (loads of seats available when we booked), Man Utd (reasonable choice) and Brighton (again good choice mostly near the front). Whereas, by the time tickets go on general sale, choice is often very limited. The only games sold out before being offered to premium members which we wanted to see, were Arsenal and today's Brentford game. As for Plan B, sitting in Itchen North this year, I asked the Newcastle fans sitting next to me how they got tickets and they said they registered with the SFC website!