Chickendippers

The most puzzling was the Adams goal at ManU. They didn't even bother drawing the lines. The Ings goal against Villa was shocking and I can feel myself getting riled up even thinking about the handball. Next time pick the ball up and walk off with it until the officials can come to a sensible decision.

the guy behind me called them a bunch of animals. I don't remember any of our fans crossing the barriers - even the ones with more teeth than brain cells. It was my first away game, I was a bit green and I'm not exactly 'hard' but never felt they would follow through. It all looked quite childish really. I've been to more threatening parents evenings.

My first away game and also the final game for the Chicken Run stand. The ball went out for a throw in and someone chucked a plucked chicken back. After Tiss scored the West Ham fans invaded the pitch and tried to goad some of us onto the pitch. The away fans were very restrained considering the provocation - it was handbags and at a safe distance and no-one took the bait which is a credit to our fans.

I've not read the match thread yet but I expect Redmond will come in for some flack. I thought he was instructed to play more defensively to cover the 3 at the back to let Walker-Peters to get forward and did a reasonable job but offensively he wasn't very good and rarely took his man on.

He might make a bit of a tit of himself 😄

Clearly the team that he selected executed the game plan well enough for him to be pleased with the performance. Some of it was woeful though. The defending had no conviction and there were a lot of players walking about. JWP & Daillo (when he came on) were the only two for me that could have been wearing blue. I think Forster in goal and a few players throwing themselves in front of the ball and we might have cut the gap down by a goal or two cos it was too easy for them. Forster may have taken Foden out properly too! Let's say we get past Bournemouth - we could play this lot again in the semi. As a Saints fan I would expect the score to be more respectable.

A coomon theme is that we miss KWP in attack but we also miss Walcott on that side as the pair would press high up the pitch and win the ball back for our attackers. that meant we could afford to have Berttrand and Redmond being more solid and occasionally raiding forward to mix things up. Losing KWP wrecks any attacking threat on the right and means any attacks are slow (especially when they get to Redmond) or go backwards as we cannot rely on an attacking threat down the left. One of the reasons we improved in the last ten minutes is that Djenepo went to right back and Bednarek played central again. And I'm not recommending Djenpo in that role full time, we need a specialist RB - Kayne Ramsey perhaps?

I'd prefer Alex Jankewitz to be given a go but Salisu as a defensive midfielder has some mileage. Marcel Desailly was an absolute beast of a central midfielder for AC Milan before he decided that he wanted to play Centre Back. Always annoyed me that. Whether Salisu has the legs to cover the ground that is expected these days i don't know but might be something to look at towards the end of the season.

I don't think it needs to be JWP necessarily but you can see the heads go down after we concede. Stephens is the only one that I've seen that barks orders and keeps people on their toes. It's just a shame he's not the best footballer. Somebody posted that Forster could be heard organising the defence over the effects mic. I just watch the heads go down and trudge back to the halfway line. Just for once I'd like one of them to point out out that one of their team mates has cocked up and that it musn't happen again.

Early 90's in the Archers so got the full experience. Can't remember which team but it was someone crap like Middlesbrough and we won. Memorable for the racist abuse of one of their black players - a song about having a malteser on his head which was a little uncomfortable as I hadn't experienced anything like that before . Remember Baddiel and Skinner were making a career out of it at the time with their mockery of Jason Lee so nothing beyond the pale. Obviously wouldn't be tolerated these days and would probably make the news. Also stupid WW2 aeroplanes - i guess one of their players was a German. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and need to get in the loft to find the programme.

I think we will nick it 1-0. Stephens will play well (defensively) at RB and we'll score from a corner or a set-piece. Forster (he will pick mcarthy) Stephens Bednarek Vest Bretrand JWP Rom Mini Stu Ings Adams/Redz (I want Adams, he will play Redmond) Tella on for Minimino on 70 mins Adams on for Redmond on 75 mins No injuries.

Doesn't make "something else" wrong or less likely to succeed either!

Conceding a goal from a preventable mistake, trudging back to half way line with heads down and conceding another straight after the kick off doesn't seem to be working either

Schmeichel, Neville, Bruce, Keane, Ince, Hughes - all shouters. If something went wrong there was an inquisition. I take the point about not having to shout to get your point across as a leader but it might not hurt for JWP to give Bednarek a volley for passing straight to the opposition (for example). Stephens is a 'good communicator' which might help explain the run of clean sheets he was part of - shame he has a 50p shaped head and sometimes struggles. A good shouting match might fire up some of the quieter lads and avoid some of the collapses we have seen recently.

That's the problem though. Plenty on here give Theo stick for losing possession high up the pitch after trying to take 1 or 2 players on. it's the same for Redz but he plays more safe cos he doesnt want to leave his defender exposed on the counter. So Ralph will be happy with his defensive qualities but I do agree with you - he needs to try and beat his man and put a cross in above knee height occasionally. Or just play Djenepo who is much more unpredictable for the opposition (and us) but less disciplined although in recent games it looks like he has been working on his defensive responsibilities.

Saved me the effort of typing that out myself. I'll go back to watching the cricket!

I'll just sit back down with my half-and-half scarf then

We're not too far from full strength, so I am expecting to be competitive. We have been pressing teams a lot better recently and they will not like that especially if Pogba is playing. We might need to ride our luck again cos they will play through us just as they did at St Mary's. We had Vesty & KWP in that game and were not very good despite scoring twice. I hope Jankewitz is as good as he thinks he is and that whoever is played at RB (Kayne or Djenepo, I don't think it matters) get forward at every opportunity. Mike Dean will be itching to give us a pen...

I noticed a slightly dodgy RB Salzburg to RB Leipzig transfer - Dominik Szoboszlai for 22m euro. Could be seen as a rich club in the stable subsidising a poorer club or possibly underpaying - I don't know the chap. But I'm sure it happens (Wolves?)

I feel a bit sorry for the linos they genuinely don't seem to know when to put the flag up or not. When people are miles offside play goes on and the commentator starts spitting feathers because they have been told to keep the flag down yet our friend last night (and Sian Massey a few games ago) couldn't wait to get it up. And got it wrong. That was the worst display of refereeing since the cup final for us. Cash intended to stop the ball with his hand, he had no idea it had hit his thigh from the interview he did - how can Mike Riley be sure from Stockley Park? It can only be because Lee Mason didnt give it and he wanted to back his mate up - shocking. Linos can be over-ruled if they flag incorrectly so the Ings 'goal' would have stood. But how can VAR know when the ball was played that precisely so they can draw their lines - a frame earlier Ings would have been onside. It's a joke. VAR was brought in to avoid Gabbiadini goals being ruled out not for this crap. It was a bit of a Hughes performance. Lots of effort but not clinical up front. It was a game too far for Diallo - he played OK but we improved when JWP was moved back into the middle. I think JWP would have tracked Barkley better (or handed him off to Stephens better for the goal). He seems to be a 'nice and 'quiet' sort of player which doesn't help when you have someone like Stephens behing you. Ralph should have played Valery and gave the lad a rest in my opinion. Adams and Djenepo made a difference with Djenepo doing what Redmond should have been doing and trying to beat his man. Ings looked a lot sharper which was good to see. Romeu was excellent - I had forgotten how much he had improved, there were some brilliant forward passes and link up play. Anyway - Mike Dean and ManU up next so we will need to score at least 2 to get past their nailed on Penalty decision. My Sunday is ruined, looking forward to enjoying reading the match thread and all the newspaper reports.

He has spent over a year out of the team for various reasons so hasn't had a run out as a right back in the Hasenhuttl 4-2-2-2 formation. I think he will improve as he gets more experience.

Valery needs gametime. Square pegs and round holes never ends well. (I've been reading too much 50 shades of Bearsy)

I had to stop three chapters in I was laughing so much. [In case my HR dept are reading this, I was appalled by the casual sexism and cannot condone the homophobic views aired] The rest of it is still on this site thankfully - I can see the point of this thread now there were some characters back then.

Another poster suggested this so I cannot take the credit. Rotate Romario(!) and Diallo depending on the opposition. The question is whether we want Oriol to be playing against the better teams for his physicality to break up play and recover the ball or do we need Diallo to be in the team for his mobility? You can pick either to play against Burnley or Newcastle when faced with teams who just want to counter. Since Diallo is only 21 he can step in when either JWP or Romeu are not fully fit or suspended. He will get game time with the run of games we have coming up.

Brilliant covering from Diallo