Professor

I’m proud to be a Saint’s fan and have been since boyhood. But one thing that grates is seeing the word ‘Bet’ on the player’s shirts. I’m not proud about that. If gambling only ruins a few lives, even that’s too many. Bolton Wanderers have cut all ties with the gambling industry. Instead, the club will support charities that help people with gambling addictions. I would feel very proud if that was my club. Don’t get me wrong. I’d still want Saints to score a sackful of goals if they were to play Bolton. But the Wanderers are setting an example our club ought to follow. Let’s have a name on the shirts that isn’t an embarrassment and doesn’t risk causing misery.

Preferred over Che against West Ham but for me, he was the weak spot up front. Poor decision making and poor execution. Given the ball for a clear run into the Area he hesitated far too long, losing the ball. Having failed to shoot when he could, moments later he attempted a hopeless shot from a wide angle, instead of passing. My feeling is he won’t be in Ralph’s starting line next time. Not sure he should even be on the bench.

We are well provided for with international strikers (Scotlnd, Norway, Albania) all scoring at international level. But the first choice for Saints is probably the non-international, Adam Armstrong. Who should play alongside? Stick with Adams, using one or more of the others as attacking midfield? Or is it time to give Aams a rest?

The people running football seem detrimental make themselves look ever more silly. Che’s goal was credited to the player it struck on the way into the net. Under this new ‘rule’ it will be interesting to see how many goals this season are scored by goalkeepers.

So disapointed by the Everton game that I've not brought mysel;f to watch the highlights, excpet to see Adam Armstrong's goal. I was astonished by Ralph's team selection. To leave out Walker-Peters and Bednarek was asking for trouble. His in-game management was questionable, no it wasn't, it was non-existent. His half-time talk was followed by an Everton goal within two mintues. He failed to respond by strengthening the side, despite having two first-choice defenders on the bench and attacking players, Redmond, Armstrong and Elyounousii available. Only when the team were 3-1 down did he make desperation substitutions which were, quite frankly, pointless with only 10 minutes left. Sorry, I like Ralph. I like there not being a manager merrygoround, but he made serious mistakes on Saturday. It's no good the OS copming up with bland quotes from players about being disapointed and must do better. I'm not going to say Ralph should be sacked after just one game, but there are now ticks in the negative columns for the areas I've mentioned, - Team Selection, In-game management, Half-Time advice, and Substitutions.

Happy to see him go. That he’s failed to attract one of the big clubs tells me that he’s only interested in the money and that none of them wanted him. It’s fair enough to chase the pay at this late stage in his career, although he’s already so well paid that it smacks of greed. He’s on the downward path, already not the player he was 2 years ago and he misses too much game time due to injury. If the club spend the money wisely we could be better off without him.

Sorry if JWP is personally disappointed at leaving the England squad but it pleases me that there are no Saints' players involved with the boring and useless national team. I gave up supporting England a long time ago. A summer holiday and a rest will be far better for JWP and Danny Ings. My only interest is how well they perform for the Saints and this will help them. As for England, the press and TV will continue to overhype the team, the players and the wealthy clubs that employ them. Not interested.

As Bob Dylan said:, he was so much younger then, he's older than that now. He's not the player he was last year. Certainly scores some goals that other players wouldn't but even allowing for absence through injuries, he's no longer a prolific a scorer. Even if he stays, and with Nathan Tella coming through, it feels as if we need another quality striker, in which case do we actually need Danny if he can only be counted on for about 20 games?

Well put. Another season of getting no where. Time for a clear out management, coaches and players. Oh! And ownership.

Just seen this on the BBC website. It doesn’t say whether a yellow was substituted instead. I should hope not because the decision was 100% wrong. The primary fault lies with the Video Referee, Moss, who substituted his own incorrect judgement and failed to ask the match official to watch the incident on the pitch-side monitor. Had he done so, the decision of the independent panel shows it highly probable the ref would have cancelled the card immediately. We are still left with an appalling injustice, that Southampton had to play for 80 minutes with the team one player short. At the very least, the club should be awarded a bonus point as compensation. That the rules don’t provide for this shows that the rules are unjust and should be changed. As for Moss, I look forward to hearing what disciplinary action will be taken against him, or are referees beyond criticism?

So true. The appeal against the red card given by mistake to Vestergaaard will test the integrity of referee management and the VAR system. I don't criticise the ref for showing the card because in real time, and from where he was positioned he couldn't see that Vestergaard had played the ball.But the VAR referee could, or should, have seen that and made the mistake of substituting his own decision over that of the match ref, who should have been advised to look at the incident on the pitch-side monitor. So we have two mistakes, one by the referee, a genuine error that should have been corrected and one by the video ref who made a serious mistake that undermined the match entirely by making one team play one player short. The appeal can only restore Vestergaard's disciplinary record and his availability for the next game. It cannot restore the points that Southampton could have earned from that match and the league position that has cost the club. To allow the appeal will be an admission that the system is flawed. Even if the red card is replaced by a yellow, that would still be an incorrect decision but one can see the panel being tempted to try to placate the club but not to admit the failing in the VAR referee system. I doubt if they will rescind the card entirely, motivated by a wish to deflect criticism but to me, that would suggest the cover-up of a flawed system.

its mostly been said about the red card, although early comments didn't appreciate that the Video Ref had studied the incident before advising the match ref. The referee made an error by failing to see that Vestergaard was first to the ball and had put it beyond Vardy with a pass back to the keeper. Not only was it not a foul, but neither was it a goal scoring opportunity. This must be one of the worst mistakes by a Video Ref that there has been because not only did he fail to realise that Vestergaard had played the ball, but he also failed to recommend that the match ref should view the pitch-side monitor. This card should be rescinded on appeal but that alone is not good enough. Saints were wrongly forced to play almost the entire game with an incomplete team, and were required to defend against a free kick from the edge of the penalty area that was wrongly awarded. That one of only 19 home games in the league can be ruined by such a failure of the officials is unforgiveable. Rescinding the red card does not alter that fact. If a yellow card is substituted instead, people would be entitled to be even more angry, because many would see that as a cover-up by administrators not wishing to admit the extent of the mistake by the match officials. The just outcome would be for the present VAR system to be withdrawn until something properly secure system can be created, and for the match to be replayed but that would amount to an admission of incompetence by the authorities. If the red card is confirmed, or if it is simply replaced by a yellow, people who have said they are sick and tired of what they see going on in football will feel that their assumptions have been confirmed. That there is something rotten in the State of Denmark. As for Vardy, he should have been sent off for simulation and gamesmanship, due to exaggerating the effect of tripping over Vestergaard's foot, by rolling around on the ground in feigned agony.

Many people will have assumed that Ings failure to renew is because he believes a better paying contract is likely from elsewhere. If he's correct, I'd agree with those who say let him go. The club could use the money, both fee and wages for a replacement with better longer-term prospects. I'd let Adams go as well and use the combined funds for a higher grade player. We have cover for the second and third strikers from players already in the squad. With Ings and Adams we are in the bottom half of the table and need to do better.

Very unfair. Some fans do allow wishful thinking to give them hope of an unexpected result, whereas others are realistic, recognising that it's more likely the best team will win. Saints' supporters who admit that Leicester has the better team don't want to see us lose, they are just being honest about their expectations. Expecting the game to go according to form is logical but we all know that the unexpected can happen. It seems reasonable to expect one result while hoping for another.

The first choice starting XI looks quite settled, including Redmond ahead of Adams at the moment. Adams' awful miss against Burnley hasn't helped him. But in the League the club is only playing for places, whereas an FA Cup semi-final is a rare opportunity. I feel certain that Ralph will hold some players back, not so much to rest them but to protect against injury.

Che has done well enough to get international recognition, even if it is only due to having a grandmother who was born in Scotland. On the south coast, he hasn't gained a definite place in the starting line-up despite Ralph's perseverance. Maybe he's become what many people would call a squad player. When the club bought him, it felt as if there were higher expectations. These are his performance stats on the Premier League website: Goals 11 ; Goals per match 0.19; Headed goals 0; Goals with right foot 10; Goals with left foot 1; Penalties scored 0; Freekicks scored 0; Shots 82; Shots on target 33; Shooting accuracy 40%; Hit woodwork2; Big chances missed 21. 11 goals in 59 appearances for a central striker raises the obvious question. For some people, that question might have been answered on Sunday in the last couple of minutes of the game, when Che was put through on goal, and with only the keeper to beat he couldn't get his shot on target. Anyone think Saints should listen to offers?

Interesting how opinions vary despite being based on largely the same information. On Sunday, while commentating on the Burnley game, Adam Blackmore told Dave Merrington he thought Bednarek was his Man of the Match. If he's been "consistently rubbish", you have to wonder why the manager keeps picking him and he gets selected to play for Poland. I suppose its just that some opinions are more valid than others and some are of no value at all.

Although players are credited with goal assists and records are kept, a large number of such assists are simply a crossing of the ball into the penalty area in the hope that one striker or another will make something of it. Most of the credit for a goal, rightly, will usually go to the scorer but sometimes the assist creates a chance that seemed very unlikely. There were two perfect examples in the game against Burnley. Firstly, the subtle back-heel flick by Danny Ings that gave Stuart Armstrong the opening for his goal. Quite rightly, that flick was praised by the pundits on MotD2. The second was the lob over the defence by Theon Walcott to Nathan Redmond for the third goal. Extremely quick thinking to avoid the mass of players in the goal mouth and accurately weighted to reach the unmarked Redmond on the other side of the goal. If there was an 'Assists of the Season' competition, for me, both of those assists would be strong contenders and I'd find it hard to choose between them..

Agree. At last, Ralph has almost his whole squad to pick from. Only Romeu and Smallbone not available. What a change to see such a strong starting line-up with equally strong options on the bench.

Such a surprise. The BBC is usually so accurate and reliable.

In a post-match interview with a Sky reporter, Klopp claimed that Mane is not "a diver". He went on to claim that Mane falling over when prevented by KWP from getting in a shot, or crossing the ball, would have resulted in a penalty for "any other team". Klopp was letting then mask slip, showing that behind it there's a standard, dishonest moaning complainer. But he also showed that either he doesn't know Mane the player as well as he should, or he was simply lying. In that incident, it is my opinion that Mane played the old trick of trailing a leg in order to make contact with the defender, and when he achieved the contact he threw himself to the ground. If Klopp had never seen Mane do that before then I can only suggest he hadn't been paying attention on the training ground when that tactic was being practiced. This leads onto another which is a pet subject of mine, that the penalty is too big a reward, even for a genuine foul, if it occurs where there is no prospect of a goal-scoring opportunity. On this occasion, KWP had prevented Mane getting in a shot or a cross so that with the ball running our of play the only way to get a shot on goal was if the referee awarded a penalty. As KWP wasn't tackling, the only chance of a penalty was from simulation. It's time the authorities changed the rules to remove this incentive to cheat and that cheating is severely punished. At the moment, managers pretend in public that it's not happening or that it's only the other team that cheats, when they know full well that is not true.

Just started reading this thread but after the first dozen or so posts on page 1, I gave up, was convinced I wasn't on a site for Saints' supporters. If all people want to do is to slag off our team, why not do it where such negative attitudes will be appreciated. On a Pompy website perhaps. But, having come to this page, there's some good discussion on the VAR decisions. There's no doubt in my mind that if it had been anticipated by the original rule makers that offside would be measured by by body extremities, by millimetres, and by seconds, the rules would never have been framed as it is. The clearest evidence is the rule saying that players are not offside if they are level. Under the microscopic examination now operating, level is simply impossible except for a fraction of a second. .

Strange game, football. If we'd won that but Leicester had won and Liverpool/Tottenham had drawn, we'd have been level on points at second but 4th in the table instead of 3rd. So much depends on how other teams do. I'm never in favour of wanting a result decided by a penalty unless the foul is one that prevented a clear goal-scoring chance. Too often, penalties are too big a reward, on top of which, simulation has had a seriously negative effect on the game. It seemed to me that a string of lapses led to the Arsenal goal, so I'd put the result down to midfield defensive errors, rather than failure to score a second, although against 10 men, you cant help feeling they should have done better. Lastly, I do agree that Ings hasn't yet recovered from his injury. He may be physically fit but something is missing from his game.

Come on you lot. Let's assume the manager of the team that's currently top of the table knows what he's doing. Last thing he needs is advice from a bunch of amateurs watching on a screen. The criticism I have is for the biased commentary on Prime.

Experience says that an opportunity like we have tonight ends up as a disappointment. But the team is NOT the old Southampton. If my Mum was doing this fixture on her football pools coupon, she’d see the team in 4th away to the team in 15th and put it down as an away banker. I reckon my Mum would have it right.