Professor

I've been a Saints' fan since before we got promoted to Div2 in the 1960s. I don't remember the pessimistic element that some fans have today as always being there, even when we had the spell back in Div2 in the 1970s. Perhaps today's fans have been affected by the relegation struggles of the 1990s and the drop to League1. We had the bounce back after Marcus bought the club but recent years have mostly been in the lower half of the Premier League table. But 2020, has been a revelation with no reason the expect anything other than a good win tomorrow. This is an ideal time to play at home against a struggling side like Sheffield United, and a golden opportunity to improve the goal difference. Sadly, I'll be digging up a Christmas Tree tomorrow and unable to follow the match live, but very much looking forward to seeing the highlights.

People can moan about VAR but realistically, all it did was make Ings the goal scorer instead of JWP.

Adams doing well in defence

Concerns about gambling addiction have been in the news including the extent to which football promotes betting. The Saints OS offers an invitation for people struggling with gambling to use a link to the Recoverme.com website. Seems ironic then, that the club promote gambling through the shirt sponsorship. In fact, some people might even see it as hypercritical.

Watching the game on a stream that provides the Sky coverage, confirms what a useless set-up they are. The slanted commentary made me turn the volume down to zero and has massively improved my enjoyment.

Usually enjoy seeing team selection predictions but they are thin on the ground at the moment, perhaps because most people feel the team picks itself when everyone is fit. The position that looks like it's changed recently, is left midfield where Djenepo seems to have replaced Redmond as first choice. If Redmond has stepped up his performance in training, that could change but the first choice line-up, with Danny Ings injured, is probably: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Vestergaard. Bednarek, Bertrand, Ward Prowse, Romeu, Djenepo, Armstrong, Walcott, Adams. Anyone disagree, and any thoughts on subs?

Have seen this word used before, that Salisu has, or has had, "issues". It's in the remarks attributed to Verstergaard and previously, I believe Hassenhuttl said the same thing. But what are "issues"? The term is so wide as to be meaningless. Just what is the problem? Salisu's signing was publicised as the first major recruitment of the last transfer window but we have yet to see him play. Does anyone know if he's turned out for the B team? Given that Salisu's signing represents a significant proportion of the club's transfer budget, it's understandable that fans want to know more.

Whatever. More interested to see what excuse the BBC use not to show our game first on MOTD. Best could be that the programme isn’t MOYesterday unless one of the big 6 is playing.

One down this afternoon, three to go. Guaranteed top 4 at least at 5pm.

I imagine most of us have been studying the table and the weekend's fixtures after the Newcastle result. Usually, I like to see other teams draw so that they both drop points but not at the moment. In order to stay on top a little longer, unless I'm mistaken, the results we need are:- Man U beat Everton; Wolves beat Leicester; WBA beat Tottenham; and Man City beat Liverpool. Not much to ask...

I owe an apology for doubting Adams. For me, Walcott is worth a regular place in the team which presents the question of which regular starter to leave out. I no longer think Adams should will be sacrificed for Walcott but they are both well ahead of Obafemi, who has slipped out of the manager's plans. Although Walcott and Adams are partnering well in the absence of Ings, what happens in the longer term? Redmond is looking like the weaker player up front at the moment, but plays on the left, whereas Walcott is essentially a right-sided player. Armstrong's contribution against Newcastle, as well as his extremely well worked goal make it difficult to drop him. I can't offer a solution. I believe we have a star player in Walcott, one who will perform even better as becomes accustomed to the manager's style of play but I have no idea how he will be accommodated when everyone is fit. All I would say, given the subject of this thread is that Obafemi is essentially out of the picture now that another academy player, N'lundulu is now ahead of him.

The club has had a track record of poorly judged transfers, bringing in players for substantial fees, only to see them fail to hold a place in the first team. Fans all know the list of names in recent years, some sold on for a loss, others still on the club's books but loaned out. With changes in the recruitment department it was hoped this period was behind us, but now we have all this discussion over Salisu. For a fee of over £10m, most clubs would expect a player who could turn 0ut straightaway but instead, we've just had excuses. Surely, if he wasn't ready, the club should have spent the money on a player who was. Sadly, many fans seem to be losing trust in what the club has to say. An injury to one of the first choice CBs shouldn't be a crisis but we have one CB who was a regular not now playing as convincingly, one international CB out on loan, and our newly purchased CB, who would normally be expected to step straight into the team. But it's Salisu, so just what is going on?

Now that matches are played over several days in this television era, league position has little meaning unless there's a points gap or all clubs are on the same number of games. We've managed to drop from 3rd to 5th without playing and with Villa and Man City just below us, each with a game in hand, even 6th might be an overstatement. Even so, it would be fun seeing us at the top of the table, even if only for 24 hours.

I remember watching Saints playing Newcastle in January 1970 when we both in Div One. It was the second leg of an Inter Cities Fairs Cup match, played at The Dell after a 0-0 draw in the first leg at Newcastle. The game ended 1-1 but Newcastle went through because away goals counted double. I can't recall the team that night but it may well have included Ron Davies, Jimmy Gabriel and Micky Channon.

The Ralph comment I enjoyed the most this week was when he was speaking about Oriol Romeu, saying he been first choice in midfield for some time, including when Pierre was here. Didn't mind hearing a put down of an ex-player who had got too big for his boots. Tottenham paid a lot of money for a player who was second choice here.

Just noticed that football is a strange game. Win a 45 minute match 3-0 and then lose a second 45min match against the same team by3-1. No wonder my Mum never won the football pools

Tough on Redmond. Due to get on just when his fresh legs would have given Villa some trouble but then forced subs have denied him. Even so, Shane Long could cause them some problems.

One more goal to go second. OK, might not stay there after the later games, but would be nice to see, even briefly.

I still wouldn't put money on our game being the first one on MotD. That's reserved for teams based in London, Manchester and Liverpool.

Must be a long time since we had a positive goal difference. Not too excited about the table position when we have the early kick-off but here's hoping not all the results go against us. Still another 45 minutes of nail biting to go but, 'Up the Toon! Come on Brighton!....

Looks a stronger team with Walcott in the side. It’s not that Redmond isn’t worth his place; he’s a constant attacking threat; but not as sharp as Theo in front of goal.

Adams clearly has some die-hard fans on here. I'm not one of them although I wouldn't argue that Obefemi should be selected ahead of him. If you compare him to Ings, his weaknesses can be seen. OK, Ings is exceptional, but Adams is very far behind him in speed of ball control and shooting. When he's in the box he seems slow at decision making and sometimes gets his feet too tangled to get a shot away. He doesn't have Ing's ability to pounce on the ball and get a shot off quickly. He has scored a couple of strange goals, the long distance punt from the centre circle against Man City that broke his duck and the more recent scramble at Chelsea from a defensive catastrophe shouldn't disguise then fact that he hasn't been the goal scorer the club thought they were buying based on his record at Birmingham. The Manager may well persevere with Adams because his understanding with Ings creates chances but I wouldn't be surprised to see him subbed as matches go on to give Obefemi or Walcott some game time.

It would be good to see Theo back in the team next week. Although he was only in the side against Chelsea because Armstrong wasn't available, his class and experience shone through. The problem is who to leave out to accommodate him. Not a bad problem to have. Despite Che having scored a couple of goals, neither strike was entirely convincing, so I wonder if he might be the one to make way, with Theo or Armstrong moving to partner Ings.

MOTD lived down to expectations. Only football clubs playing in Liverpool, Manchester or London are of interest to the BBC but they did surpass themselves this week. Having made an amateurish promotional video about Everton and chosen a pair of pundits, all in the belief hat the result was a foregone conclusion, no one at the BBC had the sense to recover the situation when the result turned out to be the opposite of what they'd planned for. The MOTD producers embarrassed themselves by demonstrating such crass stupidity.

I'm reminded of the arrogance shown by Evertonians when Koeman moved there with their supporters saying Everton would sign Saints' best players "because they could". That was before Koeman was given the largest transfer budget in Everton's history, the team dropped into the relegation zone and Koeman was sacked. As for challenging the red card, the suspension should be doubled for a frivolous appeal against dangerous play.