macca155

On holiday for this one and blow me it's the main match on NBC. Don't care about the Jones psycho drama for 90 minutes. Just get at them and get a win.

What on earth is the point of that. How to lose another game. The board will be well aware of the supporters feelings, without all that going on. The players need to do their job. Make feelings known after the game, but for 90 minutes it is warrior time.

I thought it was a reasonable performance from the board. They seemed to say it how it is. They were never going to slag off Jones publicly, but that was as close as you get to 'last chance saloon'. When your boss says ' I didn't enjoy' and 'disappointed' you aren't sitting comfortably. Jones has been disappointing on the football front, and a disaster on the PR front. I guarantee he's had a meeting without coffee, and told to keep his mouth shut. The football could improve, but he needs wins and a coherent strategy. The former takes the heat out of the situation, the latter gives some hope. I can't see it myself, but at least the board haven't retired to their bunker.

Not that sort of season. The points gap is still negligible. Worse now but two wins and you are out of it. Putting the management in place to achieve those wins is the hard part.

Evidence for me that Jones has lost part of the dressing room. I'm guessing DCC told him exactly what he thought. Orsic, DCC and to a lesser extent Salisu and ABK all have international experience. It may be an issue for them that Jone's hasn't. Bendarek has experience but clearly a failure at SFC. What a mess.

What SR forgot about, when they looked for a manager, is that the Premier League has more media and fan scrutiny than any other league in the world. Appointing a PR disaster was reckless, even before the football turned to shit. Let him attend to his garden, and appoint someone else. Plenty of decent candidates.

At the moment relegation looks pretty certain. That has been the case for 12 months. The points gap is negligible. 7 other clubs are right in the game with Saints. No need to worry on that front. However ynless something changes Saints won't get the necessary points to stay with our competitors. Can't argue Saints don't have the players. Key question is whether Jones has the nous and/or time to get them playing to their potential. If Dyche was in charge we'd probably be feeling more confident, but a little queasy at the style of football. I think we look way too disjointed at the moment. I'm normally optimistic but I just can't see evidence of a revival. Lots of false dawns I bet, but in the end I fear it won't be enough. However not giving up hope. It isn't over yet. Need to learn to draw as well as win. When it is this tight points are crucial.

Right starting my journey up North. Not keen on venturing above Winchester at the best of times, so this is ridiculous 😲 Been a few times, always found the locals hospitable. I suspect they are in for a harder match than they anticipate. For all our woes Saints do have a knack of being a difficult team when you least expect. Oh please be one of those nights.

How many times over the years have we seen this. A player hardly any of us have heard of is mentioned. Suddenly he's the Messiah. Cue another club buying him.... we're doomed. Turns out he's as crap as nearly all the PL transfers. Buying a decent player is incredibly hard for any club. Everton have wasted all their money recently, and it feels like they are doing it again, with this raw player from the French league. Seems the best option is buy a decent LB and push Peraud forward. He provides a threat. Save our money, improve the service to our forwards, and use what we have. Nobody is selling a 10+ Premier League goal scorer to anybody at this time of the year. Plus none of our relegation rivals have a prolific forward. They are all in the same boat. Thus West Ham's desperate gamble on Ings. Got to try and keep some hope.

2 of those tackles were proper Sunday best. Football karma at its best when Brighton scored. The 'big club' cable are doing to Brighton what they did to Swansea, Saints, Wolves, Leicester, and anybody else who dares to threaten their status. Buy, kick, or disrupt their players and management staff. It will be Brentford next. With Newcastle crashing the party, at least three will be denied Champions League football. That theatens the survival of some.

Very good shout but M&S ridged sea salt edge it for me. The fact that they come in large 'fat bastard' bags is completely irrelevant 😲

Actually no I wouldn't have. You have to take risks with youngsters. Look at Harvey Elliot at Liverpool not much older than Ballard and already looking like a major asset for them. Watching young players make their debut and go on to forge a career, is a great part of being a supporter for me. Might be alone on that but you won't find me slagging the manager for giving a player a chance. He gave Aribo a chance yesterday, correct decision but the player failed to take advantage of that. Not the managers fault unless he plays him in a weird position, which he didn't.

Every club has bad transfers. Aribo is clearly ours and jury remains out on Orsic. That doesn't irritate me as much as some on here. Ship them out ASAP and try again. My issue is in not using Ballard yesterday. If that wasn't a golden opportunity for him to get a few minutes, then we might as well not bother with an academy.

Wins a win I guess, in the draw for Monday. I suspect the manager will rake more negatives from that game than positives. Aribo, Elyounoussi, AMN, offer zero improvement and the team struggles with them in the side. Sadly at the moment Bella Kotchap could be added to that list, bit hopefully just a brief drop in form. Average game, some good moments but very unconvincing. Blackpool were poor and Saints really should have been in fill control. A little bit of show boating in the 2nd half which, when it went wrong, led to their goal. I'm really not a fan of using 5 subs, the last 3 came on and the side had zero rhythm or understanding from then on. Lavia, Perraud, and Edozie the stand outs for me. That's it move on

Oh makes sense with Bree doh obviously. Did bloody Villa use Jan for an FA cup game, bit sneaky.

Looks like Morgan wasn't involved in this afternoons B game so likely he'll feature If its all about giving players a game it could be Bazuna Bree Bendarek Salisu Perraud Walcot AMN JWP Elyounoussi Orsic Morgan Not that formation obviously but I'm sure some of those players will get a game. We need Walcot and Bendarek to be up to speed and unless JJ Morgan gets a game soon he will quite rightly look elsewhere. Looks a small team and perhaps a bit weak for facing a championship team but with a gruelling match on Tuesday there will need to be changes.

He wasn't as involved as Howe ensured the ball was kept well away from him. They ruthlessly attacked where he wasn't. or ran at pace past him. Yet again Howe's strategy us way above our managers.

That's a tad unfair. Diallo had a good game. He constantly broke up play and for once passed to our side. Certainly not a blinder but definitely an improvement.

Well all of that, well said.. Lyanco decided to have a shit game. He just about works at right back, but not in the centre. Agree on Mara, showing some class now. Adams less so. His link up play is good but just cannot finish. A striker has to be bought or we play the youngsters and hope for the best. Not out if it, tough game up there but the midfield is looking better.

I think that's a tad harsh. Saints matched Villa for effort, created more chances (such as they were), but were outclassed in midfield. They had a better goalkeeper, slightly tighter defence and a more dynamic midfield. Saints were more creative but as you say, no strikers, and Diallo passed to Villa more than Saints. Subs made us weaker that's a worry. It's grim, very grim but I'm sure as hell not giving up.

Thought it was a good game. Not flowing but as previous posters have observed two average sides well set up slugging it out. A draw would have been fair, Saints certainly weren't out of it or overwhelmed. Difference for me was their goalie. Superb performance real world cup class. Diallo worked hard but was too easily bypassed in midfield. In contrast Lavia simply didn't allow that but he can't be everywhere. Definitely need an upgrade in midfield, Villa were well ahead there, much slicker and combative. Ref was poor, too lenient at the start when Villa were fouling a lot, when Saints dished it out later on he started to blow up more. Total lack of minerals to overturn our goal. Cup games clearly a distraction. Subs made us worse. Disappointing result, Saints are clearly in the relegation mire, but today there was some solidity about the team, which gives a little bit of promise. I just wish our manager(s) would accept a draw sometimes. Villa came for a draw and nicked it. I can't help thinking this reckless go for them at the end strategy, is opening us up too much.

I do agree that generally the rule now is much improved. However Rashford was over that ball for a long time. At the very least it was marginal.

I stand slightly corrected. Cloghie's is by far the best quote but Shankly said “If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.” I think my memory merged the two.

Ridiculous decision. As Bill Shankly said 'if he isn't interfering with play what's he doing on the pitch' He dummied, shielded, and took the defenders attention from an illegal position. That needs a stewards enquiry.

He's taken the brunt of pent up frustrations from Ralph's tenure. He should have been prepared for that. With zero pedigree (from our entitled viewpoint) a poor start was always going to be tough for him. His somewhat spikey responses haven't helped. That Forest game was terrible and he knows it but since then progress has been good. He's won over the players and is learning fast. Fans trust will take longer but he's bought himself time. Hell of a job to do still, but I bet Villa are more nervous about the upcoming game than Saints.