trousers

Which we'll probably get vs Man City. It's the lack of fight against the West Hams of this world that is so frustrating.

Very tight at the top

Some cracking games in store for this weekend to be fair though

Actually, looking again at that footage it looks like he didn't actually clock that it was the ref he was shoving as he's looking straight past him at the lino. He probably subconsciously thought it was another player trying to hold him back? (Yes, probably too much benefit of the doubt on my part and not looking to excuse it)

I tend to agree with that train of thought but then I think: why does it only seem like it's our players that can't be arsed, yet players in other teams seem to ignore the fact that "relegation doesn't really affect players" and still manage to "go balls out to win" when they don't need to?

My pleasure

Nah. Was a foul the other way

Get in! #Villa

7th Southampton (Bassett) Scout Group?

Fair point 👍

You weren't wrong there...

As long as we don't end up as woeful as that rancid 12 year old football club 20 miles down the road.

2-0

Assuming Livramento is an option (he travelled with the squad today) then I'd be inclined to start with: McCarthy Livramento - Bednarek - ABK - KWP JWP - Lavia - Alcaraz Walcott* - Adams - Sulemana *(Given the season is pretty much done and dusted, I would also be tempted give Doyle a crack of the whip instead of Walcott, on a nothing-to-lose basis, but zero chance of that happening of course as we continue to 'play it safe'...)

Wasn't it that tactic that earned us the 'record number of points lost from a winning position' accolade the last couple of seasons?

Nailed on "fighting performance" and a draw that gives everyone false hope again...

Yep, a reasonable observation. If it takes 4 minutes to decide if it was offside or not then there is obviously enough doubt to stick with the on-field decision. I've always said there should be a timeout on VAR decisions (say, 1 minute tops).

I guess Selles is thinking: "If I start with our best attacking line up and the opposition contain us for 60 minutes, that leaves me with no game changers on the bench. Whereas, if I start with the weaker strikers and we're still in the game after 60 mins then we can bring on our better strikers who will stand a better chance of scoring against a tiring opposition rather than at the start of the game" Yes, it's a negative approach but given none of our strikers are top quality then maybe, just maybe, it's better to play the best of a poor bunch against a tiring opposition? Not saying I agree with this approach but I can see an element of logic in it given the overall mediocre quality of the squad.

Apart from a 5 minute burst of energy, do you think the line up we ended the game with were any better...?

Our players had given up at least 15 minutes before the end of the 90 so didn't matter how much time was added on .

We've been doomed to relegation since Jones was shown the door but this performance puts the seal on the envelope.

We'll get a result in the that one knowing us...

It still baffles me how Armstrong has gone from being one of our most influential players to someone who is so obviously struggling to have an impact on games.