VectisSaint

Played well last night, we were the better team for large chunks of the game. Although the equaliser got them back on terms and where everyone expected them to be the real turning point was their double substitution bringing on Gobby and Milner. Completely changed the dynamic in midfield and on the right in place of the ineffective Wijnaldum and poor Trent-Arnold. It seems to be a trait of Ralph, excellent at setting up the team initially, and getting into leads (born out by the silly stat of us giving away more points from leding positions) but then not being able to counter tactical changes by the opposition when they are behind (or level). First goal resulted from clear offside, but really not surprised it was not given, and anyway we had opoprtunities to get the ball away before it went in, though Gunn could have done better to be honest. Second goal was No 17 in our series of how to turn corners into goals conceded. We have been doing this for 3 or more seasons now under various managers, how often did we concede from corners given away by Tadic, Boufal etc. If we are going to go gung-ho at corners we have to have more defensive cover than one man. Bertrand did everything right and everything he could without getting a red card (which would have been very costly to us in our remaining games) but n the end was bested by a great piece of skill by Salah. Don't care about the 3rd goal it was just a result of trying to get back in the game, but was irritating that Gobby was the scorer. JWP disappointing last night, thought he was totally ineffective, and the offsides in the first half were ridiculous, killed our momentum on more than one occassion. His set pieces were dreadful. Otherwise most of our players put in a good performance. All in all it was a good performance, final score flattered them a bit, but was better than I had predicted (1-4). Completely ****ed off by the Sky coverage with Carragher's antics, why the hell do Sky allow him to commentate on Liverpool games, it was truly embarrassing having to put up with the fawning over Liverpool by him and the rest of the team. All the post match stuff about Pool, absolutely nothing about Saints, it was like only one team took part in what was actually a good, entertaining match.

This, absolutely vomit inducing from Liverpool TV. Really sucked having Carragher commentating. By the way criticisms of Bertie defending are wide of the mark, did all he could, text book.

Apparently Klopp is Ralph's fellow countryman. You learn something new every day. Sky really are crap.

The abuse Warnock was giving Azpilicueta from the touchline was ****ing disgusting. Hopefully he will earn a touchline ban for some of the stuff he was doing. Don't care whether his actions were justified or not, abusive behaviour like his is unacceptable. The offside was a genuine mistake by the lino, albeit compounded by poor positioning allowing his line of sight to be blocked by William.

Thats the one, the team that beat Liverpool 1-0 at The Dell, provoking the infamous Shankly outburst, 26 September 1970. Think these guys could handle the current Liverpool team, though personally I would replace Tom Jenkins (one of the most frustrating wingers we ever had) with someone like Redmond.

Martin, Kirkup, Hollywood, Fisher, McGrath, Gabriel, Paine, Channon, Davies, O'Neil, Jenkins.

68 minutes I reckon.

Injured apparently.

His penalty prowess ? One of our least convincing penalty takers, yes he scored a few but there was never any confidence. Serbia don't rate him either really: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.sportbible.com/football/funny-fails-dusan-tadic-misses-penalty-by-miles-after-ridiculous-run-up-20181014.amp.html&ved=2ahUKEwjO66_gh6DhAhVCVRUIHWp0AZ4QFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw3j_i2vEbbtp6tKLc7TylHN&ampcf=1

There won't be any response from FIFA. Catalonia have been playing friendly internationals for over a hundred years. They don't qualify for FIFA/UEFA tournaments but they are perfectly legitimate as a representative team. Note that they play against FIFA ranked teams. At one point their results would have had them ranked 7th in the world.

Cousins

Japan only playing friendlies against Bolivia and Colombia, they probably excused the players who were absent for the Asia Cup.

Maybe you shouldn't get out at all to be honest, locked up might be best. ?

Looks like he may have torn his calf muscle there ?

The article doesn't mention Henderson, the withdrawals have been Delph, Loftus-Cheek and Stones.

Another defeat for Celta (admitted to Real Madrid), dropping further into the drop zone. Boufal and Hoedt will be heading back our way it seems. Hoedt came off the bench after 5 minutes.

Standing in the open corner of Elland Road in the snow, fecking nightmare drive up there in my Cortina with three mates from Bracknell. Journey back must have been as bad but only remember a pub stop about 10 miles outside Leeds (Castleford?). Helluva night, pity we had to play Forest in the Final. What a ****hole Leeds was, probably still is). Not the most welcoming of supporters.

Can't see there being a knock down fee for Hoedt or Boufal if Celta are relegated (they are now in the bottom 3). A fee for Guido, optimistic. Clasie and Cedric maybe.

Not much of a complement really. Think I could contribute more than Moi. Sims was way way better than anything that our 15m flop has shown or will likely ever show. The issue is whether he can do it again given the opportunity. If he could reproduce what he did 2nd half Saturday then he would be first name on the team sheet, but maybe he will have to develop further as an impact sub first.

Goals aside, Sims (and the substitutions / change of formation by Ralp at half time) was everything about the stunning second half display. Right from the first minute, before Armstrong came on. He was involved in everything, making so much happening with his intelligent runs and passes. JWP is getting all the plaudits, and that's fine, it was a great strike, but Sims and to a lesser extent Armstrong were the real stars in the 2nd half. Sims has seldom shown these qualities before, apart from odd glimpses, don't know what Ralph has done but he was very impressive and very mature. Great performance, now the trick is doing it again (and again).

Benched for today's defeat. Boufal played 85. Celta heading for the drop the way things are going, means we will be stuck with both in the Summer most likely.

Skate friends? ?

He doesn't earn a cent here. Let's hope a hockey job comes up.

Just reflects that most of our sales we have been paid most of the fee up front, whereas purchases have been more in the way of staged payments. Good way of doing business really, if it wasn't for the fact that most of our purchases have been duds. I would be concerned if it was the other way round.

It's not just Forster, we have a history of signing players up to lomg contracts and then they **** off. Not saying we shouldn't do it but it usually ends up pointless other than getting a decent wedge when they go or costing us a lot when we can't shift them. Valery is doing great, as some of us had thought he would, but to sign him up to an expensive contract based on a handful of games is risky, and at this stage unnecessary. I'm also glad you're not in charge.