VectisSaint

In what world do 'bidding wars' actually occur?

He played 5 times for us on the right, but he always plays left or centre for Celtic. He is right-footed so its no surprise that you would think he was a RW, but the reality is that he isn't.

Think you answered your own question there. What would have been the point of subbing Redmond at the end of the last game of the season. He was given opportunities to prove his worth in the experiments and in the final game he demonstrated conclusively how he could not cut it for Saints, even Ralph would surely have finally concluded that Redders was a waste of space.

Preferred, tried to get him to perform, but even Ralph saw eventually that it wasn't going to happen. There is no reason on earth that Ralph will not usher him out of the door, and to be fair, he could be someone who we might get a few quid for, people still see him as a good player, one of the promoted teams might think his experience his worth having (they'd be wrong but that's for them to find out). If we can't/won't shift players like Redmond then we have no hope of improving the squad for next season.

I think the problem is that people are just looking at this from one view. Of course we can't buy a load of extra players (other than a LB) but what we can do is wheel and deal and unload some of our (many) under performers and replace them with low cost alternatives in the hope that we may be able to improve the squad. We have at least 2 GKs we can offload (take your pick which ones), that surely was the point of the experiment at the end of the season. We have a RB surplus to requirements (Valery) and we have some AMs and forwards who we could get shot of (Redmond, Djenepo, Obafemi, N'Lundulu). Then of course there are the loanees, Hoedt, Moi, Lemina, Long. None of them will make us a lot of money obviously but would help to fund some replacements. We've also got some out of contracts which free up some funds, not just Bertrand, but Harry Lewis and unfortunately Sam McQueen, possibly others. Overall this could be a very busy transfer window without any significant net spend. Then again, it might not.

Really? We definitely need reinforcements in midfield, primarily to replace existing players (Redmond, Djenepo, Minamino) but also to strengthen in CM, as Ralph originally mentioned (but subsequently backtracked), we need to backup Romeu, JWP and Diallo, now possibly that could be helped by reintegrating Lemina. BUt we should definitely be looking to strengthen midfield, if not in numbers in quality.

I guess at least PvA would fit in to our defensive system well, good understanding of getting a tonking at St Mary's and contributing an own goal in the process. He is almost as old as Bertrand. Shirley you can't be serious.

Rose would be the fat bird, so hopefully we won't end up like that.

People turning their nose up at a player that hasn't played a competitive match for over a season and wasn't even included in the Squad for Spurs last season. Christ.

Not true. Teams have different facilities, at different locations, rules for use by the health authorities are devised on a case by case basis. I'm not entirely convinced that this was actually ever an issue, I'm sure things could have been done to mitigate, though perhaps financial constraints may have come into play.

Whereas the reality is that he conceded 3 or more in a game 10 times out of 31, which included a win (4-3 v Villa) and a draw (3-3 v Chelsea)

For the second and third at least McCarthy certainly wasn't the cause of the goals, appalling defending was the cause, you can't blame the keeper for either, but a better keeper may have got us out of the shit on at least one. For the first he was certainly at fault for pushing the ball out into a dangerous position, he should have turned it around the corner rather than parrying it back into the danger area. Nevertheless, any notion that Forster would have done any better is laughable, which is terrible to admit, but we have two below average keepers (four if you include Gunn and Lewis). I must admit I had high hopes that Andrew Sparkes might have improved us in the goalkeeping department, but there is no evidence that he has, no improvement on Dave Watson is not a great recommendation.

Today wasn't the first time he has been awful though. It was just the latest in a line of absymal performances. He was certainly very good last year up to Christmas, was like a new player from the one the season before. But since his injury he has reverted to type. Do you not remember the awful moment that ended up with him being red carded, it may have been rescinded but the error that lead to it was appalling, right out of the Wesley Hoedt drawer. He was shocking against Leeds as well. Its not the forum thats pathetic at times, its Vestegaard. Bring back the player that was playing before Christmas and we have a top class defender, still think he was probably a previously unknown identical twin, and since then he has gone missing again. Today he had to play alongside Calamity Bednarek as well which makes things even worse, we had at least seen an improvement while the back 3 had been Salisu, Vest and Stephens.

Vestegaard completely asleep, of course his was a significant factor in the goal. If that had been Stephens this forum would have gone into meltdown. Really piss poor defending from Bednarek and Vestegaard.

Agree about Dave Watson, though to be fair he is not the goalkeeper coach any more, hasn't been for a while. Think 2 of the 3 keepers will go this summer (3 of 4 if you include Harry Lewis), we are being linked with other keepers, the Albanian chap and the Accrington keeper at least).

We won't be getting an extra winger or striker, but we may replace ones that we shift. We will probably bring in a new keeper, 2 or 3 of our current ones will be shipped out to make way. Ralph wants 2 experienced players in each position, so the extras are likely to be at FB (possibly 3) and CM. People need to keep in mind the difference between additional players and simply exchanging what we have in other positions.

But if they went up they would be the strongest by definition. 🙄

Are you sure you mean Brian Miller? I thought he only ever played for BURNLEY (apologies if I'm wrong) . I think maybe you are thinking of Brian O'Neil. Jimmy Case was a pussy compared to O'Neil, but I always thought John McGrath was the real, original hardman. Terry Curran was also a bit of a nutcase, in the nicest possible sense. Most of them wouldn't last 2 minutes in today's PL.

Strange, Ralph said it was, full backs (3) and CM (defensive) were his (paraphrased) words. Jankewitz will be off and Smallbone is a hell of a risk at the moment (he was looking excellent, but you never know with these ACLs). Ralph is looking for 2 players per position, so that is Romeu, Diallo, JWP and one more, counting Armstrong is a mistake, he does very well there but AM is his best position and we are weakened by having him play CM, if we could clone him then it would be different.

Interesting to note that P****y made it to the final without playing a single match. Awarded walkovers in both the QF and SF. Also it should be noted that this was the 2019-20 Final delayed from last season (not that it makes any difference). They also play a level above Saints in the Womens pyramid, so the result is hardly a suprise, hopefully Saints get promoted this summer, but it is up to the authorities to promote teams that have not been able to complete their seasons again. Can't find anything about a 2020/21 Competition/Final, I suspect it has been cancelled.

Nothing irrational about it.

GD is currently 3 better, if Newcastle win both and we draw both GD will be at best 1 different. If they win one match by 2 goals and score more than 4 goals than us they would go above us.

Yes he was outstanding yesterday, he did make one mistake whi h of course lead to the goal, but he covered mistakes by others and prevented several other chances. Effing Okuku was going to name him man of the match but his one error made him go with Adams instead. Take your hate blinkers off, and try judging his performance on the play not the player. Since he has been back in the team we have looked so much better, though I wouldn't suggest that is entirely down to him of course.

They can play together at CB, they did yesterday, and last week. We are playing 3 at the back, and they work together very well. It looks like Ralph is heading back to his preferred/original formation of 3 at the back (hence Bertrand's desire not to stay), and Stephens, Vestegaard and Salisu seem to have already built up a good understanding in this formation, with Vest playing slightly deeper than the other two. Bednarek can presumably fit in as well, in place of Stephens if required, though on the evidence of the last few games Stephens is superior, and brings more to the team in terms of his organisation and vocal qualities. If we revert to 4 at the back then Salisu will get opportunities if Vest stays, and they have played together in a 4 already which didn't seem to be a problem (surprisingly, because I thought they would struggle). I think Redmond will be shipped out this summer (I hope) in order to fund a replacement. There are plenty out there that still rate Redmond, and he would probably be in demand from one of the promoted sides so I don't think it would be too difficult to shift.

He also was instrumental in the move 2 or 3 passes back, kept running and reaped the rewards. The shot took a deflection but it made no difference, did more in 1 minute than Minamino and Redmond combined.