VectisSaint

as Loftus-Cheek passes back to the keeper 😉

"The Frenchman has spent the second half of this season out on loan, playing for Birmingham in the Championship." Not since early March he hasn't. The last time he was in a squad was 13 March, and he was an unused sub. Seems to have had a falling out with Lee Bowyer, no idea if he is still there or whether he actually returned to Saints (just seen comment above that he is France). Twitter comments seem to have been his downfall.

Thought he said we were far down the line of getting Bertrand's replacement. To me that sounded positive, possibly a done deal. I don't know why you have got a sinking feeling after that. I said before that the relationship between Ralph and Bertie was never that great from the start, think Bertie's comments reinforced this view, he was a reluctant sign-up to Ralph's way and has generally done a good job , but Ralph clearly is not that worried that he is not staying, knowing as he presumably does that we can (and have) done better). If we go back to 3 at the back as we seem to be doing to some extent already then Ryan is not neccessarily the best way forward, as he seems to imply in his comments. You may also have noticed that Ryan mentioned Liebherrs (plural) specifically, but not a mention for Gao, his comments were very well directed and showed exactly where his enthusiasm and loyalties lay.

He really didn't. No idea what game you were watching. Its not being a boo boy as you put it, its observing his play (or lack of). He is far too lightweight and gives the ball almost whenever he gets it. I take heart from the fact that he will never be a Saints player, there is no chance (in my opinion) of us signing him. I can't see him ever becoming a regular at Liverpool either.

You're entitled to your opinion, even if it is sh*t 😂. It was like we were playing with 10 men, like we played with 9 men against Leicester. He did improve a bit in the last few minutes but really he is hopeless in this league, thankfully not our player, so I don't feel bad slagging him off.

We played 3 at the back for large portions of the Liverpool game, tonight wasn't new.

He didn't. Watch the highlights, he did nothing that you accuse him of. He didn't lose his man, he was facing him when Salah dinked to one side to beat him (that Salah guy, one of the best attackers in the game). Salah actually only had a couple of opportunities all game, eventually being withdrawn by Klopp. Trying to make Stephens your scapegoat for the goal is just plain stupid, if you want the real culprit it was Forster, but we all know he never comes for crosses, good keepers do (and I don't mean Mccarthy). Stephens did actually have one absolute nightmare with Salah earlier in the game, but we got away with it. If you had berated him for that you would have had some credibility. I don't often agree with Duckhunter but in this case he is absolutely spot on.

Did Ralph mention any injury problems from the weekend? I wouldn't be surprised if KWP is out, the knock to his knee near the end was clearly painful, and he was not very mobile afterwards. Could be that Ralph will play Salisu at LB, he is better going forward in that position than Stephens, who was actually very good there defensively (especially when we were operating 3 at the back which we were doing frequently). Yes he did have one bad lapse with Salah, which could have cost us, but quite honestly who doesn't have problems with Mo. What Stephens does give is a lot of vocals and organisation, think he would be better replacing Bednarek at the moment, keeping Vest on the left side where he is best. Doesn't affect tomorrow, but the first goal Saturday should have been dealt with by a competent keeper, sadly we don't have one at the moment, hopefully this will be addressed in the Summer.

Ignoring the fact that Ralph said full backs and a CM (backup for Romeu). Assuming no-one leaves (except Bertrand) we will sign 2 or 3 FBs and a DM extra - this will bring us up to having 2 per position. I think we will also bring in a new AM, Striker and possibly keeper, but they will be replacements for players departing, I can see us moving out two of Redmond, Djenepo, Adams, Obafemi, N'Lundulu. Either Forster or McCarthy will go, new young keeper in as #2 (Toby Savin?). Walcott is allegedly a done deal. We have no money but that doesn't stop some wheeling & dealing to freshen up the squad.

What was the Stanley keeper like? Toby Savin. We were heavily linked with him last Summer, possible we agreed to hold on for a year.

Theo hasn't been the same since he came back from injury. Rather like Ings. I'm reasonably confident that a good pre-season will see them firing again.

I don't think (don't know) they ever had a falling out, and yes RB did praise Ralph for having a plan, unlike his predecessor. But when Ralph came in he made PEH Captain, and RB was certainly on the fringes for a while, at the same time that Ralph marginalised other players like Cedric, Boufal, probably Hoedt and one or two others who weren't on board with the plan/Ralph's way of doing things. It was all about the same time that RB was dropped by England, which may have been injury related. It took a little while before RB was reintegrated into the squad. At least that's how I remember it, but the old memory is not what it was, and I can't be arsed to trawl back through the archives. Don't really have an axe to grind with Bertrand merely trying to justify why things are not turning out as he and some of his fans on here would wish.

Apart from Mane are there any other ex Saints playing? Maybe Ox on the bench. Think the ex Saints thing is a bit past its sell by date now 😕

Finally, someone has remembered, was beginning to think I'd imagined it. He didn't sign up to the Hassenhuttl vision initially, and there was some doubt for a while that he would even be involved. Can't recall the details but eventually he seemed to get on board, but I guess there has always been a bit of a doubt in Ralph's mind about his commitment to the cause (Ralph's way). Clear also with recent news that McQueen was seen as his backup and probably successor, but that all went pear shaped with Sam's unfortunate rehabilitation/recovery. Really not surprised that RB has not signed a new contract, Saints have clearly offered him one based on what they think he is worth which doesn't match up to his own view. His performance level in the last year or so has clearly deteriorated and Saints don't see him as a the answer for next season, they threatened his position this season with their pursuit of Brandon (?) Williams who was never going to come as a backup. He has been a good servant for Saints but he has passed his sell-by date and needs to be replaced. Sorry to see him go in some ways, but we need to find a replacement who will give us more than he does, and that shouldn't be too difficult. I can see us signing 2 LBs this summer, to replace the two that we are probably losing (can't see us renewing Sam's contract sadly).

Rules for academy recruitment were different back in those days, you could only recruit at that age from the "local" area (because of the Solent we were given dispensation to recruit further afield, hence the Bath Satellite). Nowadays, Tier 1 Academies can recruit far and wide, hence the big clubs hoover up talent much more than they used to, although we have the same rights, there is clearly a draw for parents to more glamarous clubs, so its not difficult to see why kids end up at Chelsea rather than Saints.

Endofcontractitis I believe

Think its you that's a bit daft, to think that anyone would apply that logic to an attacker who simply mistimes or miskicks. Defenders get dropped for these type of incidents, Wesley Hoedt made a living from it, and the howls of derision from some on here when Stephens makes an error and demand he never plays for Saints again. Vesty's total lack of concentration was exactly what Ralph did not need early on in the game against Leicester. His reaction on the touchline blanking the defender as he went down the tunnel spoke volumes to me. Ralph was livid, not with the red card but with the incident that lead up to it. Really would not be surprised if he does not get picked against Liverpool (that said Bednarek has been making howlers most weeks yet seems to be untouchable). It was the old Vestegaard back, not the one we have seen for most of this season.

Just a couple of minor points: (1) we didn't win (2) Minamino can't play (3) Vesty wasn't part of the 'winning' team that didn't win, so do you keep him or not. In my mind his blunder that lead to the incident was awful, and he should be dropped on that basis alone.

It is difficult to see why we would be interested in taking him (its not actually our choice of course). Apart from the 2 goals (well taken) soon after he arrived he has done literally nothing. He just isn't suited to the PL as Liverpool had previously discovered. Ralph had seemingly decided the same, it was a bit of a mystery why he was played against Leicester but in that game he demonstrated clearly that he is not good enough, it was like we were playing with 9 men, I was puzzled why Ralph didn't replace him with Walcott who has shown good defensive work while he has been back with us. Clearly he is a skilful footballer, but not suited in any way to Premier League, and suspect he would struggle in any top level league, but may get away with it in La Liga.

Not sure why so many are fearing Liverpool away, this is the team that has won just 1 home Premier League game in 2021 (2-1 v Villa), the previous being 16 December. Their home record in 2021 is on a par with our (home & away) record. There is nothing to suggest that they are going to demolish us. Of course they might 😉

Given this is a purely online event, and questions have to be submitted in advance that is hardly relevant.

I've read since I posted that we have appealed The problem before that Sky were reporting after the game that Ralph was sure we would appeal, based on his post match interview, but listening to that interview Ralph said nothing of the sort.

It will only be rescinded if we appeal, and Ralph did not seem too enthusiastic about doing so when asked after the game (despite Sky reporting otherwise). Think Ralph was so pissed off with Vestegaard's La k of concentration that lead to the incident that he probably thinks who cares if he is banned for one game. This was a sign of the old Vestegaard being back. Of course the decision was wrong, but I have serious doubts that we will appeal and thus the red card will stand.

I read today that Angus Gunn is back at Saints to help with his injury. Vokins was not in Sunderland squad today still. Valery has seemingly vanished at Brum, presumably not injured, seems Lee Bowyer may not have taken too kindly to Valery's tweet a few weeks ago telling his team mates to pull their finger out, has not been in a squad since, wonder if he is actually back at Saints.

Coming up to kick off time. Still have vivid memories of the day. Never thought then that it would not happen again in my lifetime.