VectisSaint

Pretty sure that new referees are given "lower ranking" matches to begin with, always have been. That was only Jones' 8th PL match, and Leicester are the only high ranked team he has refereed, no Gang of 6 teams, but strangely out of 8 games that was the 3rd time he has reffed Leicester, and all three have been away games. He doesn't give out too many cards, and only 2 reds so far (and 2 pens). Think it might be a while before he graduates to Gang of 6 matches based on last night's performance. Not helped by Jon Moss of course.

He was given quite a few games and bar the 2 goals showed absolutely nothing. It was clear Ralph was unimpressed despite the initial optimism. You can't keep playing someone who is clearly not good enough, especially when there is no benefit long term.

I think it's more to do with what Minamino hasn't done. Apart from 2 goals he has contributed next to nothing, and is too light weight for the PL.

Its not quite what Ralph said, according to Ralph. BBC actually says "may be out for the rest of the season". What Ralph said was that he was out for Leicester and then after Liverpool we have 5 games in 2 weeks and he may be OK, but he certainly didn't sound confident.

The point is that we don't have adequate, or even any, backups for these players. The difference in quality between these players and any backup is huge, or there is no backup (KWP). These players are huge misses, its not an excuse, it is because the squad has been so badly constructed, and we do not have decent backup.

I suspect this was done by just taking the final positions. But it would have been the case if their results were expunged as well, we would have been 7 points clear of Swansea, thanks mainly to an outstanding home record, W10 D2 L1 Gf 31 Ga 3. If only we had a home record like that again. We also won 2 drew 1 and lost 3 against the Gang of 6 (I find it difficult to include Arsenal under the label of "Big 6").

Made by one who should know.

Bit light in MF (understatement). Diallo no great loss but it's useful to have someone to take his place and not take 50% of our creativity (Armstrong). Heads for back of the sofa.

Can you clatter someone while attempting to remove his shirt?

Is Kane fit? Looked a nasty ankle injury at the weekend, or perhaps he was just putting it on to get Mourinho booted out.

To be honest, he didn't do much wrong, unlike his previous games. He wasn't inspiring, but there were many far worse performers.

Just a word for Wayne Talkes on this depressing evening. very sad to hear he has passed away. Never made many appearances for the 1st Team, but always followed him as we were at school together in Sandown (to be pedantic he was at the Fairway, I was at the Grammar, but sport overlapped a bit and remember him well). One of the few Islanders to make it in the first team (though he was not a Caulkhead) he was apprentice at the same time as my cousin, Brian Humber who never did make a first team start. RIP Wayne

Still not a peep about Valery...

In an ideal world you would not replace Romeu. Maybe the rest of who you listed. Mad. Romeu is about the only one that would be a must keep. Diallo is no gem, at least based on his perfomance Monday.

Bednarek has been making mistakes far worse than Jack ever did. Don't get me wrong I like Bednarek, but he has lost it since Manure, and Stephens is a more than adequate replacement for the current JB.

It has become a thing with us and it is the main reason we bring pressure on ourselves. It is everyone now, but yesterday we looked like we were rushing as well, almost panicking to give it away. Because of the way we play, passing it around at the back waiting for an opening, a trigger, when we are sloppy with the passes it kills us. I don't understand why so many players have caught this disease. Players who in the past were precise and quick with their passes now are all over the place. Was it Bertrand who last night at one point put a simple pass straight into touch, just didn't seem to think about it enough. Until we can get the players back to do these basics right again, which we know they can do, we will ship goals left, right and especially centre. WBA should have been 3 or 4 up before they scored, a combination of poor shooting and lucky defending kept them at bay for a while.

You didn't see the game. I can confirm to you that we were as bad as some people are making out. In fact we were much worse than some people are making out, especially in the first half. We were shocking, in much the same way that we were shocking in the first 15/20 minutes against Burnley. We couldn't get hold of the ball, and when we did we gave it away with sloppy passing, and we left the centre midfield completely unattended, and Forster had a brain fart, and and and and. Don't be fooled, we were abysmal, and some of our key players were the worst culprits. Bednarek has resorted to wrestling in the penalty area now, instead of defending as he used to do, he just wants to pull an hang on to opponents shirts, he has forgotten the basics (which he was good at) and has become a liability, OK it was his birthday yesterday, so I guess Ralph couldn't drop him, but his confidence is shot to pieces since the ManU debacle, and he is getting worse. To be fair to WBA they were playing some really neat football (obviously Fat Sam has got some other coach in behind the scenes). It wasn't really a tactical thing last night, it was players not being arsed, not motivated and on the beach, and looking exhausted (JWP). By the way all my comments are based on the first half. I didn't watch the 2nd half, dinner was on the table, and the prospect of another 45 minutes of that awful stuff was too much to stomach (don't worry I could hear the commentary and would have rushed back to the settee if there had been any sign of a comeback.

We are totally shit. Same as first 20 minutes against Burnley, so many giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous positions. KWP, Walcott, BEDNAREK, JWP all guilty, and the Forster has a rushbof blood as well. Diabolical.

Nothing wrong with what Turkish said (you could have picked him up for typing "is" instead of "in"). We have won one thing in 131 years. We've won one thing in 132 years, one thing in 133 years, one thing in 45 years. I guess the Johnstones Paint doesn't count. We have actually won the Third Division twice (Third Divison South once if you want to be pedantic), and the Southern League six times, and let's not forget the glory days in the Hampshire Senior Cup.

To be fair it makes no difference for the U18s, there is no relegation from their league. The u23s are different they get relegated to the B division again. All assuming Saints maintain their top category academy status. Big problem is that it is harder to attract youngsters to Saints Academy if the top two academy levels are performing badly. Sincerely hope Crocker is doing something to address the current situation. This has been coming for a few years now, we have been living on past glories for far too long.

Looks like it, bad news for us cos it means we get Lemina back. Would rather Steve Bruce had got relegated.

True, the game would be abandoned.

Honestly have no memory of this bloke at all. Is being transferred to the Scrubs relevant for this thread?

Champions League (though he already has that on his CV of course) and linking up with Brendan Rogers again (coached him at Chelsea). It was mooted last year, but the stories are circulating again now. Makes a great deal of sense.

Leicester