VectisSaint

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 Do you not remember the awful moment that ended up with him being red carded, it may have been rescinded but the error that lead to it was appalling, right out of the Wesley Hoedt drawer.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.

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.