VectisSaint

With no crowd and Ralph being able to vocally coach effectively from pitch side, and with the set plays and triggers it really isn't so much of a problem. It becomes more of an issue when we get crowds back in the stadiums. What if Ralph was not at pitch side, sent to the stands or something, or even when he was self isolating, Richard Kitzbichler is certainly not the vocal coach that Ralph is. People underestimate the role of the captain, but it is certainly not as important in the current climate.

The obvious leader is Danny Ings. That said I'm not a great believer in the captain being a striker. The best captains are always midfield, for obvious reasons. I don't think JWP is bad actually. I do wonder whether Armstrong might develop into captain material, but I suspect he is too "nice". We've lacked a proper captain since Steve Davis. Oh for the days of the likes of Alan Ball. Meant to say that Stephens is the other obvious candidate, but until/unless he is a regular in the side it won't happen

Alex's suspension was for 3 PL games, wasn't it. Not available for Chelsea if that is the case, but I can't find a definitive statement. The FA Cup game definitely didn't count. Daft thing is that a 3 game suspension for a sending off after 75 seconds effectively means a 4 game suspension.

Beginning to feel more like 1973 to me.

Big concern for me is that we look like we lost KWP again. He didn't have his best game today, but he and Armstrong make this team tick, and without one of them again we are going to struggle, indeed does anyone know if Armstrong going off was purely tactical?. We just fell apart once they got their lucky penalty (though they had been on top from half-time), no ideas what to do and the second became inevitable. Really disappointed in Minamino today, offered nothing, Redders was OK-ish (deserved an "assist" for Ings' goal). Not sure what else to say, not going to blame McCarthy for the goal, still have more confidence in him that Forster. Thought we looked reasonably calm and in control in defence, at least while we had our first choice 4. Romeu and JWP dictated the middle for most of the game, just possibly Romeu backed off a bit after his yellow, understandable knowing that Diallo is not fit yet. Armstrong was superb, his run for Danny's goal was absolutely brilliant. Ings looked to be back to his best, especially with his work outside the box and in defence. What else to say, we just were shocking when something went against us an couldn't shake ourselves out of it, and that is the real concern. We simply have to find a way of turning these defeats into at least draws. Getting past that 29 point mark is becoming a bit of an albatross round our neck. I don't think we will get sucked into a relegation fight, but while we are still not past 30 you have to say that mathematically you cannot be certain, who is to say we will still not be there after our next 3 league games.

Much as expected, Ralph had hinted that Redmond was going to play in the striker role. I know he got some stick for the Cup game in midweek, but if you just watched the highlights you would actually think (mistakenly) that he had a good game. Would still prefer Adams, I think left sided midfield is somewhere we really need to improve in the summer, we can do better than Redmond/Djenepo.

But we have. If he has a good loan spell then he becomes more of an asset that we could potentially sell. If he doesn't play he won't get in the shop window, and if he has a disaster then his stock would be even lower.

Its what Dad's did. To be fair he never took much interest in footy after he left the Navy which was a year or two earlier, think he used to go to Nottarf Krap with his mates when he was younger, probably either side of the War. Most of my Mum's family (on the Isle of Wight) were Pompey supporters although one or two would go to Pompey one week and Saints the next. Dad actually came from Burley in the New Forest and his grandparents lived in Newtown (Bullar Street) just over from St Mary's (his Grandad was landlord at the Antelope Hotel when Saints played at the Antelope Ground in the 1890s) so there was actually good reason for him to be a Saints supporter, but I guess he hooked up with the Skates because he lived and worked there from when he was 15.

They are both left-sided CBs. Seriously doubt they would work together. I know some (on here) that scoff at this concept, but time and again it is proven to be the case. Two left-sided CBs do not work. Salisu was brought in to play on the left side, and at the time Vest was playing like a donkey, so seemed a good call, to balance up our defence. But with the new improved Vest Mk2 I don't see Sally Sue getting a look in. My opinion, we will see. I also don't think he did enough tonight to warrant dropping Bednarek or (controversially) Stephens. He did well, but it was no worldy performance.

Shows the difference KWP and Armstrong make to our game, Chalk and cheese tonight with them back. Need an upgrade on Redmond, really has lapsed back into the hopeless category. Salisu did OK, but got caught out twice, can't see him replacing Vest though and can't see them playing together, still good to know we have a decent backup if injuries come back again. Good win.

We have some hope with KWP and Armstrong back, pace on the wing and drive and some guile in the centre, hopefully they will both be firing on all cylinders. Would have played Adams rather than Redmond, but at least he is an option and a good one off of the bench

Unlike MLG my reply was meant to be humorous. Ceefax was definitely a thing by the way, 1974 it was launched. Of course we didn't have it on the Isle of Wight until much later 😉

That's what Ralph said in the Presser, but later pictures from training (for Thursday) clearly showed Stuey which gave rise to the idea that he might be available after all. Mind you the pictures also showed Minamino despite him being cup-tied.

He didn't actually sign for us on 11 Feb 1980 either, it was announced that he would sign and join us in the Summer of 1980. His transfer must have happened some time later. He actually made his debut on 23 July at Lansdowne Road in a friendly against Shamrock Rovers. So other than it wasn't 40 years ago today and he didn't sign, good shout. 🤣 I have only a vague idea where I was 40 years ago today, probably working in Bracknell, but cannot be sure. I know 41 years ago today I was in Maryborough in Queensland but I may have been asleep by the time the announcement was made, probably did not hear about it until at least the next day, probably a while after that in them there pre-internet days.

Or it could be that the vast majority of people acknowledge he is a good player, would be a big loss for us - but are (fairly) pointing out that since the contract thing has come to a head he has been injured and had Covid and that this is the reason for his poor form. Why can't people listen to, understand and believe Semmens and what Ralph has said. I know we have had problems in the past with the Club not telling the truth but there is no reason so far to doubt Semmens and Ralph. The bloke is recovering from injury and illness.

Scored on his debut for the u21s against Liverpool (forerunner to the B team/u23). Played 4 times in all.

To be fair there haven't been any opportunities. Apart from Sunday (when he was presumably still away with the 1st team) there has only been 1 B team game since the beginning of December, and he wasn't back in training before that one (West Ham on 29th Jan).

2 points dropped from a winning position 🙂 The young lads are matching up to the first team style (only good thing about last 2 first team matches, is that we haven't added to our total of points dropped from winning positions)

Looks like we are making some attempt to hijack Ahmed Musa's move to WBA. I know he's not a full back (striker) but interesting that we do seem to be interested, but sounds like money is the issue for us like it is for Big Sam. So maybe we are still on lookout for a free agent after all, just not at FB. No idea whether the sources are good or not.

The negative passing is not the issue. That is the way we are set up to play, move the ball around waiting for an opportunity to open up/be opened up by off the ball movement, and then getting that trigger to launch a fast attack. The problem is that the quick attacks are not happening, so it looks like the players at the back are just aimlessly moving the ball around. For the last few games we have lacked any sort of quick, incisive movement in MF/up front, no energy, this was happening before "that" game but people got sidetracked because of the refereeing issues. Admittedly yesterday the pitch didn't help, but we have lost all energy from MF upwards. Maybe it is partly because we have lost KWP who is the chief provider of the fast outlets, along with Stuey. Also Ings is completely out on his feet, and isn't providing the energy, dynamism and creativity that is such a huge part of his game, I'm convinced that he has not really recovered from his injury before Christmas and then his subsequent Covid illness. He is operating at 80% (blaming it on looking for a move is bullshit in my opinion), having an Ings80% is still better than any other options hence he is playing but I think it will be a while before we see him back up to his early season standards unfortunately, his frustration is there for all to see. Unfortunately Ralph's tactics are a bit one-dimensional, and they can be seen to be a problem on heavy pitches especially where we cannot zip the ball about. We don't have anyone with enough guile to make play differently especially when Armstrong is out. It might be a while before we get back to winning ways yet, but I do think the key is getting KWP and Armstrong back fully fit.

Haven't actually worked how he is an Aussie. Born in London. Did he grow up out there or something?

Oriol only missed the last game after he came back. I get the feeling that KWP is the least likely to feature. We have to play Romeu if available, but I would not risk Vest, when we have others who are not only available but also keen to put right what happened the other night. Hopefully he won't drop Mccarthy, though he could, I'm sure Forster would like to play up there. Destroyed Gunn when he got dropped after the Leicester debacle.

Red card overturned. Thank goodness there are still some sensible people at the FA/PL

Who is this Kanye Ramsey? Is he a rapper or something?

Don't be silly. We'll also be remembered for losing the largest number of points from a winning position since Ralph took over. We are reminded of it every game, even the ones where we haven't taken the lead.