VectisSaint

Given Ings is expected back in training tomorrow (according to Ralph) and assuming that he hasn't actually suffered too much in terms of symptoms, I would at least put him on the bench for Leicester, after all we don't have another PL game for 10 days.

Tella missing as well. Reckon that might mean Long. Our bench will be interesting, do we have to name 9 players?

You missed all the stuff about fluid on the knee then. If only Ings is out with Covid following the Liverpool game and the goal celebrations then we can probably count ourselves quite fortunate. Blackmore doesn't rule him out completely. I did wonder when all the fuss was going on about the Shrews FA Cup tie whether there was something going on at Saints that was making a resolution less simple than it might otherwise have been. People were flinging stones at Shrewsbury ignoring our glass houses.

Whatever happened to him (I assume he was a him)? Predictions of 17th would be good for a laugh this season.

The Football League have jumped all over Grimsby, not the Football Association. Different organisations for different competitions. Grimsby is irrelevant to the Shrewsbury situation.

Incoming from Waterloo. We could nickname him Bomber.

Nile Ranger is hardly an example, he's not one of our own for a start, he was only in our Academy for about 12 months, several weeks of which he spent in a young offenders institution for nefarious activities in which he took part before he joined. He was previously at Crystal Palace. Played over 50 times for Newcastle. Other players "rejected" by Saints in our Academy include Dennis Wise, Kevin Phillips, Tyrone Mings and indeed our own Danny Ings, all of whom seemed to have or are having decent careers following their rejection. Should we also class Harrison Reed or Matt Target as rejects? Both playing regularly in the Premier League, and both earned us decent transfer money. But David's point is a good one, a large proportion of (at least our older) Academy players go on to have a decent career in professional football, albeit not at the same level as they might have hoped. I think the Academy system really doesn't work the way it is intended, most of these guys would have played regular football at a lower level "in the good old days", the Academy system holds back all but the very best kids because it is so difficult to break into senior football, especially at the PL or Championship level. Personally I would scrap Academies, they do not work as intended for the vast majority of youngsters, but I don't know what the real answer is.

You realise that applies to Bertrand as well. There are still 2 games before the number of yellows before a ban increases to 10 (it doesn't reset), Leicester and Leeds.

Would be shocked if Romeu doesn't come straight back in, unless his injury is not completely cleared. One of our best players this season, and best in the PL according to some metrics. Ralph likes to keep partnerships together (Romeu/JWP) as much as possible, and while he also doesn't like changing a winning team, he does when someone has dropped out through injury. Diallo looks good (I don't quite go with some of the rave reviews of the Liverpool game, second half especially I really wish we had OR in there), and actually think he suits the JWP position more than the Romeu one (but can't see JWP being dropped).

This would be the rules announced on 1 December, which were presented to the Government by the governing bodies in November.

We should rest KWP and Bertrand to make sure they don't pick up a suspension 😉

Will McCarthy be available, and fit to play?

... although we have more points now than we did then

How many subs can be named on the bench? I believe 6 subs can be used (5 during normal time and one in extra time, hopefully won't apply). Play the strongest team but with Forster in goal and maybe Diallo for Romeu given the latter was not fit enough for last night. Use subs as soon as comfortable or after 60 mins or so. Resting players is not an issue, we have a week after this before next game. Starting XI: Forster, KWP, Bednarek, Stephens, Bertrand, Diallo, JWP, Armstrong, Walcott, Adams, Ings.

Romeu out, where did that come from?

They don't need to wait for Parliament to debate, the coronavirus bill passed back in March allows the government special legislative powers. I suspect elite sport will not be affected, but who knows.

They can demand what they want, but if no-one is willing to pay it they are unemployed.

There were urinals at The Dell? In the Milton End? Blimey, wish someone had told me at the time 😂

I would suggest this was why Matt Crocker was brought in. I don't think the Burnley comments are too wide of the mark, though a little harsh. The last 5 or 6 years the Academy, at the top end at least has been really disappointing. Think there are signs of good talent coming through now at the U18s level, but many of our better young players recently have been recruited from other clubs, not home grown (or Bath satellite, if it still exists). Players we have developed also don't necessarily fit Ralph's style, and that is difficult to solve in the short term.

I think maybe you are over analysing and completely missing the point.

Most, and doesn't even include Bill Shankly or even Matt Busby who were huge personalities, especially Shanks. Reason you didn't get managers in your face during TV coverage in the 60s was because of the limited number of cameras in use, BBC and ITV basically showed the action because they didn't have access to much else, nowt to do with not showing personality managers.

I didn't say he did anything wrong, far from it. But he isn't a touchline coach, very important, underappreciated assistant to Ralph, who doesn't appear to welcome the limelight. At least he kept Dave Watson out of the picture.

Richard Kitzbichler will be relieved. Great guy but he was out of his comfort zone the other night.

Sad day, an important part of our greatest day. Like others have said never had a bad word about us winning in 76. One of the huge manager characters of the 70s/80s. RIP Tommy Doc.

They've been sussed. Hopefully Klopp won't come up with a Plan B before Ralph. 🤔