niceandfriendly

It's not irrelevant though. All those things can be true simultaneously. We were shite, I don't see many people denying that. It's also true that VAR is a farce at the moment and we've been royally screwed in recent weeks by some shocking decisions using the technology. It's also true that Mike Dean and most refs in the Prem are atrocious and massively, massively biased towards the big clubs. The sleeves, well ffs are you happy with sleeves being called offside? Wouldn't matter if the decision was going against us or against Crawley Town, that's pathetic and causing many to fall out of love with the game. And speak for yourself about not saying it when we win. There've been numerous occasions this season where we've benefited from a poor decision and it annoys me. Nobody wants to win via a dodgy VAR call. Just because we played shit let's not try and pretend there aren't massive issues with football at the moment.

Despite what I wrote there's a lot in there that I agree with from qwertyell. And Toussaint you're right too, I've edited my post so it reads "it's not entirely his fault". I'm sure he knows he has to take some of the blame which is why he's hurting so bad. We are far, far too weak holding on to leads, and did he really say that after the Fulham game? That we'd have zero chance of coming back from a goal down? I find that really hard to believe, but sadly I am inclined to. Still behind Ralph.

Such a shame as we'd be nailed on for a victory against Newcastle if we didn't have 478 players injured/suspended. Can only see a Newcastle win, which will in a strange way be more painful to take than the Manure thumping. Have we ever had an injury list this long? I certainly can't remember one, happy to be educated. I wouldn't mind seeing Forster come in, but that's not purely down to the 9-0, I've enjoyed watching him recently. Think it was harsh to drop him after keeping 2 clean sheets one of which being the champions. Perhaps something like this? Forster / Ramsay Tchaptchet Stephens Bertrand / Minamino JWP Armstrong / Djenepo Ings Adams Horribly weak at the back and in midfield. I'm tempted to say at least the front 3 is strong but Ings has clearly had his head turned, Adams is in bad form and Djenepo is very hit and miss. Hate to be negative but I feel this could be a really depressing afternoon. Get our players back fit and we'll be absolutely fine, no time to panic.

Feel gutted for Ralph, you can see how much this means to him and how much it hurts. It's not entirely his fault. He has to take some responsibility as ultimately he's the manager, and how we always absolutely capitulate after going down to 10 men is a great concern (we also struggle to break teams down when they go down to 10) but he's dealing with a threadbare squad and some woeful woeful refereeing decisions in recent weeks. He's turned it around before, he'll do it again. Seeing how sad he was during the interviews made me want to give him a hug. He loves this club and he's hurting like we are. We're behind you Ralph.

Mike Dean. Lee Mason. Edison Cavani. Old Trafford. Manchester f*cking United. You just know what's gonna happen. Is there a scummier team in world football?

Putting my personal relationship with Theo to one side, I totally agree with you on his decision making and it's something he is aware of too. Having said that if he can sign on massively reduced wages then a free transfer would be worth it.

He's 26? 😂 Thought he was 18/19 at most. Happy with the signing, we need anyone we can get right now.

Not lazy, you're right. Diallo actually looks quicker though 😍 Not sure Kante would have been able to catch Nketiah like Diallo did that time?

Lots of nice blokes on this forum/used to be on this forum. Minty is one of them.

Oh there was another one too with KWP. Can't remember what it lead to or didn't lead to, but he was given off when he wasn't. How the lino on the other side missed that punch of the ball by Nketiah I think it was I'll never know. So much of the officiating in football these days is utterly appalling. Not just against us of course, they're terrible everywhere for everyone.

Agree it was clearly on

Tell you what this boy Bednarek is turning out to be a brilliant signing. He's getting better and better and he's just signed a new contract too. His reading of the game is class and the amount of times he wins the ball cleanly on the stretch is impressive. Stephens deserves credit today too, he again played well, and with Vestergaard to come back we've got some solid options at CB. Speaking of brilliant signings, surely KWP must be up there as one of our best bits of business ever? What a player and such great value. Thank you Mr Levy. Diallo is only 21. 21! So much composure for a kid. What a player to have fill in for Romeu who might even find it hard to get back into this side, incredibly. Never expected to beat Arsenal in the cup. I'd have bet us winning Tuesday's game over this one, Arsenal seem to just win in this competition no matter what. Bloody brilliant.

Ralph has said it'll be a mix of young guys and experienced players. Think we'll see something like this: Forster Valery, Bednarek, Stephens, Bertrand JWP Diallo Ferry Chauke Nlundulu Long

Genuinely delighted with this news!

Ings at Villa, Adams after taking a boot to the noggin.

Frustrating defeat but understandable considering all the casualties. First half some excellent passages of play from us without the killer touch. Agree with Charlie Wayman that Theo is wasted up top. His runs from midfield are pretty much his only real strength at the moment so losing that damages us quite heavily. Upfront nothing sticks to him and he doesn't really threaten. Having said that first half he and Che linked up well a number of times. The foul on Diallo for their first goal was infuriating especially as the ref a) had a great view of it and b) booked Diallo for doing exactly the same thing about 2 minutes later. Ref wasn't totally horrendous but a few really really poor decisions. We didn't look threatening throughout most of the game and we didn't deserve to win that's for sure, Leicester had 4 or 5 great chances too. Agree with others that Bednarek was very good, and I also can't wait to see more of N'lundulu. Looks an absolute unit and when he beat a couple of men over on the far side he achieved more in 5 minutes than Long has offered in what seems like years.

couldn't have been a clearer foul to be fair

Thanks for this one, never used it myself. https://www12.eplsite.football/ = hit and miss https://soccerstreams-100.com/ = recently discovered and is very good

There will be some decent streams available around kick off if you're not able to watch on TV. Some links will appear on the match thread 👍

Diallo wow what a performance. Some player we could have, and as somebody just pointed out he's only 21! Jack Stephens had another brilliant performance overall. Someone pointed out he gave the ball away a few times but I thought as a team we did that quite a lot especially in the first half. He's filling in brilliantly for Vester, and if Salisu is "the future of Southampton" as Ralph said recently then we have 4 excellent options at CB. KWP. How we managed to get him from Spurs is unbelievable. He's getting better and better, such a class act. Proper throw back to see Forster in goal, reminded me of the Koeman days. If he's improved while at Celtic and under Sparkes then would be delighted if he keeps his position and goes on a run. Ralph, what a man. ❤️

Not only great blocks but silky on the ball too. Admittedly he did just play a shite pass

Stephens has been f*cking great tonight. Diallo good too

This is going to be a painful one. We're due a defeat and we've got too many players bang off form. 1-4 to those pr*cks.

Forgot to mention Theo who had a very good game. Not perfect, he still lacks a decent killer pass oftentimes but he was the only one running directly at their defence and was our biggest threat all game.

Stephens did well I thought, didn't expect him to be playing Vestergaard-type long balls all game and he played well overall like he did against Fulham. Yes, he made one mistake but Ings made about 50 and I don't see too many pointing the fingers at him. The amount of times we gave the ball away in promising areas was painful, everyone was at it. Moussa had a shocker, starting to worry about him and his future here. Bertrand, Ings, Che and Armstrong also had games to forget. And Long? F*cking hell. Honestly it's getting silly now. Nothing personal against the guy, in fact he's a really nice bloke having met him before, but why is he still playing for a Premier League club? He doesn't score goals, barely runs anymore, has lost his touch and doesn't threaten in any way shape or form. His foul against Ogbonna at the corner flag was just moronic. We need to start questioning Ralph's judgement on this one now. Can he really not see that Long isn't up to it anymore? I don't see too many people panicking or getting too down after a draw against a half-decent West Ham side, but it's true that our squad is looking paper thin and we clearly can't keep up our great form over a long period. Still having a great season, but we need to be careful as we could slide down the league quickly if we don't get over this mini-slump soon.