The Kraken

On paper, can see why Diallo is being given a go. Personally (against the top sides) I’d prefer Romeo and Romeu at the sitting midfielders with JWP a bit more free. But, as said, it seems that’s likely never going to be an option any more 😪 Interested to see how sharp Perraud is. It’s no secret that Ralph wasn’t his biggest fan last season, he needs to leave no doubt that the LB spot is his ( although it’s not as if we’ve got much choice at the moment). The lineup is one for while we’re winning or drawing, if we’re losing its Mara and Aribo on for Diallo and Elmo.

It’s not any sort of surprise he’s gone, he gave interviews where he threw his players and the owners under the bus. Comments like “we’re under equipped at this level’, ‘we need some help at this moment in time’, ‘we’re not competitive’ and ‘we need new players for sure’ may be his honest opinion but they were clearly barbs at the owners for not letting him spend. It seemed to me like he’d been told he wasn’t getting much more money so he’s stuck it back on the owners and he won’t be too happy to take his pay off.

Thought that was Salisu…

I think this one is an outlier of the fact that ABK is new, we lost and didn’t score, and he was very much the stand out performer for both teams. If there’s interest in it I’ll keep doing MOTM threads through the season and keep a record of them, at the end of the season I can tally them up and we’ll see how that fares with actual player of the season votes.

It’ll be worse on Tuesday as there’s bound to be plenty of Chelsea in the home ends, and they’re about the worse for ‘letting you know’ that they’re in there.

The only place that’s getting safe standing at St Mary’s is the away end.

I don’t think it was bare earth. It looked like it, but at half time they showed close ups of it, the grass is mostly still there but just looked almost dead. The pitch also looked quite hard and bobbly to me, not sure how much they’re watering it while treating the fungus/rot.

I’ve had a look back for in on here but I can’t find it. It was asked by a female report from Be-In Sports, so won’t have been in the mainstream. She said something like “great performance, how did you not get something”, then said “lots of noise from the club and the fans that a striker is needed, what can you tell us, are you confident of getting someone?”, Ralph immmediately responded with a big smile and “yes, I’m confident…….I’m confident”. He then diverted to say all the team played well, made some good chances etc.

Good luck to him. The step down in division will help, as will not playing as a lone striker, as has been said he’s being deployed on the front left of a 4-3-3 with Burnley and looks like it’s paying off. The thing, had he stayed, would have he been pushing Adam Armstrong for that wide role with us? Tella looked bad in pre season but because he was being played up top on his own, and that’s not his game.

I don’t think it was 3, I think Adams handled with the third one when he was claiming for the first two. The first one was absolutely blatant though. The only good reason I could think that VAR didn’t give it was that it was outside the box, therefore not for VAR to look at. It was close but I think it was in the box, but that’s the only reasonable instance I can think of as to why the first handball in particular would not be given.

He’s 20. 21 in December. We should also remember that he’d been playing German league football for 4 years when we signed him, making 4, 12 and 28 appearances in Bundesliga 2 before getting promoted then playing 22 games in the first division. 66 league games in all. So he’s slightly different to the likes of Livramento and Lavia who have come in with little to none first team appearances, ABK has a decent amount of experience to him already.

Based on yesterdays performance alone, which part has he got wrong? That seems a reasonably accurate assessment to me. The fact that, with some decent finishing, we’re all saying how Saints deserved to get at least something out of the game kind of backs him up.

I feel we’ve already got one in Mara.

I’d like to think from Ralph’s comments after the game that whatever we are doing is almost over the line. He seemed extremely certain he knew that we’ve got a certain someone.

It’s no wonder that season ticket sales are way down. Our record at SMS was around 23,000, this season I believe we’ve sold less than 18,000. But then it seems that’s what the club wants, more day trippers. The fact you can even get through the home turnstiles while wearing away team merch basically sums it up. Away fans can do what they like, but it’s the awfully scary lads in blocks 1-3 who get the treatment. No wonder loyal fans get fucked off with that, especially when pretty much every game is available to watch online or on tv.

Yes, commentary said they did a VAR check on it while play continued. Listening to Peter Walton continue to waffle on about why it wasn’t a penalty just makes me have no faith whatsoever in referees. No wonder zero English refs were selected for the VAR team at the World Cup, the euros showed us that our lot are completely useless compared to their European peers.

I did have that video! I couldn’t remember who got that one but it’s on YouTube, it was Tony Currie.

Yeah, I’d have gone Lavia second no doubt. Just such a cool head in tight positions. There was a bit towards the end where United looked like they might break away down our left, Lavia was over so quickly to get in front of the defender and cut the threat out to get us attacking again. Quality player.

I’d disagree with that, I think. I get what you’re saying, but I felt comfortable when Aribo got the ball up front. He’s strong so can keep hold of it up there, he more than often doesn’t give it away, and he also had the header today which was one of our best chances. I think I read that when he was at Rangers he was a bit hit and miss but I like the look of him.

This was the point that was made, the mods aren’t likely to be around during match day to close down threads and start new ones, so multiple threads are always going to end up as a mess.

Let’s kick this off again then.

Exactly. United were poor today, they lacked most of the intensity they showed against Liverpool last week. Saints did very well to nullify them, but United were there for the taking. They look vulnerable at the back, their midfield got bossed, and Rashford should have been made to pay for a ticket, he was a viewer all day.

Agree with that. But I wouldn’t say that Lavia puts JWP in the shade, I’d say Lavia is much more naturally the defensive midfielder which gives JWP to get around the pitch a bit more, particularly in wide areas to ping crosses in. Lavia is definitely quality though. Im hoping our formation against sides around us stays at the 4-2-3-1, but with Mara instead of Elmo. Against the better sides we may go for Romeu and Lavia with JWP slightly forward of them, though I get the feeling Romeu is totally out of favour, I just hope we don’t accept any of the supposed offer(s) for him. ABK is a beast. He didn’t look all that on the right of a 3, he’s definitely at home in a two, felt very comfortable with him back there.

The Martinez tackle? Certainly would have liked to see that one again, defender definitely played the ball but also took out Adams with it.

It’s incredible the lengths he’ll go to, just to back up the ref’s decision. He’s there to provide an independent referee’s decision, but he can’t bear the idea of critiquing his old mates so makes some utterly absurd arguments to back them up. Today, he said a pen wasn’t given because of the proximity of the ball from the arm. I think that’s the point, Pete.