SNSUN

Is she as attractive in person as she is in the paper? #notserious

Thanks. I was aiming for Bedford Place but saw a few police cars up ahead so veered into Ordnance Road. Turns out a van crashed into the front of an estate agent.

What has been noticeable this season is that if we've gone a goal down (like at Spurs and in the FA cup game against Coventry) we don't let our heads go down and keep looking for solutions to the problem. That's a better mindset than we've had in other seasons where we would capitulate. Villa were simply too good for us last week against a weakened defence - we're not top 4 material and it happens sometimes. Some teams just figure us out better than others. Tonight will be a challenge but if our boys are up for it, we can beat them. Two hours left of work and I can get the hell out of here and think about getting my butt down to Southampton. For those in the know - I usually park at Eastgate but my mate wants to go to Brewdog after the game - is the closest car park Grosvenor Square MSCP?

The thing with Everton going down is they'll probably come straight back up and be a force again. However.... the relegation will be etched in history for all time. They'd finally have popped their relegation virginity for the first time in about, what, 70 years and there's no getting that back. I hope Burnley can be all Burnley and go on their traditional end of season run of form. It would keep the relegation battle interesting.

Agree, though the quality in depth exists in our full back positions. Bearing in mind that was accomplished with 2 full back signings in the summer (and Small as one for the future), the idea would be to strengthen the first team in other areas with the existing strong players still there e.g. Salisu. Keep Salisu (if possible extending his contract) and sign another top CB, and along with our full backs we'd have a top defence next season. IF we can keep Salisu that is. I'd upgrade the spine in the summer depending on budget. GK, CB, DM, AM, Str (if Broja loan cannot be extended) but that's a lot for a sell-to-buy club.

Let's dust ourselves off, put yesterday to the back of our memories, and concentrate on the next fixture. This is the re-arranged game that the blagged off in December when they couldn't buy a point. Instead they bought a load of reinforcements. That said it is the existing players that have done the most good to their recent form. This is tricky to call. We hadn't had much of our run of good form in December but on paper you'd have said we would have whipped them. Now I'm not so sure, especially with that defeat yesterday lurking over us. If Ralph doesn't panic, and keeps the same team as yesterday, I still think we have enough to beat them if we can sort the defence out. KWP back in please even if there's not much we can do about the centre backs (apart from adding Valery and going 3 at the back from the start but I think that would be the wrong move). I'm going to this game, and then the Watford game on Sunday, the first time I've made 2 games in a week since our last Championship season, so I'm excited and hoping for the best. 4 points wouldn't be a bad return from the 2. 3 points borderline acceptable - 2 or fewer would be poor. I reckon we could get 4 from both games, with a draw against Newcastle and a win against Watford. That said, the last game I attended this season was the dreadful home game against Wolves, so perhaps I'm a bad omen... 😲 Fuck it, Let's smash 'em.

They might want to take the scarves away from the fans that went lest they do something drastic with them...

TF that's over. Bad day at the office. Up the game on Thursday please.

Sod it I'd give Walcott a game at this rate. Can't do much worse. Give Smallbone some more experience too.

Still time to make the scoreline respectable. We were 4 up against Villa and they came back with 3 last season. I'd take that now.

No Salisu no party.

Typical timing as I'm at SMS for both games next week. Shit.

Spankage. Utter spankage

That'll be game over?

I'm not watching it but our possession stats are good so I'm guessing they're playing attack football at home? Shows respect for us if so. Still we aren't the Saints of old that roll over like we used to so fingers crossed we fight for this. Newcastle winning again. That will be tough on Thursday. Come on Burnley, keep the relegation battle exciting!

We could build a new stadium to house them properly in their own area. Now if only we had an idea of what the stadium could look like... ...perhaps not. Looks like a potty.

Sounds about right for someone that is going to be a top striker one day. It also makes the West Ham "willing to pay £25 million for Broja" gossip today make them seem very stupid. If he was going for that 'little' then even we would be involved. I still think our best hope of keeping him next season was another year's loan (with the promise of first team regular football like he's had exposure to this season) but now Chelsea's future is up in the air, I think they may cash in. He'd slot into most top sides - although perhaps not as an instant first choice striker. He is apparently a Chelsea fan so we'll see. He may want to stay put.

What a win. Yes I was one of those that was sure Ralph had cocked up with the starting line up (especially after scraping through the Swansea and Coventry games), but nobody is perfect! We started poorly and West Ham were dominant but the more chances they seemed to spurn, the more it looked like our back up team started to grow in confidence. Somewhere in the first half I had a look at both of our benches - ours strong and full of experience, theirs was poor and full of youth. That is what won us the game - our squad. West Ham started with their strongest team and couldn't bring on game changers. We brought on 5 of our first XI. I'm also pleased for Valery - often knocked as a bit of a dodgy right back, but he's now had to play centre back 3 or 4 times and has not disgraced himself at all. Maybe a career shift! That said I wouldn't particularly trust him to play there again against City, more because they'll dominate our defence so much more. Still without Lyanco, in the league he does provide a CB option that we otherwise wouldn't have had. Overall I thought we played well but we definitely got stronger the more first choice players came on the pitch. Perraud's goal was a great hit and something he's been threatening to do of late, the penalty decision was IMO a bit iffy but Broja played it smart and it's about time some luck went our way. JWP mixing up his penalty positioning bodes well for him too as keepers will be in second thoughts about where he's going to place it (usually to their right). Then there's Broja's goal which pure... Broja. A great finish. West Ham were poor - they looked shattered. I said in January not signing another striker would be their downfall and so it looks. My ratings (bearing in mind I was watching it on a crappy iPad mini at work...) - Willy - 6 - Flapped for their goal but otherwise looks OK and made a great instinctive save at the end which may have changed the course of the game. I'm 41 and creak A LOT so kudos to him for keeping fit. KWP - 6 - Not his best game of late, almost as if he was more reluctant to bomb forwards knowing Valery was at the back. Perraud - 9 - a player that seems to get better every time he plays. Definitely adapting to the Premier League and capped with a nice goal. My MOTM. Valery - 8 - Did everything that was required of him in a position he's basically learning on the job. Was pleasantly surprised even though he's shown he can play there already this season. He was the one I thought may cost us the cup run so he gets a bonus point in my ratings for being solid. Stephens - 8 - Organised the team well from the back and passing was decent too. JWP - 7 - Solid as ever if not as dominant as he has been of late. Diallo - 6 - I didn't think he had his best game. Some games he looks good and sometimes he looks a bit lost and this was one of the latter. Djenepo - 5 - He seemed to play better in a more central role when he was drifting in to the 10 position, I don't think he's any kind of wide player and he wasn't good here. Does he have a future? Unlike Moi who has improved since his signing, Djenepo has shown signs of regression. Smallbone - 7 - Another player I thought had a good game - decent passing, positioning was good, but as the second half moved on he seemed to lose some influence. AArmstrong - 6 - Worked hard all night with little reward. Seems quick but his confidence has definitely taken a knock. I personally think there's a player in there and if we go into next season with him as 3rd choice, I will be OK with that. Longy - 5 - I didn't really notice him much bar his little injury and then he was subbed off at half time. Subs: Livramento - 6, Romeu - 6, Armstrong - 7, Broja - 8, Redmond - 7. Ralph - 10 for having bollocks as big as basketballs. The two half time subs were spot on and every sub just made us stronger. EDIT: Oh and congrats @skintsaint - I've never achieved much in life but my daughter is definitely one of my successes.

This will be a test. Poor though Villa can be and good at other times, Gerrard is probably a better manager than Lampard and he has a better team at Villa than Lampard does at Everton at his disposal, so I'm expecting a tough away game for us. Villa's defence is perhaps what lets them down, so taking our chances again will be key. If injury rumours are to be believed, If we are missing KWP, we play Perraud, if we are missing Salisu then it's Stephens and Bednarek. Obviously there are other options for Moi but his recent form has been good so someone will have to step up. I thought Smallbone looked OK the other night - I'd like to see him given more opportunities as the season closes. We still haven't won 3 games in a row in the league this season (we rarely have since Koeman left) despite our excellent recent form so beating Villa would get that monkey off our backs. We have the talent too, as long as we take our chances and stop any brain farts. Villa, Newcastle, Watford, Leeds. If our recent form continues, that could well be another 4 from 4! Head says this'll be 1-1 - heart reckons we can beat Villa 3-1. I'll go with my head for this one curses. (The evil me would take a defeat here in exchange for a win on Thursday though if I was going to deal with the devil!!!)

It'll stop next week... I'm going to both the Newcastle game and the Watford game and the last time I was at SMS this season we lost to Wolves. Sorry in advance.

Ok last post and I'll use it now. At times West Ham have ripped us apart, but the longer that half went on, spurred on by GOAL OF THE ROUND from Perraud, we grew in confidence and actually started to look decent. It's far too early to dispel the pre-match worries but most of us would have taken 1-0 up at half time. I can see Ralph changing the shape at some point and going 3 CBs if West Ham continue to push us, and our bench is also freaking strong if the need comes to mix it up. We'll have to soak up a lot of pressure in the second half. IF, and it's a big if, we qualify for the next round, I will be amazed and delighted and retract all my pre-match statements!!!

Without reading the comments thus far on the line up, I can't see them being that positive! Willy is fine, Stephens is fine, but as decent a job as Valery has had to do at CB this season, he is not a frigging CB. Certainly not against a decent team in West Ham when we want to progress to the next round of the cup. If he gets MOTM then fair play and I will retract my comments but I feel like he's going to cost us a goal at some point... hopefully not worse. I can live with the midfield, JWP and Diallo is fine, Djenepo and Smallbone have a lot to prove, but Armstrong and Long in attack? That's pretty damn blunt. I'm not happy that he's taken a winning, in-form team and ripped it apart in a cup competition we should be prioritising. In both previous rounds he's done this and scraped by but personally I think this is a step too far tonight. I hope I'm wrong and we progress but this definitely smacks of us believing we can achieve bigger things in the league. Right, one post left tonight.... I'll save it until after the game when we've won 6 nil and I have to defend myself for looking like a negative tit. 😜

I'm working tonight so will be watching on an ipad mini. Elated. 🙄 Rotation is fine if done well, not like at Coventry. You can drop Fraser for Willy (if fit), Tino for Perraud, Bednarek for Stephens, Moi for, say, Redmond without a big drop in quality. Maybe even Broja for someone else if he needs a rest. It also depends on how serious West Ham take it. Oh and the game is on iPlayer and BBC Red Button.

What can I say although it was only around new years that we technically were in the relegation battle so... 😜 We also did bring in players that have helped. Tino's signing meant Perraud could bed in while KWP filled in... and we Brought in Small as Perraud's long time back up. Lyanco strengthened the squad at the back, and Broja, little did we know, was the striker we needed up front even after signing Armstrong. Also we can praise the improvement of existing players like Fraser, who is back to his 2016 best, Moi, the attacking midfielder we hoped we'd signed 3 years ago, and Che, who is starting to add goals a bit more regularly to his game. Heck even JWP keeps getting better. We are rightly where we deserve to be this season and let's hope we stay top ten. Then try to keep the squad together in the summer (sans Broja if we can't do another loan), renew some contracts, and bring in a GK, CB, AM and Str and we can try to do what West Ham are doing this season.

Caballero wasn't even on the bench against Norwich, Lewis was so even if he's back after his back tweak, I'd play Forster. Their right back area is a weakness without Coufal so I'd play Perraud to attack it and KWP on the right and, sorry Tino, bench him as an impact sub. Otherwise... same team please. This could go either way. They have a good midfield and our hands will be tied trying to keep Antonio quiet but I still think we can beat them if we take our chances and their keeper doesn't have a worldy. I'm going to say... 1-1 into extra time, Redmond off the bench to win it AET.