SNSUN

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.

Anyone else nervous? We've not been at our fluid attacking best tonight. I'll take a scrappy 1-0 but all it takes is one Norwich attack... Still, this man could change things. Not sure who I'd have for MOTM though, Romeu or KWP. Romeu probably. Or Angus Gunn for them. 😶

I remember Ostenstadt scoring one on his arse too. Scrappy goal but they all count. Another drunk baby for luck.

Some excellent passing early on, one moment of danger from Norwich and then it's gone a bit scrappy. Norwich will like scrappy. We need to put one away to open this game up - a draw would be a good result for Norwich but they'd love a win - the sooner we deflate them the better. If they score first I worry we'll have to break down a team that parks the bus. I'm not bringing the nuns out so here's a drunk baby for luck. Let's see if it works.

Don’t Chelsea have first dibs anyway? Aside from the obvious points that - we can say no and why would he go somewhere he won’t play when he’s “as good as” first choice with us...

He's a good striker for where we are in the league and he's in good form. He's a hard working, unselfish player that leads the line well, has a bit of pace and definitely has an eye for a good pass. The downside is his finishing and perhaps consistency but if he was a 20 goal striker he wouldn't be with us very long. He's definitely improved since being picked for Scotland, similar to how Brereton Diaz seems to have improved at Blackburn having been picked for Chile. He's worth the money we paid for him, in the summer where a few Championship strikers were pilfered by the Premier League. (Maupay, McBurnie, Sessegnon, James, JRod, Ayew) and was overshadowed at the time by the signing of Ings. Let's hope Armstrong can come good in time.

My wife (Norwich fan) failed to rub their victory in my face earlier in the season (the fool) so I've promised her if we beat them on Friday then I won't do the same! 😈 Honestly for all the improvement Norwich have made under Smith, I still think defensively they're frail and they're still relying heavily on Pukki up front to get the goals. We have it in us to beat someone heavily soon, so why not Friday under the lights and live on Sky. Same line up unless Perraud can come back in. 3-0 Saints.

No Vardy no party. Poor transfer dealings have cost them.

15 points from 13 games? That's almost relegation form, possible but unlikely unless we lose JWP and Salisu etc to injury against Norwich OR hit the beaches early. We'll get above 50 IMO starting with 3 against Norwich.