SNSUN

Liking the formation change, 5 at the back defending, 3 in possession. I know it hasn't worked before early on in Ralph's tenure but we have better personnel for it now. Also dropping our ineffective number 10s gets a tick from me. 3 eager strikers and Adams and Armstrong can play deeper to Broja. Good luck to Lyanco too. Liverpool will still maul us but at least Ralph had tried IMO. 3 nil Dippers.

I do this with a large group at work and... am crap at it. I rout for big teams to win early on but they have let me down the last couple of times I did it early on. So don't take my word for it when I say I think Arsenal, Palace and Brighton have good chances to win this weekend. 😀

I wondered why he hadn't been snapped up yet although I can only read half of that article. He could definitely do a job at Championship level when he's fit and he's still young enough to make a comeback if he can recover.

I must admit I'm not a big Dean Smith fan. Besides being a nice guy I fail to see the clamour for him. Just usual press bigging up the Villa-supporting manager of Prince William's favourite team when his transfer dealings have been iffy, overpaying for a lot of players, and failing to strengthen areas of their team that needed strengthening. He was definitely riding the Grealish wave and selling him (though that was out of his hands due to the release clause) has definitely caught up with him. He did well to get to a cup final but even Puel managed that, and obviously the promotion but with much better players than the rest of the division. I rate Chris Wilder higher than I rate Dean Smith (and Norwich are a week late for him!). Villa made the right call sacking Smith though, and I actually think Gerrard's appointment was risky but smart. Villa will probably be OK this season. I do think Dean Smith is a good fit for Norwich, nice guy at a nice-guy-image club, but Norwich lack much quality in their side for this division and they will go down. And as they are my wife's team, that pleases me slightly! 😈😈 Play Gilmour and they have a chance, but otherwise? Nah. New manager bounce or not, we should still be beating Norwich on Saturday. Our defence has been tight this season and we've shown attacking flair in recent weeks. I actually think this could be our first 2 goal margin-or-better league win of the season. 2-0 Saints in one of the rare times in recent memory that we've won 3 league games in a row.

So unlifelike. And my fans have never once questioned the lack of bog roll in the toilets. Sort it out MLG! 😀

It was inevitable after getting beaten by Saints. Norwich were so scared of us that they pre-empted it! Seriously I know that Villa fans quite like Smith, especially as he is a fan, but that team, even without Grealish, is underachieving. If I were Lampard, I'd be looking at Villa not Norwich.

The fact that we're nitpicking our long throws shows how much improvement we've made on the rest of the pitch! FWIW I rarely notice throw in takers, but what I do think Salisu needs to work on is his back passes. They were often poor and we're lucky McCarthy had the foresight to read them and come out. One of those could cost us one day if he's not careful. There was a marginal gains story I saw recently when Wimbledon employed a substitute coach to make sure the subs were warming up properly before they were needed, as they could potentially be the match winner if called upon. He says these marginal gains can help win football matches, and commented that the 3 players that missed the penalties in the Euro final had barely warmed up when they entered the field of play, which could have affected them mentally. Also Liverpool employed a throw in coach to make the most of them. I'm not saying that Saints should do either of these per se, but you'd think we'd practise anything that could potentially make a difference on match day. Maybe JWP's corners could be looked at as, short corners aside, the ones he plants into the box are quite 'samey', unlike the recent unpredictability of Redmond's, one of which we scored from.

Farke Off. Headline writes itself. Normally fear the new manager bounce but not so sure with Norwich. No doubt the new boss will play Billy Gilmour and he'll have a stormer, but I still fancy us to beat them.

Come on Saints, need to get back into this, Villa currently want it more. What a save! Ffs

Deep breaths Saints. Ride out the Villa storm and keep it simple. Great play Adams!

He’s been one of our best players this season. I agree that he’s been below par in previous seasons and I’ve been critical of him, but he’s definitely found a gear this season. Good to see Stu back, hope he’s fully fit and raring to go. We need a game from Elyounoussi too. Great looking bench if needed.

Yep, IMO as funny as Emery rejecting them is, and as funny as Howe's appointment would be considering the fans want a "name" manager, I actually think Howe might be a decent appointment in the meantime. It isn't like they can't afford to sack him later in the season if they need a new manager bounce, and he might play a brand of football that gets the best from the mediocre Newcastle players. Already the goal for them is probably securing safety, even this early in the season, and a "big spend" manager may not be the best way to go for the rest of the season.

Rumours are that Emery is to reject Newcastle, thinking they lack a clear direction. You can practically hear Geordie heads explode as they contemplate life under Howe. Not exactly the big name they wanted. I’m surprised they don’t go for Koeman, after all he has a 50% success rate with teams he’s managed in England!

Still baffling why they don't play Gilmour. He's looked decent when I've seen him. I think they miss Cantwell too but I heard him and Farke have had a bit of a falling out. Farke's 3-5-2 system effectively means leaving out their most talented players for workhorses and it doesn't appear to be working. Norwich back their manager but he's definitely taking them down again as it is. Having said all that, watch them beat us in November... 🙄😑

Villa could have a whinge if they lose this, seeing as they'll have had a day less to prepare, so it would definitely be sweet to keep the unbeaten run going. Learn how to convert chances and we will smash a team this season at some point, so let's hope Armstrong can find his shooting boots in this one.

Sure I used to think like this, but he's our top goalscorer alongside Elyounoussi with 4 goals in all competitions, despite playing fewer games than Adams and Armstrong. I like Adams and Armstrong but there's no point playing them in a slow slide to potential relegation if we have someone better at putting the ball in the net. Besides, we all know how Chelsea treat the majority of their youngsters, so keeping Broja sweet and playing him may benefit us in the long term if Chelsea ever decide they have no place for him there. I know they rate him highly, hence no sell on clause, but then I really rated Tammy Abraham and they decided he had no future there over Werner. OK, we may not be able to afford him permanently but that means he'll have been a success here. Armstrong I feel will some good eventually, and Adams works hard and has a decent pass on him but will never be a prolific goalscorer, so it's good to have a very good third option up top this year. With Tella and even Long on the books, we have good competition in attack this season. With our new improved defence there's no reason why we shouldn't make strides up the table this season.

A win would be insane. 😀 Seriously Watford are missing Dennis but King and Sarr are dangerous, King more so as his confidence will be high. Still, I don't think we've been in bad form and I tip us to get our first away win of the season today, even without Broja. 1-3 Saints, JWP on the sheet and Armstrong will get one.

I'm a JWP fan but he does have his limitations. Personally I think he's at the peak of what we could achieve for him price-wise, and I'd sell him for anything north of £50 million. Whether or not the club would want to sell Mr Southampton is another thing but his sale would really give us scope to strengthen the first team at a time when we're basically skint. I'm glad he didn't go to Villa, and I'm glad we signed a new contract, and part of me wants us to keep him, but I wouldn't fully begrudge him going to a cash-rich, ambitious Newcastle side as one of the 'marquee' signings they want to make. Besides, as people have said, with Diallo and Romeu in the middle of late, and with Redmond taking the corners (one of which Livramento scored from), we wouldn't necessarily be that worse off without him. £35 million? This is similar money that someone on here banded about in the summer when Villa were interested. Please! He's one of our most important players, an England International, heading into his peak as a footballer, reliable, consistent, with a good Engine, rarely ever injured, with a new long term contract, and versatile enough to play in a few positions. We would be grossly shooting ourselves in the foot for £35 million. Also I don't remember seeing Southgate say he's not good enough for England, he picked him recently and he played well. If I were Newcastle, sure I'd be trying to get him for that - but it isn't going to happen. His worth to us is north of £50 million towards £60 million whether Newcastle value him at that or not... that is the price they would probably have to pay, especially as everyone knows they have dosh to splash.

Yep this was my first thought. They'll want a big name manager to impress the fans and he's about as big a name as they can attract right now I'd say.

There was some speculation at the time that Sadio Mane would go on to be the best player in the world when Liverpool signed him, and while he's been brilliant he's been consistently overshadowed by Salah - who is perhaps now the best player in the world.

My trusty iPad has given up the ghost tonight so far as I'm stuck at work and it's normally reliable! I'll keep trying to get Sky Go to work. No goals yet so I'm not missing anything... ...oh it's working. Hurrah! Let the goals commence...

Cock, I was close to the right line up! Even before the game Walcott has me going FFS! Glad to see Smallbone on the bench and hope he can play some part. Pretty strong but we await to see how Lyanco gets on.

A guess at the line up though it is so tough to predict in a game like this, even though Ralph often likes to go strong. Forster Valery Lyanco Salisu KWP Armstrong Diallo Walcott (nah, me either but we're paying him so we should play him in this and keep him away from the league) Tella Armstong Adams Armstrong if fit but Romeu if not - we are definitely light in CM unless Smallbone is seen as a long term option there.

This would be the most satisfying win in ages... if we can get it. A draw would be tolerable, but lose now and result wise this would be worse than the Wolves game. Staying positive for the last 15.

Howe! Fucking hell some of you need to get a grip. There are better options than Howe if we were to get rid. Redmond has been one of better players last few games. Not saying much but still...