SNSUN

I can see Villa nicking this as Sheffield Utd should be one up. Even though I’m confident we’ll be safe from relegation worries, I don’t particularly want teams behind us creeping up. Sheffield United are probably uncatchable. Draw would be OK.

Looks good on my iPad Steve, nice work. (Also just checked on my phone too and it’s good.) I never used Tapatalk, just the site as it was and this is much better IMO. Now to get used to the new functions!

Did anyone go to Tucktonia in Christchurch? I have very vague memories of being on a little train there.

I would hazard an educated guess that there are a lot of casual foreign workers in London getting paid cash in hand. Illegal,yes, but if that stops they’ll either resort to crime or die. Which means non -essential travel, at least in London, will continue until greater measures are put in place.

As a Tube worker we’ve been told we’re not closing to keep ferrying the key workers around. The problem is staff are dropping like flies as they self isolate because they or one of their household have Covid 19 symptoms, and that is largely because they are coming into contact with customers despite posters advising the social distancing 2 metres and posters saying essential travel only. Luckily for me, as a Station Supervisor of one of the smaller stations, I can position myself in the office, minimising direct contact with customers. There have been a couple of incidents in the last couple of days on other lines than mine, involving customers collapsing with Covid 19 symptoms, which staff and other customers have obviously been exposed to. Rush hour this morning was a lot busier than I was expecting, I wait to see how busy tomorrow is. This is an unprecedented and unique situation. Unfortunately there will still be people out there that don’t respect authority and will flaunt the new guidelines.

On a personal level, is null and void for the season our best outcome? What happens to the goals Ings has scored for instance? Would they count against his career tally or be wiped? Besides stats, I can’t see a bad side for Saints, it’s not like we were that close to relegation. Are we screwed financially? Leeds not going up would be very funny, but my mate is a Fulham fan and he’d be ****ed off if they missed their chance for promotion. Personally my guess is the Leagues will be finished, just much later in the year. Then maybe skip next season and reset everything ready for the 2021-2022 season.

Relying on youth it is then - Valery and Ramsey as right backs, Vokins at left back, Jones and Klarer coming in to Centre Back, Reed back with Smallbone in central midfield, Tyreke Johnson, Sims and Tella in attacking midfield, and N'Lundulu and Obafemi in attack. What could go wrong! Seriously with the uncertainty over the Premier League, I hope the delays find us time to find a buyer, or we really will be in big trouble. I can only see us selling the big assets like JWP and Ings, and maybe Redmond, Bertrand and Hojbjerg and rebuilding from the funds with cheap players. What do we reckon we'd get? JWP and Ings should fetch around £60-70 million I reckon in today's market, and the other three maybe £50 million combined IMO. I can see us shopping in the £5 to £10 million market if we don't get investment.

I’ve just bought a black market ticket for this game, paid £1000. Looking forward to it tomorrow. Just broke up with the wife so she can’t object. Anyone fancy meeting me before the game? All alcohol is on me. Wait, what’s that? Postponed? ****.

Must win. Probably won’t but need Armstrong back to give us a chance. Ings really needs to start finding the net again or his England spot is in jeopardy. At the moment it looks like DCL and Greenwood could be ahead of him, as Southgate likes the younger player. I still think we are one win from safety though we appear to be limping over the line.

McCarthy having a Kelvin-Davis-against-Leeds kind of day. A 1-0 win beckons?

Going to take a miracle to win now. Shane Long really needs to run for everything.

^should proof read my posts. TheN, BeSt, Are

He has talent though, I’m secretly hoping he signs a new contract in the summer and stays, the tears the league up next season. He still has his bets years in front of him. However I do think, with one year of contract left and him largely been a bench player this season, he’ll be sold. Still, we might get a good performance or two out of him before then, maybe today. Redmond and Armstrong and safer hands in the wide positions but Djenepo and Boufal are the X Factors. Should certainly make exciting viewing for the spectators.

Yep, more optimistic about this line up than I was for last week’s against West Ham. Valery over KWP we can only think he’s impressed in training but again better to develop one of our own. Ings to score today, I can feel it.

I still give him a chance. It takes a while to get the Harry Redknapp stink out of things.

They’ll be set up defensively but have attacking weapons which is why it’s puzzling they struggle to score goals in the league. I’d like to get one over on a Bruce team. McCarthy, KWP, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, JWP, Hojbjerg, Djenepo, Boufal, Long, Ings. JWP back in midfield please. I’ll take any kind of victory.

The Skate goalkeeper has a very apt name...

This season was always about surviving, while trying to improve on last season. We look set to do that, anything extra is a bonus. We’ll have had a mixed season with extreme lows (spanked first day, 9-0) and comparable highs (run of form, victories over top six clubs, Skates demolished) but signs are there that bit by bit Ralph is learning his players, learning his trade better (ditching a formation that wasn’t working and having faith in his own system) and could quite possibly keep building the team for the better. We just need to keep offloading the poor signings and hope that incoming transfers are better than previous summers. West Ham are fighting for their lives, and the minute I saw the line ups yesterday I thought we were done for. On paper they have a decent team, just mismanaged. Watford likewise, it’s likely both those two will escape relegation. (Norwich, Villa and Brighton for me.) Newcastle and Norwich to come, 3/4 points from those should see us over the line. Few pluses from yesterday, but Obafemi scoring continues his development at least in terms of confidence. At one point it seemed like we could have got spanked more, so keeping the score line down was also important.

Need the first goal today to un-nerve them. Don’t get that and we’re in trouble.

Their team looks decent on paper today. Absolutely would take a point if offered now.

Resting Ings? Odd decision. Need a performance from Obafemi then.

7 of Brighton’s next 8 games are against top 8 opposition. They need to win today. Would also do us a favour keeping Palace at bay.

Stat of the day as I blindly search through Transfermrkt: Shane Long has played against West Ham 8 times and Danny Ings 7 times, and neither has yet scored against them. Good time to break a duck. I can only assume the line up with be: McCarthy, KWP, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, JWP, Hojbjerg, Armstrong, Boufal, Ings, Long. (Subs: Gunn, Valery, Vestergaard, Romeu, Smallbone, Adams, Obafemi.) West Ham fans on KUMB oddly confident about this game, saying we have nothing to play for. We’re 7 points off 5th. We have everything to play for, especially if City go tits up. Thankfully even in games we’ve lost this year, we’ve played well, so I expect Hasenhüttl to keep the team focussed. Redmond and Djenepo are losses (if Djenepo is out) but in Armstrong and Boufal we still have creativity. I’d take a draw but this team post-9nil is good enough to win.

If hypothetically Boufal, Djenepo and Redmond were all out, we’d still have a couple of options besides Armstrong to play in attacking midfield, excluding youngsters. There’s JWP, who used to play further forward on occasion in Pochettino’s system (assuming he’s not needed at right back), and Che Adams can also play as a winger as he did on occasion for Brum. But Boufal is fit so expect him to start.

The site keeps telling all my devices to reset the clock! And that it wants to steal my financial information. Well I have a piggy bank with £32 in if it really wants to know.