Sheaf Saint

Made a massive faux pas while watching the final with my Mrs last night. **SPOILER ALERT** During the final banishment, when it was obvious that Harry and Jaz would vote for each other, I turned to my wife and said "So it's all in Mollie's ha... ohh shit 😳 "

Is that ACE: Air Combat Emulator on the C64?

I only live a stone's throw from Bramall Lane so I'm taking my 9yo daughter to watch our game there tomorrow. I see there's an outside chance of going top if we win and other results go our way. I'm trying to look up the teams' relative recent form, but it's evidently hard to find info about the women's championship outside of the clubs' OSs. And we've only played 3 league games in the last 2 months anyway. Looking forward to it though. Anybody who watches regularly got any thoughts on chances/prediction for the game?

Exactly. If he had stayed there was a chance that SR might have decided he would be decent in the Championship and kept him on. The guy is a loon and was a total embarrassment to our club. Even if he'd managed to get a few good results if he hadn't been sacked when he was, there was no way he could repair the damage he had already done to his relationship with the fanbase. He had to go.

It took me a while to realise that the thread title is referring to the date of the game, and not some crazy odds being offered on us to win!

Then your definition of clear differs from mine. If it was the other way round, I would only say we were clear if we had a gap that couldn't be overcome by dropping points in a single game. Make no mistake, given how much we have closed the gap since mid December, Ipswich are the ones feeling the pressure now, not us.

Yeah it was a scrappy end, but I think Russ took a calculated risk, given that we had a 3-1 lead, to make some changes and give game time to players who need it. Stephens was at fault a couple of times with some very poor passes that led to Swansea chances, and Rothwell looked understandably rusty which meant we lost the control of the midfield we had until then. RM will have learned from this, and I don't imagine he will make those changes in tighter games against stronger opponents.

I wouldn't describe being one point ahead with a worse GD 'clear' by any stretch of the imagination.

It was only just over a month ago that we were 12 points behind Ipswich, and many on here had already written off our chances of overtaking them. Our form over the last 15 games is significantly better than that of Leicester, Ipswich or Leeds. Keep that form up between now and when we play Leicester at theirs on 16 March, and a win there could see us overtake them.

Obviously not, but it's still the same trophy is the point Vectis was making.

We can easily sub him for Stephens if it looks like he might get another one, and still maintain our dominance.

DOWNES! What a hit!

OK so an obvious handball from Lowe, shouldn't have stood. Still very poor defending though.

Arma should score there. This is relentless stuff. Swansea will be exhausted by HT.

Ridiculous in-game stats...

Sorted it. My AV was blocking it. Cheers for the link - great stream.

Doesn't load for me. Are you using a VPN?

So does this mean he is staying with us then? Or has his loan with us already been terminated?

I guess that all depends on whether or not you think we are capable of reverting back to how utterly dogshit we were in September. Our PPG since then is better than that of Ipswich (and everyone else in the division). If we had just managed to win one and draw one of those 4 consecutive games we lost (particularly the home game against Ipswich) we would already be above them.

And Small as well - Thierry Small recalled from St Mirren loan | Article | Southampton FC Official Site

Pretty sure we've played more than 6 games away so far, and lost at Sunderland and Boro (although we look a completely different team now than we did then). The important thing currently is that at least we're not losing the games we're not winning. But we should be winning more of them than we are though, I agree.

It's also a lot to do with the 5-0 defeat at Sunderland though.

One thing that's really stood out for me this season with JB is that he never seems to be caught badly out of position and then having to bust a gut to get in a last ditch block/tackle, like he used to with alarming regularity (and varying degrees of success) in the PL. The first thought that occurs is that he's up against inferior attacking players in this league, of course. But I wonder if it is also partly to do with now playing in a completely different system than he was being asked to under Ralph's management? I heard the taters mention on Saturday that he has had more touches than any other Saints player so far this season. Maybe he looked calamitous at times in the PL because he was just never really suited to that style of play, where we expected to have less possession than our opponents and he had less protection in front of him due to our high pressing tactics and, when Romeu wasn't playing, our inadequate DM options.

It's about how much of a loss you are allowed over a rolling 3 year period. Yes, we spent a lot of money in the summer 2022 and January 2023 windows, but we recouped all of it and more in the summer of 2023. The sales of Lavia, Tino, JWP, Tella and Salisu brought in over £170m. Obviously you still have wages and other costs to consider, but then you also have TV money and gate receipts incoming to balance that out. I don't think we are as cutting it as fine as some people are making out. At this stage, loans are just good business sense when the club will be reluctant to fork out large sums on transfer fees when it's unclear what division we will be in next season.

I'm certain he would be much more effective in this team in the PL than he was previously. He's playing in a system that suits him now, unlike previously when the whole team was devoid of confidence and he was either played as a lone striker or in midfield, and never given a decent run of games in either position.