Sheaf Saint

I would even have Stephens in ahead of Bednarek at the moment. He actually had a decent run of form towards the end of last season.

I don't care how accidental that is. It's a foul and should be a penalty. Was it even checked?

Fucking hell. That is just utter shit. Ings literally just gave them the ball. This is painful to watch. Just so, so shit I can't even begin to understand.

Has Forster ever saved a penalty? What was he even thinking diving on like that? Was only ever going to be one result.

Seen it so many times with Saints. Fail to score when on top and pay the price.

I said they ruled it out because they couldn't draw a line so stuck with the linos flag, and that's exactly what they have confirmed happened. It looked probably onside but the position of his arm made it unclear.

Ahem 😉

Fuck sake Saints will you wake the fuck up! This is pathetic!

Bednarek lunged in and made a mess of that.

Really poor start from us again. Taters bleating on about mistaken identity for the offside. Not a chance. I think they just couldn't get an angle with VAR to draw the line and went with the on-field decision. They are carving us open down our right side time and time again.

That wouldn't have even happened if Bednarek hadn't given away a needless free kick.

Of all the dreadful pundits Sky manage to find, I think Kevin Campbell is up there with the very worst of them. Him and Carragher together are pretty much unwatchable.

This is true, of course, but you need to factor in the fact that they are taught to play a very different style of football to the EPL as they develop at youth level. Obviously there are some very talented players to have come out of South America over the years, but very few of them have ever been successful in the PL.

I would like to think we have used up all our bad luck with injuries already this season, but I realise it doesn't work like that.

No, but it is precisely what the petition that the OP linked to is trying to achieve. Or have you just got on your high horse again without bothering to read it?

Barnsley continue their charge and consolidate their place in the playoffs. That would be a great away day next season if they get promoted.

Agreed. He does seem to be prone to picking up minor injuries though. Is this the 3rd or 4th time this season now?

I'll see that and I'll raise you... I can still remember most of this commentary word for word, as I bought the VHS of the season highlights that year and watched it over and over.

Already bought one. This was the current kit when I started watching Saints, and only last week I dropped and smashed my favourite coffee mug. It was meant to be.

And that was the game where he went off injured.

If we can get him on a free and reduced wages I would take him. Sure we could probably find someone as good if we wanted to spend the money, but he loves the club and seemed genuinely happy to be back, and we look a better side with him in it. Our massive dip in form coincided with his injury lay off. Just go easy on the length of contract, eh? Let's not be tying ourselves down to a 3-4 year deal for someone his age. 2 year deal max and I think it's a no-brainer.

I liked what I saw of Sam when he had his first team chances - what seems like a lifetime ago now. If he can get himself fit for next season then it would surely save us the need to sign a backup LB in the summer.

Apparently he looked decent good against the England U21s last week, so he must be a world-beater. In all seriousness, he could well be a tidy, capable player. But if RH thought he would fit his system then he would have given him more of a chance so far. He was only thrown in against Utd out of necessity, which suggests Ralph doesn't have much confidence in his ability to do what he wants/needs him to do. So if we can move him on and bring in someone who fits the bill better, it would be a wise move IMO.

They would be losing by a lot more if not for their keeper and some wasteful finishing from Everton.

I'm very much against sacking him. Yes things have gone badly wrong since January, but people need to realise that a lot of reasons for that have been outside of Ralph's control... The horrific run of injuries compounded by our inability to use our recovery facilities and the condensed season making it impossible for him to rotate the starting 11 and rest what fit players we had. The ridiculous run of bad luck with refereeing/VAR decisions which robbed us of points and sapped confidence. If this had been a 'normal' season, I don't believe for a second that we would have had that terrible run of form, and we would be easily top half right now and not having this discussion.