Sheaf Saint

I don't think it's even that. I think they know damn well that the events of recent years will make them completely unelectable for a generation, and what we are seeing now is a last desperate smash and grab to transfer as much wealth as they possibly can to their donors before they disappear into the political wilderness after the next election.

When my wife has to split the washing in the laundry basket into two loads and doesn't bother to make sure that no odd socks get left for the second load, forcing me to put clean but unpaired socks back in my underwear drawer.

Indeed. Since it was explained that the reason we utilise them is because we tend to win the second ball, I've watched carefully and it seems to be true. Very rarely do the oppo manage to clear it properly first time. The problem is that a) it leaves Salisu badly out of position if we do give it away and b) we don't have anybody on the pitch who has the slightest idea what to do with the second ball once we've won it.

Redmond contributed far more in his time here than Ely ever has or ever will. If I absolutely had to choose one of them to play, I would choose Redmond every time. At least he occasionally looked decent. Ely never has. Not once. Ralph's obsession with playing him every week is very troubling. Was it Einstein who famously said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"? If that were literally true then Ralph would have been sectioned by now.

Perhaps it's time for a new poll on sacking or keeping him. Will be interesting to see how far he has pushed the fanbase.

He has shown that it can be much better though, so I'm just gonna put that down to a bad day in the office. He wasn't the only player to have one last night. Having slept on it, I think I'm now in exactly the same boat as @trousers, I've run out of benefit of the doubt cards with Ralph now. Some of the decision making last night was just indefensible. How the actual fuck can a supposedly competent, experienced manager continue to persist with Moi when it os so blatantly obvious to literally everyone else that he is hopelessly out of his depth at PL level? It's beyond parody. How can he continue to try the JWP/Diallo CM partnership when it has been shown time and time again that they are just far too lightweight as a pair and we just surrender any control of the midfield with them in that formation? Why take off the only forward player who is likely to make anything stick up front and bring others into play, while keeping the completely ineffective ones on the pitch? Sorry Ralph. I've been one of your most optimistic supporters for a long time, but you've lost me now. I've finally had enough of you fucking it up, week in week out, while throwing your players under the bus and refusing to take responsibility for your own shortcomings.

I'm wracking my brains and the only positive thing I can say about tonight is that at least we managed to restrict Villa to only 25% of their goal tally against us in the same fixture last season. That's literally all I can come up with.

Ralph looks lost, like he's confused how we've lost that.

He did. And don't call me Shirley.

Moi finally comes off. On 78 minutes 😐

We look slightly better since the subs, but still not laying a glove on them.

Seriously, how the fuck is Moi still on the pitch? I haven't seen him make a single decent contribution to our attack yet all season. An utterly hopeless waste of a shirt.

So can someone please explain to me how the two players in offside positions are not interfering with play?

Surely if VAR can check for a possible red card if the ref missed it, they should be allowed to say no red but you at least need to give a yellow. Just another absurd aspect of how VAR is implemented.

That is an awful challenge from Bailey. How does he not get any kind of card for that?

AMN isn't. Injured? or just not ready?

It does, but not really down to anything out of the ordinary on his part. The defenders just backed off and invited him to run at the box, and the keeper should have done better with the final shot. There was nothing exceptional about it really.

6.31 Close enough

Breaking news!!!

When asked about the energy crisis, Truss kept bleating on about building new nuclear power stations. How the fuck is that going to help people this winter? Does she have any idea how long it takes between making the decision to build a nuclear plant and actually getting it online? I also noticed how she deliberately didn't respond to the point about the sewage discharges. Could that possibly be because she knows she has shit on her hands as she was the Environment Secretary that slashed the EA's funding and effectively allowed the water companies to mark their own homework?

Not even half way through September and we've had two managerial casualties already. That must be a new record.

Claus Lundekvam David Prutton Graeme Le Saux (with us, at least) Iain Dowie

Yeah I don't think there's anything in it. I believe some people clocked the fact that he was dropped around the time the Daily Mail leak occurred and put 2 and 2 together. Then a few others picked up on that and then heard the same thing from others, and all of a sudden it's an 'official' rumour doing the rounds. He does come across a bit sulky on the pitch though. More than once I've seen him make an error and then mouth off to his team mates about it.

A talented player with a great ability to dribble the ball into good positions, but not the slightest clue what to do with it when he gets there. Clearly fallen massively out of favour this season. Whether that's purely football related or due to off-field issues is uncertain, but it's obvious he has no future at Saints. Good luck in Turkey Nathan. That goal at Fratton Park will live long in the memory.