BARCELONASAINT

well those of us that did watch the pre-season games and paid any attention are not surprised about the formation at all. The only slight surprise is some of the starting 11

this is the formation we used all pre-season.....not sure why anyone is surprised with todays?

I dreamt last night that we drew 0-0 against the Spuds. To be honest i would happily take that result today. Trying to remain optimistic despite our horrendous opening day record.

Saints are playing AFC Totton tonight in a friendly and the flyer for the game says we are taking a mix of first team, new signings and reserve team players! Personally would be amazed if any first team player featured so close to first game of the season. Should imagine fringe players and possibly our new striker as he can't be anywhere near being ready for the starting 11

you do understand i was just pointing out our starting 11 is in my opinion still at least 3 players short of the quality we need. Nowhere have i criticised our new owners and what they are doing. I'm very impressed in the back room talent we have and confident this is the start of a new an exciting era. Never played FIFA in my life.

absolutely this! We are short of an imposing EXPERIENCED CB, an exciting attacking and creative winger and a real goal threat of a striker.

Just back from the game, first half we were ok but again lacked any creativity. McCarthy can't kick for shit and should be nowhere near the starting 11. Second half not sure what Ralph had said at half time but it worked from the off, we were sharper, hungrier and pressing Monaco all over. Pleased for Adam Armstrong. Stu Armstrong, JWP and Aribo absolute class, these 3 are our game changers!

looking forward to seeing the new lads play tonight but please not Lis. Monaco have played more pre-season games than us and have had a good pre-season so far and will be more than a good test for us. I don't want to see RH dicking about with formations and experimental positioning of players 2 games before the season starts. He should know what formation he is going with by now and know who his starting 11 are. Give them the minutes they need.

tell me how many chances against a Championship side we created for our strikers??? My point is at the moment we could have the best strikers in the world and it would not make any difference as we are not creating any chances for our strikers. Elynousi, Djneppo created nothing. We rely on JWP and Stu far too much We really need to address our lack of creativity

having watched all three pre-seasons game one thing is glaringly obvious, it does not matter who we have up front, we could have harry Kane and he wouldn't have barely touched the ball. We totally lack any creativity for our strikers to feed off. Adam Armstrong did nothing wrong, he worked hard and irritated the hell out of Watfords defence. Che barely touched the ball and looked utterly pissed off with the lack of service despite the runs he kept making. We really need to address the creativity area or we are in for another frustrating season.

there were some decent second half performances from the under 19s tonight. Loved Delap's little cameo, great speed and strength to hold off the defender and then to get the shot in that the keeper couldn't hold. He does look like he would fit our style.

This is all a moot point, we are not selling JWP and he is not interested in leaving. We are building our team around 3/4 players and he is key in this. Unless something goes horribly wrong i can honestly see him being a one club man.

The striking area is the one that is really worrying me the most, we have Che Adams (not prolific by any means) Longy (could not hit a barn door if his life was decided on it) Tella (who is better at assists than scoring) and Adam Armstrong (who if rumours are to be believed is off after failing so far) I'm not counting Redmond (he's no striker) or any unproven kids from the age groups below. We are frighteningly short of any real quality upfront and need a minimum of 2 strikers and preferably 2 that will score goals every now and again!

All this talk about Ralph being awful man manager and alienating not only players but staff as well begs one very serious question??........why on earth have our new owners decided to back such and awful manager and person when they are have clearly shown they are happy to get rid other members of staff just like that. Ralph is just a member of staff not God and if our new owners thought for one minute he was the problem he would be gone and NOT being supported the way he obviously is. Just saying!

If West Ham are in for Broja at the fee being quoted on the other thread and Saints are not it surely begs the question why not? Did he fall out of favour with Ralph and Saints don't particularly rate him now or what? Surely the fee being quoted is not out of our range?

Was an absolutely brilliant performance tonight on the pitch (ok stage, that was on the pitch) Can't remember the last time i enjoyed myself so much at ST Marys

Agree with Dman regarding the players on view in the AFCON. I have been watching the competition and the standard is truly awful. Awful pitches, awful refs and some absolutely awful footballers on show. I normally watch this competition and come away thinking this player or that player would be a good gamble on.....not this tournament. The match that summed up how bad this tournament has been was Cameron v Comoros. How the host nation and favourites for the tournament struggled to win against a side with no goalkeeper and reduced to 10 players after only 5 minutes was quite shocking, such poor football on display.

nope, hands up i got the chess players date of birth confused with our new owners. Our new owner is 57 and therefore in his 30's during the period you mentioned and could have been doing anything at that age. I would like to think he was in no way involved in anything horrendous during that very sad time.

He's only 41......born in 1980, i doubt he was running around doing anything massively dodgy in his teens.

Just got back from the game. No one can say the team are not playing for RH, they absolutely left nothing out there today. Very well set up. Full credit to RH and the team and full credit to the fans that lifted the team through that last 15 minutes of torture.

And if you are going you have to register on the Saints website with your membership number as attending because of covid restrictions and receive your confirmation email from the club and then be prepared to show that AND your NHS COVID pass to get into the ground!

not a chance we would buy Ali and not a chance he would come here. He played yesterday for Spurs and looked half decent and very unlucky not to have scored. Ali, Son and Kane tore Liverpool apart up top, they just couldn't handle them are very lucky Spurs were so wasteful. Think Ali will feature far more for Spurs now......and if he doesn't i wouldn't be surprised to see him end up at Newcastle.

http://www.hesgoal.tv/watch/sport-tv-1.htm

it really is difficult to be optimistic because Saints let us down so often just chucking away winning positions like no other team out there, failing to win for 2 years when Stu Armstrong has been out of the team and our record at home against Brighton recently. Heart says 3-1 win Saints Head says 3-1 win Brighton

went to Liverpool at the weekend and saw a very forgettable performance, left 20 minutes before the end of the game and headed for the town centre to drown our sorrows. A really crap weekend got worse yesterday when 2 out of the 4 of us that went tested positive for COVID. Feeling really shit so my expectations for tonight sum up how i feel, another shit performance and another loss with bizarre team selections and subs.