S-Clarke

Thrust into this situation because we were obsessed with finding the next 'Tino', should never have gambled on a keeper as we have. You can do well with young players, but not in the critical area's such as GK, CB and ST. We've just sold these kids up the river and they're drowning sadly. He may be a good keeper in time, but as of now he doesn't seem capable of making any saves. Any shot on target and it's in.

A really poor display after the hope from last week, we've certainly played worse than that this season, but this wasn't great at all. It was a very scrappy game with minimal quality on show from either side, Leeds have more about them in the final third and looked the most dangerous, but often panicked when they got into that final area. We just didn't look capable of creating a chance let alone scoring, which has been the problem all season (and probably since we sold Ings to be fair). Maybe we gave a spark a little flicker last week, but that's been entirely eliminated today and that's it for us. All nails in the coffin and we're done, just need to go down with as much momentum as we can muster and see if we can see anything from Selles that can suggest he can lead us on a promotion push. Not officially relegated today, but unofficially it's done and dusted from that result. You can't lose games against teams next to you in the position we are in and we've lost 99% of games we've played against teams next to us, bar Everton. Only one outcome sadly.

Never really classed Wolves as being a team in any danger tbh, they will pull well clear and probably end up on mid 40's without much fuss. Teams we need to pay attention to are Leeds, Everton and Bournemouth - it's 3 from 4 as far as I can see. Outside chance of Palace and Forest being pulled back in, but unlikely to be in much danger towards the end.

If this is how it goes now then we'll never see a Bale, Shaw, Theo, Chamberlain etc in the first team ever again, which kind of makes having an academy pointless. I agree though, clubs like Chelsea are really aggressive on youth recruitment right now, before players get to any first team, so if they flash the cash to a 15 year old then there's only ever one outcome. That's going to kill academy football as those kids will lose years and years and years of their career and most will never make it, just because they've been blinded by dosh at a young age.

Bit of a no brainer really. When we first brought in Selles he was incredibly highly rated through all you could find, previous club appraisals etc. So I always had a suspicion in the back of my mind that this guy was earmarked as Ralph's potential successor and in the mould of Thomas Frank. But the timing of Ralph going ended up being a little too soon, but in hindsight he'd have been better than bloody Nathan Jones so maybe they should have made that call then if they couldn't find anyone better than Jones. But in relation to now, I don't see what else they can do. There aren't any high quality managers who will want to come to a club like ourselves in the position we are in, we'd only be bringing in a manager for a short-term situation (like we did with Hughes). Marsch was the only who made any logical long-term sense, but again even he didn't fancy the challenge. With Selles you have the best of both worlds - you have someone already integrated in the club and someone who has earned the respect of the players, the coaches, and he knows everyone inside out. He's not going to be turned off by the opportunity to become a manager, even if it's for 4 months, so if it works out and he somehow keeps us up then give him the keys to the city and a 10year contract! But if the worst happens then we re-evaluate in the summer and decide where we go, maybe with him returning as coach. We've got a lot of wiggle room here and this is someone who in the short space of time has managed to bring everyone together, and given where we were that is an achievement in it's self. Still, it's only Chelsea so far - bigger tests to come, no bigger than tomorrow really. I just hope last week wasn't a false dawn and he really can get a tune out of this bunch, and I do believe we have a telented group of young players - they've just lacked guidance throughout the season (and goals).

I don't really think it's Klopp, the team's course has just run. Players like Fabinho, Henderson, Matip and dare I say it - VVD, just not quite at it at the top, top level anymore. Klopp will go soon for sure, but they'll then go through a cycle of changing managers for fun as anyone will struggle to revert them to where they were in 2018/19/20 etc.

It's refreshing to see, and the players obviously love him. But...…I remember the players doing exactly the same to Jones away at Everton ( pushing him towards the crowd to get the applause). Not sure we can read too much into that, yet. The signs are good though, he's got a great aura about him and it seems impossible not to respect him.

Always thought it would be the case, their team is not good enough to compete at this level anymore. Kind of reverting to form really, just also-rans.

If we were ahead of these guys, then yeah you'd take a point away from home, but as we're already playing catch up we need to make the most of the oppertunites where we can inflict the most damage. This will enable us to go above Leeds, create a couple of points gap and give us the momentum. If we win on Saturday then clubs above us, up as far as even Palace, will start to get a bit twitchy, as their next 6 weeks of fixtures are nasty.

And the Ted Bates statue, which funnily enough has liked your post.

Carl Martin, was promoted to the first team backroom staff in the summer after being U18 manager.

A little Lavia showreel to enjoy from yesterday.

And if that doesn't underline this sorry affair then nothing will! Back in non-league which is where he belongs.

Chelsea have just blown £109m on Enzo Fernandes, they've surely got to stick with that investment rather than 'try again'. Kovatic and Enzo should be more than enough, with Kante as backup for the 6's for them. Their issue is the blunt attack, so it would almost certainly be typical scattergun Chelsea to blow £50m on another number 6.

Just listened back to his post-match comments on the Saints site, and he says another standout thing for me. ''We have been in situations like this before in the season, and maybe we haven't used the substitutions well enough and have been too late in making them. We knew the 10's and the strikers were very tired after their efforts pressing, so it was critical we refreshed them early'' How fricking refreshing is it to hear someone speak the minds of the fans?? Obviously it's still way early days, but given the slight differences we've seen today you just wonder how side-lined his views have actually been this year.

Not sure how I've just realised, but in a season of total nonsense from us we have actually just completed the double over Chelsea.

Massive, such a shame we had a clown overseeing our most critical run of the season. We're going to have to do it the hard way now for sure.

We've been here before, winning a game we've not been expected to win and then blowing up in the game which you'd expect us to have more of a chance in. I'm with others in the belief that you don't change a winning team, keep that 11 the same for me. One of the important points to note from Selles pre-match pressers was that he wants to build continuity and establish partnerships, obviously fully aware that we have chopped and changed way too much this year.

Is MLG ever going to say anything ever again, or just stalk everyone's posts and put confused smileys on them? A really wimpy way to contribute to a forum, either be part of it or just sod off entirely.

Not wishing to speculate, but maybe he was part of the 'alleged' training ground bust up and even if he was probably justified to vent some frustration to the management back then, there is still an official disciplinary process he has to follow? (otherwise you'd get every player thinking they can run riot, even if justified)

Yeah, those subs were all about legs. You knew we were about to be pushed back for the remainder of that game, so having some legs to get us up the pitch was important. They're not amazingly top quality obviously, but they stretched it and kept the Chelsea backline honest.

I've always loved his aggression and appetite for the game, he's not the best technically and can get caught at times - but he gives 110% every single week and fans love that, can totally get behind players like him.

I think that's where he is seen as useful, as you say he has a good touch - so in tight spaces he can receive the ball and protect it well enough, but equally his off the ball work and closing down their passing lanes is pretty unseen most of the time. In an attacking sense we need tons better though, he doesn't seem able to provide anything apart from contributing to a shape - which I guess can be seen as an unsung role, but it does sacrifice threat in our attack.

I read it as he was referring to taking 3 points 'from' Leeds to get above them/avoid them pulling away, as opposed to it being solely about 3 points for us. It's a relevant point, but still as you said 3 points for us is 3 points, we just hve to control what's in front of us.