JRM

Really? With Lee Mason on VAR? My hatred for Mike Dean goes back a number of years, honestly don't recall any decisions where he's favoured us, recall the Bertrand sending off in the 9-0 being down to Dean on VAR. We've had a few run ins with him, recall the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth probably 4 or 5 years ago, Dean had been shocking all game and gave B'mouth a ridiculous free kick just in front of the away section, Saints fans giving him some stick and he grinned making yawning motions towards the away end, he's a first class cnt, hopefully he suffers an injury before Tuesday. Ralph should publically request Dean not to be involved in any of our games. As to Manchester United, our injuries and form would point to a comfortable home victory, but who knows, our record against them at Old Trafford is much better than it is at St Mary's, they seem to drop points at home in games you'd expect them to win. Our luck must change soon, probably not on Tuesday though. Money on United to get a pen via VAR. Need some more analysis on the injury situation, Ralph claims its worse as we're not able to use our recovery facilities at Staplewood, I wonder if other clubs are being quite so strict with covid protocols, is this since the latest lockdown or were we not able to use such things in Tier 2 previously as well? Probably worst injury record I can remember in 35 years following Saints, nearly all muscle injuries.

Didn't we nearly throw it away after losing Bertrand and Bednarek to injury and re-shuffling our back 4 losing the presence of JWP in the middle of the park, not changing mid game but feels similar this time. (We owe them for injuring Ings, he's not been quite the same since) Think Villa deserve a bit of respect , we think we've had a good season, they are above us with a game in hand. Definitely the most improved team that's for sure.

This B league seems redundant to me as a competition, you either get the better u23s with the first team now they have NINE subs (ridiculous) or out on loan elsewhere, so what you have left in these games is just making up the numbers. The quality of games is not great and you hardly ever get the same starting XI.

I think it will, JWP did a good job once before, but I think Grealish at the moment is a different challenge , whoever played right back in this game is going to find it tough. Matty Targett seems to get forward a lot down that wing, turned into a good player, fair play to him, they'll also have ex-saint Mings in the line up who Seems to have a chip on his shoulder when it comes to us, he'll be up for it. I'm going for 2-2.

Yes and at the other end of the pitch Vestergaard was giving us a genuine threat from corners, don't think we've won a header in the opposition's box since he has been out. At one point Vestergaard was matching VVD in his peak Saints performances , but now he's been out for weeks let's hope he can return to the same form. Terrible timing for this injury.

I've often watched u23 games when shown and I can't say he's a player who has ever really stood out for me, but it's tough at that level without many fixtures at times and starting line up rarely consistent. Seems like the best compromise here is to give him a loan move somewhere that will actually play him and hope he does enough to impress. Perhaps he's just missing all our other u23s who are either playing for Gillingham or on Saints first team bench, poor lad has been a bit lonely.

Villa were excellent at times tonight, should have been out of sight by half time, not sure how they managed to lose but fair play to Burnley who are pulling away from relegation battle. Grealish worries me, he makes so much space for other players with his runs, kept hoping for a booking but not our luck. Big mid table 6 pointer this now on Saturday, got to get at Villa, we are desperate for a motivated Ings back to his best.

I watch far too much football at the moment, a side effect of the ridiculous lockdown, but because of that I'm able to feel like a scout watching our future opponents. Villa have been excellent last couple of games, they took the game to Man City and were unlucky to lose there. Grealish and Watkins look good, lots of confidence throughput the side. We'll need to be at our best, good record in recent times against Villa. I'd take a point.

Whilst I agree with some of that we are now on a run of 1 league win in the last 7. Our squad just doesn't have the depth to compete with the top sides over a season. Finishing 11th or 12th would still be good for us, hopefully with a cup run . Fingers crossed for a few players back at the weekend to start turning around our poor run. We don't look like scoring many so going to rely on getting Bertrand and Walker Peters back. Arsenal looked in control for most of the game, no complaints at the scoreline, shame few jokers on here had a pop at Cedric in the build up, he played well.

Eh? Have you quoted the wrong post by mistake? If we all just posted what we want to happen obviously is to win, but an honest viewpoint that we're going to struggle due to players missing especially with Valery at right back explain why that's wrong ? Especially against an in form Arsenal with some of their best players rested on Saturday ready for this. We've scored ONE goal in our last five league games. Not sure who starts up front but can Ings do it all again so soon? He's not designed for 3 games a week. Our defensive record for the last month gives us our best hope of getting anything, I even mentioned Jack Stephens has an outside chance of an England call up if he keeps this up, but Arsenal have strong wide players that will target our weaknesses. Anyway I didn't expect anything against Liverpool and they proved me wrong so who knows.

Not really when it won't be the same team for Arsenal. Let's take last 5 league games. Arsenal - won 4, drew 1. Scored 11 conceded 1. - 13 points. Saints - won 1, drew 2, lost 2. Scored 1 conceded 3. - 5 points. I'm not saying it's impossible, but Arsenal have to be considered heavy favourites to win, especially if we play Valery and Vokins.

This. They will be above us in the table at the final whistle tomorrow night. If we have no Bertrand, Walker-Peters, Vestergaard, Romeu, we're not going to beat a full strength Arsenal side who rested some key players at the weekend. Run of league fixtures not kind to us in this busy spell, having lost to Leicester, Arsenal, we then have Villa who are looking very good currently (above us), then Man Utd also on a fine run. It's good to still be in the FA cup to keep season interesting.

Agree with that, energy levels were very flat as the game went on, desperate for two or three of the injured players back, are any of them even in training? We miss Vestergaard at set pieces, no real aerial threat without him, but Bednarek and Stephens have a really solid partnership. Stephens is a quality player for our squad, I still think he has an outside chance for an England call up (as does McCarthy) Always enjoy beating Arsenal. Got to play Wolves twice in the space of a few days now as well.

I missed that, heard he'd returned from loan so assumed that was to boost our depleted squad, especially with Redmond, Djenepo and Tella out. Good chance by the time we play this game Villa will be above us, then defeat to Arsenal will see us in the bottom half. Will be strange waiting for the league table to flick over to page 2 on teletext to see our name.

We're not going to be able to make many changes anyway, was McCarthy just rested today? Potentially we bring in McCarthy, Vokins, Romeu if he's recovered. Ings looked knackered, might be better to have him on the bench and hope we can still be drawing after an hour and bring him on. Armstrong looked completely gone near the end as well. Josh Sims could come in with Walcott moving up front.

Heroes come, heroes go but this one will leave a particularly bad taste. Local lad who has become a favourite, especially among younger fans, Ings name on their shirts. Has all the signs of a Spurs deal, tap him up, depress the price with year left on contract, another Hoijberg, will probably leave for £25M. Our main hope is another wants him and we have a bidding war.

Ings should be back in as well, He's definitely completed his isolation period, not injured unless he's pushing for a move this window. Bertrand should play as he's suspended for the league game a few days later. Not sure any of the youngsters did enough against Shrewsbury to get a start here (remember Chauke and Watts are behind Smallbone and Tella so 3rd choice) Going to be a tough game against the cup holders, might need extra time and pens.

The thought of an in form rejuvenated Arsenal side waiting on Saturday the incentive to beat Shrewsbury is not quite the same for our injury ravaged squad. Im still scarred by the Arsenal home FA cup 4th round of 2017. Not the end of the world if we go out to the Shrews to avoid another day like that. Would be nice to just see us score a goal or two, we've only scored one in the last five games, can't be helping the confidence, we'll probably be commended for avoiding close contact goal celebrations.

Gutted for him, looked quality on Saturday and had really come on, hopefully he can recover in time for start of next season.

yes that makes sense. We also might as well take advantage of the 5 subs allowed to be used in the fa cup, can change half the team to reduce the physical impact on some first team players. Good chance for Ralph to try a few options out.

Blimey we're going to really struggle if we're relying on some of those (minus the better ones who are injured Tella, Smallbone) Probably does make sense to give Bertrand some game time if he's suspended in the next league game anyway, plus Forster, Long and one or two others with experience to give the team some balance. Any news from Shrewsbury on how many players could be missing for them?

Exactly, compare cost of our bench to Leicester, not even a contest. I wondered if you'd still headed up the A34 stopping for an ice cream mate, Leicester away routine can't be missed. I thought Big Willy Smallbone was excellent until his injury, seemed to win every challenge and very composed on the ball, shame to see him have to go off, with our luck he'll miss a few games now when we need him. We're not going to get near top 6 with our squad this season where positive tests and knocks are going to leave us short in a period where we're playing 3 games a week for the next month. Hope we have enough to get past Shrewsbury then go all out for it against Arsenal.

Thought we played well considering the players we were missing, target should still be a top half finish, that would be a success for a squad as light as ours. No real threat to bring off the bench. We had several chances first half, finishing not good enough. Will Bertrand be able to serve his suspension on Tuesday?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to catch it either and am fully on-board with your age group getting extra protection such as food deliveries etc so you don't have to go out of your house. Just good to have a positive slant to reporting of the people who've had it and not really had any issues, which is the massive majority. You don't hear much about them on the news, and it certainly won't kill us all will it. Anyway fingers crossed Ings makes a surprise appearance tonight and we get the three points, give us all a lift in these depressing times.

I'm not sure that's correct? You don't have to prove you no longer have it, the contagious period is over. Hopefully we don't get any more positives in the next round of tests though, squad is struggling as it is. If Ings does feature (along with Alex McCarthy) it provides a refreshing reminder that for most people this illness isn't really anything to fear or worry about whilst we're locked up in our homes full of anxiety watching the news. Being a 8pm kick off I assume the squad isn't travelling until tomorrow.