JRM

Not sure how many years you've been watching Saints but I've seen us slip on banana skins plenty of times to expect our reserves to win, plus Shrewbury are top of the league one form table and have had a good rest , fully recharged batteries ready to take us on. The u23 games I've seen we've looked poor more often than not, too many youngsters and we'll lose.

I can't say I've seen anything to make me think he's any more likely to score than Shane Long to be honest, or hold the ball up and give us an out let , hopefully given the chance young Dan will prove me wrong but I don't think he'll worry Premier league defences. These injuries are dragging on a bit aren't they. We haven't missed big Jannik so much in defence but we do miss the goal scoring presence in the box on set pieces. How much have we paid Salisu since his arrival? Strange bit of business even as one for the future. What actually is Redmonds injury? Being described as "long term" along with Djenepo doesn't sound good going into a busy run of games.

You can get a monthly pass for BT sport app for £25, works online but also if smart tv, might be worth buying on Saturday to get Leicester away, Shrewsbury home, Arsenal home (league) plus any other cup or league games BT choose in early Feb. If we lose to Shrewsbury I wonder if we'll then play Leeds away 4th round weekend, would make sense.

Also Shrewsbury training ground is closed until the weekend so if they have enough players they'll only have a couple of days training again before playing. Don't understand why FA making it difficult for themselves. Give is a bye and get on scheduling 4th round tv slots.

Looking at the results tonight with Man United and Everton winning i expect comfortable wins for Spurs and Man City tomorrow, the top 6 are starting to pull away a bit and I can see the gap growing for us with the tough run of fixtures we're about to have. Likely we'll be down to 9th in the table by kick off Saturday night, weird in what feels like a successful season but a good reality check.

Does the report break down commercial income? It's one thing to try to blame lack of match day revenue but let's be honest.... We had a fraud shirt sponsor who I doubt ever paid us what they owed. Anyone followed the progress of LD Sports? Replica shirt production/ sales have been a shambles two years in a row. Still at least we're closing the West Quay store to save some pennies. Wages eye watering wastage , at least some of those dud contracts are coming towards the end, need to clear out Lemina, Hoedt rec, let's not forget the greatest financial scandal of all time at SFC, Guido Carillo must have cost a fortune in transfer fee / wages, probably as much as the Liebherrs paid to buy the club. The interest on the new loan will cost a fortune eating away at income that could have instead been invested in the team. Finishing 11th last year would have increased prize money to offer some of the loss of ticket revenue year on year.

Apparently Shrewsbury don't have an u23 team so wasn't considered an option. FA seem determined to give them a chance to play the tie as they think integrity of the competition damaged if games forfeited. I'm starting to understand why Ralph would agree to these changes. We play strongest XI v Leicester then a changed side midweek covid riddled Shrewsbury. Hopefully enough to get through then we play strongest XI again v Arsenal in 4th round. By the time we play Leeds later in the season could fit in when fixture list isn't as intense as the run of games we're about to go into.

It's not going to happen for us this season is it. Both teams will make changes and Arsenal's back up players are much stronger than ours, despite their poor form earlier Arsenal are flying up the table now. How come they are still faffing around with the Shrewsbury fixture, that should have been confirmed as a bye ages ago, such a farce.

It was originally scheduled for the 12th. When they did January TV schedule they left half of the Premier league fixtures this week and moved half to the following week. Annoying as it turns out would have suited us better to play this week.

That's what's being reported in various papers today, Saints should be kicking off about if, as should Villa and Derby who had to play nippers. Shrewsbury should have been kicked out yesterday or played with u18s. Why should Saints have to squeeze more games in.

Those were the days mate.

Decision will have to be made soon before players travel, annoying as if we knew now Ralph can just give the players a few days off. From the sound of it a postponement is the most unlikely scenario , Shrewsbury need to decide whether to forfeit or send a group of players who have tested negative. That still seems unreliable, like Moeen Ali testing negative before flying to Sri Lanka then testing positive on arrival!

Hopefully we can use the ex manager connection to send us a couple of decent loan players and arrange some decent away trips pre season.

Completely agree, we don't need more fixtures piling up just because they haven't adhered to Hands Face Space. Play against their youth team, beat them 10-0 . If they forfeit then we get a good rest and hopefully get Chorley in the next round. Good start to a cup run.

They might appear to be struggling if you take a glance at the league table but recently they've been anything but. New manager (ex-skate) last 6 games they've won 4 drawn 2 including away games to some of the sides at the top of the league. They seem to have mastered the 1-0 win. Let's see what the next round of covid testing reveals, Shrewsbury called their last game off due to positive tests so we might get a bye anyway. The fact we were forced into using Tella and Dan Llandudno against Liverpool it makes sense to use them in this, give them a chance to get some experience , we play Leicester, Leeds, Arsenal, Villa, Man Utd in a 17 day period, plus a potential 4th round tie. We need everyone fit for that.

Winning in that manner against the odds has to be one if the most satisfying feelings in football, absolutely buzzing at the end of the game. I'd written us off when I saw the line ups, but Forster didn't let us down, Stephens and Diallo were both superb, brilliant team performance, and fair play to Marriner as ref, we all know other officials who would have been happy to give them a pen or two. 3 clean sheets in a row with Stephens back in, I've always liked his attitude and think he's grown as a player in the last 12 months, keep it up he'll have a chance for an England call up along with KWP. Assuming we'll rest a few for Shrewsbury it's a nice two week break now, hopefully have McCarthy, Vestergaard, Redmond, Romeu and Adams back available by the time we play Leicester and Leeds away, plenty of options. Ralph, top man, on course to be a legend just needs some silverware.

Yes 8pm Saturday, BT sport extra . Shrewsbury had to postpone their last match due to positive covid tests so it will be interesting to see if this goes ahead. Makes sense to make several changes, crazy schedule coming up in Jan / Feb.

Liverpool to win by at least two tonight, nailed on. No McCarthy, Vestergaard, Romeu, Adams. No points. Bench is horrific. Hopefully Liverpool go easy on us due to having another game on Friday. Not looking forward to this at all. Boris fucking up the country's economy on other channels an even worse watch. Bad times.

Liverpool will score at least once from outside the area, low shot just out of reach of the diving Forster , just too slow to get down to it. Southampton 1 (Ings 71) v Liverpool 3 (Mane 22, Salah 40, 60)

Newcastle's keeper was also man of the match, on another day could easily have been 0-2. But it does give us hope we could get something, would 100% take a 0-0 if offered now

This sounds the most likely at the moment, probably worth a thread of its own but a break of 4 to 6 weeks will completely change the dynamic of the season, if the want to fit the Euros in next summer its not going to allow much time to play the lost fixtures. Needless to say if this weekend's games do go ahead we'll most likely lose, especially if the Liverpool (7-0 v Palace) turn up. Fingers crossed we get the Liverpool (1-1 v WBA) , any point gained would be a bonus.

I think you're both right, we battered them for the first 10 - 15 mins, if Ings goal had stood would have been a different game. West Ham were deep with lots of men behind the ball, we've never been good at breaking down sides like that. We defended well and point was fair. Ralph probably hoping we have a month break for covid now. A top half finish would still be an achievement for this squad.

Probably his mistress then. Assuming he was at the training ground yesterday there's bound to be others testing positive, can see more games being postponed soon. Got to say West Ham win based on this.

The Everton v Man City postponement tonight might impact West Ham's team selection tomorrow. They go to Everton on Friday who will now have had a weeks rest. Hopefully they save some of their better players for Goodison to give us a chance. West Ham will know they always beat us anyway so can be complacent. Ings on the bench for us will be a big bonus having a decent option to come on.

It's a shame your opinion is such a negative one, Stephens has been prone so occasional errors but he's a decent player who has had many excellent performances as well. 2nd half of last season we had an excellent run of results where he featured, playing well. Also remember he completed his football education in the Saints academy and has been with the club a long time now , nearly has 100 appearances, so not sure trash is a fair word to use. Going back to the game obviously hope he's not up against Antonio, but I'd say that about any of our defenders. Who knows with Salisu but clearly Ralph hasn't seen enough from him in training, I'm sure he'll get a chance to impress against Shrewsbury in a couple of weeks. For me our front 3 is more worrying than the back 4.