Badger

But alienating the dressing room, or key members of it (apparently) will proably be the biggest factor.

Yesterday was a decent day out, and a good cup tie (if you were neutral!). From a Saints perspective though it highlighted many of our woes. Not cutting in front of goal,and a porous defence. We gifted them a number of runs at our goal and chances by misplaced passes and ball watching (Vestergaard, Stephens and Slaterry spring to mind as culprits, although harsh on Slaterry on his debut). Glad someone else remembered Vestergaard giving away possession needlessly in the build up to the first goal. That was nearly eclipsed from my memory by what followed. Derby must have thought they were playing against the cones in training the ease that they moved through our defence for the first goal. Second one, should have been cut out in our own half, but both Redmond and Targett allowed someone to skip past them with ease. I can understand Redmond not 'getting stuck in' , it's not his key role and something which has eluded better players than him (can't imagine MLT going fully into that challenge for example), but as a defender Targett should have been there. Don't think the bloke would breeze past if Shaw, or Mark Dennis had been there. It reinforced the shortcomings in the squad and players who aren't up to Ralph's game - Elyonousse, Targett, in particular. The other thing of concern is the lack of any leadership on the pitch. Someone to either slow the game down, or rally others when needed. No Alan Ball, Jimmy Case figure, or a Fonte even. Just hope Ralph can get the message though to Kruger and Gao for some changes.

In the end though that was largely thanks to Derby spurning a golden opportunity in the final seconds. Does mean they, Cardiff and Huddersfield will only have the league to focus on and possibly a less congested fixture list ahead though.

Were Luton non-league when we drew them a few years ago ?

Isn't he cup tied ?

No it wouldn't be fine, it would be suicidal. We dropped him from our relegation scrap last season so to go into the second half of the season knowing we are an injury away from having to recall him is a failing of 'Les Reed' proportions.

They really are in a category of their own, 24ct mongs of the highest order. Might also add the twirling of santa hats at Huddersfield caused a cringe. But it's not as bad as supporters of other clubs who buy a blue and white santa hat, what are they trying to achieve ? Retards! As for the shark b0ll0cks, I thought someone had introduced that for Vestergaard a while back.

I would have thought his time might be better spent talking his client up to prospective buyers rather than to us.

Agreed. Bringing either Wanyama or Schneiderlin back is likely to be an upgrade in the DM dept. Schneiderlin though assumes Ralph could fire him up and motovate him, which clearly hasn't happened for him at Everton.

I'm sure Ralph knows the players in the Bundesliga, and ideally would like to see him bring in some recruits from there who have played in a strong league (although what guarentee it gives might be influenced by your view of Vestergaard and how he has adapted). Difficulty from this market is that a) they won't be cheap, b)some are already playing for sizeable clubs, who won't want to sell mid-season, c) we're not a particularly attractive option at the moment 'come, be a part in our relegation fight'.. I'd be more confident of bringing players of this quality mid-season (if we can stay up).

Might find this interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Toomer

Like others my first Saints shirt was from Toomers, and the name has been closely linked with the club and Southampton ever since. I grew up away from Southampton but as soon as I was interested in football and Saints, no trip to visit family down there was complete without a visit to Toomers. Despite the distance several shirts were ordered from there and collected. A couple of Subutteo teams also. They were known as the Saints suppliers and were always associated with the club for me, advertising at The Dell and in the programme (no match was complete without a programme in those days at the princely sum of 5/). One of my elder relatives knew one of the Toomers, (may have been Arthur given the closeness of their ages), and told me of their conversation in 1976 after the Cup Final. My relative commented to Toomer that things must have been taken off for them after the cup success, and was told 'no, not at all, the club are now given everything from the manufacturer and it's more difficult for us dealing with them..' I assume "them" was both the club and Admiral at the time. Perhaps common knowledge now but a shift in the business model then. Sad that from Saints success it also saw a decline for the local supplier who had been involved with Saints for decades. One other recollection is a conversation with a Saints fan a few years ago discussing our Saints shirts from the 60's etc, and we drew up battle lines over whether you were a Toomers or a Patstone & Cox shirt person. Not sure of the demographics involved having not lived locally, but my only visit to P&Cox was when a relative wanted to go to that end of town (the swimmer, Ray Tyrell was working in P&Cox at the time .. early 70's perhaps). So it was Toomers for me. RIP Arthur, thanks to your part in my childhood and early years following Saints.

Why would Spurs consider releasing him when they're still in four competitions ? Seems doubtful to me, although if he were available then we should be in for him.

isn't Bednarek suspended ? Sounded that this was the case on 5Live.

I thought of as a David Prutton moment. One of, if not the, most influential midfielder we've got, makes himself unavailable due to a rush of blood to the head. Hope it's not as costly as Prutton's.

It's a shame that Cedric has fallen out of favour having shown he has a goal threat in him with the free kick v Man Utd the other week. But if he doesn't have the commitment or lungs, required by Ralph to play his high energy game, then best he leaves and we bring someone in who can. (Hoping we can bring the player in though).

Adkins Hull winning 2-0 at Leeds.

Given that thy've seldom featured then that's possible, although if you read original post again: Not sure what "achievements" the three you mentioned have actually had.

My recollection also.

Morgan still getting torrid abuse from his lot on their forum, and found these nuggets : ..got to laugh at the delusion there... Appears the Silva magic is wearing off as it did at Watford.

I detest spurs with a passion, but even allowing for that, am pleased they won today against the dugout pioneers.

Most would have said that when he played for Swindon against us certainly. Austin has throughout his career made a habit of goading the opposition fans, nothing new in that. Remember his time at Swindon against us in L1 ? Prime example. I think he wound a few on the Forum up. His time with us includes running past Bournemouth fans laughing at them and making a gesture after scoring. As for yesterday, I doubt he was mocking their disability, can't see he'd be that insensitive, but probably made gestures. Is that "gross misconduct" all of a sudden ?

His finishing worries me a bit but he's clearly young and needs to be given time. Having said that the young Steve Moran would probably have been a bit more composed at the same age. The Shane Long comparison has occurred to me also. But time will tell. Far better that we're discussing the potential of a young striker than a £19m Argentinian misfit.

Disagree. Villa & Leeds bring more regional 'glory supporters' who follow fashionable clubs rather than allowing genuine fans to watch their team play in the top league. Many might say that about us being replaced by the likes of the two you mention, or Sheffield Weds, Forest etc.

As his first game is v Cardiff then we have to wish him well and hope it gets off to a good start for him. Not quite sure how it should be read but several articles state the Norwegian season is over and doesn't resume until March. Is the suggestion that he is 'on loan' and might return to Molde once his time at MU comes to a close?