spyinthesky

Just thinking that if a Brighton (or Saints) player had committed the foul on Macallister when he was running through or the awful tackle on Ferguson which was reviewed by VAR and still didnt think it was a red, there would only be nine players on the field to play out the game. I was a bit surprised that VAR didnt rule out the winning goal for some reason. Brighton deserved their win and seem to be in a similar position to where we were a few years back. However they seem to be able to deal with the replacement of players and Manager than we did.

Disappointing performance from the players who should have been trying to impress the Manager (and us fans) My ratings: 1. Willy 6.5... .........Made a couple of decent saves but distribution poor at times. 2. Maitland Niles 5.0.............Not even average. 3. Peraud 7.0.............Two good goals in amongst a good performance. 4. Lavia. 6.5.............Best of the midfielders 5. Bella Kotcha 6.0.............Not sure about him. He looked a unit when he first came in but his performances have tailed off as the season has progressed. 6. Lyanco.....................6.5.............Always a mistake in him and distribution poor at times but defended well at times. 7. Edozie......................6.5.............Almost a 7 as things happened when he received the ball. He is getting better and will be a good asset as he develops. 8. Elyounoussi.............6.0.............Just average, as always. 9. Maria........................5.5.............Did absolutely nothing but set up the second goal so half a point for that. 10. Aribo.......................6.0............Difficult to quantify his performance. He did one or two good things with the ball but not much defending. 11. Orsic........................5.0............I think there is a player in there somewhere but yet to see it in his cameos so far. Subs Walcott, Adams, Armstrong(A), KWP.... Probably 2.0 spread amongst all 4. Overall a mid/lower Championship League performance

I know two lads who believe a lot of the 'theories' put out there by the likes of David Icke/Alex Jones and are quite keen to project their views. These include Covid jabs being part of a world wide conspiracy. Fair enough but what seems strange to me is that both lads and, presumably, their mates are regular users of mind changing substances, mainly ingested. There doesnt seem to be any peer review of each substance but that doesnt seem to worry them.

JWP is a very good club man and a very decent player. He is on £100k a week. Top earner for Saints but nowhere near what other players in the Premiership are getting. Even on half salary, which (hopefully) is written into all contracts in case of relegation, he would be a top earner in the Championship. It is a fact of life that our best players will lose value in the Championship and that means that JWP, KWP, Lavia, possibly Salisu and Bella Kotcha will attract decent bids from other clubs which will provide revenue for the club and allow the players to maintain current earning power plus a signing on fee to benefit themselves and their agents.

Havent read all the posts on the game but wonder if KWP's yellow card for 'Time Wasting' in the first half has been commented upon. What on earth was the Ref thinking about? No balancing up when Pope and others were wasting time near the end? With regard to throw ins, we arent particularly good at them whether they go in our favour or have to defend when opponents have the ball. Newcastle where far better at this phase of the game as they were on a couple of occasions when they played swift balls from free kicks as we dozed off. Whilst disappointed at the result, I thought it was a decent game to watch and a relatively good performance by the Saints against a side of the up, thanks to a shed load of investment.

You can imagine the kerfuffle if D Ings had signed for us and then got injured. btw as mentioned elsewhere I am reliably informed that an approach was made to D Ing's agent with an offer and this was turned down.

I didnt think it was a bad game. Villa had the better players and better use of the ball. That said Martinez pulled off two worldlies, especially the shot into the top corner from Djneppo near the end I was right behind it and it was heading for the top corner. Absolutely terrific save and the one from Adam Armstrong was top drawer too. I thought after the last three games, particularly Palace and Everton that we benfitted from a couple of pieces of good fortune. That wasnt the case today and having a poor Referee didnt help. I am afraid we are down and have to start making provisions, both on and off the field, for next year in the Championship.

It is interesting the comment you make on Corporation Tax. I was initially in favour of increasing Corporation Tax as a way of ensuring profitable companies paid a fair share of tax to help pay for the increasing demands on Govt spending. However it is noticeable that the Irish economy has blossomed since their Govt drastically cut Corporation Tax and attracted a whole raft of new businesses.

I am sure there are a few out there who can advise how many players we have out on loan. Are any missing from the list below? Lis - Turkey Stephens - Bournemouth Nlundulu - Bolton Tella -Burnley Smallbone - Stoke Bednerak - Villa Simeu - Morecombe Kegs Chaulke - Exeter Lawrence - Torquay Vokins - Woking? Apart from Nathan Tella and possibly Jake Stephens & Will Smallbone (if we are relegated) it would be interesting to see how many of the others returning next season. The current first team squad is getting bloated and this is without any more transfers in January. Whatever our position next season there are likely to be a number of players leaving the club.

Does it say which hotel Saints stayed at? Have to go up to Liverpool shortly.

Interesting to compare their new stadium cost at around £700m for a 55k capacity venue versus ours at £32m for 32,000. To be fair an awful lot of their money is being spent on top of the range Dug Outs.

Keegan signing. What a great boost for us Saints fans. What a player. If we could have got Shilton in at the same time, what a team!!

I remember we played Newcastle in a European game (Inter City Cup Game in the 70's?????) May be wrong but seem to think we drew 0-0 away and 1-1 at home but went out due to away game rule. We were the better side too

'I Wish It Would Rain',,, by the Temptations Composers Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong and Rodger Penzabene. Think the latter wrote the words about a lost love and then committed suicide soon after. Sad!!

To be fair, they had 8k+ at Spurs then play Bolton on a Tuesday night and Saturday so somewhat understandable. However a photo to keep in the bank to go with an away game at Wigan a few years back and a home FA Cup defeat by Orient even further back!!

Currently stuck in bed with a life threatening bout of 'Man Flu'. Benefit is I have been able to watch all of the FA Cup games on Terrestrial TV. Also found myself watching a Footie show on Talk TV where they did a bit piece on the significant financial problems West Brom are having with their Chinese owner who seems to have been taking loans out against physical assets owned by the club. A bit of a recipe for disaster if WBA dont go up this season as they lose their parachute payment next season. Made me realise that we were lucky that Gao was bought out. However doesnt the club have an expensive loan that requires repayment at some stage? Also I presume the owners have a plan of action for next season in the Championship? I wonder if Wolves are in a similar situation with their Chinese owners?

I didnt go to that game but remember going to Blackpool at home a couple of seasons later when Tommy Traynor was our left back playing against Stanley Matthews. A full house at The Dell. We played creditably but lost. The only thing I can remember about the event was watching a couple of Blackpool fans, wearing the obligatory belted macs of the time and tangerine & white scarves parading a Duck, resplendent in Blackpool colours, on the pitch prior to kick off, much to the amusement of the fans. Presumably the Duck was a Blackpool mascot.

Havent they got a derby v Man Utd on Saturday? However whatever side they put out we are in for a thrashing City could probably play with 11 outfield players and still win comfortably as it is unlikely we will get near their goal

Marginally!!

Might be useful to import a few die hard Zagreb fans to make the lad feel at home and move us all away from the torpor we all are feeling watching Saints over the past few years.

I was one of those who had to put up with the Branfoot era which was long ball but at least with a lump of a target man to aim for. Nathan Jones tactic just seems to be wallop it forward and hope for the best and there isnt a Matt Le Tissier in the wings that a decent Manager (Alan Ball!!) to work into a more suitable system.

I cant remember feeling so low and resigned to defeat each game since Branfoot was Manager

If we have a couple of more poor results prior to Man City it wouldnt surprise me if the crowd is less than 20k with Man City filling their end

Dont forget Tommy Forepast!!!

It seems that after Koeman left we have had to endure a pretty awful run of home form with the enduring sound as I leave the stadium is of away fans celebrating a late goal to deny us points or a win. Could anyone spare the time to work out our home record since we last had a team worth watching at home and the desperately poor results since that walloping at Villa Park last season.