OttawaSaint

Looked offside.

If we had a decent striker we'd be 2up. Awful control by Long...

Johnson really showing Cedric up. WTF was that? a rugby up and under?

Long straight at keeper then Armstrong flubbed the rebound.

****! what a miss!

Cedders not improved his crossing then...

Yellow for Johnson. Dove in to a challenge.

Stephens being held there. Header over.

Johnson playing well so far!

This has the feel of so many Saints home replays against lower league opposition. Hope we don't blow this.

Going with a back 4!

Yeah, sorry, wasn't arguing with you. Just wanted to use your post to tag on my thoughts. It's like refs get it the wrong way around. Give leeway to an experienced player who should know better, but punish a young player who is still learning in the EPL.

The Ramirez effect (Referring to Lemina and Gabbi here). You can see the quality, you desperately want to see them use it to great effect and dominate games but it just never really materializes except for a few flashes here and there. Very frustrating.

In that circumstance the ref maybe should have recognized that he is a young lad and had a chat giving him a final warning. Look at the atrocious fouls that Kompany got away with vs Saints and Liverpool.

This. look at the challenge that got Salah a pen and look at this one. Laughable. Valery’s only mistske was to not be playing for a big club. That said, he’s got to learn not to get wound up by other players.

Classic Alps. Doesn’t post for months and then posts this epic downer-fest. Cheer up!

Should be his goal. Unless they pull some bull**** like they did on Ostenstadt in the 6-3 vs Utd. Never an own goal in a month of Sundays.

Enjoying a couple of pints and reflecting on a great game. First half we were superb. So nice to see us play with some real conviction. The boys looked like they’ve totally bought into the system and looking out for each other. You could see from some of the body language and gestures that even when someone made a mistake they were kinda helping each other understand what went wrong where they meant to pass or reinforcing where they were supposed to be. Although stressful at the time the most pleasing is how well the team adapted to being down to 10. They probably haven’t practiced for that and the players all dug in and supported each other. Romeu was superb and led by example. I wonder if he should stay as captain when Hoj returns. There is real belief now. There is a system rather than a band aid. So refreshing. Only downer is we will have to say goodbye to Ralph in a year or two. Hopefully we get another Ralph and not the Puel/MoPe/Hughes farce again. Gotta go, the fridge is calling...

Yes. A defeat ruins our momentum and could impact the league game negatively.

Chillwill played a blinder. Should have had a straight red, got away with it. Then got away with another shocking fouls and managed to rattle Valery enough to get him sent off. Glad we prevailed against the cheats. Vardy and Madison were diving all over the place.

Valery definitely showed his inexperience. He allowed Chillwell to get at him, didn’t shoot when well placed and then a rush of blood saw him push someone over. Ralph will chat with him, he’ll learn.

We were superb at 11 vs 11 and even at 10 vs 11 they didn’t really threaten us that much. The goal they got was really lucky with all the bounces and then a jammy deflection. Reckon we’d have pasted them if Valery hadn’t lost his head.

Vestegaard immense. Romeu brilliant. Redmond excellent. Bednarek solid.

Vestegaard immense. Romeu brilliant. Redmond excellent. Bednarek solid.