Saint Fan CaM

The next two days could be crucial to the outlook for the club...not signing anyone could be a master stroke or a bit of a disaster if injuries take a toll. The quality and experience in the squad is paper thin and I suspect the financials are on a minor knife edge. Big gamble and Ralph is has a huge responsibility to make it work. The strategy must be to limp through to the summer...it’s going to be another bumpy ride folks.

This will be a huge test due to their pace particularly on the break. Really need our wing backs firing on all cylinders. I would stick with Valary at RB...he’s quicker and better in defence than Cedric so more equipped to look after Saha who we need to triple up on. Likewise Townsend is looking like a new player at the moment and will need careful management. Thinking this could be a 2-3 loss.

Brilliant game from JWP, Bednarek, Redmond, Romeu and Hoj....all deserved MOTM. So good to have some positivity back in SMS and that’s all due to Ralph.

Bye bye FA Cup

Johnson being left exposed...no support offered. Cedric having an off day. Armstrong not effective. Does not bode well.

Ely is total gash...just a passenger. Long is...well words fail me.

A very good summary. I was certain that with the sales Pelle, Mane and then Tadic, relying on Long, Austin, Ely and Redmond would see us playing Championship football because those players are AT BEST at that level. This game without doubt showed this to be true, but even I didn’t think Long, Ely and Austin could be THAT bad. To his credit, Redmond did well today, but that was against a backdrop of very poor squad competition and against a weak Derby side. For some reason the early press became more and more diluted and this led to their goals. It’s pretty common to see less organisation when a younger or inconsistent side is put out and that’s what we saw in defence. Targett needs to have a very good game to be a reasonably ok player, but today he looked poor by his own standards. JWP put in an ok performance, but not his best - typical of him (and others) when the armband is handed over. We didn’t need the replay, but game time to help Ralph shape the squad further will help. Having Ings out for an extended period could be significantly catastrophic in the longer term as Long and Austin are finished.

It is, but I think Sims has the ability and potential to get the most from Ralph's coaching. No reason why the two could not be played together with Armstrong central, would be a strong attacking option.

Think Sims is better than Redmond in terms of Ralph's system. Very fast and doing something productive with the ball in the final push.

Defence gear - particularly Yoshida and Valary were great. Our play going forwards was slow, predictable, toothless etc. I think Armstrong tried his best, but Redmond and Long were just not up to the level required of the Prem. And they never will be. New blood urgently needed.

I truly hope that the three we bring in are all of an attacking nature and taller than 5’ 8” in height. So my call would be ST and two ACM’s like Redmond but better....i.e. can get past defenders, pass accurately and can score goals.

JWP much better Sunday...put in a worldly crunching tackle on Aguero on the edge of our box. Unfortunately even with our best players available, we’ll not be getting anything from this game. 3-0 to the home team. Desperately need some magic done in the transfer window.

Not an easy game, but at least I'm attending an home game thinking that we might actually have a chance of a win. Trouble is, they are a bogey team for us IMO, so I think 1-1.

Happy Chrimbo fellow Saints fans.

Under normal circumstances this would be a Saints banana skin. Think we might grab this one...1-2.

Difficult one. Sell Austin due to fitness or Gabbi due to not gelling in team? I would say the latter is the hardest issue to overcome in the short term so sell Gabbi.

Cedric is the senior player and would usually start assuming fitness ok. Valary is a great prospect, but for now he lacks confidence going forwards and Cedric is a more rounded player in this regard.

Can't see Ralph jumping ship anytime soon...his philosophy seems to be very much tied to a project at a club and really investing in that. There's very little loyalty left in top flight football though now, so he might be tempted away next summer if things go well here. Hope not.

Tough he had a very solid game and worked well with Valery.

For many of the reasons set-out above, this was the best game of football I’ve seen at SMS for two years. Every last player can hold their heads high, irrespective of the result. PEH was a true and proper Captain...vocal, directive, spoke respectfully to the Ref. I’ve slated Redmond in the past, but today he looked the real deal with few mistakes. Ings big difference, but the most plaudits go to Ralph...to make THAT much difference in one week is nothing short of brilliant. It’s early days of course - we need many more wins to be safe, but now we all have something to believe in.

Let’s hope he’s got something about himself...can’t afford passengers now.

If we get Bertrand and Cedric back I’m thinking 3-0. If we get Ings back we may score a goal, but I doubt it. May be 4-0.

The best option all round would be to move them to the Northam Kingsland corner. Take a leaf from Leicesters ground placement of away fans. Makes a lot of sense.

Squad quality is far lower than where it needs to be for survival IMO. I actually think there's a more pressing need for better strikers...if we score two today we win. As there's little chance of a squad overhaul in Jan, I reckon we'll be down by end Feb.

If we were to reflect purely on what the squad looked like in the 'Lowe year' we went down, I think you would have to conclude the similarities are remarkably close. Yes we have what appears to be a better manager however whether RH can get this squad performing 20%+ better appears unlikely due to the lack of quality inherently available. IMO only 50% of the squad have Prem level POTENTIAL. Only Lemina and possibly MCarthy are currently looking like an actual Prem players. On balance then, yes we're going down. Too much to salvage. Hope I am utterly wrong.