Saint Fan CaM

Can’t see us scoring today with that front line. Let’s hope I’m very wrong.

Agree with Derry on all points - now they’ve changed the streaming service it’s much much better with little buffering. I do find there’s more of an issue when using it at home on my iPad and Virgin cable for some reason.

I hope he comes good, but he just doesn’t seem to get into real goal scoring opportunities. Armstrong does this better. There are admittedly signs of a good footballing brain with a couple of excellent assists, so perhaps it is game time he needs, but the problem is we cannot afford to have a striker on the pitch who doesn’t score goals and win games of football.

Reckon that a significant factor is the splitting up of the Northam on a regular basis to accommodate away fans. This affects not just one match day, but over time serves to dilute the most vocal of our fans. Then there’s been a lack of identity derived from 3-4 seasons of dire football at home and uninspiring transfer windows. Lastly, there’s the socio-economic factor of a good proportion of football spectators who don’t see football as their only passion or outlet - they have an income that allows for other interests...Saturday footie is not the sole focus, so there’s less passion on display. Could be argued that Fans from generally poorer areas of the country exhibit a stronger more vocal support as they’ve still got that focussed passion because they’ve spent a higher proportion of their income, so it means more. All these factors come together to make a perfect storm. Doubt it’s curable...getting SMS to truly rock again will be a bit like trying to herd mice.

Wetsham - bogey team. Away form may help. We don’t do draws so much. 2-1 to either side.

One word to summarise the first half. Profligate.

1-2 without Redmond. I don’t think we’ve got enough mentally to resist them.

No better, no worse. Equally ineffective.

* not giving pen *

Ref and linos shocking. VAR shocking in giving the pen. Hojberg head is elsewhere already...half the player of last season. We lack talent in the final third apart from Ings and especially now Redmond is out. Long will get a contract because Obifemi and Adams are equally inept. Boufal and Djenpo could be better if only they knew when to release the ball.

No word from Crocker then? You’d expect the club to have taken the opportunity to shout about the appointment etc.

Interesting but not particularly ground breaking and another chance to roll out the 0-9 story (yawn).

I’m a Romeu fan, but I have to say his performance tends to follow the number fouls he racks up and this primarily because he’s too slow for the speed of play against the better sides. He was lucky not receive a red due to a second yellow in the Spurs game.

If Ralph does sign a new contract (& I would say the signs are good) it would be a great statement of intent and direction from the Board. It’s been said so many times but it doesn’t seem to sink in for some people...Gao will not invest, ever, because the model for the club is self-sustainability...we may as well forget him. In terms of giving Ralph a war chest...why? He has said his intention is to maintain a very slim squad where key players get to play most matches. I think Bednarek and Stephens are our choice CB’s now...Vestergaard as backup and a couple of academy players to come through. Bertrand and KWP our fullbacks with Vokins as spare. Hojberg and Romeu might stay or go, but JWP and Armstrong will remain in midfield with a youngster coming through from the academy. Redmond, Djenepo and possibly Boufal plus an academy player in midfield, Ings and Long up top with Adams and Obefemi as understudies. Not much else needed arguably and the real issue is off-loading the dross on loan. I don’t think we’ll see more than one or two new players introduced to the squad in the summer...in terms of Ralph’s philosophy there’s no need.

Don’t want Europe for another 2-3 seasons. We’re not strong enough in squad depth to survive the rigours of this and a domestic campaign. It needs Crocker and Ralph to have that amount of time at least to put the club back on track after derailing Reed orchestrated.

Nothing like a bit of renewed optimism eh Trousers?!

Thought stadium was very impressive, but too vast meaning their supporters voices sounded weak. Although a bit small, thought toilet facilities were excellent and the bar service pretty good too. Pint and a pie for £5 was not too bad. WiFi good. Screens good. Only niggle was not enough tables/shelving to rest your pint on while eating. The coach trip home was a nightmare...heavy traffic getting away from the ground and then a diversion off the motorway meant I didn’t get home until 2pm!

Burnley...horrible non-football team. We will struggle, but if we score first and maintain pressure we might get a result. For once I’m going Saints win 2-1. But it could quite easily be the reverse of this if Ralph doesn’t adapt his tactics to their style.

Impressive stadium filled with quiet boring home spectators who relished singing our song because it’s the easy thing to do. Son and Alli are cynical cheating players who I have grown to dislike intensely. The team in general were fantastic, but huge missed chances from Ings and more so Boufal, meant we didn’t put the game to bed. Son definitely cheated by diving IMO and frankly the VAR official should be held to public account for not overturning the pen. A disgraceful decision. A terrible shame about Prowsey...I can’t see him being ready for Burnley. Ralph did make mistake taking Boufal off...if he wanted to win the game he should brought on Armstrong for Romeu who was in danger of getting a second yellow. I can’t see us having a problem with the rest of the season providing KWP is as good as Prowsey or better and there’s no further significant injury problems. Adams continues to look pretty gash unfortunately...don’t think he’s up to it.

I’ve yet to receive mine but I’ve received the coach tickets?!? Is that correct...match tickets come separately?

Win, two losses, two draws = 5 points. We’ve lost the plot again letting Cédric go in this window, but if Armstrong and Ings stay fit and KWP turns out to be a revelation, 5 could possibly be made 7.

Except that you can’t teach common sense and money does not breed intelligence.

VAR not looking at Ings pen shout is strange at best, but then Longs grapple incident was also bizarre by not being given...almost like someone was evening things up after not giving the first deliberate error which gave Pool the advantage effectively. Fact is though, industry and intent do not win games of football by themselves - consistent quality, judgement and finishing in the final third invariably do and Liverpool have all that in spades, like it or not. Saints played very well indeed and if we keep that level going in future games then we’ll end up better than last season. Especially when we have a proper RB and JWP and Armstrong back in midfield. Hojberg is a dilemma - there’s some great aspects to his game, but he does seem unaware of what’s going on around him sometimes so gets caught napping and good teams capitalise. Same with Redmond, Boufal and to some extent Romeu and this can often be the difference between winning and losing. Ultimately not too worried about this result...it was on the cards and I’m more hacked off with shipping four goals TBH. Looking forward to the Spurs game Weds now.

Hook, line and huge sinker! LOL Jeez, some people just need to take a chill pill or ten. LOL

Time will tell, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling that he’ll be our next Bertrand. Unless it goes all ‘Toby t*ts up’ and we don’t get to keep him because a bigger offer comes in the summer.