Saint Fan CaM

We did ok against a terrible Fulham side. Good to see Yoshida in defence again. If only we had a creditable front three we might actually be thinking mid-table rather than hoping Cardiff don’t pickup points in the next three games. Brighton game will be another must-win make no mistake.

This is a 50-50 game...not by any means a walk over or done deal. In fact I would go as far to say we'll end up with a draw or loss. Either would signal our relegation - a win would be great but would not signal our safety.

Just don’t ******* care now. The Board have allowed the club to decline terribly and now the ‘saviour’ Manager continues to select an idiotic non-footballing defender over a seasoned international. We are worse than all but Huddersfield and for that reason I cannot see any other than relegation. It’s no different to our last fall from grace....almost carbon copy.

Stephens selected and makes two crucial mistakes in the first 6minutes of the game. He obviously listened intently while enjoying his f*****g holiday. Just get rid of this useless excuse of a defender.

If Ralph had some decent attacking players at his disposal I would be slightly confident of us taking a point or possibly even three. But we don’t, so it’s 3-0 for me.

My word the level of uninformed naivety on here is breathtaking.

Sounds plausible. Trouble is we deserve to go down after some of the diabolical results we’ve witnessed this season even after Ralph has been in place. If I were a betting man, I’d put good money on us going down. The Board have completely let the club and it’s supporters down once again by ignoring the warning signs and complacently not signing a decent striker.

So much wrong with today, but then the cast was set 3-4 years ago when we started selling any quality in the squad and bringing in sub-standard players. Officials were poor today too. Think it’s going to be real stretch now and IMO 70% chance we’ll go down.

He was OK...that’s it.

Can honestly see us losing this 0-2. Lack of decent fit strikers, clownish defending and Cardiff are on a minor roll...it’s a banana skin all day long.

Difficult situation...needed to thin the squad to improve the dynamic, but 3-4 years of squad quality dilution has left us in a highly risky position now with no one coming in to improve the situation. All our eggs are in the Ralph basket...let’s hope it’s enough to see us through to the summer.

Because we have no pot to pith in.

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.