Saint Pete

Jesus wept! So close.

Tough conditions out there, need to play it simple.

Absolute class! And a red card.

Yep. Those calling for Ralph's head are off their rocker, he is the best thing going for us right now irrespective of recent form. How he produced the results he did out of this bunch in 2020 was miraculous and we were never going to keep that up given lack of support off the pitch.

Great to have a few players back, especially Romeu, and excited to see what Minamino can do. Let's put a few wrongs right today. Come on you Saints!

The only positive is that it happened before and we came out the other side pretty well. So we know we can do it again. And I guess that Mike Dean doesn't ref all of our games.

Not sure you gain much from that having lost by 9 to be honest. Just make yourself look even more silly. I would like him to day we will appeal the second red and leave it at that for now.

This just seems utterly bizarre given that KWP is injured, we also have injuries in midfield limiting our options to play the likes of JWP there and we have failed to bring in our targets in full back positions. And we let Vokins go out as well!

Armstrong is the one I could see being rested in normal circumstances and he did look knackered towards the end on Saturday. But if none of Redmond, Djenepo, Tella or Romeu are still fit enough to start options to do that don't look appealing!

I really hope he does go with Vokins rather than shifting players around and weakening other positions to be honest.

Poor touch from Dan there, should have been in.

Armstrong looks knackered to me. Suspect he would come off if we had better bench options.

We aren't breaking in numbers like we were earlier resulting in us being pushed back more. Not sure if that's tiredness or us defending our lead (never a great idea for us).

JWP opportunity!

We look dangerous, just need a bit more precision around the box.

Ings should definitely better there, free header.

So unnerving watching Forster trying to play out from the back! Unnerving watching Forster full stop really.

Great stuff there Che, unlucky good save.

At this rate, they will struggle to make top 4 never mind keeping their title 😀

Yes, at his stage of career, doing a Van Dijk and having a sulk for 6 months or a season is not really an option if he wants a move to a top 4 team. And I honestly don't think he's the type either. He may kick up a bit in the summer if he knows a big team is interested but if made to stay he would knuckle down in my opinion because it's in his interest to do so. So if it's true his agent is asking for a release clause as low as £20m there is absolutely no reason for us to agree to that, definitely better to hold the line until the summer and see how much is offered for him. If the offer's big enough for a champs league quality striker he goes, if not he stays for the final year or signs the deal we are offering.

So for argument's sake, if Saints by some miracle did manage to finish top 4 this season and qualify for champs league - Would he then stay with us if there was another offer made from another champs league side involving much more £s for Danny Ings? Would be interesting, but I think in reality it is a bit about keeping his options open for more money as well as the playing ambition you mention. (I don't really blame him to be honest).

Yes, it was a great job given that many at the time thought we were taking a massive gamble/mistake committing to sign him permanently at all for £20m given his injury record. He only scored 7 goals in his first season as well so there were no guarantees at all that signing him for 3 years would work out as well as it has.

If he is fully fit then yes he would start. The suspicion would be it’s too soon for that to be the case. You are right about his importance to the team, which is why it’s sensible not to rush things and risk him being out for longer and more games. Suspect he will start on bench and come on for last half hour or so.

I don't disagree that Vestergaard's recent form has been excellent, especially his passing. I just don't think we have seen that from him for a long enough period yet (combined with being passably good on the defensive side which is essential for a CB) to know if this can be his permanent level or just a purple patch of confidence and form. I hope he can keep this level of form when he returns but we'll see.

Fair point though that not many would have been bemoaning Vestergaard being unavailable for selection just a few months ago when he was widely thought not good enough and far too slow for this league. So opinions of some at least must have changed? I'm not a massive Stephens fan but he was a regular in the side alongside Bednarek in our strong run at end of last season when he was consistently selected ahead of Vestergaard by Ralph. It's a shame Vestergaard is out as he has been in good form, but personally I don't see as huge a difference in quality of the 2 players as some are making out. Both are capable of decent performances, but also have clear defensive frailties which will ultimately probably mean they won't reach the very top level.