Saint Pete

Armstrong getting in the game at last, promising signs.

Better from Armstrong there, close from Theo.

Yup, if we carry on defending set pieces like that we will concede, guaranteed.

I agree we should have made another sub earlier today. But our core problem that generates those stats is that our defence is not consistently strong enough to withstand pressure from quality sides when they up the pace. To beat sides like Utd you will have to withstand pressure vat points of the game no matter what subs you make, and you can't defend like we did for goals 2 and 3. If you do, you will keep losing leads like we do.

Got away with that Vestergaard. Bit shoddy from us so far.

Get the impression Sheff U are good example of team not coping well with behind closed doors football. They look like a side who really need the home crowd factor behind them to generate the energy in their team and help them compete against better technical teams, which they don’t have now.

I know we are all feeling euphoric today but let's be honest, if Man U or another of the usual suspects really did come knocking for Ralph, it's likely he would go and you couldn't really blame him for that. It's just a fact of life. Fortunately I reckon Man U will be more interested in one of our former managers who is freely available at this point so shouldn't be an issue for now. But if we continue this kind of form it's natural one of the "big boys" will come calling at some point. Best thing to do is enjoy Ralph and the team he is building while we can, it's great to watch what he is doing with these players!

Absolutely superb performance from us tonight, especially given we were without 2 of our most important players. Dominated from start to finish and could and should have had more goals. Thought the front 2 were excellent especially Adams in the first half who set the tone and really stepped up his game to show he can lead the line with Ings out. He looks like he belongs in this league now. Djenepo has his best game for quite a while, and Armstrong was lively on the ball throughout. But JWP man of the match for me, unbelievable energy and a real leader of this team now. And as for Ralph, it’s incredible what he is doing with these players. To be honest I still don’t think we have a great squad compared to the quality Poch and Koeman had available to them, so it makes what Ralph is doing right now all the more impressive.

Hmmm, bit surprised at that. Didn't think we would change from the winning team last week. Ralph must be impressed with what he is seeing from Theo so far.

Great finish JWP!!

Unbelievable goal 😃

Yep, tend to agree. Fact is the club don’t seem willing or able to make another permanent signing to replace Boufal in the squad so whoever we sign is only going to be a temporary fix. With the talk of a takeover and potentially a better chance of investing properly in players once that goes through, this kind of deal makes some sense at this time. I would ideally prefer someone a bit more creative on the ball, but Theo will at least give us another more experienced option who has a reasonable record in front of goal.

Yes, I personally would like to see us signing someone with more creative abilities to backup Armstrong, which I don’t really associate with Theo. But I guess if Ralph thinks he can get a tune out of Theo then fair enough.

There’s a good chance this could be true as Williams loan signing rumours being widely reported now. Would make sense for Valery to go out somewhere he would play regularly at this point. And I guess Man U may be happy to loan us Williams if we say he is first choice backup to both our full back positions which should mean he gets some decent game time here.

Always feels good to get a win going in to a break and the 6 points on the board now takes the pressure off next trickier game at Chelsea when we come back. Really encouraging to get 2 clean sheets on the spin as well, credit to Vestergaard for coming in and doing a decent job 👍 Hopefully a few new faces coming in will also freshen things up for everyone and provide some more competition for starting places, so all looking more positive. Proves how important last weeks win was in getting us off the mark, no matter how scruffy it was.

Also sounded hopeful of more signings, although no details given understandably!

Seriously, if we don’t sign at least a permanent replacement midfielder for Hojbjerg in this window, I really don’t think expectations should be put on Ralph to continue to pull rabbits out of hats and achieve much more than survival with this squad. Whilst we know big money signings are not the be all and end all, it’s worrying that the other teams we are competing with in the mid to lower part of the table seem so much more able than us to sign players to improve their squad options. We really do seem to have regressed to being the paupers of the premier league under Gao. It’s unavoidably noticeable how threadbare our squad is now when you look at our bench, caused by a gradual downgrading of our quality outside the first 11 over the last few seasons. A lack of quality coming through from the youth teams obviously hasn’t helped either. We’ve been fortunate lately with injuries but that luck will surely come to an end soon, especially given the high energy style Ralph employs, which should make it even more important to have decent backup options available to give the first 11 a rest. Oh well, let’s hope we still have irons in a few fires but can’t say I’m confident!

Yes agree it's not fair to blame the officials who are implementing the rule as it's been written. But questions need to be answered about how these rules are being agreed. Seems there is not enough consultation going on as most in the game seem to agree they've got it badly wrong with this one. I agree with your other point that media and managers should be more accepting that some decisions like handball need subjective interpretation from refs rather than expecting 100% consistency. They can't have it both ways.

It's simpler for VAR, which in my opinion should not be what should is driving the rules of football. Surely VAR should be being used to help implement the rules as they always have been, not being used as a driver to change the rules just to suit VAR? It's a case of tail wagging dog.

Sorry can’t agree with your statement that Forster was “very clearly a better keeper” when he was near his best form. He was blessed with being our keeper in a period when Saints had the best defence I can remember us having, which we certainly don’t have the luxury of now. That was a lot to do with his “best form” from what I remember, and don’t recall him being great in terms of passing ability either. McCarthy’s far from perfect but at least he’s fairly competent most of the time at keeping the ball out of our net which puts him above our other 2 keepers at present. He made a crucial save tonight for example low down to his right which got me thinking “glad Forster’s not in goal otherwise that would be 1 all”.

Well, as wins go, that was about as unimpressive as they come! Objectively, that looked like 2 teams who wouldn’t look out of place in the Championship (although that is probably an insult towards Championship football). That said, 3 points is 3 points and in our situation after a couple of bad results, that was really all that mattered tonight. I remember a couple of similar results from last season when we were really struggling (the win at home to Watford springs to mind) where the performance was bad but the result was crucial in building confidence in the games that followed, so we have to hope that this will set us off towards better form and confidence. A couple of signings to help our options in the squad is certainly also definitely needed though. Not many players that stood out tonight, but in fairness to Ralph, he made the right choice in selecting Vestergaard, who proved a good fit for this type of game. Romeu and JWP also did OK in midfield from a defensive point of view. Armstrong and Djenepo both had shockers I thought - was particularly a shame to see Djenepo play so negatively, can’t remember him taking the full back on once, not sure if that was under instructions or whether it’s a lack of confidence. Ings and Adams were OK first half but starved of any kind of service or support in the second half.

Just watching MOTD - handball decision given against Palace on VAR an absolute joke and totally agree with Hodgson’s reaction. It’s becoming just random luck whether as a defender you get penalised for the ball just hitting your hand accidentally, apparently due to adjustment of handball rule again this season. Needs to be clarified once and for all - is accidental handball no longer a thing to be taken in consideration?

I don't say this often but please get Shane on.

Djenepo needs to come off I'm afraid. Just doesn't seem at it tonight in terms of carrying it forwards.

Would like to see Djenepo be a bit more positive when he gets it in their third. Doing a lot of turning back towards our goal so far. Still, decent-ish half I guess.