ChrisPY

Something to take our mind off the disastrous start to 2021! Who would you have as your best XI from 2000-present. Idea is to be based on performances for Saints and not how they did before/after (ie- you’d have Saints Bale, not Real Madrid Bale). Reckon this side would do well in Ralph’s 4-2-2-2 although could probably do with a bit more energy up top. Niemi Clyne — Van dijk — Svensson — Bridge Mane - Schneiderlin - Wanyama - Lallana Lambert — Beattie

If it’s a split second then him clearly saying ‘I wasn’t ready’ is rubbish as he was moving the whistle to his mouth show the exact opposite. IF that’s his justification for blowing again and disallowing then it’s a shocking decision. To me, Leeds looked set up and ready so can’t understand why play wasn’t allowed to continue.

Werner was clipped by Romeu (I think) a couple of paces before his challenge so guess the justification is that caused him to be off balance and lose control in the challenge. Djenepo slid across Kante’s path as he was sprinting with the ball. In real time, it would have been a harsh red. In contrast to a lot of the comments on here, I think we’re actually playing well, sticking to a different game plan to what we’re used to seeing. Chelsea haven’t really had any clear cut chances, we’ve defended fairly solidly without needing to press everything at such a fast pace. Will hopefully mean we have the energy to step it up if needed as the game progresses.

I am. Stopped going to games around March last year and haven’t been back since.

Clearly should have been red card Ajayi!

Ralph’s definitely got the squad overachieving but can’t help but feel the mentality on the pitch is a reflection of him and the way he sets out the team to play. Don’t think there’s any manager who would join us that could do any better but that doesn’t mean Ralph couldn’t be getting more out of the team. The frustration is if Ralph made different substitutions or went more defensive/attacking at certain points during games, we could have 5 or so more wins this season. Suppose that could be said of most teams but the changes that are needed often seem glaringly obvious and the game plays out as expected with us ‘dropping points from a winning position’ or failing to create anything meaningful when chasing a game. Maybe I’m ultra critical considering what Ralph has got from the squad but he’s only a few small improvements away from us being part of the next group in the league that you’d alway expect to be top half and semi regularly qualify for the Europa League (I’m thinking Everton and Leicester although they both have ambitions of making a ‘Big 7/8’).

Sky and BT really need to introduce a ‘Scouse Off’ option.

Goal

Very early impressions of Salisu- Looks like he’ll never need to sprint as he seems to have good positioning, anticipation and can cover ground quickly at a jog Does the basics that our style requires pretty well (control, head up, moving the ball on). Know this should be expected of a Premier League player but plenty of other CBs have brought on anxiety!

Think we might need an extra physio given how the injury list is building! Would be great to have around the club but not who we need as manager.

As I said, I think his Plan A is brilliant and as you’ve pointed out has resulted in a fantastic run of form. Seems stupid to think that because of that there’s no reason to look for ways to improve and that includes with Ralph’s tactics (and I’d rather Ralph improved his tactics than we got rid of him). Plenty of examples where we’ve dropped points from winning positions where we could have tightened up at the back or where we’ve needed a late goal and continued persisting with passing the ball around the defence and midfield to try and draw the opposition out.

Because he gets the team to play the same way for 90 minutes and doesn’t react to what is happening on the pitch? The massive loss tonight highlights it when we should have gone into damage limitation mode but the points lost from winning positions isn’t a coincidence. Plan A is fantastic but needs to be able to manage games and react better during the 90 minutes. Personally, I want us to stick with him and back him in the transfer market but can see the justification in getting rid.

Don’t disagree. I just used a lazy example but any post playing career within the club would apply.

If the club and Bertrand see the future as 3 years of playing and then move on, I agree with you. If there’s a view from both sides for Bertrand to move into coaching or an ambassadorial role and we can see there being a real long term benefit for the club then the third year on the contract, knowing we’re not going to get as much from a playing side may be worth taking. Better that than he goes to one of our rivals and gives them years of service as a top coach for the sake of one years salary. No idea if this is in Bertrand’s plans or what his coaching abilities are but there could be more to consider than is he going to be a good enough player in the 2023/24 season. Same applies to Walcott.

PGMOL, IFAB, UEFA and the Premier League have now clarified for future scenarios: "Where a player in an offside position immediately impacts on an opponent who has deliberately played the ball, the match officials should prioritise challenging an opponent for the ball, and thus the offside offence of 'interfering with an opponent by impacting on the opponent's ability to play the ball' should be penalised." "Accordingly, if a similar situation to the one involving Rodri's impact on Mings occurred in a future match, then the impact would be penalised for offside."

Agree with you that the decision was technically correct according to the laws of the game. I don’t think that means it was applied within the spirit of the law. You have to look at why the law was written. If the defender had played a sloppy back pass towards the goalkeeper then I’d agree it’s a new phase of play but for the attacker to be able to pounce from an offside position as soon as the defender takes a deliberate touch encourages play that the offside law was brought in to stop.

(1b) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (0) (2a) (2) (2) (1a) (2) (2) So ‘1a’ plays the ball to space ‘0’. ‘2a’ drops back and controls the ball, looking up for options. ‘1b’ sneaks up on ‘2a’, steals the ball and scores. Technically a correct decision but clearly against the spirit of the rule and for every sane football fan, it’s ridiculous.

Lots of talk about bids of around £16million coming in for Josh King who has 6 months left on his contract. Think we need to hold our nerve with this one, don’t change our contract offer and refuse to sell now or in the summer. Ings can see what options are available to him this time next year. Suspect it won’t be Champions League clubs coming in for a player about to turn 30 with a chequered injury history but more likely a West Ham, Newcastle, Wolves or he’ll have the choice to sign a contract with us.

Feeling more confident about these fixtures now. Get something from Leicester then win against 2 bottom half teams and Villa who we’ve already beaten away from home this season. We’ll go the month unbeaten with 13-15 points, easy!

Seems like they decided it was a penalty, checked for offside and then changed their mind.

Cut our losses and bring JWP off? Can’t afford for both him and Romeu to miss Fulham.

‘For the next 24 hours at least, Liverpool will be six points clear at the top.’ Guess we’re not winning this one then, I’ll go and do some Christmas shopping instead of watching.

Ref looks like he’s going to give everything. Need to get the ball around the Brighton box and start falling over.

Didn’t he have two sets of numbers? 88 2316 Which was when his Dad supposedly died? The one that correlated with Heil Hitler or White Power? Plenty on here that is clearly a shocking attempt at a claim of racism that is rightly ridiculed but not sure this one passes the test.

If we’re looking for a cheaper option, we could sign Tom Ince who looked the better player when they were both at Derby a few years ago.