Saint86

Don't worry, after another failed tournament, Southgate won't be anywhere near a premier league appointment.

Saints will win this. No worries.

Southgate and our FA take note.

Think the Everton game could ultimately prove crucial given its followed by City and West Ham (and no one should be comfortably demanding more than a point from those 2). If we beat Everton we'll be 10points from 10 games (assuming losses follow). Then its the new forest derby, are usual win vs Arsenal at SMS, and palace away. I reckon we'll end up on about 14 points from 13games come the end of October.

JWP is the leading English (defensive) midfielder in the league this season (statistically). Streets ahead of rice form wise. Bellingham should be the only given starter on current form, but jwp should be in the 3 for those 2 spots. Not to mention he'll run every minute of every game in the world Cup, carries a set peice threat that totally changes a game tactically, takes pens, and has the versatility to play in a number of positions. Feel sorry for him, any half decent manager takes him and gives him a chance. He gets the worst England manager I've lived through who will likely take Henderson and Philips no doubt.

They should have been doing it now. 3months to take that squad into a world cup, then he can run off back to domestic football if he wants. Southgate may be shit, but the FA are just as inept. They've kept him for far too long and will now waste the next tournament. The buck for this doesn't stop at Southgate, it should stop with the dithering idiots above him. There is literally no point going to this world cup or even getting excited for it. We are more likely to go out in the group stage than reach the quarters. Absolute joke. Another generation of wasted talent and psychological negativity that was very clearly very avoidable.

I have been saying Southgate should be sacekd since croatia in the world cup... i have never wavered and taken plenty of abuse for it. If anyone is still backing him now there are no words....

I know he's tainted by the Johnson administration, but it really should have been Rushi in charge. It really is a case of dumb and dumber in charge now.

Zero substance. He's done fairly well from the opening games and won't be going anywhere just yet.

I am imagining the MLG reaction to this post 🤣

Next manager to be sacked - surely that's Miss Brenda Bodgers before its Hassenhuttle? They're a far better quality team than us (recent history) and they're rooted to the bottom of the table without a win and on -12GD.

We always do these polls after a bad performance and before we play again - so they are highly skewed (i presume innocently). Purely out of curiosity i'd be interested to see how they turn out after a game like the Chelsea win as there is definitely a marked difference in forum users and their moods depending on results.

In fairness Egg, the points you make above are about squad quality (on which i do partially agree with you - i'd love us to have another CDM and a quality attacker). And not the manager - which is the point i was reacting to. But regardless, we rebuilt the squad this summer - and with that we've beaten Leicester, got a solid draw vs Leeds, outplayed United where we were unlucky to lose, beat Chelsea fairly comprehensively... So how long do people want to take? Are we going back to last season when it was frankly a totally different team? And are fans complaining about the squad quality or the manager's quality? Because I don't think its reasonable for it to be viewed both ways given we've never been in a relegation scrap since he's been here... so are some of our fans now basically on the Sports Republic out bandwagon? 😰 Anyway, the reactionary extremes between Chelsea and Villa are imo ridiculous, i don't think that saying effectively that is misbehaving 😅🙈. We played well against Chelsea, and we had a bad game vs Villa, but that does not a certain relegation make. Reality is that some people had us pegged for the relegation zone, no wins, and manageress by the international break before we even kicked a ball.... and if our squad is as bad as you make out above, its a genuine wonder that all 6 teams below us haven't also gone and sacked their managers - especially as most of them have had easier starts than us. Any preseason talk of giving this young side the time it needs seemingly going out the window because Tyrone Mings is 6ft 5in and we couldn't outmuscle a bigger villa side. Man CIty away is on the 8th October. I look forward to reading the comments in the days that follow....

The bed wetting after the villa game is truly something to behold.

Bad night by all accounts. My take was that we tried to play our physical more direct game against a team that are bigger than us and reasonably solid. We had no effective out or way to break them down, and the game was a turgid dire display severely lacking in quality. The lesson here is that we can't try to bully teams that are bigger than us. On Ralph to have realised that and to have transitioned to a more effective style of play. Which we didn't. Personally think that was one of the worst games of football I've seen saints ever play at this level. A truly terrible advert for Premier league football from both sides.

The call up for Philips is concerning. Should be nowhere near that squad - played about 10min this season for city and suffered horrendously from injuries this past year. Suggestion there is that Southgate still sees him as the preferred player out of him and JWP.

I assumed that was what ANM was largely for? Failing that, Lyanco or even DCC could sit in CDM role with JWP/Diallo/Armstrong in front of them. I wouldn't be too concerned. We're a different beast this year physically - ABC and MS are giants in defence, and we've got a GK who can finally kick long which means we can use Adams as a proper target man and get runners off him - equally the pace and power of our back line (and bazunu's sweeping) means we can properly push up and press teams without the same fears on the counter. We won't be easy to beat IMO, and that means we'll get more points as we can hold onto wins. Even if Villa get some of their refereeing bias, and even if Ings turns it on - i still think we will have a chance to win the game, and i still think we'll finish above villa this year regardless.

After ABK, I have no doubts we can sell salisu and buy at least one player as good as / better than him.

I think there has been a couple of examples historically where they've been activated, but for the life of me I can't remember them. I would say its very likely lavia's will be activated. City don't like old players, and in 3-4 years time he'll be some player, whilst city's existing CM's are approaching their 30's.

Yeah it was Frank.

I would wait for Leicester to win a game before saying stuff like "they can easily come good" 😛. There is something very rotten building at that club. The fact remains as well that they've clearly let down the players they've kept through a lack of signings (so any with ambition will now all want out). This will have also damaged their attractiveness for new players. Reminds me of saints a few years ago. They could very easily find themselves going down this season, and regardless, it's going to require a rebuild now to refresh the playing squad.

What have chelsea's new owners got to do with many city's buy back clause on lavia?

Time out for a bit of oddball appreciation.

Given it was for personal reasons, i just hope everything is okay on the private side of his life. If it reflects his own mental well being, then good for him. I know of plenty of people in life who've made a move, it wasn't what they've expected/wanted, and then they are welcomed back. Tends to build relationships well for both parties and instils trust and confidence going forward. Hopefully this is what has happened in this instance and we've got a very exciting player on our books for years to come.

You can't help but notice MLG carrying on as normal in response to JT there.... maybe we should ask him on twitter how his Garner transfer saga is going.