Saint86

We're knackered now. Fair play to leeds. Read/Played us like a book.

VAR is just match fixing by the back door.

Where were the lines? That was clearly offside by today's standards. Also this ref has had a mare with respect to letting leeds' challenges go, not giving corners etc.

As a member of what I consider to be the silent majority, all I'll say is that IMO, BLM UK has zero place in football. Also fair play to those of you arguing that point. However there really is no point arguing politics on a football message board 🤷‍♂️. Either way, I certainly think no one should advocate the use (or even threats) of banning orders against those who express that viewpoint. Free speech should be absolutely sacrosanct in the UK. And clearly, every person on both sides of this debate recognises that racism should not be tolerated in today's society.

That game at old Trafford was the low point for squad depth - we fielded 11 "first team" players from the entire 18man squad, two of those being keepers, and only 8 (being generous) being players you'd expect to get any real game time normally. So whilst I don't disagree that it would be nice to see him have a run. This is a player who for most of the fans has purely been built up on here, who was clearly a long way down the pecking order prior even to his league debut, and who the manager sees daily and has yet to think is good enough. Given our finances and necessary squad rebuild, I'd rather we try to bank a few million pounds (through league finish), than drop positions due to the manager testing a player he doesn't think is ready - as frustrating as that may be for us fans 🤷‍♂️

If he's going to be given game time, it will be in CM alongside JWP, with Armstrong back out on the right. Or he'll come on as a late sub for Tella/Armstrong/redmond/walcott etc and they'll juggle the formation to put him in the middle. The manager and players see him in training everyday, if he's worthy of game time he'll get it. Saints don't have enough squad depth to ignore a suitable ability player 🤷‍♀️

He's in no rush and will wait and see how the euro's goes and whether he can put himself in the shop window. If nothing happens then he'll take the contract offer from saints.

I mean, i reckon we're going back in for Williams on loan.

Contract wise, nothing will happen with Ings until after the transfer window shuts.

Redmond assisted the palace goal and the penalty...

Huge fan of the pre match post raging because we finished 17th this season with no signs of progress 🤣

Basically this.

That interview is notable for the lack of "um". He's a promising youngest so will be good to see how he develops.

Well, i noted that the store webpage has been offline for "maintenance" for a couple of days now, and was cheekily wondering if there might be an announcement coming soon etc.

This was on the 4th page of threads which means I'm guessing the answer to this is probably a no.... 😄 But... has anyone heard any more news on the kits for next season or when they might be announced? Hold an glimmer of an outside hope that we might give the new kit an outing in the final game of the season.

Since are promotion to the net spend, Burnley are the only surviving team with a lower net spend that us - impressive since that's now approaching a 10year period. Obviously it was that pesky lower league debt that we accrued under NC - a debt that retrospectively must quite clearly dwarfed the wages/turnover ratios and transfer net spends of 18 other premier league teams over that same period... Why else would our net spend be so low...🙄

Are there any good cheap championship players that are aged 19-20? 😅

Interesting analogy. However i think you will find that the doors and engine from a Rolls Royce are each worth more than Carillo and Hoedt combined 🙃

Liverpool 64th, Tottenham 62nd, United 59th 😅

"That was one of the tough ones tonight. The performance was a disaster today and I have to apologise and take 100% responsibility" I'll let you guess the game ^_^

Sorry if I slightly misunderstood your meaning, i think your "slightly negative" summary and the tone of your last paragraph persuaded me you were already saying he should be out. But yes in short, I think we agree on his current position but arrive at it from opposite perspectives - I.e. Ultimately the jury's out on whether he should go this summer, but they're likely to find in his favour at the moment. Hah cheers. Got one right eventually! 🙈

I find that I disagree with a fair few parts of this. If we finish around 15/16th then keeping him or sacking him are both guesswork (i.e. more evidence required / could go either way) and not based on a fair review of the evidence surely (imo)? Not unless you think Saints have a right to be top half having played a fair chunk of the winter with circa 12/13 fit "first team quality" players? You say he's had two poor runs? Yeah that's fair obviously. But he also got Saints to the top of the prem for the first time ever, and over a 38 game stretch had us sitting top 4.... So to term your review as "Slightly negative" is the understatement of the year imo. You've basically ignored anything good he's done 😆! The fact is that he's had to sell players to buy others, resulting in bugger all net spend, and a series of poor quality legacy players that he can't shift - The baulk of the team are not signings made by him, and those players were in danger of relegation since Puel - long before RH even came along? And under Ralph we've been clear of relegation for the past 2 seasons. I'd also say that his signings have been fairly decent. Che is useful for the money, KWP is a cracking buy, Salisu looks a propsect etc. Don't get me wrong. If we do finish the season poorly and drop lower in the table, then there is an argument to be made for not keeping him - and i totally get this view from a lot of our fans. I still remain on the "keep ralph" side of the line because i think i take a broader view of his management and can look past the recent run - although if continues with us dropping to only finish a few points above the relegation zone i suspect i'd be on the other side. However, the reality is that to make that decision as it stands, it would be a choice based on a broad emotional unhappiness at Saints' overall quality, paired with a gut feeling that another manger can come in and get more than Ralph - Who himself is better than Puel, Pellegrino, and Hughes? It really would be little more than a gut shot imo. As it stands, to actually justify sacking him would require people to highly weight the awful run of form/injuries/refereeing decisions we've had this season, whilst simultaneously basically ignoring the very impressive runs we've been on. And i have zero doubt that if we hadn't had the injuries and/or ref decisions we've had this year, we would be a lot higher in the table. Ditto, if we had had greater first team quality squad depth we would be higher in the table - and this is down to the club's finances. None of those things are on this manager. You could perhaps try to make a case on the injury front. But by the time that materialised we had very little prep time between matches and a severely diminished squad. I don't think it is overly reasonable to expect us to have successfully and significantly changed style with everything else going on. So saying to sack him based on the recent poor run which has been governed by a congested set of fixtures, small squad (compounded by significant ongoing injuries), limited prep time, and awful refereeing "luck"? Its not yet justified for me. And i do think there is a significant argument to be made for the fact that Saints play a high tempo press game, have had a very small squad, and the players just haven't had sufficient rest between games - they must be jaded imo. If we finish where we are now, it will come down to how twitchy the upper management are? Do they wait and see if the summer break and transfer window can refresh the squad? Or do they think he's had his time and boot him? I would say that given finances and the general uncertainty in football, we are going to keep him unless we really do finish just above the relegation spots. But, at the time of writing i remain happy to keep him and think he'll come good again with another summer. Although what the squad will look like after we lose Ings and Bertrand, possibly vestergard, and after trying to mitigate the covid losses - well i have no idea! Ultimately what is the real Hassenhuttle? Is he very run based? Is he the guy who got a fully fit saints playing fantastic football, beat man city in project restart, and had us sitting at the top of the league? (Do some fans view this as just luck?) Or is RH the guy that's barely won any points in 2021 - and is that his fault or is it down to other circumstances? Surely on the balance of fairness, he's carrying more credit than debt even now?

Saints store down for maintenance? 🧐

Can't have a thread about Mike Dean and not take a few minutes to really digest the subject matter surely?!?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq1Ozo0Zhn8

The cynic in me would say its because he didn't think we could get anything and just wanted to avoid another drumming. Whereas if he thinks we can win he doesn't give any attention to keeping the goals against tally down 🙄