Saint86

Would quite happily see us continue with this season's shirts, although very doubtful that would happen. First we had the fiasco with the sponsor, and very few fans have been able to actually wear the shirt to the games.

The Shrewsbury game should be forfeited by them. Harsh as it is, their club clearly broke covid protocols and the price of that shouldn't be additional fixture congestion for saints. People looking at games in isolation. But as the number of postponed games stack up, the fixture list will be just as "intense" later in the season. And sod saints potentially missing out on Europe because of match congestion, jaded players / injuries etc. for something that wasn't our fault.

Daka to west ham, great signing.

I think we'll start to see the guilty teams forfeiting or a draw being awarded if both teams are unable to field a team. Particular clubs have taken the piss and should be punished. A lot of our fans basically advocating the Klopp protests almost a year on. No more fixture congestion 😅 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jan/28/jurgen-klopp-unrepentant-over-decision-to-field-weakened-liverpool-side-in-fa-cup-replay-shrewsbury

And why we press and how we get chances and territory 😄

Its a really good piece on Hassenhuttle's tactics and how well drilled his teams are. To me as a relative layman, I would expect it to require a similar level of prep (as saints have) for teams to adapt their games to avoid our traps, which means they are invariably reduced to trying to defend against us and wait until we are worn down to try and get their goals. That is a huge credit to our entire set up given we don't have the biggest or most illustrious squad in football. When combined with assets like Ings and JWP, who can get you a goal from nothing, it isn't surprising (but remains impressive) to see us competing. As I was saying the other day after the west ham game. Our bad patch (with thread bare squad), has included narrow loses to in form united and city, goalless draws with west ham and fulham, and a victory over League leaders and defending champions Liverpool... People should be dreaming of a top 4 finish because we do actually have an outside chance of managing it. And top 6 is certainly a good possibility. If sky wanted to offer me 650:1 for us to finish 1st or 2nd who was i to refuse ^_^ (if you aren't going to take those odds on a season like this, then when would you?)

I can only really remember the offside call being bad about that final? And tbf to Marriner - he was at the mercy of his lino for that. I generally think he's a decent referee.

Had real issues visiting the site today and couldn't get on at all earlier having tried on a couple of devices.

West Ham are a good side. They're well coached, have good players, and have been able to make decent big money signings (in Bowen and Benrahma) that would get into our starting 11. Contrast against this, we've got a threadbare squad with about 14players suitable for first team prem football. This is our bad run of form.... narrow defeats to United and City, and draws vs rapidly improving arsenal and fulham, and a strong West Ham. We'll come through this run and pick up the other side, and despite being on a bad run, other teams aren't pulling clear of us. Relax.

So good or bad deal?

I don't disagree. Teams are figuring us out now in so much as they are setting up to mitigate our style. Against sides with quality players like Man United, Arsenal, Wolves its showing. We've looked leggy in all of those games, and its led to dropped points in all those games!. We are pressing and winning back the ball in dangerous areas, but they're defending in numbers and slowing down the tempo which is limiting how many effective chances we actually create. The when we're tired, they hit us 😕 We're then tiring and it is very evident in all of those games that we are movement is dropping off up front, and that are runners start making sloppy passes that give away the ball or stunt attacks, often under no pressure - and okay, we press back and usually win the ball back - but this requires more energy and gives dangerous sides opportunities to catch us in the transition and break. Above all things, i really think Ralph needs to start rotating to a degree. Its not possible for players like JWP, Romeu, and Armstrong etc. to play at the same output game after game. Rotating for players like Redmond, Djenpo, Diallo etc will keep the players fresher and improve our overall effectiveness for me. Secondary point, if we don't rotate, then when we do need the "squad" players, they won't be as fluid within the team. And by rotate, i simply mean that for example, we start Armstrong one game, sub him on 65-70min for say Djenpo, and then reverse that for the next game. (I.e. start Djenpo last night against Arsenal, and start Armstrong against city) etc. With the heavy fixture congestion currently I just don't see that its feasible to play the same starting 11 every game multiple times per week - especially when we're playing teams like city that can rotate. Maybe Ralph will play Djenpo and Redmond starting over Theo and Armstrong against city? But i can't see him playing anyone over JWP and Romeu as it stands, and those 2 do need a bit of a break! Loving Saints at the moment, and really enjoying our success and fair play to everyone at the club. I know we have limited means compared to the teams we're up against... but we do need to be smarter with our squad for me!

Think we're looking in leggy in games well before the end. First half performances against United and Arsenal have both been lackluster for much of the half. We just don't have the same movement up front and a lot of lazy passes going astray with no pressure. There were periods in this match were I stopped moaning about misplaced passes only because Arsenal were just as liable to give it back to us...😆 Ralph needs to rotate. It was crying out last night to start Redmond/Djenpo/Diallio. Unless we're going with those 3 vs man city?

Deals long been done. This is just theatre to sell it to the people.

Aha! Sorry 88, quoted the wrong person there!

I only hope people are more understanding than you are should your life and mental health take such a negative turn!

For me, BLM has no place in football. But it is also the responsibility of the game's governing bodies to sort that out and to end the black power salutes that are associated with it. Certainly parts of the BLM organisation exist and thrive by causing division, but it is sadly the people it claims to represent that ultimately suffer the inevitable push backs. I'd echo Karl Henry on the subject, it needs an apolitical movement to tackle racial equality - and i think if you removed BLM from the equation then you reduce the pre-match debate to whether its become meaningless tokenism or still worth keeping. What you can't be doing is having thousands of football fans booing a gesture that is majorly intended as nothing more than a stance against racial and social inequality. And clearly there is zero point to football continuing to do a pre match demonstration about social equality indefinitely, whilst also changing nothing of consequence outside of that gesture.

https://theathletic.com/2234408/2020/12/04/hasenhuttl-pochettino-koeman/?source=weeklyemail&redirected=1 Article in the Athletic discussing are3 best managers in the modern era. Also at least partially mentions the infamous momentum curve.

That video is so bad it makes AFTV respectable.... 😱

I actually quite like BFS. No nonsense and knows his stuff. A real shame he was knifed as England manager.

I just can't agree that Reed would offer as much as JWP and Romeu. To me he is nowhere near their level, either defensively, technically, or in an attacking sense. I haven't seen enough of Diallo to comment, and in truth he is going to struggle to get into the team ahead of the aforementioned duo. Reed would have competed with smallbone and Diallo for a spot on the bench and that's it. Yes, I would rather have a home grown academy player taking up a slot, but not if they don't want to be here. Ultimately he wanted first team football and that's fair enough, i wish him well but i'm not upset that he's gone.

Was coming a mile off, almost put a bet on 3-2 the minute they score the first. Was only going to end one way. Even at 2-0 we weren't playing well and United always had gears to go into. They're a decent side with a great squad. And they always play well against us. Loving this season and the way we've been playing - we are overachieving but we need to be wiser than this. Its about the only critique i would level at Ralph - waiting until the 89th minute to make a meaningful change is just too late. Sides are starting to take us seriously and figure us out now. Need to be able to shore it up and see games out. Villa, Wolves, United- all games where we've simply let the opposition come back at us and score inevitable goals without changing things up. At least if we are going to lose doing it, its against a team who really should expect to finish above us at least!

Been coming. Even at 2-0 we weren't playing well and United always had gears to go into. They're a decent side with a great squad. And they always play well against us. Not sure what Ralph was doing in truth, waiting until the 89th minute to make a meaningful change. Sides are starting to take us seriously and figure us out now. Need to be able to shore it up and see games out.

I fear Wolves more than I do united. But that said, they are a team with their backs against the wall and some quality players. I'm sure we'll be well prepared and they definitely won't want to play us. Can see a 1-1 draw but you'd like to hope we can get all 3 points.

Agreed fully!

He's a class player that sits at a good level for the team and squad. Add to that the fact that you can wait decades to find players with his level of passion for the club, and what exactly is there to not like?