Saint86

I suspect Ratcliffe had a hand in that given his reputation. He isn't a nice bit of work and we dared to say no to him and dig our heals in... Having a little stir of the club/fanbase's morale on the evening of a season defining match just summarises the spite of the man frankly. I don't know what our choices are, but if Wilcox has to give 1 years notice then i would make him work it through the summer as a minimum. The bloke banged on about integrity when he joined, and he's an ex player with familiarity to contracts and transfers between clubs - so lets see some. Equally though, if United think early april is sufficient time to plan their summer, then Saints should be able to do similar, albeit from a slightly later starting point... And it is only Jason Wilcox at the end of the day... If he were irreplaceable we'd be in the automatics with a raft of his signings as our standout key players. As it is, he's presided over some suspect deals - the rothwell/Alcaraz loans (swap out) in particular were bizarre to me, as is the mess at full back (which i was moaning about since pre-season and has avoidably cost us points). Our best attackers seem to still be Stu, AA, and Fraser (just coincidence that they're all Scottish and mates with the manager? 😅), and the JWP sale remains pivotal in my mind as to why we aren't getting promoted - for a side that relies on possession in midfield and pressing and intensity out of it, we chose £30M and smallbone over promotion.... You could argue that £15M of that went on Charles who barely plays as well. Plus side though, Sports Republic know exactly what they're doing going into another summer of complete upheaval at the club (3rd time's the charm right?🤩).

So... if you practice that for 10years, you'll basically have no knackers left to hurt? It really is a very good analogy for being a saints fan 🤣

Well, i think we all know that the prem doesn't want 3 relegated sides getting promoted... 😑

Technically Bree played the last 2 games, so KWP was dropped for Stephens.

Might want to ask Chelsea. Certainly done a good number on them 🤣

Just got home. I actually thought we played quite well up until the Bednarek challenge / injury. Which upset our tempo and allowed Ipswich to come back into the game. Ipswich scored 2 goals against the run of play, the first one it looks like he laces the ball with nothing but power, and actually slices it into the top corner by luck more than judgement, certainly doesn't go the way it would have gone had he hit it cleanly - the power, range, and slice of the shot certainly did for Bazunu. Regardless though, the team did well to rally and played very well. It is however the same old story, i can imagine that everyone on here was saying we were in trouble going in 2-1 at half time, everyone knew we'd give them a goal, and sure enough, another lax switch off and they take their chance - again, against the run of play, and again well taken. The ref i thought was a joke. They were going in late and hard numerous times, i don't think it was their throw immediately before the second goal (they scored from that passage), and the red card is a farce - he isn't last man and its barely enough to constitute a foul anyway. Actually thought Bree did well TBH. Gutted if we don't appeal that card. Ultimate joke is that they scored the winner (not that it matters relative to a draw anyway - neither good enough), in the injury time that only came about because of their fouling of / injury to Bednarek. Also, lets not even talk about the farce that was the scuffed shot acting as an incredible touch for their 3rd... whereas they had players blocking shots inside the 6 yard box without even realising where the ball was or where it was going ffs. Multiple times. Totally undeserved result all in all. Encouraging take aways is that we played them off the pitch for 60odd minutes, we rallied very very well after their goal, and we still and enough about us to be threatening with 10men. Going into the playoffs that isn't bad to build on. Will be tough however to maintain their focus now with what are almost dead rubber games over the coming weeks. But we have to either start taking our chances, or cutting out these moments of suicidal switch offs at the back. I'm normally critical of Martin, but don't blame him for todays result - we comfortably deserved to win that imo.

KWP has been poor in his recent games, and just back from injury layoff. We played well vs Ipswich with the side that started, so i don't think you can blame Martin for dropping KWP in all seriousness.

Defence switched off there.

Was that saints fans singing "you don't know what you're doing" when Mara came on? Embarrassing if so.

Well balanced team this time and it shows. Smallbone AND Downes in the middle. Actual wide players in the winger positions, and a proper CF up front... And ofc... Bree in for manning - so much more solid!!!! We look so much better with a sensible team. Find myself dreading the second half subs again however, no doubt we'll take off one central or central defensive midfielder for a CAM as a minimum. Because why would we try and keep the ball and be solid in central midfield?

10 wins and no bonus 2 points... 😰

Everyone ready to start our run of 10wins and 2 draws that is going to carry us into the automatic spots?

Yeah... only when attacking. The guys says something to that effect in the video tbf 🤣

I actually can't believe there are actually some people that disagree with this. Mental.

Get real though Lighthouse.... Can you imagine if a person (even if only as prevalent as MLT) tried to engage in debate with everyone that disagreed with them? There aren't enough hours in the day to even scratch the surface. Social media is an echo chamber at the best of times, its not a political forum. People that garner a following and supporters will be thrive, and others wont... Its really not complicated. As for MLT himself - he was a brilliant club servant and ex footballer, but if you can't handle what he says ignore him... just like you wouldn't have a conversation with other people that wind you up.

Should still be our manager, and we should still be in the premier league. Sad times but wish him all the best!

2-0 before our subs. 2-2 after he started tinkering.

You could write the script as soon as smallbone was taken off. We play with an anchor, a typical CM, and stu - we lead 2-0. We take the CM off for a CAM, go with 1 anchor and essentially 5 attackers.... and once again we lose all possession and defensive shape, the side is completely imbalanced and we concede 2 goals. At this point, Martin's inability to see this and to stop fucking it up is becoming indefensible.... the guy cannot see the obvious and does not learn. How many points are we going to drop? Time after time he either starts like this or changes to this. Its laughable. Even if we get away with it today, we've needlessly conceded 2 goals (and counting).

Hopefully he's specialising in FFP/ PSR rules, with a view to defending our future finance breaches 😂

Where did you hear that? I agree that he is on his way regardless, its the final year of his contract and he hasn't signed. Che Adams obviously on his bike (replaced by stewart), and one can only assume KWP will be gone as well this summer. Macca goes without saying. Its a hefty chunk of the wage bill between them all if nothing else.

Basically impossible to tell from a satellite image if its asbestos or not, although it does appear similar to some of the adjacent buildings. Reality is that if it predates the ban there is a good chance that it is. Does anyone know when those units were built? The ones to the left of that row could well be an asbestos roofing material (based on street view), but you can't get a good image of the actual roofs impacted. You still can't be certain either way without testing.

Time for some Ralph and Rohl times again?

4 wins on the bounce now with Sheffield Wednesday.

Ah, so looks like he's been a very naughty boy then.... The number of links between Monk, his agent, and the numerous transfer dealings (even when not the agent for the player in question) is far too much to be coincidence for me at least. Always helpful when an ex-Southampton man has been out and about sabotaging the competition though 👀

Apparently he's had 4 years out of the management game, makes you wonder if he's had some troubles at home etc. Either way, its a slightly interesting appointment by Cambridge. You'd think he's probably far too good a manager for them in truth? So mildly curious to see what happens to him with that one. Surely the last throw of the dice for him re potential failure... if all he can get now is Cambridge anyway... 🙈