NewYorkSaint

Gotta love this place. 3-1 up against a team that barely conceded last few games, and we're still in max neg mode. Live table... we're equal points w Leeds. We've seen glimpses of what the talent we own can do. that's pretty damn cool. for me, Stu Armstrong should be absolute team fixture. And v v happy to see ArmA growing in confidence. All that said no one wd like another Saints goal more than me. LOL

Exactly. If you're in our half of the field with the ball, and it looks tight to find a pass, it takes real courage to go for it rather than hoof. But going for it is much more likely to retain possession. It's just that when it doesn't you may get blamed for the goal. Our whole season depends on whether the combo of skill levels our players have + the courage they can maintain to stick with this style of play can turn the tide. If you're Man City, you use this strategy to win everything. We MAY be able to pull it off in the championship. And when we see real signs of that (as happened in our opening game against Weds) it's pretty exciting. Given that this is the strategy, it really is counter-productive for us not to get behind it. Because otherwise we're literally making it harder for our players to do what they need to.

I'm not sure if I'm more frustrated by the football or the fact that neither official audio nor video passes purchased from the site are working. that's really terrible customer service. I ended up buying a pass on the Norwich site and the stream there is working perfectly well, thank you Norwich. Still, missed the first four goals.

No. nor video. It's really terrible that they make a big deal of charging for this and then screw up the tech.

Is anyone else who's paid for the official stream getting a stupid error message on the website saying "no KS where KS required" infuriating.

It's wild that despite our relegation, and loss of several squad players, this actually looks a better team to any we had last year. Smallbone and Tella are big adds. Plus Edozie given an actual chance to play. Smallbone looks so relaxed. Killer through ball coming from him. One of the key benefits of our possession game is that it hugely limits Wednesday's chances to build anything. And just as last year mistakes bred a loss of confidence, the more we keep this control, the more confidence we'll build. Hope.

Can someone help me understand this? No matter how much I have already given up all hope, it still really hurts to be 2 goals down when our overall play has at least matched Forest. Like... I think it's grief I'm feeling. It didn't have to be like this.

What a lovely spirit there is here. Aribo has sometimes looked fantastic. I'd certainly rather gamble him than Moi. Sulemana, Alcaraz + him good be lethal combo. Let's at least give it a chance.

When you see what this team can do, it seems crazy to think of them being relegated. The key to the rest of the season is whether Selles and JWP can inspire this spirit for the rest of the run in. If they can, there's still a chance. I genuinely believe that with our new players we're capable of being a competitive mid-table team. Oy... so heart-breaking.

Man... Can't remember ever feeling so frustrated in a Saints game.

Sigh... not great results.

I'm watching Bournemouth. They just equalized. Striking how good Harrison Reed has been for Fulham.

The one factor that gives me hope is I think we're on a bigger improvement curve than the teams around us. Selles, Sulemana and Alcaraz are all talented, and are slowly coming into their own. Even Mara may yet surprise. on our day we can take a point or 3 off the biggest teams. A lot depends on growing confidence. I'd say next three games incredibly important. If we can pick up 4-5 points from those I think we can stay up.

My biggest concern is that I haven't really seen him use his height advantage. To win the ball, it's height + leap. He's a foot taller than Shane Long, but maybe a foot less of a leaper too?! Anyone have footage of him showing real ability to climb above defenders? I've been impressed by some of his footwork, and I think he's faster than he looks, because of those long legs. If he can get tuned to the league, could be an amazing asset given that we have JWP's right leg to feed in to him. If I could write a script for tonight, it would be that he comes on and claims the winner in spectacular style. Suddenly we'll all feel so much happier! P.S. AlexLaw. I predict you'll end up embarrassed by that comment on Rasmus. I grant you the NJ decision backfired. But I've seen enough evidence to believe that he and SR can create something really magical here. You're confusing thoughtful risk-taking (many risks fail) with incompetence.

One key thing: if you look at the players we brought in in Jan compared to other teams, there's a key difference. We genuinely have a better squad than the first half of the season. Our relegation peers did not improve to same extent (bournemouth poss exception). So even leaving aside the manager drama, there's an objective reason to think we will do better in rest of season than we did first half. Haven't seen tall Paul come through yet, but Alcaraz and Sulemana are fantastic talents, and I think they adjust better to the league w every game. That plus Lavia's return (and, yes, the steadying hand of Selles) is what gives me reason to believe.

How good is Sulemana?! His pace is just electrifying. He's going to be a key part of our staying up. I also thought JWP and Lavia so impressive. Both of them can take the ball in really tight situations and deal with it well. C'mon saints. we can win this now!

Last week's Liverpool/ManU + today's result at Bournemouth shows just how much randomness there is in football. So much depends on small pieces of luck on the day that then build into team confidence, mood of the crowd, etc. Every single game we have before the end of the season, inc those against the biggest teams, we have a real chance of winning. It's going to be a nail biting run-in.

Agree. We wanted it more than Leicester. That was certainly my impression, and the commentators here in US thought so too.

And to all the Bednarek haters... there were plenty of moments today where he was impressive. I think we have really good options now at centre back. I would go Salisu + ABK, but CC and Bednarek can get the job done too. Great to see Walcott back in form. He's exciting to watch. Meanwhile, I predict by the end of the season we'll be raving about Sulemana and Alcaraz.

Definitely had some luck there... But on my count, we're owed some. This team can beat Chelsea. It can beat Man City. It can def escape relegation. Every game from here on in is a cup final. It's going to be exciting. I think we'll just do it.

So much to be encouraged by that half. I've been huge Alcaraz fan since he joined, and I'm delighted to see this second goal. Hopefully that knee will loosen up over the break. Don't blame JWP for the penalty. There's element of luck in every penalty. His overall record is awesome. He smacked it w massive power. Arguably he should practice some more to keeper's left. I think large majority go right. But even so he usually makes them. Also relieved to see Lavia unimpacted by the verbal drama yesterday. He's been awesome. I truly believe that all Saints need is a couple of results to go our way, and we'll get our confidence back and easily survive. We def have the players to do it. I'll be heartbroken if we throw this one away....

Anyone else find Joe Tessem really annoying on the solent commentary? 60% of the time he sounds constipated, whining. And that's when the team are doing well......

Alacaraz will be good for us. That's about my only glimmer of sunshine that half.

I think he prob puts more heart into training than any player other than JWP. And this is why managers support him. For our high-press strategy he plays an important role and can keep high levels of energy throughout the game. He's not always rubbish. There was one game within the last year when I think he was most peoples MotM. But I agree with others that his repeated failures with the final ball in and around the penalty area is disqualifying. We have several better choices.

We know we can play a lot better than this... Let's see what Selles can do to galvanize something. I still think we can win this. Growing pressure on them. Growing freedom for us.