nta786

Another stat - the last knockout game Italy played at the WCs was 2006, which of course they won. They’re looking at 20 years on from that day to try and a have a run deep into the competition then.

Only our lad KWP will be off too. It's only Saints players that get tapped up, Tyrick Mitchell and Marc Guehi will no doubt stay put.

Alex McCarthy, Fraser Forster, JWP, Walcott, Redmond, and KWP would be no. 6 if he gets on so yeah I think so too. Although Alex/Redmond managed to play just one game, Fraser had 6, Theo with 47 and JWP on 9.

I’d like to replace all our players for a combined Liverpool/Man City squad. Hang on, that’s not possible I’d let go of Forster though, same way I’d also like to get rid of Bednarek, Djenepo, Long, Walcott. The next step for Ralph is to evolve the depth we have and be decisive/ruthless.

I’ve just come home, and for the first time in about a decade I was sat in Block 7, 2 rows behind Pep and the City backroom staff. I think atmosphere was okay, understandably flat at the end and expected really when the usual Northam have to disperse. I think the game has been discussed enough, silly penalty to concede and on balance they deserved to go through. My observations from the game though from where I was sat firstly was how much Pep was in the ears of the 4th official, and not just him but also Bernardo Silva and Fernandinho. Ralph was quite the opposite on that regard but shouting a lot at his players and back to Richard Kitzbichler. Also what amazed me was the number of Saints fan requesting City players shirts at the end of the game - I think Grealish gave his away to a Saints fan and everyone was fawning over De Bruyne at the end and during his post match interview. As a final remark, why did the stadium announce Kevin as MOTM? Probably a minor thing to get wound up about.

and not Salisu’s horrendously underhit pass? I’d say that was the main reason.

Southampton v Manchester City: probable starters in bold, contenders in light The Guardian's prediction for the line-ups, I wonder if they also think Caballero, Stephens and Djenepo will start based off the pre-match exposure they've had, or if that tweet someone posted above is true - see caption of the image, they've put every name in bold. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/19/southampton-manchester-city-fa-cup-quarter-final-preview

And in that same game, Ings on the bench

This season could end up being one of those where 9th place has 48 points and 17th has like 38 points, but probably unlikely. Think similar to Puel’s 2016/17 season although that was only a 6pt gap between 8th and 17th.

As I think I said earlier I’m not even sure what our strongest team but I do know that it consists of a core 7/8 who will play this Sunday and then Ralph will pick the rest. After the last 3 games and the humble pie from the WHU FA cup game, I’m willing to just get behind whatever the XI is. All I know is if we don’t qualify to the next round I’ll have the same mood regardless of the team put out.

I quite like Teflon Ralph too. Goes quite nicely with son-in-laws and choirboys.

Yeah I think so too. Although I'd say it was a "dark yellow" kind of foul, but with VAR/slow-motion pictures it looks far worse than it probably was.

Fair play to WHU, 1-0 up against Sevilla and stadium rightly erupted. I really wish we made more of the 2016-17 Europa League campaign, a shame we weren't good enough to progress deep into the competition.

Howe is currently the flavour of the month

Sorry I’ve just noticed if you say this word fast enough it has a whole new meaning

I believe you can get a refund for Burnley - see link here: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-03-15/fixture-amendments-southampton-fc-brighton-and-hove-albion-burnley-premier-league-2021-22

1) Saturday 3pm is as good as you can get public transport wise to do a game in a day, other kick off times require either 4am starts or a hotel the next day and depending on location of fixture 2) Sunday is the perfect rest day for anyone who likes a drink (or 3), work again on Monday is not a good cure for a hangover 3) Sunday trains are painstakingly slow too and there are less scheduled Honestly I could go on

Where have you seen this? Gutted First time since 9-0. Also the last game he refereed for us in the FA Cup was that infamous 1-0 defeat to Sunderland away in the Poch season

or a "this has 0-0 written all over it"

Notice how the likes of Pep don't even use 3 subs in their games against big clubs/big games. This will 100% favour them more, and it's the main reason they want it. Or if the likes of Pool/City are winning by 4 or 5, they'll sub off the likes of Robertson and Trent to keep em fresh for their usual midweek European fixtures. Even with our slightly bigger squad, I don't think we would have won yesterday with 5 subs or 7 subs to be honest.

You could argue what ifs for a lot of our recent results too - what if Everton got a 1st half penalty, what if Bowen/Soucek scored in 1st half of FA Cup 5th Round, what if Ronaldo didn't miss the practically empty net, what if Reguilon scored the 1v1 he had against us in the first 15 minutes... Ultimately though you make your own luck and every game is a fine margin

No doubt the ref’s shirt will be on Foster’s YouTube channel as a fan giveaway prize.

I’m really not sure what Ralph will do for this one and not I don’t really care either whether its Tino/Perraud, Stephens/Bednarek or Elyounoussi/Redmond I think Forster, KWP, Salisu, JWP, Romeu, Stuart Armstrong, Adams and Broja are nailed on though. It’s sad how quickly mood has changed since that FA Cup draw that we lose 3 in a row inc. 2 at home However, expectations lowered might play into our hands here, if someone offered me qualification to the semifinals for 3 defeats in the PL in a row I’d also like to think 90% of us would have accepted that anyway. Do your best Saints!

The clamour only happens though when we go on a terrible streak and fans aren’t thinking rationally - see Jankewitz too. Keeping it basic - win 2 games and the mantra is “don’t change a winning team”, lose 2 games and then it’s suddenly “play the kids”. and I’m not shy to admit that’s also me sometimes!

If you can handover your debit cards and other assets I’ll be sure to make sure you don’t purchase a ticket? Or, why didn’t you run onto the pitch today? Only way we can trust you sorry!