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Worth mentioning Shane played a big part on Mane’s record hat trick too, at least one of the goals came from him not giving up a bit of a lost cause if I remember rightly. I was very underwhelmed when he signed in that big intake but he’s been great, i’ve loved having him at our club, and wish him nothing but the best for the future.

I remember watching this review a while back - as mentioned above it was Norwich at home. I actually remember being there that night thinking it was particularly flat, as this was a game it felt like the whole stadium expected us to win (which we did) as we were on a good run. I even felt myself that night I wasn’t particularly up for it as I knew we’d win. Those were the days!! 😆 But definitely not a reflection of a normal home game at St Mary’s, not that it’s particularly great at the best of times.

Bednarek has been terrible since the United 9-0, and before that he was average. He spends far too much time wrestling with strikers for me, and loses the battle every time. Every physical centre forward targets him, look at the Wolves goal at St Mary’s this season where Jimenez does it. He’s become a liability, and the suggestion that he didn’t fancy playing the FA Cup game against City should’ve been the end of his time here.

Still yet to see Bednarek put in a performance anywhere near close to the one Lyanco put in away to Chelsea in the cup this season, so not sure i’m ready to decide he’s our worst defender and completely shit.

Also if West Ham are selling their best player in order to fund a move for a slightly less impressive player, for less money - is that not what we do all the time? Seems pretty unambitious on their part.

Some suggestions that it’s a requirement for shareholders etc

Yeah I think there’s been some comparison already on amount of games, but as mentioned below it’s one area that can’t really be measured by number of games. Given how much more time better teams generally spend in attacking areas than worse teams, it’s probable that Beckham took far more free kicks from shooting positions than JWP has. But it may not be the case, like I say i’m surprised that comparison hasn’t been done given all the weird and wonderful stats we have at our disposal these days!

I don’t think i’ve ever seen a comparison of number of free kicks taken in realistic goal scoring areas, from Becks, JWP, Messi etc. Really surprised not to have seen one, imagine JWP would have taken a fraction of the attempts of most top takers. His conversion rate feels amazing.

Just shows sometimes players really do need time to adapt - he’s taken longer than most in fairness, including a two year loan to another country, but still he’s turning out to be a good player for us. I hope we give him a new deal.

He’s the only right back in the squad so surely he’s going to start - can’t even really see anyone you might shoehorn into right back instead of him.

Stephens did have a bad injury early in the season, after a good start to the season. I think Ralph said it was basically what Lyanco now has. He hasn’t had a run in the team since, and yesterday he looked rusty. On form he’s decent imo, at least as good as Bednarek, who I don’t rate in the slightest. Both similar attributes but one is a complete pussy and the other one brings some aggression to the table. Also not sure why Lyanco is suddenly getting written off now he’s injured - he’s done pretty well when i’ve seen him so far. For me, the Chelsea League Cup game with a back 3 of Lyanco, Salisu, Valery was a fantastic defensive performance. He showed that night he could be useful. To me he’s 3rd choice in Ralph’s mind, ahead of Stephens.

Anyone know if tickets are sold out for it?

The main thing is avoiding Chelsea, as it would mean not having Broja. We can beat anyone when we’re at full strength.

The thing with Ings/Villa is that he is a much, much better footballer than Ollie Watkins, but Watkins has been popular at Villa since his arrival and people like his effort. Normally Ings is shoehorned in around him whereas really he should be the focal point of their attack with Buendia behind.

I bloody love Romeu

Are Everton attacking the Northam in the first half? Been a while since that happened.

I can’t imagine it’s as much of a secret as we think it is, I think a commentator referenced it during a game not too long ago as something he’d noticed. However, it does seem a bit of a weird thing for a Saints reporter to write about, given it’s quite clearly a tactic rather than coincidence.

I was thinking Bruno Lage - Frank is doing a good job but not sure i’d call it unbelievable given their really poor from since December.

It’s a shame, albeit not particularly surprising, that it isn’t working out for Vestergaard. It was a move that suited us and him, and i’d never heard a bad word about him as a character so I don’t wish him anything negative. I’m enjoying Ings’ move going to shit though.

Yeah I guess my point is more that this particular statistic gets used as a reflection of us not being very good. In reality, a lot of teams in our position don’t ever get in front in the first place, so can’t lose points from winning positions. To me us scoring early against City at home, United at home, Spurs at home, and coming away with a point is a good result. Whereas this statistic would make it look like a negative. I don’t imagine Burnley, Watford, Brighton, Norwich etc have taken the lead against these teams in the first place.

I think that the dropped points stat is skewed by the fact that we score the first goal in a very high percentage of our games, or so it feels. I’d be surprised if anyone in the bottom half of the table has scored the first goal in anywhere near as many games as we have.

Che has 6 goals (sort of 7) in 18 appearances, 4 of which came off the bench. Broja has 6 goals in 20 appearances, 8 of which came off the bench. So they’re pretty even in terms of goals per game.

Saturdays goal was his 6th of the season in the league, drawing him level with Broja, also would really be 7 as our goal at home to United was down to him. Going under the radar a bit in what feels a bit of a stop/start season for him. He’s on track for back to back double figure seasons, which for a club of our size is very respectable. Remember Lambert got 13 and 15, whilst Pelle got 11 and 12 in their Premier League seasons. I’d also argue Che’s role is much more sacrificial than those two, he’s often the support for a partner, and he’s playing in a less able team. He’s become a very good signing.

You clearly don’t watch/listen to Jenas much then. He’s borderline teary when Spurs lose a game he’s on comms, there’s a clip of him acting like a petulant child when Chelsea beat them in the FA Cup a few years ago. If he’d been half as good a player as he thinks he was, he’d have been a hell of a footballer. He is just a massive, massive twat.

Moi looked to be cramping up a bit to me on Wednesday so it’ll be interesting how much he has left in the tank. Happy with the unchanged team though, a point would be great.