SaintTex

Not sure "PL capable" can be defined as playing a mid-table championship club in a cup match.

the reality is no one (the media) cares about a tiff between the 14th and 19th place team. it's all about whether City has the title wrapped up and who is going to get the 4th European spot at this point.

Hopefully Lycano is back. KWP will be suspended. So Timo on the right, Perraud on the left. maybe Che will be back, too.

Haha. I got it

i feel like we should methodically look to get the ball centrally 5 yards outside the penalty box and start looking to draw fouls. Seems like the slightest push in the back is called these days if the player just falls over the ball. Get JWP 3 to 4 chances a match. It's not exactly the "beautiful game", but we are scrapping here. - ** oh, and are his corners average? Or do we just not have anyone on the roster that can get their head on the ball? It takes two to tango.

looks like a a 433 to me.. Livra Lyanco Salisu KWP JWP Romeu Smallbone Redmond Broja Tella with JWP playing on the right to provide cover for Tino and torment Zaha.

Fonte's durability is definitely an outlier in today's modern football. He will 38 in a week. 2018/2019 - 36 league starts (3112 min) 2019/2020 - 25 league starts (2206 min) 2020/2021 - 36 league starts (3190 min) 2021/2022 - 18 league starts (1620 min) - so far I had written him off after last injury riddle year at West Ham (2017/2018).

never mind.

How can we expect Ralph to get his formation, lineups, or strategy correctly, we he can't even look at the conditions and get this wardrobe right. Lost the suit and went with the track suit at halftime.

Yep flops by salah and on rudiger (extra time). while it makes me ragey, those are good results for saints. Leeds, Villa, and Wolves with no points because of it. how daft is that? We really need to root for the top 6 to hammer the teams we are actually competing with. Makes me throw up in my mouth.

This. Hoping a forced hand reveals some positive things that would not have otherwised ever been found out. for example? We discover Willy is a true upgrade over McCarthy/Forster Perraud and KWP paired/playing in their natural positions is the better way to go Smallbone steps up and proves he can be an any day player Lycano asserts himself as a beast of a defender will all these happen? Likely not (maybe one does?).. but it will certainly make for an interesting watch Saturday.

only Saints could have their #1 and #2 GKs injured and unavailable in the same week.

Newcastle 1 - 0 Burnley How the hell did that happen? Teams that go up 1-0 in the first half don’t win games!

what the hell did Forster do to himself?

I am all in.

there you go!

i think it is 8 goals in 3 matches, but point well taken. Our defence/goalkeeping has cost us 5 points in the last 3 games Should have had 6 points in the last 3 but have earned just 1 - which is the difference between 16th and 7th place in the table!! < so frustrating!

Have we hired a corner kick strategist in the last few days?

6 points from that would be great! Would put us at 20 points with a couple of games to play before hitting the halfway point in the season.

interesting stat. first 3 matches - 6 goals allowed - avg. 2 GA a match last 8 matches - 6 goals allowed - avg. 0.75 GA a match yes, i would love to see us scoring more, but shoring up our defense has been the key to our good form as of late.

hate to be a downer, but contracts don't matter much.. VVD left within a year of signing a 6 year extension. But yeah, Salisu has been all that and more!!!! a year ago, we had serious questions if his signing was a big mistake.

Loved Pelle during his time here, but no. foolhardy to attempt to recreate past glories years and years later.. how is that working out for ManU?

i agree. I feel like i have been screaming this since Game 1. We can't afford to have either KWP or Livramento sitting on the bench. Look how effective KWP was on Tuesday, re: Adams goal). We have seen KWP at left back not be as effective, so.. position Livramento as a winger and let KWP play RB or play him and KWP in a 5 back formation. Livramento -- KWP -- Lycano -- Salisu-- Perraud that would also free up Perraud to be more aggressive offensively - didn't he have something like 3 goals and 7 assists in Ligue 1 last year? Let's put these guys in positions were they can succeed!

aye, but the key picks are the front 3. who? S. Armstrong, A. Armstrong, Redmond ?

who would you say are our BEST 11 players?... Start those. Figure out where they should go, but get them on the pitch, instead of wasting away on the bench. 4-2-3-1 ------------Forster------------- KWP--Lyanco--Salisu--Perraud ----------Diallo----Romeu------ Livramento--JWP--S. Armstrong --------------Broja-------------- 4-3-3 ------------Forster------------- KWP--Lyanco--Salisu--Perraud ----JWP-----Diallo----Romeu--- Livramento--Broja--S. Armstrong 5-2-3 -----------------Forster--------------------- Livramento--KWP--Lyanco--Salisu--Perraud -------------Diallo----Romeu--------------- -------JWP------Broja----S. Armstrong-----