Vancouver Saint

My birthday today. Thanks for nothing Saints. That was worse than the 9-0 for me. Slow, ponderous build-up and after hitting the post we never looked like scoring against 9 men. Not enough subs not quick enough and wrong ones. So many bad performances. All I was asking for was to get off this bloody 29 point mark.. Ralph, that was a terrible result.

With you Dorchester. Think we will win this if we play with confidence and courage. 3-4-3 works for me. Only have three defenders anyway so why not! Forgive the dumb question but can anyone tell me what injuries KWP and Vest have - both done in training. Moderators - can we start a new 'this century' injury update thread?

Thanks for the giggle Turkish...luxxxxerry!...caaardboard box, caardboard ? luuuxxerry! We used to get out our ole in the ground and lick road clean wit tounge! 52 real years supporting Saints and nobody should be surprised we aren't backing promise with investment. Happy with Minamino deal all the same - making the most of what we can do.

So media suggesting we wanted Ainsly Maitland-Niles before Minamino...would explain the very late deal for Minamino. Me, I think I'd prefer Minamino between the two anyway. Is it a done deal - or is this going to go to VAR again - in which case, don't bother telling me the result, I know already.

Well I for one am happy. Think he can 'do an Ings' and shine for us playing full time after not getting the platform at Liverpool.

Don't often disagree with you m'lud but I do here. 'Too close to call' should err in favour of the attacking side. The linesman was a tosser all night (he called Ings offside when he was barged offside beforehand) - and was too quick and assertive to flag offside for that last action. It was clearly marginal and left to interpretation - with the tipping point being 'let's not embarrass / undermine the official on the pitch' being the likely determinant again. It's not VAR itself - it's the interpreters that are still making human errors.

This. Exactly. Commonsense 'tennis' rules should apply - if it's too close to call it's in (i.e. benefit of the doubt is given to the attacker). Think the linesman screwed it for us by looking so assertive in his certainty - when clearly he was wrong to be that sure.

Seething after that. Almost burst a blood vessel screaming at the telly after that last VAR ridiculous call...what's happened to the level is onside? Anything that close to call should err in side of the attacking side. Game decided by ref and VAR. Not how it should be. Wish I could calm down as fast as some on here. Can only hope we get the breaks we might well need later. Shows just how much we miss Walker-Peters. This bloody 29 points mark has been a pain - need to get anything to move into the 30's.

We deserve a slice of fortune - we were the better team in the first half and taking the game to them

BBC says Ings tested positive and will miss the game...I may be ahead or behind the news, hard to tell...think he could be the difference-maker and our game changes when he's not in the side defending from the front. Bummer if so. Would take a draw.

Ralph in tears at the end says it all. Southampton B beat Liverpool A - and we deserved it. Every player played his heart out for Ralph. What an amazing result. SO PROUD OF MY TEAM Now for a mature afternoon winding up my Liverpool-supporting friends...

This. Could've been better could've been worse. West Ham defensively drilled - we needed Ings's offside goal to count as Moyes came here to block out our midfield running play and wait until the last 15 mins to bring on attacking pace to pinch it. Almost worked for them. So glad it didn't. A draw against them is a step in the right direction after losing the last five. Stay positive. Walcott played well. McCarthy earned his toast.

I'm with Ottawa on the Shane Long discussion. He's no doubt a lovely person and a good servant of the club, but his commentator cliche description as 'not a natural goal-scorer but a hard-running, hard-working 'constant nuisance' to defenders' is wearing thin. He doesn't challenge or even jump for 50:50 high balls in the top half of the pitch and - as we all know - the minute he's named in the squad we know there's one less person in the team who is going to score a goal. I don't think he can hold the ball up as well as others, his positional sense and ball control skills are weaker than other options. I would much rather see what our supposedly super-talented young strikers can do and given a full game to prove themselves. Think Walcott has got a second lease of life at his home club, is working really hard front and back...and certainly deserves a start. Djenepo I like, but he needs more grit and less prickle...much better going forward than back, just needs to be given the brief to run at people and be forgiven losing possession once or twice doing so. Hopefully will score a couple quickly and gain confidence he needs. Redmond a great player in there but something is wrong...hiding a foot injury, brittle confidence? Vestergard a big loss now...in defence, attack and play-making. Hope Bednarak can learn from him and add a 40-yard cross-field diagonal pass to the wing-backs into his game. KWP a revelation...showing up Bertrand's increasing lack of edge. Would be very happy to have this posted back at me if Long starts and scores a hatrick in a 3-0 win tomorrow! (or any day for that matter).

Thought it was a good point against a Fulham side that are in a relatively good form patch - and better than their current position suggests. Thought we were better than the write-ups suggest. Dialio had a good game as stand-in. We can beat West Ham - hopefully we will

I just have to post for the record. I am sooooo happy we made it to the top of the table - gives me real joy. I had to think where I was in 1988 - in the ad world in London - just before leaving the UK for Singapore...been a few places since. I'm now in Vancouver and have only got to see the Saints live a couple of times at away games on visits. Was a regular at the Dell. Happy to report my eldest son is a Saints fan (never pushed him - the club chose him)...and his nearly 2-year old has just been ordered his first Saints kit for Christmas...hope the wand picks him too. I'm sure the olo's amongst us who have endured plenty of ups and downs supporting our club over the last 50 years, don't let the highs pass without celebrating! C'mon you Saints! Ralph and all, thank you and keep going!

Haven't got anything different to add - just wanted to put my twopence in for the record that I think that was the best all-round performance I've seen in Hasenhutl's time. Totally in control of that game. should have scored more. Everyone saying Everton played badly but it was all about us - they couldn't touch us today.

Yes Ottawa, was going to say the same - don't you get DAZN? Get the looby crowd going. Very happy with that second-half performance and result. Great to be the team scoring just before half-time and in extra time for a change!

Not particularly relevant to this thread but just gotta point out - Man City and Man Utd 13th and 14th - gotta love it!

Will be interesting to see if Ralph releases the hounds to go for the win, or plays that dour rubbish we saw today...

Yup. I doubt many neutrals hung around to watch that dreadful match. Echo everyone else: terrible match, great result. Much needed win, but no disguising our shortcomings. Thought we were not interested in attacking today...wondered if it was following orders to shore up defence...Djenepo is normally gung-ho at going forward but on the opportunities to so went back or sideways. Nobody really outstanding - McCarthy made a big save, but still looks dodgy on high balls and running out fast. Armstrong had a shocker. Vestergard did ok. Adams made the goal and worked hard but missed the early chance to make it 2-0...attack-wise that was screaming for Long (surprising though I find myself saying)...someone to defend from the top and have some pace for the long ball over the top. Anyway, happy with the three points. Heard a commentator saying qe are interested in Everton's Davies on loan...any substance to that?

The game turned on a huge defensive error from McCarthy not coming out to block or clear the ball - he had already shown his indecisiveness earlier - surely he MUST have been briefed to play sweeper-keeper to support the high line?! Instead of deservedly going in at half-time 1-0 up after a good display, we went in completely deflated and back to square one after shooting ourselves in the foot (again). McCarthy and our defensive back line is simply not good enough. I like Walker-Peters but he is better going forward than defending. We cannot defend corners, or even get a head on the ball. That said, Ralph's inability / unwillingness to drop the high line...was he sacrificing this game to send a message to the board about players or what?...was unforgivable. Son is a brilliant player and it was fish in a barrel for him. Embarrassing. Any opposing Manager vs Saints..'forget the high press...punt a long ball over the back four to run onto to (if you have fast attackers)...or punt a ball into the box (if you've got no speed but big muscle) - easy.

Never. I'd rather get relegated.

Any livestreams?

Were we watching the same game? Saints easily the more creative team...70% possession, more shots than Palace and more on target. Their goalkeeper MOTM. We needed more creativity and speed in midfield for sure, missed Armstrong - but we were better than Palace who did their classic score on the one chance they get early against the run of play then defend deep. Adams played well and was unlucky not to score. Stevens excellent. Romeu, Redmond and JWP had poor games, Ings not enough service. Concerned that Long is the go-to striker when we need a winner.

I'm happy with this signing...would rather see an attacking wing-back who likes to go forward and has good ball control than a stay-at-home defender that invites pressure. Also think PEH move to Spurs is good for him and us. Jack Charlton used to say there were footballers and players that stopped footballers playing...PEH is the latter...I'd rather have more creativity with the ball than muscle without it.