WBA vs Saints - Match Thread

[CanadaSaint]

I wish these under-committed ****ers were riding back on Marchwood Motorways (in Forster's case, a horse box) rather than their normal cosseted luxury.

It makes me want to vomit when I see that level of commitment and think about what they're paid for it.

 

[TWar]

1 minute ago, SKD said:

Fuck me, being top for 1 game really has given you false faith in Ralph, hasn’t it 😃

 

Not a bad day at the office a regular day at the office.

Being safe from relegation and being in the semis of the FA cup with this squad has gotten my faith in Ralph. We will have bad losses, as will any team, but in general we are fine. The manager is performing equal or better than the squad at his disposal and will hopefully be getting a boost in the summer with a few signings. Lets not make knee-jerk decisions over these things based on a few bad results. There is a reason why we are safe and basically have been since Christmas.

[davefizzy14]

That was a poor performance, need to bounce back from this. We got a big cup semi final to look forward to on Sunday. Hopefully Ralph will see where there is room for big improvement and we go again

[Heisenberg]

Players are on the  beach

 

[Teddeer]

That penalty from JWP was just so poor. Why is he hitting it at the perfect height to the goalkeeper's strong side? It was begging to be saved. Absolutely insane for a dead ball specialist.

[LaptopSaint]

Man, that was piss poor. And utterly predictable that we wouldnt make any subs before they’d helped themselves to a third and the game was dead. Inexcusably bad. Roll on Sunday. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 minutes ago, SKD said:

Fuck me, being top for 1 game really has given you false faith in Ralph, hasn’t it 😃

 

Not a bad day at the office a regular day at the office.

Its not just our 23 hours at the top. Don’t forget that Pep awarded us the “best team we’ve played this month trophy” after they stuffed us. Some posters loved that 

[Wallington Saint]

8 minutes ago, RedWillie said:

Twats.

Together we are the Saints!

[TWar]

Just now, Teddeer said:

That penalty from JWP was just so poor. Why is he hitting it at the perfect height to the goalkeeper's strong side? It was begging to be saved. Absolutely insane for a dead ball specialist.

Sums up his performance today, as with half of the team, lack of effort. Really felt like they were just playing by the numbers, they celebrated safety after Burnley and now they are just going to lazily coast in.

[kyle04]

1 minute ago, LaptopSaint said:

Man, that was piss poor. And utterly predictable that we wouldnt make any subs before they’d helped themselves to a third and the game was dead. Inexcusably bad. Roll on Sunday. 

... well we might see Jankewitz on sunday, brought on in the 92nd minute when we're 6-0 down

[SKD]

2 minutes ago, TWar said:

Being safe from relegation and being in the semis of the FA cup with this squad has gotten my faith in Ralph. We will have bad losses, as will any team, but in general we are fine. The manager is performing equal or better than the squad at his disposal and will hopefully be getting a boost in the summer with a few signings. Lets not make knee-jerk decisions over these things based on a few bad results. There is a reason why we are safe and basically have been since Christmas.

No other team has lost 9-0 mate. 
 

If you think any signings we make will have any meaningful Impact on the squad, you’ll be very disappointed. 

[jasonb]

I can confirm alcohol didnt help dull the pain of that game in the second half 😢 fucking grim.

See you all Sunday... it's the hope that kills you. 

Up the Saints!

[TWar]

1 minute ago, SKD said:

No other team has lost 9-0 mate. 
 

If you think any signings we make will have any meaningful Impact on the squad, you’ll be very disappointed. 

Why do you mention the 9-0 in every thread about once every other day?

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, TWar said:

Lets not make knee-jerk decisions over these things based on a few bad results.

11 defeats in 14, 3 goals or more conceded in a third of our matches. We don't start playing until we are 2 down.

 

A FEW ???????

[Lord Duckhunter]

Just now, TWar said:

Why do you mention the 9-0 in every thread about once every other day?

Which one?

[badgerx16]

6 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Hopefully Ralph will see where there is room for big improvement and we go again

You are aware that the transfer window is closed ?

[TWar]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

11 defeats in 14, 3 goals or more conceded in a third of our matches. We don't start playing until we are 2 down.

 

A FEW ???????

We are a midtable team heading for a midtable finish. I don't know what you expect but across the season we are performing at or above our quality. It's a shame the wins and losses are clustered the way they are but there is a reason we are not in the bottom 3.

[Greenridge]

39 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Doesn't want to be here. His body language sucks.

Get as much as we can for him, Vestergaard, possibly JWP, and then rebuild the spine of this team with players who have a spine.

How many times have we replaced departing players with better players in the last 5(?) years? Yep, not many. So hoping to rebuild with better players is a pipe dream unfortunately. 

[davefizzy14]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

You are aware that the transfer window is closed ?

I'm talking about from within the current squad.

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

That penalty from JWP was just so poor. Why is he hitting it at the perfect height to the goalkeeper's strong side? It was begging to be saved. Absolutely insane for a dead ball specialist.

I'd of put my house in him hitting that side of the goal. I think about the last 10 pens he and Ings has taken have all gone to that side.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Greenridge said:

How many times have we replaced departing players with better players in the last 5(?) years? Yep, not many. So hoping to rebuild with better players is a pipe dream unfortunately. 

Yeah, don't disagree.

The whole club is in the pits atm.

[obelisk]

How many heavy defeats is that we've had under Ralph? This time it's Fat Sam that saw him off and I'm fully expecting another embarrassment on the big stage next weekend. I'm beginning to think that he might have reached the end of the road with Saints.

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

I'm talking about from within the current squad.

Substitutes

• 1 McCarthy
• 5 Stephens
• 10 Adams
• 12 Djenepo
• 19 Minamino
• 22 Salisu
• 23 Tella
• 47 Ferry
• 64 Jankewitz

Other than Macca, Che, and Moussa, there aren't a lot of options.

[woodsaint1]

15 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Fair play to Maitland-Niles. He didn't want to come here and be back up full back for our rabble because he wanted to play in his preferred position in midfield.

Took the absolute piss out of our midfield today. Good decision by the lad, I guess.

Aye because they'll be relegated and he'll be back at Arsenal next season still getting no game time 

[Charlie Wayman]

At least tonight we don't have to agonise over our MotM. 

[Jeremy]

Just logged on here. I, like many of you, was expecting a comfortable win to Saints. Can't understand how a greyhound has turned into an overweight corgi in the space of a few months.

Edited 12 April, 2021 by Jeremy

[davefizzy14]

2 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Substitutes

• 1 McCarthy
• 5 Stephens
• 10 Adams
• 12 Djenepo
• 19 Minamino
• 22 Salisu
• 23 Tella
• 47 Ferry
• 64 Jankewitz

Other than Macca, Che, and Moussa, there aren't a lot of options.

No, I meant working on things in training.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Don’t worry the B team are ripping up their League, plenty of youngsters to fall back on. It’s all a bit shambolic to be truthful. Perhaps he’s not the messiah after all ?

[Ex Lion Tamer]

In 2003 we lost 6-1 to arsenal in the game before the cup final, before losing 1-0 in the actual final. We can only hope that a similar effect was at play today

[Toussaint]

1 minute ago, Jeremy said:

Just logged on here. I, like many of you, was expecting a comforbable win to Saints. Can't understand how a greyhound has turned into an overweight corgi in the space of a few months.

G’day Jeremy

[Toussaint]

1 minute ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Don’t worry the B team are ripping up their League, plenty of youngsters to fall back on. It’s all a bit shambolic to be truthful. Perhaps he’s not the messiah after all ?

Who, Jankowitz? How dare you sir!

[badgerx16]

5 minutes ago, TWar said:

We are a midtable team heading for a midtable finish. I don't know what you expect but across the season we are performing at or above our quality. It's a shame the wins and losses are clustered the way they are but there is a reason we are not in the bottom 3.

We were poor before lockdown last season, but managed to recover things after the restart. This season we started well, pressing with energy, on the front foot, and dominating teams. However, we have now been found out, teams are counter-pressing, and we have fallen apart. We are easy to play against, and the results since the Liverpool win demonstrate this This won't turn around unless Ralph somehow develops a Plan B.

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

No, I meant working on things in training.

Isn't that what they are supposed to do every day, already ? We look as if they don't practice defensive drills at all.

Edited 12 April, 2021 by badgerx16

[Chez]

 

Just now, Jeremy said:

Just logged on here. I, like many of you, was expecting a comforbable win to Saints. Can't understand how a greyhound has turned into an overweight corgi in the space of a few months.

if you were expecting a comfortable win, then you haven't watched us for the last four months or WBA for the last 6 weeks. Good question though, why did we win games before and not now. At the end of last season I put our good run partly down to teams other than us not training well enough and being on the beach. We benefitted from closed stadiums and zero atmospheres. Not sure why we were able to carry that across nor lose it so spectacularly, other than raft of injuries. Loss of confidence perhaps from the losses when we had injuries?

[Ted Bates Statue]

1 minute ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

In 2003 we lost 6-1 to arsenal in the game before the cup final, before losing 1-0 in the actual final. We can only hope that a similar effect was at play today

I could be wrong but I thought that the margin of defeat basically killed our confidence before the final began.

[woodsaint1]

Guess we'll need to worry about WBA and their CL form until the end of the season since Fulham have hit the skids.

Pish poor performance. Cant complain about lack of preparation or players missing. We were just out fought and out thought. Very concerning but not surprising that we can go from the highs of last weeks comeback to that abysmal performance tonight. That being said, win on Sunday and all is forgiven

[LuckyNumber7]

I'm dreading next week, Leicester are gonna annihilate us.

That was a disgusting performance. I've been behind Ralph throughout but I'm beginning to lose faith, there have just been too many performances like that recently. Near enough full strength and a whole week to prepare and they give us that. No excuses, that was unacceptable and the players looked like they couldn't be arsed.

Also did nothing to change my mind that Bednarek needs replacing.

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

In 2003 we lost 6-1 to arsenal in the game before the cup final, before losing 1-0 in the actual final. We can only hope that a similar effect was at play today

we were pretty shit in the final too though really compared to how we had played all season.

[Graffito]

Big match coming up. Safe from relegation. No injuries. Job done.  Was that it? Was that why Bertrand agreed prematch that it was difficult not to have one eye on the semi final?

As fans we want the players to die for the shirt. Unrealistic. But at least put in a bit of fucking effort...against apparent no hopers, who thoroughly deserved to win by a greater margin than three goals. 

Contrast the character of this bunch with the nucleus of the teams that came up from League 1. This is a group of players that’s very difficult to like. Without Romeu it’s powder puff.

Finally Ralph. What’s with the late substitutions? Unfair on the players who want to stake a claim for the semi and puts no pressure on the “first team” which knows it’s the “first team”. Put a bit of backbone into them for Sunday. Your job.

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

In 2003 we lost 6-1 to arsenal in the game before the cup final, before losing 1-0 in the actual final. We can only hope that a similar effect was at play today

We can only hope that we follow up a defeat with, er, another defeat?

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Ralph should have gone a month ago. Should have got a new manager in to give them a bloody good kick up the arse for the final quarter of the season. Something that Ralph seems incapable of doing.

I honestly thought they might have turned a corner after the comeback against Burnley. It was great to see the team pretty much back at full strength. Stupidly, I got my hopes up. Should have known it would be business as usual a week later. 

I wouldn't be surprised if they go into the last game of the season needing a win to stay up. 

The only good thing about Saints is those new Hummel retro shirts that the club has just launched. 

[Ted Bates Statue]

5 minutes ago, Jeremy said:

Just logged on here. I, like many of you, was expecting a comforbable win to Saints. Can't understand how a greyhound has turned into an overweight corgi in the space of a few months.

• Expecting
• Comfortable
• Win

My rule for following Saints these days is that you may only pick one of the above words to describe a match.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Just now, CB Fry said:

We can only hope that we follow up a defeat with, er, another defeat?

Come on you're smarter than that. The point is it's easy to take your off the ball before a big cup game, and then put in a much improved performance. I'll admit it's said more in hope than expectation though

[Baird of the land]

"We made changes but we were gone by that point."

No Ralph you refused to make changes until we were gone

[captainchris]

25 minutes ago, TWar said:

Being safe from relegation and being in the semis of the FA cup with this squad has gotten my faith in Ralph. We will have bad losses, as will any team, but in general we are fine. The manager is performing equal or better than the squad at his disposal and will hopefully be getting a boost in the summer with a few signings. Lets not make knee-jerk decisions over these things based on a few bad results. There is a reason why we are safe and basically have been since Christmas.

Knee jerk !!!!!!!!! Lol 

Thank you for that ridiculous comment Ralph ! 

[DT]

Ralph is really not all that, is he? Would like Potter. Ex Saint. Level headed, knows how to set a side up to be solid. Sadly that ship has sailed. Can only see that the flimsiness comes from the coach. And having too many 'losing possession' players like Walcott and Redmond. Perhaps Oriel is a bigger miss than we thought. But bloody hell, oh for a bit of structure.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

5 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

"We made changes but we were gone by that point."

No Ralph you refused to make changes until we were gone

Ralph, We were gone by the forty minute mark

[Appy]

Dunno why anyone is surprised when we put in a performance like that. 
 

 

The squad is full of soft losers who make the same mistakes over and over again, they have a manager who doesn’t change his system despite two wins in 14 games, including another nine nil defeat. Players like Bednarek who has possibly been one of the worst players in the Premier League in 2021 continues to be an automatic pick. 
 

Yes we don’t have the investment they want, but that performance isn’t down to investment. 

[DT]

3 hours ago, trousers said:

Cheers.... That's all the convincing I need to stick a bullseye on a Saints win

aged well

[woodsaint1]

10 minutes ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

Ralph should have gone a month ago. Should have got a new manager in to give them a bloody good kick up the arse for the final quarter of the season. Something that Ralph seems incapable of doing.

I honestly thought they might have turned a corner after the comeback against Burnley. It was great to see the team pretty much back at full strength. Stupidly, I got my hopes up. Should have known it would be business as usual a week later. 

I wouldn't be surprised if they go into the last game of the season needing a win to stay up. 

The only good thing about Saints is those new Hummel retro shirts that the club has just launched. 

Who would you have brought in to replace him on short notice to give us that kick up the arse? 

We are safe as houses, we wont need another win.

Why are people on this forum incapable of remaining level headed? Win a game and its a wankfest, lose one and its like the worlds ending. It was bad performance but nobodys died fs