Saints 2-2 Ipswich - Match Thread

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

9 hours ago, macca155 said:

We really need Jander and Bragg to start but they must be on empty by now, both physically and emotionally.

Not too sure about being empty emotionally. If anything, these guys have just gone head to head with the best team in the country and will be confident they can put any Championship side to the sword. My concern is more complacency. I expect Downes to be back to boss the midfield. Up front Larin and Stewart can share the workload.

Would also prefer to see Stephens in for Wood but Jack is evidently not right at the moment.

[Turkish]

14 minutes ago, suewhistle said:

I see some of you take me as seriously as you take yourselves. When I have more time I'll explain how jokes, particularly bad ones, don't have to have too much grounding in reality. Some of us older ones do remember such instances though..

Oh it was a joke. Thanks for explaining it, they’re always the best ones. 👍

[St Louis]

I know that every club can look back at a season and all of the If's and But's...
But... it's so frustrating that we didn't beat Bristol City last Tuesday, as we would have it in our own hands now for Top 2 🫣

Edited yesterday at 20:12 by St Louis

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, St Louis said:

I know that every club can look back at a season and all of the If's and But's...
But... it's so frustrating that we didn't beat Bristol City last Tuesday, as we would have it in our own hands now for Top 2 🫣

I know everyone will point to the Bristol game as that is the most recent but for me there are others which cost us. Skates away if we could just held on or taken our chances and put them to bed. Oxford away losing to a relegated team, Norwich away before they hit form when we handed them victory and the shit show that was Blackburn away, teams rarely win 10 games in a a row so a slip up was inevitable but for me those games earlier on where the ones that really cost us. 

[CB Fry]

9 minutes ago, St Louis said:

I know that every club can look back at a season and all of the If's and But's...
But... it's so frustrating that we didn't beat Bristol City last Tuesday, as we would have it in our own hands now for Top 2 🫣

We gave ourselves too much to do with our shitness in the first half of the season.

Winning all of our last ten league games in a row was too much to do, we were never going to do it and we didn't do it.

[RedArmy]

The games that cost us the most are not beating Ipswich at Portman Road,  conceding late at Millwall and being utterly shite in front of goal against them at St Mary’s.
 

 Everything else is irrelevant, if you don’t beat the teams you need to finish above you’ll make things far more difficult for yourselves. 
 

 

Edited yesterday at 20:39 by RedArmy

[Disco Stu]

Hard one to predict but I imagine the players will want to avoid Ipswich celebrating promotion at St. Mary's. They did a lot of running out of possession in hot conditions on Saturday so tired legs on should be expected. I'll go with a frustrating 1-1.

Edited 23 hours ago by Disco Stu

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I know everyone will point to the Bristol game as that is the most recent but for me there are others which cost us. Skates away if we could just held on or taken our chances and put them to bed. Oxford away losing to a relegated team, Norwich away before they hit form when we handed them victory and the shit show that was Blackburn away, teams rarely win 10 games in a a row so a slip up was inevitable but for me those games earlier on where the ones that really cost us. 

If we don’t go up, the reason is summed up in three words: Will fucking Still. 

[BarberSaint]

1 hour ago, suewhistle said:

I see some of you take me as seriously as you take yourselves. When I have more time I'll explain how jokes, particularly bad ones, don't have to have too much grounding in reality. Some of us older ones do remember such instances though..

Whoosh, I think we used to say, didn't we?

[kwsaint]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

If we don’t go up, the reason is summed up in three words: Will fucking Still. 

IMO closely followed by Gavin fucking Bazunu.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, suewhistle said:

I see some of you take me as seriously as you take yourselves. When I have more time I'll explain how jokes, particularly bad ones, don't have to have too much grounding in reality. Some of us older ones do remember such instances though..

Not Man City’s finest moment. Forgot to mention it to any of their fans on Saturday.

Bet they airbrush that out of the club DVD’s up there as well. 

[Toadhall Saint]

9 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Not too sure about being empty emotionally. If anything, these guys have just gone head to head with the best team in the country and will be confident they can put any Championship side to the sword. My concern is more complacency. I expect Downes to be back to boss the midfield. Up front Larin and Stewart can share the workload.

Would also prefer to see Stephens in for Wood but Jack is evidently not right at the moment.

Downes is suspended

[Turkish]

8 hours ago, Badger said:

If we don’t go up, the reason is summed up in three words: Will fucking Still. 

Yep if he’d been even average then we’d be in the automatics now maybe even winning the league 

[Sheaf Saint]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yep if he’d been even average then we’d be in the automatics now maybe even winning the league 

The problem with that though is if he'd been average, we wouldn't have sacked him when we did, he'd have stuck around being average a lot longer, and we'd have a load of fans saying he needs more time and that we should at least give him until the end of the season.

[BallBoy]

I am nervous about this one. More than usual! Will the crowd be really up for it? They need to be. Do the players have enough left in the tank after Saturday? 

Ipswich are a tough and dogged team. They will try to wear us down. They are masters of the dark arts but we cannot afford to let them frustrate us. We have better players and should win but we have to be at our best and impose ourselves. We need 11 players to stay on the pitch.

I really want that 2nd leg at home and to keep our momentum. The stakes are high for both teams. 

Fingers and everything crossed.

[Willo of Whiteley]

We’ll need a couple of quick early goals before Ipswich start diving in the box.

Let’s take it to the final game!

[Badger]

10 hours ago, kwsaint said:

IMO closely followed by Gavin fucking Bazunu.

Good point.

Remarkable that Still and Bazunu’s parents chose the same middle name for them though.

Have to look on the Watford forum for a clue on Stil’s brother. Perhaps it’s Edward Cunting Bastard Still. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Badger

[Hatch]

On 26/04/2026 at 12:47, Hatch said:

I can’t make the game now so have a spare ticket if anyone is looking for one 

Reminder 

[saintant]

13 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Ipswich win tomorrow then they are promoted. Its a lot of pressure on Saints more than Ipswich as draw and its calculator time and down to other teams.

 

No pressure on us - we're not expecting anything other than play-offs unless a minor miracle happens. Ipswich have 2nd place in their grasp which they can still lose so all the pressure is on them.

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

They’re coming to win promotion tonight, their players and fans will be bang up for it, so would we if the boot was on the other foot.

Hard to tell how it will go with us after the last flat home game from everyone and Saturday’s exertions but hopefully we go again and we leave everything on the pitch and in the stands.

[leesaint88]

Looking at the Ipswich forums, they are already billing it as promotion day.....hopefully we can at least delay it for a few days. I can see today being a draw, with Ipswich scoring from the millionth penalty they've got this season. 

[macca155]

12 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Not too sure about being empty emotionally. If anything, these guys have just gone head to head with the best team in the country and will be confident they can put any Championship side to the sword. My concern is more complacency. I expect Downes to be back to boss the midfield. Up front Larin and Stewart can share the workload.

Would also prefer to see Stephens in for Wood but Jack is evidently not right at the moment.

I wouldn't underestimate the emotional drain of Saturday's game, but they are pros and need to deal with it. They better not be complacent, this is a season defining game. However we said that about Wrexham and look how that went.

No Downes for 2 more games. Normally I'd agree on Stephens, but I've been mighty impressed with Wood recently. If he coped with Harland and co, he should be confident about tonight.

Good thing is that even if Quarshie plays, I'd still be reasonably confident. Having such a strong well managed squad, just makes things more stable.

[Royal124]

14 hours ago, Royal124 said:

Ticket available for transfer via the Saints Tickets app. Thanks. 

Reminder

[Saint86]

Checked their forum (btw - they have to have the worst forum organisation / layout I've ever seen, what is with all their micro threads all covering the same subject 😅🤦‍♂️), but my lord are they cocky.

They may or may not beat us, but it's beyond complacent to be that confident of beating this Southampton side away from home 😅

Edited 11 hours ago by Saint86

[Mattio]

I'd be happy with a rotated squad if players are not fully fit, realistically we need to be thinking ahead to the play offs. Hopefully Tonda has managed to keep the result vs City as a positive in the players minds and they need to remember we're still unbeaten in the league, just keep the run going for a few more games.

[Jack]

Said this a week ago, and the week before that, but really hope the fans can get up for this one. I worry we’ll have a bit of a hangover from the weekend and it’ll be as flat as it was for the last couple. Really have to go for it and start fast, Ipswich have been slow starters recently and pretty poor away from home, need to take advantage of that and not give them anything to hang onto. 

[Football Special]

47 minutes ago, Jack said:

Said this a week ago, and the week before that, but really hope the fans can get up for this one. I worry we’ll have a bit of a hangover from the weekend and it’ll be as flat as it was for the last couple. Really have to go for it and start fast, Ipswich have been slow starters recently and pretty poor away from home, need to take advantage of that and not give them anything to hang onto. 

That's my fear for tonight, Ipswich bringing full 3,008 away allocation, last thing i want is a defeat where we have to stand there listening to their celebrations. 

Would expect a bit of a hangover from Saturday though, no more songs about going to Wembley. 

This will be Ipswich's 3rd away game in 7 days having been to Charlton last Wednesday, West Brom on Saturday and Saints tonight so should match our fatigue, no idea if they have been rotating the squad much 

[madge]

I think this squad is mentally stronger than any of the last 10 years or so. Think they’ll be firing each other up and there won’t be any complacency tonight. I fully expect us to dominate the game and Ipswich will start making the game niggly. I think we win by 3-4 and really put down them under pressure for next week.  On the other hand we lose 2-0.

[saintant]

Lots of bravado on Ipswich fans forums. Plenty of whistling in the dark. They know we are the form team and have a formidable home record whereas their away record is sketchy at best. They are less confident than they are trying to make out. Be ready for their normal shithousery on the pitch. Their players will be encouraged to use every trick in the book tonight. Hope the ref doesn't let them mug him off.

[Zorba]

Need blood and guts from Saints tonight. We'll miss Downes' aggression so need THB to be right up for it. Wood has been great but bring in Cap'n Jack and Wood can come on with 15 minutes to go to protect our 2-0 lead.

Stewy brace and a Larin last minute bullet header to finish.

COYS!

[Draino76]

14 hours ago, Badger said:

If we don’t go up, the reason is summed up in three words: Will fucking Still. 

Adding Bazunu and Adam Arnstrong.

[AlexLaw76]

14 minutes ago, Draino76 said:

Adding Bazunu and Adam Arnstrong.

Arma was our top scorer when he left. He is probably still up there 

[St Louis]

13 minutes ago, Draino76 said:

Adding Bazunu and Adam Arnstrong.

You're blaming Adam Armstrong for us not going up? I assume you mean the sale of him rather than his performance? We were a shambles in the first half of the season, but he managed 11 goals and 4 assists before he left, and is still our top scorer.

[Toadhall Saint]

16 hours ago, Turkish said:

I know everyone will point to the Bristol game as that is the most recent but for me there are others which cost us. Skates away if we could just held on or taken our chances and put them to bed. Oxford away losing to a relegated team, Norwich away before they hit form when we handed them victory and the shit show that was Blackburn away, teams rarely win 10 games in a a row so a slip up was inevitable but for me those games earlier on where the ones that really cost us. 

I point at every time we dropped points especially at the start of the season 

[SouthWalesSaints]

I’ve somehow managed to pop my back out. 
 

2x tickets going. FOC in the northam. 

[Draino76]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Arma was our top scorer when he left. He is probably still up there 

But things have picked up since he left right?  Similar to Bazunu.  One thing I noticed about Arma when he missed a pen....he did not give a shit.  Also V Pompey when he missed, and we scored...he did not care.  Small margins, but this is enough to change things.

[Draino76]

1 hour ago, St Louis said:

You're blaming Adam Armstrong for us not going up? I assume you mean the sale of him rather than his performance? We were a shambles in the first half of the season, but he managed 11 goals and 4 assists before he left, and is still our top scorer.

It was time for him to go.  See what happened next.  Watching a Will Still interview right now and this confirms he was totally out of his depth.

[St Louis]

15 minutes ago, Draino76 said:

It was time for him to go.  See what happened next. 

I'm not debating that, and much prefer the current squad and the attack we have. But I still dont think Armstrong is to blame for our poor first half to the season at all.

[DellBlockH]

2 hours ago, St Louis said:

You're blaming Adam Armstrong for us not going up? I assume you mean the sale of him rather than his performance? We were a shambles in the first half of the season, but he managed 11 goals and 4 assists before he left, and is still our top scorer.

He's not to blame for our plight and, as you say  is still our top scorer. But how many did he blaze wide or over the bar when passing to another player or better control would have meant a goal? I don't doubt his dedication or ability but we've looked much better without him.

[Mattio]

Edit - ignore me 😂

Edited 5 hours ago by Mattio

[goodymatt]

1 hour ago, St Louis said:

I'm not debating that, and much prefer the current squad and the attack we have. But I still dont think Armstrong is to blame for our poor first half to the season at all.

I think he scored 11 but missed 15 big chances. His penalty miss vs Norwich was costly, 2 1v1s at Blackburn and missing the chance at Skates all cost us points. He’s still 6th in the league for big chances missed, despite playing only half a season, he was comfortably top of that list when he left.

Not the main problem at all but he did miss more than he scored this season and his profile limited the way we set up. Under Still we massively underperformed our expected goals and a lot of that was Armstrong missing big chances. 

[whelk]

FFS some of you need to get over Will Still. Build up to Ipswich game and still bleating about September

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

Completely forgot Downes isn't back until the play-offs.

I've got 14/1 for us winning and scoring four or more. They're whining about fixture overload and I think we've got the strength in depth to wallop them. Impressed they've taken their full allocation. Not often you see that on a midweek game.

[Mattio]

1 minute ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Completely forgot Downes isn't back until the play-offs.

I've got 14/1 for us winning and scoring four or more. They're whining about fixture overload and I think we've got the strength in depth to wallop them. Impressed they've taken their full allocation. Not often you see that on a midweek game.

"Promotion" party innit

[Wade Garrett]

Didn’t understand playing Azaz on the left v Bristol City.  Play him though the middle tonight.  Jander has to play, not fussed who plays next To him.  Bragg looks ok, Charles can be brilliant but gives the ball away too much for me.

We are more than capable of winning well tonight.  Just have to be on it.  Second is unlikely, given the games Millwall and Ipswich have remaining, but better sides than them have buckled under pressure before.

Lets fucking smash the wankers tonight and walk the play-offs anyway.

[davefizzy14]

A huge game tonight. Hopefully we can close the gap on second.

3-0 to us tonight - Scienza, Stewart and Larin to score 😊 COYR 😊

Edited 3 hours ago by davefizzy14

[bpsaint]

Two shattered teams, hopefully we can perform like we did away to Wrexham when everyone was concerned about how the Arsenal game would have tested us physically.

[It's There]

In Tonda I trust. The players will be up for it, as should the crowd. Tonight we put Ipswich in their place- 4:0

[benjii]

56 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Didn’t understand playing Azaz on the left v Bristol City.  Play him though the middle tonight.  Jander has to play, not fussed who plays next To him.  Bragg looks ok, Charles can be brilliant but gives the ball away too much for me.

We are more than capable of winning well tonight.  Just have to be on it.  Second is unlikely, given the games Millwall and Ipswich have remaining, but better sides than them have buckled under pressure before.

Lets fucking smash the wankers tonight and walk the play-offs anyway.

Azaz didn't play on the left v Bristol. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Realistically I think we are playing for 4th place now. Expect Ipswich to take the second automatic spot with Millwall finishing third.