SupersonicSaint

apropos of nothing, when the writing was on the wall for Nathan Jones last year I said if we stayed up i'd still want him sacked in the summer, but if we got relegated, as we obviously did, there would be worse options in that division than to say with him. That ship has obviously sailed, but we surely couldn't be any worse off right now if we had him at the helm? I even disagree with the assertion that RM seems to be a nice man, even when it was all sunshine and roses after the first few games he seemed cocky and arrogant, though in a different way to NJ. The problems run deeper than RM (squad planning during the summer has been poor) but surely say, Kieran McKenna would be getting a lot more out of this group of players.

I remember people saying this a lot in that 2017-18 season where we beat swansea on the penultimate day. Only Bednarek, McCarthy (both of whom only broke into the first team in the second half of that season) and JWP (then a bit part player) from that team are still in the squad. Sure we had cocks like Hoedt and Austin, as well as some polarising players like Cedric, Hojbjerg, Redmond etc, but lots of good memories associated with the likes of Gabbiadini, Tadic, Romeu, Yoshida, Davis. Interesting to compare to the current squad...

PassderbällentoLeTißier

Elyounoussi from the point of view of the club long term as he's been here for almost 5 years (!!!) despite being shown to be out of his depth within his first season - and yet scarcely any attempt to sign a replacement until recently.

Going to this one in Leeds Hospitality (girlfriend is a Leeds fan and it was her birthday present) - little did we know it would wind up being such a crucial game

With 16 games left of the season, what points tally do you think we'll end up on? Below are our remaining games and what I reckon are probable results: Chelsea (A) - L Leeds (A) - D Leicester (H) - D Man United (A) - L Brentford (H) - L Tottenham (H) - L West Ham (A) - D Man City (H) - L Palace (H) - D Arsenal (A) - L Bournemouth (H) - W Newcastle (A) - L Forest (A) - D Fulham (H) - W Brighton (A) - D Liverpool (H) - L Sees us with 12 points bringing our end of season total to 27. I think in our next 5 we'd have to beat Leeds and Leicester + get a point against Brentford to have any real chance.

Mixed story with the full debutants today, Orsic was borderline dreadful whilst Alcaraz looked bright. Not fully convinced by JWP in the #10 role, would favour him and Lavia in a pivot with Alcaraz playing as the most advanced midfielder. Diallo had a pretty good game today though which was nice to see, hopefully we're finally getting some depth at CM. Fuck me do we need a striker though!

Say what you want about the new Soccer Saturday but BT Sport Score is literally unwatchable. A dozen of the worst people imaginable speaking over eachother 😭

Ok, I'll admit I believe this was a bridge too far for Ralph. But some of the SaintsWeb experts have said we're a cert to go down and sleepwalking to relegation for every single season since 17/18. By my reckoning we were 50-50 to go down with Ralph this year and I don't think Jones will make our odds any better.

He's had an awful run granted but he did far more good than bad in his tenure... with our relative ambition in the league we're going to be at best mediocre or inconsistent over the course of a season. I will believe it when I see it should this managerial change keep us up.

I understand the gig was up but time will tell if this man deserved to be hounded out of the club the way he was by some of you miserable sods

Gerrard surely?

Keeper yes has been sorely needed for years. But equally we haven't had a quality player on the left in yonks - Salisu aside, the other mediocre players have at least had purple patches from time to time. During Ralph's entire period in charge, we've signed Walcott on a free and Djenepo to reinforce a position that was clearly not strong enough in the squad he inherited. With the best will in the world, Walcott is Talksport bound and Djenepo has hardly got a game and rightly so. I think if we want to kick on we have to improve our #10 options.

For the last four years, we've have had 1 (one) wide midfielder at the club better than merely competent. Surely that has to be more of a priority for the club? This isn't to say I'm not pleased with the business so far.

yeah - all black screens for me and the only one that's worked has been leeds 😭

Might miss this one, will be unpacking my bits as I'm moving into the University of Southampton tomorrow (I'm from Suffolk originally). Choosing my uni was definitely not swayed by being a Saints fan all my life, hopefully can see some more games in person! I think a win here would cement ourselves as having had a positive start.

Agree completely - odd bunch on here, from the reaction you'd think we've started a bunch of unproven academy lads. Provided Stuart Armstrong comes on second half (if need be) I don't see the problem.

not sure how realistic Kabak is but it would be a quality signing imo

Any idea when they might start getting sent out? Looking at buying one for Father's Day - likely it will miss that date but if its only a little late then there's no harm done.

Don't disagree - he probably does deserve more minutes, and given the recent performances of Diallo I think he may as well get a start. But weren't both Diallo and Romeu injured for that game? So don't know if that's an indication of him being ready - it was a case of needs must.

Wasn't a truly abominable watch like the West Brom game, but... To be 1-0 down and not even get a kick in the last 20 minutes of football is about as damning an indictment you can give. When the natural flow of the game should have you piling on the pressure and creating chance after chance, really really not good enough. Lads could barely string a pass together at the end let alone muster up a shot on target. If the FA Cup was our sole focus, I dread to think what we're gonna be serving up for the remainder of the season in the league.

There's a Redmond Redemption pun to be made here. Absolutely love it. When do we ever score right before HT? COYS

Well that's the thing. Yes we could've walked out with the draw, but given how little we created for so long it was hardly a performance deserving of it. Today wasn't unique in that respect - seemingly every game we have multiple chances like those you've mentioned - if every saints shot that should've seen the net bulge actually went in we would be 10-15 points better off. Ultimately, given how the onus was on us to take the game to them we did not create anywhere near enough chances. During Project Restart, we played a game in which we would move the ball patiently to make openings so we could play the killer ball. Tonight's display was not patient build-up, it was cowardice - there was not enough urgency, players were afraid to run with the ball, and the high risk passes that could split the defence were not played often enough (to an extent this is because we're missing KWP).

Vehemently disagree in what I'm reading with people saying "we should've drawn" and that "if we play like that v. SHU we will win." We created the square root of eff all for 80 minutes against a Everton side who never left second-gear. Redmond having a bad game is expected at this point, but Bertrand had an absolute shocker. Armstrong looked alright going forward and given he was played in a new position for him I think he had a good game. Tella had a handful of bright moments, the one-two with Armstrong. Djenepo is a trier and completed one of his trademark mazy dribbles down the byline (think its only lead to a goal against Watford last year but was nice to see some intent). The less said about the rest of them the better.

Spurs may have lost today but Højbjerg ranks first in the league for frustrated claps per 90. #passion