CAH61

Ralph has still got some credit in the bank with me (at least until Xmas). His win % is still better than Bally and WGS's and not much below Poch's. This season is finally the one where he can say it is his team and we are still less than a quarter way through. The performances have been pretty good and we look more defensively solid on the whole and now we appear to have found a regular finisher. His teams do like to entertain unlike Puel, Pellegrino and Hughes' and he takes the cup competitions seriously and so far he's had two mid-table finishes and a good cup run and have topped the table and got some good results against the elite clubs. If we are still around the bottom 4 and still not getting wins after playing each team once then his position needs to be reviewed but not now IMO.

It'll be interesting if he can score more this season than Danny Ings, his finishes so far says that he is a natural goal predator.

Am I the only one that thought that it was a cracking match between fully committed two teams playing exciting attractive football? Two home wins in a row would've been nice and apart from two unbelievable misses we would've had the 3 points. Burnley played their full part and never just sat back which is what many predicted that they would do. The only things that I am critical of Ralph is starting Theo ahead of either Stuey, Tella or Moussa and he should've hooked him off at H/T. He should've brought AA on much earlier too as I think he would be a natural to partner Broja. I actually thought that Redders had an effective match again apart from his glaring miss and Tino was probably MOTM although his defending was a bit naive for Burnley's first goal. Diallo looked good in the middle and played some good progressive passes moving forward and two goals in two games for Broja perhaps suggests that we might have our Ings replacement. Obviously the next 3 games are huge for us but I think that if we can replicate the performance of the last two games then we could see 5-7 points being accrued.

Jack Stephens was that player until his unfortunate injury, he's always been very comfortable on the ball.

Theo is nowhere near the player that broke through into the Saints team as a teenager when he relied on a blistering turn of pace to get beyond defenders. He has never been blessed with the best football brain and often chooses wrong options in promising positions.It appears that he is getting game time to justify his salary but to be honest he hasn't pulled up any trees in the PL for a long time.

Some of the team football and entertainment from that team was as good as it had been since the Lawrie Mac era and the feel good factor was the same. I bet these people that are now saying that we should've done better were on the pitch celebrating after the Walsall and Coventry games. Nigel was given a five year plan to get us into the PL and he did it in less than two, how the hell is that underachieving? All a manager can do is try to win as many games as possible and he did it better than any other post war Saints manager and the exciting and entertainment was a huge bonus, we certainly got our money's worth.

Ha! that's a lot less complicated than the things I tried!...😃

What are the chances of a 7 goal thriller like this one tomorrow?

How the fuck do you embed YT videos on here?

Ah Billy, I wondered where you went!, gone a bit dead over there and the politics thread is just boring...😴

Following the unfortunate sacking of Nigel from Charlton, I read a comment that said "No doubt a nice guy but not a particularly good manager TBH. He just had a great squad to work with at Saints" and also that "he just met expectations" and "In all honesty though we should have won both League One and the Championship rather than finish 2nd both times." I replied with.. "Highest win % of any post war Saints manager, back to back promotions is why his legacy is secure and will always be "our Nige".I couldn't give a crap about his record at other clubs. We maybe were the big fish in League One but the Championship? I don't think so as it was essentially the same squad minus AOC.We rode the wave of momentum and spirit that Nigel and his staff helped to engender and all of the fans were riding it too, it was just one of those magical times at football club where the chemistry was just right.The big achievement and the one we should be most grateful for is getting promoted to the PL ahead of schedule. The Championship is a brutal league with many ex PL clubs in it and if we hadn't made it that season then there is no telling how long it might've taken to get out of it and how much it may have cost in trying." Which camp are you in?, did Nigel just get lucky and actually underachieve at Saints or was he instrumental in forging the atmosphere and conditions in which an admittedly talented squad could thrive?

If we want to keep ahead of points gained from last season's comparative fixtures then we need to try and win this one, we managed to beat them away and at SMS but both were close scorelines. I get that a draw to consolidate the Leeds win would be acceptable but the extra 2 points especially from a home game could be invaluable by the end of the season and I would put home games against the other teams that are currently in the bottom 7 in the same bracket.

If we can get can recoup most of what we outlayed for him then we should definitely take it. The Leeds match was about the only time I thought that he could actually cut it the PL and his goals/assists stats back this up.

Let's be honest, nobody would offer £90m for James but £50-£60m would be interesting and I suspect that the club would take the money if he decided to go and I would be ok with that as long as we had time to reinvest the funds into the team.

It's not the first time that James has started the season slowly but he always gets better as it progresses and let's not forget that he was POTS last year.The most disappointing aspect has been his corners but I wouldn't say that his overall play has been poor, just a bit below par (as he loves his golf!)

Stuey in for Moussa would be my preferred team, agree about the tempo.

If we defend like we have for most of this season then I really don't think that Burnley will score and it's all about us creating and taking our chances. The Redmond corner to Broja near post is a great option and I hope that we take a leaf out of Chelsea's book and have someone awake at the far post if it happens again.A few more aerial crosses for Broja in open play would be good to mix it up a bit as he is clearly very proficient in the air and we haven't tried that tactic yet.

My sister's boyfriend got knicked for doing that in '79 (I got down in time!) and I had to explain why he wasn't there for sunday dinner the next day!

I started going regularly in 1978 so this is my team... Shilton Golac M Wright Fonte (C) Dennis S Williams Schneiderlin D Armstrong Keegan Lambert Le Tissier Subs. Flowers, Clyne, Bridge, Lundekvam , Case, Lallana, Beattie Manager. Lawrie Mac

I couldn't agree more, the wide 10s that have been selected, Redders, Moussa, Mo El and Theo, very often don't play with their heads up and choose the wrong option in good areas or run down blind alleys and as a consequence goal scoring chances have been at a premium this season. The chemistry and link up play between the front four in particular is not right yet but I believe that the return of Stuey could rectify this as he is excellent at running with the ball and passing the ball intelligently and I would give Tella a run on the left, with either Che, Broja and AA making up the strike pair.

We really need to win this one and given that Oriol and Diallo are both defensive minded midfielders I wouldn't be suprised to see Stuey start in the middle and it might be a bit too soon to start Smallbone. -----------------Macca----------------- Tino/KWP, Bedders, Salisu, KWP/Perraud -------Stuey/Smallbone, Romeu--------- Stuey/Tino--------------------------Tella -----------------Che, AA----------------