VictiAbNonem

He's looked more comfortable at LB than he has before at CB, after a few dodgy moments against Bale early on.

Except maybe the current Spurs team. They've lost more points than us from winning positions this season. They could still bottle this.

So glad we didn't concede just before halftime like we did in the reverse fixture. I really hope we come out and start the second half like we did the first.

CB Salisu seems to be a far more adventurous LB than Bertrand. I think he's showing potentially useful versatility.

I hope we see a lot more of Tella this season. He looks dangerous. And so lively!

If you take off the bookies' over-round the odds work out at about Leicester 50% Draw 30% Saints 20% So I reckon about 30% chance for us to make the final (best odds for that are 23/12 with Smarkets) Does that seem about right, or should we be longer?

I gave him the best title for his autobiography. He wanted to use it, but apparently his publisher told him it was too late to change it. "Articulated Lawrie"

Wasn't KWP complaining to the ref about it still in the second half?

I reckon 2-1 McCarthy to mess up stupidly on the edge of the area and gift them an early goal against the run of play. Ings to equalise just before half time, it's time for him to get his scoring boots back on. McCarthy to keep us in it with a couple of fine saves in second half Ward-Prowse free kick (anagram of "We pack red fireworks"!) to win it late, and get JWP level with Beckham's record of 5 direct free-kick goals in a season - he's got loads of time left to smash that record

"Redmond impact" is an anagram of "did crap moment"

On Salisu, he certainly dispelled any fears I had, from his prolonged absence, of him being a dud. He had a mostly reassuring and confident debut; there were a couple of shaky moments toward the end when Wolves' subs had come on, but his firmer moments during the rest of the game were, I think, far more pronounced. Among the flashes of impressive ability I saw were: good pace, control, passing, tackling, aerial ability, strength, energy, stamina (after a year out!) and generally good awareness. His biggest problem, until that butt clenching moment when he badly missed the ball in the 6yd box, was trying to do a bit too much now and then. I think we've got ourselves a bargain there.

I've been impressed with Fraser. He hasn't had a great deal to do until just lately, but he's looked pleasingly confident all game coming out to the edge of his area - and beyond! He's even boldly headed it twice, one of them a diving header, when I was half expecting him to panic and dither. I think he's made himself tough to leave out in the next league game

"Takumi Minamino is the first player to score on his Southampton debut in the Premier League since Jan Bednarek v Chelsea in April 2018" lol, sort of..

Victi Ab Nonem has got to be the new club motto now

Mike Dean needs sending off.

I suppose football might occasionally become more exciting if strikers are allowed to flick the ball up in front of themselves and then punch it it in.

Thanks, and I agree with all you've added. I also want mention how impressed I was with Djenepo when he came on. He didn't do a great deal of defending, but he was involved in a lot of our attacking play. I think what that shows is the importance of Bertrand to our balance. We can play Djenepo at right back and still look pretty solid at the back.

I thought we looked pretty good tonight. Sure we didn't make anywhere near enough of our chances count, but we were creating them all through the game. We prevented Villa from having a shot for over 45 minutes in the middle of the game. We completely dominated them for most of it. They had Grealish who was excellent, their keeper who was outstanding, and the officials who were the worst I've seen.

Not seen that.. And I've never seen JWP hit a freekick along the ground!

Why the fuck was Bellerin laid down on the floor?!

Such a tight league this year that we could be 4th (if we win 2-0 or better) or 9th (lose 4-0 or worse) tonight. I'd have taken 9th on 29 points after 18 games at the start of the season. 4th on 32 points I wouldn't have believed possible. It'll be tough tonight with so many important players missing, but I still fancy us to give a good account of ourselves. I certainly won't be doom-mongering if we do get beat.

"other teams will get a penalty for it" J.Klopp is a proper comedian.

I love how much that meant to Ralph at the end!

I thought KWP was fouled, but probably outside the box. And I'd have backed JWP to curl the freekick into the top right corner from there. The lateness of the subs was bizarre. No idea what Ralph was thinking. I reckon Stephens might have saved us with that huge block in the final seconds. That was some seriously brave defending. Oh, and hello all! Been meaning to sign up here for ages and finally got round to it when I came up with my username - which is my suggestion for a new club motto