saintstowin

It's a decent result. They have a big gap between their home and away form. Yes would have liked a bit more attacking but this is two games not one and we should be confident to get the job done having kept it to a draw today.

I ended up phoning at 930 because the site showed no tickets, but if I then clicked on match tickets from that page it let me in, however it greyed out my friends/family so I couldn't link a ticket to them! Odd. Yet yesterday it seemed to be willing to sell me 1 ticket even though I'm not a member. I didn't go through with that purchase as I wanted more than one. Streamlined process! Helpful ticket office person though. Good luck getting one by other means if you're still looking.

What's not to like? Saints away win that directly dents the confidence of a rival. We're going into the play offs with renewed belief (us and the players). Sunny. Everyone played well. Tories being hammered. A different way of playing is possible. WBA beatable if we're on it.

That was my one and only Highbury trip. Henry and Co had a field day. I can't recall how weak we were, on paper. I do remember us having loads of chances. Defo affected Strachan for the final.

RM has today confirmed he meant reactions to the motivational what's app messages he sends each player.

It's a tough call and I can't predict RM's approach. He saw what didn't work changes-wise v Stoke. It's the intensity and our general lack of it lately that I worry about.

I agree about ST holders' friends being a priority group as unfair, especiallly 2 tickets. No reason why it shouldn't be ST, members, then fans who have been this or recent seasons. Let's see how it sells with all the optimism around.

Last 6 games and points for the play off teams. Leeds 7 Saints 9 Norwich 9 WBA 5 Hull 12 Assuming 4 of these 5 make it. Hull have picked up after a pretty bad run saw them almost drop out of contention and if they get in you could see why they would be that 6th placed team on a run to be feared. But we won't be playing the semi against them. But no team is storming it. Lots of talk of Norwich but they aren't playing brilliantly. As far as I can tell. It's our own form and confidence we need to sort. That's the obvious worry. Need a performance at Leeds.

The last few seasons in the PL were so awful that this season has had an interesting mix of real happiness (fresh start, more wins, really good football at times) but in contrast being pretty quick to anger at anything bad (slow football, questionable tactics, under achieving). I know in general football (and forums) will have extremes of emotions. But for me there is something about what we've all had in recent seasons that makes us feel like we deserve more, see this season as the ultimate chance, and therefore get upset at not having that. I'm not saying it's wrong to feel that, I do too, but it has had an impact on my responses. I agree there are many things RM could have done/do better.

Poor form at the wrong time. But we can still win a two leg play off.

The goals against considering how little the opposition have the ball. This is what gets me and screams very loudly that the approach has severe limitations. For the most part we've coped by being better and quality eventually winning. But on off days and when we play good teams we are exposed so easily.

Any defender who doesn't play in a thrashing immediately looks better. But JS would have played his part in the debacle last night and I don't think the result would have been different. Some of of the things JS does that limit him are a lack of focus and being too laid back on the pitch, lacking urgency. Unless a situation presents itself like v Middlesbrough. All the usual JS stuff would not have helped.

I didn't watch the 2nd half. Lucky me. First was foreboding. What an absolute rotten display at such an vital stage. Never should be getting beat like that. We can't play that style against pressing and quality opposition. But it seems to be the only way we can play. Only crumb of comfort is I really doubt we'll be that bad again in the 5 games if we're lucky to get that many. Maybe we got Leicester on a good day, despite our woefulness. I can't hate the manager but his limitations were laid bare tonight.

Sensible I think. Brooks over one or two others but no one has screamed pick me instead in the last few weeks. Rothwell for an hour to see what he can offer from the start. Glad Charles is in.

I've seen that and it looks dodgy (for VAR that is). The other issue is that the pass was a flick/scoop and therefore usually this means the ball rolls up the foot a bit before release so point of release is more complicated. Plus Wright's movement at the time of the pass is across rather than forwards (in order to stay onside) so any millisecond affects it massively. All these things make the lines harder to draw and less accurate in my view, and give weight to the view that VAR for offside may not be good enough. For all VAR offsides I remain unconvinced any camera can tell when the ball leaves the boot to the degree necessary for it to be foolproof. I have enjoyed not putting up with it this season.

It says we were brave! It's not a new thing after all.

Really good points about FD's importance. We all know how vital he is. But we make his absences even harder to cope with through tactical decisions. I can almost agree that today it should have been ok with WS/JA. But when the changes were made after an hour it was totally wrong not to turn to Charles.

Crikey just seen the highlights. Miss after miss after miss. And then letting a far inferior team back into a close game. Again. Two things that = a painful result. Could debate which is worse but the fact is the combination did for us today. The worry might be that the misses are unlikely to happen on that level very often, but the second bad bit likely will.

Well. Perhaps in reality we were hanging by a thread thanks to lots of injury time points gained and it'll turn out that 4th is where we deserve to be. Lots of questions to be answered about whether we should be higher. I saw none of it but all those misses is ridiculous when we needed to get across the line. I can't recall a game recently where subs have directly helped us. I know we've scored late sometimes but not in terms of shape and pressure. I know it's not an attacking change but Charles as a sub would help us keep/regain control of the midfield.

I think as this is on Welsh soil there's no being cup tied or ineligibility issue, but Brooks MUST only speak Welsh from the moment his passport is stamped half way across the Severn Bridge until the final whistle.

I hope it's an exciting match and doesn't drag on.

I meant the non Premier League football authority, so yes FA rather than EFL. I would edit but I've haven't got time to replay posts and need to save energy for messages on a more important forum.😇 I've certainly wondered about the fixture congestion when Saints get a draw in the cup. My view is it is low down on the things that might affect our season negatively. And I'd rather a replay than ET and penalties. But overall it's the bigger picture I care about.

This makes me angry. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/apr/18/fa-cup-replays-and-premier-league-winter-break-scrapped-from-next-season I don't see any motivation for this apart from benefitting the bigger clubs. And the FA being weak and/or seeing no alternative but to give in. Clubs happy to play 15+ games in Europe but not one or two more (maybe) in the cup. I love the FA Cup.

It will be interesting to see our approach with the strength of the GK being very different. I expect we haven't practised much passing with AM. Do we avoid it, can we avoid it seeing how ingrained it is?

When did AM last play a football match?