macca155

Welcome Dan good to have you on board. However don't think you're getting ITK status on here that easily 😀 That celebrity status has to be earnt. On to Norwich. I feel moderately confident of a win, which will be amazing. Will keep the impressive home form going.

Almost certainly not going to happen this year. We draw too many games. A 9 point shift on Spurs is required, and they have 2 games in hand. That's ignoring Wolves who are better placed, and frankly a better side. Obviously the cup is our main route, but that's a tough ask. Other teams will have the same view, but still in it. I think focus on winning the mid table league. That means overhauling Brighton, Wolves and keeping Leicester at bay. That would be one hell of an achievement in itself, considering the start we had. Use that as a platform for next year.

I agree he is one hell of a player, different to JWP and if/when he comes up for sale they'll be a lot of suitors. I'm a big fan. The problem for Phillips is that Rice will always be ahead of him in that position, and he doesn't have a specific skill set like JWP. We have to remember that England have the best midfield squad in the world, Rice, Phillips, Mount, Bellingham, Smith-Rowe, Gallagher, Foden, Grealish and probably JWP. That is real depth and quality. I haven't even mentioned Maddison, Henderson, Ali, or Linguard in that list and there are probably others. It won't be easy for JWP to cement a place among that lot. The question is, not whether Saints should sell, but whether it is right for James. He has to avoid the scenario of being a bench player like Ings. He has one move ahead of him for a shot at CL football and titles and it has to be soon. That effectively means City, Utd (God no), Liverpool, or maybe Arsenal if they get their act together. Can he hold a place in the midfield of those teams. I don't know hard one to call. Whilst I'd love him to stay I fully appreciate why he would move and good luck to him. By signing that contract he effectively put millions into the Saints bank balance and we have had his best years. Looking at it cynically, how long will he keep this iron man performance going. There is always a sweet spot for selling a player and the club will have to make that decision. Nice problem to have.

That is so sad, my thoughts and prayers to his family. I hope the messages on here give some comfort to Minsk's family.

I hate to say this but I fear some on here may be getting a tad over excited. Utd have some magnificent players. McTominay can out run all our players with ease. Plus he is supported by Pogba and Fernández. One false move and they are past our midfield and it will be Ronaldo v Bendarek. I'm not being defeatist. Their defence is equally as wobbly as ours, but they will put serious talent on that pitch. If it clicks then Saints will be over powered. I expect blood and thunder from Saints, and maybe a draw. That would be a fabulous result in itself. Yes I'm managing my expectations..... I've learnt to.

I agree, use of the word like makes it personal. He gives his all and has an engine almost as good as JWP he deserves, and I think gets, quite a bit of kudos for that. He definitely is better at defensive duties than Elyounoussi, he was struggling big time until it started to rain Wednesday. Once the game slowed down he was in his element. That isn't a criticism he is way better going forward imo. Redmond has always partnered up well with Bertrand and now Perraud. However your point is valid, we can all see it, going forward he so often will beat a man but fails to deliver the final ball. Choosing to pass sideways or backwards. When he plays a little deeper I think the opposite happens, he doesn't try and beat the man and plays some really good passes. His best games have been in this position, but Ralph then moved him up front as we had injuries and we were back to square one. He simply doesn't seem to have the tookit for that position with savvy Premier league defenders. Essentially they know what he is going to do. They know what Broja is going to do but can't stop it 😀 Redmond doesn't weaken the team particularly, he's played his part in some of the best performances, but he doesn't particularly strengthen it either. He is reliable and I guess any manager appreciates that. He divides opinion on here because people want him to be the player he simply never will be, whilst others probably accept him for what he is. Way too much time is spent arguing about it imo. Really no need. He'll probably start tomorrow because Ralph will want Saints to steam roller Utd from the off and some players won't have the resources for that after two tough games. Whilst I'd love a result at OT in reality the Everton and Norwich games should be the main targets. Two ins there and Saints are rocking.

Let's not get carried away. Utd away is a tough gig. Lot of our players will be running on empty from 60 mins onwards. Tino for Perraud and Redmond for Elyounoussi is pretty obvious. Maybe start with Diallo to replace S Armstrong or Romeu at some point. This really is a free hit, so it may be a good opportunity for Smallbone. Grind out a draw that will be good.

Bit alarming going north when my car was in South London. Managed to get back on track. WHL really is the worst ground to get to. It has no equal. Anyway, don't care we won 😀

Just enjoying reading the scenes on here when the goals went in. You won't believe the scenes at WHL. That was incredible what a performance. I was so excited I caught the train to Cambridge by mistake .... opps

Hammers at home

Hey they won. When we watch the cup being paraded outside the Guildhall, this dodgy performance will be forgotten. No surprises with the replacements, as a unit they weakened the side significantly. I think Valery was way better at CH, than in a more attacking role. Bar set low there. As soon as Broja, Armstrong, Redmond, KWP, and Romeu came on I was confident they'd get over the line ..... eventually. Biggest disappointment for me was Adam Armstrong. Clearly did well in the Championship but looks shot now. A shame but unless he can turn it around his Premier League days are numbered. As a striker you have to score. Next round please not so many changes Ralph.

Good performance from Coventry, we were lucky to get through that. I thought Mark Robbins really stood out today. When Saints pushed you back he immediately made changes and pushed forward again. Good tactician be interesting to see how he copes in the EPL. Good luck getting to play offs, love a trip to Coventry nice and easy.

I think Salisu is a bit like Mane, took a while to acclimatise, but now he is rocking. If his form continues then no way can we keep him. He'll want a crack at Trophies and CL. I fully expect him to be sold for an outrageous amount in 2023. Hopefully when he goes we don't have any aggro, I hate all that. He is giving his all at the moment he deserves respect for that. Great to have players like that at the club. Just have to accept they won't always be with us for very long. Presumably Simeu is being lined up to replace him. Then Armitage, this will be our future.

Well I hope I'm wrong but I would imagine he'll be subject of a lot of transfer speculation.

Newcastle's activities have disrupted the whole window. Stopped clubs like Saints from making the usual tidy sensible deals, and probably making the bigger fish a little nervous. Personally I think Saints are doing the right thing. Stay well out of it. Try for a few but refuse to get involved in a bidding war. The current squad is good enough for mid-table. That's all that can be achieved this year. The main activity will be in the summer. GK, CH, and a No10. Unfortunately I suspect most of the attention will be on JWP. Not going to be an easy time for us.

All of that plus he had that extra half a second on other players. Never had to hurry a pass. Either instinct or intellect, it gave him a huge advantage. He would be awesome in the modern EPL. Imagine how good Gazza would have been. Talent and fitness, not so blessed upstairs, but he would have been looked after.

I wouldn't worry too much about that, it is sort of expected if a player goes on loan and does well. As you say Saints made a request, were told to wait and that's that. If he is that good everyone will want him. 16 games left, his goals could dry up or he continues in the same vein. For the moment he plays in red and white and I'm going to enjoy it whilst it lasts.

Whilst a fabulous a prospect, Broja isn't our player and that is the nub of it. I think we have to accept that he really is just on loan. If another team is prepared to pay £40 million for him then Chelsea would be mad to sell him, particularly to Newcastle who will be a major threat in 2 or 3 years. If they do decide to sell then I fear that Saints are going to be blown out of this race pretty quickly. There are several factors that might help. Ralph is good at developing players and it may be that Broja himself appreciates that and elects to stay here for another year. That seems unlikely as Chelsea will want him to play European football next year before drafting him into their team. Chelsea may, just may, decide that Saints are a good incubator for their players. They can park a prospect with Saints, watch them develop at no risk to themselves, and then be in a position to make a decision about them a year or two later. However one of the Italian clubs will happily give him a loan berth next year. That would be the next logical step in his development. Also need to watch out for Lampard at Everton, I'd imagine he'll be looking to buy/loan Broja next year. Fortunately they cannot offer anything more than Saints at the moment. I don't know what I think about that as it puts Saints firmly down the pecking order. I guess Saints will do the same to other clubs but it isn't a comfortable feeling either way. He's only 20 and at the moment everything is going well, that won't last. Premier league defenders will be watching clips of him very carefully and will be developing strategies to neutralise him. With the form he is in good luck with that, but sooner or later they'll work out how to make life hard for him. That is when Broja will show whether he has the toolkit to be one of the greats or fades under the pressure. Look at Armstrong 30 goals in the Championship, couldn't miss, seems to have completely lost sight of the goal in the Premier league. It may be that Broja's form has restricted his opportunities but my level of hope in AA is starting to diminish. In the background Saints also have Olaigbe starting to make a noise, which means Armstrong has to start delivering soon. I hope he does, be good for us and him. Major positive to all this drama is that the club is reinforcing its status as offering a quick route through to the 1st team, and that might help steal a few more Tinos in the future.

They are relentless and expect every player to score. Beautiful football team to watch when they click. At times yesterday it looked like we would be overrun, but Saints managed to regain a foothold in the game. Somehow Ralph has the measure of Pep and don't we love it. Salisu will be bought soon, we'll never hold on to a player of that quality. Enjoy him for the time we have him.

Great game against an awesome side. They earnt that point, top performance. It was interesting how they kept the ball away from JWP for the first 30 mins, he had to work hard to get in the game. Personally I prefer Redmond over Mo but that bar is set low. The major change for me was Lyanco, he added real steel to the defence. He is growing in confidence and needs to start before Bendarek imo. But hey no nit picking, great result. Looking forward to MOTD.

Right in front of us, heard the slap, and involuntary yelp. Stuart was lucky to stay on the field. Laporte is a magnificent player, love to have him pur side.

Yes probably best avoided, plus new owner hardly wants a statue of a old owner outside the ground. Maybe put up some more and move Ted to a less public place, plenty of candidates. Channon, Paine, LeTissier although the latter seems to be a tad controversial these days.

I've been thinking about this a lot this morning. Tearing down statues is all very well but what do you do in it's place. As a symbolic gesture it hits the mark and then .... The club looked the other way and as such are culpable. I don't care what guise they were in they allowed it to happen. Rather than targeting individuals who cannot defend themselves do something positive. Fund a charity that protects children today, because sadly it still goes on. Provide the victims with a decent lump sum, if the club can pay £20 million for a centre forward, it can certainly afford to pay compensation to those it failed to look after. However having said that I also don't think the club can forever walk under an apologetic cloud. Learn and move forward.

The club is in a difficult position. They are guilty of harbouring a paedophile. As such they failed in a duty of care to those young lads. No way of dressing that up as anything else. It was a very different time. I was a kid in the 70s and there were some very dodgy characters in scouts, choir, and sports clubs. You either became a victim, or stayed well away from them. Usually in a group of mates. Those in power ignored it, looked the other way or just accepted it as part of the culture. Watch a 'Carry on...' film from the 70s or most sit coms. You'll see what I mean. Ted would have been a product of his generation. Chose to look the other way, or refused to contemplate it. Remember they were totally repressed on such matters. Removing the statue on one hand will be a very public recognition of the club's failings. On the other it will dump all the blame on Ted, which would be manifestly unfair. It will also cause an unholy row, and achieve precisely the opposite of what is intended. I guess they need to find another way of addressing the errors of the past. I don't envy them that job.

JWP is pretty level headed and will only go to one of the top three. His next move needs to be for CL football and regular tilts at trophies. His eyes will be firmly on an England place. By signing that contract he has guaranteed Saints big money. Whilst I don't want him to go, he has been a great servant and if that opportunity arrives then he needs to take it. It's a short career and Saints cannot take him to the next level just yet. My hope is that we have him for next season. The position has to become available, with the realistic prospect of regular football. I can't see that yet but a lot can happen in the summer.