Charlie Wayman

I'm glad you cleared that one up

My guess is Bruno Lage who has been simply brilliant at Wolves

We have heard all this stuff about our football philosophy, fully integrated management and pathways and so on many times before from Semmens over the course of the last two or three years but it seems to me that something else has happened recently as well to trigger this sudden change in our fortunes. For example, why is it that only now are players like Forster and Elyounoussi suddenly coming good after a few years in the wilderness? Surely it is still the same management team and the same coaching staff as before. If it wasn't working then, why is it working now? Describing success with hindsight begs the question of whether the club even now really understand their own recent success fully.

Jenas is a self opinionated pain in the arse, his arrogant rant about Ralph shows that he knows next to bugger all about football management and his attempts to belittle Danny Murphy on Saturday evening were little short of sickening. Who gave this jumped up nobody a licence to monopolise MotD. Get him off air FFS! ... and this too from BBC's Crook having begrudgingly conceded that two Saints players were worthy of his team of the week. Absolute Tit! "The man at the heart of a splendid week for the Saints was, without doubt, Ward-Prowse. He was outstanding against Tottenham in midweek, producing two excellent assists. I've been singing the praises of this gifted midfielder for some time now, (Oh! Really?) and his performances for Southampton only seem to get better. I don't know what Liverpool are waiting for - he's made for them."

Pity the Echo dropped the ball by binning "The Pink". Always a great Saturday night read with the added frisson of being hot off the press; twas almost miraculous in the pre Gates era to get home from a match at the Dell, pick up the paper and read about the game you had just seen.

I wouldn't put the improvements in some of our players down to Broja's presence at all. It is partly luck, partly perseverance and better game management and Ralph has found at last an XI that gels well together. We've become a side that is not only hard to beat but can be relied on to score goals. Broja is a good striker but quite selfish and blinkered in possession and has squandered as many chances as he has scored goals by simply not making critical passes to team mates inside the box.

The result some of us expected after Wednesday night's performance. We looked leggy at the start but rallied really well with our second wind and took the game to them when they lost their concentration. Superbly worked equaliser and brilliant finish from Adams. Broja was not quite there today but did enough to panic their defence more than once. I must admit our line out routine against free kicks scares the willies out of me and it amazes that opposition teams haven't figured out how to beat the tactic. Now for a rest for us and the team. We have become a very good team and seem to have a genuine chance of beating anybody home or away. Roll on Everton, play like we have this past week or so and we should be comfortable winners next weekend. Let's suggest 3-0 for openers?

The big advantage that Forster has is that he is very big and looks scary and that's more than half of the psychological battle especially in one on one's.

1-1 or 2-2.

I don't think so, no manager will change a winning team certainly not one that gelled so successfully as last night. As for Mo Elyounoussi, on last night's showing he is undroppable. He and Stuart Armstrong were the most formidable 10's pairing we have fielded all season.

Well done to Ralph and his coaching team. The rest has been said. Don't be silly.

Really? Surely this is the same team that most people on here were slagging off as relegation fodder a few short weeks ago. Don't know if you were one of them. Amazing how short fans memories are.

Two and a half years is not 'soon' by any measure, as the man himself observed he could be fired long before then. There is also every prospect that he will be offered a new contract and will sign it. Two and a half years in a young player's career is a huge proportion of their football life expectancy and a critical period of learning. If they feel Ralph is the man to help them fulfil their dream of reaching the very top then they will continue to want to come here and work under him. He has a track record of doing just that. Like you, I love his good natured banter and transparency during interviews which suggests he is a very honest and decent person. I've had my fair share of ups and downs over his managerial abilities like most on here but have come to the conclusion that he has achieved as much with this group of players as any manager could reasonably have expected to do.

What point were you making that caused you so much mirth? Couldn't see it myself.

Fantastic. I love Mourinho. Thanks for sharing.

It would be a very brave man who chose retirement with no income over a job offer of £5m per year especially at a fit and healthy 60 with every prospect of living until 100. People often say daft things when being interviewed presumably carried away in the thoughts of that moment. I'll believe it when I see it happen.

Fantastic result for Notts Forest although one suspects that Leicester 'threw' this one because of their fixtures pile-up and Europen ambitions. Nevertheless, Forest under Cooper look the real deal. He's becoming a superb manager and if Forest continue the way they are then they will have a very good chance of promotion. Can they keep hold of Cooper remains to be seen but good to see a Brit manager coming good.

Preferably playing together in most matches.

He had an outstanding match yesterday and saved our blushes at the end. There had to be a reason why Man City and Chelsea signed him, yesterday we found out. Interesting dilemma for Hasenhüttl now. No more Willy jokes please unless they are along the lines of will he - won't he stay.

To be fair Theo is a bright lad and no doubt feels highly frustrated with his own performances and the dawning realisation that the end of the road for his career is looming. What is sad for him and us is that he seemed genuinely wanting to return to his boyhood club to help us achieve something special but it hasn't worked out that way. What he doesn't need is hoards of fans on his back every time he takes to the pitch and in the aftermath on here, that isn't going to help him one little bit. He knows, Ralph knows that Theo's time is coming to an end so we should respect that and do our best to encourage him in one or two last flourishes before he makes his exit. Having for years been slagged off on here as being past it and useless it is good to see a little bit of love developing for Shane Long and how it has helped lift his game when making cameo appearances like today.

Funny old match, we never looked like scoring until two fine pieces of individual brilliance saw us through. Having said that we never really looked like losing either. Commentator was a bit confused having at first said we are no longer a selling club he immediately changed his tune when KWP scored the winner " a left back that can score goals will attract a lot of attention from other clubs"! Is this the beginning of the end for Adam Armstrong? Not good to be hooked off so early. Thierry Small seemed just too overwhelmed by the occasion, not surprising at 17 but given his chance he should have grabbed it with both hands. The pace of the game was too much for him after half-an-hour.

Dom Ballard hat-trick! Put him on the bench to morrow Ralph ;-}

It's totally bullshine of course designed to big up the player's ego and give him ideas above his station before the summer window. Let's be frank, he is not the finished article and certainly nowhere near a £40 m player. Agent talk and gullible reporters.

One window closes and we be do b*gg*r all business so why not start a speculative thread on the next window instead when the chances are we'll do b*gg*r all business again. Fans eh?

Saints need have no concerns at all about playing the Toon whenever and whichever XI players are fielded against them. Even if they have some super talents in their line up as a result of the transfer window it won't mean these players will be match fit and fully integrated into a system of play. Remember even Howe is new there and has by no means sorted out his best XI and got them playing in a fixed and successful way. In that sense we are light-year ahead of them. As we are seeing in the AFCON semi's the noble art of fast, direct short and close passing at which we excel can be woefully absent from teams of top players cobbled together a few days or weeks ahead of a match. It takes months or seasons to perfect systems of play. We' ll beat the Toon, no doubt about that.