Charlie Wayman

Ralph Hasenhüttl seemed very downbeat about transfer possibilities this summer during his press conference, what do you think he knows that we don't? He has talked a lot about getting players in early but maybe he has already been rebuffed by players or agents or the money just isn't there. I was saddened that he didn't seem to have good word to say for Bertie when asked about how that would impact on the team. "We can find a better replacement" seems to have been the knub of his comment. Noticeable too that Bertie didn't mention Ralph on his Twitter account when praising fans and management the other day. Read into this coolness on both sides what you will. Suddenly there is a sinking feeling that this summer's transfer business will not amount to the root and branch clear-out and rebuild that has been hinted at by RH in his more upbeat moments.

The New Forest is full of Pony's right now

Many fans will be genuinely sad that Ryan is leaving in the summer. He found his home here and will leave with a huge amount of respect and love. He will be sadly missed. He deserves to be remembered as a true Saint and receive a hearty welcome whenever he chooses to return as a fan or follower as he implies on his Twitter account. It is always sad when the career of a loyal servant such as Ryan inevitably winds down but it is probably right that he has quit now rather than let the years' take their toll. In Ralph's high energy, gut-busting playbook that might have been sooner rather than later. He has a year or two left in his legs in a less demanding environment and deserves a final big pay day. Who knows, with his ambitions in club management we might well see him back soon as a coach. He has a lot of experience tp pass on. Good luck Ryan and Thank You.

I meant for this match.

Your disdain for the player is qobvious from other ill-considered comments from you on other threads. Pity you let your prejudice get in the way of sensible analysis of the situation. Decisions have to be made by Ralph with regard to contracts for Walcott and Minamino for next season; he can only make those decisions if he gives the players a decent run in the team to assess their form. Of course results matter in terms of club earnings but from now on in it is about personnel, who stays, who goes? He has seen plenty of Theo but less of Minamino so logically if the player is on offer from Liverpool then Ralph needs all the information he can get to make that decision and he can do that only if he sees the lad in action on the field. Expect him to play in a pretty much unchanged side. The conundrum is Salisu who deserves to start. I'd choose him over Stephens, he is much better player. Bednarek was subbed last night because of a knock and a pre-interval yellow card not because of any concerns over his form or contribution.

A very entertaining match in which the best and the worst of today's Saints was on offer. All of the players acquitted themselves reasonably well, OK nearly everyone made a mistake or two but what was good to see was the team battling for every ball right to the end. Ings gets MotM over Forster simply because he is a striker and goals are more impressive and memorable than stops. Both of Danny's goals were amazing in their delicacy and precision (Note: Adams, you don't have to blindly leather it every time) whilst Fraser's penalty save was absolutely top drawer. Where are his critics now? Still there's plenty of time left this season for them to come out of the woodwork and have another go at him. Now it seems it's Minamino's turn for the mindless boo boys to turn on. Contrary to what a few of them have said on this thread, he played really well last night linking up with the MFs to create chances for the strikers. Give him more game time and we've got the makings of a very fine and intelligent player. Better late than never comes to mind this morning.

Are you serious? He looks and acts like a lumbering Ox. Has no sense of reading the game or how to involve himself and stands around like a spare whatknot at a wedding most of the time. Adams is twice the player and he has hardly set the stage alight.

I cannot believe that any of you are scrambling for tickets to watch the dross on offer at SMS these days. Must be that you've been locked up for too long.

Here we go with the first of four totally irrelevant matches to end a shameful season. Who cares about the outcome as we battle heroically for 16th position in the table. Staying up courtesy of the ineptitude of three other teams gives no satisfaction at all. It's pretty clear by now that whichever XI players take the field tonight we will serve up the usual dross and lose, Ralph will make his usual excuses, the "learning points" (JWP!) will be ignored as usual and we ill be back here tomorrow moaning about all and sundry. Thank goodness for a Motor Club Zoom meeting this evening which promises to be significantly less boring than watching Redmond & Co piss about with the same objectivity as a Manx cat chasing its tail.

An excellent post that encapsulates precisely what many must be thinking. Relegation next season seems almost inevitable on our current pathway.

For Heaven's sake get rid of this man!

Having watched the Man C v Chelsea match just before ours, the gulf in class was a stark reminder of just how poor we have become. Yet again we ran around frantically like decapitated chickens in a hurry to go nowhere. Our front line with the embarrassing exception of Tella would struggle to create anything worthwhile in the Championship let alone in this league. True to form they created precisely the square root of BA last night. They were so poor that our defence and midfield had to resort to passing sideways and backwards just to keep the ball for a while to relieve the pressure on themselves. They knew full well that any ball into a forward would be lost and the Scousers would be back on them again immediately. The less said about Theo's performance the better. Has he changed his mind about ending his career here? More showings like this and management will be coming to the same conclusion. As for Adams & Redmond... (expletives deleted). So if we end up at 17th, where does that leave us next season? The odd newcomer this summer is hardly going to produce the root and branch overhaul of this squad that is so sorely needed. The lack of success of any of our teams A, B or U18 surely must be creating such a toxically negative culture around Staplewood that one is beginning to wonder if we will ever win another match certainly under this set-up. How many players will just want out to get away from it all this summer? Those that can probably will. It is a mystery to me that a manager with such little success on the field still enjoys almost deity status off it. Time to clip his wings, he has too much power in the club.

If Ryan Bertrand is allowed to slip away it will be one of the worst decisions this club has ever made in the transfer market. Much emphasis is put on establishing a club 'culture' and Ryan epitomises all that is good about players that fit our ideas of 'culture'. Like JWP and I suspect Stuart Armstrong intelligence, club loyalty and decency are the outstanding hallmarks of his character. His influence on the team and its culture surely go way beyond his performances on the pitch. For the sake of a few quid or months on his contract we will be mad to let him go. We have no adequate back-up and the cost of replacing him probably will massively outweigh any savings made by being hard-nosed in negotiations. It is well known that he has ambitions beyond playing so surely we can do deal on the basis of him having a player / coach role here as his playing days wind down. Heaven knows some of the coaches that we employ currently as 'coaches' have far less to offer than a player as experienced as Bertie as results would tend to confirm. If he goes I will be out in Britannia Road with my "Sack the Board!" placard

There are far more pressing matters to worry about this summer.

...and to be fair that is only fair. Many companies will have invested millions in the event in sponsorships and advertising and will need the Turkish & European advertising exposure to recover their money.

I suppose it is a tacit acknowledgement that he regards them both as pretty useless. If he had a clear first choice he would use it.

Obviously Ralph has the option of fielding eleven players at Anfield but he might prefer to select only ten after last week's excellent display. Never change a "winning" team.............

100% agree with you.

If people want them that badly why don't they sell them in the club shop? They could also do a nice line in broken crossbars.😂

I understood he was here on loan only and not for sale. Liverpool's style of play differs so markedly from ours that training him to fit to our system doesn't help Liverpool or us. At times the lad looks like a fish out of water so it is unlikely he would choose to stay here even if such a conversation takes place.

Inflammatory gibberish! If you're making allegations of cheating then you had better have the evidence to back up your otherwise libellous claims. The stark reality is that refs do their best to manage games but the pace of the modern game together with ill defined rules is making their jobs nigh impossible. Of course they make mistakes as indeed all of us do in our own jobs but that doesn't mean they are biased in any way. Had you not considered that if anybody is cheating it is the players up to all sorts of tricks when they think refs are not looking. How does that make the refs job any less difficult?

Wait until next season, none of the clubs coming up look likely to stay up for long. The champs are more or less the same Norwich side that ended up bottom of the PL last season.

Don't be daft.

He was being ironic.

Well done lads!