Charlie Wayman

Tosh! Things weren't the same at all. We had a bucket full of injuries to our best players and we had to field half a team of inexperienced and largely ineffective B team players. Even now we are not fully up to strength - Diallo, Walcott, Walker Peters. This led to a collapse of our automatism on which Ralph's tactics depend.

Of course they are. Not sure what was running through eelpie's head when he wrote that, it has not the slightest connection to PFC

You of all people clutching at straws. You are usually very logical so what caused this flip?

Isn't that Everton away? Maybe the one after that then..... ? More seriously, how many defeats in a row before the noose is finally tightened around Hasenhüttl's neck. Can't be far away. Bet we're casting our net around already to see who's available.

No. Hasn't Ralph said several times that he isn't interested in leaders on the pitch or in the dressing room, his players are fully briefed to work to the plan in the playbook and that's all that they should concentrate on. Leadership isn't the issue at all. Players being pushed too hard for too long is the problem, they are all mentally and physically knackered.

Didn't I read somewhere that Salisu can play at RB? Realistically, what can we do to change things around before the weekend? Morale will be shot to pieces and there is every danger that we will try too hard to get things right and screw it up completely as a result. No doubt we'll come out all gung-ho and at 'em then concede early on and collapse like a pricked balloon. This one worries me, a Chelseas side bolstered by a new dynamic manager versus a fragile Saints side at rock bottom physically and mentally. 0-5 is niggling.

We may have to face up to reality after yet another disappointing display and outcome. Exciting as it is to watch, Ralph's method of playing football just isn't working In the Premier League simply because (in my view) the intensity of play is just far too great for even very fit players to sustain for much longer than 50/60 minutes. Once energy levels dip then understandably concentration falls off a cliff as well; Ralph's method requires vey high levels of concentration as well as fitness so as tiredness sets in so we see our patterns of play start to breakdown and the cohesion comes unstuck. This can explain why opponents who play at a steady pace throughout always come back at us in the second halves to the extent that we have this unenviable reputation for dropping points from winning positions. It's wrong to blame the players for this, they are only mortal after all. More to the point is can Ralph's playbook work at a lower intensity and slower pace? If it can then surely he would have understood by now that he is asking too much of his players and adapted his methods to ensure his team is able to last the full 90 minutes. If not then we may have seen the limitations of what he can do, not just Saints but for any team. I hope he can adapt his methods and still create exciting dynamic football otherwise calls for a parting of the ways may become irresistible not least from a spooked owner concerned at the diminishing possibility of recouping his investment.

If Walker-Peters & Armstrong find their best form today we will win comfortably. They are the key to our success and especially if the big man is fully fit and firing on all guns in defence then 3-0 should be attainable. Just time those runs behind the lines better lads.

He does't seem to be an improvement on Boufal that's for sure. Having potential is one thing but after two years, injuries or not, he should have shown his class by now if he has any. Diallo for example, after a couple of games everyone realised we have a player on our hands.

Yes but if you shop regularly on Amazon, the next day free delivery service - worth about £4.95 for each purchase - you only need to make a couple of purchases each month to save more than the monthly fee. Thank about that before you cancel.

Quite so and bear in mind he had to keep a weather eye on Salisu for most of the evening as well. It was noticeable that as his confidence in the debutant increased so he was able to get forward more and more in the second half. That is part of his game that many do not acknowledge and of course our central defenders have not been that dependable of late which has limited the freedom that Bertie has had to go roaming down the wing.

Ha!, thanks for the tip-off. Couldn't risk that. 👍 😇

I thought we played quite well and thoroughly deserved to win. Still need to sharpen up our finishing. Despite the hollow threat of Wolves bringing on their 'big players' later in the match when we were expected to tire (and they would run rings around us in Extra Time), it never came to that. None of their subs made much impact simply because we managed each new threat as it arose. Salisu played well enough but needs match time to speed up and sharpen up, understandably he is very rusty and the pace may have surprised him. He'll learn but Bednarek & Vestergaard remain first choice for a while yet.

Maybe it doesn't seem so long ago that you were a youngster?

Given a choice... neither!

All our good times seem to be in the past in a foreign land.

Probably thinking of taking Bednarek out of the firing line for a couple of matches?

It looks like trolling but actually wasn't. Right now we don't seem to know how to win. Of course as players return from injury things might improve but bear in mind that we had a pretty strong side out on paper on Saturday and couldn't fashion a point against 9 men. It's not all about individual self confidence either, if players stop believing that Ralph's methods can deliver success that's the hidden danger. Setting aside this last disastrous week isn't it only 1 win from the last 10 PL games? Rather worrying I wold have thought.

It's all academic as we don't have a snowball's chance of winning anything at the moment.

I doubt it is a matter of form. Most likely other clubs have studied Ings moves on and off the ball extensively and have a very good understanding now of how to blot him out of games by close marking CBs who understand his movements. Occasionally he breaks free as all good players will but most of the time he is shackled and cannot operate with the freedom he would like. Last year he was a bit of an unknown quantity and could roam to find goal scoring oppurtunities but as his reputation has risen so his effectiveness has diminished. Not a coincidence I think. The problem for us and him is that once sussed out even the best strikers rarely recover to the levels of their early promise. Think of the world's greatest strikers whose reputations have been tarnished or trashed in the Premier League in recent seasons. Aguero is arguably one of the very few who has proved capable of breaking free of that mould. Adams has clearly suffered the same fate.

His error was entirely responsible for their third goal and he never once beat his man dow the line. He's a busted flush irrespective of how vehemently you defend him.

When will this shambolic nonsense ever end. Totally pathetic. We go down to nine men we lose 9-0, when the opposition go down to nine men, bloody Saints can't even score one. Redmond is useless, just get rid. Minamino was the only bit of class in a red shirt. He made Adams, N'Lundulu look like the plodders that they are. Even Ings is becoming a waste of space. The 11 points we need are going to be very hard to find.

Move on my friend. It's becoming tedious all this endless whining about refs. It has nothing to do with tomorrow's match at St James's Park.

When did you last make an omelette without breaking eggs then? Crack on!

"Games like this can happen from time to time...." quote from RH press conference! They don't happen to anybody else matey and never twice in 18 months.