VectisSaint

Maybe top, but we were 2nd back in January

Given the ref gave a free kick for it you would expect that to be the case. But we will never know.

Never did Georgie Best (or Frank Worthington) any harm 😉 To be frank I don't think the 'length' of Mara's hair is the problem, hence the references to Valderama.

To be fair if he was 'watching' on Sky, he may well have missed it, I did plus about 20 minutes more. What I couldn't fathom was that through their break the score and time were updating. Then when the visuals came back the sound went (which was a mixed blessing given the commentator kept mixing up Aribo and KWP (How?) and liked playing the game of 'name the last player to have the ball instead of the current player' (which is actually quite difficult to do). Perhaps they watch the game on a delayed feed. Never any apology or mention of the technical difficulties, Sky made themselves look rank amateurs last night. KWP spent a lot of time in midfield last night (at least the bits I saw), playing the role Manning played earlier in the season and Stephens has done quite effectively too, KWP was certainly not playing the standard LB role (and once or twice briefly swapped sides with Bree).

Beds wasn't concussed but he was in serious strife v Ipswich, possibly hangover from that (yes I know he played at Blackburn). Anyway Stephens and Bednarek are pretty much interchangeable. Only real issues tonight are no Stuey and Brooks on right presumably meaning AA on left

We had no right to expect anything better than a distant 3rd, based on where we were at the start of the season. Leeds and Leicester were much better than us in the PL (9 and 6 points better respectively). At the moment they have widened that gap a little, but not a huge amount. The problem for us is that Ipswich "came from nowhere" and have proved that it is no fluke, they built a good Championship side last season in League One. Yet we still have the chance to beat them (in the play-offs) assuming they finish 3rd. But we will only win the play-offs if we rediscover some form in the last 7 games, unlike today's dismal display.

So that's a no to Manning then.

What a dreadful performance. Russball was not the problem today, just a complete lack of effort or ambition or energy from several of our players. Looked like they had given up before we started. Brooks in particular was absolute shite, which is unusual, KWP wasn't great (again), THB was off the boil. Rothwell was a waste of space, Aribo looked asleep. Downes was doing so much work, but a lot of it wasn't coming off with passes getting cut out. Our passing was sloppy, lethargic. We badly missed Stuey today with his driving runs. There was still so much to play for, especially with results going out way, we should be going all out to get as.many points as possible to build confidence for the playoffs, and even to ensure 4th place (because it is not ensured at the moment, though WBA dropping 2 points has helped). Only the second game this season we haven't scored, still we kept a clean sheet so at least we won't get the 'we concede too many' trope trotted out here (although I wouldn't be surprised to see it trotted out anyway). What a waste of an afternoon enduring that.

I know, I got that wrong, realised when I watched the highlights, but didn't have any posts to correct it. I don't think I really need to explain about their first, if you don't understand then that's your problem not mine.

He was clearly talking about play-off semi finals. If you want to bring other competitions into it then history says we won semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1899, 1901, 1976 and 2003, League Cup in 1979 and 2017, Full Members Cup (ZDS) in 1992, Tin Pot Trophy in 2010. We lost in the play-off semis under George F***ing Burley, nothing more needs to be said about that.

The 3rd goal, which was the one that caused us to lose the game (as opposed to drawing) was due to defensive disorganisation following Bree's sending off, including being a man (defender) short. The root cause of that goal was actually piss poor play by our attackers who only needed to hold the ball up, you know play a little Russball but gave it away needlessly and cheaply and allowed Ipswich to break. The first goal was clearly Bree's (and Bazunu) fault, no argument from me there but it didn't contribute to us losing the game, indeed it can be argued it galvanised or shocked us into equalising and later taking the lead.

The defensive problems started not with unsettling the back 4, but losing Flynn Downes to injury. So many people think 'defence' means the back 4, it doesn't, at the very least you have to consider the DM. When Downes went off injured against Huddersfield it was 0-0 (and we were playing with our so called settled back 4). Within minutes we conceded and then a second. We went 3-1 down in the 2nd half before we made an excellent recovery tom win 5-3. The damage was done though. Teams saw that we were very fragile at the back without the shield of Downes.and that was exploited over the next few games. In the end Downes came back of course, but our confidence had been destroyed and oppositions could see our weaknesses. Coupled with that we have had other injuries (KWP) and Manning has been exposed as a poor defender and Martin/Calderwood have found it hard to get that consistency back. It is nothing to do with shoehorning Stephens in (we beat WBA 2-0 when he was in, probably one of our best defensive displays). To be honest the loss to Ipswich was not a problem defensively, we coped very well against the best attacking side in the Division, it was down to a stinking performance by our keeper and getting Bree harshly sent off.

Presumably Sam Gallagher will score.

No, it was the one he most should have saved. His positioning was all wrong, much too far to his right, which made his (hopeless) dive to his left hopeless. Don't think many would have saved the first. The 2nd was definitely stoppable, but it wasn't as bad a blunder as #3, just that he can't dive.

Its not nailed on that we will finish 4th, though likely, the only thing nailed on is that we will finish in the top 6. But, given autos are no longer realistically achievable now, the target must be to win as many as possible until the end of the season, so as to be the in-form team going into the play-offs. Taking our foot off of the pedal now and coasting toward the play-offs is a sure-fire way of failing at that hurdle. Hopefully Leicester will finish 3rd, and with WBA and Norwich in there we could still go up (if you see going up as a positive of course). But winning mentality in the last few games has to be the priority, including Leicester and Leeds, get out of the habit and we will be sunk.

Fairly typical responses on here, sounds like some didn't watch the game. That was probably the best we have played all season and it was against the team who are top of the league and at their place. Defence was sound and we attacked with pace and incision, the second goal was superb, Bazunu-Armstrong-Armstrong. Then a slightly dubious refereeing decision cost us (the sending off, not the foul). Then sadly Bazunu was easily beaten twice. I'm gutted, but really think we were very good up until that foul after 85. Once they got the 2nd a 3rd was almost inevitable with their momentum. Bollocks.

To be honest KWP didn't look all that on Friday. I'm not overly surprised at him being benched, though it is a shame. Anyone any idea what has happened to Shea Charles? Seems like a good bench option if fit.

Check the date

According to Transfermarkt yesterday was just his 2nd assist in the League, he also had one in the Europa league. Has scored 5 goals though. He is doing a good job and pleased for him and will end up with a Bundesliga winners medal to add to his Championship winners medal. Not bad really. Shocking the way Saints threw his talent away. By the way Leverkusen are 13.clear, Munich lost 0-2 last night to Dortmund, another blank for Harry Kane. 13 ahead with 7 to play, it could be wrapped up in a couple of games.

But if we win two in the play-offs we will not get promoted because we will have lost in the final.

I wouldn't have replied if you hadn't said it - "but also a lot of time to specifically prepare for how we play"

Boro had 9 players on international duty so there is no logic that they can prepare better than us.

Yeh, I sort of guessed that's what it meant. But what a meaningless award. Look forward to selling him for megabucks in the future based on the award. Perhps they could have called it "Player of the Tournament" or perhaps that would be too simple these days.

Good to see SAA was awarded MVP. What the hell it means I have no idea, but assume it's good.

or even Douglass Lukjanciks 😉