BARCELONASAINT

without doubt behind the scenes those that run the club will see finishing as high up the league table the most important thing this season with no gate income. It will be interesting to see if they give Ralph the freedom to pick his strongest side for the cup. I'm not for one moment saying he would be dictated to about where he puts his priorities but I do think Ralph has bought into the club and how it is run and the financial restraints we have. In this sense he is more of a club manager with no selfish agenda unlike dare I say the like of Mourinho!

We did what we had to last night and got through with no obvious added injuries which must have been the most important thing before the game. The game itself was not great but i didn't expect it to be with so many changes. JWP and Diallo ran the show as expected (Diallo has everything to go on and become a very very good player for years to come) Bednarek and Stephens were rarely challenged and i never thought we were in trouble at any point in the game. I have always admired Long for his work rate and harassing opposition defences but he seriously looks past it now and should not be anywhere near the first team. It worries me who we have to step into Ings and Che's boots when they are not available (Walcott maybe) I'm just not convinced by Ndlulu, I really played close attention to him last night hoping he would be excellent and turn it on but despite his goal i remain unconvinced. I really liked Watts, you could tell he was having a ball playing last night, never stopped smiling and was an absolute menace to the Shrews. I think this lad could make the step up.

That report from the Athletic is just made up nonsense, they have no idea!

Understandably INGS wants a contract that rewards his value to the team and that protects his future. IMHO we are financially suffering like every other club and cannot match INGS wage demands/length of his contract.....again just my personal opinion but i will be surprised if we are even close to matching what he wants. He is doing what is best for him and waiting to see if there is any interest from a club prepared to meet his pay day demands (and a signing on fee) Normally for a 28 year old i would not say his age is a factor. However add his very unfortunate injuries into the mix and he may feel he has 1 last chance for a big pay packet. Depressed this morning!

Understandably INGS wants a contract that rewards his value to the team and that protects his future. IMHO we are financially suffering like every other club and cannot match INGS wage demands/length of his contract.....again just my personal opinion but i will be surprised if we are even close to matching what he wants. He is doing what is best for him and waiting to see if there is any interest from a club prepared to meet his pay day demands (and a signing on fee) Normally for a 28 year old i would not say his age is a factor. However add his very unfortunate injuries into the mix and he may feel he has 1 last chance for a big pay packet. Depressed this morning!

what an absolute piece of garbage that report is, no substance at all. Really lazy journalism. Salisu is being very slowly integrated with the squad and had he not picked up an injury i am sure he would have featured in the Cup.

what an absolute piece of garbage that report is, no substance at all. Really lazy journalism. Salisu is being very slowly integrated with the squad and had he not picked up an injury i am sure he would have featured in the Cup.

Honestly can not see us signing anyone in January other than at best a loan. We are losing £3 million a month due to COVID and we will not see fans back in stadiums properly this season. While we are unlikely to be fighting a relegation battle this season Ralph will almost certainly be told to work with what he has and TBH that is probably the most sensible approach.

Feliz Navidad

The so called big clubs can go **** themselves!

Honestly what a trash piece of reporting and anyone that was watching Sky sports news this morning would have seen the reply the club gave to this. No one at Sky criticised Saints this morning after reading out Saints reply because there was no room to criticise. Basically Saints were already well ahead of the game here and had already put things in place to make sure the diversity issue was not something we would ever be held to account over.

Unless someone has picked up a knock i would not be changing Sundays starting 11. Those lads have earned their shirts and it is for them to lose now.

not that it means anything but the lights are all still on at st Marys

I may well be thinking of this to simplistically and i'm sure there will be those out there ready to correct me......but outside the big top 6 clubs are the rest of the Premiership clubs really in a position to financially help out? Our expenses with wages and the fees we pay for transfers not to mention what we still actually owe in structured payments probably means even with TV money we are only just surviving without fee paying fans. Realistically if fans are not allowed back into stadiums this season it will not just be lower league sides going to the wall???

Have left it till this morning to post my thoughts on the game. Firstly I cannot understand why we did not play more friendlies before the start of the season?? Was that complacency and a belief that we finished the season so strong and fit we didn't need the games?? We dominated possession but we did nothing with it. We were slow and ponderous and had no answer to Palace sitting deep and making the last third very congested. We offered nothing from the wings and nothing through the middle. I really felt for Ings and Adams because they had no service at all. Smallbone is technically a good player but he is not the answer yet, I have not seen anything particularly creative from him. What the hell is going on with Djnepo?..have we bought an expensive sick note who is made of glass. Yesterday we came down to earth with a huge crash......we were all expecting a good result away to a woeful Palace side hit by injuries but instead got our pants pulled down by a more savvy Roy Hodgson!

perfect today.....long may this continue!

really hope things improve. I use this site everyday for my Saints fix and will miss it if this IS the end!

I stand corrected on that point MLG but i think the rerst is relevant.

I honestly think that there is no hidden agenda regarding Salisu and it is purely a case that we have bought a 21 year old with bags of potential who needs to be integrated very slowly into the squad. English is not his first language, he has never lived in the UK before, he knows no one here, he's only 21 (a kid) and there is no way he will be at the same fitness levels and sharpness levels as the rest of the squad. I am making an assumption that Saints are being very careful with this lad not to rush him into the starting lineup before he is 110% ready and end up destroying his confidence. We all know the premiership is savage. Bednarek and Stephens finished the season strongly and will rightly start as our 2 CB's with Vesterguard the back up (unless he moves on). We all crave news about our players and silence can lead to all sorts of conspiracy theories.....however I don't think that is the case here.

I really hope RK is the right choice and he gets the backing of the board and we once again become a top top club. I've been saying for the last 3 seasons we have been on a decline and the obvious frailties have gone unaddressed. Would I rather we had signed Poch and do I think he would have been a better bet.....yup 100%

I am led to believe there are no issues regarding a work permit and that he has a European passport due to French connections. It makes perfect sense that this would have been checked prior to any bid being made. Also a host of Premier league clubs have been interested in him and therefore would have checked this out.

out of genuine interest how many on here still play grass roots football and will, hopefully, be returning for the start of the season in September AND have thought about what they will do if this "taking the knee" is expected of them before games kick off. For me it is a huge dilemma as I am totally against any form of discrimination but I am totally against "taking the knee". I have asked our football committee if we can discuss this subject prior to the new season kicking off as I neither want to offend anyone or back down from my principles! Sorry if this has been discussed before.

according to my immigration contacts no one will be allowed in by car, ferry, plane or whatever means without fulfilling the ability to self isolate....and that was the latest they were being told at 1pm today.

SFC don't appear that ready to re-start the season. Our manager is not even in the country and under new rules unless you are from France you will have to self isolate for 2 weeks when entering the UK. Not a dig at RH or the club, he should be with his family. However this is just another small example where football really has to take a back foot and forget about this season.

Sky are reporting a third Brighton player has now tested positive for COVID-19......I really can not see players wanting to resume this season anytime soon!