Minsk

There's something about Lyanco that reminds me of Maya. It could be that they both joined at 24, with good reviews from one international tournament behind them. It could be that Lyanco seems to put his whole heart into everything, just as Maya did. They are the same height; neither blessed with great pace but neither sloths either; both happy with the ball at their feet (I think Lyanco more so than Maya was); Lyanco looks to be a bit of a threat from corners (Maya certainly scored a few goals from set pieces); Maya had the odd mistake in him, which Lyanco also seems to share (but let's face it all players make mistakes, especially CBs). I know Maya wasn't loved by all on here but I will always have fond memories of him. Here's hoping Lyanco has as good a career with us as Maya had.

Please God, no!!!!! Moreover, why do Villa think they can simply click their fingers and take managers already under contract elsewhere? That didn't even work for Newcastle, with all their wealth!

He could have done things differently. He certainly made some mistakes. No one is perfect. I would have done things differently. Those things are probably different to the different things you would do. That's football. At the end of the day though his decisions were largely ones made through necessity, not simple choices. Plus we were never even remotely likely to be relegated. We also made it to the FA Cup semi-final. I disagreed with Redmond starting in that match too, but understand why Ralph picked him at the time. Redders had scored a couple of lovely goals in the previous matches. Adams had been a bit 'off'. And the reason we lost had nothing to do with Redmond. It was fluke goal conceded in what was a very even match. But when someone has a bee in their bonnet, and his name is Ducky........

Or some top trolling! Note how Ducky always fails to answer direct questions with any kind of tangible answer. Amazing how such a poor manager turned around a team with 9 points from 16, to one which finished the season on 39 points without signing a single player. I am certain Howe wouldn't be able to do similar at Newcastle. Nor would Howe get a team like Leipzig to finish 2nd in the Bundesliga.

Yep. It was an excellent tackle. JWP had an immense game on Friday. Cracking shot that brought an equally good save too.

Wrong, as usual. (Or, to put in words you might understand, PONY!) It is disingenuous to not acknowledge the reason he couldn't make adequate substitutions during the latter half of last season was because of the options he was forced to have sat on the bench and, in many matches, in the starting 11. You don't want to do this because it doesn't fit your mantra. If Ralph is as poor as you claim how come we had such an impressive start to last season, as well as an excellent finish to the previous one? How come he turned a team around, who had 9 points from 16 matches and were sat in 18th, to one that earned 30 points from the remaining 22, to finish 16th, matches all without signing a single player? I'm not expecting you to actually answer those questions. Just as I'm not holding my breath while waiting for you to grow a pair and answer the question you yourself posed in the Ralph/Howe thread (or other questions asked of you). You always fail to answer questions posed to you. Maybe you're a politician? I know you're definitely not a football manager/coach and sincerely doubt you have any managerial/leadership qualities at all - most certainly not where the female gender is concerned.

Smetana is the Eastern European word for Sour Cream; but it's different to UK sour cream. (Hard to say it is the Russian word as it is the same in Ukrainian and Polish). Best place to buy it in the UK is in a Polish shop. As for Bedrich Smetana, I think you must mean 'was' Czech (seeing as he died almost 140 years ago).

Unsurprisingly, my wife is Belarusian. She always says that borscht is Ukrainian. Wherever it hails from, I love it too and Mrs Minsk makes a very tasty, and slightly spicy, one. Got to have Smetana in it though.

All very nicely said, as ever. I agree that Saints are playing as a team. There seems to be a good feel around the group in general. You could see it at the end, the way they all congratulated each other. That has to be down to good management. I also agree about the 1-0 thing. I spent 95 minutes pleading for a 2nd goal tonight. Thankfully, I had a few whiskies to help my nerves.

Yep. There were some good performances: JWP and Romeu; Macca looked solid in goal; Moi had a very good first half, not so effective in the 2nd; KWP had another good match at LB; Arma excellent goal and ran his arse off; I think I will just give it to Che though, fantastic all round performance. As for the others: nothing special, nor bad, from Bednarek; Salisu, Tino and Stu not up to their usual performances; Lyanco did the most of the subs (not surprising as he was on the longest); Diallo seemed to struggle to get up to pace (as he did last week) but did a job; Broja put himself about a bit.

Fuck me we made hard work of that. But we showed a great improvement on last season in grinding out the win. Good tactical subs from Ralph. I was calling out for Diallo to come on when he went for Lyanco and the change in formation. Then brought Diallo on to shore up further (when I was calling for Broja to take the game to them). Can't argue with the changes he made. They worked. Level on points with Everton and Leicester and up to 12th, for now at least. Enjoy the weekend everyone. I will be hoping for wins for Spurs, Arsenal, Wolves, Norwich and Leeds (or for them to at least draw with Leicester). Wouldn't mind a Brighton win either.

Nakamba was rolling around holding his face as well. Trying to con the ref into a penalty. VAR should look at those things and they should get yellows for cheating.

No, he's not that bad. It's just that (Wolves match aside) KWP has put in some excellent performances at LB and deserve his place in the side.

Cracking goal by Arma. Moi having a good game. Stu Arm having a quiet game. I do wish Salisu will stop with those dodgy back-passes. How the fork is El Ghazi still on the pitch? Need to get Tino running at him more.

Thanks for that. Couldn't remember. So Ralph turned things around without any new signings. Did an even better job than I thought then. Wonder if Howe could do the same at Newcastle?

Where did this come from? I thought the loan rule was a straight no recall for 12 month loans between prem teams.

True.

I see Villa are starting with McGinn, despite him being suspended. Surely a points deduction right there? 😉

Surprised Arma starts ahead of Broja. But at least we have Armando to come off the bench for the last 30 or so today. Also 5 forwards/10s on the bench! Just the 2 defenders and 1 midfielder. Certainly looks like Ralph is all out for the win.

Tested positive for covid

Nope, nothing back there. Some guff about you not rating Ralph (as if we didn't know); some more guff about how you don't like Howe as a bloke (as if that means anything); other guff about how posters on here should never criticize his managerial abilities; and yet more guff about how is effectiveness at any other club could be up for debate. Absolutely sweet FA about how you rate his signings in the past 2 seasons of his tenure at Bournemouth or how well you think he will do for the rest of the season at Newcastle (if he is actually given the gig). So, once again: Where do you think Howe will have Newcastle finishing this season? How would you rate his transfer dealings at Bournemouth? Especially in his last 2 seasons there (giving him the benefit of having 3 seasons to 'bed them in' to the premier league). Or don't you have the bollocks to answer the question you have asked others to answer?

That would be my starting 11 as well.

People have criticised his recruitment at Bournemouth, sure. Wouldn't say he has been 'slagged off'. In any event, instead of trying to come across all full of yourself and trying to belittle others (as usual) asking for their predictions, why not put up yourself first? Where do you think Howe will have Newcastle finishing this season? How would you rate his transfer dealings at Bournemouth? Especially in his last 2 seasons there (giving him the benefit of having 3 seasons to 'bed them in' to the premier league). The where does anyone think Ralph would have them finishing is a completely moot point, as we will never know. The haters will say relegation; the reasonable supporters will say keep them up. All I can say for certain is that when Ralph took over Saints (on match day 16, so that particular match really had nothing to do with him) we had 9 points on the table and were sat in 18th in the league. We finished in 16th on 39 points. So that was 30 points from the following 22 matches. And that was without being given a huge wad of money to splurge in the January transfer window. From memory, I believe our only addition in that window was Charlie Austin. So, going on his record/history, I would say Ralph would keep them up. But, as I said, it's really moot. I'll give my opinion on Howe after you give yours.

Yep. Like you say, if Newcastle buy Tarkowski from Burnley, Sarr from Watford, Tony from Brentford, Cantwell from Norwich (for example) they would have significantly improved their own squad whilst weakening those of their nearest relegation rivals. Exactly why we should not sell them anyone if they come calling in January (and certainly not our captain as some are suggesting we should).

I don't think anybody has said Howe is 'shite' or 'useless' (to quote Turkish) that is just you (and him) being your usual argumentative, provocative, sensationalist, word twisting self (selves). Similarly, no one has said they are now certs for relegation. Anyone saying any team (bar probably Norwich) are certs for relegation at this stage of the season are complete idiots. Just like those who stated any team was a cert for relegation before a ball was even kicked in the campaign. As we all know, anything can happen in football. What we can do, however, is compare like for like and look at previous. For example: in their one full season of managing similar sized teams in the premier league (we have bigger crowds, they spent more money) Ralph's Saints finished 11th whilst Howe's Bournemouth finished 18th. The previous season Ralph came in half way through. At the end of the season Howe's Bournemouth finished 14th (on 45 points) above Saints at 16th (on 39 points). However, if we only look at respective points earned that season only after Ralph was appointed Ralph' Saints earned 30 points to Howe's Bournemouth's 22. (Obviously this could be skewed as we wouldn't have faced all the same teams home and away, but had both played 4 of the big boys once at that stage of the season). Moreover, when comparing both manager's respective achievements in the Premier League Ralph has has achieved: the greater points tally in one season; the most wins in one season; a (marginally) better points per game tally than Howe. Howe had one finish higher that Ralph's best, and 4 lower. The one higher finish was in 9th behind Puel's 8th, and we all know how that ended for Claude. I would say all of those would make him the better manager for this league. What makes you think Howe is better than Ralph, as a manger in the premier league?