Piran

Watched this game. Two crap teams in my opinion. Can one of our resident experts tell me - has the rule on throw-ins changed? I have watched a few games lately, including Saints last weekend, and I have seen throws taken with feet inside the touch line, I have seen at least one where the ball was thrown from in front of the head, and several with one foot lifted off the ground, and never once has there been any foul throw called, or even any comment from the commentators. A stupid little offence, perhaps, but they are quick to decide offsides on a millimetre or a penalty on the brush of a hand...

Well, I'll be blowed... a Charlie Wayman post that I agree with. A real turn-up for the books.

They were excellent. Very impressive, I thought, but what a horrible bastard that Marcus Alonso is!

Have felt an affinity with Coventry for years, and the feeling seems to be mutual...

That's a shame - she speaks verry highly of you Duckie...

Okay! Any more of Adam Armstrong's knockers want to join in?

My comment was aimed at MLG, and to his credit he has already replied, but as you're asking, I'd say a decent return next year would be 15 Premier League goals, and I'll wager £10 that he gets them, winnings to a charity of the winner's choice.

It's good to see you actually offering an opinion MLG, rather than just reacting to others' posts, often completely unnecessarily. Personally, I think he will improve, and is already improving, and fail to see this weakling you describe. As others have said, I don't feel that the last couple of games, out of position, have been a good time to judge. We'll see. Fancy a little flutter on his goal output next season?

He's not.

What an incredibly rational group of contributors to that forum! Perhaps some of that common sense and reasonable attitude will migrate here along with Ankersen,,,

Couldn't you two get a room?

Hooray! Someone else refusing to join in with the doom-fest that these build-up threads have become! Come on you lot, we're supposed to be Saints supporters! Well... most of us...

I thought Caballero did okay last night. I wouldn't blame him personally for the first goal, it was basically a one vs one against a very capable player, once the defence allowed Zaha in. And comments about him improving on the Arsenal game - well, what do you expect? Anyone who has any experience of the real game knows that you cannot reproduce match fitness, no matter how much training you do. If he gets another game, we may well see a further improvement!

On January 2nd? Who are they getting in on January 1st? De Bruyne, Kane and van Dyke?

I was there for that one, so disappointing. By my recollection, the referee was determined for them to score, too

I think this must be one of the most boring post-match threads ever, and that's saying something,considering the choices available! Do some posters carry on posting the same point over and over again for kicks? You know who you are... For what it's worth, I watched the game, via hesgoal.com, and my view is that the Liverpool side that Saints faced are in a different league to us, figuratively if not factually, and it was just a game to get out of the way. My biggest gripe while watching was not formations, or selection, or Ralph's tactics, but the totally biased commentary on there. We can all see what's happening, but not all of us were wishing for that fifth goal, or dreaming of 'Pool getting back to the top of the league!

If you want the definitive example of a poacher, one of them used to play for Saints - Ted MacDougall! Ted was amazing, there would be a melee in a crowded penalty box, a goal would be scored for Saints, and the man coming out with his arm raised would be Ted. Outside of the box, he struggled to trap a bag of cement, and his passing often resembled a rugby player kicking for touch, but in the box he was transformed!

I can't be arsed to join in with some of the long-winded discussions above, but "No", I don't think we're a better team when JWP isn't in it. The 3 games he missed were certainly well played by Saints and the midfield, which may appear to counter my opinion, but one thing I noticed was a bit of a gap when Saints lost the ball, or the opposition started to work the ball forward. JWP is often in what I think of as the 'right half' position, and he will regularly 'mop up' loose balls and move them on (even backwards!) instantly. Just like Matt Oakley, (mentioned above) and long ago Nick Holmes. Morgan Schneiderlin was good at it too. These moments are important to a team, and you can bet that managers are aware of this quality.

Steve is twice the man he used to be...

I thought it was definitely a save. Just inside the post for me.

Come on, Mr X, we need more than that! In what way was he dreadful? Were you at the game? Did you manage to catch a stream, when there were apparently none on offer? Are you in the confidence of the coaching staff at Staplewood? For what it's worth, I watched a (dodgy) stream of last night's match, and I agree he looked promising, and as others above have said, he could become a real fans favourite if he carries on like that. For the Sheffield United game, I only saw brief highlights, but a good friend of mine was there that night. In his day, he was a very good Hampshire League centre half (remember them?), and his view was that Lyanco made an error or two, but showed some good touches, and he thought it was a decent debut. No mention of 'dreadful'.

One of the things I admired about Adkins was his comment somewhere between arriving in the PL and his replacement by Pochettino. It WAS a pretty brutal start to the season, and things were improving when he left, but he was honest enough to admit that he hadn't realised just what an upgrade the Prem was, and his surprise at the quality of the opponents' finishing whenever the defence wasn't quite at 100%. It takes a man to admit when he was wrong.

Pilchards? Any comment on the discussion you generated? I guess we'll have to wait another week or two for the end of October, but it may be time to question the source with the radio links...

I have always maintained that you 'see' so much more when you are at a game in person, so my following comments should be judged on that basis. I have seen all Saints league games this season, albeit via streams which have sometimes had foreign commentary (often an improvement if the language can't be understood!), and my overall impression has been of a half-decent team, playing for their manager. I know there has been a shortage of goals, I know there have been a few dodgy moments, I realise that everyone sees games differently, but my feeling is that the season is panning out at least as well as hoped for. Regarding "Ralph out - Howe in" it's a big "No, thank you" from me.

While we're on the subject of bellends.... wouldn't it perhaps be better to wait and see sometimes?