saints-cris

It's pretty common knowledge that he wanted to go. I watched an interview of him, he wanted to go back to Ajax. He'd clearly been ground down of the expectation, having to play for naff managers in a team that used to be very good. Can't blame him at all. He gave us many years of good service, admittedly some inconsistent but probably more due to quality of players around him dropping. If we had actually replaced him with someone with a shred of ability then we wouldn't be having this discussion; instead we got El Useless who we effectively spent 16m on a ghost.

Cardiff's Sol Bamba out for the season. Big loss for them.

With any luck, Dortmund will take them to ET tonight and wear them out. If we are still ahead of Cardiff by Saturday 5pm then we're in a good position to get away.

Hard pill to swallow having played so well, but genuinely encouraging. The top 6 bias will always infuriate me, it really is ridiculously unfair, it's not like they have hundreds of millions pounds of an advantage as it is.. Cardiff lost, and are running out of winnable games before their tough run in. A loss to West Ham and they start their tough run and a chance for us to get away. Take the positives from this game, and there were plenty. Hopefully Lemina and Ings can come back soon and give us an extra push over the line and get out of trouble.

In the mix, but if us and Cardiff lose on Saturday and they win they'll be 5 points clear, so some breathing space there.

Not expecting anything here, a comfy 3-0 loss.

Currently I can only see us beating Fulham and Hudds (and even that I'm not convinced). So we need to scrape a win possibly two from Wolves, Brighton, Newcastle, Watford or Bmouth to ensure safety. So hard to see that happening right now. 3 wins might just be enough with a few draws, but time is running out. We desperately need Ings and an (interested) Lemina back.

Can only imagine he's not risking him playing twice with such a big game only a few days away having been out for a while. If he doesn't play Weds then clearly something is up.

Win or bust. Anything other than a win and we are just prolonging the inevitable. If we can't win this we simply don't deserve to survive; no disrespect to Fulham, just if you can't beat 2nd bottom at home... Hope we go for it. Stephens out whatever happens. Wouldn't be averse to 4 at the back, but Mitrovic bullied us last time and we're just not very good. Keeper Bednarak, Yoshi, Vestergaard Valery, Hoj, Romeu, Bertrand Redmond, Austin, Armstrong

Hardly season defining losing away at Arsenal. Predicted 2-0 and that's exactly what we got. The most frustrating thing for me was that it was game over before it even started. We so rarely make it tough for teams and it feels like this was just a repeat of so many other games against the 'big 6'. What's so frustrating for me is that after the Everton game I was so confident we'd be fine. Just figured we'd pick up enough wins from that point to even hit the 40 point mark, but since then we've had some really bad results and are right back in it. Move on to Fulham. It's going to be horrible this, just so much pressure and I hope beyond hope we get the win that we need.

More likely to get anything from this than any of the other top 6, however Laca/Auba will probably score, we don't do clean sheets. As long as they stop Redmond then they'll be fine. Defend deep, break fast and hope for the best. Macca Yoshi, Bednarak, Vestergaard Valery, Romeu, Hoj, JWP, Bertrand Redmond Austin (loves a goal v Arsenal)

3 games we have to win (Fulham, Bmouth, Hudds) Games we can get wins from (Newcastle, Watford, Brighton) We need 4 wins at a minimum, and a few extra bonus points. We've made it seriously difficult for ourselves these last two games. Right now it's hard to see that happening; but if we get a win, Lemina and Ings come back then things can look a lot better. Either way, it's going to the wire. Our last 5 games are pretty kind, but I think we need to get a freak result (ala Palace/City, or Newcastle/City) to do ourselves a favour.

Dreadful. Really dreadful result that. We’ve managed to undo some great work from the last month or so in the last week or two. 4 points blown in the last week against teams around us in stoppage time. Horrible.

That's the team I want to see; but we certainly need to have more attacking players as Cardiff won't be easy to break down. Valery wasn't great against them last time, so perhaps we'll see Stephens at RB and a 4 at the back. Macca Stephens, Bednarak, Vestergaard, Berty Romeu, Hoj, JWP Remond, Long, Armstrong

McCarthy Yoshi, Bednarak, Vestergaard Valery, Romeu, Hoj, Berty Redmond, Long, Armstrong

Shows how strong the top 6 is now - 45 points would put us 7th currently. Chelsea on 56 points there would be 4th currently.

A body has been found..

Have to win. Beat them and Fulham and we're almost there. We really need Bertrand and Hoj back for this one. Anything other than a win is a bad result for this.

Crook says any incomings is now very unlikely.

I suspect alot of hinged on Austin leaving. Once he does, I reckon Augustin. That and a RB and I'll be very happy.

Smith-Rowe of Arsenal has gone on loan to RB Leipzig. Straw clutching perhaps, but maybe that free's Augustin up..

This window is quickly turning into a big disappointment. Initially I was very happy when we started shipping players out, all good from my perspective as it was fringe players on high wages. However, I did actually assume that we would be bring someone in. At this point, if Ings/Redmond get a knock then we're seriously light going forward. That makes me feel pretty uneasy, and the RB slot is a big question mark too. As time ticks on I get more concerned.

Got to stop worrying about the sides around us (easier said than done, I know). I think 4 wins and a few draws does the job and we can get 3 of them in our next 5 (particularly Palace, Fulham and Cardiff all at home). A a win tonight and we're 6 points clear.

11 days rest for us, 2 days for them. I'd like to think we can make that count. The other fixtures for the clubs around us are very favourable, it is a huge chance for us to get potentially 6 points clear of the bottom 3 and start looking up not down. They are a strange side, very good on their day but they are on the same points as us. I'd like us to get to 35 points as soon as possible and with 3 kind home fixtures coming up, it's a great chance to get 3 points closer to safety. A shame Bertrand won't be fit for this one as I think he will fly in this system.

Apparently 12 Prem sides interested, we just seem to be the first to make an offer. We're certainly far more appealing than we were a month or two ago..