Kingsland Codger

At what time the game will Shane Long come on?

I have just seen the 3 minutes of highlights of the Villa v Burnley game. For all I know the other 87 minutes might have been as dull as ditchwater but the clip below is well worth a watch; cracking stuff. https://www.bt.com/sport/watch/video/clips/2021/january/highlights-burnley-3-2-aston-villa

Can Arsenal keep up the high-tempo, high-pressing game in the second-half? I would be surprised if they can. We have looked dangerous in attack and I see us creating more chances as the game progresses. We should target Bellerin as he is on a yellow-card.

But if an opposition side sits back and keeps it tight in the first-half, it would mean less pressing and less running around for our lads who should therefore not tire so quickly in the second-half.

Happy days - the good old 2-3-5 formation. When will we see her likes again?

The bench. Very inexperienced. Having said that we had similarly inexperienced benches against WHU and Liverpool and we did well against them.

I believe we were 19th ahead of the Burnley game, ahead of WBA on goal difference. https://www.premierleague.com/match/58909

I have checked my bank account this morning (We 6th Jan) and I see I have today been refunded for two games. This makes six in total from the start of the season.

Tonight confirmed why I am a fan of VAR. For years, decades even, we have heard managers, players, pundits and fans say “ I’d like to have another look at that” and now that wish has been granted they don’t like the decisions. The only obvious error by the ref tonight was the neck-high tackle by Stephens that wasn’t given.

Fantastic performance from everyone. Especially pleased to see the subs all contributing to the victory. Ralph on his knees on the touchline at full-time is one of our great Saints moments.

Well done, our lads. A great first-half performance.

I’m fearful admitting this on a football fans forum but here goes ... prawn sandwiches.

A very young outfield bench.

And not just any old thriving. We'll be thriving MIGHTILY. Our Dear Leader promised us.

But passports will be navy blue ... that’s what really matters.

Fully agree. To have a side like City time wasting, running down the clock and corner-flagging might not have won us any points but it showed how much we are respected.

I have concluded the only response to the persistent 0-9 reminders is to say ... “Fake News, it never happened”

Breaking down a packed defence has always been a problem for us. Currently we seem to lack a Tadic or a Gaston who can find the defence-splitting pass. Although Djenepo and Redmond ran at them a couple of times with a chance or two resulting, this wasn’t frequent enough. I wonder if there isn’t some merit, for the last couple of minutes, in sending Vestergaard up to play centre-forward and put crosses into the box.

It may be true if they are just restricting it to PL fixtures. We won away in an EFL Cup game on a Wednesday evening in November 2016 - the opponents ... Arsenal.

So far I have received four refunds; two separate single payments in October and one double payment in early November. These would be Spurs, WBA, Everton and Newcastle. Still awaiting Manchester United and Sheffield United.

What a superb performance from our boys! Those who always like to find something to whinge about must be very frustrated. Man of the match? Take your pick from the Saints players but I would volunteer the Sheffield goalkeeper for keeping the score down.

I disagree, it is exactly the sort of thing VAR should be getting involved in. Are you saying the best way to obtain a decision is to rely on a referee who was 30 yards behind the play with players obstructing his line of vision? My stance on VAR is simple; an opportunity to review a match-changing incident is sensible.

I’m delighted with VAR. Can you imagine the discussions there would be about our penalty incident had there been no VAR? The pundits would say something like ... that was close, I want to have a look it again, the referee was too far away to make a decision. With VAR they now have the opportunity to look at it again but, more importantly, so does an expert referee (who knows the laws of the game backwards). Given this, why the moaning? Time has been taken, the incident examined closely and a decision has been made.

I’m looking forward to hearing Dave Merrington have a stab at pronouncing his name.

Problem solved.