cambsaint

I remember Brian O' Neill once going in full pelt, studs up into some poor sod's thigh. Nastiest tackle I;ve ever seen and to our amazement he wasn't sent off. Presume he must have annoyed Brian as I only saw him go in quite as viciously as that the once. I rather suspect that Jimmy Gabriel was actually the hardest player we ever had, as I remember that much to the amusement and delight of the Milton Rd end when the officials were racing up the pitch he trotted up to the oppsosing centre forward and chinned him and wasn't seen by officials. He carried on trotting innocentky up the pitch and got away with it. Can't remember who it was but might have been Astle or someone like him who tought he was hard.Mc Grath was hard and strong but never really dirty but very intimidating. He always came out last with a shirt one size too small accentuating his barrell chest and high cut sleeves to show off his biceps like the bouncers at Winchester Lido.

Once again we played a lot if intricate interpassing very well but when we get to the penalty area most of the time the opposition defence is well in position. we were cut to pieces three or four times by fast counter-attacking play. I'm sure that Forsters immense physical presence would have preventrd Bamford scoring the first. We obviously really miss Romeu, ans Ralph's tactics just don't work without a solid defensive midfield player. Either Hassenhuttl rethinks his tactics next year or we just struggle again. Man City can get away with a possession passing game because they have several world class strikers and the best footballer in the world in De Bruyne, we can't and must try to leave space in the opposition penalty area. Another striker who instinctively knows where the goal is would be helpful, but of course everybody wants them. No I think we must be happy with mid table obscurity unless or until we get a very rich owner. With the players at our disposal I would play a 3421 system

If Moussa really said that then my opinion of him has risen immensely. I thought at first it was great and there was a point to it, for instance Lewis Hamilton possibly irritated the corporate (expletive deleteds but it's onomatopoeic), and the later T shirt was priceless but now I agree with every word of the quote and it's getting embarrassing for all concerned. Racism is a pernicious, insidious and disgusting; but it certainly won't be affected by a few overpaid sportsmen bending the kneead nauseum. The only answer if any is education, imo. BTW I'm old enough to remember the sickening window signs, NO blacks, no Irish no dogs near my first job at KCH Camberwell.

I find it somewhat amusing that nobody picked Bednarek in their preferred team, and yet on Sky's stats tonight he tops the number of interceptions made by some distanve.

I agree completely with your comments on VAR, and particularly about cricket and rugby. Of course in cricket you still have umpires call for marginal decisions by=ut everybody understands and accepts that. That is why I had high hopes for it but it just goes to show that a a bunch of buffoons can cock anything up. However I completely disagree with your comments on that foul and many others where follow through contact has been interpreted as a deliberate foul play. Perhaps our lawmakers and officials should be given a tutorial on Newton's Second Law of Motion which shows there is a force called momentum and is equal to mass times velocity. IMO unless there appears to be a deliberate attempt to catch the opposing player after contact with the ball, as long as the tackler gets the ball first, unless he is standing still there cannot be a foul unless they go in studs first and obviously recklessly.or go over the ball deliberately after contact with the ball which regrettably was commonplace in my youth.

hopefully our esteemed manager will now realise that it's better to defend well and get a oint rather than attack at all costs I am now even more convinced that with the players we currently have fit 352 is the best set up. That could change with a fully fit Romeu, when 442 might be better. It looks as if Salisu may b very good, rather like KWP who did a great job on Vardy tonight restricting him to one clear chance. As I have previously said one definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. I thought the whole team really did well tonight against an opposition of 13 at times.

At the very best gross incompetence, they say refs don't cheat but that one makes you wonder.

It's often said that a working definition of insanity is to carry on doing the same thing and expect a different outcome. I think that Romeu missing has blown Ralph's 442 out of the window. THere's no shame in being mre defensive if it gives results, and our attacking high press certainly isnt any more. IMO its time to go 352 : Forster Salisu Vestergard Bednarek KWP JWP Armstrong Redmond Bertrand Che Ings Would be my prefered team without Romeu. It would partially free JWP from defensive duties and Salisu looks much quicker than most central defenders which would guard against break-aways.

I think we are missing Romeu very badly as he is such a combative solid player that our midfield doesn't get steamrollered often. IMO we must start playing Salisu in hid position to put some backbone into the defensive lidfield which is pretty non existant. JWP should be a constructive midfielder and not forced to defend deep. For the life of me I cant imagine why Ralph didn't get Salisu or Stephens on after twenty minutes when we were being overrun. It is the manager's job to analyse and adapt but he seemes to be very blinkered im his tactics. I'm losing faith in him. Compare WBA before Big Sam got hold of them to now, no comparison. In his pre match interview he openly ststed they were going to go hard at us from the off.

Offside,should e a rule that offside ony applites in the last quarter of the pitch, amd most importantly there must be clear daylight between the players, it wasn't controversial before VAR, the officials usually got it right, and marginal decisisions should always favour the attacker. It's difficult enough to time a run with good defenders and making it so that the tip of your nose can count against you is just ridiculous. we should have a clear understanding that referee's call is the judgement in marginal decisions like cricket. Handball should be an intentional use of the hand or arm to control the ball in the referee's opinion who should be best placed to make that judgement. Immediate yellow card for disrespect to officials, only the captain allowed to question a decision, and sin bin for 15 minutes for twi non dangerous yellow cards, but remainin as red if a tackle deemed dangerous.VAR to stay but all marginal decisions to be left as ref's call.

Everything Ralph said is within a manager's remit. We'll have to see how things go in a much less pressuriesd game against Bournemouth and less midweek games. No point playing a system that exhausts your players.

I thought Saints looked mentally and physically exhausted today. Armstrong usually so reliable and many of our good things was either off form or marked out of the game. Ward Prowse looked tired, as did Bednarek. Ralph doesn't seem to be able to alter tactics successfully. Overall an average performance in the first half and abysmal in the second. We hardly won any fifty-fifties were bundled off the ball countless times and too many passes went astray. Another sign of exhustion. I'm not sure about Ralph,can he can really cope with the intensity of the Prem and the tactical awareness of other managers. Very disappointing indeed and absolutely no excuses, they aren't a better team, the ref was good, wew were at home and had both full-backs back,. I think Potter completely out-thought Ralph on this one as well particularly in the second half.

After what I cosider to be an outstanding result with several stand out performances and allowing a top team very few clear chances and almost getting a win, I am absolutely astonished by the negativity on this board. For goodness sake why oh why do some Saints supporters have to have a whipping boy (Redmond) and go on about the few platers who weren't outstanding. Djenepo and Salisu were outstanding and the skill that Minamino showed was amazing. I thought we were going to take a real drubbibg but after 20 minutes or so we began to play well. Personally I would like to see a bit more of solid defence with an incisive break and goal rather than the near manic high press which as players tire doesn't work, and also clogs the space in the last half up giving no room for the incisive pass. Please watch Man City Ralph, they don't press all the time. Also consideing we have a paper thin squad and players are starting to get stress injuries this was a brilliant result. Al,l I can say is great stuff Saints players today, you all worked your socks off and well done Ralph for at last changing your tactics, for a more realistic game plan.

I think this topic is amazing. How can anyone who hasn't played in the team know whether he is an effecrive captain or not. There are many differerent ways of man mangement and it isn't one size fits all. Different personalities require different approaches. Mike Brearley is probably the best English captain of any game and he used his brains not his mouth. Having said that when I played rugby I found that Welsh or particularly New Zealand captains required much more committment than English captains but it wasn't necessarily done by shouting, more by encouragement, although of course a captain has to be heard, Non constructive criticism is imo a negative influence. Unfortunately a certain section of Saints fans are the experts in that.

I agreer about unsettling a winning side, but look how many games we've lost from winning positions. Particularly Man U where an extra defender may have at least saved a point. The high press must be physically and mentally exhausting and possibly the reason for mistakes in the last quarter,, but its only my opinion. If you're legs get short of oxygen they ache, but if your braingets short which it does much quicker than muscles you make mistakes.

I completely agree about Armstrong, one of our unsung heroes who usually makes a classy thoughtful contribution to our games and deserves more praise than he gets.

A very enjoyable game for once, starting with a large gin and tonis ant kick off to steady the nerves, a delicios spag bol and a glass of Italian red at half time, and another large glass of red during the second half to savour the win with, followed by a near perfect draw for the nexr round. If that's 5.30 kick offs let's have more. Seriously on a footballing note, we played well enough, I don't publicly criticise players only praise good performances, (There are plenty on this board who seem to be incapable of anything but destructive criticism.) It was a pleasure to watch a well refereed match, you hardly knew he was there and his decisions were good and fair. However I just cannot understand why when Wolves bring on dangerous attackers, and we are in a one nil lead with ten minutes or so left Ralph doesn't add a defender. For me Stephens for Redmond was a substitution crying out to be made, particularly with Traore on the field..

If there is a problem with Ralph's sty;e of press, imo it's that it condenses the play into such a congested area that our forwards have no space and can't find any. Watching Cimainly ty and Spurs yesterday showed that the goals came when the last quarter of the opponents half was relatively empty, which is when we concede most goals against us. The result seems to me that teams set up against us to pack their box when we attack and try to score on the breakaway. I have no great problem that we couldn't score against Newcastle when they just parked the bus, it's extremely difficult and either requires a m istake from the opposition or a piece of genius or luck. It was a shame that KWP was absent as I'd like to see if he could have coped better with St Maximen who created chaos on their left wing.

Fortunately for me Tuesday is my online Bridge night with very good friends so I had an enjoyable time. Needless to say the recording of the match was immediately deleted. Had a few messages of extreme woe from my son until he switched it off after about half an hour.

The owners' are wholly to blame as you shouldn't go anywhere near Premiership football ownership if you can't afford it. The Prem management ought to institute financial checks as well in the ownership checks and imo should insist on a large deposit into a reserve fund which cannot be withdrawn except on sale. We shouldn't allow chancer's who are looking for a quick gain to go anywhere near ownership. If an owner wants to make a profit then buy a club in the ower divisions, invest wisely and get into the Prem and then if you want take your profit if you can find a very deep pocketted buyer. I

The conspiracy theorisy asks if VAR stands for Value Added Replay, and who benefits from the added value? I'm not really serious but whereas replays work well in cricket where you have umpires call for minute decisions they don't seem to be working well in football, where the player isn't fairly stationary like a batsman but moving usually very quickly. some very serious discussions need to take place in the closed season one can imagine mike deans reception when he next meets a live Ssint's crowd, oresumably he will be greeted on to the pith with a resounding chant of "cheat"

I'll name you 5 better strikers that have left us: Chivers (the first 100K£ player, Channon albeit he returned after failing to impress at Man City, Keegan, Shearer, and Bale for a start.

Let's be honest about his position. If you were in his place and had two to four yeras of top earnin g potential with the ever present risk of injury, you would or should be solely concerned with maximising your earnings. Loyalty wouldn't come into it for most people. If he gets a significantly better offer from a top club of vourse he will leave and all we cn do is get as much as possible for him. that's football, and if he loves the area he just keeps hos Hampshire mansion and moves for the time of his next ciontract, and returns to retire. All the Club can do is offer him what they can afford , with the hghest release clause they can get. In our current parlous financial position we are poiwerless. What is very unfair is that we the taxpayer have effectively subsidised Arsenal and Spurs by lending them vast sums of money for virtually nothing and Saints have to pay an usurious rate of interest which shows that our credit rating must be dreadful. I recommend a large dose of unpleasant cold hard realism, and of course realise over 90% of supporters would put their financial security before loyaty to an employer, especially as in my experience employers have absolutely no loyalty to employees nowadays

As the cricket umpire once said to a famous cricketer who said "That wasn't out umpire", the reply was "Read the morning papers lad and you'll see it was." This endless discussion is pointless now.

If you're reckless enough to clatter into a player just going into box then you deserve either a penalty or a red card. He knew precisely that he intended to foul a player and prevent a clear goal scoring chance Persoally I thought it was a pen all along and the ref couldn't have been able to tell the exact position from his position so VAR did its job. I thought he was a shocking ref, seemed to allow pushes in the back, and Djenepo's foul? was never a yellow. A few minutes later a Brighton player deliberately hacked a Saint down across the shins and only a free kick. Doubt if Ward -Prouse intended to handle the ball but if you wave your hand in the area in the area you are taking a huge risk. Awful match but a great three points and I'll take that all day long. I wish that Ralph would sort out an end-game strategy, imo bringing on Stephens as an extra defender if poss, in the last ten minutes if we're winning. I think the high energy high press game tires player out, both physically and mentally (which is just as important), leading to mistakes, and we don't seem to have a clear endgame plan. Manu was totally avoidable imo. Still a great result, three cracking performances by Vestergaard, Bednarek and Romeu, and of course Ings looked a different class when he arrived, three points and fifth above both Mancs. Come on you Saints.