M271

Quote: Players are bigger than clubs these days, and the Neymar farce hasn't helped things one bit. This is the nub of the problem, players should not be bigger then the clubs and the football authorities have allowed this to happen. The current TV PL deal should have split the monies more equally between that used on players (transfers / wages) with that going to REAL football such as the club infrastructure, fan tickets subsidies etc.. The balance at the moment is far to far towards player and agent rewards.

The way I saw it was that Long had indicated that he was injured and JRod was readed to come on, when Long was subbed he then indicated that he wasn't injured enough to come off but Black pointed to his own thigh as if to show that Long had shown that he was injured. Why there wasn't more positive communcation between the bench and Long to confirm his fitness I don't know!!

I was hoping to read about the Saints injury news on this thread, I should've known better, just more infighting!!

The next 2 matches against Crystal Palace and WBA IMO are crucial, at the start of the season I would have had them down as some of the more winnable games but WBA are having a strong season and Palace are in a good vein of form recently. If we lose these 2 with us still having to play most of the top sides, it could be nervous times. I was hoping that the 3 matches this week would get us over the line but I would now be glad to get 2 or 3 points out of the next 2 games. It's been a strange season with 2 matches a week earlier in the season with lots of rotation, then very few games over 2 months and losing key players for long periods of time, has made it very disjointed and for me difficult to judge the capability of Puel. Next season I hope things will be more settled and the injury gods will be more kind to us.

I've just checked our remaining 12 fixtures and we still have to play 8 of the 9 teams above us in the league, the only exception being Everton!

Was it ever confirmed what the injury actually is? Or did I miss that info.

I can only reflect what many on here have already said, to lose it in the final minutes in that manor is gut wrenching especially having come back in the way that we did. But teams like Man U are so clinical with the meagre chances that they have, unfortunately. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation with our late substitutions, my personal feeling is that we should have waited until the end of normal time in order to assess which players actually needed replacing, I didn’t notice Gabbiadini being tired but surely he wouldn’t have been replaced if he wasn’t out on his feet. Typical that Zlatan was about to be replaced just before he scored, or so I have read. Did we try too hard to finish the game in normal time at the expense of being too open for them to exploit in the final minutes, naive? Did anyone else notice Mourinho being ‘pally’ with Cedric in the 2nd half as he was about to take a throw in, gave him a hug and both smiling, both being Portuguese of course, or being tapped up! I’m not usually one to overly criticise our players but FF in goal doesn’t fill me with confidence, I wince every time a shot comes in on goal, I’d like to see on target shots to goal ratio for our opposition over the course of this season. Mayo and Stephens played well and apart from their last goal but I can’t help thinking what the game would have been like with VVD taking the game by the scruff of the neck. I thought that Saints fans on the whole were good, loud music and announcements up to kick off don’t help an atmosphere build as they used to in the old days. I did think that we were a bit quiet early in the match even before their first goal but after that some good OWTS, come on you Saints (reds) at corners and especially Gabbiadini after our 2nd goal will live with me for the a long time. Like others have observed, I noticed in block 551 all the empty seats, I’m not sure if 551 had always been on sale directly to saints fans (I know that there some were released late last week to buy through Saints). I was told that some ‘attendees’ in that block were not Saints fans but had bought their tickets through the Football League (an allocation for those associated with Football Clubs, officials etc), so maybe the FL retained some tickets which were in the end not applied for, but whatever the reason it is not acceptable to have spare seats when people were desperate to attend the game. Mention to Wealdstone FC who were good hosts to us Saints fans who went there. Also easy getting there by road and easy transport on the tube from Ruislip to Wembley. Overall a great display by team and supporters that was a credit to the club, but still doesn’t help me feel any better about the result, which is what counts in the history books.

Do you have to book with Harrow fc in advance? I can't see anything on their web site.

He could try contacting Torquay United and other local League clubs (Exeter, Plymouth) and see if they have any spare tickets (not taken), each League Club gets an allocation and sometimes not all are used. It's a long shot but he might strike lucky. Wouldn't be in Saints area but in the 30,000 not allocated to either Saints or Man U.

Lose the cup and stay up, i'd take that. Honestly would.

£3.9m is a lot of money to us on here but in football terms is negligible, I'm not saying that it should have been Sakho but there must have been a good out of favour CB somewhere out there to get in on loan between now and mid May. I think that a loan would have been the way to go in this transfer window, with the transfer money and Fonte off the wages we should have been able to attract someone decent in on good money. I feel that the club haven't got to grips with the influx of extra money available this season, other clubs seem to have realized that their income has increased substantially and acted accordingly. Something strange seems to be going on behind the scenes with regard to treating people who apparently do not really want to leave i.e. Koeman, Fonte, I'm not saying we should bend over to their demands but we do seem to disengage with them, go cold on them, make them feel not wanted and just let them leave. Well that's the feeling I get anyway, whether that's the truth is another matter.

We've played OK this half, pity about the lapse for their goal. Not as bad as some on here make out!

All of our players need shooting practice!!

Seems mad to me how there are 10 Premier League matches just in December and January when there is also more chance for Premier League clubs still being in cup competitions (Saints played 16 matches just in Dec/Jan!). I'm not in favour of a Winter break but the 'authorities' seem to do the opposite and cram in even more at that time of year. No wonder the FA cup gets lost in it all and clubs have to make choices where their prioritise lie and how best to manage their squads. Then from next Saturday onwards mostly only 1 match a week until the end of the season of 15 League matches in 3.5 months. Why not have more mid-week matches spaced out between now and mid-May? Regarding todays match it was overall such a weakened side I wouldn't want to judge each player too much, if just one or 2 of them had been otherwise in a starting 11 I'm sure that each would have done better.

If the FA want clubs to put out full strength sides may be they shouldn't shoe horn in a midweek league match straight afterwards!

Not worried (fingers crossed) luck has a habit of coming back to you (fingers crossed).

Haven't read thread as normally too negative and ott after a loss. I thought we played OK for an away match, by far the better side nothing to be worried about. However typical that our chances don't go in and their chance does.

I agree, after feeling that a break was desperately needing ultimately it came at the worng time after the Boscombe result. They don't seem to have got going again following their 3 day off with their families.

We now need to play our strongest side for all league matches and keep it settled unless there are injuries or tweeks needed to suit who we are playing, bring in some bench warmers for the 'fun while it lasts' cups. Until Austin got injured and known to be out for many months I was just on the side club not being desparate to getting another striker but now with him out and Jrod and Long not stepping up with regular goals we do need one striker probably on loan to the end of the season, but are there out of favour or development stage players out there at world class clubs that we could have? However there is no need to get another striker if we don't get the ball to them in the right positions and play to their strengths. P.S. The Xmas schedule with 3 games in under 5 days didn't help our situation (probably the worst overall timing combination of all teams, 2.75 day gap then 2 day gap) but I think that Puel panicked and over thought it ultimately making the wrong team and tactical decisions. Less than 5 days ago to now we hadn't even kicked off against Spurs! 1 too many matches in the EPL this week I feel for all teams, I've seen some Sky programmes questioning the Xmas schedule but Sky have contributed to it wanting a football match virtually every day.

The Xmas schedule for Saints has been testing (some would say unfair) from a squad use point of view with 3 games in 5 days, I agree with your comment about being able to cope with 3 in 7 but 3 in 5 needs careful squad planning. WBA had 2 days more rest than us before yesterday and Everton will have had one more before tomorrows match. I feel that they (FA / TV companies) try and add one too many matches in during Christmas week, this year having one match on around boxing day and another this long weekend would have been sufficient. I never make sense of why the games are crammed in between Sept and Feb each season including League Cup games and FA cup 3rd, 4th... round games and I notice we even have a league game against Swansea on Tuesday 31st January, yet from then on there is only one league game a week until the end of the season (a part from 5th April) and additionally at that time of year most sides are out of cups and have more 'time on their hands'. And were the midweek matches when we played Stoke really necessary, midweek midDecember no wonder away support numbers were poor. Having said all of that we have not played well for long enough these last 2 matches where we have had good spells in games and managed to score 1 goal and in the period where the opposition have chances 'every eggs a bird' i.e. every on target chance goes in. We have not helped ourselves but it does feel that the footballing gods are not on our side at the moment 2 Spurs goals from kind deflections and a worldy from Robson Kanu yesterday to win the game.

I thought I read some where that Boufal goes after the Everton game. And Redmond should also be available after his 1 match ban.

I can take defeats as its part of the game and not many games each season leave me feeling sick in the stomach but today was one of those matches / results. i.e. putting in a lacklustre performance and losing to a very ordinary team. Its under 3 days since we went 1 up to Spurs and things seemed rosy however defensive frailties and lack of attacking craft have cost us 2 totally winable games (and every shot or chance on target that the opposition have seems to go in which doesn't help!) We are so predictable / pedestrian going forward and never look like catching the other team off guard. But we are Saints and knowing us we'll go to Everton and win but it's not our happiest hunting ground!

Should have been free kick for the original pulling of the arm and a yellow card IMO. By the way comedy genius on here tonight, get a grip. It was one of those games, move on.

Virgil is starting for Netherlands tonight. Live on Chesea TV (free access) Sky channel 421.

Seems to be the story of our recent matches, plenty of possession > poor decision making in the final third > more chances than the opposition > but the opposition score with virtually every on target chance which they get i.e. Man City, Chelsea, Milan x 2 and today. The opposition of whichever level are more ruthless and clinical with the few chances that they get than us, that is the difference.