Super_Uwe

Interesting if true! And yeah, perfectly doable as the Eurostar to Lille is pretty quick (if on time lol). Suppose it would be no different to Saints players commuting from the Midlands or far South West for example.

Just spotted that Lille are Ligue 1 champions this season. Jose Fonte turns 38 this year but he's played a big role there, and still going strong! How we've missed his leadership at the back for Saints. Yes he probably left at the right time for all parties, but we haven't properly replaced him in the 4 years since he went.

Well, despite our best efforts today...😆 We finish the season with 68 league goals conceded. Only WBA conceded more. Massive work required this summer.

McCarthy for me is superior to Forster. However he seems to have lost his way after contracting coronavirus. Hard to say whether that's the cause of his poor form or not, might just be coincidence. Hopefully though he will be back to his best soon.

Yes good shout re United! They have it all to do.

Walcott would be a decent free transfer, before his injury he was doing alright for us. I can see him becoming more of a squad player than regular starter, but that's fine with me. He's an upgrade on Long now, and his influence on the younger players should be helpful. Makes sense for the club to utilise him as much as possible with the Academy.

So the Baggies are finally relegated! They put up a decent fight over the last couple of months but it was always a matter of time. We are ever so nearly there now. Fulham play Burnley tonight, they *could* afford a draw but would then have to win their final three games. One of which would be against us. Lose tonight and it's game over. Even if they draw or win tonight, as long as we match their result v Palace then we can finally put this weird old season to bed. Still utterly stacked in our favour, hopefully it will be resolved mathematically tonight!

Given the circumstances with the early red card, a very good result. Great to see the team battle hard last night, it's been a while since we have seen that. Now 10pts clear of Fulham with 5 left to play, very nearly there with regard to mathematical safety! Decent chance we will have achieved that by the time we play them, which will be a relief in the context of our poor form.

Absolutely. The odds are very much in our favour. I'm not confident we will sort our own form out, but even that shouldn't be enough to allow Fulham to catch us now.

It's very difficult to see us going down now with 36 points. Fulham realistically need a minimum of 6 points from their next three games. But if we fail to pick up any points before the Fulham game and they then beat us, we would be very vulnerable going into the last couple of games. The vast majority of outcomes are still well in our favour, which is good! But there is a recent precedent, remember Swansea in 2017/18? Their bellyflop over the line with 2 points from their last 8 league games went a long way to keeping us up.

Big game for Ralph and the players. I just want to see some evidence that there are better days ahead with this team. At the moment we are stuck in a terrible rut, we may not beat Leicester but let's at least hope for a battling performance.

Our season is pretty much over now. Let's see what Ralph can get out of the players for the remainder. Relegation is 99% ruled out now, we are very very unlikely to mount a challenge for the top half either, but I would like to see something positive that better days are ahead. We know he can get this group of players to be competitive. From late 2019 to autumn 2020, we basically went the equivalent of a whole season running at CL qualifying form! But we have also gone from that to the current slump in form. If that continues we will be relegated next season, simple as that.

Sadly a very forgettable game. Lots of comments about a lack of fight and passion. Personally I think the players tried hard enough, there wasn't a lack of commitment in my opinion. However collectively we just weren't very good. When Diallo got booked after 4min, we needed players like JWP and Armstrong to step up and take control of midfield. Both were more or less anonymous. Djenepo very quiet as well, a few flashes of skill and that was that. Redmond also hooked before the hour, which tells its own story. Defensively we didn't seem too bad last night. An improvement on recent weeks and months anyway! No-one scored higher than a 5 or 6 out of 10 last night in my opinion. In a semi final you need much more than that.

Yeah, I do totally get your point. For reference I thought I would have a peek at what our goals against stats were since returning to the top flight. Since 2012/13 we have conceded 60, 46, 33, 41, 48, 56, 65 and 60. Ralph has work to do I think...

Just did the number crunching, since we beat Liverpool at home in January we have conceded 37 goals in 14 league games! I thought I was being a bit miserable saying 14 from the last 7, but it would be completely in keeping with our form. Even if you strip out the 9-0, that's still 28 goals conceded from 13 games. Really, really poor. No surprise our form has been hopeless when you are leaking that many goals.

Reasonable chance now that we will end the season with 70 league goals conceded, which would be a terrible stat. Currently on 56 goals conceded after 31 games. Only needs 14 more from our final 7 games.

Really like the yellow one, definitely one to get "A Svensson 8" or "M Svensson 11" on the back with. Or "Nilsson 35" if you want to be very niche 😇

JWP was a squad filler 3 or 4 years ago, now he's improved to the extent that he's a full international and our captain. Not saying he's a world beater, but he can get about the pitch, tackle and chip in with assists and goals. And clearly sets a good example. Diallo looks very promising though.

Yes! Look, transfer fees have been nuts for a long, long time. There is absolutely no way JWP, if sold to a bigger club tomorrow, would fetch £20-25m. You are looking easily £40-45m, given his contract length, age and all round game. Again, to be clear I don't think any footballer is worth that sort of money, but the market is there.

I am genuinely shocked at some of the negativity around today. Our season has gone massively downhill, but we have got a real chance of getting to the semi finals of the Cup again (2nd time in 3 years). Then who knows? As a club it's about time we won some major silverware. Loved the Paint Pot Trophy, Papa Waigo doing his dance and Antonio scoring a cracker. But that's literally all we have won in nearly 30 years of supporting Saints!

If Ralph does leave, I have a funny feeling we might get Adkins back on a short-term deal.

So angry with that performance. Just not good enough. A golden opportunity to put any relegation fears to bed, and they perform like that. And Lallana MOM too 😄

Sorry everyone, my fault...

Beat Brighton and we are basically safe. You can argue whether we have ever been in that much trouble anyway, but we really, REALLY needed that win at Bramall Lane. Desperately needed to stop the rot. 3 more points this weekend and we can then really look forward to the Cherries game.

Sorry to hear that. It's difficult to see how this will materially improve, the biggest worry is actually that certain trade between the UK and EU simply won't happen any more as it's too much hassle. But it won't happen overnight, and it won't be a catastrophic blowout like some of the pre-referendum predictions. Just a slow burner with the UK and EU gradually realigning their business models. Some UK businesses will be able to pivot and capitalise on new domestic and ROW demand, but other UK businesses have specific geographic markets in Europe and they will suffer.