CWD

Every time we had a bit of momentum, one of them sat down. It was a very clever tactic but fucking annoying. Completely took the sting out of us. Shithousery of the highest level, but it worked.

It was also a somewhat freak season that allowed us to finish 8th with 46 points. Ralph amassed 53 a few seasons later which was only good enough for 11th. I never had anything against the bloke particularly, just didn’t think we’d got to the position we were in by playing that style. And despite a couple of memorable results, we threw the Europa League away that year. How Sparta Prague, one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen at SMS, won that group is beyond me.

Weird because repetition in Saints Q&As never usually happens… Btw Dan, can we move the away fans? When will the stadium be expanded? Why won’t we spend £30m on a player?

I continued to have a wildly optimistic belief in the ability of Lee Holmes until far later than I’d like to admit.

I would agree with this, would love to hear a bit more from Crocker if you can make it happen Dan.

Going to be able to get to this one, so really excited to be back in the ground. However my last home game was Wolves so if we lose this one I promise I’ll stay away for the rest of the season.

Didn't realise he only had 2 years left, thought it was 3. In that case you're bang on, the club have to make a decision as to what is more valuable - another season of him or a potential extra £30m

With so much talk of maintaining "the pathway" this week, it's got me wondering who we might lose this summer. Prime candidate in the media would seem to be JWP. Personally can't see it unless Newcastle stump up huge money. I'm thinking KWP maybe more likely. He would easily fit into any of the top teams, and will have had two seasons of top level performances behind him. Salisu is maybe another one, although I reckon he needs one more season here. Btw, don't mean this to be a downer after a great week. I've accepted the pathway situation and trust that we have the ability to bring in decent replacements.

What a player KWP is. Lots of top performances (Romeu on fire atm) but KWP is right up there with the best fullbacks in the league.

I was reading a bit of Ferguson's book last night and it got me thinking that Ralph might have played this season perfectly. Fergie's plan was always to keep pace with the top end of the table for the first half of the season and then hit real form and accelerate away in February onwards. It seems that we may have planned a similar trajectory this season. Admittedly we weren't great for the first couple months, but we weren't losing a huge amount of games and were competitive in all of them. Confidence and resilience is now high, we're scoring goals, we've got key players fit... If we can maintain a decent run of form between now and the end of the season, and we manage to make a late surge to finish top ten, I'll be resolute in my opinion that Ralph is a genius. Particularly as other clubs who started well (Brentford as an example) start to fall away.

It would be some sort of redemption for Bednarek if he scored the winner in a 3-2 for a change

He's done nothing since 2008

I try not to let football ruin my mood these days, but that one has really pissed me off. The dropping points thing is grim reading, but I think it's worth remembering it's not a solely Ralph stat. We did the same under Hughes and Pellegrino. Ralph should have done more to address it but I do think a mental weakness is ingrained in some of our influential players.

Almost feel sorry for Theo. Looks like his brain knows what he wants to do but just doesn't have the ability to do it anymore. He's shockingly bad now, looks way out of his depth.

Yeah, I get the same feeling every time we lose.

One of the worst halves of football from us in a long time. Could barely get out of our half... against Norwich ffs

Newcastle are going to face the problem of everyone knowing they're minted so teams will hold out for massive fees. This plus the facts he's our captain, a key player, it's mid-season and he just signed a new contract would suggest to me it's very unlikely because we will (rightly) ask for shitloads for him.

Here we go again then, and what a different feeling to the start of last season. Remember when we were full of positivity, team was on form, going to a ground we historically do well at, all ready to break the opening day hoodoo? Aaaaand 1-0 Palace. this year the squad looks weak, we’ve lost or are without key members of last year’s first team, had a poor second half to the previous season, heading to a ground we never win at… Can only be 1-0 Saints surely!? Forster - KWP Bednarek Salisu Perraud - Romeu Armstrong - Redmond Walcott - Adams Tella. That would be my team as I really like how much more of the ball Armstrong sees in CM, but expect it to be Diallo in there with Armstrong in place of Theo. we can’t do anything about the owners, the transfers or the financial situation, so let’s enjoy another ride. Looking forward to celebrating/commiserating/moaning with you all for another season. COYR!

Indeed, I meant that I think 20m is way too high for a champ striker with a year left

£20m+ for a Championship striker is just bonkers. Glad we’re not going that high.

Thanks. So linked in the Sun nearly 3 months ago… Doesn’t seem likely to me!

Not read through the thread so apologies if repeating others, but whilst sad to see Danny go, I really think at £28/30m we’ve got a good deal.

Have we ever actually been linked with Edouard? Feel like I only ever see his name on this forum… Armstrong is clearly the top target.

From the video on Facebook he doesn't have a squad number on his training top. Everyone else does, including Moi (24). Might be significant, might not. He is such a bellend though.

I feel for Moussa. I think people forget that he’s only just turned 23, and has had a number of injuries. There’s a player there, and as shown by the odd impact off the bench I do think he can be a real asset moving forward. he’s one of those players that will never convince some fans. Take Redmond as an example. We all get infuriated by his constant turning away from defenders and passing backwards rather than taking the player on. As fans we scream at wingers to try to beat their man, and we say things like “if he loses it, so what, at least he’s tried something”. However that’s just not true. If a player tries to beat a defender 5 times and is successful once, I’m pretty sure we’d be on their back about how many times they gave the ball away. Moussa has the ability to go past players, but he’s also up against the best defenders in the world, so it won’t always be successful. I say just support him, applaud the efforts and encourage him not to turn into Redmond 2.0.