UpweySaint

I think a lot of the bitterness comes from the lack of real clarity. While Covid is black and white injury status is vague, I think their is cynicism that teams may not be playing this with a straight bat themselves. Coupled with the fact that we've had to play our u23s a lot over the past few years (people have cited the Utd game with 9 'first team' players) while the likes of Tuchel are whinging while sitting £70mil worth of Germany international on the bench plus others ...

It's not completely irrational. Plenty won't agree with it but there is a clear rationale behind it. Much like us selling Ings - he's a better player than all three of them but selling him was not irrational.

A few reflections. After the Burnley result I thought the draw may look better if we picked up a win today - three games without defeat feels positive. Small margins for sure and if we were clinical we would probably have 9 points and another 3/4 goals ... lots of good play on show and we need to keep this momentum going. A really good finish for Adams and it's great to have genuine competition up top. I think we'll give Villa a game on Friday ... Macca - 8. Didn't have too much to do but did it well. I understand some of the clamour for Fraser particularly after mid week however McCarthy hasn't done much wrong this season and I much prefer having a consistent no1. Livramento - 7. His driving runs are something else. He does seem to tire later on in matches but this is some 18 year old! Bednarek. - 6. Did nothing much wrong but the King half-chance he fell asleep for. Okay but next to Salisu (absolute ball magnet!) the difference is stark. Salisu -8. New contract. Now! He played with a maturity and intelligence that you associate with experienced, top class cbs. Sensible to take a yellow when Sarr threatened to get away - Sarr is some player. Watford will do well to keep him in the summer. KWP - 8. Good call from Ralph. Him and Redmond had some great interplay - he had the Watford full back on toast. Romeu - 7. Decent. Did Romeu things reasonably well. He has his limits but if he had a passing range and more mobility he wouldn't be at saints. JWP - 7 (just). Some good passes but the game passed him by a little. He'll have better days. Elyounoussi - 7. It's a strange compliment but I didn't really notice him today. In his last spell with us he often stood out as out of his depth. He belongs at this level and has proven me, and plenty of others, wrong. Redmond - 7.5. Decent performance. Worked hard in both directions and carried the ball relatively well. A few pot shots that could have been closer. His best play came in linking up with KWP to give him space to push in to. Armstrong (A) - 7. I liked his movement. He created some chances of his own and one of those sighters where he cuts in from the left and lets fly will find the net soon enough - I'm hopeful he'll come good. Adams - 8. The finish was top class and is the reason for the 8. He should have had another but he worked hard, linked play and got in good positions. He tired a bit towards the end and it would have been good to bring Broja on. Armstrong (S) - 6. Tried a bit too hard but flashes of what he was about and added energy. Diallo - 6. Not too much time to make an impact but drew a foul well and positions his body really well to hold possession. Great to have competition in the middle and genuine options. Lyanco - hard to fairly score him. One header that was more up than away but came on and helped us get to the end with points in tact. Loved him midweek and looking forward to seeing more of him. Ralph - 8. A good week for him. I doubted KWP at left back but it worked a treat. Our game plan really worked and we should have won comfortably. Sarr aside Watford were limited to offering nothing - they should worry this season, no Deeney to drag them through by sheer force of will. Subs were effective and again Ralph is showing better flexibility/game management this season.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion yet when somebody disagreed with you your retort was they should go and watch another sport. You were quite blatantly trying to belittle their opinion. You don't rate Redmond, fine. It's surprising you can't recognise a difference in his game this season when most, even those who don't rate him, are able to do so.

Forster has saved a few pens in his day - certainly makes the goal feel smaller.

Striker at new club not looking outstanding in an unfamiliar formation, a heavily rotated side against a side of Chelsea's stature? Yeah he's total sh*t. Stealing a living. Have a word will you!

We actually played some good football. Their second seemed to kill the game and the subs meant it lost fluidity. It does feel like two points dropped but we were a post width's away on more than one occasion and we did well to turn the game around from their early goal which felt like a sucker punch. If we miss other chances to pick up points in this favourable run this result will look worse but Burnley are no mugs and, if we can build on this, it may look better in context. McCarthy - decent overall, distribution poor at times. Livramento - he will be some player. Yes, partially at fault for the first goal but his runs from deep are special. I do hope we can eventually take a look at him and KWP in the same side but it may be too soon in terms of his development. Enjoy him while he's here. Bednarek - poor. for a big lad he seems to get bullied by some much smaller forwards. positional awareness maybe rather than physicality? Salisu - could have done better for the second but plenty to love about this lad. We need to get him tied down so if he does keep on his current trajectory we can hold him for a while longer before commanding a sizeable fee. Perraud - okay. just a bit 'meh'. Very early days for him and he gets up and down well but his crossing is poor and he doesn't really have much pace. Romeu - does he what does. tidy, combative but has a limited passing range. did well dropping back to help the cb's. Diallo - quieter than last week but some incisive passing and looks to move things forward. Elyounoussi - okay but nothing special today. the movement and link up with him and Redmond is promising but end product lacking. Redmond - so frustrating! Missed a sitter but had flashes of clever play and I think half the reason he get's so much stick is he can do better. Walcott - the game passed him by. Some good movement here and there but didn't add much. His half decent chance should have really hit the target at least. Broja - Good game. Tidy finish and was a handful. Decision making is still raw and he probably could have had 2 or 3 today. Ralph - The game plan actually seemed sensible and Burnley couldn't live with our interplay at times. His subs needed to come earlier and Theo looks like a poor call in hindsight. I did feel for him when Redmond missed the sitter and Tino smashed the post. We probably should have got the win today and, while he picks the players, its hard to legislate for us passing up several very good chances.

Small margins. Poor defending for their goal - possible offside much earlier in the build up - and the final ball/finish isn't quite there yet but you have to feel chances will come for us. Just need to actually take some of them!

Sorry, that wasn't meant to come across as digging you out. Just wanted to add some context. I think we do both agree that something is off - as you say the dead balls have not hit his usual heights, often hit the first man! I'm a big Prowsey fan but if he's having to compete to have a place in the side this can only be a good thing for us.

Dan Sheldon intimated Prowsey has had a gastric issue and was rushed back from injury. I'd suggest signing the new contact shows he is committed but he has felt like a passenger at times this season - hopefully the enforced rest will give him a chance to get back to his best.

I quite like the Perraud/Djenepo combo down the left. I'd be tempted to bring Armstrong on for Elyounuossi if there is no breakthrough.

Yes. Though to be fair to Jan it was decent movement from Jimenez and he's not had a run in the side.

I'm a Ralph fan but strange subs and Wolves are a poor side. Adams wasn't at his best but the issue was not being able to link up play - why bring on Long and Broja? We're clearly not beating Wolves in the air. I appreciate we're limited but Tella for direct running? Diallo for more progressive passing than Romeu? You have to wonder if Shane Long is the answer what the f*ck was the question!??

Could you not have returned negative tests to get passports as needed? You're entitled to your opinion about the vaccine but do you have strong feelings about the odd swab? They're not terribly intrusive. As you say you had other reasons - it just seems a shame you're decision has been influenced by such a broadly common policy. Also, way to feed the MLG!

His end product is still lacking but Djenepo and Perraud showed early signs of a good partnership down the left. Some real plus points to come out of today - really solid at the back and it felt like we had options - even if we didn't use them all. Last year I looked at the bench and shrugged - this year when there is Broja, Armstrong, KWP, Diallo, Walcott, Adams, Tella I can see lots of ways we can impact a game. Ralph also made a good early sub!

Reasonable concerns but I think circumstances largely dictate the policy. We all know the financial realities of the club and how hampered we have been with some poor recruitment/management. The policy does come with clear risk but there is also a fair chance it may bear fruit. We've also managed to keep some experience in the side and even Lord D has recently been impressed with Stephens showing some 'grit'. I share the concerns about the CB situation and would have felt more comfortable is we had signed somebody with more obvious pedigree but that aside I'm largely comfortable with the type of signings we have made recently and can't see what our genuine alternative pathway would have been. As you say today, and the coming weeks, will be a good test of our credentials. Our record at St James is woeful but St Max aside I don't really fear Newcastle.

Handling, first touch, determination?

Agreed cheap - provided he works out half decent! I expect/hope this leaves a bit in the kitty for one or two more. Ralph is publicly saying one more but I wouldn't be surprised to see a little more business if there are good deals to be had at the end of the window - Thierry Small possibly ...

Probably not a deal we would prioritise due to other gaps in the squad but according to the Guardian Will Hughes is stuck in the Watford U23's after refusing to sign a new contract. I recall him as one of their better players when they were in the prem last time around and at 26 he's probably got his best years ahead of him. I expect they'll have to listen to reasonable offers - unclear what his wages would be like. He's less of the CDM we arguably need but at the right price could be a good option in our midfield. He has a good eye for a pass and can carry the ball reasonably well. He was on the radar of bigger clubs for a while and I wouldn't be surprised to see somebody in the chasing pack (Everton, West Ham etc) go in for him now or in January.

If you believe Dan Sheldon at the Athletic Villa were desperate to get the deal done before Grealish going hence the price. I did not believe we would see anything over the £20mil mark for Danny so a sale for 'up to' £30mil was probably too good for the board to turn down. We all know the situation - sell to buy - therefore if we can turn £30mil (plus any fee from Vestegaard) into three quality signings then it will have been a good deal. Plenty of things aren't perfect at saints but Semmens etc have impressed imo despite obvious limitations of our lack of financial backing.

Okay I should have qualified this with 'assuming Celtic (or other) want him and can offer a deal that doesn't shaft us'. It was more of a 'what if' musing on my part.

Let Forster go, bring in a potential no1 on a loan with an upfront fee and an option to buy at an agreed price? Certainly not the simplest deal but you do see a lot of them in Serie A. It would give us a bit of 'try before you buy' without needing significant outlay upfront.

Daily Mail had him as valued as £8 million. I expect the actual price anybody pays will be somewhere from £10 to £18 million with add ons and all that. Much like us with Ings they won't want to be mugged off but with a year left on his deal they are unlikely to be able to risk him leaving for free. It's not a priority for us (if Ings stays) but if we weren't so hard up he'd be exactly the sort of signing I'd like to see us make.

Okay fair but I'd feel he would add more threat than Long, Obefami, Nlundulu etc

IIRC there was talk that his wage demands were pretty hefty. Surely worth exploring though, would provide genuine competition and goal threat. Lots to like if there is a deal to be done.