nta786

I don't think anyone would have complained if that team tonight was for Villa Park on Saturday instead

They've moved coverage to start from 7:20pm now I think

This is far worse than the Sunderland team Poch played: Kelvin, Clyne-Hooiveld-Yoshida-Shaw, Wanyama-JWP, Davis-Lallana-Guly, Lambert Only Morgan, Cork, Fonte, J-Rod were rested/on bench) - arguably 4 players. Ralph today has made 9 changes to the team tonight and even Redmond is still on the bench.

At the end of the day if you're fit enough to be sat on the bench, then these players will be going through the usual drills etc etc and warm up, so why the hell has Ralph put out the team he has only he and God knows. A lot of goodwill generated over the last few months could be gone now.

Wow Ralph what on earth!!!! It is going to be a very tough pill to swallow if we lose this because I am flabbergasted at that team. I hope he knows what he is doing here because I am worried. I can only hope the element of surprise works in our favour tonight.

Which would lead to Europe though? 😆 Heck I'd love to be a Europa League club every year but get that for a club our size it won't happen.

Thursday 3rd March i.e. tomorrow, before Everton play Boreham Wood at home on ITV around 7:45pm ish Ball numbers as follows: 1. Luton Town or Chelsea 2. Crystal Palace 3. Manchester City 4. Liverpool or Norwich 5. Southampton or West Ham 6. Middlesbrough 7. Nottingham Forest or Huddersfield 8. Everton or Boreham Wood

Agreed. Also why are people forgetting that by winning the cup you get Europa League which will probably be worth more than the £25m a poster above said? I think Ralph is bluffing personally, I reckon he will go strong and make 3 changes - Perraud, Redmond and Caballero. The likes of Djenepo/Adam Armstrong can get their chances when the first XI go on a poor run of form. The only call Ralph needs to make though is look at fitness/fatigue and then confirm whether a 75% Broja is better than a 100% Long etc etc

Apparently the rule has been lifted if a player takes their shirt off for a message regarding Ukraine then they won’t be yellow carded.

Surprisingly this went onto STHs with 5+ away games first which to me suggests the club thinks this will be a popular fixture. Given that last seasons game was behind closed doors, this is our first visit in 9.5 years and we've taken decent amounts up north recently, except for Burnley away that is. My guess is that this will make general sale - only Utd sold out to members and part of me thinks that many thought it was worth paying the £20 membership fee + £30 ticket to watch Ronaldo. Wolves made general sale, as did Everton away and Newcastle away, and even Liverpool away went to general sale. Don't take my word for it though! Unfortunately the club have made it so that you can't see how many tickets are left until it reaches your turn, so I can't advise you to buy a membership either.

Pep Guardiola on statistics

Yep no shock we aren't on here. The likes of City can flog Angus Gunn for £13.5m, or Iheanacho for £25m etc Liverpool can sell Ibe, Sterling, Brewster etc for lots of money too. It is annoying because it's almost self-perpetuating, bigger clubs receive more for their players purely because you assume they're decent players who will rarely ever breakthrough

The last game he refereed for us was that 4-0 defeat at Anfield this season in November. Before that, the last 3 games are... the 3-2 comeback last season Burnley at home, the 3-0 defeat to Leeds last season away when he blew his whistle early, the 1-0 win over Pool with Ingsy scoring... Over the years though, he has reffed some famous games... "that" home game vs Leicester, the 1-0 win vs City when Che scored from 40 yards, the EFL Cup final, the 4-2 win over City when Mane scored a hat trick in 2016... and to save the best for last.... "that" 8-0 win over the Mackems

Only PL games count I am pretty sure, so 3 wins and a draw. Klopp has a 100% record though with 4 wins. Howe I think also has 3 wins and a draw but compared to our fixtures then Ralph should get it over him. I can't remember how the selection works, and who votes etc or because if it is a popularity contest Klopp would win. It would be nice to win it - there is another funny record we have I think with Ralph - Saints are the only team to ever win manager of the month in July 😎

WHU rank joint 3rd in terms of PPG for teams he has struggled against (PL teams only and more than 2 games played - otherwise technically Cardiff top this table as Ralph suffered 2 defeats!) Rank Team Wins Draws Losses PPG 1 Liverpool 1 0 5 0.50 2 Man United 0 4 3 0.57 3 Man City 1 2 5 0.63 3 WHU 1 2 5 0.63 5 Newcastle 1 1 4 0.67 6 Chelsea 1 3 3 0.86 7 Arsenal 2 2 4 1.00 7 Wolves 2 2 4 1.00

Kepa taking a goal kick then that was awful.

I hate Pool as much as anyone, can see why it was disallowed and it’s in line with the rules etc etc But I’d have changed the rules to give a goal like that, my opinion with all this involvement malarkey is that it should only matter if the GK vision/line of sight is impeded. It’s been an okay game though in fairness but the atmosphere is no different to what it would have been with any other teams, this fawning over Liverpool is annoying me

Annoying that Wolves took 6 points off us this season when perhaps 2 pts would have been fairer. Had both games been a draw i.e. Bednarek defends Jiminez better, and perhaps Perraud scores in the 91st minute with his header, then we'd have been on 37 points and them on 36 (as it stands live)

WHU playing what is probably their strongest team against Wolves this afternoon. They go to Anfield after our midweek fixture the following week. I'm hoping that they opt to throw the FA Cup this season, with where they are in the League as well as Europa League, it should be their lowest priority? I guess we shall see, even Antonio has admitted things have recently been a bit stale for them and they look burnt out. Let's not forget it took a 120th minute goal against non-League Kidderminster to go through. Strongest team for Wednesday, need to make sure we are loud as WHU fans will have the whole Northam to spur them on.

Actually lots of people are talking of Europe, but then acknowledging that we’ll likely fall short of the top 7 finish required if we do it through the League. Our best chance of Europe is to win 4 very important games… WHU, QF, SF and the F… we do that and this squad will be immortalised.

If anything I think Pep should be England manager. He paid £100m for Grealish, was linked and thinks highly of Kane… If he becomes our manager he can have Walker, Sterling, Kane, Grealish and a whole host of talent On a more real one though I think we’ve gone away from the Sven/Capello experiment. I would guess Graham Potter to be our next England manager.

DE DE DE DE, CHE ADAMS, DE DE DE DE (and repeat ad nauseum)

I think @Lighthouse would like a word. We have a Hammers ticket thread and also ‘road’ has been spelt wrong which is triggering me Anyways onto the game then, same team as tonight please but I wouldn’t complain if Perraud came in for Tino. Although, I wonder if Ralph will play Caballero too?

I mean Carra/Nev could have worded bits better, but for sure Ralph is pound for pound probably achieving the most out there. If they ever highlighted the frailties of the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Everton, even Leicester, clubs whose net spend blows us out the water, then what Saints are achieving is astounding. Let’s not forget the amounts Wolves/WHU have spent too. Really proud of everyone again tonight, I’ve certainly had a good spring in my step amidst this good form.

ROMEUUUU