nta786

Bet Leeds are equally licking their lips and seeing this as a fixture they can take 3 points off. They did us over twice last season frustratingly I’m going to predict 1-1 I think but for me 7pts should be the target for next 3 games.

Disagree there - we've had two forays (well one proper one) into Europe, have had the likes of Mane/VVD/Tadic come play with us for a bit etc etc and in last 4 years have had 2/3 okay cup runs which we couldn't sadly capitalise on. Look, we're Southampton, I know what we are and in this unequal league we're doing well clinging on. It could be far worse right now, we could have been Coventry or even like our neighbours down the road...

So how does FFP work then now? I can see them spending the sorts of money Everton have consistently in the £35m-£50m ie Iwobi, Sigurddson, Bolasie, Gueye, Pickford, Digne, Mina... i could go on but can they really just spend £400m next transfer window or whatever to buy whoever they want and pay whatever wages they want? I won’t deny that money bloody helps the survival cause, but it’s not the be all and end all. it just means our margin of error has decreased and scouting, coaching and recruitment needs to be spot on. i do think though this’ll signal the end of us ever reaching the top 6 barring major luck.... too many PL clubs are now spending more just to stay still whilst we’re not.

http://www.statsmapsnpix.com/2021/01/which-football-team-is-nearest-me.html?m=1 this is from last season but I doubt Brentford, Norwich or Watford’s inclusion changes things - but we are the club which is the nearest PL team to the largest number of population lol

Nope I don't think Phillips would be better than those 3 either. I rate Phillips, but think in our team he should be compared to Romeu rather than with JWP. For England, Phillips is better equipped and a better player for the role Southgate wants in his 532 than JWP is. I'd prefer JWP over Phillips in the games against Andorra/Bulgaria/San Marino etc etc but my strongest England XI wouldn't contain JWP (nor would it be 5 at the back!)

Rather than compare JWP to Kalvin Phillips, let's ask this question: Would the JWP of today be a better starter ahead of Morgan Schneiderlin, Victor Wanyama or even Steven Davis in the 2014-2016 sides? For me answer is probably no, and not sure where he'd fit in. Morgan - some of the highest ball winning / interception rates Wanyama - better at breaking up play than JWP Davis - we know as the most underrated underrated player, but was a vital cog in linking defence with attack I know what JWP brings to the table for us, he's a solid mid-table CM with a world-class set piece delivery, and there is absolutely no shame in that. I'm still glad he signed a new contract with us, one of our own and all that, I hope he sees out his career with us.

Congratulations!!

To be fair other than on here, have you found any other professional opinion who thinks that it should be a yellow card? I still think its a yellow too for reference, but then I think a) football is going soft and b) I have an element of bias being a Saints fan However, if a Chelsea player had got sent off for that challenge, I’d have thought we got lucky if an opposing player got a red card.

Yep too many forgetting VAR kept us in the game as Werner’s first goal should have stood to be honest. My injustices with VAR this season has only been the Walker challenge, then the Old Trafford and Cash handball last season. Football is a subjective game, not as clear cut as LBW in Cricket or Hawkeye in tennis. Also almost all offside incidents from last season annoyed me but this season they’re doing a better job of it tbf.

Because all 4 were starters for an average/bottom 6 PL team. All these teams needed bigger squads so assumed our starters can fill the void when needed. With the exception of PEH possibly, the others were purchased to add some depth. Once Fofana and Evans are back, Jannik will be 4th choice I'd assume, and similarly Luke Thomas and James Justin are seen as first choice left backs I think.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11700/12208471/southampton-appeal-jan-bednarek-red-no-truth-in-mike-dean-and-lee-mason-requests-to-avoid-future-games Here you are, I think the Athletic reported similar too. You’re right he didn’t officiate any more games after the Old Trafford humbling but I think given the rumours generated it was easy for PGMOL to take him off any of our games. I don’t think Dean has anything against us, I just think the bloke is a knob. Though no doubt these comments from Ralph could be fuelling something soon. If i remember correctly he also incorrectly sent off an WHU player the following game which caused vitriol too. It seems like every time Dean refs there is just something contentious or he wants all the limelight where possible. I’ll give it to him he does a bloody good job of it everytime too. In an ideal world he should be relegated to the Championship but the PGMOL is very much a closed circle and he might even have dirt on Mike Riley or something... we’ll never know.

I think that was all just tabloid and media rumours, pretty sure Ralph confirmed that we didn’t request this.

To be honest if Gray or Townsend had joined us then Ralph would probably have coached the life out of them. Benitez is the better manager (no shame in that) who is playing to his teams strengths with what he has at disposal so Gray/Townsend are looking decent.

My preference is Stuart Armstrong on the right, with Perraud and Djenepo on the left against the bottom 10 teams. Against the big 6/Leicester/Everton, then Redmond because clearly Ralph thinks he follows his instructions best. Elyounoussi still not really warming to me yet but he’s an okay impact sub I suppose. As for Walcott, to me we’re paying £75k for a coach and some warm words every week about how good it is to be home.

What we really need is VAR to be ran by ex-players or another independent group/panel. Too many times now these refs are just simply backing up their mates.

I think the board look beyond the bigger picture and delve into the deeper intricacies contextually behind each game. If I remember correctly, it's why Pellegrino lasted as long as he did. Everytime we looked bad he'd then end up getting a fighting draw against a big side or sneak in a win that bought him more time. With Ralph, there are too many factors at hand and clearly the Board think there are mitigating circumstances each time i.e. refereeing decisions, injury list, VAR...

With hindsight, yep he shouldn't have gone for it, but equally if he had won the ball cleanly we could have scored who knows... Sadly for us though we got the worst possible outcome and it completely changed the game

Nope I disagree there, Mendy plays a risky backpass to Jorginho, and as our pressing game rightly dictates we should be trying to pounce on it. Unfortunately for JWP it was a foul, but not a red card, just one of those things.

Okay so I predicted 1/2 points from our first 7, we're actually on 4. I'm still concerned but should I be happy that we exceeded my expectations?!?! 😬 Bottom line is, the next 5-8 games are so important now because there'll be little excuse from myself too.

I think it depends on your perspective. Whilst we'd all like to do better, I suspect the Board are more than happy with Ralph and that he's meeting his objectives (survive) The reason why I said it's time to earn his wages now is because really the next 3 to 5 games are critical, if we lose them God forbid then we'll really be in a hole.

Right, today was a free hit in truth so we move on. Time to earn your wages Ralph - next 3 games are critical

Chelsea 2-1, fuck off

This is now the big issue we have. We only came in to this season with 3 CM's, and we decided to be somewhat stingy so Ralph only has 3 CB's at his disposal ready to step in (JB, MS and JS). Lyanco will definitely not be trusted here in such a situation.

So all because Mendy played a risky pass... we got fucked over... Bollocks. It was a yellow, no more.

Come on... that is not a red card I'm sorry the studs didn't even go into his ankle completely, and he wasn't exactly completely out of control in my opinion... But it's been given as a red card fuck sake