nta786

2-2 after 3 each.

Saints miss their 3rd ffs

Saints 2-1 up after 2 each!

At the moment they're focussing on the QPR vs Everton shootout, I'm hoping ours can start as soon as theirs finishes so that its uninterrupted coverage

At least Lyanco is cheap and I’d like to think on relatively low wages. I still think we should have pushed the boat out a bit to somehow tempt Caleta-Carr but it’s in the past now so we move on. I hope the mistake can only kick him up the arse a bit more it’s of no surprise because he has little match experience atm. Remember, Jannik made a horrific error against Cardiff in 2018, think it was Ralph’s first game so don’t write off straight away.

oh no they scored ffs

Forster Valery - Lyanco - Salisu - Perraud Romeu - Diallo Redmond - Djenepo Tella - Broja Or it's Redmond up front, Tella in the wide positions? I'm not sure if it's 3 or 5 subs allowed, but if 3 then expecting Moi, Adams and Long to come on. I wonder who the penalty taker would be tonight given JWP on bench.

My guess would be to protect attendances. The website below suggests the following League cup games will be shown in some regions around the world but ours did not make the cut, therefore the best alternative is either radio or to watch Sky Sports News which has a goal rush type broadcast and shows any goals as they go in.

I don't see us dropping Livramento just yet though

For some deluded reason I live in the hope we can do what Leeds did last season at the Etihad and win. The reality is that 1-0 tight defeat could be respectable but I wouldn’t take it now.

I'd definitely say that our low attendances is around 90% due to the pricing, make it slightly cheaper and improve the product on pitch and fans will come back. I'd love the Athletic or someone to cover pricing for this season, but on a quick glance this is what I have observed: Burnley charged between £30-£50 for their game against Brighton, with £50 reserved for just the 2 blocks behind the dugouts. Our same game vs Brighton will range from £30 to £70, which includes one block in the Kingsland Plus at £70, and other Itchen/Kingsland premium seats at £60! https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/content/tickets-burnley-v-brighton Leicester- their category A ticket prices i.e. against the top 6 ranges from £32 to just £53!!! Again, we charged £30 to £89 for our opener against United!!! https://tickets.lcfc.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/ticketprices.html Leeds - their Category A+ ticket prices - ranges from £35 to just £47 for the best seats, and as echoed above we charged £30 - £89... https://www.leedsunited.com/tickets/info This is just a sample of 3 clubs but I have no doubt we made a complete blunder in relation to pricing. The family stand should have just stretched to block 17, and the Itchen South prices could have extended to around Block 17 too. I've put in links above in case anyone wants to verify the information too. Generally from what I have seen from MOTD and other highlights, it looks like everyone is selling out but I can guarantee that for us this season no one will need a membership in order to be able to get a ticket.

McCarthy Bednarek - Stephens - Salisu KWP - JWP - Romeu - Perraud Tino - A. Armstrong - Djenepo A 3-4-3 above is what I'd like to play... I don't care about winning the Pep accolade of "best team we have played this season" and getting spanked 4-0, I want to annoy Pep and somehow grind out a 1-1 or a 0-0 because that is what will annoy him more and give us confidence that we can shut teams out. Djenepo, whilst end product is awful does work hard in fairness so I've put him in and he plays alright with Perraud. Broja/Redmond can be impact subs again - especially Redmond because I don't want to see him start. However, this is what I think Ralph will play against City (assuming 4222): McCarthy; Tino - Stephens - Salisu - KWP; Elyounoussi - JWP - Romeu - Djenepo; Adams - A. Armstrong

"We tried to extend the group and I have been happy with the work that we did in the summer. We did nearly everything that we wanted to do. "It helped us massively that we got a lot of money for Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard. This was crucial for us to be active in the transfer market as we have no owner who gives us a lot of money to sign players. We have to sell players if we want to buy new ones. I think with that we did a good job this summer." Speaking of takeovers, thought it was very interesting for Ralph to say what he did today.

https://www.southamptonfc.com/20-years/developing-talent I gotta say it's annoying articles like this which show how we really believe our hype. "Thanks to the bank of success stories from the last 20 years, Saints now find themselves in a position whereby they need to be convinced the player is right for them, as, more often than not, Southampton tends to be right for the player."

Definitely all of what he says is true. I always think Les started believing his own hype after 2014-2016 with the Blackbox and other soundbites that he got carried away. We hired the wrong person to take us forward and blew the majority of the kitty away, not to forget the managerial payouts too.

It’s all Eric Black’s fault

Bit of an oxymoron that surely - if there was no mistakes technically wouldn’t every striker score from their shots? A bit like when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object... paradoxical

Let’s also not forget all the TV money too...

Now this is the kinda of conspiracy I love reading

I think Wolves will be okay - their first three games were Leicester, Spurs and United. They should have got something at Leicester and certainly should have beaten United. I am expecting an 18th placed team to put up more of a fight this year though. Last seasons relegation battle was practically a foregone conclusion

I certainly wasn't expecting anything tbf. We have 2 players for every position assuming Armstrong can cover No. 6 in case of an injury, and we have Livramento/KWP/Perraud/Small to cover fullback (+ potentially Valery), plus Redmond/Tella/Elyounoussi/Djenepo/Walcott to cover the wide no. 10s (plus S. Armstrong) Whether that is good enough is another question, but Ralph seems happy so he needs to deliver. Not sure we should even bother turning the lights on at Staplewood today. (However Saints - surprise me!)

Yep, but wingers aren't expected to be consistently successful every time or else he'd be playing for Man City/Barcelona. I liked yesterday that he was direct, using his pace and made an attempt and thankfully the one time he did beat his man it led to our goal. My previous criticism of him was when he'd look to pass backwards or fail to overlap the defender, the best Redmond is the one who is direct / runs at players and gives it a go No footballer will score with 100% of their shots, but it's the ability to do something meaningful at least the once when they are on the pitch. For the record though, I would persist with Djenepo - ultimately he did get into scoring positions which for me in itself is a positive - converting chances like that is the next part of the development and he does work hard off the ball.

Agreed. I agree I'd like better in goal but it feels like every goal that does go in, we always say "could the keeper have done better?"

I do wonder why players like Allan Saint Maximin, Adama Traore and other rapid players like that look amazing against us, yet over the season their underlying stats against other teams are largely average. Or maybe they are just 1 in 5 games type players and it always seems to be against us.