saintwbu

He’s looked completely devoid of confidence all season, to the extent where it does actually look like he doesn’t want the ball, so i’m not surprised by the above stats. After his goal on Tuesday he was absolutely everywhere, holding it up, playing clever passes, absolutely superb. I’ve been convinced since he arrived that he’s been killed by the players around him, his movement is brilliant but the supply has been awful. I’m pretty sure all of his goals this season have contributed to points as well unless i’m forgetting any. 3-2 vs West Ham, 2-2 vs Newcastle, 1-1 vs Burnley and 0-1 the other night. So he’s actually played a huge part in our survival despite hardly getting on the pitch Whatever happens next, he’s been the biggest part in my two best moments as a Saints fan for years. His two goals at Wembley, and Tuesday night. If we part ways this summer then he’s made a hell of a contribution and will always be fondly remembered.

I get the ‘the stoppage time was correct’ thing but it’s ****ing annoying because I can’t remember any game this season where we’ve been allowed to play beyond the allotted time because of what’s happened in that time. Every game against Chelsea/United/Arsenal/any of that lot, they’re making subs in stoppage time, wasting time at every opportunity, and the ref blows dead on time. It just isn’t applied normally, but twice this season (City away too) we’ve been killed because of a ref deciding to add it all on when we’re in a good position.

A draw away from home, having had a player sent off on the 7th May 2005. Difference being it was us that equalised late on that time, but the similarities are still the same.

The Norwich/Bournemouth wins were 30th and 28th April respectively if you're looking for parallels between home wins that gave us hope when all seemed lost

Wouldn’t worry mate, an anonymous football forum full of ‘real men’ who suggest the only way to enjoy football is to ‘get ****ed and watch the game’ is probably not an easy audience to engage. The vlog wasn’t my kind of thing but I think a lot showed that they don’t understand Youtube and its current opportunities, so fair play to you for trying to seize upon them in a fresh and creative way. Good luck!

More weird criticism of JWP in here despite the fact that the only time we look even remotely like contesting a game is when he plays. He's not fast, he's not particularly strong, but something he does makes us better. He's also the only one offering when our shower of **** inevitably run down blind alleys, he's always there looking to take the ball and move it on to where it should've gone before that useless **** Cedric decided to ignore all his options. He absolutely has to start every remaining game.

It’s been unanimously decided everywhere that Graham Poll was in fact chatting complete and utter ****e. It’s not a rule, he made it up completely, numerous people have pointed it out on Twitter and have checked the rule book and it absolutely does not exist. Which just sums up the refereeing situation in this country. There’s a former Premier League referee getting paid a lot of money to provide clarity on decisions and he just makes things up to back up another **** ref.

Do we know which ref is going to royally **** us tomorrow night? Can’t find it on the Sky app

Let it go mate, he got a **** team to 8th and a cup final, and now has a previously struggling side well above us whilst we’re about to go down, I reckon he’s probably fairly content with his contribution to the Premier League.

Rose has been pushed out of the Spurs side by Poch/Ben Davies and they’ve had a better season than ever, he’s been injured a lot, and it’s perfectly conceivable that Bertrand will start for England in the World Cup. If Rose is worth £50mil, Bertrand is worth more, simple.

If Rose is worth £50mil, Bertrand’s worth more

That’s interesting to hear because i’ve always regarded Marriner as a ref who doesn’t do a lot during games. He seems reluctant to make any decisions, unless he really has to, which I guess is lazy. Maybe it’s a consequence of the Gibbs/Ox confusion, but he just seems to let the game bypass him. He’s dreadful.

We are so much better with JWP, he keeps everything moving all game. The opening goal vs West Ham and Newcastle came from Lemina on his own on the edge of the box panicking into doing something stupid. JWP is always an option for everybody, even if only to take it and give to the next person, just recycling play all the time. He has to play every game until the end of the season, he brings more out of Cedric going forwards too (he’s still ****).

At home to Brigton Tadic sat on the floor just outside Brighton’s penalty area waving his arms at the linesman having taken yet another pathetic fall trying to get a free kick. In the meantime 3 Brighton players attacked Bertrand with no assistance whatsoever, about 10 minutes into a huge relegation 6 pointer. How on earth he played another minute for us after that is beyond me. His time at this club is well and truly up, he’s a waste of space and numerous times has rolled on the floor whilst WE are in possession, only for us to kick it out for him and watch him get straight back to his feet when we are LOSING!! Nothing about him is endearing and i’d sooner play with 10.

Pied for Cedric should be a certainty. The only time i’ve seen him play was at home to Palace where he kept Zaha silent all night despite being obviously ****ged after about 20 minutes because he hadn’t played for so long. He also put in the ball that created Shane Long’s only goal this season. Cedric is ****ing dreadful, can’t head, can’t cross, does nothing and other teams target him for their crosses.

We’re ****. I know it’s cliche but we need some ****ing passion and some ****ing pace. Yoshida, Long, Austin, Romeu and think what you want about him, Ward-Prowse, will all give everything they’ve got, they should be the first names on the team sheet with McCarthy every week. Tadic, Cedric and Redmond should be nowhere near it. Throw in Sims for excitement and we might actually get somewhere.

We’re gonna win this. McCarthy Pied Yoshida Stephens Bertrand Romeu Hojbjerg Ward-Prowse Sims Boufal/Long Austin Cedric, Tadic, Redmond all to be left at home. Stephens isn’t the best but he’s not a complete pussy like Hoedt. They’ve just won comfortably in what is normally a comfortable fixture for them, so in typical Arsenal fashion they’re gonna **** it up. Then Hughes will have just seen who absolutely isn’t up to it for us and will cut them out accordingly to get a reaction.

To be honest i'd be intrigued to know how he would do after a full pre-season followed by an immediate run in the side, rather than waiting 10-12 games like he's had to do these two seasons. For someone who isn't particularly fit, I can't imagine working hard all summer to then not play for weeks, and then be thrown in for a run, is the easiest thing for his body to cope with. Maybe I'm just making excuses for him.

I rate him higher than Walker personally, his delivery is superb, he just isn’t quite as quick (still quick enough!).

2 or 3, does that mean he’s not in the top 5 RB’s in the league?

Walker, Trippier, Clyne, Bellerin, Azpilicueta, Coleman, Valencia all comfortably better than him. Moses, Fosu-Mensah, Alexander-Arnold all in with a good case. I’m never in the ‘he’s **** now that he wants to leave’ camp, but I just don’t think Cedric is very good.

Stands off his man allowing a cross way to often, almost a given he’ll lose any aerial challenge, and his end product is ****ing atrocious. Decent speed to recover, but that’s pretty much a given for a full back these days. If we can get good money for him i’d wish him well, for me Pied is better from the small glimpses i’ve seen, just not fit enough.

Pelle, Bertrand, Mane Vice and Virg falling just short because I think we miss Mane and Pelle more than we miss those two. Bertrand has never had a bad season in my opinion, even this one he’s quite often been our best player in games, and now is in his 4th season is it? Surprised he’s still here.

I don't think two strikers is necessarily the way for us to go, because we don't have the quality throughout the squad to cater for it. However, I think it was definitely needed yesterday because it gave everyone a lift before the game knowing we were going for it and that we were prepared to compromise stability for attacking intent. Psychologically, it was spot on from a fans' point of view I think, and thankfully it paid off on the pitch too.

Joey Barton has publicly discussed his hatred for Mark Hughes on numerous occasions over the years. If I remember rightly, Hughes offered to fight him when the pair were at QPR (may have been the other way round, not sure) as Joey documented in his book and in numerous interviews. I don't doubt there's some truth in what Joey says, but I wouldn't consider his view on Hughes' managerial ability to be a particularly fair one.