I was impressed by his overall play, hope he gets off the mark sooner rather than later because as we know we Saints fans love to judge a striker by how many goals they score.
Is there anything more satisfying than a JWP free kick? It's like watching a public execution. The tension, and the desperate, irrational hope from the opposition fans that he won't do it, not again, surely, have mercy, sweet lord oh my gawd... CHOP! Off with your f*cking head!
Yes i'm sure that the Lavia/JWP partnership will get better and better the more that they play together as they are both top quality, i'd like to see Charley in instead of Mo El as well.
This is the problem. He's got Heskey written all over him. Fantastic hold-up play, but just doesn't seem to find too many goal-scoring opportunities.
I think that Ruben didn't want to start too many young 'uns yesterday but I think in time Charley will naturally get and take his chances.
Obviously none of us know exactly how many points will be enough to stay up, but my current feeling is: 34 points - the absolute minimum: if other results go your way, and your GD is good enough, you might just survive - but you're most likely going down. 36 points - gives you a decent shot: you'd be unlucky to go down, but it's far from certain. Maybe a 60-40 chance of staying up. 38 points - you'd be very, very unlucky to go down: I really don't see anyone going down on 38 points, even with a awful GD. We're already five points behind a point-per-game as it is. In order to even get to 34 points (let alone 36 or more), we therefore need to cut that deficit. Draws certainly have their uses - and arguably it is lack of draws so far which is a major reason why we're bottom (no side has drawn fewer games than us, and hence it is little surprise that no side has lost as many games as us); we could do with a few more draws. But ultimately draws don't result in that deficit being cut, and they don't compensate for the further losses which will inevitably arise. On that basis, I think four points from the next two games has to be a minimum. Particularly given that we follow them with a trip to Old Trafford (three points from three games would mean that we're back to being five points behind again). And of these next two, I think Leeds is the far more winnable one. Beat Leeds, draw Leicester; I would consider that a decent return. Plus, of course, Leeds are more of a direct rival to us than Leicester - so getting the win in the game against Leeds has a greater benefit to us than just the three points. And then on top of that, there's the fact that beating Leeds would give us consecutive PL wins for the first time in a year. The momentum and belief which that would give us - the players, and the fans - could be massive. I, for example, would start to believe again (right now, I still don't). The atmosphere going into that Leicester home could be transformative, maybe even aiding us to make it three wins in a row. So yeah, in a long-winded way, I do agree with you that Leeds is basically must-win.
Ely is in because the man we now are beginning to believe in, obviously sees something others miss. Let's just be satisfied that we got a great result on the back of a team selected by Ruben, it seems he knows what he is doing?
For me Ely best run of Form was last season playing as that 10 in the Narrow 4 2 2 2 and up until Villa he was un-droppable. If he gets back to that again then fans will want him to carry on starting. I could see Alcaraz be converted into that position over time too. Wouldn't surprise me if by fhe end of the year though If Alcaraz does come in as that Left Sided 10.
The good thing about Heskey is that he was top heavy and if tackled went down like a ton of bricks. Now we just have to trick the opposition into foolishly tackling him in JWP free kick territory. Bish bash, jobs a good ‘un
JWP said in his interview that Stuey was claiming the assist for yesterday, and he was fine with that!
Absolutely! I’m bought in. It’s not just the result, it’s the broader picture - press conference, set-up, player reaction, style, tactics - identity mainly. Reminds me of Poch’s first game.
