Match Day Thread Southampton vs Wolves, 13/04/19, 15:00

Wolves are an excellent side who had the lions share of possession and yet we won. What a turnaround from earlier in the season when we threw games away to average sides. Happy days.
A word for the fans surrounding the away end as the banter was good humoured and the atmosphere great. We have found an excellent manager. Just need to keep him. Is it too early to get him to sign a contract extension?

 

Ralphette or Ralphie if it’s a girl?

 

Shane is capable of the odd assist sometimes too. His cross for Austin in the Arsenal 3-2 game was sublime, and there was a match not long ago where he set up Redmond (?) several times with some neat passes (can't remember the game - Spurs maybe).

 

When we approached the birth of our first, I’d always had the girl’s name ready for years, so we were discussing the boys name.

My wife said she liked “Matthew” for a boy. I agreed and then suggested I should think of the middle name, to which she agreed. I was a bit to quick to give her “Lee”

To start, she liked it until I couldn’t hide the massive grin and she called me a dick and said there was no way we’d call our son “Matt Le”



So close. He’s Oliver now, but he could have been Matt Le.

 

I love Ralph and what we’re doing, but not sure about the over the top celebrations above. Reminds me a little of the John Gregory Aston Villa team photo at The Dell.

 

I totally agree with this post.

I looked at the match stats last night and was surprised just how dominant they made Wolves appear even though Saints took control of the match in the last 15 minutes. Wolves are an excellent side and I don't think we should underestimate the significance of beating a side which probably would have torn us apart under Mark Hughes. The Match of the Day highlights did not do justice to Wolves and I think most Saints supporters would be satisfied following a team who played the attractive football that Wolves produced. We were fortunate that their finishing was not up to scratch. and was surprised that Santo made the comment that his team were poor.

 

That would make me a glass full sort of guy, with a whisky chaser.

I'm actually looking to go to this one. Sadly unable to do so through the club so likely to be in the away 'fan' (or tourist) section.

 

Sims did well coming on against against Spuds (I think) and then this start yesterday causing all sorts of problems. Fingers crossed he does this over the last games and then into next season.

How dare he prove me wrong.




Harrison Reed is useless and Sam Gallagher can’t hit a cows arse with a banjo.

Any others you want me to add to the list.

 

Excellent post Mikey. I was pished off when we made the changes and commentators kept saying Ralph was shutting up shop to protect what we had, like the Liverpool game. In neither instance was this true. He just changed how we set up to take advantage of when we had the ball.

Tactically he is great. If he sets us up wrong or the opponents are tactically better than us, then he changes it up. If we’re tacticslly better, he still often changes it in the knowledge that you can’t just keep doing the same thing in a game or the opponent will work you out.

 

Now you’re teasing.

 

I agree. @Mikey doesn’t post enough. He knows his onions

 

OK, sad nerdy stats time, linked with the typical optimism brought about by our recent good play and good results:

We are currently 8 points above Cardiff (aka the last relegation slot). Cardiff have 5 more games, a maximum of 15 points.

IF Brighton beat Cardiff (by one goal, so we remain above Brighton on goal difference), Cardiff will then have 4 more games, a possible 12 points.

WHEN we beat Newcastle on Saturday, we will be 11 points clear of Cardiff. (How can we lose, playing the way we are?)

WHEN Cardiff lose to Liverpool on Sunday, they will have 3 more games, a maximum of 9 points.

So, IF the results all go our way, we will be mathematically safe from the drop by next Sunday evening.

 

Whisper it quietly I think we have a manager who knows what he is doing.

 

Spot on as it goes

They were the better side for much of the game yesterday. But we were the more ruthless and direct in the final third. Unbelievable the turnaround under Ralph.

 

We should aim for 50 points now!

 

And one who takes risks.

 

My son (28 this year) is Matthew. Still can’t believe I got away with that one

God has a sense of humour though; he’s an Arsenal fan.

 

Don’t see any projecting - it’s always difficult to know for sure if something is pre-planned or worked out on the pitch and the early goal muddies those waters a little bit, because I think we went for Boly vs Sims and after the goal we kept playing long balls in to that area in the hope of generating a foot race between them.
I’m pretty certain this must have been pre-planned because Sims for Romeu is not a logical swap without a specific tactic.

 

Under RH we are likely to win or lose rather than accumulate draws...and it is those 3 points for a win that move you up the table. Also makes for more interesting viewing. We have been hard to beat in the past, but at the cost of being hard to watch. I watched the game in its entirety yesterday on Sky and I could see the periods of the game where someone at the match would be chewing their hands off, but we always looked like we could do something at any moment. Been a while since we could feel that confident. We all used to ask...where are the goals going to come from....now we have goals all over the pitch. Really looking forward to Ralph having a whole season....hopefully with a couple of new players that he feels he needs*.

*I say players that HE needs advisedly...because I've given up on trying to second guess him.

 

God is clearly punishing him for something!
Bad parenting?