Just a word for Chaz, he is a shadow of the player he was and his time with us has been dogged by injury but his goals per game ratio stands up pretty well (similar to Graziano's) and he has given us some great moments. All the best Charlie for your future endeavours.
Just got back, which is probably the best thing I have experienced since Redders scored. After that I will remember Franny with love and awe, Gunn’s Forster Impression with derision, and the Huddersfield fans with fondness, firstly for being sporting enough to actually put their hideous free shirts on, and secondly for the “that fat bastard, he’s one of your own” chant after the hilarious pitch invasion. I left before the lap of honour, as the performance today didn’t merit one, even if staying up did. I just hope Ralph isn’t planning a long holiday before beginning the major surgery!
please log in to view this image The players walk around after the underwhelming game, it wasn't really a lap of honour!
There is one thing I wanted to add to my post which probably marks me out as being old-fashioned. I would like to see some kind of control over the second kits that teams are allowed to wear. The Huddersfield kick this afternoon made it look like we were playing against a set of highlighter pens. I seem to recall reading about teams who played in the early 20th century being made to wear a white kit if there first kit clashed with their opponents. The whole business of having a second strip did not really catch on until the 1960s but I think the choice of colours were generally quite traditional. Saints originally sported an away kit similar to Wolves that was amber and black. By the 1970's it is pretty fair to say that these change kits had the ability to be iconic - the 1976 FA Cup final kit being a prime example. The kit worn by Huddersfield today was heinous. It looked wrong on the pitch as a sporting garment and whilst I appreciate that some kits are designed for their casualwear appeal such as the old England grey shirt ( allegedly chosen because it looked good with jeans) , the only reason you would want to buy the Huddersfield kit is if you wanted to look like you were wearing a Hi-Viz. It was a travesty of a shirt. I thought that the purple Liverpool kit this season was a shocker too. I appreciate that Scousers are notorious for their lack of sartorial awareness, but even they must have been aware that the away kit made the wearer look like Barney the dinosaur. I would like to see a return to clubs wearing traditional colour for their second kits. For a jersey, I think that the colours need to be limited to red, blue, white and yellow / gold. If green was selected. it needs to be one that does not clash with the goalkeeper's jersey. I would not be adverse to seeing combinations of stripes, hoops or sashes but think that the kit needs to respect the tradition. End of rant....
In the Pre-match interview he said he wasn't going anywhere for his holidays He knows there's a lot of work to do
Personally I want us to aim to get four (three would be reasonable) players in that will improve our starting XI. People will clamour for lots of signings which won't happen - I would rather improve the starters and trust youth can fill in the cracks.
I saw that Saints kit at West Brom in the 4th round in 1968. Yellow shirts, black shorts, and it looked smart.
Just got home after a good curry. Best part of the day. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking we were just maybe a CB and a striker away from a top 10 side. But today.... .... only Valery, Redmond and Bednarak showed any fight today. JWP was appalling - failing to shoot because he couldn’t use his left foot. Stephens looked a liability but strangely looked one of the better players when we went to a back 5. Austin was disastrously poor. Gunn- the less said the better. Huddersfield were a sh*t side that we should have played off the pitch but we failed. As a result the lap of ‘honour ‘ was a bit of a damp squid. Let the rebuild begin...!!!
Getting the right new signings can often improve what you have e.g. Killer improved Claus, CMFG improved Bridgey, Fonte improved Lovren, VVD improved Fonte, Ricky improved everyone We've got to improve our ability to score when we need to and defend when we need to We must have the absolute record for losing points from a winning position now (and often with suicidal errors)
On a roll, full of confidence ... and plays like he just wants to get rid of the ball, except the shot, but they ddi give him plenty of time and on the edge of the area He mystifies me
Think Ralph would agree on this, he’s shown with the squad trimming in Jan that he doesn’t want two senior pros in every position. They didn’t all work out, but if we can sign ourselves a spine of players like Pochettino did with Lovren, Wanyama & Osvaldo then that could be a great start.
James Ward-Prowse nearly doubled Saints' lead with an equally fierce strike after the interval but Premier League debutant Joel Coleman acrobatically tipped the ball over the bar.