JWPs massive improvement is also just a byproduct of consistency. Under every prior manager he’s been in the regular rotation but out wide or at the top of a midfield 3 or at wing back. He never quite had the tools to fill any of those, but he’s technical and intelligent enough to do a job. He’s done a little bit of what was needed for everyone but now he finally has a persistent role and position that suits him. It’s allowed him to grow in a role and develop his game without having to switch focus or be rotated out of the side.
The best thing about Saints at the moment is how much I look forward to the games now. There were many times at the start of last season where I just didn’t look forward to watching us, and as a season ticket holder regularly thought about not going, only to turn up and leave disappointed. Now I feel we can get a result against anyone, just like we could when Ron took us to a 6th placed finish. We have a core of English players in the starting lineup, plus academy graduates (JWP & Theo), boyhood Saints fan (Ings), and a couple of signings who are beginning to flourish. It’s such a nice feeling to support a club like that (although things can go downhill quickly so let’s enjoy it for as long as it lasts)! Unless Ings is perfectly fine for Friday, I’d really like Walcott up front. I think he’s done really well in his two games and if he’s up top he could get a goal to get him off the mark for the season and I’d love to see that.
Assuming Ings is out for Friday it will give Che a chance to be the main man up top. Be interesting to see how he does.
But our confidence is sky high. With or without Ings, we can put a good side out. Goals are coming from all over the pitch at the moment. Vesty will be a big threat from set pieces, Che is scoring regularly, Armstrong has a good eye for goal and we've got Walcott, Djenepo and Redmond. Bertrand being fit is huge because he's such a threat down the left and Ralph's system needs attacking full backs.
Don’t know why that posted twice as I only pressed once and then waited for about 30 - 40 seconds until it went through.
Have we ever scored so many good goals in a single game? As much as a 25-yard curler is beautiful to watch, I think Vesty’s ‘...AND **** OFF!’ header is one of my faves of recent times. He absolutely munted it.
Just sat down with a cuppa and watched MOTD2. Thought I’d have plenty of time to enjoy it. What was that crap from Villa’s manager about there needing to be about 12 minutes of extra time in the 2nd half? How could there only be less than 2 minutes in the 1st half after Bednarek was down for at least 2 minutes (and why didn’t they show that incident on MOTD? It should have been because that was a scandalously bad piece of refereeing - the game should have been stopped immediately, but he let it go on), there was the interminable wait for VAR to decide that Che’s elbow was offside (and I thought they’d decided that shoulders and elbows didn’t count for offside?) plus a Villa player was down and the trainers were on - oh, and there were 3 goals! I calculated that there should have been a minimum of 5 minutes - and I reckon he added those to the 2nd half as saints were too much on top at the end of the 1st. Ridiculous refereeing
[QUOTE="hotbovril, post: 14273507, member: 1005431"]Munted. New word in my lexicon that and already a favourite![/QUOTE] Use with caution and in context. Munted adjective 1. INFORMAL•BRITISH under the influence or alcohol or drugs. "they have constant issues with drivers turning up munted" 2. INFORMAL•NEW ZEALAND badly damaged; ruined. "work to remove the munted footbridge—an icon of the Canterbury earthquakes—is to begin this week" Definitions from Oxford Languages
