I was thinking the same thing. He must be favourite for the chop now. I always think it is a shame with Ranieri as he always strikes me as a gent but often gets brought in to sought out problems not of his making. Two wins for Norwich on the bounce would have been unthinkable at Christmas. You wonder if the international break will stall the momentum but it puts a lot of pressure on the other three teams in the relegation battle. The Newcastle and Burnley matches look difficult for them this weekend.
We are more expensive than most in the PL and up until this season had appalling home form for nearly 4 years on the bounce with no real scope to improve. Leicester have also won the PL and FA Cup in recent times and is a bigger city than Southampton. That said we are hopefully on an upward trajectory now and home form has improved so we will see where it takes us. I know you aren’t interested in the wheres and why’s, but there are good reasons why attendance at St Mary’s hasnt been great. We will all support Saints through thick and thin, but they don’t have a divine right to our money and frankly over the last few years they haven’t deserved it.
In general I don’t disagree with your comments & certainly agree with the last. Just as a footnote; by capacity % only Norwich & Spuds are below us.
I reckon that’s a legacy of the last few seasons, we used to fill St Mary’s once upon a time, hopefully improving home form and the impact of the new ownership might see this start to change. It will probably lag for the rest of this season though.
I'd love to be there today or at any other game home and away. BUT being in a high risk group I'm reluctant to travel from/to the Netherlands and attend matches for a number of reasons the early removal of CV regulations in the UK being the main problem. I'm concerned, not just for my health but that any surge in infections will affect our travel plans. Big pain in the arse is returning under the non EU customs regs - no meat or dairy products the duty free allowance doesn't compensate for me pies pasties and cheese. Other than that it's a good build up to the match. Bike ride first stopping off at a friend who's a wiz at making Irish coffee. Spicy chilli maturing in the fridge next to the palm beer and some tasty snacks for HT. Three points please MOTD will be on record.
Everton fans really are a pathetic bunch these days. Hurling bottles - full not empty - at the Villa players. Absolute f*cking morons. Do you expect players not to celebrate when they score?
Agreed. And it meant I was torn throughout last night as to who I wanted to win. In a straight shoot out between Watford and Norwich, I'd want Norwich surviving all day long. But it's not just about those two. And like you, I was very much of the opinion that a Norwich win was unfortunately the best outcome for Newcastle. Sure Norwich have won two in a row, but they haven't suddenly become great overnight. They beat two horrendously out of form teams, both of whom will likely have followed it up by sacking their managers (my guess is that Ranieri will leave tomorrow). It's still very likely that Norwich will go down. But rather than Newcastle being five points adrift with no games in hand (and a much worse GD), they're four points adrift with two games in hand (and a much better GD).
If Townsend had stayed on his post he’d have kept the goal out Everton fans are awful, would enjoy seeing them drawn into relegation battle
Just wondering how many more times Leeds are going to get behind the Newcastle defence, and pull the ball back into the area, without actually creating a goal scoring chance. They have wasted so many opportunities by having a poor final pass. This has Newcastle breakaway and nick a goal and maybe 3 points written all over it.
James, for Leeds, taking a chance on being red carded. The Newcastle keeper clears the ball and James deliberately jumps into him, leading with his knee, smashing into the keeper’s thigh. Very late challenge. Got a yellow.