Match Day Thread SAINTS vs Cat Botherers, Weds 2nd March, 19:30

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Le Tissier's Laces said:
Yeah, I mean I get it. There's a good piece in the Athletic today where Ralph very sensibly goes through his thought process.

I just don't want him to think that he *has* to do the same thing in the next round out of loyalty. We could easily have been a couple of goals down against a more clinical team last night, before Romain's Rocket.
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Yeah it worked out in the end for him and he'll rightly take the credit for it but we definitely rode our luck a bit last night and I hope it doesn't make him overrate the fringe players and go the same again.

Before someone says that those players need gametime too there's absolutely no reason why we couldn't do that in a league match.

Be very interesting to see cup lineups next season as there definitely appears to have been a change this year.
 
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Libby said:
Yeah it worked out in the end for him and he'll rightly take the credit for it but we definitely rode our luck a bit last night and I hope it doesn't make him overrate the fringe players and go the same again.

Before someone says that players need gametime too there's absolutely no reason why we couldn't do that in a league match.

Be very interesting to see cup lineups next season as there definitely appears to have been a change this year.
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As I said in the Villa thread, the Cup games are better for rotation because of the 5 subs.
 
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tomw24 said:
Now I admit I was wrong and Ralph got it right, and possibly a little disrespectful, but we're all desperate for a trip (or two) to Wembley. In that moment when I saw the team, I was convinced we were going out. After all, these fringe players made a horses arse of their chance against Coventry.

Sorry Ralph. :(

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It turns out that Salisu and Ely were enforced ommissions through injury, no one wa aware of that before kick off.
 
Le Tissier's Laces said:
Yes and no.

I mean, it was a high risk move that worked. It's great that it worked, but that doesn't take away from the fact it was high risk (or that we looked a lot better when the first team players came on in the second half).

And that's from someone that thinks the sun largely shines out of Ralph's bottom.

He's an excellent coach and a very, very good manager. We're extremely lucky to have him. But if we get one of the big teams in the next round, I don't want him thinking he should use his "cup team" again, particularly out of loyalty.
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I also think we rode our luck in the first 20 mins or so. They could have had a couple and been out of sight.
 
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Che’s Godlike Thighs said:
We won, so I don't want to grumble too much, and therefore I will not discuss Djenepo's performance, haha.

Being positive, I thought Jack Stephens was fantastic. Not only solid, but presumably he has to help Valery an awful lot regarding positioning and so on.

But what are we gonna do without Broja next season?! We're losing our star player for free.
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Chelsea may not afford to keep him
 
Brinkworth Saint said:
I despair of most sporting authorities ever considering the people who pay from their hard earned salaries. I've a couple of mates who are giving up their season tickets and instead, going from match to match. They said with change of dates/time etc it's pretty hopeless for them to keep up with every home match. I've never had one so can't comment one way or another, but with the recent shambles of FIFA/UEFA and Olympic decision making I just wonder how these organisations end up in the wrong place as far as the paying public are concerned.
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This issue is at the heart of supporters at live football matches vs TV viewers. Sporting authorities are mostly there to maximise income for themselves and their business partners. It would be good to think that they have some underlying altruistic motives, but (professional) sport is about making money. As such, the income generated from a few tens of thousands of ticket-buying supporters pales into insignificance when compared to the money made from selling TV rights, around the world. This in turn means that the Premier League doesn't give a stuff about people actually going to watch a match in a stadium, since the income from such people is relatively paltry. I suspect that, given the chance, matches would start at any time, on any day, that would provide the highest level of TV-related income.
Having said all this, the TV companies are aware that matches without crowds do not have any atmosphere (as seen during the season when Covid rules prevented fans from going to games), so they don't (yet) take extreme liberties with fixture timings, in order to encourage (or at least, not discourage) people to actually attend.
The specific situation with the mid-week FA cup fixtures is a result of the Premier League generating vastly more income for clubs than the FA Cup could dream of. Consequently, any decisions about shuffling PL fixtures, or moving cup matches, will always be heavily weighted towards league games. We supporters are far less important to the money men than the TV audience, and football, at least higher echelon professional football, is now a business first, and a sport second. In summary, Saints are now so good that we don't get to choose when to play. It's all about money.

Right, I'll get off my high horse, return my soapbox, and go back to the Northam End, where I can sing (Zouma, Zouma, you're a c**t)
 
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Lemons and Oranges said:
This issue is at the heart of supporters at live football matches vs TV viewers. Sporting authorities are mostly there to maximise income for themselves and their business partners. It would be good to think that they have some underlying altruistic motives, but (professional) sport is about making money. As such, the income generated from a few tens of thousands of ticket-buying supporters pales into insignificance when compared to the money made from selling TV rights, around the world. This in turn means that the Premier League doesn't give a stuff about people actually going to watch a match in a stadium, since the income from such people is relatively paltry. I suspect that, given the chance, matches would start at any time, on any day, that would provide the highest level of TV-related income.
Having said all this, the TV companies are aware that matches without crowds do not have any atmosphere (as seen during the season when Covid rules prevented fans from going to games), so they don't (yet) take extreme liberties with fixture timings, in order to encourage (or at least, not discourage) people to actually attend.
The specific situation with the mid-week FA cup fixtures is a result of the Premier League generating vastly more income for clubs than the FA Cup could dream of. Consequently, any decisions about shuffling PL fixtures, or moving cup matches, will always be heavily weighted towards league games. We supporters are far less important to the money men than the TV audience, and football, at least higher echelon professional football, is now a business first, and a sport second. In summary, Saints are now so good that we don't get to choose when to play. It's all about money.

Right, I'll get off my high horse, return my soapbox, and go back to the Northam End, where I can sing (Zouma, Zouma, you're a c**t)
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What you say is the cold reality which I try to block out from time to time, not always successful in doing that. Thanks for the post though!
 
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