icouldtelltheworld

2 minutes ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Oh, they're not so bad. I find they're a pretty literate and also diverse fan base, overall. They have an outsized presence because Finsbury Park, Archway, Stoke Newington are a big media ghetto, or at least used to be. 

I tend to see them as the fashionable team that people who don't actually like football follow. Like Piers Morgan 

Brilliant game to watch, Saka has matured into a really fantastic player. Potential to be world class if he keeps his development up 

1 minute ago, useless said:

Wolves might not ultimately go down, but not sure why people are acting like it's unthinkable, they've taken just thirty-four points from their last thirty-seven games, if they lose next game to Liverpool that will be thirty-four points from a season's worth of games, that's actually worse than Everton's form over their last thirty-eight games, they scored just twelve goals in twenty this season, we scored more than that after twenty games the season we were relegated.

That's an incredible stat when you consider that we went down with one of the worst ever points tallies 

It feels as though he may have hit another level following the world cup and might be about to have the form of his career for a spell.

Could be absolutely huge for us if he sticks around for a few more seasons

2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

The purpose of the signing was very clearly to screw over Burnley and you would have to say it worked very well when measured in those terms and nothing more. 

A bargain

8 hours ago, Tayls said:

Literally a couple of wins and they are out of it. Still pretty tight down there [kenneth]. It’s not as if they have a bad squad either. 

People keep saying this, but they've basically been the worst team in the league for a good 12 months and sold their only goal threat in the summer. They'm ****, Tom

55 minutes ago, Thug said:

I don’t think so.

I honestly think that the Newcastle problem might actually finally force a fix.

 

I hope you're right and I'm wrong 

3 minutes ago, Zatman said:

maybe but the 3 teams are of the scum 6 who tried to kill football so in sporting terms any loss of income for them is great for the game

Newcastle will be the ones to put the final nail in the coffin IMO

5 minutes ago, Zatman said:

They have a 6 point cushion over Spurs and a 10 point cushion over Liverpool and Chelsea plus have superior goal differences

It would be enjoyable to see 3 of them miss out on Champions League

It's like choosing between cancer and AIDS.

There's still half a season left to play, on the strength of their squads, Newcastle should fall out of the top 4. Depends if the few players in their team who were having the absolute form of their careers tail off, of if they can maintain it a bit longer.

Could see them tailing off now and finishing in the Europa League places a la Rodgers' Leicester before they became relegation fodder. Thank ****.

Small comfort when they'll be the most powerful team in world football off the back of Saudi money in about 5 years time

7 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

I like Watkins and it’ll be interesting to see how he’d do in the Bailey role provided we can find someone to play in the Watkins position if that makes sense. His intricate play is slowly getting slightly better. 

Agree with this

4 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Or just get a back up/rotation younger option like they did with Duran. 

I would venture that not being able to suggest a single person reflects well on Ollie and basically is proving the point I'm trying to make. 

Perhaps, but in my case I don't watch any football outside the PL, SPL and the League of Ireland, nor have I ever played Fifa or Football Manager, so I'm hardly going to be reeling off a list of examples. There are highly paid professionals at the club whose job it is to do that.

I don't think Watkins needs upgrading just yet, but IMO he will need to be replaced in the first team for us to make the next step up. I'd love him to prove me wrong!

6 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Yes, as those players are the best in the world. Please let us know who you think would replace what Ollie brings to the team as a whole and is both affordable and obtainable. 

With respect though, it isn't the job of any of us on VT to identify those targets. The club puts a huge amount of time, energy and resources into scouting, if we are to accept its impossible to identify a single obtainable striker who might feasibly be an update on Watkins, then we may as well cut back on scouting and save a bunch of money 

57 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

Dare I say it but anyone think Emi is enough of a shithouse to have put a little less than 100% in under Gerrard because the players wanted him gone?

No

0% pass accuracy from someone who was on the pitch for 25 minutes and had 17 touches of the ball really is dire.

It's sad to say, but I really think he's finished as a top level footballer

Hopeless again today 

1 minute ago, lexicon said:

Toney isn't a step up IMO (especially when you take penalties away from his goal tally) and what they paid for him when he was in the Championship is competely irrelevant. Do you honestly think the Toney that was bought for 5m is the same as the Toney now? They took a risk and developed him as a player. 

Of course not, but part of the frustration for people IMO is that Ollie hasn't really developed in the way we might have hoped following his first PL season.

As I've said twice already, I like him, think he brings a lot to the team. He deserved to remain first choice over Ings, but I do think he's someone that we will look to upgrade on as we try to push into the European places 

5 minutes ago, lexicon said:

There is a class of striker there, yes, an example being Darwin Nunez who cost 80m. 

Or Ivan Toney, who cost £5m

Other examples are available mate

8 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Apparently he's not a 'top level striker'. No shit - how on earth do these people think we'd have Haaland or Mbappe in our ranks?! 

Bit of an odd take this, implies that there isn't a class of striker somewhere between Ollie and Haaland/Mbappe.

I like Ollie, but I think he has a ceiling and reckon we will probably look to upgrade him at some point, if not this summer then after next season 

He does so much good, but on top of his finishing he just lacks that bit of football intelligence to be a top level striker. Few times today we were on the attack and his movement was poor or he made the complete wrong run.

I like him a lot, but we definitely need some competition for him now Ings is gone 

Just now, TRO said:

about time, are we getting all benevolent, when we have had some howlers go against us, in the past.

Definitely! But as a consequence, I can feel a degree of empathy with the Soton fans, particularly given how huge a point or a win would've been for them today 

Just now, tinker said:

Why did he push Ramsey? It was soft but a stupid decision from their player. 

You'd have to ask him mate  I can see why it was given, but it was very soft, and on another day the goal stands. So I think they've a right to feel hard done by

Highlights one of the issues with VAR really, in that so many decisions in football are subjective 

12 minutes ago, juanpablosaliceband said:

Do you think they were hard done by though? I thought all the big decisions were right on both sides, although many were close calls. And we had the better of the play overall. 

We were probably the better team on the day, and so I'd certainly feel hard done by if we'd missed out on the win because of a disallowed goal like that. Suspect most of us would 

Just now, Davkaus said:

I would be as well, probably, but I'd be wrong.

Watkins is clearly onside, and it's a very clear foul for their goal, when you're looking at the right incident

Watkins was clearly onside, the foul in the lead up to their goal is very soft IMO. We've got away with one there

I would be absolutely fuming if I was a Southampton fan right now. Big 3 points for us, thought we looked decent in the first half but that second half really was dire