Match Day Thread Newcastle vs Saints, 20th April, 17:30

Our dear mate Wesley liked our defeat on Instagram. Not a wise move to your club. No way back for him.

 

Gotta love the man's honesty....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/47999713

 

There never was, he's a classic case of a player that thinks he is better than he actually is....

 

Brilliant.

Edit: sorry for late response. Went to bed at half time in a rather sulky mood.

 

I was only thinking during the later stages of today’s game, I wonder if bridges could be built & whether Ralph could get a tune out of him!? I think that’s a dead un!

 

Time for @Saintmagic ?

 

I have no mixed feelings at all about tomorrow's match....Cardiff to lose. Not because I truly want them to be relegated, but when it comes down to it #onlysaintsmatter Don't care who wins the PL title until the day we are competing for it

 

Cardiff to win for me.

#greatergood

 

Yep time for @Saintmagic to step up to the plate and get us back to our winning ways.

 

Draw would be perfect.

 

With our remaining fixtures, I'd quite happily see us not play 5 at the back again.

I'm certain it's how Ralph wants us to play next season, he's stated he only uses it now because of how fragile our defence looks at times. As a team we look SO much more effective when we're trying to attack, rather than trying to counter.

Save 5 at the back for the games against the top 6.

For me it has to be 4-3-3:

Gunn in goal
Valery and Bertrand full backs
2 out of Bednarek, Yoshida, Vestegaard
3 out of Hojbjerg, JWP, Romeu and Lemina
2 out of Redmond, Sims, Armstrong
Ings

Subs: GK, Targett, remaining CB, remaining MC, remaining attacking MF, Long, Austin,

 

A draw will be enough to derail the Scousers IMO....

 

Exactly

 

Agreed. I do not understand this generosity to Cardiff. We are not safe yet, and we saw in the first half last night what can happen if the players start competing as if we are.

 

Might make it exciting though?

 

I prefer to think we've done the squeaky bum bit, and can now begin to relax and celebrate, as we pull away up the home straight. Don't want anyone coming out of the chasing pack to threaten us at this stage, thanks.

 

A draw would be acceptable.

 

Yesterday's first half performance was woeful but I think insightful. Those on this board suggesting that Sims might prove suitable at this level will probably have some doubt. I thought he faded in the second half of the home match last week and the game passed him by yesterday. The defence remains fragile and there is still a tendency for some of better players like PEH to make frightening mistakes. For the first 45 mins, the performance was more akin to the ones put in under Hughes.

I would have to admit that I would have expected us to be clear over the relegation zone by now. Ralph has transformed the team, coaxing players into some better performances and even radically improving the likes of JWP. He seems to know the strengths of his better squad players and the team spirit has been galvanised. However, I think there is still a habit of poor judgement in the decisions made by the players when on the park and the casual errors that were abundant under Hughes still persist. In my opinion the results under Ralph have generally been good but I honestly do not think that they will be acceptable next season. At the moment we have a pretty limited squad with the marginal players who have been brought in from time to time such as Sims not looking up to it. I wasn't impressed by the youngsters in the cup game against Derby and of the academy players, I feel that only Valery and Obafemi look the part.

In some part, I think displays like yesterday's match are the last vestiges of a legacy that goes back to the days of Pellegrino. Some of the faults we have acquired seem to have been apparent after Puel's departure. I do not feel these faults have been entirely ironed out but I think the starting eleven in August will be radically different. It will be more appropriate to judge Ralph next season went he has assembled his own squad. He was not dealt a very good hand, to be honest, when he joined. I am anticipating seeing something radically improved next season and feel that we will probably look back in April 2020 to the second half of this current season as being indifferent in what has been a poor league. It sometimes feels that we are limping over the line.

The Brighton result at Wolves was a terrific one for them. One of my colleagues at work is convinced that Cardiff will beat Liverpool today Oddly enough, they will face Fulham away in their next fixture and this is no longer as easy as it might have looked a few weeks ago as the Londoners are picking up a bit of form.

 

30,000 of the 33,000 people at the CCS this afternoon will be thinking the same - the other 3,000 will be suicidal.

 

A win might result in a few tears in the away end though