Nordic Saint

They haven't won any of their last 30 games against Chelsea, although their last win was only 66 years ago. So, that's more than 50 games over seven decades without a win against either Arsenal or Chelsea. No wonder the London clubs love playing there. Meanwhile, the TV pundits will be coming out with all the usual cliches, like, "This is a difficult place to win at". Yes, it is......for Portsmouth.

The last time Pompey beat Arsenal was 68 years ago. This will be their 23rd attempt since then.

You must really enjoy watching us lose games. With McCarthy in goal, we have won just 1 regular season game at St Mary's in the last FOUR YEARS, and that was 1½ years ago. That's how bad he is. When Bazunu plays we usually win.

Under Stiil, he looked lost and contributed very little; under Eckert, he fits in brilliantly and is creating and scoring lots of goals. Those who predicted he would come good (not me) were right.

He certainly did. He made 4 great saves.

All the Championship games Bazunu and McCarthy have played for Saints. The facts are freely avaliable on transfermarkt. You can check them yourself if you want. Whether you think someone is superb or terrible has no bearing on the facts, I'm afraid. Bazunu = 1.9 points per game/ 87 points over a season McCarthy = 1.0 points per game/ 46 points over a season Obviously, even though McCarthy has been here all the time Bazunu has, he hasn't played as many games because managers want to win. Bazunu W29 D12 L11 McCarthy W3 D3 L6

Based on all the Championship games they have played for Saints. Obviously McCarthy hasn't played as many times because managers want to win games. McCarthy average points per Saints Championship game = 1.0 Bazunu average points per Saints Championship game = 1.9 Over the whole season, that difference between them is worth more than 40 points and at least 20 league places.

You'd prefer Nathan Jones to Eckert? That's what doesn't make any sense.

I agree. Coventry are too far ahead now, even if we do the double over them, but I think we can finish runners-up and if we can keep Eckert next season, we'll stay in the Premier League.

Liverpool made a series of internal appointments - Paisley, Fagan, Dalglsh, Moran, Evans - during their most successful period. Anyway, wherever a manager comes from, it's all about results, and Eckert has just made the best start of any Saints manager, winning his first 3 games. Of course, if like all of his predecessors since Koeman, he has a losing run, he'll be replaced. A football manager is only a few defeats away from losing his job.

It's a funny thing, but McCarthy does seem to be a real Jonah, who you certainly wouldn't want to see in our goal on Tuesday night, unless you were a Leicester fan, because we've only won 1 regular season game at St Mary's in the last 4 years when he's been in goal (which was v Preston 1½ years ago). Whereas with Bazunu in our goal, in the Championship we win most games. Call it luck or whatever you like, but our results are better with Bazunu, and Tonda Eckert has obviously been at the club long enough to notice this.

The first time Saints have scored 5 away in a league game since the 5-2 win at Ipswich in 2011. Is Tonda Eckert the first Saints manager ever to win his first 3 league games? He's having the same effect on the first team players that he had on the U21s.

I wonder if he noticed his wallet had gone.

Company check says he's more than £250 million in debt. That's a lot worse than penniless. He was already in financial trouble when people were saying it was just the Chinese government preventing him from spending money here. Shares in his company had plummeted and he was selling off the remaining ones in an attempt to pay his debts. Maybe Goa would be a good place for him to hide out, if he could afford the air fare. Solak's company doesn't appear to be doing that well either. The one who got all the money was Kat. She made at least a quarter of a billion out of her father's investment here: roughly what Gao owes now. She certainly saw him coming. I always felt a bit sorry for him.

RIP Andy

Yes, Harry Amass is by far their most valuable player and the classiest left wing-back in the Championship. Unfortunately for Wednesday, he's only on loan from Man United. If United would sell him, he'd be a great buy for us, but they'll probably want him for their first team soon. 'Someone tell Dorgu his days are numbered' - Man Utd fans hail academy graduate taking Championship by storm

Good match report from the Wednesday site: Report | Southampton 3-1 Wednesday - Sheffield Wednesday FC

I must say I'm looking forward to this much more than the Preston game. There's a hint of optimism in the air at St Mary's again and I'd expect a bigger crowd than last week too. Let's see some more magic from Scienza and Robinson, back-to-back wins and, as a bonus, Pompey to continue their winless run.

The stats tonight were QPR 20 shots at goal with 5 on target; Saints 9 shots at goal and 2 on target. Their goalkeeper didn't make a single save. The xG says QPR should have won. Those stats are usually the other way round. We definitely don't want to see McCarthy back in goal at St Mary's on Saturday, as with him in goal we've only won 1 regular season game there in 4 years! As for their goal tonight, McCarthy would have stayed glued to his line and it would have been an easy tap in. Bazunu could have flattened their player but we'd have been down to 10 men and conceded a penalty. Of course, it would be great if we could get Ramsdale back in January as we all agree he is the best of the 3.

Sport Republic's recruitment is so predictable. They've made an offer to Metz for Cheikh Sabaly, a 5' 6" left winger, who's scored 3 goals in 45 Ligue 1 games, none of them this season. Meanwhile the top teams continue to rise high above us, in every sense of the word: Tallest Championship Teams (2025/26) Rank Team Approx. Avg Height 1️⃣ Coventry City 185 cm (6'1") 2️⃣ Millwall 185 cm (6'1") 3️⃣ Stoke City 184.8 cm (6'0.8") 4️⃣ Middlesbrough 184.5 cm (6'0.7") 5️⃣ Bristol City 184.3 cm (6'0.6") We all know we need a big centre forward, but we're going to end up like Jeremy Corbyn with a small team of left wingers.

Let's at least give him a chance and get behind the team. He's done a tremendous job with the U21s, and significantly improved players. Their win at Tottenham on Saturday took them up to 4th in Premier League 2. He was also a first team coach at Barnsley when they made the Championship play-offs in 2021. He's certainly instilled some fighting spirit in that U21 team and he knows how to organise a defence as anyone who saw them battle to a draw against the superior players of Real Madrid can testify. I'm expecting him to have a positive impact on our first team now, but, of course, he's still going to be hampered, as Will Still was, by Sport Republic's poor recruitment and the team's lack of a proper spine. Anyway, it makes sense to have an interim appointment now as I'm sure Sport Republic weren't anticipating having to sack Will Still. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-2/table

He scored against Pompey today. How we could do with a centre half and captain like him. The best centre-backs in the Championship: Exclusive: Lee Hendrie names the 3 best EFL Championship centre-backs right now

The team is spineless. We bought loads of midfielders, but we don't have a decent goalkeeper, centre half or centre forward.

The big difference is they didn't waste their money on players like Downs and Azaz, and they got some decent players on loan from Premier League clubs, like Harrison Armstrong and Lewis Dobbin. Also they've got a solid spine to their team whereas ours is spineless. At times today, we had 3 or 4 players queueing up to play in their preferred position on the left wing and no one in the penalty area for them to cross to.

Thanks. I missed that as I scrolled through transfermarkt, although it does rather spoil the uniqueness of the occasion. Edited accordingly.