Dusic

They barely had a chance over two legs and I believe Martin's record vs Corberan is that he hasn't lost any of their 6 meetings. In the playoffs they were extremely passive, especially at St Mary's when it was still all to play for. We would have been livid to not show up in such a big game even if the opponent had a better squad. Just don't see what is special about him at all.

Russell Martin schooled Corberan in the playoffs and he hasn't done well at Valencia. Not really sure what the attraction is myself. Another name to throw into the ring is Jeremie Aliadiere. Would command instant respect, is 6ft tall and has the vital ingredient of Championship experience. If enough of us mention him and ask for a Sky Bet price then his odds will come tumbling down.

Suprised nobody has mentioned Brian Little, so I will: Brian Little

The handover from Liebherr to Gao was the catalyst for where we are now IMO. No PL club can survive these days without an owner adding cash. People say that SR took a stable PL club and sent us downwards butbwe were extremely lucky to survive the season Swansea imploded and were clearly on a general downwards trend when they took charge. The best things going for him were not positives but more that he didnt do overly negative stuff e.g take money out, stall on selling, get overly involved etc.

Completely can see the difference and not sure Eckert would be a good idea. Point more that none of the current names mentioned particularly inspire and a lot of the narrative on here craving experience of the division etc often goes against what has worked well for us in the past. If SR were to appoint Eckert its far from the easy option because they know they will face huge scrutiny so if they do go for him then could only assume they have huge faith in him and would have seen how the squad has taken to him over a 5 or 6 game spell which isnt always an available option and might mitigate the risk slightly.

Apols for a long post. Interesting thinking back over our most recent successful managers. None of Hasenhuttl, Koeman or Pochettino had played or managed in English football. One of them couldn't speak English. One joined after being very successful, one after being bottom of La Liga with two wins from 12 games. One was a big name, the other two were not. One was in some ways flexible, the other two were not. All got off to pretty decent starts. IMO the one thing they all had in common was a complete confidence in what they were doing. They didn't say they couldn't play a certain system until they had signed more players, or say it would take ages to get the team playing how they wanted, they pretty much said this what I am going to do and they did it. Pochettino had two sessions in zero degrees with an interpretor relaying every word and the team looked totally different. We have had managers who were experienced names at the level, who joined after being successful elsewhere, old, young, whatever. Many haven't worked. The ones who did were able to show very early that they had it covered. Something Will Still didn't. Reason for saying this is in part because personally I don't think that Championship experience is particularly relevant. I don't think age is particularly relevant and I don't think being a 'name' is particularly relevant. What is, IMO, is calmness, clarity in what you do and being able to very quickly get a team playing how you say they will. Where Pochettino, Hasenhuttl (and Martin) did, Jones, Still, Pellegrino etc didn't. Even Hughes, a very experienced manager was unable to show any kind of consistent approach aside from an initial flurry, which combined with a Swansea implosion, kept us up. I think players work out very quickly if they rate a manager or not which is why our best ones make an impact quickly and the poor ones never do. Can't recall a recent Saints manager who had an iffy start and then turned out great. Anyway, the club obviously rates Tonda. And in a way are fortunate to get a very clear view on whether the players are having him or not, which will become clear over the next 3 games. Thats a bit of a luxury so can see why they will use that opportunity. If its not him then I don't care if its someone old, young, inexperienced, a veteran, from England or elsewhere - just that it is someone has confidence in themselves and clarity on how they want to play and is able to get players to actually do it - like all our best managers have. That is what fans will see and rally behind rather than just a 'name', which to be honest for SR would be the easiest thing to hire.

Was going to do an analysis piece exploring how the decline of SWF and in particular the lack of reliable ITKs has coincided with a period of huge uncertainty in the corridors of Staplewood and St Marys but instead thought would go best and worst ITKs: The Good: @K,Billy's supersound - the ultimate @Guan 2.0 - top operator in his heyday @THEVMAN - didn't end well but accuracy not up for debate during AL's prime Saints years The Bad: @Pilchards - has he ever been right about anything? The Ugly: @MB - we have interviewed a German and an "ex PL player". Jog on pal.

Blackmore stated similar on Solent plus this just now: Been clear to me for a while that we aren't going to appoint someone in the Intl break, Tonda will take at least Charlton and right now has a good a chance as anyone.

Apart from quite a few good sources saying Eckert is a very realistic contender. Might not be the kind of update you want but its there and stated from the likes of Ornstein, Blackmore, Alfie House...

Had a strange career really and ended up retiring early in his late 20s. Looked decent enough in that loan he had playing alongside Jaidi I think. Now a physio. Would be good to get a chant going for him in a game soon, perhaps something a bit different like "Neal Trotman duh duh duh duh" I would rank him around 48th in terms of best Saints CBs of all time.

So far most available evidence suggests this to be the case.

I admire the continued commitment to the ITK persona. Keep hacking into those interviews to bring us the latest!

He certainly implemented some tweaks to the positioning of the wide CBs and central midfielders which made us s lot more effective in possession on Saturday than we have been all season, and seemed to more regularly find Scienza in good areas. I doubt he will switch to a back four for that reason plus the fact he has played 3 CBs in the U21s all season and we haven't really found a good solution at RB yet. I also wonder if Roerslev did some damage to his knee as that was a heavy collision. Remember Jones having 6 weeks and having no clear style and Poch having two days and the pressing shapes being very obvious so good coaches don't need long to embed their ideas. Was never clear what Still was trying to do really and he had a full pre season.

Any perceived delay has made no difference so far as we picked up maximum points since Still left. Personally don't think we have any more liklihood of beating Charlton with a new manager than with Eckert still in charge - we should have a good chance of another 3 pts. Overall we have wasted so much money hiring and firing coaches and they absolutely have to get this one right so no issues here over them taking time to get the right person, especially when so far we have won both games. QPR was hard fought in the end after Bazunu's mistake but we held on and against SW in possession it was the best we have played this season and a few players had their best games of the season. Eckert was assistant manager in the Champ under Struber when Barnsley did well and so knows whats needed in this league. On evidence so far he seems a safe pair of hands until the best candidate becomes available/clear and he has an obvious motivation to keep us winning...

Despite all the SR shenanigans, this is still the most bizarre thing to happen under recent Saints ownership. Was more chance of hearing all five of Ralph Krueger's pledges than seeing millions of pounds from a company that seemingly didn't exist. Hope Semmens concluded the legal action before he left...

- Mentioned by reliable sources as being a candidate as soon as he replaced Still (Ornstein, House, Blackmore etc) - Since won 2/2 and some signs of progress - Spors told FAB that he was comfortable taking time as trusts Eckert - Eckert very coy when asked about it all, certainly hasnt said anything about going back to his old job anytime soon - Spors knowing Eckert very well and championing bringing him in following tough recruitment process - No serious links to other candidates aside from O'Neil which will obviously not happen - Financial cost of bringing in someone else plus staff and paying off existing staff - Gut feeling considering the above and the way Eckert has spoken & acted. All IMHO of course, Morph

Everyone agreed at (whether you like it or not) its highly likely Eckert is in charge at Charlton?

David Prutton was a massive disappointment considering how much of a coup it seemed at the time - highly rated Eng U21 central midfielder but at PL level he just wasn't technically good enough to play in that positon and was shoehorned in out wide. Appeased fans with good clapping and radio banter but big diffefence between what we thought we were getting and what we actually got. Neil McCann was dreadful as well and absolutely makes a starting XI of worst signings. A winger whose game was based on beating a man and crossing in Scotland then realised in the PL that he couldn't beat anyone. Was embarassing to watch.

Not so sure. David Ornstein suggested in his original post about Still sacking that Eckert was seen as a genuine candidate, also relayed via the likes of House, Blackmore etc. Since then we have won 2 from 2 and today certainly was better than many displays this season so they may see improvement despite poor opposition. By keeping Tonda they would have compo of likely paying off Trollope and also save on hiring new manager and backroom staff - clearly financially its the cheapest option having presumably unexpectedly having to pay off Still and sign Romeu. Plus nearly a week later the only other genuine link has been O'Neil who obviously won't happen. Nothing approaching a good source has linked any other names. Spors knows Eckert and brought him in, then selected him as caretaker over Trollope. So personally when you add it all together I think its more likely than not that he is in charge at Charlton.

Their fortunes turned when Rasmus became Chairman and more heavily involved.

Yeah even aside from his goal his firet touch and movement suggested a player capable of playing at a higher level.

Would personally rather see RM back than O'Neil. Pompey connection would always be held against him and he is really just another of those uninspiring types who has done a pretty average job at both his clubs with fairly short tenures.

Personally don't think that was the case. The team just panicked and were under pressure but none of the clearances were balls he had even of chance of getting onto and holding up because they were usually just hoofs of hurried clearances. He made a nice run which Azaz somehow overhit the pass to and a few times with the right ball would have been able to stretch their defence. It was a thankless task for him but he looked to have a bit more interest in it than previous apps.

Thought he put himself about a little more tonight. Certainly not his fault we had camped so deep. Is it worth giving him a start Sat surrounded by Scienza and Robinson and see if he shows up more?

Ohhh Michael Skubiala, He’s our gaffer! He’s got the Saints behind him, We’re never gonna run! We’ll fight, we’ll score, we’ll shout some more, The Saints are on the roll — Skubiala’s army, hearts and soul!