Chez

yep. He's electric and giving hoover a torrid time.

on that occasion it just wasn't possible in his stride.

got to say that we look miles better than them, but just haven't quite got it right in the final third. Sulemana looks a fucking nightmare to mark. They have done just enough to contain him, but only just. Brilliant free kick. Hope we can get this wrapped up with an early goal in the second half. Can't let games like this slip away.

dam, you're right.

Great news. Hope he gets 40 goals. He will then be in demand and we can get our money back.

Have we been playing with a handbrake on before? Not sure what you mean by that. A lack of a handbrake was possibly more of a problem

I always think it's important to look at all the things that could have gone wrong and might have shaped a different result. Mistakes can be glossed over when we win. Missed today's game, so have nothing to offer other than being very happy.

Maybe that's what Martin has wanted all along and it's the team that needs to take some blame? The manager isn't the guy kicking the round thing after all. Let's hope the team doesn't revert.

Would even out the one at Sheffield I guess.

Got to hold my hands up, thought AArmstrong had lost the scoring confidence. Brilliant to see him get two. Could this be the start of a great season for him?

Has not having Charles covering the back four been an issue?

Just checked back. Now I'm nervous.

Travelling so can't watch game. How's Sulemana doing?

Can't be any worse than the game at Elland Road last season, which was one of the most pathetic and toothless displays I have ever seen...can it?

i'm with you. Hope we get a win, things start to fall into place and we push on. I never `want us to lose' so that a manager gets sacked in the hope that it will achieve a greater end result.

Not something I want to be reminded about - one of the most painful afternoons at SMS. Crushing defeat.

Jesus christ. What a load of bollocks he has written there. How anyone can suggest managers like Pellegrini, Hughes, Ralph and Selles were "hounded out" by Saints fans is beyond me. They were sacked because they were not getting results. Pure and simple. If the club is getting its consensus of opinion from twitter, and then making decisions about a manager's employment based on that, then they are fucking mental. They aren't.

Honestly, how hard is it to explain to Alcaraz what you want from an attacking midfielder? You can translate live audio using google. We have a wage bill in the tens of millions. If language was an issue paying a translator to help would be money well spent. If we can find funds for a bloody set peice coach (do me a favour), we can find funds for a Spanish speaker.

My understanding was that Edwards was a genuine talent. Not seen him play - has anyone else?

Di Matteo got paid by Chelsea for two years after he was sacked and couldn't take another job as his £130k a week wage would end if he did. Not so sure Chelsea managers afterwards have been in the same position, with a pay off agreement probably inserted in the contract.

That's when I blew my top on Saturday. I can understand that when you are chasing a game, there may be an occasion when you get caught on the break and are badly short handed, but it was our corner and, like you say, we took it short, went backwards, got caught and were in massive trouble. It was totally avoidable. What really fucked me off though was the fact this has now happened several times - finding ourselves three or four vs one immediately after our own corner. How on earth can this happen multiple times without it being addressed? Managers seem to pride themselves on level of detail and meticulous preparation. Getting caught on our own corners now seems to be a regular thing. Why are the coaches not spotting this when half this forum is?

Interesting that Boro have moved away fans into the corner rather than behind the goal, as it used to be.

Agree. When he came on, he played on the left and Sulemena on the right. Worked pretty well for me. If you are going to play wingers, play wingers. And show some fuckign faith in them. Give them a long run in the side not drop them after one underwhelming game.

powerderpuff - good description. He's quite a big tall lad, but he just dangles a leg in a tackle. When a ball needed winning he was pathetic at times yesterday, but I think that's just how he plays. The one positive thing I would say is that some of his passing does at least have a bit of zip on it, but overall he's a luxury player that just strolls around like its a fun day out. We need a bit more devil from our central midfield three.

`We were more solid with him, but he wasn't much better than he was at Sunderland, but why replace him with Manning?' So RM perhaps made a good decision to play him, as we seemed more solid. But he obviously he made an error that lead to their goal and you thought he wasn't much cop. So, would you have kept him on? And more importantly, what would you do next game?