Chez

massively. he has totally changed our approach. He starts so many attacks and covers a huge amount of ground. defensively he has been pretty solid too. we could easily look a side bereft of ideas if they get a hold of Sienza. hope he is not out for too long.

SFC presented the plan to the fan advisory board in the meeting in June and they were happy with it. That sounds like a decision had been made by the club in advance to me. However, there was a separate meeting between SFC safety officer, police and fans from both clubs. Not sure who (which Saints fans attended this meeting). I suspect not many of the fans advisory board have had to suffer a bubble before. Its a shame there wasn't a representative of the Football Supporters Association as part of the discussions, as they campaigned against bubbles around the time of the last one we had. Looking at the minutes of that meeting, the advisory board asked if multiple stops and they SFC safety officer said 'yes', but this obviously hasn't happened. The no parking at the stadium seems to be down to the number of coaches.

the Milton end redevelopment means they do have a few refreshment kiosks that serve beer. Whether they will for this game I am not sure.

Defending him seems a more hazardous occupation on here.

That's a very good point. Got to stop the source. First half we are pressing their defenders and midfield causing them to turn the ball over. Without that press, we allow the opponent to get into our third far too easily and then we basically rely on the three CBs to win headers.

Edwards offers a little more height at the back post, but not sure he is great at full back. He knows how to defend, but has he got the pace to prevent wingers getting crosses in? When is Roserslev fit?

I am not a fan of his, and I have stated he was 'weak', but plenty of keepers in the Premier League have had issues at set pieces this season with opposing teams packing the six yard box and making it very difficult for the keeper to move around/command the six yard box. For the second goal there was a WBA backing into him making it almost impossible to get to the cross. That tactic is problem for lots of keepers, not just Baz.

i wondered about that, we drop off and its easy for them to get into our third of the pitch quickly, but not sure we want to withdraw a CB when they are hoofing it into the box.

hope you are wrong.

if it keeps Sienza fit then it might be a price worth paying?

where the fuck was Quarshie? I want to see him in that six yard box winning absolutely everything like Jaidi used to do.

Pretty happy, but ever so slightly annoyed as I had us wining 3-1. Great to smash teams in the first half of games. I wonder if we have it in us to bounce back in a game if we go behind?

three centre backs and we we still look weak as piss at corners. Not helped by Baz being easily manhandled (no var to protect him from fouls) and unable to command his six yard box. Opposing teams may have spotted a weakness in our game.

Can we sack the set piece coach. Waste of fucking time. Spend the money on pies for fans or something less pointless.

Block 29 has been sold out pretty much every week since we opened the stadium. Now its pretty much empty as there is little desire from those Kingsland regulars to sit next to the away fans and the Itchen block 1-3 folks simply have not moved over there. Bit of a shame. I've considered sitting in the Chapel next to the aways but its pretty empty. Is there much banter between the fans over there?

a Saturday 3pm game would be nice. Can't imagine TV will be interested in us, so a distinct possibility.

I wouldn't be against it, but from Tonda's point of view, has Baz made mistakes that would have him pressing the board for a replacement? He made a couple of tremendous saves on Saturday. I'd of thought Tonda would be pretty happy with him to be honest. Give it time and that may change.

for the midlands clubs, we are effectively their longest (least attractive) away trip. They are 'spoiled' in that regard. Lots of closer decent away games. hard core away fans only then. Fair play to anyone who travels midweek.

Donny. Excellent. It's been a while since we've been to the Keepmoat. Preferred going to Belle Vue, but it will be great to play up there again. How many tickets will we get?

I wonder which gooner they will wank over this time?

I think the promotion places are still wide open. Cov might be too far clear, even if they have a dip, but Boro are nothing special and could easily go on a bad run. Win the next two, which will be hard and suddenly, like Cov, we might haver the air of invincibility to us. Bloody hell its nice to feel really positive for once, even if only lasts a few days!

It's perhaps down to tiredness and a natural instinct to protect the goal by being close to it. I guess it better they are goal side, but if you don't get close to your opposing midfielder then he's free on the edge of the box to shoot and that was the case two or three times on Saturday. Fortiunately Gray shot at Baz and just over on wo of those occasions. As much as the football was great on Saturday, the formation etc. does ask a lot of some players in terms of the amount of hard running. Scienza cheats a little defensively too, which means Jander and Downs and Aziz have to cover a bit more ground tyhan they should. The wing backs are making a lot of lung busting runs too. If you want to break at pace, you obviously need to run at pace , so players are working really hard and that does have a toll. It's clear the subs have to be better otherwise we are just begging to concede when we retreat into the box.

McArthy has always been chastised for failing to protect his near post and now Bazunu for the far post. If we could merge them together might have the perfect keeper...or the shittest.

Practice makes perfect, but some of positioning is perhaps instinctual (and at times you can get a little lost as to where your posts are), but that's what being a top class keeper is all about: having great positioning, anticipation, speed/athleticism and decision making.

oof. You would expect to see him a little bit to the left at this point. Not a huge amount, but a little.