Chez

Ayew has been a bit of a nemesis for us. Hopefully he does jack in this second half.

confidence is everything.

He's a donkey. Add Pereira's dodgy hamstrings into the mix and no senior left back available and you have a back four that we can get at if we play well. That said, Skipp and Winks will probably play quite deep, so that might make things difficult. Also, we need to be careful they don't suck us in and hit us on the break, which is how they did things two seasons ago against most sides.

Not sure performance is more important than the result. Perhaps from the point of view of whether we give Tonda the job or not, but come April, the three points we ight get here will be all that matters. Leicester are a step up in terms of individual quality from Charlton. At this level they are a pretty tidy side. We are not going to brush them aside. Obviously some free flowing football at home would be a revelation, but grinding out a victory is fine by me. Stopping them score from set pieces and/or on the break might not be sexy, but that's where this game will be won.

Wrexham - yellow for a foul. Portsmouth - yellow for a foul Derby - yellow for a foul QPR - yellow for dissent Northampton - yellow for a foul

Does that mean he didn't know (at the time of the press conference) how Leicester play or does it mean Leicester vary how they play?

Really good point. From what I have seen of Mavididi this season, he hasn't been in the form Scienza has.

He made a brilliant save when Manhoef went clean through. Theyt were 2-0 up at that point. There was another decent save later on from a half volley shot just on the edge of the box, but it was at him and a good height. The highlights don't show any other saves. He had no chance for their goal. Hard to tell from highlights, but to me Leicester looked a little ponderous, but came alive a couple of of times on the break which we saw a lot in their promotion season. Mavididi's goal was a screamer, but he dithered a bit before that, which makes me wonder if he has refound his form of two season ago. I wonder if Winks will sit in that pocket of space that Armstrong used to good effect on Saturday. Nothing to fear here, but it's the kind of game we need if we are to challenge.

Just looking at MLT stats and in the first season under Branfoot, he scored just 6 goals from 32 league games, down from 20 and 19 goals from 35 games in the proceeding two seasons. The memory I have, and I am guessing others might too, is Brantfoot completely ruined MLT's game. However, In 92/93 he did score 15 goals in 42 games, which is not too bad. In my mind MLT disappeared completely under Branfoot, but that obviously wasn't entirely true. He then scored 25 goals in 38 games in the 93/94 season, which suggests MLT was pretty effective if the side as a whole wasn't. However, Branfoot was sacked half way through that season. Only 9 goals came under Branfoot and 16 goals under Alan Ball in which won 7, drew 4 draws and lost 6. Quite a few pens, but he was brilliant in that run in under Ball.

Branfoot wasn't the youth coach at Saints before he became manager. He had been the assistant manager at Crystal Palace when we appointed him Saints manager. I think you mean Lew Chatterly, who was the useless twat that allowed Darren Eadie and Jamie Cureton to slip through out fingers when he came in as youth development officer when Higgins was removed from his position. Chatterly had worked under Branfoot before at Reading, and when Branfoot joined Saitns, Chatterly got a quick promotion to assistant and then of course was our caretaker manager when Branfoot was sacked.

I assume the players will have been asked by journalists "what has training been like with Tonda?". What do you expect them to say? He picks the side. Players aren't going to criticise the incumbent. They will want to be positive. In general, players will be positive, especially after a couple of wins. That's not some sort of SR PR campaign, its just normal answers to standard questions. I think you and a few others on here massively overestimate SR. I doubt they have had a single meeting to discuss the need a PR campaign to ensure fans are cool with them appointing Tonda. They aren't that clever or organised.

I'd love to see that video, if it had existed. Would all of his goals have been recorded on film though? It's just before my time, so not sure what was and wasn't on MOTD etc.

Surprised he hasn't train with the players, which will be largely ball work, and then done extra fitness work in the afternoons. I guess he has also had to move back from Spain to England, which takes a bit of time if they don't have a player relocation liaison/service these days (not sure).

Likewise. Not watched it for a long long time...not having a video player hasn't helped. The number of amazing goals is just ridiculous. Unbelievable in fact. I know 93-95 were his stand out seasons, but I love watching his goals from when he was younger. That 89-90 season was bloody brilliant.

Ya. Das is a good point.

I didn't realise they had made it into the play offs or they were so far away. That's him out then.

As "manager" Potter he secured 10th place with Swansea in the championship, then as head coach, 15th, 16th (both 41 points) and then 9th (51 points) with Brighton in the PL. His stock was certainly very high at that point. Having failed at Chelsea and West Ham, is another PL side really going to offer him a job? Possibly, but we might present the next best thing. I don't know if he is the answer, but it does feel like a good fit. Obviously he is comfortable managing abroad, so that widens his options, assuming the Sweden job doesn't continue, but maybe he is someone we are interested in, but couldn't do quickly?

FAB is a focus group not an independant supporters group that need to take minutes and report back to the masses. Maybe you should set up the Saintsweb independant supporter group Trousers. I'm happy to propose you as chairman. After which you can contact the club and ask them for a meeting. You can take minutes and then post them on here.

they spent a fair amount in the summer, so if they only loan a striker in January, that works for me.

Glad you didn't write the advertisement for the position. Let me try: Head coach position in one of the worlds strongest leagues. Potentially the highest paid English club manager job outside of the PL. Currently has an underperforming side, allowing any improvements to reflect well on the new appointment. Squad incudes both experienced and young talent. Manager is well backed by board and owner in terms of funding for new players. Money will be made available in January to refresh the squad through loans/signings. Experienced pro in Romeu just joined the side. Excellent training facilities/stadium. Decent academy to help with long term prospects. Positive and friendly supporter base...

Can you point me to this comment from Parson in the fans forum, because I don't recall him saying that. If he didn't say it, then what other evidence is there of them making decisions based on the mood of the fans?

I think Phil Parsons said something along the lines of 'it was brutal for Russell Martin with 30,000 fans calling for his head'. But I don't recall him saying anything about them being happy to keep him if fans had wanted him. Maybe your memory is better than mine. Ultimately, fans disgruntlement will probably mirror what board and owners feel. I think they sacked him because they felt results were not going to change. I agree. If they appointed O'Neil it would have showed that they felt he was the best man for the job. There is an assumption he hasn't been appointed because of the fans chant. But maybe the club didn't feel he was right for them or vis versa. Perhaps I am being naive, but when you have £200m invested in a club do you really allow fans to dictate how it is run?

Likewise. Great player, but hasn't he been underwhelming all at the clubs he has been at?

I think there might be an overestimation of the importance of fan opinion on the decisions the club makes. Will Still wasn't sacked because of the anti SR songs at the PNE game, they sacked him because we weren't wining games and playing like a team devoid of any confidence and going nowhere. The club needs to get promoted. The impact on the business if we don't is massive. Do you really think a poll on saintsweb with less than 400 votes is going to sway their decision? I've no idea what the plan is, but it could easily be that there just isn't a suitable candidate or they haven't been able to persuade the guy they want to take the job...so Tonda continues. The lack of announcement would then be because there is nothing to announce. I keep reading that they are "desperate" to appoint Tonda. How do posters know that?

It might be our decision, but if he is not getting games, maybe the player and/or his parent club want to cancel the loan. It might be out of our hands if the loan contract requires he plays a certain number of games. I don't think I have seen him. Is he actually a left back or right back?