Chez

I imagine we'd all be concerned by his injury record, but be hopeful that he could lead the line and be that focal point we have been missing. i guess it matters little now he is unavailable, but is there a little more context to those stats perhaps? In 24/25 he didn't start a game - which in itself is concerning perhaps. He came on 17 times, mostly for less than 20 minutes and didn't score. He wasn't an impact sub in terms of goals, that's for sure. The season before, he was on the bench for most of the first half of the season and didn't score. When Leeds had him starting games in the second half of the season he scored 7 in 17 games.

Eckert isn't going to do the head coach job long term on his u21 coach wage. Once he has done it for a while (I'm not sure how long) then returning to the U21s becomes a demotion. he might be fine with it, he might not.

It's little wonder managers don't want large squads as players out of the side are never going to be impressed. I'm not sure Still dropping certain players caused his downfall. It may be part of it, but I think it was more a failure to create a structure that got us playing well, creating chances and winning games. If you are winning, no one gives a fuck what the guy out of the side has to say, but lose week in week out and non playing players are empowered. I'm not sure he lost players leading to losses. I think there was just an erosion of confidence and then everyone and everything was lost. This is why what the likes of Russell Martin and Gareth Southgate (for England) did should not be underestimated. It's really difficult to get players onside and create an environment that sees everyone pushing in the same direction. Whether Tonda or whoever can do that from this position, I don't know.

If the players fully believe in what the manager is trying to do, fine, they will accept criticism, even if they have lost some games, but if they think he is talking shite and they have no clue what he was trying to do, then it's obviously going to be harder to accept.

I think this is the issue for a lot of managers/head coaches. Some of the players simply don't respect them enough to take criticism from them. If a manager is few years into the job, they will have by then won games and the players will be happy to listen. However, new managers that are losing games are going to be doubted and that doubt and potential disrespect grows with every defeat. If a manager comes in fails to articulate his ideas and his methods don't bare fruit immediately, he is done for.

Interesting article about Celtic being linked to Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdegj67p1z2o I wonder if he was on our radar and would a championship side like us be attractive to him?

I just visited the Swansea City website and unsurprisingly there is absolutely nothing on there about who they have been linked with. Same with Norwich and Boro. Have these three clubs posted something on their social media feeds? If not, then I don't have a clue what you are on about.

If managers are not even managers these days, and they don't get to sign players and they get the sack long before player contracts run out, it's hardly surprising they don't get the respect they used to back in the day. Unless the manager wins games and survives a year or two, they are always fighting a losing battle.

He was really poor. No where near good enough technically to play in the top flight IMO.

I guess. He scored lots of goals, but my argument was always that his lack of work rate meant it was 11 v 10, so we were always behind. I was glad when he left, but we obviously got worse without him.

He was a player we discussed in the summer, pace and power - just what we needed, but these PL players just don't drop down a league these days and the foreign guys especially use their `PL fame' to get contracts abroad with half decent European sides. Awoniyi scored a lot of goals in Germany before joining Forest, so he has plenty of credibility. He has another 18 month on his PL contract. He isn't taking less money, so Forest will have to pay a sweetener to shift him. Forest fans really like him, but he is never fit. His injury record is really bad. Looking through the PL squads, I struggle to find a striker that we could get on loan. PL sides don't seem to have many CF and with such large benches, they are not going to let any go out on loan.

Wolves only just spent £25m on him in the summer. Although he's only really getting a few minutes off the bench, it seems unlikely they will loan him to a championship club at this point.

He wasn't the worst player, but we were paying him a fortune at that level and he delivered pretty much fuck all. I hated that team, especially the well liked Stern John who just stood around doing jack shit every week.

Are you thinking of Pele? Folly only played a few games for Saints. I think there was a couple of sub appearances in the PL. I recall him playing the full game at Wolves away in the Championship. He played pretty well that day, but I don't think he played again and then was sent off to Sheff Wednesday.

Personally, I was referring to Alan Bennett not Paul. If you witnessed the game against Palace at SMS in 2007 you will have seen one of the weakest and most pitiful displays at CB ever. Just looked at the 2007 squad and discovered Darren Powell...one of, if not the most talentless footballers I have ever seen in a Saints shirt.

Paul Wotton should have made my team. One of the most limited players to ever wear the shirt. At least he tried I suppose.

Andrews O'Halloran Bennett Holgate Small Falque Pulis Lee Brereton-Diaz Dia Cramb Bit harsh to compare players being shit in the PL with those not good enough to get a game in a league 1 side, but putting that to one side, in terms of what I saw of them do in a Saints shirt, these are possibly the worst signings. Talk about rabbits in headlights. I should say that Orsic pushed Brereton-Diaz close. Danso could have made the side, but he was played out of position, so I will let him off. Yes, Pulis gets in despite not playing. I said he wasn't anywhere near good enough when we signed him and it was one of the few occasions I was right. Kevin Gibbons might make the bench, and NiIssen. I'd like to get Bernhard and Nigel Quashie in somehow. I'm still scarred from that 2004/5 season. The latter's disgraceful effort away at at QPR will live in my memory forever.

It will be interesting to see if Eckhart can implement some changes in that time. Ten days isn't a lot, especially if some players disappear on international duty (how many do we lose these days?), but it is enough time to drill a back four and/or get a shape right, get a press right, get across a little bit of what he wants players to do in certain positions. It should be ample time to analyse the opposition and have things in place to nullify what they do well.

I'd like to see us push two or three up when we are defending corners. I wonder if that would give our keeper a little more room to come claim a deeper cross. More room for attackers of course.

Ah. I missed that. Real shame about the injuries and the timing otherwise he may have been at the standard we needed this season. Good luck to him.

If we hadn't just got Romeu, I'd be suggesting we look to loan Lewis Cook from Bournemouth. He was injured at the start of the season, but hasn't had much playing time since returning from injury. Maybe they are just easing him back. He's probably way out of our league.

Good to hear. He's a goalscorer, no doubt about it. The two bad injuries obviously stalled his career and ruined his chances of making it here, but every chance he forges a very good career. I am guessing we wont offer him a new contract, but if he keeps scoring at that rate the club would have to reconsider wouldn't they?

Cureton was at Saints as a youngster. Unfortunately, he and Darren Eadie slipped through our fingers.

I have to say, I was surprised they got promoted having lost a lot of their best players in the summer. Farke has to take a lot of credit for picking them back up and beating pretty much everyone on their way to 100 points. Not sure how much input he had on transfers, but Tanaka, Solomon and Rodon were astute signings. He got a few more goals out of Piroe and more from Gnonto. Not sure who was `debating' his sacking, but it feels a little far fetched. I know there will have been doubts about his ability to keep them up, but you can't really sack a guy that has got you promoted until he starts to struggle can you? Is that now though perhaps? Seems a little premature.

Swansea?