suewhistle

He was very decent and although not the tallest had an excellent jump on him: wasn't he a member of the 92 club, having played all the clubs in the FL at the time? I think we agree on Tommy Fourpast as well...

I'm not sure the latest on Leed's managerial situation. Will they have new manager bounce, thank christ he's left bounce or no manager bounce?

Well, I was doing some pretty heavy spiroing in that last 12 minutes of injury time! Desperate defending somebody said, but they were _all_ putting the effort in, and at the end defending from the front. If only Moi had more than one pace, and no tendency to misplace passes when it mattered. AMN looked a bit better too, although careless at times. The substitutions were all unsurprising given the levels of fitness of the players substituted but it was good to see Lavia getting more of the game this time. Some of his turns and bursts of acceleration in the first half were luscious. I don't think there was any doubt about the players playing for the manager, and that will be half the battle in the games to come.

Given that CC and Salisu are not even on the bench I'm assuming injuries..

Yes, he had a bout of covid and has never seemed the same since. When he's come on as sub since he's never quite met my expectations based on past form. A shame really.

You mean the Liz Truss approach? Everybody our of step except me JWP does, he is always covering and making himself available, he never hides like some players: what he doesn't have is acceleration or pace and there's not much you can do about that. Sometimes I get the feeling that he is trying to do too much to cover, but the first half display against Wolves with Lavia and Alcaraz showed promise for our midfield.

When I was at Southampton we were banned from UC nfor a few years due to misbehaviour, possibly being ale house brawlers - it was around about that time!

I wasn't too concerned when he came back. Not until they actually played him..

To my mind I think there are two issues with the "pathway": bringing them in to the team at the moment and how it is all presented. There haven't really been any safe opportunities to get them on the pitch with our current dire situation and I suspect the general consensus is that they aren't physically ready for the grind we find ourselves in. But we could certainly be more positive about their prospects down the line: "yes, not ready but not far away" type of presentation. As the example of Kane shows, there is nothing wrong with loans for development either. Perhaps get a few goals up against Grimsby (yeah well..) and bring one on. The buzz for the whole B team would be great and I'm sure all the team mates would help him celebrate his match day bonus!

Hurrah! The trains appear to be running normally. This means no driving and the ability to have a decent level of pre-match anaesthesia to numb the pain.. Like Convict Colony my default and preferred attitude is optimism: some on here surprise me by still not having topped themselves, but for once they have some justification. I'm old enough to remember Branfoot and this feels as bad. At least I've got a dose of football on Sunday afternoon as well to sweat all the angst out of my system..

I also noted that Big Paul didn't seem a great jumper, but in his defence from memory I thought the balls played towards him were all a bit hit and hope, and not ones you'd attack such as free kicks or decent crosses into a danger area. Let's hope he gets better service when he plays.

I've waited until Wednesday evening..

Interesting. I know not many of us are impressed with the formation or team selection, but to what degree do you think the lack of success is due to that or the players just not playing that formation very effectively at the moment, and perhaps not carrying out instructions? Let's face it, tracking back and marking are pretty basic things at any level. I didn't see too much of the first half but Bree didn't look too out of place in the second considering he'd been thrown in to such a match so quickly after arriving. He seems to be able to do the basics and he didn't give me Lee Todd vibes (one for the older ones amongst you..). As to Che, he finally puts his laces through the ball and finds the corner from distance: let's hope it gives him the confidence he needs.

I'm normally very polite, but having rushed back from training tonight to see our generous three at the back being nice to you, all I can say is "do go and do one, my dear".. Enjoy your blood money, and when you see Shearer in the stands with his big black and white scarf remember I saw him score his debut hattrick from under the West stand.

Very wise, and apart from a check here later on in the day (this board is at least quicker than the OS!) I've plenty of other things to do as I'm retired! This board is actually a very small sub-set of Saints fans. I go and watch a dire offering at St. Marys and the last thing I want to do afterwards is to come on here where an even smaller sub-set of fans revel in negativity and make repetitive and sarcastic comments they think clever and insightful. It's often even more depressing than the football I've just watched.

What about Dibling? I'll be there but more rail bus replacement services so that will put some off. My train on Tuesday was cancelled so I ended up walking 2.5 miles home from a different station so car and sobriety it is then.

Anguille are an endangered species, don't you know..

Looks like Villareal knew about the problem which was why they didn't want a loan deal. Seems that with Jackson and Ings we've escaped expensive medical problems. I'm happy buying a back up who is cheap due to being near the end of his contract. On a motoring forum recently I saw a comment about Tesla potentially losing its premium car rating due to becoming cheaper. Obviously some people equate price with quality, and I haven't done that from years before the signing of Carillo!

and relax.....

Oh, give it a &&&&ing rest. Third and final post

I skipped, I waltzed, I stomped in the puddles! Even better I found a bottle of Proper Job left over from guests at the weekend chilling on the back doorstep. As to a football comment, that was no fluke and well deserved. Everybody made their contribution in a true team game. As my friend texted: "Happiness is the pure joy on the faces of the Saints players!". They were playing without fear and will have had a tremendous boost to their confidence, which has been sorely lacking. JWP looks better further forward, Lyanco lost a few people bets on being booked first, and what an assist! Anybody who won a bet tonight deserves it! Grealish, who probably cost more than the whole Saints team got hooked.. Please can we win at Goodison.

I'm off to trudge to the pub. I doubt I'll be skipping back..

You cycnical, cynical barsteward.. I laughed..

A fan spending less on a match ticket is likely to be there! But match ticket and train fare (and jogging back to catch the last train..) a few calming drinks beforehand, all to watch us possibly being as hapless as Chelsea. I caught the last 25 minutes of the game as I happened to be wandering past a pub showing it and I was curious.. and now like Pickles above!

All local games off today and I was getting stir crazy with all the rain so wandered into my village for a pint. Overheard a local Blackpool supporter talking about the draw so had a chat and we're both happy..