Jack

He’s not even fully fit or had a run of games to be at his best, but he’s by far our best option. If he can play through til the end of the season then it’s a no brainer to keep him IMO, as long as the club realise he’ll probably always need to be managed minutes-wise and we’d need another proper option up top.

Have to beat a side that’s getting comfortably hammered at home by Pompey

Yeah decent away day that. Port Vale, Macclesfield or Mansfield would be the other interesting ones for me as new/rare grounds. Bit northern though

I’d say Peretz has been a big factor. 2 of those 4 wins required the clean sheet as they were 1-0, and he made a couple of excellent saves at Stoke to make that relatively easy going. I think he gives the back 4 the confidence they need, rather than them needing to deal with absolutely everything as Bazunu would be glued to his line. The rest of it, totally agree.

I think, or hope, that the way we currently set up just allows us to win games by having better players than the majority of opponents. As long as we work hard enough, we should be too good for a lot of teams. The previous formation completely nullified too many of our best players and exposed our dodgy defence. We’re so much more solid with the extra man in midfield rather than in defence

Not to mention we’ve now got a GK who at least looks to take the pressure off his back 4, and keeps a few shots out. I think our heads were dropping a lot when soft goals were going through Bazunu. This squad doesn’t need extra excuses to hide behind

I think we were just a bit of a one trick pony and it was easy to work out and shut down: Knock it around a bit, find THB in space, reverse/disguised ball into the middle where Arma dropped into space, all of a sudden the opposition were running towards their own goal and we had the likes of Fellows and Scienza going in the right direction. But as soon as those passes were shut down, we had no out ball and no target man, just knocked it around until losing it. But with the back 5 we’d often lose it with our midfield the wrong side of the ball and/or outnumbered in the middle. And with far too much space behind the wing backs which everyone targeted. Plus some mental weakness and lack of desire/effort when the going got tough. These days generally when we lose possession we do so further up the pitch, with defenders in a better shape, and recover and win second balls more often (Leicester first half aside). That’s how I see it anyway with very limited tactical knowledge.

We’re a really unpredictable side this season, either consistently shit or consistently winning. 2 wins in 13 (Still) 6 wins in 7 (New manager bounce) 0 wins in 7 (Tonda found out) 4 wins in 5 (Back 4, proper goalkeeper) Even in this latest run we’ve been pretty poor at times but got the job done, just don’t think we’re that far away from putting together another stinking run if things start going against us. Hope I’m wrong, on paper the next 3 are very winnable and if we do, maybe I’ll start to believe it’s on.

Absolute nonsense. If you finish outside of the top 6 after a 46 game season, you’ve got no business thinking about being in the division above.

Figuratively. There was 45 seconds or so of header tennis between them kicking off and the whistle

Was really trying to think of other top ones. Winning from behind at Spurs, winning at Old Trafford, few other unlikely wins here and there but there’s nothing that can compare to being that far out of a game then coming back to win it with the last kick. Agree, fans were quality last night despite the low numbers. There’s been such a disconnect between the fans and players in recent times but the fans got right behind them with the much needed triple substitution at HT. Players came out way more up for it, fans responded, players responded to that. When the Stewart goal went in it felt like we were right in the game despite still being 2 down, it felt like it was on.

Whoever starts, they need to analyse the first half of last night’s game and do the exact opposite. Play a target man, move the ball quicker, don’t aim for 700+ passes across the back 4, show for the ball, play into midfield, press, get stuck in and win 2nd balls.

It takes it for me. Prior to that I think it was Millwall away when Lambert scored the 2 late penalties for his hattrick to win it 3-2 from 2-1 down. We’d lumped some money on Lambert hattrick too. Last night was ridiculous. I feel weird about it, the away end was so angry about the first half performance, rightly so as it was pathetic. They were loudly booed off. I don’t think I’d have hung around long if Tonda didn’t make HT changes. Makes it even sweeter as we owed Leicester one for so many reasons, “Southampton, it’s happening again”. Numbers wise maybe only 800-1000 Saints there? Going from being full of regret at the wasted trip at HT to hurtling down the stairs for a 96th min winner at our end - stuff of dreams

Thought he was excellent last night. Fellows was ineffective, though everyone was, and had the shocker for the pass back. Matsuki isn’t going to beat players but he’s combative and can pick a pass, and fight for everything. We needed that last night.

Not really sure whose idea it is, but our first half tactic from goal kicks of: Stephens to GK, GK to THB, THB to GK, GK to Stephens, Stephens to Welington, Welington to a Leicester player, Leicester player to back of our net …that needs analysing and putting in the bin to never be seen again. Welington had a shocker first half but I felt for him, he was meant to be the outlet ball after inviting pressure, but he had no pass available as no movement in midfield and a static/useless Archer so couldn’t even go long. For the life of me I can’t understand a CB taking a goal kick 5 yards to our keeper (who’s shit with his feet BTW), knocking it around the back until giving it away in a dangerous area. Absolutely stinks and we persisted until 3-0 down. We can credit Tonda for finally changing it at HT but should’ve binned that after about 20 mins, and brought on a target man to get the ball into their half a bit.

Just home thanks to roadworks on every bit of road between Leicester and Soton. Bizarre game, as shit as we were first half, I thought Leicester were too and it was just a case of everything they hit went in. I said at HT, reckon we get the next one and they’ll shit themselves, thinking we might make a game of it. Fuck me did we make a game of it. One for the ages. Feel for those who left early. I’ve left games at 3-0 down before but felt it wasn’t quite done yet. Had a 4th gone in, I’d have been on my way back to the car. We got smashed 5-0 last time I was there so was thinking it’d be more of the same, sweet revenge

Joe Rothwell is not

Boro look really good. Taking risks in the right areas, getting the fuck rid of it when they have to. Very little desire to boringly recycle it, good to see

Just looking at Leicester’s form, didn’t realise it was that bad. Their only win in the last 7 was at home vs WBA (2-1) and 5 defeats in those 7. Lost their last 2 home games vs Oxford and Charlton. Start fast and it’ll be a very toxic home crowd.

I didn’t get the chance to see a game there but I highly recommend wandering around La Boca and doing the stadium tour there too. Really cool part of the city, great BBQs like you say

I wouldn’t mind seeing Fellows and Scienza swapping sides at times for that reason, and crossing with their stronger foot. Especially if we’re going to play a big lump up top. Fellows especially, when he gets to the byline it’s a shit floated cross to the back post and beyond

Landed yesterday afternoon

2pm

Emailed to ST holders. Lots of questions around matchday habits (where you spend your money, and why not at the ground), what would persuade you to renew, whether you’d take up new ST perks like hospitality upgrades. The answer to just about all of it for me is sort out the management structure and first team issues and cash flow will follow. Changing the beer again or quality of sausage rolls isn’t going to increase revenue if we’re performing terribly.

Would be interesting to know how many tickets are actually scanned at the turnstile vs the numbers they publish. There have been huge gaps especially for the midweek games. Where I stand in the Northam it’s felt like there’s loads of space at the last few