CamSaint

City also have Ortega kicking his heels in their squad. No.2 to Ederson for 3 seasons up to the summer when they signed Donnarumma, Trafford & Bettenelli. Played 13 PL games last season, plus 6 cup games and 2CL games. Like Bettenelli, he hasn't featured at all this season. Possible 1/2 season loan if City would cover most of the wages?

From Saints' point of view, though, without the Dibling money we probably wouldn't have bought either Scienza or Fellows (especially as we would obviously still have had Dibling here). IMHO those two have collectively had more impact than we probably could have expected from Dibling himself.

This looks damning, except 7 of those matches were with Still in charge. His record: P7 W0 D3 L4 - 3pts from 21. Eckert P3 W1 D1 L1 - 4 pts from 9.

And who gets left out from Fellows, Azaz, Scienza & Armstrong? (Unless Fellows plays RB).

Unfortunately for the last few weeks both Mads & Jelert have been injured so we don't have a fit traditional RB unless there is one in the U-21s.

Yes.

This will be an interesting test for Eckert if Leo cannot play tomorrow. You'd expect that at some stage of the season we will be without one or more of Leo, Azaz and Fellows due to injury (or illness), especially when you see the sort of treatment Leo, in particular, is getting from opposition defenders. All managers have to deal with injury problems - Alex Neill at Millwall being a prime example. It will be fascinating to see how (or if) Tonda adapts the style of play if he is forced into replacing Leo as well as Downes tomorrow. We do have a big squad so he does have options open to him - let's see how he deals with it!

You're welcome😊

You've misinterpreted the post again, as I didn't use the phrase 'more leeway'. I said: 'Of course I accept that that's not equivalent to any of our very recent managerial merry-go-rounds, as Koeman had secured a 7th place finish the previous season and obviously was a massive name in football so had a lot of credit in the bank, but it does serve to highlight that even the best managers can have some very sticky patches. I hope that whoever gets appointed, whether it is Eckert or someone else, is given a little bit of leeway if things go badly for a while before the 'manager out' clamour starts again.' Nowhere do I suggest that Still or any of recent managerial appointments deserved 'more' leeway.

Your interpretation, not mine.

But everything on here (and probably other clubs' forums as well) is built on a short term view. Suppose a Saints manager had a 10 match spell winning only one league match and drawing another as well as being eliminated from both cups? I suspect that most on here would be baying for blood and demanding that the manager be sacked. And yet.......that was exactly what happened in the 2015-16 season between November and January under Koeman, who many regard as our best manager in recent memory. During that spell we slumped from 7th to 13th in the PL. However, of course, we stuck by him and got through that patch to have a storming last part of the season, finishing 6th in the PL. Of course I accept that that's not equivalent to any of our very recent managerial merry-go-rounds, as Koeman had secured a 7th place finish the previous season and obviously was a massive name in football so had a lot of credit in the bank, but it does serve to highlight that even the best managers can have some very sticky patches. I hope that whoever gets appointed, whether it is Eckert or someone else, is given a little bit of leeway if things go badly for a while before the 'manager out' clamour starts again.

How impressed are people with Middlesborough's impending appointment of Kim Hellborg as Head Coach (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce3kd3xdgego)? It would appear that he was also interviewed by Swansea.

If a new manager was appointed who had previously worked with Tonda in some capacity, do we think Tonda would then stay in the first team set-up or return to the U-21s? I assume he would go back to the U-21s in any other scenario (other than getting the job himself, of course!).

Interesting comment from the BBC website: Didi Hamann Former Germany midfielder on RTE Sport When Finn Azaz was moved to the middle, it changed the game.

How many interviews would Spors require for the 'preferred candidate(s)'? Martin said that he had numerous interviews before being appointed at Rangers, and Ekhart said that he had 4 (I think) interviews at Saints before getting the U-21 job. I know both of those situations were in the close season, but I'd imagine that Spors & the Board would want to interview those short listed more than once........