Patches O Houlihan

OK - so now I'm imagining a chant for Ryan based on the He-Man theme tune 😁😁

Adam Blackmore interviewing Russell Martin after the away win at Hull. RM refers to Ryan Fraser as 'wee man'. 😁 To be fair it can be tricky to tell them apart Great goal Ryan. First of many I hope

We were the first team to beat them at their place in 2023 apparently

Definitely. That's the first time I've ever heard her say anything. She seems really emotionally attached to the club.

Your wife stayed up dancing 😉

🌝 🥢

I bet you had an early night, cocoa and a bedtime book on your wedding night didn't you?! Life as a Saints fan is shit enough without trying to be unhappy when we score a 5th minute of injury time winner, away in the north of England that moves us into the playoff places again!

I only saw the second half, but I saw a far more resilient defensive unit than I'm used to.

Not for me - he's a bit dopey

When I was in that part of the world the big rivalry was with Oxford. Maybe it’s not worth the trouble if the antagoniser is only a bucket rattler, not a skate…

Why is it Russell's fault that the players can't finish so many clear cut chances? Too easy to blame the manager for this one. Yes I wouldn't have made that triple substitution at that moment but we should have had 2 or 3 goals by then

Looks like I was right 😁

Just watched the extended press conference prior to Rotherham this afternoon. The last question was interesting. RM at pains to make clear that he won't try to coach the aggressiveness out of Charly Alcaraz or Flynn Downes. That its an element that brings an edge to their game and if he did so he'd take away from their overall skill set. When set against the rest of the conversation you can see that he feels many players get over coached and become a confused lesser version of themselves, and he is keen to avoid that. I can't help it. I like Russell, like I liked Ralph. He just seems like a good bloke. I'm pleased we ended our losing streak and were able to sort out the midfield better before things got too tense. Really want him (and Saints) to do well.

I don't know whether this is the case or not, but you could imagine a young player who has been called up to the World Champions squad to play alongside Messi being nervous about getting injured and having to miss his first call up. So playing at 90% rather than 100%... A pragmatic manager might choose not to start them when they have already played twice that week, and they are keeping Che Adams on the bench (devaluing an asset likely to be sold in January)

That's great news. Really pleased for Charly. One thing I love about him is his determination to get stuck in and try to influence the game. When he came on at Gillingham you could see how pissed off he was, you could see that he believed he could score four on his own to win us the game, even if the others on the pitch had given up hope. In the end he only managed to get one goal for us, but it wasn't for want of trying. Understudy to Messi, playing for Saints 😁😁😁

I just found the link. Yes you're right, it was at St Mary's, and I'd forgotten he'd had Covid too. Ings's goal was in the 2nd minute. So we'd been defending heroically for 91 minutes, and we know how emotional Ralph tended to be on the touchline even in the best of times. I'm more than happy to give the man a break. I met him unexpectedly, out of context in a shop while he was manager, seemed like a really good guy.

If I remember correctly there was more than just the usual club rollercoaster going on at that moment? Hadn't his wife been in hospital and nearly died? And then within a week he'd pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win at Anfield with that team. Also I think Liverpool/Klopp were the only team in the PL he hadn't beaten at that point so it gave him the complete set? Plus he had done his coaching badges alongside Klopp, and playing the same way, and with a Germanic background, everywhere he went he was called 'Alpine Klopp' which would have pissed anyone off. So to have achieved that result, and throw off that emotional baggage, the same week your wife pulls through: I would have welled up, and I challenge any of you critics to imagine being in that situation, and truthfully claim you wouldn't have felt properly emotional. Week after week we hear the neg heads on hear bleating about how the players don't care, and the manager doesn't care, and the execs/owners don't care. Then when they do show that they care you pull them to pieces...

In his interview with Adam Blackmore he said Mara had trained really well, was super fit and raring to go, and that he hadn't had the opportunities historically that he perhaps might of done. It sounded like Russell felt he owed it to him. There was a slight vibe of 'Che hasn't done enough recently to justify his place', but this was derailed by Che walking past at that moment so Russ had to blow smoke up his arse! Radio Solent Interview

With my professional seafarer hat on: All structures over 30m tall are required to have a red light; whether that's radio aerials, buildings, yacht masts, whatever. The lighting on the Itchen bridge wouldn't really affect pilots, but it crosses a commercial waterway that is in use at all times of day. When you are entering port as a mariner you keep the red navigation lights on your left (to port) and the green light on your right (to starboard). The yanks do it the other way around because they are awkward buggers. It is not uncommon in an urban marine context to have navigation lights on shore based structures, so there might be an argument that red lights on the bridge could cause confusion. British Waterways or the Marine Coastguard Agency would be the bodies that would have to decide that. It might be a case of red bulbs are ok as long as they are partially shaded, or maybe the wattage of the bulbs isn't too strong. Alternate blue and yellow might be easier & cheaper to organise.

Does anyone have a link to the full Russell Martin interview on Sky? Sounded interesting, but I was sorting something out for my wife so only half heard it, and then couldn’t rewind to it.

I bet he'll be gone in January if we get Stewart up to speed. [cynic mode]And if he's fuming all he needs to do to get a run out is perform how he does when the transfer window is open...[/cynic mode]

I was watching the game on a small screen, and it was difficult to tell Bree & Downes apart. Am I right in thinking Bree played right midfield when he came on, to help KWP defend that side?

Bloody Ipswich got an equaliser in the 87th minute

We had a BMW with run flats from the factory, and swapped them for normal tyres to improve the ride (and save ~£100 a corner at the risk of having to use tyre foam) With quite a lot of German saloons/estates you'll see the back wheels have quite a lot of camber (the rear wheels lean in at the top). This puts more pressure on the inside shoulder of the tyre. Our tyres always wore out on that inside edge first - not because they were inflated wrong, but because the car was designed like that. When a car corners at high speed the outside wheels tilt because of the grip generated by the tyres, if you tilt that outer tyre inwards by design when stationary, then it becomes flat when cornering at high speed; more tyre surface area is presented to the tarmac and you have more grip. The downside is that you wear the tyres out faster. Ideally you'd want the same brand and model tyre all round, but in this case I wouldn't bother changing. Both axles have quality tyres, with the tyres matching on an axle.