coalman

None of our attackers have had great end product today.

If you're going to make subs then surely you've got to be giving Edozie minutes.

Now. Let's keep the pressure up and not invite a repeat of the 2-0 complacency

If that Wednesday defender miming a card doesn't get one this ref needs shooting.

That was a high foot on Matsuki

2-1 This is what being passive gets us. Now we have 1 goal lead and Wednesday will have their tails up

I would also accept scoring a third before half time.

Their keeper should've done better there.

I would reluctantly accept a repeat of midweek where we score our second just before half time before running rampant after the break.

Matuski gets fouled by two players. Nothing. Sheff Wed defender falls over trying to be clever. Free kick.

At some point Chalobah has to be penalised for blatant holding and tripping attempts when we have a corner.

Bree-zy!

I want Scienza taking that shot. Not Manning running in front of him.

We're back to our passive worst.

It's like thousands of Netflix subscribers cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

I wish Blackmore wasn't so certain we were going to win.

Even in the 5-0 win we looked pretty ordinary for most of the first half after we scored. Those are the kind of performances that have resulted in Saints becoming passive and waiting for the inevitable. What I'd really love to see is Tonda coach the team to play with higher intensity in these situations. We're not always going to be playing against QPR's Baz tribute act. The same thing played out against Charlton - our play slowed to a crawl and we didn't go for it whilst looking increasingly vulnerable and could easily have turned that performance into a loss. When we become passive we also go back to the whole dicking around at the back nonsense where we invite pressure and take unnecessary risks around our own penalty area. I think that Tonda is very much the beneficiary of fine margins being in his favour during his reign as opposed to Still where we were very much on the wrong side of them. As Napoleon noted about one of his generals "you say he's good, but is he lucky?". Teams adapted after our quick start and we got picked apart pretty easily. Our 5-1 win at Charlton showed what happens if you give our players space while trying to press. The 1-1 draw with Charlton showed there's a way to play Saints where you sit back in the low block and we lose all our intensity. A better side than Charlton would have exploited that. I imagine we'll start seeing other teams trying this approach. It also doesn't bode well for if we return to the Premier League. Our inability to turn up the intensity in pursuit of a result or to match the other side was our undoing in many matches last season. We need to (re)discover this part of our game if we're to harbour serious ambitions of staying up should we manage to get promoted. You can just about get away with being passive in the Championship if you have the players who can make a difference. You can't in the Premier League.

He used to work on the docks and now he's down on his luck? That's tough. So tough.

Yet nobody is complaining about Bodo/Glimt and their hipster /

Rothwell only just joined Sheffield United (for an undisclosed fee so we'll never know how much Rangers paid them to take him) so even Russ would struggle to persuade him. Not sure when he's back from the ban from his debut red card either. I doubt Martin fancies a relegation battle and probably won't allow himself to be tempted back into management until the summer. If he waits there's always the chance Wilcox remembers him and brings him to Man Utd of Real Madrid come knocking.

Why on earth are we risking Archer?

We're too passive. Asking for trouble

Stupid yellow there

When teams sit back like that we need the option of playing two up top. Azaz isn't going to find the magic through ball but we can pepper their box with crosses. Trouble is neither player we have for that can last 90 minutes. But there is a case for Stewart and Larin in the same team when another team parks the bus. Our lack of intensity when they were so passive was disappointing.

Lots of possession. Charlton have parked the bus. We've slowed our pace to a crawl.