OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Agreed. Yet Wood is also pretty awful so you may as well spin a coin to see who plays. Personally I prefer Jack of the two but am hoping this Abbott loan works out well for us.

Yes, and there's that nagging question: Did we have to sell him? But loyalty in football (both from a player and club perspective) is a thing of the past. He could have been instrumental in our promotion push, become club captain in the premier league and who knows. But football just sees ££££ signs nowadays. Instead, there are already signs that the grass is greener.

While I've noticed he tends to be better when the ball is on the ground, surely he can work on headers and controlling the ball at chest height. Of more concern is his natural instinct. JWP did some crosses at Brum and Mubama was nowhere near getting to the ball. If the ball is bouncing loosely around in penalty area, you feel Larin will get a foot on it .... but Mubama doesn't seem to be in the right place. But it's early days and his attitude looks good.

Exactly. We've got Lincoln, Swansea, Bristol City and Wrexham before the international break and three of them (at least) will be eyeing the play-offs so we need to give ourselves every chance of beating them. And then the players can be rested for a couple of weeks.

You saw the same match as me. Also concerned about our attacking options after Larin. A couple of times JWP did really good crosses but Mubama seemed to be nowhere near challenging for the ball.

Yes, totally agree that these two were good when they came on. Didn't have the best view near the front, but they seemed to have the clearer chances. From a match perspective, everything by us seemed a little rushed, mainly because our players were closed down quickly. Larin tried hard and held the ball up well. Azaz's passes didn't come off today but he was the main player looking for openings. Downes again was excellent. Wasn't that impressed with Schlotterbeck today who seemed to be having his own compo on how high he could kick the ball. But hey, a point away against a well drilled Birmingham team isn't that bad a result.

Tend to agree, Saintant. Yes JWP has come in, but with Shea Charles leaving, there's a potential exposure in midfield, especially if Flynn Downes goes off eating raw chicken or gets injured. We lack muscle in midfield.

Ah the bastards. Another reason to thump them and another reason to take on board everyone's travel advice. Disappointed that THB has finally gone, but we have one centre back replacement and the team spirit seems to be strong. Hoping and expecting a win because there's goals in our team and we're not relying on just one or two people to score.

Always thought that was a fake photo. After our statement win today, a win here really could set up our season because the games get a little easier after this. Dorrige is a 20 minute train journey away (although on the route out back south). Is there really no place to park within walking distance of the stadium?

And other Bolton fans saying he was never going to do well at Southampton after having played for Portsmouth 😀

Not sure Spors has earned our trust. His fishing pond seems to be mainly limited to Germany. And after Sekou Mara, he then picks Downs, who is truly useless, and I'm not yet convinced Dobbin is much better than Archer. And even Jander might be less than a one season wonder.

Thanks MLG but that says Viking want 100 million for him!

With Quarshie out on loan and THB probably on the move, is Kevin Schlotterbeck going to be our only CB signing? An unknown plus Wood & Stephens doesn't fill one with confidence.

But we now have a chant when we play West Ham 😀

I'm half coming back to thinking this could be a good signing. Can you imagine if he scores in his first free kick? There'll be an earthquake in Southampton!

So Villa have just missed out on their No1 target centre back to Villa. On top of that, they have sold us Dobbin who is doing a good impression of being a dud. Right, Villa, you want THB. You have pissed us about. The price is now £35m!

Problem is, when you sign a 6ft 5in striker who is the fastest in the Bundesliga for only a couple of million quid, you know there's something missing ... and unfortunately, he's not very good at kicking a football. From memory, last season they did a high press on us which caused our defence to make mistakes and we got stuck in our own third a lot, so not sure about Quarshie. But by the same token, Jack Stephens and Wood are a pretty awful pairing, so Quarshie should be on the bench.

Yes, this sideways and backwards crap is creeping noticeably back in to our style of play. Not just yesterday but also in our other league matches and carabao cup game. Much more positivity is needed. And what's of concern is that their subs were up (apart from Manning) arguably our first team. Our guys looked like they couldn't be arsed so hopefully some rockets will be fired up some of them!

Early days but he looks like another Archer. I feel it's a bit unfair playing Scienza. Bit like putting at U18 player in an U14 match! Jack Stephens needs to wake up. Another awful performance so far and he was shit against Stoke on Saturday.

So the story goes, JWP called Nuno a baldy when at Forest and not one to hold a grudge, Nuno has ostracised JWP ever since.

The BBC website made a good fist of trying to explain Villa's situation though I still didn't fully understand it. More concerning is our own. Are we selling THB because we need to or because he wants to go? If we need to, surely our net income by selling Shea Charles alone matches our expenditure this window and with the Fernandes add on and other bits and pieces we must be ok in which case THB should be valued at twice the number being touted. If he wants to go, it's another matter but how desparate is he to make big bucks?

Interested to see what Tonda does. He could make it a showcase window and put out Ramsdale, Archer, BBD, Edozie and whoever else we might want to flog in the next week. I wouldn't want to see Downes put can understand he might be desparate to play. There are certain players that should be rested (Larin, Scienza) and there are others that could be given a full game (Mubama, Dobbin).

Hopefully Villa move on and find someone else and THB stays ... and I don't think he'll be disgruntled. There's a lot of people who want him here.

Biggest crowd for a first round game. Excellent atmosphere. 9,000 away fans. That's how to do it. We should have given West Ham the usual away allocation plus as much of the Chapel as they wanted and done a deal for the home fans. Our greedy bastards are forgetting a full house also sells more drinks (a couple of pints is over a tenner for a start), probably more merchandise and gets kids watching the club. My first Saints game was versus Derby (5-0 in the League Cup 1974?) and I've looked back ever since!

I've always called it No Mannings Land! Totally agree with what you said Patches about giving the "Cheat" chant back, especially when their players dive, go down with cramp to waste time etc.