OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

He's evidently been coaching Tom Fellows on how to kick a ball judging by high it went. He was trying his best not to look sheepish after he kicked it which suggests he didn't put a lot of thought in to what he was doing!

The most notable difference I can see from my untrained eye is the speed of movement from defence to attack which is a pleasure to watch. Millwall closed us down quickly but we didn't have Scienza or Downes that day, and they made a huge difference against Brum's press. A couple of training ground drills:- 1) Tom Fellows (who is getting better by the game) need to practice shooting along the ground; 2) Ryan Manning needs to break the habit of a lifetime and practice getting closer to the attacker without pushing or fouling him.

I was trying to think back to when I've enjoyed watching Saints so much. Yes, we scored a lot of goals and went on that unbeaten run under RM last time we were in the Championship, but it wasn't exciting football. Probably Ralph at his peak...

Great game to watch. You can see the confidence in the team. Edge of the seat stuff at the end but I wish we wouldn't sit back and invite trouble. Have a release for corners. Good to also see Archer hopefully keeping Downs off the sub's bench. My only real criticism is allowing Joe Aribo on the pitch. He's a liability and not someone who can help protect a lead.

Starting to look very settled. Nowadays, I look more to the bench. Disappointed that Matsuki or Edozie aren't on it, though perhaps Robinson will come on to run at their defence if Fellows or Scienza run out of puff.

Maybe I'm an optimist but I'm looking at those play-off places and thinking that's our target and easily reachable...so still all to play for. And Convict, I'm missing your pre-match stream advice. Hopefully you can give a pointer or two just prior to today's match.

And I remember him coming on at Northampton and while he didn't do anything spectacular, he looked competent and in control of the ball. I am also really confused with Eckert's persistence with Aribo (and Downs). He's now got a settled starting 11 and we're getting off to a good start but his substitutions seriously weaken the team. Matsuki, even Edozie, need game time.

Look at the clues....who's heard of a doubting Wolfgang? Let's see what happens tomorrow and on Tuesday. Six points and Tonda will be staking a major claim for the job.

Interesting find, SuperSAINT. That does make a lot of sense because he is regularly ill and he even looks unhealthy. Does this go back to his eating that dodgy chicken? After that, I'm sure he played a lot of games on the bounce and was one of our stars two years ago. He has a lot to offer and our medical bods should be working overtime getting him eating the right diet and match fit.

Demarai Gray is a left winger so should be on the opposite side to Manning because otherwise he'll be getting in those crosses all day long to Stansfield. If Scienza is fit and confident that Tonda has got them practising ways of getting through a rapid high press, I'm expecting another goalfest. 4-2 Saints win.

Always brings a smile when kids are singing the line "I loved them as a nipper..."

Everyone seems to be singing the same songs nowadays. Flicking between the Sky channels tonight, you're hearing "Always believe in...." at Arsenal. At Brighton, there is the version of "It started in a chapel..." Of the channels, recommend the Brighton game. It's just depressing seeing South coast clubs like Brighton and Bournemouth doing well and us going nowhere fast.

Against Millwall we were missing arguably our best two players in Scienza and Charles and Downes was also unavailable. That's quite a chunk out of the team. What I would like to see at goal kicks is Armstrong coming back to give another out option for the defence and mixing it up more with goal kicks getting to the half way line and us chasing that second ball. And for corners, we need to have a release. Someone on the half way line. Someone half way between the penalty area and half way line. Chelsea did this against Arsenal. And if Aribo comes on as a sub, we need to boo him. Sod that song. We need to let Tonda & SR know that this guy should not be wearing a Saints shirt.

Understand what you're saying, Dusic, so I am a little less concerned than I was with Tonda bigging Aribo up - but even Matsuki should surely be before Joe Aribo on the subs bench.

His comments about Aribo worry me a lot! Anyone could see that Aribo's performance on Saturday was woeful and while Tonda can't use those words, he can certainly avoid beefing the guy up. I would hope SR have kept Tonda informed of their thinking. He definitely showed his inexperience against Millwall and he needs to work out how to get the ball forward on the ground given our vertically challenged forward line. Hopefully Brum will use the same high press and our guys can show they have worked out an answer for it.

And relegation places starting to look sorted already. For comedy value, the Plymouth striker getting sent off yesterday was good. Mr Angry kicked the touchline ball in to the stands and slipped on his arse in the process.

Are you visiting Paqueta Island? 😉. Or just ITK? 😉

Paqueta Island rejoicing again? Looks like he deliberately wanted to get sent off.

Never a great fan of analysing the stats but when it's combined with what you see week in week out, you do feel he's costing us. Spors first signing of a third goalkeeper said to me that SR expected promotion this season and Ramsdale would be back from loan duties so there was no point in signing anyone else in goal. So we were going to be stuck with two substandard goalies. Maybe that even determines the managers wanting to play 5 at the back to give more cover for them but you have to say, Baz doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Wasn't their chant 'nobody likes us and we don't care'? They don't care about other clubs. If anything, Charlton is probably their closest opposition.

But this has always been the case and was the big downfall with RM's plan in the Premier League. Teams know how to press effectively nowadays so do we practice finding an out ball in training with opposition around them? It's a bit like watching the goalkeepers in pre=match warm-up. They all look like they've got a safe pair of hands with no-one around them, but for corners, Baz tends to be a flapper and has no presence. Again, it looks like they haven't practiced these situations. Admittedly, you can't hoof all goal kicks to AA hoping he's going to win the first ball but yesterday he was far too far up the pitch at goal kicks.

Was all a bit odd because I don't even think Millwall consider West Ham rivals. And I would say, while I didn't do a Turkish and go in all guns blazing and instead took my scarf off, I went in to the Den chippy right outside their main entrance and had one of the best pre-match meals I've had for a long time.

And we were lucky to take the lead. All around us were whining about Manning's awful corner and didn't notice the ref had pointed to the penalty spot for a shirt pull and we were practically on top of the goal. That said, it was a well taken penalty.

And yes they were missing players, but arguably we're missing our best two in Scienza and Charles and then with Downes out as well, we were very light in midfield.

There aren't many grounds you go to where the atmosphere is all around the ground - it's just annoying it's that pointless noise they do. Poor subs today. Minus point to Tonda. Would go as far as to say Aribo cost us the game. Waste of space. And Manning did more bad than good. Surely Wellington isn't that poor. When Robinson was on we had someone prepared to go at the opposition so bring on Matsuki rather than Aribo. Also felt Armstrong was too far forward when we were playing out from the back, so there were no chances to pass to him to flick on to another runner. Most important, I felt towards the end they wanted it more than us - which is something we have to get out of the system.