OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Yep, fell out of love with Poch after he put out that team against Sunderland in the Cup. I appreciate I'm a bit of a dinosaur, but I still remember the days when the FA Cup was taken seriously and it practically occupied a whole day's TV - so I still want a cup run. And anyway, that's just the nail in the stick. Tonda's obsession with a back 5 was baffling (inspiring many conspiracy theories that orders came from above) and his substitutions have often been ill timed and weakened the team. With Stewart and Charles coming back, we've looked a lot better and we've had a couple of recent lucky breaks (Sheff Utd & Leicester in particular). It's not been down to any great genius by Eckert. So my jury is still out but beat Coventry, Ipswich and Wrexham and the jury will make their verdict. 😀

Earlier in the season, playing off Stewart against Norwich, I thought there could be a role for him in the team, but his subsequent performances have been absolute dross. I don't buy in to the 'lacks confidence' argument. His touch is awful, he can't hold up the ball, he doesn't seem to fight for the ball in the penalty area and those misses against Leicester were classics. Hopefully we've seen the last of him.

Despaired at the level of respect he's shown to the FA Cup. I don't buy in to this 10 people needed to be rested for the next league game in a week's time. And when someone like Edozie plays well and looks like he's going to cause more trouble to Leicester, he gets hooked off. As a Leicester fan said: Leicester can't even beat a team trying to lose". He lost a lot of winnable games over Christmas and his substitutions made the team worse. He realised he had to change something and stumbled across a four at the back set up - which most of this forum has been asking for for ages. And now, having a presence in midfield and Stewart playing again, we look more balanced. He's just done the obvious. So the jury is out for me too.

Totally agree. Pleased enough with his performance yesterday. He doesn't get shoved off the ball and seems to read the game well and get in positions to receive a pass or pick up a loose ball but he needs to work on his fitness.

Hardly a worldly 😀

At least we're not playing 5 at the back otherwise we'd have been out of it by now

Yes they're having a good go and they'll enjoy their day out, but this is screaming disrespect for the tournament from Eckert!!

If you're going to give players a run out, I'm not sure this bench has the quality to turn things around if things go wrong. Good to see Edozie having a start. Reckon he could still play a big part in our season.

Is that for real? No 19 Archer is there Is that for real. No 19 Archer is there!!

Good shout. It's a bit like the club's persistence with Downs. How many games do you give Archer before you call time and drop him completely? His performance against Leicester, and not just his glaring miss in the first minute, shows he is off the pace, makes wrong choices, can't pass and is a hindrance to our progression. I'm also expecting this team. They might be concerned enough about the goalie situation to preserve Peretz and give Long a game but the couple of changes Tonda spoke about I'm guessing are the injured defenders

What's going to happen when they start issuing tickets via the App for the West Brom game? Can you still ask for a paper ticket or transfer the ticket on the App to someone else with the App? Can see it's a problem for those that share a season ticket.

Apparently they were playing their three goals at half time. I recall they showed their nine goals on their big screen in our next meeting up there which we then went and won. They really know how to motivate the opposition! If they're similarly showing their past successes against other teams, given their current position in the league, they might want to give that idea a rest.

Exactly, so try to keep the same team. Peretz stays in goal since McCarthy is apparently having surgery. Save Stewart and if Welington has a tight hamstring, then he can't be risked, but otherwise put out the best team. Start with Larin. Start with Matsuki (he was good against Leicester) and play a back 4. We're starting to feel comfortable with this formation.

That's just saved our season. Charles and Stewart were brilliant when they came on. Please Tonda, no experiments from now on. Play the strongest team from the start.

I take it all back!!

Had a real chance to push towards the play-offs today, but these players don't let us have nice things!

Baz, is that you Baz behind the Peretz mask?

Kept the back 4 which is important. Surprised about Archer getting the nod but presumably managing Loch Ness's minutes.

Sunday morning and looking at the league table and wishing us up the league! Watford three points has kept us right in it. Get something from Leicester and then the next five matches are three home games (Charlton, QPR & Norwich} and away to Sheff Wed & West Brom. That's an invitation to get right in the mix. Bringing Bree straight back in to the team a couple of games ago was inspired and Wellington was my MOTM. Having two full backs stopping the crosses has made such a difference. Add a goalkeeper who makes saves and those three clean sheets are a major reason for our change of fortunes. Up front, want to see more intent and more speed. The build up is still too slow.

Yes, best team on the pitch and pleased to see Sam Edozie on the bench. Is Robinson injured because I'd like to see Sam come on for a few minutes today?

That's about the size of it. Problem with the selling football club model is that eventually you'll run out of quality players to sell which is where we're at. Sad really but we're heading towards being just another ex-premier league club like Stoke, QPR, Leicester, WBA etc - teams that I used to think of as steady Division 1 teams. At some point, we have to build the spine which includes a competent centre forward. If Spors genuinely thought Downs was going to be our answer (when he'd already seen looky-likey Mara had been a disaster) that questions his judgement.

If he does a job similar to Che did and can not only be in the right place in the penalty area but also lay off a ball, then his loan will prove worthwhile. Like most on here, I'm not expecting much and on paper the loan deal is all pretty uninspiring, but this is the market Spors knows so hopefully he's seen something in him. Still think we should be scouting the lower leagues in this country. The physicality of the Championship has proved more than a match for signings like Mara and Downs and just because Larin looks stronger, it'll be interesting to see how he copes with being pushed around and having the odd lump kicked out of him.

I, for one, am really pleased to see AA out the door. All this top scoring nonsense. His misses at Blackburn and Portsmouth arguably lost us six points and with those points we'd be knocking on the door of the play off places. And in the Sheff Utd & Stoke games we looked better without him. Let's see what Larin does. Won't be any worse than AA.

When taking a not particularly well struck penalty and a couple of average passes are on your highlights reel, it doesn't bode well...but let's give him a chance. He's also going to have the support of the Saints wonder coaches to get him up to speed. Ah.....

Hopefully the Mateta shenanigans won't stop the move