West end Saints

Think maybe you could have worked out using last 28 without my help?! Don't know why triggered CB's most common response? It's not doing you any harm, it is explained and harmless, without any controversial opinion! I'm not saying it will happen, I did it expecting to see this good run, with only 18 games left, would show we are not making anywhere enough progress against Leicester .

Purely for my curiosity, tried alternative current form process to estimate possible target points. I felt that Leicester were out of reach as their current form after an amazing start would see them home... Current form is a good indicator, but it is hard to argue whether 6 , 10 , 12 games I the best indictor. There are 18 games left, so thought would look whether 18 game current form from the last 18 games, if mirrored for the next and final 18 games would leave us too short to go up automatically... Happy for anyone to check my maths.. Leicester 95 Ipswich 93 Saints 100 Leeds 92 Please check as was surprised. The way the club have played since 7 October put us on target to win the league even if team don't have blimp but carry on as they are.

They will care, but don't have guarantees. There could easily been the situation where Bednarek and Stephens kept their places, Man City would not have a say in it. What happens when loan player doesn't play much depends on the terms agreed in the loan. It may be irrelevant, if the contract was a season loan, if there is a recall clause it may mean recall is more likely to happen, or it may mean that a recall option becomes live (don't think this is common). However, for a January loan I doubt there is anything formal, I would guess it is more down to: Loan fee Share of wages Where player wants to go Less extent is the club seen as one who will be good for the player (a positive for us). In a previous job I used to see many professional footballers contracts, Premier league and championship. Quite eye opening! Not seen any for several years so no idea of any current pros.

I am trying to see both sides of this, and be reasonable, but am totally lost at why guided Missile or other can criticise him? There are no reports that anything actually happened that could be called rude or a snub. Sunak wasn't just there as a fan, or he would not have had a photographer to try and use saints to boost his image. All opinion polls, including conservative home and others focusing on conservative voters indicate very few feel he has done a good job, so why should people be in awe of him? Martin was directly asked and said he would not be saying hello sir. Which is quite reasonable. He made polite comments about hoping he enjoyed the game etc and did not directly criticise him. He was professional and said it didn't distract him from doing his job (and we played very well again). Non story.

Personal role??! From the echo... "Rishi Sunak having a camera man positioned on the stairs next to him ready to capture his authentic human actions is pretty much exactly as I imagined it would be."

When I heard it on radio 5, I was pretty sure he said he had no interest in saying 'Hello SIR' which shows he doesn't want to be survile to someone he (rightly IMHO, had little personal respect for). He expanded saying.. I hope he enjoyed himself just like anyone who comes here I hope they enjoy themselves. “I have no interest because I’m a football manager. I’m not sure we’re aligned on too much politically but I know he’s a fan and I hope he enjoyed watching the team. “Some people would be excited about him being here but we had a job to do and we were here to win a football match and we did.” I'm sure most in the crowd, agree with him as Sunak is widely viewed as dishonest, weak and a poor leader (surveys not my comments).

These are just a few shortened posts to highlight what I mean, but there were loads more, and they continued into our unbeaten run (CB Fry, you escaped as your dodgy ones were later and I got bored ) Fair enough to criticise and have doubts but the total writing off and name calling was over the top. Some have been big enough to accept they called it wrong. To be fair to RM this is how he saw it from the start, said the passing style and confidence would take a while, and it did. We looked so vulnerable passing at the back, worried all of us, but he had strength of character, and confidence in his players to persist and they do it brilliantly now. Of course he is continually tweaking, as he sees what works and what doesn't (eg full back positioning although it is still quite different than previous seasons) but the passing football, triangles, waiting for gaps, not panicking etc have all remained. He was clearly never out of his depth or a cunt! We all see it differently and hopefully all want the same.

I just went back to around the 3rd and 4th defeats, a funny read. It should be compulsory reading before being allowed to post on here!

I think you are hanging onto your negative view of him, and now he has proved he knows what he is doing are maybe looking for something else. Do you honestly think he is any less attached than our other managers have been after 20 odd games? If he has a couple of good years here, I'm sure he will feel a similar bond as Adkins does. Most think he sounds a decent guy, very keen to respect the individuals he works with, and appears to be loving his time here. Just accept we all misjudge players and managers at times, all of us, and enjoy him while he is here. I cannot remember when I last had four consecutive visits to St Mary's (or Dell) giving 4 wins and 12 goals for, none against!

Superb appointment. He has been brave to continue with a style, even though players at times struggled which is now showing the results. Popular with players, good at managing the squad, good atmosphere and popular with fans. I said as walked into St Mary's how strange it is arriving feeling confident. No other club or fans will have written our automatic chances off yet. After those 4 defeats no one could have hoped or expected any manager to do this well. Enjoying going more than I have for years, last 4 home games, 4 wins, 12 goals for, none against. I have tonight read both Ipswich and leeds forums, posts there have us as favourites for 2nd. Leeds fans were saying they hope we get 2nd as wouldn't be able to beat us in the play offs.

Live table has us 7 points off 2nd, but 9 points ahead of 5th. Surely posters can't write off automatic at the same time as saying we will struggle for play offs... Well some can!

Jack Stephens and Ryan Fraser, how both came on relatively late, had more passes, and also more passes in opposition half, than any Blackburn player.

It was shit. Some games he disappears, but others adds something we are sometimes lacking. He is comfortable when teams defend deep and crowd us out, for example his play in the lead up to one of the Cardiff goals. He always tries to let the ball run forward, or try a fast incisive pass. I also like his character, he can be rash, or look sulky etc but it's great to see some personality in the game. We saw all side of this yesterday, from the cocky penalty, to his reaction after - he went into a super determined zone, desperate to make amends and score, and when he did, he showed humility to repeatedly apologise and thank the fans. I like him.

Can you imagine the bedwetting if we had appointed him, with no championship experience, there would have been some amusing rants. He is doing great though, and I'm sure catching the eye of bigger clubs. There are still a few being stubborn though.. Knowing following the 4 defeats, that it would take a really good manager to get a run like our current one. He is doing pretty damn good, accept and enjoy! I've just seen how recently on this thread posters moaning saying the club should be brave enough to get rid of him.... Clueless!

This run is looking pretty good. Any fan, on the back of those defeats, and with our squad, would have said if a manager could turn those defeats into this run he would be doing an excellent job. Tbh, although he clearly isn't perfect, and there are still some frustrations, and I get that the skillful short passing game isn't to everyone's taste, I am a bit cynical, and wonder if the small, but very vocal posters who still give him 5 out of 10, are trolling. Enjoyed my afternoon, and seeing this run build

Piroe was trending on twitter this week with Leeds fans slating him. I thought it was obvious signing but RM said too similar to AA and not as good - maybe he was right

This is sort of thread that other fans would take the piss out of.. A manager who had 4 defeats in a row early in his time at a club immediately turns that into W W D W D W W W D W W D D and fans are talking about whether he should be sacked, or giving him 4 out of 10! He is not pep, and we want to be higher but how entitled does this thread look! Success isn't guaranteed in football. If any of you were offered a manager who was, after those 4 defeats, capable of turning form around, into this sort of run, you would have bitten their hand off! He is not perfect, not great, makes mistakes, we are not scoring enough or killing games off, but chances are that most of your pre appointment suggestions wouldn't have achieved this run.

If he meant in style - It's not a silly comparison, if you regularly watch both sides you will see that some of our shape passing / transitions is a clear Man City copy. And the replies are unfair. If he meant not far removed in quality and effectiveness, then I would strongly disagree, and support some of the sarcasm!

Agree, winning play offs is the best way to go up, but not the most relaxing! Last year after 20 games Burnley 38 Blackburn 36 Sheff U 35 Norwich 32 Watford 32 QPR 31 Lower down, Luton 29 On that basis, I find it hard to believe that anyone, at the start of the season, knowing the disruption in the changing room, low morale, new manager etc, would have thought our 38 points would be anything but a very good start for Russell.

Obviously more goals would have meant more points, but the point I was trying to make (in response to someone saying we were dropping off) is that you are not doing much wrong, or need to change a lot if our results are recently the best in the division, which they have been since 23rd September when we last lost. But yes, a free scoring centre forward, or Charlie / Stu would have gained more points to help recover from that bad spell, but the key thing is that spell is the problem, not so much where we are now. It's going to depend on how consistent teams can continue to be through the winter, with injuries etc.

We are not starting to fall away, over last 6 games we have gained points on the top two.(4 on Leicester, one on ipswich). We are on a very good run, no-one is unbeaten for as long as us, or had more points than us since we started that run 12 games ago. We have two problems, which make automatic promotion hard, but not yet impossible, 1) our poor start 2) the freakish season with 4 teams doing great

Not confident we will be promoted. Think got fair chance of top two, but others clearly more likely. Very confident we will be top 6, but then it is cup football so who knows. Play offs are stressful but winning them would be better than automatic for me.

As we are currently bookies favourites to win the play offs, if you are this confident you can make decent money. Unless of course you don't really think that...

The key this season is who can deal with the pressure and grind out consistency over the season. The argument about whether he can manage at this level is clearly over in the short-term. This season's table is bizarre with so many teams starting so well. Our start, compared with last season's table at the same stage, would have had us clear in 2nd, only a point behind Burnley. The positive is over the last 10 games we are in the best form, and hopefully have potentially more squad depth than some of our competitors.

Of course it is. You stick with your early writing off as it looks more and more short sighted