CSA96

Not to go all MLG, but (here it comes) my original point was that he's a better passer and Eckert spoke about the importance of those traits and keeping the ball on the floor in his press conference. You then said 'this isn't a sensible argument' which I took to mean you think Stephens isn't an improvement on the ball I agree btw, against a team as direct as Lincoln I would've been sticking with Wood and his block head over Stephens

Football is basically a game of mistakes. When you're watching second division football, or football lower down, there will be even more mistakes. It's borderline hysterical now every time the name Stephens gets mentioned. Not sure I would've started him against a team as physical and focused on set pieces as Lincoln but agree with the broader points

I don't think he reads the game that well or is better on the ball than Stephens, but agree with the first three. Will be interesting to see if Wood comes back in for Swansea and is just being rested for this one

Have you seen Nathan Wood on the ball? It's like his brain is on dial-up

Tonda spoke in the embargoed bit of the press conference about the importance of technical ability against Lincoln, who typically sit deep and play direct on the break. Said his view was that we needed to keep the ball on the floor as much as possible, I am guessing that's why Stephens gets the nod over Wood, Ward-Prowse over Bragg, Matsuki over Fellows - etc

Watford were apparently trying to sign him close to the deadline but then pressed ahead with somebody else

Odd reply

Assists for other players to score? Fellows got 8 last season and Edozie hasn't even got to 8 assists since signing for the club in 2022

Skip to 3:48 and then he appears and the press conference starts

Playback of the press conference is here

Let's see. Eckert was adamant he would play before the break. If he was close to being involved I wouldn't have expected away on Lincoln's pitch to be the return game anyway. Probably targeting a home game, so perhaps Bristol City at St Mary's

Agree, in an ideal world would've definitely done that (possibly ahead of spending £10m on a CB)

They're having a shorter season early next year (the Sprint Season) because MLS is changing from being a summer league (played Mar-Dec) to a winter league (played Jul-May) to bring themselves in line with the major European leagues from July 2027 Basically just means Downs is with them for the remainder of this current 2026 MLS season (ends on Dec 18) and also for the 2027 MLS Sprint Season (February to May) and he'll be due back here in June They would then begin their new MLS league calendar of a 2027/28 season that runs from July 2027 until late May 2028

Burnley losing... again 1-0 down at home to Boro after 23 mins

I presume the answer would be so that the squad isn't totally one dimensional and has the ability to adjust and change at points to try different things and because he is highly-regarded in football circles and the club wanted to have a talented prospect rather than a poorer version of Larin

Wearing our third kit for this one

True, just went back and looked at where we were at Christmas last year for comparison, we were 11th with the following record --- December 25, 2025 Played 22 W 8 D 7 L 7 GF/GA: 36-31 Pts: 31 --- September 2, 2026 Played 4 W 2 D 1 L 1 GF/GA: 10-5 Pts: 3 (7pts -4 deduction)

I don't think an average Championship team in mid-table has, or pays for, a Cyle Larin. Last season, there was mass moaning if Archer was in the team and he scored 3 goals last season playing as striker. I think it's a bit revisionist to suggest people were happy with our options and depth because Cameron Archer was on the bench I agree Stewart has more pedigree that Mubama but Ross Stewart is also already injured before the clocks go back and might be in and out of the team all season. We need someone who can reliably be available to give Larin a breather. Mubama got 5 goals in a worse team and has one here already. I think he's probably a reasonable bet to get to 8 goals which would then be matching Stewart's contribution in 25/26

That list has wingers, 10s and academy lads in it, so you'd probably need to add Dobbin and Ehibhatiomhan for it to be a fair representation of Saints forward options That aside, most of those fanbases would have no interest in seeing the third option play any minutes though, in fairness. There's not many third options there who are actually anything to worry about or with any sort of record. To take one team as an example: Stoke. They signed George Hirst who is the clear #1 option for them (I'd say he's worse than Larin) but then they have two senior options in Bozenik and Gallagher behind him. Those two strikers scored 1 in 30 and 2 in 20 last season... Even West Ham and Wolves - the teams with the most plentiful resources - have two good options and then people nobody really wants to see playing Strongest groups are probably Wolves, West Ham, Boro, Swansea. Then there's some with two potentially good options: Bristol City, West Brom, Norwich... etc Saints have punted on having two out and out strikers where one is very good and one has potential, vs having three where one is just decent to good and the other two are below par. Then behind them we're looking at a versatile attacking player like Dobbin or an academy lad like Ehibhatiomhan