Lymington Saint

Had the feeling that the club were just testing the water. Can't see any way that Hampshire police would countenance putting the away fans in the Kingsland/Chapel corner. Can you imagine what would happen next time the blue lot down the road come to SMS. Would be a nightmare to police. Think that we are stuck with the current arrangement. If the club/fans want an 'end', then putting safe standing at the back of the Chapel is about the only way that I can see of doing it.

After 20 games we have 38 points and are 4th. Nearly 2 points per game but we are 10 points behind Ipswich in 2nd. In 2011/12 after 20 games we had 42 points and were top. So we are not doing as badly as some posters would have us believe. But it does show just how well Leicester and Ipswich are doing. It's an unusual season. Personally if you would have offered me a place in the playoffs this season (which is where we look to be heading) I would have happily taken it after the chaos of last season. Especially as I think that there is still room for improvement. Can see us playing Leeds at Wembley in May in the playoff final.

Really? We should have had at least one more in the second half. Mara should have at least hit the target when through, Sulemana didnt lift the ball up enough when through, Stu Armstrongs header was blocked and Alcarez was straight at the keeper from a free header. Main problem was not being clinical enough. Baz made a couple of decent stops but Stoke rarely threatened. Good solid performance against a horrible team. One thing I did notice was how narrow the full backs were. Meant that Stoke got lots of crosses in, especially from their right. Can only assume that this was deliberate but it seemed a bit odd.

Just back. Looked like a change in formation to me, with a diamond in midfield allowing full backs to push up. Downes as the holding midfielder and Alcarez at the point as a false 9. With two up front in Armstrong and Sulemana. Team looked much better connected, without the huge gaps as in recent games. And they were mixing it up, going long sometimes. Defended well second half. Think that he might have stumbled on a formation that actually works.

Can't see him surviving. Just have no confidence that SR will appoint a manager who will at least get us hard to beat. They are trying to be too clever.

This season was always going to be bumpy. We all knew that and expectations of automatic promotion are unrealistic in my view. Huge turnover of players and not sure who would end up staying. But there are clearly problems with the way that we are playing that need to be addressed fast. Not sure that RM has the ability to adapt his system to fix them. The next few games are key. If we continue the way that we are then he will be gone fairly quickly. Then the owners will appoint another muppet and we will go through the whole cycle again.

Was just about to post something similar and you beat me to it. Goal 2 was well worked, but the others were dreadful. Goal 3 was a well directed free header and he had no one on him to put him off. Manning was at fault for goal 4 but it was 2 against 1. There was a Norwich player coming in behind him completely free. Defensively we were terrible. On the plus side I enjoyed the game far more than any last season. We do at least seem to have a way of playing, create chances and looks like the 11 starters will stay the season. Issue is how many of the other players will leave and who will be brought in. We need someone bigger than Armstrong up front who can hold the ball up and also be a target, and who isnt Tall Paul.

Happy days. Back when 606 phone ins were worth listening to. It's tedious now and I switch off - plastic fans phoning in to moan about refs, managers or who they should be buying/selling. Funniest phone call I remember from those days was from a Partick Thistle fan who ran to away games. When asked the furthest he had run, replied 'Queen of the South'. Dumfries - over 70 miles away. Took him 2 days to get there.

The consensus on this thread seems to be that we will finish 9th. Seems a good shout to me. If we finish just into the top half of the table and end the season with some consistency, then that will be progress. Can then kick on next season. Really don't expect any more than that.

If we had VAR in 1976 then all it would have done is stop Tommy Docherty from moaning about an offside goal afterwards. Bobby Stokes was a couple of yards onside, played on by Martin Buchan the United left back. Had he stepped up in line with the centre-backs then it would have been offside. Problem with VAR is not the use of technology but the way that it is managed. Too often the VAR team seem to overrule the ref on marginal calls. It should be limited to clear and obvious errors. Seem to remember that VAR was managed really well at the last world cup, but this might have been something to do with Pierluigi Collina managing the overall process and everyone being scared of him.