Football Special

That is correct. Just for the avoidance of any doubt, this is the order of the situation: Saints should have strengthened the goalkeeper position once Ramsdale departure was confirmed, Sports Republic neglected this and left us with inadequate options Of those remaining options McCarthy is the better goalkeeper but has no resale value so the club persist with handicapping us by playing a keeper who doesn't actually save any shots in the hope that one day they'll be able to recover some of the crazy fee they paid for a league one GK

He just doesn't seem quite right to me, doesn't seem comfortable in front of the camera which is surprising

Lol, good one,if Baz had made one of those saves I think we'd all have been in shock and unable to post , he's terrible as any Saints fan who attended in 2022/23 or 2023/24 can attest

Performance against Liverpool was good and certainly some players impressed, however I think it helped that Liverpool gave us space and we were able to attack them on the break. I expect Middlesbrough to follow Hull's blueprint and sit deep , also what Stoke did , need to find a way to break them down without them just waiting for us to lose the ball whilst leaving gaps at the back, getting the first goal would really help

That's the real quiz

Was about to type same thing. Enough positives overall to take from that, shouldn't have lost

Think we need a back 10 for this one

Bet placed. Having said that I think we're better suited to defending against him than McBurnie

Liverpool team looks stronger than I hoped

I'd prefer a year in league one

Is he out of contract end of the season? Have we replaced him with anything better?

Let's take a moment to remember better times in this competition at Anfield , who could be our Josh Sims and Shane Long tonight?

Not sure why people think they'll be bottom half then?

Tonight's big cup tie, the one that really matters....no doubt home support will include the local idiot with a bell and a wig

Where did they finish last season?

Pleased for him after the stick he took here, must be smiling to himself seeing them 4 points ahead of us in the table. Millwall unspectacular tonight but they really work hard as a unit, battling for the 1-0 , need to get that effort from our lads

He also said in the press conference there is still trauma from last season and trying to not let new players be affected by it ffs

Agree, look at total spend, some of which on players I doubt will even play that much, funds should have been used to identify a goal scorer who could come into the side and replace Tall Paul / Ross Stewart , or at least a loan fee for one, Downs was not what we needed right now.

Sunderland already nearly have as many points as we got all season, need to stop making excuses for the loser mentality allowed within the club, I'm sure Sports Republic would love it if we all just put last year's embarrassment down to the Premier League being so tough poor Martin and the boys never had a chance. Should be aiming to get back there and give it a proper go

You're right, really is no point changing manager whilst it's the same people making the appointment for replacement, data data data and no actual proper football people making decisions

I don't tend to bet on such things, is there already a market for our next manager?

And we don't even have good players in key positions I think some fans will have a reality check eventually having started the season with high hopes

That's probably the most interesting thing about the fixture, tactics will be different, no idea what XI Still will go with though, you'd have thought a number of changes

So are you saying you think this is a good team then mate? And it's the managers fault? Weve spent lots of money compared to Championship teams, but have we built a team? Core still looks poor - in my opinion The 6 players you mentioned weren't exactly our best from the promotion year, GK who was worst in the league, CB in Stephens who missed quite a bit of the season, I don't recall Manning contributing much in 23/24. , Ryan Fraser doing well but highlights failure to strengthen that he's one of our key players