trousers

His shooting stats for the last couple of seasons are actually slightly worse than Downes' stats so far for this season, albeit in different divisions of course. When he was last in the championship, his shooting stats were indeed far superior to Downes. I guess that means that Bournemouth have used him in a completely different role to the way Blackburn did. Flynn Downes this season so far at Saints: Joe Rothwell's last two seasons (at Bournemouth): Joe Rothwell's most recent season in the championship, at Blackburn:

Fair enough. Someone needs to update his Wikipedia entry in that case...

If you've had anything to do with their usual winter capitulation then take a bow, sir! #agentmonk

The bottom line is that there were at least two perfectly reasonable opinions to hold back in the autumn as to how the future would pan out: (a) "guys, be patient, 'russ-ball' will come good in the end" or (b) "look, 'russ-ball' might come good in the end but my hunch right now is that it won't" Of course, it's human nature for the "told you so" brigade to proclaim that outcome (a) was much more likely than (b), which is fair enough, that's their prerogative, but that doesn't render opinion (b) any less valid than opinion (a) at the time. I once held the opinion that Ralph would take us back into Europe. Was I "wrong" to hold that opinion because it didn't come to pass...?

Not until Crook gives us the nod it isn't

How about this hair-brained theory? SFC to AFCB: can we have Brooks on loan please? AFCB: yes, but only if we can have Stu Armstrong in return SFC: ok, but we'll need someone else to replace Stu. Got anyone who might fit the bill? AFCB: how about Joe Rothwell? SFC: ok, deal (Yeah, I know, load of old tosh from Trousers as per usual)

Purely speculating, of course, but maybe Downes' underlying health issue is more problematic than first thought and thus we need an experienced player to step into Downes' boots whenever he's unable to play? #thinkingoutloud (No idea if he's a similar player to Downes though)

Who?

Would be very "Saintsy" for our unbeaten run to end at our manager's former club, but I'm sticking with my newly formed hunch that we'll now go unbeaten for the rest of the season... so, 1-3 to the mighty Saints! COYR

It's ok, we all get stuff "wrong" on here from time to time...

A tangential observation... Why do they always draw up a shortlist for manager of the month when they pretty much always give it to the manager of the team that got the most points? I could see the logic of having a shortlist if various different factors were taken into account but I don't see any evidence of that (all awards this season have gone to the team with most points each month). Here's hoping Russ can win his first award of the season for our January results.

This is why I like the Saintsweb forum so much...

I've made similar observations previously but I've come around to thinking that the pedestrian version of "Russ-ball" *may* have been more down to him being worried that the players weren't ready for the front-footed version of "Russ-ball", rather than him suddenly realising after the September debacle that he needed to change the approach. At the end of the day, we may never know whether it was a pre-meditated/planned 'upgrade' of his underlying tactics or if the poor results forced him to change tack, but personally, I don't really care any more about the root cause behind what happened... I'm now looking forward rather than backwards (a bit like Mr Martin's tactics you might say...!)

I've been on the 'wrong' side of predicting Saints' future prospects more times than I care to remember, however, 95% of the time it's been when being on the positive benefit-of-the-doubt side of the fence. So being "wrong" whilst dabbling in a negative outlook is new territory to me; so apologies if I've 'played' it all wrong... To coin a well worn phrase... "These things take time and I'm learning from my mistakes all the time...." What I don't get though is this "told you so" craving to label a particular point of view at a given moment in time as "right" or "wrong". That's 'ungraceful' to my mind... I maintain that anyone who had strong doubts about Russell's pedigree back in the autumn was expressing just a valid view as the optimists saying "be patient, everything will work out fine". No-one knew which point of view would be "proven to be right" in due course. We can argue until the cows come home as to which outcome was more likely, but that's not the point. An opinion is just that... It's a view of what *might* happen, not what *will* happen. P.s. totally agree with your second paragraph of course! (It's that very mediocrity you highlight that can turn someone who was hitherto one of the most positive/ optimistic posters into someone who might starting thinking: "f**k it, what's the point of being ultra-positive all the bleedin' time....?! ) Anyway, I'm back to my usual positive-outlook self now so onwards and upwards! P.p.s. you'll note that I never contributed to this "laughing stock" thread before today. At least I know where to draw a line when dipping one's toe into the dark side... )

Point of order... It's only ok to mock politicians that hide in fridges to avoid interviews; bunkers are fine...

Fair Enough, but we'll have to agree to disagree (difficult concept to grasp on here I appreciate )

Sounds painful... Would prefer to be caned myself

Quick... Someone go check the stock levels in the Saintsweb Forum medal cupboard... (It's the one next to the 'patting oneself on the back' certificate cabinet)... #toldyouso

The truth is, we'll never know.... There's every chance we could have replaced him with a manager who ended up being equally as successful... #nonsequitur

Will the club be doing "Top 2 for 2 Hours" t-shirts?

FFS

Poop

Boom!

Pompey abandoned their game at half time too... 😂