trousers

Yep, agree. He looked like a missing piece of the jigsaw in his debut... That elusive link-up player between midfield and attack. But he's looked pretty ordinary and ineffectual ever since... maybe Martin didn't like how direct he was in his debut and knocked that trait out of him sharpish...

Indeed we could have done with a 10 minute cameo for very different reasons!

I'm mightily confused... At times today I stood there looking on in admiration at how commanding and confident we were, but that admiration was interlaced with frustration at not being able to capitalise on our dominance and superior squad quality. Martin out? Martin in? Having seen one of his teams in the flesh for the first time today, I've genuinely no f**king idea!

He didn't look tired to me from my vantage point in the stadium. Just looked to me like he had been told at half time to reel in his runs...

Ha! That'll be the 3 hour journey messing with my head! Post duly edited

Just back from the game, my first of the season... How the f**k did we not win that? One of the biggest gulfs in class between two sides in the same division that I can remember seeing before.... yet we draw. Baffled. The subs made us weaker & less cohesive. Oh, and why the F**K did Che Adams throw the ball back to them when they put it out of play just to make a sub?! Absolutely no need/reason to give it back to them. I wish footballers weren't so thick sometimes.... Hey ho... We march on... Sort of...

Chances of a sneaky appearance on the bench today with a 10 minute cameo when we're already 7-0 up?

'Gender Reveals' Since when did this f***ing abomination become a thing and how f***ing shallow and vein do you have to be to even contemplate doing such a thing....? What a load of old shite.

My first game of the season so a nailed on 9-0 home win. COYR!

Likewise, although it wouldn't surprise me if Martin chooses to rotate the squad a bit with Sulemana starting on the bench...

The stats might prove me wrong but I felt we gave the ball away much more in the first half than the second...

Martin: "Two really good wins, this was a better performance overall than vs Leeds" (paraphrased)

During our 4 match blip, Martin made it clear we missed Stephen's leadership and that he'd effectively walk straight back in the team when he's fit. Maybe a back 3/5 could work...?

Give me a break... Having been the ultimate Saintsweb optimist for the last 17 years I'm enjoying playing the pessimist for a change this season...

A win's a win but that was a step back from the performance vs Leeds (that first half at least). Here's hoping we can get our mojo back vs Rotherham on Saturday.

Yep, Hinchcliff's last throw of the talking bollocks dice this evening

This. No need to rest him for Rotherham when we needed to push on here

FFS... UNFORCED ERROR AHOY!

Put your life savings on 1-1 #inevitable

Post of the night! Lol

Yep, his best game for us so far

Hope Martin doesn't sub off Sulemana too early... Would like to see him given maximum possible time here

The worldie free kick aside, that was a pretty ordinary Saints performance against a very ordinary Stoke side. Given our superior quality (on paper) we should be out of sight by now. Let's ditch the tippy-tappy Russ-ball again and give the directness of the first half vs Leeds another crack of the whip.