trousers

If we end up selling this fella before the remaining windows close I'm going to cry... If any player is likely to compensate for our defensive frailties then surely it's him?

Yep... Along with "ATM machine" and "LCD display"... Cretins

As Lady Trousers will testify to, there's lots of things that I threaten to do on a daily basis but never get around to doing..... (sorry, that's the best analogy you're going to get from me!)

You'll need to get used to it because that's the way we'll be playing for the foreseeable future. Hoofing the ball clear isn't an option (under the SR/Wilcox/Martin philosophy)

Great overall post @chiknsmack but I'm inclined to disagree with the point you make above... To me, it's essential, not just "ideal" that a keeper in a team the way we play needs to be a good shot-stopper too. Possession football is naturally high risk and it's therefore inevitable that we'll give the ball away in our final third much more than our opponents... as such, we will have much more 1-on-1s with our keeper than other less possession-obsessed teams will, in addition to more speculative shots from outside the box. It's therefore imperitive that our keeper is a good shot-stopper, otherwise the goals against tally ends up outweighing the benefits of keeping possession of the ball in the first place.

This is what I don't get with SR's / Wilcox's strategy... I understand the rewards that a high-possession strategy can potentially reap, but given the inherent risks of such a philosophy - i.e. that we will have much more counter-attacks against us compared to a 'normal' team - surely the highest priority of such a system is that you get the best possible shot-stopping keeper you can in order to defend said counter-attacks? It's pointless going for a keeper who is "good with the ball and fits our play-out-from-the-back approach" if he's not much cop without the ball....

I scored it 4/10 so I'm delighted with my rating so far...

Because the majority of footballers aren't blessed with the highest of IQs...?

This interview seems to have gone under the radar somewhat, amongst all the post match analysis, so thought it might be worthwhile it having its own thread given how interesting it is (IMO), especially in light of yesterday's result (it was recorded just before the game it would seem)... Some egg on face for Wilcox given yesterday's performance...? (Paraphrasing Wilcox: "everything is great at the moment")

All bar 6 players will be on international duty though...

According to Russell Martin in his post match interview, there are only 6 players who won't be away on international duty, so there won't be any substantial time to work on improvements before the next game.

I've often wondered this about our relatively recent fixation of sticking religiously to a playing philosophy. To me, it gives the opposition an advantage in that they always know how we're going to play and once one team works out how to counter the philosophy other teams follow suit. This is what ultimately led to the downfall of Hassenhuttl IMO. We just ended up being far too predictable and unadaptable. There's certainly an element of being 'too clever for your own good' when trying to be different to how 'normal' football is played...

Pussy

Chelsea lose at home to Forest Chortle.

If you'd posted this before the game we'd now be hailing you as a footballing genius...

Still only 2 points off the top at half-time in the 3pm kick offs #everycloud

A one-off shite performance or a sign of things to come? Some worrying signs for sure but impossible to come to any conclusions just yet... time will tell. #pragmatism

Decent enough save but straight at him in the end

My brother was including his Championship/West Brom stint when highlighting how error prone he was (regardless of what position he played in), hence saying that league one was more his level (in his opinion)...

We were never going to go the whole season without a 'bad day at the office' here and there. The trouble with Saints historically though is that bad days often turn into bad weeks/months. Here's hoping this is a one off rather than the start of a trend....

I'm going to have to pull my brother up on his assessment here... Holgate League One level...? Hmm, not sure about that...

Another Bazunu parry back into the danger area or a decent initial save?

If you'd posted that an hour ago we'd all now be hailing you a footballing genius...

Rob Earnshaw on Sky giving him some benefit of the doubt... "Was partially unsighted and had one eye on the run of Bellingham on his right hand side and was half expecting a cross"

He should've made changes half way through the first half, not wait until half time