trousers

Unless Ralph's had enough time on the training field this week to instill new 'automatisms' into the players, I would stick with our tried-and-tested formation and tactics. To me, the risks of trying a new system for the first time in 18 months outweigh the risks of sticking with a system that has served us well in the past, albeit one that hasn't withstood the strains placed upon it by injuries very well; but I still think, on balance, we should persevere with it.

I'm going to stick my neck (and other appendages) out and say that we'll amass at least 50 points this season.

Almost within touching distance of the champions then...?

Noel Edmonds

Possibly / probably. I'm just going on what I've seen anecdotally. I've lost count of the number of times I've said to myself this season: "that's yet another totally different line up" whenever the B-team or U18s squads have been announced pre-match. I don't recall the line-ups changing so drastically from game to game in previous seasons. As I say, nothing scientific about my observations, just a gut feel that there has been significantly more inconsistency in line-ups this season compared to previous seasons. Happy to put my hands up if there are stats out there that prove my hunch to be wrong. As you say, maybe all other teams have had similar levels of line-up disruption and it's 100% down to us being rubbish. Who knows?

I think that's been a significant factor this season. If I remember correctly, both the B Team and U18s have had a few really good results against good sides when they've had a full compliment of elegible players. So, whilst there are undoubtedly other contributory factors, I think the main problem has been the enforced inconsistency in team selection at every level.

< MLG Mode > Wasn't Pochettino of a similar calibre to Hassenhuttl at the time we attracted him...?

Rock on Tommy...

Factory

At what temperature does water freeze up north...? MLG note: yes, I'm aware that frozen sub-soil water takes longer to thaw than surface water

I'm a weird person. A weird person will post weird things.

I'm a woman, but thanks for the well informed feedback (as per usual)

Am I imagining it or are our players more susceptible to injuries than other teams this season? KWP is a huge loss to the way we play.

So that when he eventually gets the nod ahead of McCarthy, and then has a succession of bad games, the Saintsweb intelligentsia can revert to slagging him off again...?

No

I don't think we have the mental toughness. Things go against us in games we just shrug our shoulders and accept it. So, where did we get our 'mental toughness' from last year...? And what's stopping us from rediscovering it...?

What's stopping us having a similar first half of next season to the first half of this season...?

It's more of a tantric experience to be honest, but same end game I would venture

Later. Your interrogation is making me feel a tad moist so I'm going to have to go and finish myself off in the gents. Back shortly.

No, I'm not saying that.

Ralph said before the game that he needs careful game-time management as he is prone to injury if he plays too many games in a short timeframe

There's a difference between pointing out that winning the league was highly unlikely (congratulations on that earth shattering wisdom) but I don't see any posts in November from the hindsight brigade forecasting this "inevitable" plummeting off a cliff drop in form that we're currently experiencing. Yes, a dip in form was always likely, but this bad...?