VectisSaint

It wasn't, he was clearly trying to get out of the way of the shot and didn't turn his back, he was side on, not trying to block it at all. Gav probably had it covered, unfortunately the slight nick off Stephens deflected it in. The goal was primarily the fault of Manning initially, losing the ball and Sulemana running back toward goal and then giving it away. The finish from the Sunderland player was actually a decent strike. Manning was crap again yesterday, not just for their first goal, but also for the earlier chance where he set up Ba, who fluffed his lines. Still he did win the penalty so something good came from him being on the pitch (but nothing defensively).

He was studying for his Law degree in 2014 way before he joined us, he was doing it through the Open University and expected to complete in 6 years (he was already doing his 2nd year), so probably completed a few years ago now, unless of course he found he had less spare time when he joined Celtic and then Saints. Report here from 2014: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dundee-uniteds-stuart-armstrong-reveals-3338131. Looks like he graduated by 2020.

Based on current positions and how we have fared against the other teams it would probably make more sense to finish 4th and play West Brom than finish 3rd and play Hull.

Meghoma injury is not good news.

Fire - Crazy World of Arthur Brown Smoke on the Water

Always thought 'assists' were originally a thing in ice hockey, long before they were ever a thing in association football.

Manning missing on the left of defence as usual. Nowhere to be seen.

Where on earth do you get that Charles gets an easy ride. He has been slated on here since that start of the season, some of it justifiably. Seems to have redeemed himself a bit in the last couple of weeks. He is actually a very good player, or will be, but his confidence was shattered early in the season, made too many basic mistakes that cost us. He is still very young, needs a consistent run in MF (not as a CB) and he will turn out great.

No it didn't. He had been back 'in contention' and in the team for 7 matches where we conceded a total of 3 goals and was on the bench (unused sub) for Rotherham, Huddersfield and Brizzle, which is when it went wrong, so there is a better argument that it went wrong when he was benched (I don'subscribe to that view but it is more logical than what you wrote).

There's an article today (in the Sun) speculating that Leicester might face penalties next year if they get promoted, because their losses are expected to be more than £105m over the last 2 seasons. So question is, won't that apply to us as well? From what I can see our losses.over 3 seasons are £108m. Am I missing something?

Whether or not Manning is out of position due to Martin's tactics, the bottom line is that he is not a very good defender. Even when "in position" he is easily beaten, and does not have enough pace to match wide players and is lacking in positional sense. In addition, he is also caught "out of position" whenever we get a corner, because in the same way as Bertrand used to he takes corners from the diametrically opposite corner from where he is supposed to defend. This means whenever a corner attack breaks down he is so far away from being able to defend that we are left hopelessly exposed. This would be OK if he was actually really good at corners, but either his corners are not very good or we are not very good at attacking from corners, or more likely both. Whatever way you dress it up at the moment Ryan is the weakest link in the team, and is costing us goals. On Saturday I wasn't surprised to see Manning start. I don't think Bree was an option, anyone who saw him subbed off against Liverpool would have noticed he was absolutely out on his feet, looked completely exhausted, unsurprisingly first game back since a lay-off. Pretty sure if he had been fit he would have played on the right anyway in place of KWP (possibly with Stephens on the left, but not sure). Much as I would like to see it I don't think Martin has enough faith in Meghoma yet, which I can sort of understand when you have a misfiring defensive group and you are trying to shore it up, but struggling because of injuries. Hopefully for PNE KWP will be back, Bree will be fit and we will see a back 4 of KWP, THB, Bednarek and Bree (but I won't hold my breath).

8 of last 9 league games in that run were wins, 6 out of 22 altogether were draws. We didn't draw LOTS of matches, we won lots and drew a few, mostly away from home.

Think he's a bit more than that, 10 in 13 in the Championship and 9 in 40 in the SPL (for an unfashionable club) shows he can hack it at a slightly higher level than League One, he really only played one season in that League.

2 assists (and yes they were both assists in the true sense), involved in the build up for a 3rd, two (at least) shots on target, directly involved in getting the Brum player red-carded by his direct run towards the box. Man of the Match. Yes, sure he was peripheral to the game.

Assists have been recorded in he World Cup since 1954, Pele holds the record (10). In our day we used to say a player "made" a goal (but I'm sure they didn't record "makes").

We scored from a corner today, surely that's an improvement. It was also to the back post, so surely that shows variety. Then there were short corners. I'm sure one or two on here just post something without reference to the game.

'On here' is social media. Some of the stuff written on here is as bad as stuff on X at times (though I think the comments about WS were more extremely disgusting).

It wasn't, it was Manning who cocked up.

Sad news, was great for us both as player and manager.

Its no good concentrating on the play-offs. What we have to do now is concentrate on consistently getting results. The way we are playing at the moment we will probably get to the playoffs and lose in the semi final. You need to go into the playoffs on a good run of form, expecting to win every game. If we go on a good run between now and the end of the regular season (and bear in mind that would required getting some sort of result against Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds, all away), who knows what might happen, we might get back to 2nd.

Is that what you young 'uns call it these days. That was awful again (I actually managed to miss the 1st goal trying to get a stream going). So now we know, we really are a one-man team. How will then pan out next season in the Championship when he has gone back to West Ham? At least we probably won't have Sulemana. End of Jack Stephens unbeaten run this season, actually thought he did some good things attacking-wise, but none of it came to anything while we pissed around in the area trying to get the perfect pass/shot on goal. Commentators missed Fraser getting injured after the ref had blown for a foul, thought he had just felt something, could be a big miss. So, play-offs it is (confident we can still make them, but not confident about beating Ipswich or Hull. Could be embarrassing against Scousers on Wednesday

Probably because he reads it on here. There would be much gnashing of teeth by some here if Charles had been picked. Need to face it that with Downes out no one is satisfied. To be fair Charles still makes a lot of mistakes, down to, in my opinion, a big loss of confidence early in the season, he will one day be a very good player but does need an extended run in the team in his proper position (CM).

Bollocks

Just to say that at no point in my post did I compare Ryan Manning with any of the players listed. Try reading it again. I was merely bemoaning the fact that we have a rich history of good players in that particular position, and it is sad that we have ended up where we are with such a dearth of talent in this particular position. That said, many of our good left backs did play in the Championship (or equivalent), some even lower (Bale) and some of the best ones who didn't played in their teens in the Premier League, I don't think Shaw or Bale or Bridge suffered too much from playing in their teens as someone else suggested, they seem to have done alright for themselves all things considered. I'm pretty sure Meghoma would not disgrace himself playing in the Championship, he certainly would be a step up on Manning.

What, you mean like Manning But not as often.