SNSUN

Orsic and Alcarez, an older attacking player and a younger attacking player. This tactic should have been done in the summer when we signed Lavia and Mara. Anyway welcome Carlos. I hope you are an instant hit because we don't have many games and we need survival. I wonder if he'll stick around for the Championship if we go down...

Our line up vs their line up. 🙈 Hoping for a cup miracle.

City will want the cup to add to their collection but won't want to be full strength. We may have renewed our acquaintance with the opposition net but I still can't see past them winning even if they play the likes of Palmer, Lewis and half the EDS. Still, a freak result away from a two legged semi final and we have the competition's top Scorer up to now...

Win is a win, however we got it. Shame it wasn't in the League but at least we march on in the cups. Orsic be like "y'all don't me. You got this" as he flies off back to Zagreb.

I'm at Whipsnade Zoo for the wife's birthday. (I've brought her here, I'm not married to a chimp). It's cold, wet, windy, muddy, and most of the animals are hiding. I still think this is preferable to watching the match. Respect to the fans that went.

Cos if he's crap, I Scream.

Yeah bad predictions but I stand by bits of what I say. We did strengthen CB with DCC and ABK we just haven't seen much of DCC with all the chopping and changing of formations and the favouring of what should be our 4th choice CB (at best) Lyanco. Early games with Lavia showed he is a talent, we just pushed him too fast too soon. My concern was attack which has proven fact although based on previous clubs and stats we should have seen more of Aribo by now. On paper most of the players we signed seemed to be good acquisitions. But football isn't played on paper. We needed experience we didn't get. We needed a striker to play alongside Adams. Most importantly we should have let Ralph go at the end of last season and given a new manager plenty of time to mold the team to image. We wouldn't have Jones now had we done that.

Play the youngsters. Finnigan, Morgan, Payne, Dibling, Ballard, Pearce etc... gives them experience that we'll probably need for next year and... heck... can't be much worse than the senior team. Shame Edwards is long term injured too. Ok maybe not against Palace but I'd certainly be giving them some game time soon... As for Palace they're beatable.... but we'd need to score a goal/s for that to happen...

I normally back new managers. I normally believe form can turn. I normally believe players can improve. But this last year that's changed. Surely every Saints fan can see something is rotten in this club. The decision making has been shambolic. To keep Ralph past the summer when a fresh start was needed then pwas shambolic. The decision to sign "talented" youngsters in the summer without signing experience to play along side them has been shambolic. To go into the season with an extreme lack of attacking options has been shambolic. To appoint a manager with no Premier League experience when we are already in the shit has been shambolic. We're a rudderless ship full of holes and we are going down. 20 games left should be enough to string together some points but can anyone really see us improving? What's the answer? New manager? New players? Plan for the Championship? It's so depressing but I guess we still have to hope we can fight for survival while it's still there. Is it too early to sack Jones? No I don't think it is. Bring in a Premier League stalwart who at least knows the league and has previously done OK. Who? Dyche? Smith? Allardyce? Someone that can come straight in and sort this crock of shit out and at least get us fighting.

Blind faith. Plus we’re Saints, if there’s a shitter way of doing things, we’ll find it.

I reckon this finishes 1-1 tonight. The ultimate bad result as we don’t win and we don’t lose (meaning something might actually get done). The ultimate papering over the cracks result.

I've never been more happy to be ill than tonight. I nearly manned up and went...

Not sure whether to laugh or cry. Going down with a whimper is not an option. We need some fighters.

I suppose at least the new manager is trying different things, but do we have the time for him to try those things... Lavia back is a big plus but... DCC over Lyanco surely and Mara over Edozie? Risky Biz. But hope Mara can do something good. Otherwise team writes itself at the moment.

Mork calling Orsic, come in, Orsic.

I was a no to re-signing Ings previously but I reverse that now. We're in "last roll of the dice" territory and we need someone to come in straight away and deliver, not spend half a season settling in when it'll be too late. It's a no brainer now if we can make it happen. Orsic looks decent, attacking player with good stats, experience and an international. Both would be welcome additions right now. Needs to be done sooner rather than later though...

Baz, DCC, ABK, Salisu, AMN, JWP, Lavia, KWP, Stu, Edozie, Adams. One match does not a season make but it is looking like we could get cut adrift if we don't win this. Thankfully there is a lot of other crud in this league so we aren't far off mid table yet... what we are lacking is 3 worse teams than us presently. We're far from doomed yet but we need to get form and consistency to stay up. Turn losses into draws, turn draws into wins. Simples. 😁 It still "feels" like a relegation season but the fact that we're already bottom means there's only one direction to worry about. We just need injured players back and to stay fit then to plug the holes in the squad with signings. Despite Forest signing a million players they'll still beatable. Defo a six pointer at this early stage.

If Lavia is out we're not blessed with options to partner our out-of-form best player. The other option is to play Stu there and another AM in his place further up which means we lose even more defensively in midfield but gain more in attack.

-------------------------Bazunu----------------------------- -----------DCC-----------ABK-------------Salisu--------------- KWP------------JWP--------------AMN/Diallo---------Perraud -----------------SArmstrong-----------Edozie------------------ -----------------------------Adams---------------------------- It's actually depressing trying to get a line up but this is as close to the team I'd want right now barring injuries to Tino, Lavia and McCarthy. AMN or Diallo - tough to know who gets that second CM spot without Lavia. I know people don't like the 3 CB system (nor do I particularly) but I still think with our personnel it suits us having the 3 decent CBs playing. I don't know what's happened to Aribo - I had high hopes for him when he signed. Otherwise I'd have him in for Stu. Good God do we need a good transfer window...

After a new CB? Bednarek back? Good Lord we are inept. We have three decent CBS in ABK, Salisu and DCC and a fairly competent one in Lyanco, it is our strongest position. The reason we have leaked goals all season is not because of them, it is because of the constant change of formations and line ups, the lack of defensive midfield cover in front of them and not having fit FBs for chunks of the season. CB is literally the last position I’d be looking at bringing someone in and yet we seem to be after a CB. This club. We need a DM or defensive minded CM to cover Lavia absence, and then most of an attack. A new GK would be a bonus.

Got to be one of the favourites now surely? We've hit rock bottom, the only way is up... 🤓

It depends who'd want them. JWP, ABK, KWP, Salisu, Lavia and Tino are probably our most saleable assets with possibly Edozie in there too if he continues to shine and someone would probably want Adams. Besides them I fail to see who would want the rest. So we could keep a lot of the team together but it would be the crapper ones. Still we'd be able to play the likes of Morgan, Edwards and Ballard more... So without those (or any signings) we're looking at: Bazunu, Payne, Lyanco, DCC, Perraud, Diallo, Finnigan, SArmstrong, Elyounoussi, Mara, AArmstrong. Looks great. 🙃

We're a bus with no driver.

I seem to remember the Villa game we were awful - and against a then-poor Villa side too.