SNSUN

Booked too now. I know he's the current academy poster boy but I'd choose Downes, Charles, Stu, and Alcaraz before I picked Smallbone. Obviously a Martin favourite. I know he's scored a couple of goals recently but that's no more than the others should be doing given a chance. Passing is decent but that's not quite enough for me. I still hope he can come good though but he's nearly 24, not a youngster.

I don't mind Smallbone but he doesn't exactly bust a gut to run after someone does he...

SNSUN doesn't look at the Preston line up - hears commentator say "fuck ya" - has to look at line up. Ah.

GK - improving (though I'm still apprehensive) Def - Worrying - Running at 50% capacity. Mid - I quite like that, slight lack of creativity but sturdier defensively perhaps. ATT - See Mid. It definitely seems like a "score one more than you" scenario tonight. Another 1-2 to Saints would be fine by me but I'm not underestimating Preston.

I have a worrying feeling we'll lose Sulemana, I just hope we get good money for him. I am pleased he's got his head down and is playing well but I think if someone comes in for him at the right price, he'll go. KWP won't have gone unnoticed either but I really hope we can hold on to him as he's virtually irreplaceable with his form this season - I don't see Bree or Holgate stepping up to do the same job. I feel like Adams will go but bar maybe Aribo or Mara, I don't see anyone else leaving. Ins? Another striker would be nice if we lose Adams and/or Mara and I'd still be tempted to strengthen LB, CB and possibly CM but I think movement will be minimal overall. Thing is, one or two good signings (like Sharp and to a lesser extent Lee in our promotion season ) could make all the difference later in the season when our lot have tired legs.

Initially it was Jonathan Rowe but the bias took over.

Just a bit of fun for those of us who follow the Championship as a whole, with us around a quarter of the way through the season, he's my team of the Championship season so far (though you could easily just pick the whole of Leicester's team...).4-2-3-1 for me. Any you argue with? 😁 Any other Saints players that would get into this team? Should AA be in there? GK - Mads Hermansen (Leics) RB - KWP (Saints) CB - Wout Faes (Leics) CB - Pascal Struijk (Leeds) LB - Leif Davis (Ipswich) CM - Wilfred N'didi (Leics) CM - Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Leics) RW - AA (Saints) AM - Conor Chaplin (Ipswich) LW - Stephy Mavididi (Leics) Str - Jack Clarke (Sunderland)

Come on Saints!

🙄

If KWP isn't the right back of choice in the Championship team of the season then there is no justice.

I still think he's OK as a "second" striker but he's just not great at leading the line on his own and his finishing isn't the best. In the system we play he's not the answer. I don't rate AA as a striker either particularly, he's better out wide, but I'd rather play him up top than Che right now. With Mara 'under' performing too, I really am pinning my hopes on Stewart coming in and hitting the ground running.

Shite. Rotherham fans will be delighted with that point. We need a potent striker. Over to you Ross.

I'd say we should have signed a striker, but we did. An injured one.

If we don't win this imma poop my pants as a protest.

Fucks sake lads. Miss a ton of chances and mess it up. Boy do I hope Ross Stewart hits the ground running.

Medical incident? I hope the person will be ok. Best result for Rotherham would be postponing this match so I hope it continues unlike the Orient game the other day.

Well the floodgates haven't opened which will give Rotherham confidence but surely we have enough to finish these off.

Seconded!

Be careful, your kid’ll probably slip past him and slam into a net. I jest, I jest!

He’s a recycler, his passing is good and he enables us to hold on to the ball. That is useful in games where we should be possession based against ‘lesser’ teams, it isn’t such a good trait in games where we need more grit or simply more than that against better teams. Charles offers more defensively, Charly more in attack. I actually like Will at times, I think as the game got stretched later on last night that he made himself available wider on the pitch. Still, he lacks certain things that at 23 means he’ll probably never be Premier League quality. Still he’s a decent option this season as a squad player - my issue is Martin seems to think he’s undroppable right now. He’s not doing enough to earn that really. My initial reaction was penalty. If there was VAR I think the ref’s decision would have been overturned and it would have been given. But it wasn’t and we won. It’s the luck of the green we haven’t had recently. Thankfully it’s Stoke and not us moaning about that ref.

On paper, this should be a Saints win. 3 wins on the bounce after 4 defeats on the bounce would be a great turn around. But we're Saints so...

Mara is a strange one. I don't rate him right now but I see something in him long term. He played a great backheel pass shortly after he came on and I think with more game time he'd have sunk that shot. He seems like a confidence player that is lacking confidence right now. I know our fans are largely split on him but I do think, long term, he will do ok, even if it's not with us. He's only 21 and is only our 4th choice striker if you count Ross. If anything he was a strange choice over Che as sub but maybe Russ sees something in him that he doesn't in Che. Hopefully when we get a fit Ross in all this will be moot anyway.

To be fair, the bulk of the Adkins side had been playing together for 2 years. This lot are still gelling.

Back 5 picks itself now (Manning in light of a lack of other options). THB and Bednarek looking like a decent partnership. That nobody picked THB up in the summer in the Prem astounds me. If we don’t go up I fail to see him here for another season. Class above. KWP too. Difficult to give a MOTM. Sulemana was decent again, Downes too, KWP close but THB edges it for me.