Sheaf Saint

McCarthy made 3 or 4 decent-ish saves against Stoke that kept the scoreline down. None of them were exceptional - they were all the sort of saves you expect a competent keeper at this level to make - but the kind of shots that Baz seems to let in frequently.

I obviously didn't though. Just making the point that 'global' warming has no influence on below average temperatures for the time of year in a single location (it was 17 degrees where I am yesterday - totally normal for early May), while other parts of the world are experiencing exceptionally high temperatures.

This has been going on for years, but I don't think I've ever seen it reported in this way on the BBC before.

Sorry, I thought you said 'global'. Oh, you did.

Wave of exceptionally hot weather scorches south and south-east Asia | South and central Asia | The Guardian

No. It's still entirely possible only one of us or Leeds makes the final, and even then there are no guarantees of victory. So I stand by my assertion that your claim of it being virtually impossible for us to be in the same league next year is just wrong. It's likely that one of us will win the playoff final, but far from a foregone conclusion.

What if we both get promoted? What if neither of us do? Both scenarios still entirely possible, and nowhere near as unlikely as you suggest.

He had a shocker of a game as well. When I saw him stepping up to take our first pen in the shootout, I just knew he wouldn't score.

Fair enough. We didn't sign him from City though 🫤

If by some miracle we manage to equalise and take a point from this game, we'll have Mccarthy to thank for keeping us in it.

Looked like he got the faintest of touches but can't be sure if he got the man first though. Lucky it wasn't given really.

Should have been 0-2 there. A let off. Fucking dogshit defending. Again.

I've only caught the last 10 mins and it's been fucking dreadful and the only surprise is it's only 0-1.

Of course he won't.

Yeah but after the home playoff game we're either going to have won, which will likely trigger a pitch invasion, or we'll have lost and have to suffer the ignominy of watching our players do an end of season lap of honour while the away team are celebrating reaching the playoff final with their fans. Last home game of the regular season is absolutely the right time to do it.

I'm with you on this. I just can't see us progressing with him still in charge, persisting with his stubborn insistence that propaganda possession football will see us through. Clearly it won't because it gets ruthlessly exposed any time we come up against a half decent opponent, and Russ has proven beyond any doubt that he is utterly incapable of identifying what is going wrong in-game and making changes to adapt to the opposition tactics. That is a serious failing that, if it continues, will see us always flirting near the top but never seriously competing for title/auto-promotion. He won't change. He's made that clear on multiple occasions. It's his way or the highway, and he's far too pig-headed to accept that maybe, just maybe, his system isn't perfect and that it needs to be tweaked from time to time in order to overcome a particular type of threat. He's learned no lessons over the course of a whole season with this team and continues to repeat the same mistakes week in, week out. So either we somehow manage to win the playoffs and go up, where his style of play will get ruthlessly punished like it was against Leicester last night, and we'll probably end up beating the 9-0 records; or we lose out and remain in this division next season with a weakened squad. Either way, Russell Martin is not the right man to take us forward, so I would be looking to replace him at the end of the season with a more flexible, competent tactical manager.

If it was Vardy's then he should get a medal instead of a retrospective red card.

I find it utterly baffling that Martin could even think that bringing on Manning is the solution to one of the best full backs in the league getting torn a new one by Fatawu for 60 minutes. "Eureka! I've got it! I'll switch my best fullback to the other flank and replace him with one of the worst defenders ever to wear a Saints shirt! They won't be expecting that!"

And yet none of Leicester's goals came as a result of poor distribution from McCarthy.

Obvious to most, but not all, it seems. This is just pathetic tonight. The starting lineup, and the in-game management have been shocking. Martin is out of his depth. He will never get us promoted (can't see us winning the playoffs in this form and with the injuries we've got), so why stick with him?

Just fuck off Saints, you useless bunch of fucking spineless pricks. Every single fucking one of you out there tonight can just fuck the fuck off. And as for Martin, you can fuck off even more, just keep fucking off until you can't fuck off any more, and when you get there, fuck off some more. 5 fucking nil. An utter embarrassment.

Fatawu had four players around him - four - and still got that shot away. Fucking pathetic defending. Shameful.

Sadly I fear it's going to be a repeat of his previous injury, when he was 'close' every game and then still out for over a month. I suspect we've already seen him play his last game for us.

Finally the ref gets his cards out.

I don't. Reckon I'm gonna switch it off and watch the snooker instead.