Sheaf Saint

Wait, are you suggesting that Russia could do / have done much more with the estimated £71bn we will spend on F-35s over their lifetime? OK, point taken.

OK even ignoring the point that has been raised multiple times already about conducting interviews remotely, didn't he say that he wanted to come back to the UK to support his partner through serious illness? From a Saints perspective, it would be great if Norwich did appoint him now. Not only would it massively reduce our liability to pay up his contract, we haven't played them yet home or away (in the league anyway) so it would be a guaranteed 6 points for us because all we would have to do is put numbers in midfield.

And in both games he made absolute howlers that lead to goals... failing to stop a shot from an acute angle that went in the middle of the goal for Stoke's second, and then flapping at a simple catch and parrying it straight to a Hull forward for their first. And in the two games we won last week with him on the pitch, he still managed to gift goals to the opponents. The only difference was that, unlike against Stoke and Hull, the attacking players did their jobs this time so he got away with it. Simply pointing to the number of points we've got when he's been playing as evidence that he's the better keeper is just absurd.

We need someone who will get the team playing with a bit more Jazz.

Except he did. A couple of weeks later at Norwich... https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxk9a9OQRgBPYSLuWXbpfBEVd8z-S3dXwk?si=yvIiWA6Z28taiZfR There is no version of reality in which Bazunu is a better shot stopper than McCarthy.

OK I respect the fact that you have a different view, but I also have to firmly disagree with you. Giving another ten games to a young coach with no experience of ever managing a first team in the vain hope that he might turn out to be OK would be just insanity in our current situation - doing the same thing again and expecting a different result.

In a sample size of two, against two of the worst teams we will face all season, where we rode our luck and only really played anything even resembling decent football for one half against the basket-case bottom team and relied on them having an emergency loan keeper who is even worse than ours to give us the lead. I've not seen a single shred of evidence to suggest that Eckert would be any improvement at all on Still. We are in the mess we are in because SR fucked up by appointing a young, inexperienced manager in the summer who was never the right person to steady the ship after the total catastrophe of last season, and Eckert has even less experience (none at all at first team level, let alone in the Championship). Giving him the job would be beyond negligent, and frankly I am gobsmacked that we have any fans who actually think it's not the worst idea.

Yep. And this was long before SR got their grubby hands on the club and diluted that ambition even further.

I'd definitely have David Hirst up front, for the contribution versus reputation/expectation factor.

It would also be foolish to appoint the wrong person just for the sake of getting them in instantly. If waiting a while longer means we get a much better candidate in post (far from certain where SR are concerned, I acknowledge) then that is surely a better option.

Difficult to judge because we pretty much surrendered the midfield in the second half, but he looked tidy enough on the ball. Certainly didn't do anything obviously bad.

Yep, the amount of times I've seen the "he was unsighted" defence trotted out for him is just ridiculous. It's something that used to be used once in a blue moon, but with Baz it's multiple times per season. There's obviously a good reason for that other than just really bad luck.

The goal wasn't a howler, by any means. I'm more pissed off with the outfield players who just stood off and allowed Amass to breeze through our midfield and get a shot away completely unchallenged. But Baz was incredibly slow to react, as he always is. Quite simply, a more competent keeper saves that nine times out of ten. Whereas with Baz there's never any question that shots like that will go in, every fucking time. But the bigger howler for me, that he got away with, was when he punched a cross that even a mediocre keeper could easily have caught, got no height or distance at all on the punch and it fell nicely to an oppo player in the box. This meant he then had to tip over the resulting shot, and once again he did that party trick of his to make a straightforward save look more challenging than it really was.

So we really are putting the band back together then. Who's next? What's Pelle up to these days?

The commentator on Solent today in place of Adam Blackmore.

Sills is making out this was a much better performance than it actually was. You can only beat what's in front of you, but there was still so much to be concerned about in that today. We still panic and retreat into a disorganised defensive block when we take the lead. The formation is still causing the same problems - not enough control in midfield and too many defenders getting in each others' way.

They're going to give it to Eckert aren't they 😔

Oh Downs. Should have released that much sooner.

I'm still unconvinced. We've not really been in control this second half. We've surrendered the midfield to Wednesday and there's no shape whatsoever.

Only in as much as he doesn't look as if he's never played before in his life, like he has every other time he's come on.

Well Downs actually looks like a footballer today.

That's genuinely the first time I've ever seen Downs control the ball and complete a pass.

Poor attempted pass from Robinson puts us under pressure. Downs coming on. Woohoo.

Cross was just too far behind Azaz.