ant

Penalty decision made like the ref was looking for the first opportunity to give one.

FOUR at the back, playing deep; Central midfielders providing genuine cover for the defence; Playing on the counter, utilising Sulemana's pace. It's not been pretty, but it has been pragmatic. Why the fuck has it taken so long to try this setup? We'll still contrive a way to lose this particular match - and probably by a good few goals. But against some of the shitter sides we'd probably be good for the odd point.

Liverpool won't be bothered much beyond 3-0, given their other fixtures. You'd imagine their brightest & best will be taken off at that point. Do you get an appearance bonus for 5 minutes on the pitch?

Sacked by Tranmere after accruing just 3 points from their last 10 matches? Actually, yeah - he sounds right up our street to be fair.

...And then a set piece routine that makes it look like men against toddlers, followed by a gentle, bewildered wander back to the centre circle. Some of these players don't deserve to have their careers survive beyond this season.

SR have had an incredibly easy ride from the fans. Whether it's productive or 'right', surely it's only a matter of time before ire is directed towards them on match days?

Blue skies, and one of the highest temperatures of the year to date - yet the weather got increasingly volatile as we approached the stadium. Bodes well. 😅

I was away last week - and despite getting my ticket on the exchange as soon as that opened, it didn't sell. Was very strange that we continued to (easily) sell out for as long as we did. I'm glad folks are finally starting to vote with their feet. Heading into town now, prepared for another miserable experience. FFS.

I work from 5.30pm or 6pm 'til midnight most Saturdays, but until this season never minded having to rush there straight from the ground (via a hasty dinner!) Now? There's such little spectacle, and we're so far from competing that I'm increasingly tempted to write off the season ticket as a dud investment. Thanks, Saints; you've done what I previously thought impossible: you've made me stop caring. To those that have retained any semblance of faith, I salute you. 🫡

Dell-Sized Mentality.

It was decent today. Don't listen to people that clearly don't attend.

Everything is political. And given your history on here, I'd offer it'd be worth you heeding your own moratorium.

I've spent thousands supporting the club since Sports Republic took over, and am not affluent enough to keep pissing good money after bad. A sensible pricing structure would've gone a long way to bridging the gap. This isn't that.

How daft we were to bin off Maik Taylor in favour of Jones. Could've had another decade from him at the top level.

Oh, give over. Why do you support the original comment, then?

I could very well be wrong, but there's something about the tone of it. For sure, it could be that Solak wants to permanently protect his asset. But he's got fingers in a lot of pies. Can't imagine this was a priority - more a necessity.

Bodes a bit better than expected in the sense that Solak isn't afraid to throw his weight around. However it appears that the Sports Republic project was sold to him as a turnkey solution. I wonder what he thinks about needing to get his hands dirty? Seems the intention is that Solak is only in interim charge. But do we think he'll be getting a bit hacked off about needing to be so closely involved? And if so, enough to start looking to offload us?

Heading out for the day with the family instead. Sports Republic have had more than enough of my money. If I feel the need to inject some misery into the day I'll tune in to Adam and Jo when we're driving home.

Won't get a great view of the pitch from there. Albeit that probably adds to the value.

'Pedant alert' moment, but I think you've confused 02-03 (last at Maine Road, finished 1-0 with a Michael Svensson goal) and 03-04, which was exactly as described. 8th in the league and the FA Cup Final... An impossible dream now. 😪

We picked up 7 points from the 21st to 26th games of 2022-23, so the gap will surely only widen. Takes some doing to make us THIS much worse than that horror-show. 🤦‍♂️

Yes, it is. Our support's been OK this season, relative to the football served up. There's an argument to be made that it's been too good. The sell-outs and vocal support perhaps played part in a longer grace period than Martin and the players deserved. Now, I think many people (myself included) are trapped in a state of quiet inevitability. With the odd moment of reverting to chanting, but mostly to stave off the worst of the boredom. Generally tinged with gallows humour. In the majority of matches the away support's barely registered for me. Brentford were near-silent until they'd stuck a couple of goals away (with many of them sat down?!) If consistently decent from that point onwards.

His first window with us was broadly worthwhile (and included van Dijk!) But I think Koeman's connections did at least some of the work. The following year, we didn't replace Mane, Pelle, Wanyama or Fonte well enough - all of whom were pivotal players. That was the exact point we went from European contenders to a mid-table side. We really didn't back Puel well at all. Across 2017-18 you've got the holy trinity of Hoedt, Lemina & Carrillo. So... That. A year later, Vestergaard, Elyounoussi & Gunn... I take it Wilson wasn't particularly popular at Rangers either. But yes - credit where it's due, he's had a positive impact at Forest. It is indeed galling to look back to the much-criticised times of Wilson, Puel et al, realising quite how much further there was to fall.

Granted, there weren't many fans left by the end of the Brentford match, but a growing number were voicing their ire specifically towards Sports Republic. Both lone voices and wider chants. It'll be interesting to see how quickly the poison spreads.

In the same way that 100 passes across the face of our own goal don't create goalscoring chances (but will add to a 'successful pass %' stat), I'd like to understand how many of those are in the opposition box. Somebody like Shane Long (all 5ft 11 of him) had an incredible leap - and the positional sense to use it. Onuachu does not. He still feels a blunt instrument to me. The physical attributes aren't translating into ability.