hypochondriac

Oh yeah and the last time saints got relegated and anyone was a little bit critical with our signings you got derided by the same deluded lot who can't handle any sort or criticism. Of course everyone wants these signings to work out but stating the obvious that some of them don't seem great or not as good as we need is a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

Yep. It's why we are being all clever again and signing Carlos kickaballs from miles away.

It's Harry redknapp playing the kids in the cup all over again.

Trust saints to be interested in the only Brazilian with zero skill on the ball.

At least if we got jwp back we have someone with proven performance in the prem. Bijlow Suga Bednarek THB Kwp Downes JWP Fernandes Gives us more players I have some confidence can perform in the prem for a reasonable period of time. Still incredibly hard to stay up but would help us. I don't care if we have other worse players in positions he plays, I'd get him back for the prem experience alone.

Obviously I hope he's great but on the face of it this looks like a properly shit option. Hope that assessment is wrong.

This sounds exactly like the type of striker we would sign. Someone with potential who we can develop and who might be good next season after relegation. Basically not what we need for survival this year.

What's the predictions then for what other business gets done by the end of the window with the keeper basically confirmed? I reckon kwp stays, ABK out on loan. Onuachu out for 5 million with addons and Alcaraz going too. Possibility that Bree or manning go if kwp is staying. To my mind we have to get a striker in to provide a focal point up front but I don't think we will. Instead I think we will buy one attacking player who could play accross the front line that's probably our Alcaraz replacement. I think we could see a winger on loan and probably another lb if I'm wrong and KWP does leave. Given that we didn't sign Jack clarke and Martin said we weren't going for that type of player I reckon the winger we go for could be on the RW. So that's two more players in addition to the keeper and another lb if kwp goes. Personally I don't think that will be sufficient to give us enough in attack but you never know.

A midfield of Downes, lesley, jwp and Fernandes is much better than we had against forest.

Not just beaten. We were comprehensively outplayed in all departments. At home. Against a lower premier league team.

Resigning or re-signing?

Again I wasn't judging him on two games. Not sure why you keep repeating that, I was saying he's not a starting player before the season started based on what I'd seen from him previously. Plenty of players perform well in the championship and can't make the step up. He played well at points last year but this isn't the championship. I think he should be in the squad and given opportunities but he shouldn't be a starter in a team not wanting to get relegated. Yes you can also criticise many other starting players or question their selection.

Bereton Diaz is a bit of a flat track bully and seems to be quite a limited player for this level. He's the opposite of the sort of player I imagined we would be signing given our style of play. Archer has been mostly anonymous so I can't yet comment on his qualities and how he suits our style.

Indeed. The only thing close yesterday was the scoreline. In every other respect we were far inferior and on another day could get tonked. And that's against one of the less fancied teams in the division at home.

No based on his history and his career. I said as much prior to the first game so my stance hasn't changed, it's just that we now have two extra games of evidence to back up that opinion. There's nothing knee jerk about it.

I'll give him more of a chance but as yet I'm not convinced he's beating his two goals per season prem record.

Irionically the fans have more recent experience of what tends to work in the prem than Martin does. He has to learn quickly.

Martin got us promoted doing things his way and deserves to have a crack at things. At least it will definitively show either way if he's up to it and will be a proper learning experience. Personally I'd rather just be successful in this league instead of being wedded to a particular style but he's going to live and die by it. One thing is for sure we need a goal or two and a point in the next couple of games or this season is going to be very long and ugly.

"see my system can work in the premier league. Suck on that haters."

Bijlow Suga THB bednarek kwp Downes lesley Fernandes Armstrong BBD Archer/new striker I'd also consider dropping Armstrong if we get much more without him, scoring or offering much.

We'll see him really soon apparently. It's all subjective though. Over the scale of the aging of the cosmic universe, Stewart being out is less than a blink of an eye. Or something.

Good point. He made a big show up about bravery and about how we were going to approach the prem the same way as the championship and then he shows zero bravery and largely changes how we approached the championship because seemingly we are scared of losing.

Last week we still had some faint hope of signing Ramsdale, O'riley and Clarke. Now we aren't signing any of them. I'm not saying that any of them were realistically going to sign for us but those are the level of signings we need to stay up. We've gone for a level below that and so it's not a surprise to see us really struggle.

And yet all of them were more successful prem players than these are.

I'd love to stay up with Martin playing this way but I'd be just as happy playing shite football and keeping us up which would allow us to spend a lot more and increase our chances of survival in future. Sticking to this method of playing with less money to buy players compared to almost every other team in the league just means we can't really compete.