CanadaSaint

A) Did I suggest that the crowd should start abusing him? B) The Boro game was back in October. Pretty rich, coming from you, Alps.

I'm starting to get concerned that we've become a "style over substance" team in the past month - especially without the direct aggression of Chaplow. Just when we create an incisive opening, we stop, turn back and try to do it again, as Lallana did with his clear second half chance (one of many examples). And there's a special hell reserved for players who turn in a disinterested - never mind gutless - performance in a derby game. Guly may never be forgiven for that.

Oh, well, spoke too soon, dammit. Still, it'll only be three posts per day of his desperate anxiety to come on here and say "I told you so" rather than "We're going back to the Premier League".

I don't think the team is "choking" but some of the "fans" appear to be. On the good side, Hypo seems more positive these days and Lard has thankfully disappeared (touch wood). However, Alps, Dalek (mindless robot), Charlie Wayman (sacrilege for him to use that name), 'Professor' (certainly not of football) and a few others still seem to revel in negativity and an overpowering desire to be proven right. Imagine looking across the dressing room at that lot and knowing what they'll do when the going gets tough. The Donny result was poor but we were without two "must play" players and a third is fighting his way back to fitness. Every team has bad spells. We certainly have issues to address but we're still top and we have money to spend. Overall there's much more reason to be positive, and if people can't enjoy these times maybe they should find another interest. If they think the ship is sinking perhaps they should go for a swim.

Yes, Dave, it's not just the loss of Chaplow's significant attributes but also the mis-shapen and imbalanced midfield it seems to force upon us. But that's only a "seems to force upon us". How would you configure things while Chaplow's out? I'm frustrated, too, but it's very likely that all of our rivals will lose key people for prolonged spells and will (regardless of squad depth, because it's a balance issue) struggle as a result.

I wouldn't assume they're skates on a windup - based on what we see from some of the nuts we have on here.

Nonsense. "Win at home and draw away" is pretty much promotion form - and we're 2 points ahead of a "draw away" average. We've lost our way lately for a variety of reasons but this kind of overstatement is stupid.

Merrington is saying that Donny won by man-marking our midfield in the second half. From what I've seen we do have a very man-markable midfield - unless Chaplow's in it. Chappers is a huge loss to us and I fear that we'll struggle until he returns.

All three (well, 2.9) games without him have shown that very clearly.

Sh*t result, great-looking league table. We were without 2 of my 4 "must play" players - and a third is playing poorly. Our rivals will suffer the same fate soon enough. Still, carry on wrist-slitters.

De Ridder's heading for yet another yellow card - and a suspension.

Possession is 69/31 on SaintsPlayer

I don't want to be a "doom and gloom" merchant but we might have to entertain the possibility that Seaborne will never be the same player again, if he plays at all. The whole area of head injuries has been under a lot of scrutiny over here (football and hockey), following some serious concussions that sidelined players for months, and - especially - following some post mortems that found significant brain damage in former pro athletes. These issues are bad enough for anyone, but someone whose role includes frequent heading is especially vulnerable.

Very pleased with the come-from-behind win against a good team but we can't get Chaplow back quickly enough. It's not just his all round, box-to-box play that we need but also the work ethic he sets for others. That IMO may well be why we've looked "lacklustre" in the two games.

Chappers, for me, is one of the worst three players we could lose, so this fightback is great to see. We need a third against this lot, though.

Chappers brings really important things that nobody else can bring, so that makes him one of the biggest losses we could suffer.

LOL - don't get the blood on your skirt.

Lots of players playing poorly on the same day. It had to happen sooner or later.

De Riddder's one yellow away from a suspension, isn't he? That's some going, given his role and playing time. And a big loss.

I want Saints to succeed more than I want Pompey to fail, so a Pompey win would work for me. Heresy?

Thank God the refs are full-timers now. Imagine how bad they'd be if they were still part-timers. What a frigging rip-off that is.

Well, they say a team comes to assume the personality of its manager - never mind two of them. It sure looks that way with BHA - and I still haven't forgotten Dunk's horror tackle on Billy Sharp at the start of the season.

All of the above, but we're playing less of the square and meaningless variety and more of the kind that really pull and stretch the opposition and test their fitness levels. And the willingness and ability to hit long, crisp and accurate diagonal passes every so often keeps the opposition guessing and makes out short game better.

Deepest sympathies from me, too. You have them all your life and then suddenly they're gone. But I'll bet you have a million great memories of time together.