redkeith

Bragg deserves a start after Monday. At least there is no Aribo in the squad, which is a bonus

I hoped that Romeu would still have enough about him to stop the break aways, apparently not. We need a pn alternative on the bench, if Azaz is having an off day, not Aribo. Maybe give the Japanese lad a go. Desperately need a striker and keeper on loan . Nobody, other than maybe apart from Robinson had good game

I think I have a solution for the issue of keepers falling over in the 70 something minute, feigning cramp or something else. If anyone can get cramp while just strolling around the penalty box , they must have serious health issues. Anyone who does it twice in on season , like Nick Pope, should have to spend a month at St George's Park being observed by doctors for their own health.

The only other attacking sub we had was Robinson and you are not going to sub Leo or Fellows to bring him on. I thought we did OK in the 2nd , kept manning up the other end of the pitch where he was less of a threat on our goal. Thb did play in midfield a lot more. We just needed to move the ball a bit quicker, and needed someone to come short when fellows got wide , ad he wax playing against a wall of blue shirts .

The whole of the 83-84 season for me. It is the only season that I managed to get to every game home and away. The cup run was brilliant, makerel stuck on the spikes at the away end at Forest, The Sheffield Wednesday forward getting hit on the head by a makerel and of course the Steve Moran goal at Fratton Park. It finished with a 3 1 win at Notts County to seal runners up spot . Strangely , the letters page in the Pink was filled up every week with people moaning about playing 5 at the back !

We need to stop the crosses coming in. Desperately need Fellows fit. Nobody is carrying the ball forward at pace. Slows all of our attacks down.

Maybe if the toilets in the Kingsland are backed up, but other than that, he should be banished from the SO postcode.

Saw a qoute from the manager today that Archer is not injured, just not selected. Something badly wrong here.

Think the game changed with the subs , the energy dropped when Aribo came on, and fellows had been good in attack and defence. I know he didn't have many options on the bench, but he got it wrong.....Aribo nearly gifted them a 3rd ..

He could be player manager, a let down on both fronts.

Really hope this comes off, he is exactly what we need . Top professional, sits in front of the back four, great peripheral vision. I realise that he is older now, but I am confident he will be an asset , the first 10 yards are in his head. I remember when we signed Jimmy Case we all thought he was just a short term replacement for Steve Williams, but he was a great servant for years and could have done another season if Branfoot hadn't run him out of town.

I posted this on the match thread yesterday , but it probably belongs here . We are getting worse each week. The recruitment has been terrible ever since SR took over. Signing SAA and Meghoma on big salaries that pissed of Doyle, Morgan etc and cleared out the best academy players. Not signing a strong centre back or centre forward. Bazunu! Pissing millions up the wall on Man City reserves. Renewing players who have proven to be inadequate at the top level. Awful managerial appointments. All of them with the bullshit out of the box philosophy, never anyone with a track record in the league we were in. I am happy that, living in France , I don't get to many games anymore, and when I do I have used a mates season ticket, so Sports Republic haven't got a penny out of me, nor will they in the future.

We are getting worse each week. The recruitment has been terrible ever since SR took over. Signing SAA and Meghoma on big salaries that pissed of Doyle, Morgan etc and cleared out the best academy players. Not signing a strong centre back or centre forward. Bazunu! Pissing millions up the wall on Man City reserves. Renewing players who have proven to be inadequate at the top level. Awful managerial appointments. All of them with the bullshit out of the box philosophy, never anyone with a track record in the league we were in. I am happy that, living in France , I don't get to many games anymore, and when I do I have used a mates season ticket, so Sports Republic haven't got a penny out of me, nor will they in the future.

I liked Sturrock, and he did give us some good games initially. However, once he had a pre season with the players it all fell apart. I remember the first game of the season away at Villa. Everyone on the way back to the station were saying, correctly as it turned out, that we would be relegated. We had Folly, who was a promising DM, playing box to box like he was Viearra. We nearly scored near the end from a Delap long throw. 2 minutes later we got another throw in the same area and Delap threw it short.

In his first season, we were 2 nil up against Blackpool, and I was thinking, great , score some more and maybe get some confidence. But no, Blackpool break , Jo is running back with a Blackpool player, but he stops and decides to mark someone else who isn't running. The guy he should have been marking scored. Since then he will put in a shift for one game, and then swan around for the next. Maybe if he had MLT sized talent you could put up with it, but Tiss always put a shift in . As a last thing p, even if you want a move, put a shift in pre season, don't swan around waiting for a move to the Champions League. Would take Trevor Hebbard or Tommy Widrington over him in a heartbeat.

In his first season, we were 2 nil up against Blackpool, and I was thinking, great , score some more and maybe get some confidence. But no, Blackpool break , Jo is running back with a Blackpool player, but he stops and decides to mark someone else who isn't running. The guy he should have been marking scored. Since then he will put in a shift for one game, and then swan around for the next. Maybe if he had MLT sized talent you could put up with it, but Tiss always put a shift in . As a last thing p, even if you want a move, put a shift in pre season, don't swan around waiting for a move to the Champions League. Would take Trevor Hebbard or Tommy Widrington over him in a heartbeat.

I only saw bits of this on my phone, as I was at a village meal. Didn't look in control at all, but they were not good. Just as I got up to leave we conceded the first, but think that any other clubs keeper would have saved it. By the time we got in the car Saints had inevitably let in the 2nd. I don't know what the answer is. Still can't seem to get a tune out of some talented players, but the squad has no spine and no balance. The talk in the summer was of needing power and pace but other than Quashee, we haven't delivered. If Charles is out for a while, we are fucked. Any manager that comes in needs to have a promise of whichever goale, defensive central midfield and center forward that he wants to make a team work. ThB, Stephens, Flyn Downes and Aribo need ditching. Shit attitude the lot of them. As for Rasmus and if it is not broken , consider breaking it. It is well and truly fucked now. As and old school IT man, I can't relate to that Web developer bollocks. Rasmus has taken a steady mid Pl team and turned it into one of Musk`s rockets ! Wish I could cut Saints off and just follow Real Socieadad instead, but football is not like that .

I thought we were very good until we gifted them the equaliser. Then we were average, but still had 3 good chances to score, ( Archer has to go left instep to curl it in to the far post, not Sunday League smash it hard and hope). Then we gifted them a 2nd, and from then on we were crap, no idea whatsoever. Archer held the ball up a few times in the first half, but I can't remember him touching the ball after his miss. We need to get Azaz into the team, either by droping Archer and playing him as a false nine, or by going to a flat back 4. As to out forward recruitment, we should have just kept Mara. At least there was some skill in there at times. Archer, Diaz and Downes have not produced the same goals and assists combined. And we would have about £25 Million net left in the bank to buy someone who can lead the line. There are some good players in our squad, but no leadership and not greater than the sum of it's parts.

We don't score because nobody makes near post runs to meet the crosses.

A few positives last night , although it is easier to look good when you aren't up against a defensive block of 4 with 5 sat in front of them like we will be most weeks in the Championship. Flyn Downes looked more like his old self, apart from the silly tug on Chiesa at the end that helped them kill the game. The Charles and Jasper also played well . Armtong and Sceiza looked very lively. Both full backs played well, and the Central Defemce looked much better without Stephens and THB in it. Would like to see them rested. I would like to see us start with this formation for the next few weeks to hopefully get some form going and use Azaz as a sub.

Good to see another fullback coming in . Bree was shockingly bad against Espanyol and Brighton . Sugawara was much, much better when he came on, and lots of people on here put Sugawara in the Steve Baker zone. Not watched the videos of the German lad, but he sounds a bit like Steve Williams from what I have read.

Neither did David Armstrong. If he is half as good as Armstrong was he will be great

I think with the loans, the problem can be the obligation to buy. I am sure that a lot of centre backs went for less than the 20 million we paid for THB that summer, eg the Spanish lad at Bournemouth. There should be loads and loads of Chelsea players available on loan unless they want 30 unregistered players hanging out at Cobham. Maybe we could get Sterling and that Ukranian lad on loan

I watched the play off final, and afterwards I thought that I couldn't tel you who the Shefield United full backs were, they had made so little impact on the game.

It may be that, having a young familly, he fancies a year back in Southampton to catch up on some sleep. Would be great if it is true. It is not just his tackling we miss, his perifaral vision was so good too. He could receive a ball do a half turn and take 2 or players out off the game so easilly.