goodymatt

Stewart, Matsuki and Charles coming on

Are we going to have to bring Long on?!

I agree with this. The only slight concern I have is that Welington has shown to be a bit injury prone since he arrived and with him playing so well the temptation is to keep playing him. Not sure if that’s a genuine risk or not. What I do know is Manning vs Fatawu is not what I want to be watching later!

We could really do with him defying the odds and keeping fit for the next 15 games, perhaps with Larin allowing minutes to be managed without changing shape, he might be managed better. Guess we will find out!

They were our owners when we signed Stewart

It’s 4 points, over 15 games. No matter how many teams are in the mix, you can’t say we are not in the chase. We have many of the competitors to play and they will also be playing each other. If I remember correctly we were 8 points off the playoffs before we played Stoke. 2 games later and we’ve caught up 4 points already. It’s in our hands, doesn’t mean we will take it as we have proven to be very hot and cold this season, but we are most certainly in the chase at the moment.

Please explain.

We fumbled Rohl so bad.

What an experience! Thanks for sharing.

He won the ball back 9 times yesterday, more than any Saints player. Not a side of his game we have seen much of previously. I welcome his extra effort off the ball.

It’s definitely not out of our hands. Teams are playing each other and so will drop points. We also have a lot of the teams in the race left to play - Wrexham, Preston, Derby, Bristol and QPR. The only team in the hunt with a better record last 5 games is Birmingham, who we don’t play. The gap is only 4 points with 45 points left to play for, It is in our hands, the question is whether we can show the consistency required to take it. Given our season to date, I can see why anyone would have their doubts. If I remember correctly we’ve gone on 2 horrific stretches this season, 1 win in 13 and 1 win in 9. Yet we still find ourselves only 4 points off. It’s fair to say the teams we are fighting against for the last spot haven’t been very consistent either.

Interestingly we ran further away at Stoke than any game this season. I think 4 at the back demands more running than 5 and we are building up fitness with each game. Fully agree that is we were fitter than the opposition every week our quality would shine through.

It’s a shame he picked Hamburg over us in the summer, think he wouldn’t make that choice given his time again and we would all be better off for it.

We are averaging 63.8 points over the season so far and that includes 2 big stretches where we only won 1 game. 70 plus points doesn’t feel beyond us if we can avoid going on a third shocking run. But can we?!

We’ve gone from worst save percentage to best. Yes he’s had a few shakey moments but he’s a huge upgrade on Bazunu.

Momentum is building, one handball away from 4 straight wins. Keeper that makes saves, 3 clean sheets in 4. Maybe, just maybe, we are finally going on a decent run that lasts. Fully agree we have left ourselves a mountain to climb, but I think we might just have the tools to climb it. To be 14th and only 4 points off the playoffs shows how crazy the league is. I’m not sure the teams we are competing against are that consistent either. February is a big month.

I thought the same, more of a presence but Stewart has a better touch. I think both give us different options for the CF positions, then we have Archer for games where there is space in behind. Will we miss Armstrong is the question that will take a while longer to answer but early signs are encouraging. That’s 2 games without him and both won.

There’s a lot of teams going for just the one place. Can we actually do it?!

Should be 0-1, thankfully they took a touch and Azaz saved us.

Could just be because he’s 4th choice in CM and we want a more attacking bench?