Barsiem

I'm liking the above quote! I appreciate the jury is still out on Martin after that run of defeats, but he is the most proactive manager tactically we've had since Adkins imo. The tactical changes he's made for the last two games have shored the defence up massively (albeit we're still shaky at the back), and he has already made positive impacts in the 2nd half of games with substitutions to have us go on the attack or to protect a lead is something we haven't seen in years. Here's hoping the good run continues for a long while yet

Lost 3-1 at home today to Birmingham, and frankly it could have been worse! We were fortunate to go into half time only one nil down. Birmingham should have had two pennos in the 1st half for handball. One was given but it was a crap effort and easily saved by Rendall. We also scored two OGs so certainly didn't help ourselves. Birmingham dominated first half but we were much better 2nd half, without really creating much in the way of opportunities to score. We were poor defensively today, which is not something you say often about the ladies team. Libbie Smith bullied the centre backs either by holding the ball up or by running in behind. Also there were a few balls over the top Rendall could have cleared up but she was reluctant to come for - hopefully she'll learn from today. Worth stating the Birmingham were top flight 18 months ago whilst we were in the third tier, but today shows we're not quite title contenders as a team yet.

Think most people who go will be going for the love of Marian tbh, maybe Monkou as well, rather than the 99 angle

Irritatingly the points we scored last year in the CC (224) would have been enough to win it this year! Batting points across the board are down massively (Surrey for example scored 27 this year Vs 48 last) so definitely a year for the bowlers, even with the changes to batting bonus points this season Another good season overall. Shame we couldn't nab a cup and be a bit closer in the championship

Seems an ok price given you get a two course meal and a drink included.

Anyone know why Maresca turned us down? It was reported he wanted to stay at City for another year, but then obviously signed for Leicester a couple of weeks later

Didn't realise they both have another year. Tbf a bowling attack of Abbas, Abbott, Turner, Barker and Dawson should mean we bowl most teams out for under 200!!

Can't see wood being released. He's only white ball anyway. Crane is probably better off going elsewhere like Briggs, but we have no replacement so suspect we will retain. I suspect we want Turner for red ball next year, but there's an outside chance he could be on regular England duty pretty soon. I think there is a real dearth of county openers out there, so if we are serious about plugging that pretty huge hole overseas seems the only option

Out batting is definitely worse this year. Only 18 BP scored in 14 matches is terrible, and only the bottom 4 teams have scored fewer. Given we're currently third and won't finish lower than 4th that's pretty poor. Still there's is hope if Middleton, Albert & Prest can all kick on next year. I think we should be signing a world class overseas opener if we can though for next season. Abbas is great, but opener is a position we've struggled with for years

Tbf, more than one poster has claimed he was the difference between staying up and getting relegated last season, so it's not surprising people still think he's being viewed in those kind of terms (I've not read the thread recently so can't comment on recent posts)

Fair enough, but it's only a example. I ain't trawling through stats to try and prove my point 😂 I'd disagree it's has more to do with quality of teammates. Set piece coaching is a huge part of any teams setup, and lesser teams can and have used them in the PL to be effective offensively. The fact we had a quality dead ball specialist and yet rarely scored from corners or indirect free kicks is pretty damning imo

Very sweet to win at Essex. I'm still bitter about last year's defeat

It's a little tiring all of the "I told you so" type posts... We all knew JWP could be quality, but it's also fair to say we haven't seen him at his best since the early days of Ralph. Last season I can only think of Everton away where he dominated a game. We are now having it confirmed that the reason for that seemingly was the structure at saints and how he was asked to play. The number of assists he has from corners already is testament to this and yet another reason to lament the management / coaching in place the last few years. If we aren't going to utilise a player of his quality properly it's arguably better for all concerned if they are moved on to a club who will. Now £30m seems a steal, but for how he has played in the last few seasons it was a fair price in the summer.

Kudos to west ham for utilising him properly. He's probably a bit more relaxed and able to focus on his football without dealing with the sh*show here, as well as not having the captaincy currently

100 for Prest! Decent knocks by the openers as well. Still looking like we'll lose unless the weather saves us, but great to see good performances by the youngsters

It's certainly great to be watching a team on the up! We have the defence to clinch promotion, attack probably needs to be a bit more clinical but it's improved since last season Only downer about the women's team is that they persist at playing at st Mary's. I get why, but for me sitting in a crowd of 1500-2000 people in a stadium designed to hold 32000 isn't a great experience compared to when they were playing at Totton. Hopefully we can grow it to c10k if we get to the top flight

Probably an element of going through the motions as a team as well. We've nothing but pride to play for and Essex still have a slim chance at the championship. Fully expect us to lose this one

If he couldn't recharge over the summer break I don't see how the WC break would have helped him? It was the right decision to get rid of Ralph as he was completely out of ideas and spark, and ideally we should have parted in the summer. The error was his replacements

Maybe they did something radical like aim a ball at his head?

Are we?? I was under the impression we were averaging two points a game and finally actually scoring goals! And achieving this whilst the squad has had its biggest overhaul since we were in L1

Lost 1-0.... I'm not loving Sunderland this season

Were Essex docked for that shocker they prepared last year to suit Harmer? That was a hammer blow to our championship hopes losing that game

Bloody hope not! As much as I love Vince, the players that got us there should play, unless there's an injury

It's clearly not one or the other. Part of a keepers job is to help keep his defence organised. The whole defensive unit needs to improve, keeper and all

It's 5 games, from which we have got 10 points. We continue that run over the season and that would have been enough for promotion last season. We are also in much better position than Burnley were this time last season and they ran away with the title. Saturday was definitely concerning, as are the number of goals conceded, but we are so early on and have made a lot of new signings . It maybe things don't improve and the doom merchants are correct, but it's far too early to say and anyone claiming otherwise is an idiot.