spyinthesky

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for. There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough. Could possibly do with another midfield player. Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance. I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Just got home random thoughts eg 1. Thought AA was offside when he received the ball for the first goal. 2. Bit concerned that Smallbone would get a second yellow for the tackle in the first half. 3. Otherwise Ref seemed to want to book our players whilst letting Leeds get away unpunished for similar offences. 4. As we had kick off, I guess Leeds won toss and decided to change ends, to our advantage. 5. Thought Baz had a v decent game and looked better than the Leeds keeper. 6. Sulemana made a big difference to us. However he didnt seem at all pleased to be hooked and he and RM ignored one another by the tunnel. 7. More grit and determination by the team but Leeds were the better side in the second half. 8. Bednerak and Taylor Bellis formed a decent central defensive partnership and they seem to have changed which side they are defending since last week and that seemed to help. 9. Would prefer to see Charles replace Smallbone in midfield. 10. AA worked very hard and deserved his goals. 11. Hope Ross Edwards is a 'proper' CF and will offer a something a bit more in the central striker position. 12. Once again, in my eyes, KWP was MOM for Saints. For once I have enjoyed a Saints performance at SMS. Let's hope the momentum continues.

At least when RM was at Swansea their fans had goals to witness at both ends. The goals for number seems to have dried up as the goals against are going up big style.

Me too and even avoiding cracks in the pavement hasnt worked!! I am also haunted by some poor results against Leeds. The 7-0 hammering at Elland Rd in the 1970's another 2-1 reverse away when I was alone amongst the Leeds fans and I was the only voice loudly appealing a very dodgy penalty given for a 'foul' by our 'keeper Gerry Gurr against Billy Bremner. And one of the earliest games I took my youngest boy along to during the Redknapp era when we were 3-0 up at HT and lost 4-3.

That is likely to mean quite a number of Leeds fans in amongst the dwindling band of Saints loyalists

It seems to me that we have a squad which has cost more to assemble than most|Championship Clubs, we pay our players higher wages than most Championship clubs and yet we are now in the bottom half of the Championship and even suffering a tanning from a League 2 team in the League Cup with our best left back shoved in as a makeshift central defender.. I just hope we dont draw a resurgent Pompey team in the FA Cup. That could really be embarrassing. The real worry to me is that we are down on a slippery slope which, as a very long term supporter, will probably see me out before it turns round!!

Downes was poor today but as someone who suffered from Campylobacter food poisoning in the past I can assure you it takes quite a while to recover fully from it and I reckon the bacteria is probably still in his system. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this. Smallbone offered nothing apart from one shot on target and a myriad of backward passes. We are so open to quick breaks are are generally pedestrian going forward. KWP the best of the bunch as usual but yet another very disjointed performance. I feel as low as I did under Branfoot and again when we went into admin in the Championship and got beaten regularly until the drop into League 1. This year the change from early season optimism to the current shit show is immense and the Manager, Jason Wilcox and all must take most of the responsibility.

I thought the pitch at the beginning of the season looked in superb condition. It has since appears to have deteriorated with some brown patches in a couple of areas.

Wouldnt surprise me if Boris came back to 'rescue' the Tory party and lead the country in a 'Brentry' campaign

I spoke to a contact of mine who watches Sunderland and Saints quite regularly and has feedback from both camps. As many of us would agree with, Sunderland were amazed how easy it was to win the game up on Wearside. There was an expectation from Sunderland how to deal with Russell Martin's game plan but nobody assumed it would be so easy. Apparently Ross Stewart was 'only' on around £4k a week at Sunderland so it was a no brainer for him and his agent to accept something in the region of £25k pw to come here. It appears that RS was rated very highly in the north east so, when fit (eventually!!!) he could, potentially, do a good job for us. The question is how will he fit into RM's pattern of play and will he be expected to replace Che Adams, or play alongside him?

West Ham fans reckon he is the signing of the season and just think that quite a few of our fans didnt rate him!!

Perhaps I may indulge myself in the memories of our game in the San Siro a few years back. We took over 7,000 there which was an incredible achievement for a relatively small club amongst the Premiership elite often supplemented by part time supporters.. Big City Newcastle, who enjoy a passionate and loyal fan base, only managed a reported 4,000 turn out for their visit to Milan yesterday. Amongst all the negativity surrounding the Saints atm, this makes me feel a tad proud and a good memory of the day and the very impressive support of Saints fans. We should have won too!!!

I think we may have been carried away by a pre season friendly v Reading where we absolutely murdered their basically cobbled together side (yet conceded two, nearly three breakaway goals) as well as the performance against a very poor Sheff Weds team (but including Tella and JWP) and an average Plymouth outfit. A hammering at 4th Division Gillingham and a further recent 3 defeats on the bounce with 1 goal scored and 10 conceded is relegation form. We have a squad which probably cost the most to acquire plus a high wage bill and we are in complete disarray. There is the chance of a turnround but we are already beyond redemption for automatic promotion and who would fancy this squad's chances in the Prem???

My view of player performance 1. Baz..................no blame for the goal and made one very decent save second half 6/10 2. KWP................our best player. No doubt will be off in January. 8/10 3 Manning..........like many fans, expected a lot from him. Average at best 5/10 4. Smallbone......looked reasonable at start of season. Fallen away since then..............5/10 5. Charles..........not a central defender. Betterish in midfield. Responsible for the goal 4/10 6 Taylor Bellis....looked more comfortable when Bednerak came on. 6/10 7. Edioze.............didnt contribute much.................................................................................5/10 8. AA....................ditto. How did he score so many goals at Blackburn?............................5/10 9. Adams.............had one straightforward chance but keeper made a decent save.........5/10 10. Aribo..............lost possession which should have resulted in a second goal. V poor 4/10 11. Fraser.............made a decent start in his first game. Disappointing since.....................5/10 12, Bednerak.......made a difference strengthening defence when he came on. 13. Stuey.............some decent tuns but little overall influence 14. Sulemana.......so frustrating. There is a player there but tends to give up at times. 15. Alcaraz...........what has happened to him? Nothing to add to the game when he came on. 16. Mara...............did he touch the ball? Russell Martin..... really wanted him to succeed but as Swansea fans predicted, he may not finish the season with us.

Interesting programme on the TV last night re corrosion problems on bridges and flyovers caused by encasing steel within concrete which have degraded.. Many of these structures were built with tolerances relative to the average weight of cars and commercial vehicles. Both these assumptions would not have factored in the heavier weight of battery cars and heavier weight limits allowable for HGV's. Dealing with this could potentially mean billions of £££££ in upgrades/maintenance.

Russell Martin comes across as a likeable bloke who wants to play a decent brand of 'keep ball' and so far this season this has largely worked. However many of us fans have seen potential issues eg 1. Height and physicality of the team. 2. Susceptibility to crosses. 3. Potential to be hit on the break (even Reading a team of triallists we totally outplayed pre season, scored two and nearly had three goals from breakaways) 4. Goal keeping errors (btw I dont necessarily blame Baz as I think he will develop into a decent GK and the set up in front of him hasn't helped) 5. Over elaboration in the final third of the pitch. We have now got the worst defensive record in the Championship, conceded three against a 4th tier team and the team didn't cover themselves in glory pre season. Russell Martin and his coaching staff have got a couple of weeks to try and sort something out before difficult games against Leicester & Ipswich, although losing players to the International break wont help. Let's hope that there is more structure to the team and a better defensive set up as a consequence of today's hammering. My thoughts go out to those who had to witness the game first hand and have to travel back to Hampshire.

After the glorious Cup Final win in 1976 and an unfortunate loss to Liverpool in the Charity Shield, there were great hopes for the forthcoming season in Division 2 (todays Championship) The first seven games were: H.... Carlisle 1-2 A......Millwall 0-0 A......Hull 0-4 H......Sheffield Utd 1-1 A......Burnley .0-2 H.....Nottm Forest 2-2 A.....Charlton...............2-6 So after seven games we had three points and were sat rock bottom of the table. I remember coming back from The Valley after the humbling by Charlton feeling a bit shell shocked like many of us feel today. The game sticks in my mind not only because of the abject performance by the Saints team, who were pre season favourites for promotion, but four of us had freebie tickets in the small main stand that, in those days, sat rather forlornly surrounded by massive banks of uncovered and virtually empty terracing.. We arrived late due to traffic and by the time stewards had ejected Charlton fans who were in our seats, we were two down and had to sit and put up with Charlton fans taking the piss for the rest of the game. At least we didnt have to suffer a 400 mile odd journey home. Any way the object of this post is to try and offer up a bit of positivity after today's shit show as our picked up as the 1976/78 season progressed and the following year we were promoted back to the top division. Here's hoping.

I think with younger players they need to have their time 'managed'. This applies to quite a few of our squad and, thankfully, there is the squad depth to do this. Look at Sulemana, for example. Able to introduce him spasmodically eg once or two a season, to help his development!!!!!!!!!!!

I was talking to an ex pro recently about player medicals in the 1970's. Apparently you sat on a chair and the club medic listened to your heart, checked blood pressure and wiggled your legs about a bit and that was it. If there was any history of broken bones (much more common then) or cartilage damage a player may be sent for an X-Ray if the club could afford it. Bit different now!!

Gnonto did the same at Leeds then had to come back with his tail between his legs

Initial thought that this was a topic regarding bringing in a temporary supporter rather than someone being a lonely fan.

Watched the programme last night. Felt really sorry for Jake Flannigan

I read somewhere that our net spend deficit over the past 5 years has been in excess of £200m. So there needs to be a rebalancing somewhere, unfortunately.

I think any signings may not start on Saturday as Russell Martin will want to give them time to fit in to the 'system' Flynn Downes was Ok as he understood playing style from his Swansea days. I think Coalman's team is probably the most likely and hopefully KWP will be on the team sheet, otherwise likely to be Bree. Possibility of Smallbone being on the bench

I can only recount conversations I have had with friends and acquaintances. Most of the Remainers, like me, were disappointed with the vote to leave but were prepared to accept we may be wrong and there were better days ahead. To be fair there are a few Remainers who point the finger squarely at the likes of Farage. Lord Snooty, the ERG etc etc. Those who voted to leave for a variety of reasons eg 'bringing back control'...'reducing immigration'..'opportunity for trade deals with the US and other parts of the world'.. etc etc are now rather sheepish, regret their vote and reckon they were misled. A minority of staunch Brexiteers refuse to recant and often blame 'Remoaners' for all the problems that Brexit has caused with 'their negative attitudes'. Interestingly they seem very shy in offering up any tangible benefits of leaving the EU. Ironically one or two of them also hold a candle for dear old Boris and reckon he should have been allowed to stay as PM as sort out the current mess.