Saint Fan CaM

As a Tadic replacement he looks spot on the money. Let’s hope he works well with the rest of the team and Hughes.

The fact he’s back in training with the 1st team looks promising, although that does not mean he’ll not be sold if a decent bid comes in. Hope he reaches his full potential with Hughes this season because I think he has something special to offer.

Pleased to know we’ll not have to endure the statue between the sticks and I actually like watching McCarthy.

Even 26 year old players get crocked to the point where their game time becomes limited. And Davis is at a different point in his career. I think Les is thinking we have Tadic replacement already in more game time for Boufal and Redmond sadly, so in effect Armstrong is a Davis like appointment.

Renewed this week. Close call decision after last seasons shambles, but I’m intrigued to see what Hughes can do with the squad. I waited so many years to be able to afford an ST and my seat is great, I’ll find it hard to give up.

This could be the steal of the season....he can shoot, but against Prem keepers/defence he’ll not be as productive. Plus I get the feeling this is a player on the decline physically, which is why he’s not been seeing as much game time. Overall, if we were in the Championship I would be cheering this addition a lot more.

I get the fact that Tadic has an expiry date on the back of his shirt...but he’s been a good player for the most part and pretty loyal which is a rare commodity now. The problem is that leaving Redmond and Boufal in the squad and then replacing Tadic with lesser quality is a massive mistake and one that has been prevalent for too many seasons now. I don’t think Shaquri is a bad player but I’m not sure he has enough to improve the squad to the point where we’re not struggling against relegation.

If this is true and we do not replace him with some real quality I can see another relegation dogfight this coming season. Hope we keep him though and actually improve the squad with a couple of great signings.

Kane being dragged down was a stonewall pen...ludicrous having VAR if those types of decisions are made. Lingard is a big disappointment...needs to be 30% better or early sub.

Has he signed yet? In a Skacel sort of way you understand.

You could be right there, however I hereby name this lovely design the 'deckchair kit'. Let's hope the players are not still on the beach when they pull it on for the first game of the season!

What, no mention of monkey chicken petting zoo? Any stadium refurb thread is not worth reading without incontrovertible proof of this. In other news, I think the premium seats in the Kingsland should get padded seats. Just saying.

Just one small element of the madness of the last two seasons.

Promes, need goals Shaq, need goals A striker - need goals A commanding CB, need to stop goals

Pleased to see the club have taken notice and provided ST holders with a glimmer of an understanding of what they’re buying into. I welcome Hughes appointment and hope he is given the support to sign 3-4 top players that will be vital to the improved season we are all expecting.

Can't wait to see us sign one of their star players from the depths of serie 4...hopefully will be as good as Corrillo. It's all looking peaches for Lesley's next little earner.

It doesn’t amaze me that Hughes has not been announced yet, but what does is that the club expects ST sales while no manager is in place and the squad is not confirmed. Can you imagine going to West Quay and at the doors there are guys ready to take £700 from you - “you can come in and look around, although ultimately we can’t guarantee we’ve got anything that you want...but have fun!”.

The failings of the footballing side of the business have already been said and for that reason, a “just stay” is not appropriate in the slightest. In many other business arena’s if a Board member or Director fails so spectacularly, they will be ‘asked’ to leave immediately...no question of a reduced role which would display top management weakness of the highest order. So that leaves us with simply go and this seems the most appropriate course of action. Of course that’s not what will happen, because Les has ingratiated himself with Kat and so with the Goa family. Kruger has all but said Les will persist and so this poll is somewhat mute. However, as previously said, if Les were to go, what are the odds of the club screwing up the appointment of a replacement? Sometimes it’s better the devil you know?

Thought generally we played well again today against an excellent team who were only in second gear. McCarthy had another great game. Redmond had another very poor game. What next? Appoint Hughes ASAP. Then lose Redmond, Boufal, Long, Davis, Targett, Clasie, Carillio, Bednarek, Forster. Then sign at first team level a new GK, CB, CM, ACM, Striker. When watching back the game on Sky, I couldn’t see Les with Ralph etc...has he gone already? If not he needs to fook off very quickly.

We will lose today against probably the best team ever to grace the Premiership. The massive question is by how many goals? Prediction 1-4.

Hughes has galvanised the squad, dealt properly with poor attitude players, tactically used the players to the best advantage and almost saved us from what seemed a nailed on relegation by the skin of our teeth. He seems a great fit in terms of his past association with the club. Get a result today and there will be a big outpouring of emotional attachment from the Saint Mary’s faithful. Sometimes it’s all about the DECENT decision and in this case my feeling is, that would be to give Hughes a three deal with the objective to clean up the squad and achieve a top 10 finish.

Reduced to a misty eyed wreck watching the stream in a Midlands hotel room. Make no mistake this was another brilliant Hughes tactical victory - that man knows how to best utilise the resources at his disposal however weak. Just think what he could do with a summer transfer window and pre-season, not to mention the great team spirit he’s clearly engendered in the squad already. But watch Les fook it up....again. We’ll also to the Saints supporters at the Liberty...just fantastic.

Our back three are so flaky that we cannot lose Hojberg or Romeu from CDM. That means Redmond and Tadic need to step up to the plate much more and play the match of their lives. Austin just needs to actually try hitting the target but not the Keeper. They are playing like the home team...against Everton WE played like the home team, so the question is, can Hughes now inspire them to play without fear? Unfortunately I can’t see where the goal(s) are coming from to win this game. And if they score first, we will lose.

Have felt OK until today, largely because I’ve been convinced we had no hope of staying up, but here we are...fate in our hands and just this win to stay up. Now I’m feeling very, very nervous...excited at the prospect of Saints doing us proud, but equally petrified that something terrible will go wrong and we’ll be humiliated in defeat. Today of all days, we need to dominate the game, not give them an inch and stuff ‘em. COYFR!!!

Gutted, but if Bertrand had buried that ball into row ZZ we’d have won...simple. Overall great team performance again, but Everton were rank.