Saint Fan CaM

And that right there is indisputable proof why we were relegated bottom of the league. Plus we didn’t sign a decent striker after Ings left. Plus we hired not one, but two, out of their depth Managers in Jones and Selles.

Absolutely this. Let’s remember, he was brought in to be our no.1 in the PREM! No EPL keeper let alone Championship keeper should be making those kind of rookie mistakes. It’ll end up costing us.

I’m pleased to say that there WAS visible improvement, we won comfortably (despite two Baz howlers) and I do think the team is moving in the right direction. What I am less sure of is whether we’re near a level that will get us near the playoffs…think the quality in the teams that have been in the Championship for a while might come as a bit of a surprise.

Disagree. Bednarek was at fault for gifting the opportunity yes - but Baz was at fault for making hardly any effort to stop the shot. His positioning was really poor and consequently he was not able to make himself ‘big’ in front of the on-coming player to give himself maximum chance to save it. If he’d done that and they’d still scored I wouldn’t be blaming him at all. Most decent Pro keepers manage to get those kind of basics right 99% of the time - he’s going to cost us points unless he ups his game quite considerably.

For someone who gets behind the team so unconditionally, this really takes the biscuit! Do you realise quite how contradictory those highlighted statements are? And lastly, I think you need to calm down a bit and realise that supporting the team at a game and posting on an internet fans forum are very different things. 😂

Mmm, a good result and generally good performance against a poor L1 team and let down by some very dodgy keeping. Pretty much all of the Championship teams will put up a more determined test against us. Baz made his best impression of a statue for their first by not moving out to face the oncoming attacker, the got his positioning all wrong and gave them the softest of late goals. I’ve not wanted to be overly critical of the lad but those types of mistake will be the difference between us challenging for promotion or not. Think he needs some time away in L1 to gain experience, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen…all our GK eggs are in the Baz basket.

Smallbone has not been too bad to be fair, but I’m not sure he’s a good pairing with JWP.

Yes, just came on here to say the same. Pretty poor showing really.

This game in general will be interesting to see if there’s any visible improvement in how the players are reacting to Martin and his coaches. Let’s face it, if we were still in the Prem with this squad you would expect us to win comfortably against Reading, but psychologically speaking I’m not sure we’ve shaken off the losing mentality yet. Fingers crossed this game moves the team in right direction.

Hun, you do realise this is a fans forum right? You know, a place to air one’s thoughts on the club, the manager/coaches, players etc. You may be a relative of Smallbone I guess which might make for difficult reading, but if that’s the case perhaps you need to consider not putting yourself through it.

It’s all going Pete Tong for Lyanco. What a mess.

I’ve added my take above on who should stay or go… keep 5, get Piroe. We need a completely different mindset in the forward line of players.

It’s starting to become apparent that the thoughts of many in terms of the squad being quiet and ‘son-in-law’ types is actually not too far from the truth. RM’s referral to Manning and him being loud/verbal speaks volumes…wouldn’t be surprised to see him made Captain if JWP departs.

Perhaps he’s happy here but there’s work being done on a contract extension and the club have told agents/suitors he’s not being sold? Pure speculation of course.

The club can only sell when offers come in and if the reports are true, Tino has the firmest interest ahead of KWP and Bree (😏) so he’s most likely to be the one going. If the club then sell KWP too I’ll start to question the sanity of the Board because Bree and an understudy will not be promotion grade.

Just managed to grab a ticket for me and my 8 yo Grandson (his first Saints game)…£30 & £15. Thought that was not too bad to be honest.

I wonder if it’s Downes himself who has requested the loan deal as at least then he’s still contracted to a Prem team. I completely agree with the stance that SFC are taking on this…pay up £40m that JWP is worth to us or walk-away. Even if Downes is a good player, it’s difficult to imagine him being anything more than a down-grade on JWP and as I keep on saying, we need a better squad than last season to stand a chance of promotion. That is unless we assume that even the better players in the squad like JWP are responsible for the relegation?

So I’ve bought a video stream pass - mail received to say money taken. But no link supplied to watch the game and can’t see a clue on the website, so any idea how that’s supposed to work?

Ings or Antonio? Would have either TBH…they both know how to score a goal in our type of system.

Going to be a bit weird as will be sitting with my Wednesday supporting friend in a home stand…I’ve not done that since the mid-70’s when me and a mate had a dare to stand in the middle of the home end at Farton Park, with our Saints shirts and scarfs safely tucked away inside our coats! We were just 15 so pretty intimidating for the both of us and to be honest I didn’t enjoy the game and couldn’t wait to get out of the sh*thole! 🤮 Think the Wednesday game will be a whole lot different in terms of atmosphere, but I’ll be very respectful even so for my friends sake. I’m not so sure we’ll be dealing out anything like a drubbing…I reckon they’ll be right up for it and of course the TV cameras will be there to record a ‘giant killing’ performance.

I see the Sun (?) have a story linking us with the Sunderland striker Ross Stewart. Doesn’t look like any where near a reliable story thankfully.

And if I had a golden throne I’d sh*t in it, but I don’t and we won’t get another Lambert…he’s not the type of player I suspect this crowd will look for. Thinking on it though, it makes you realise just how fortunate we were to get SRL when we did…the stars aligned and all that…and that kind of stuff probably only happens once in a lifetime and I for one feel very lucky to have witnessed it at first hand.

And some further still to be hung out to dry cure in a smelly kind of way. 🤢🤣

Not far off what I would think, although would not expect Manning to start ahead of KWP if he’s still with us. But that line up is a scary prospect given that Tella is the only change in the forwards.

I’ve resorted to getting a ticket in the home stand with an Owls supporting ex-work colleague (£47!)…travelling up on the Thursday evening and coming back Saturday. It’s a ground I’ve always wanted to visit for the historical value. I’m just going to need to forego colours, sit on my hands during the game and stay politely quiet (should be easy as we like losing our opening games right?).