Lighthouse

Personally I'd go with: Baz Roeslev Stephens Wood Jelly Charles Downes (I'm guessing Jander's injured) Fellows Azaz Armstrong Archer Two wingers firing in crosses to one guy isn't working, we need Armstrong to get into the box with Archer more regularly. With our scoring problems, leaving out a guy who scored 22 goals two years ago just seems like madness.

McCarthy has made regular clangers throughout his career. Every manager who has been able to choose between him and Baz has chosen the latter and rightly so. If Baz had put in the EXACT same performance as McC tonight, there is no way in hell anybody on this forum is saying it’s a much improved performance and he should keep his spot for Saturday. I don’t care if people don’t rate either of our keepers, if you think we should’ve signed a first choice in summer then fine, but if the two we’ve got Baz is better.

We’re on Merseyside, so we could always nick it. When in Rome, and all that.

Just looked well timed to me and our defence switched off, I’d have to see it again.

Eh? He was well behind the ball.

I can understand someone losing their inhibitions and swinging their shirt around their head for an absolute limbs goal, like Aguero against QPR, but for a league cup tie against Southampton reserves that’s just bizarre.

That was abysmal defending from Endo, but I’ll take it.

How in the name of Christ was that a better decision than letting them have a corner, Manning?

You just knew when we missed two sitters… sigh…

F**k me sideways!

He played up front with Jason Euell.

I’d be slightly cautious on making judgements after half an hour against a Liverpool team who’ve made eleven changes. Whilst their reserves are still far better than us on paper, they’ve looked disjointed as a unit, not dissimilar to our own performance against Pompey. That said I’d probably give Quarshie or Wood, Jelly and AA a start against Boro.

Actually playing him would probably be a good start. Every time I’ve seen us play a 4-2-3-1 well (and I know we aren’t tonight) one of the wide players has been a supporting striker. Lambert with Lallana one side and Tadic the other wouldn’t have worked, you need a J Rod, Mané or AA making the runs into the box. I think that’s why our strikers have looked isolated thus far. Let’s try a string of games with AA, Azaz and Fellows in behind Archer.

I’m fairly sure we’ve sent Fenerbache or Chievo out to play for us. Smart thinking Will!

Well we’re giving them a game at least.

Fortunate there Isak blasting it straight at the keeper. End to end start.

No, they can literally have him for nowt, he’s out of contract at the end of the season.

Agree, they’re massively overestimating us.

We’ve still got a significant number of players left over from last year’s campaign. Surely if we just play THB, Downes, Stephens etc. we’ll get promoted by default, in spite of Still?

The so-called ‘leader of the free world’ in 2025… utterly bewildering.

I’m not really sure what you’re getting at there. We are able to afford players like that for a couple of seasons thanks to the parachute payments but life beyond that isn’t pretty. We will find ourself in a position where we’re forced to sell our better players to recently relegated PL teams to balance the books and the replacements will be Smallbone levels of quality.

90% of this league would bite your hand off for Armstrong, Azaz, Fellows, Archer, Charles, Roeslev, THB, Downes and Stephens. A large number of other players would also be in demand at top half clubs. The fact that none of them are currently playing anywhere near the ceiling of their ability doesn’t mean nobody else would want them.

The aim always has to be promotion asap. People say they hate being in the PL, they don’t - they hate losing. Every year that goes by in this league, the more we have to offload our valuable assets and high earners and if you’re not careful, you end up leaving the Championship through the wrong door. When people say they’d rather be in this league, what they means is they want the Adkins season over and over again. The Poortvliet and final Burley seasons were no more fun than last year.

If you’re going to try and claim Sully, who has done f**k all at any point in his Saints career, is a better option than two of the Championship’s highest rated talents in Fellows and Azaz then I’m not sure what you’ve been drinking. What do you mean an ‘undamaged Downes and THB’? They haven’t been whacked with a wrench. I’d also take Dibling and Fernandes over JWP and Tella, any day, not that it counts for much, The fact that Edozie, Aribo and Smallbone, who were all regulars in our promotion team, can’t get a game now should tell you something about the players we’ve got now. KWP is a better than Roeslev, that’s about the only place I’d say we have a downgrade. The rest is as good or better.

We’ve just got rid of 21 players and the manager. If you don’t consider that a clear out, I don’t know what is. The squad is decent, easily as good if not better than it was two years ago, Still just needs to do his job.