Blackburn 2-1 Saints - Match Threads

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

I think Cortese is irrelevant to be honest. You could argue any other professional or semi professional team would plan better. 

And don't get me started on other squad members being paid handsomely to sit at home.doing jigsaw puzzles, utterly bizarre sequence of incompetence that would verge on someone deliberately sabotaging the club to be believable 

Not that irrelevant given that we heard a lot about bringing special bedding to away games and particular meal plans for players. It seemed we cared about the little details back then and marginal gains. Thos debacle just underlines how we've lost that caring and are happy with being average.

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Blackmore offers nothing other than than the club are doing their best. He is a fucking wet wipe of the highest order.

House, he is a smarmy **** who get irritated at fans for questioning the manager.

 

Very sad state of affairs when these 2 are our voices to the club outside of the match itself.

Bollocks he said none of that today. In fact he was very fair.

[EnoughAlready]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Was thinking the same. 
 

Absolute shambles from the top down.

 
Tessem & Blackmore were urging patience on the radio, saying Still needs until the international break. 

But I disagree. I don’t think we can even wait until the next international break, I think he has to go now. We need an experienced championship manager in to stop the rot.
 

His tenure has been a complete catastrophe and we are in free fall until he goes. 

 

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Sports Republic are too afraid to appoint a proper leader who would call out their nonsense approach to running a football club and player recruitment 

We need a manager who's been successful in the Championship and could get promoted with a bigger budget. Someone like Mark Robins, but he doesn't fit the SR profile of up and coming.

[Appy]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Bollocks he said none of that today. In fact he was very fair.

Agreed, he normally annoys me with happy clappy schtick but he properly told it like it was for once. 

[Sir Ralph]

If people want change then you either boycott or have mass protest in the ground. If you decide to turn up and continue watching with no action, don’t bother complaining if it doesn’t change because it won’t. The owners need to be made to feel very uncomfortable 

Edited October 25 by Sir Ralph

[Football Special]

9 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

If people want change then you either boycott or have mass protest in the ground. If you decide to turn up and continue watching with no action, don’t bother complaining if it doesn’t change because it won’t. The owners need to be made to feel very uncomfortable 

How about strongly worded letters? 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

My daughter was born at about 3pm yesterday. There was a glorious 24 hour period of her life that she had never experienced Saints lose. Hey-ho, never too young to learn about disappointment I guess. 

[trousers]

10 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

My daughter was born at about 3pm yesterday. There was a glorious 24 hour period of her life that she had never experienced Saints lose. Hey-ho, never too young to learn about disappointment I guess. 

Congratulations! 💐 🎉 🍻

[ant]

12 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

If people want change then you either boycott or have mass protest in the ground. If you decide to turn up and continue watching with no action, don’t bother complaining if it doesn’t change because it won’t. The owners need to be made to feel very uncomfortable 

This is where I'm at. 

If I were pay-as-you-go, I wouldn't be handing over more money to be spunked by these morons. 

As a season ticket holder I'm leaning towards continued attendance but giving SR hell.

Though if we decided en masse to stay away I certainly wouldn't scab.

[StrangelyBrown]

Was it as simple as it looks? captain shoehorn comes on and we concede 2 soft goals. I could see him marking the penalty spot for the first one, but thankfully didn't see the game...

Edited October 26 by StrangelyBrown

[CSA96]

41 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Was it as simple as it looks? captain shoehorn comes on and we concede 2 soft goals. I could see him marking the penalty spot for the first one, but thankfully didn't see the game...

To be fair, first one was a cross that caught McCarthy out and found its way inside his post because his reaction speeds are slower than mine, and the second was a cross into the midriff of Bragg, who pushed the ball down into the path of two Blackburn forwards about 5yds from goal

But Stephens was largely anonymous after coming on and certainly didn't have the stabilising/enforcing impact that the manager was speaking about post-match when he was asked why he thought to make that sub

Edited October 26 by CSA96

[Convict Colony]

with Stephens in midfield it was like watching an oil tanker race speedboats

[Obstacle1]

Where were Jander and Downes? Are they injured or is Downes sick yet again??

[SaintNewForest]

18 minutes ago, Obstacle1 said:

Where were Jander and Downes? Are they injured or is Downes sick yet again??

Both ill. Which makes the decision to leave both Aribo & Matsuki at home even more disgraceful and inept.

[saints-til-i-die]

The morning after…. It was still terrible. The players aren’t showing the best of themselves and that comes down to the manager. The reasoning about that substitution was poor. I was losing faith but I’ve totally lost it now.

[Weston Super Saint]

8 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

If people want change then you either boycott or have mass protest in the ground. If you decide to turn up and continue watching with no action, don’t bother complaining if it doesn’t change because it won’t. The owners need to be made to feel very uncomfortable 

A boycott will be pointless.  Think back to preseason when the club sold every single season ticket.  Those sales are in the bag so a boycott isn't going to affect that money.

We may lose some incidental cash like hotdog and beer sales and the ground will look emptier with season ticket holders boycotting but it won't make a huge difference to the cash available that the morons can waste.

Look how Rangers handled it.  No boycotts, just made use of their attendance to show their displeasure.  Pretty effective!

[Turkish]

9 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

My daughter was born at about 3pm yesterday. There was a glorious 24 hour period of her life that she had never experienced Saints lose. Hey-ho, never too young to learn about disappointment I guess. 

Congratulations I hope you’ve called her Leonie after our new star player scored 23 minutes later

[tdmickey3]

9 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

My daughter was born at about 3pm yesterday. There was a glorious 24 hour period of her life that she had never experienced Saints lose. Hey-ho, never too young to learn about disappointment I guess. 

Congratulations

[AlexLaw76]

9 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Bollocks he said none of that today. In fact he was very fair.

Who said what?

[Mboto Gorge]

Woken up today and still mightily fucked off with the situation we are in. 

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Obstacle1 said:

Where were Jander and Downes? Are they injured or is Downes sick yet again??

Both of them were ill apparently 

[LoyalSaintSO50]

Watched some of Stoke beating the skates yesterday and they’re a proper back 4, organised defensive unit.

Fast forward to our game and you’ve got Wood misjudging a long ball early on, Ronnie and Quashie colliding with each other to present them a one on one and it just always looks like a panic and something could go wrong at any point (won’t even mention the keeper)

I’m sure we all want a return to a back four to get your fellows, azaz etc in their proper positions but it’s a struggle to know who our best 2 centre back pairing should be. Been disappointed with all this season, bar Wood but even he’s looked shaky the last couple 

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, Obstacle1 said:

Where were Jander and Downes? Are they injured or is Downes sick yet again??

They were both ill. Still hoped at least one of them would be well enough to play, so they both travelled and other potential replacements like Aribo and Matsuki stayed home. Then it became apparent that neither of them could play, but it was too late to bring those others up from Southampton. So we had to get Bragg taxied up to Blackburn because the U21s were already halfway up the country in Leicester.

Quite breathtaking ineptitude that you wouldn't expect even from a non-league team.

[Challenger]

It's the morning after the shite before and thanks to SR, avoiding relegation is our new target for the season.

[Obstacle1]

Just now, Sheaf Saint said:

They were both ill. Still hoped at least one of them would be well enough to play, so they both travelled and other potential replacements like Aribo and Matsuki stayed home. Then it became apparent that neither of them could play, but it was too late to bring those others up from Southampton. So we had to get Bragg taxied up to Blackburn because the U21s were already halfway up the country in Leicester.

Quite breathtaking ineptitude that you wouldn't expect even from a non-league team.

Quite baffling. Not sure why Aribo has been completely frozen out and Matsuki looked decent in preseason.

How frequently is Downes sick? Seems to be abnormally often, either he has a weakened immune system or just doesn't fancy it

[hypochondriac]

54 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Who said what?

You'd have to listen to the half an hour going home with Adam and Joe but he essentially said that fans were completely justified calling for Still to go and they'd be justifiably angry at how things have gone.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

25 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

You'd have to listen to the half an hour going home with Adam and Joe but he essentially said that fans were completely justified calling for Still to go and they'd be justifiably angry at how things have gone.

He said something along the lines of if a suitable and capable replacement was put in front of him, would he choose to let Still go. He said he would. 

[whiteleySaint30]

14 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

He said something along the lines of if a suitable and capable replacement was put in front of him, would he choose to let Still go. He said he would. 

Who are we talking about here? Can't be arsed scrolling through the thread. 

[MytchettSaint]

4 minutes ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

Who are we talking about here? Can't be arsed scrolling through the thread. 

Adam Blackmore

[AlexLaw76]

48 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

You'd have to listen to the half an hour going home with Adam and Joe but he essentially said that fans were completely justified calling for Still to go and they'd be justifiably angry at how things have gone.

Thanks. Will have a listen.

[Osvaldorama]

Yeah Blackmore & Tessem were scathing by their standards. 

And rightly so. 
 

Yesterday has to be a turning point and a line in the sand. It was completely unacceptable 

[trousers]

2 hours ago, LoyalSaintSO50 said:

Watched some of Stoke beating the skates yesterday and they’re a proper back 4, organised defensive unit.

Fast forward to our game and you’ve got Wood misjudging a long ball early on, Ronnie and Quashie colliding with each other to present them a one on one and it just always looks like a panic and something could go wrong at any point (won’t even mention the keeper)

I’m sure we all want a return to a back four to get your fellows, azaz etc in their proper positions but it’s a struggle to know who our best 2 centre back pairing should be. Been disappointed with all this season, bar Wood but even he’s looked shaky the last couple 

Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but we're missing Bednarek... 

[AlexLaw76]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Thanks. Will have a listen.

 

2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

You'd have to listen to the half an hour going home with Adam and Joe but he essentially said that fans were completely justified calling for Still to go and they'd be justifiably angry at how things have gone.

Had a listen and yes they were pretty honest about Still (ie a gamble that is not working out), and the owners

Edited October 26 by AlexLaw76

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

3 hours ago, Obstacle1 said:

Aribo and Matsuki stayed home. Then it became apparent that neither of them could play, but it was too late to bring those others up from Southampton. So we had to get Bragg taxied up to Blackburn because the U21s were already halfway up the country in Leicester.

It's when you put the pieces together, you realise how shambolic yesterday's game was. Players who should have been there not being there; awful formation; players getting in each other's way and bumping in to each other more than once; main striker missing two one-on-ones; piss poor substitutions (one literally remaining nameless)...the list goes on.

It really does need sorting and Mr Solak needs to bring in management and read them the riot act.

[SouSaint]

This club just drains the life from you. What an absolute shambles we are.

This isn't going to improve, the manager is so out of his depth but so are the dogshit owners. I dread to think what financial situation this club will be in once the parachute payments dry up. League One is a real possibility, maybe even as early as next season. 

Blackburn were crap yesterday but of course Charity FC are there to send their fans home happy. The two goals we conceded were a joke, Manning and Quarshie (he's absolutely crap btw) not dealing with a simple cross and then McCarthy taking 2 working days to dive for it, fuck off the lot of them. 

I hope the crowd turn toxic towards the cunts running the show next weekend once PNE take the game away from us. 

Will Still out. Sport Republic out. 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It's when you put the pieces together, you realise how shambolic yesterday's game was. Players who should have been there not being there; awful formation; players getting in each other's way and bumping in to each other more than once; main striker missing two one-on-ones; piss poor substitutions (one literally remaining nameless)...the list goes on.

It really does need sorting and Mr Solak needs to bring in management and read them the riot act.

Players bumping into each other is something that you hardly ever see.  Even at your local park on a Sunday morning. 

[Draino76]

Yes I know this is shit guys, and I don't think they're will be any change to the upside anytime soon. 

However. I had a great weekend,  smashed £50 on a Blackburn victory (post us going 1-0 up) (6/+).  The traveling saints were engaging, funny and generally brilliant.... to the point where I am personally not gutted about the result. 

What I'm trying to say is Saints fans on away days are legendaryand we are lucky to have this,  considering the shit that is served up. 

[ant]

13 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

They were both ill. Still hoped at least one of them would be well enough to play, so they both travelled and other potential replacements like Aribo and Matsuki stayed home. Then it became apparent that neither of them could play, but it was too late to bring those others up from Southampton. So we had to get Bragg taxied up to Blackburn because the U21s were already halfway up the country in Leicester.

Quite breathtaking ineptitude that you wouldn't expect even from a non-league team.

Only just seen this. Explains why Bragg didn't have a name or number on his shirt. 

Unfair to throw him in at the deep end through little other than ineptitude.

We don't buy success, we traumatise it.

[StrangelyBrown]

7 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Players bumping into each other is something that you hardly ever see.  Even at your local park on a Sunday morning. 

I don't think I've ever seen it in any of the games I've coached and I've been coaching for 10 years... Maybe my players don't try hard enough or maybe the saints players don't know what their responsibilities are??

[Gloucester Saint]

10 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I don't think I've ever seen it in any of the games I've coached and I've been coaching for 10 years... Maybe my players don't try hard enough or maybe the saints players don't know what their responsibilities are??

Buying players as single transactions for profit rather than because they have leadership characteristics and don’t need constant instruction and coaching, incapable of independent thought and adaption on the pitch tends to contribute.

Add that into the chaos before and after crossing the white line and a rather toxic mix.

Edited October 27 by Gloucester Saint
and

[Graffito]

On 26/10/2025 at 08:50, LoyalSaintSO50 said:

Watched some of Stoke beating the skates yesterday and they’re a proper back 4, organised defensive unit.

Fast forward to our game and you’ve got Wood misjudging a long ball early on, Ronnie and Quashie colliding with each other to present them a one on one and it just always looks like a panic and something could go wrong at any point (won’t even mention the keeper)

I’m sure we all want a return to a back four to get your fellows, azaz etc in their proper positions but it’s a struggle to know who our best 2 centre back pairing should be. Been disappointed with all this season, bar Wood but even he’s looked shaky the last couple 

I watched some of that. Both sides were crap. How we failed to take more than a single point of those two is criminal.

[tdmickey3]

In case anyone want a recap on the shambolic effort

Extended Highlights: Blackburn 2-1 Saints | Southampton FC Official Site

[Convict Colony]

Is wellington banned for next game ? or do we have appeal this week

[Whitey Grandad]

16 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Is wellington banned for next game ? or do we have appeal this week

Usually for the next three first team games. From what I have seen an appeal would be futile. 

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Usually for the next three first team games. From what I have seen an appeal would be futile. 

Agree. We can appeal all we like but I can't see them extending it beyond three games.

[spyinthesky]

Worrying thing from the Blackburn game is the report from my mate who is a long suffering Blackburn fan who reckoned Rovers were nailed on for relegation.
He still thinks is the case but was amazed how poor Saints were after spending so much money on new players.
In his opinion it was a game between two poor sides who both missed decent chances.
This is a big concern.

[Badger]

4 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Worrying thing from the Blackburn game is the report from my mate who is a long suffering Blackburn fan who reckoned Rovers were nailed on for relegation.
He still thinks is the case but was amazed how poor Saints were after spending so much money on new players.
In his opinion it was a game between two poor sides who both missed decent chances.
This is a big concern.

Fair comments from him.

I thought Blackburn looked hopeless in the first half, but without taking our chances, they realised just how crap we were and grew into the game.