Stoke v Saints Saturday 31 Jan 12:30 Kick Off

[Bushey Saint]

6 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Excellent from Welington.

At last, someone spells it correctly! 

[StrangelyBrown]

Fair play to Tonda - he got it right today. Very strong performances across the whole team and a deserved MotM for Azaz.

Big shout out to our fullbacks who were both incredibly solid.

Hopefully Rasmus' back 3 is behind us now.

[pingpong]

Got the win despite the usual scary GK moments, good stuff.

Teams playing each other - Wrexham play Millwall, Bristol city, and Ipswich in the next few weeks, so if we put a string of 2 to 3 wins together we absolutely can get close to the top 6.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by pingpong

[hypochondriac]

A solid win. Not spectacular like some are suggesting but the sort of game we would have lost earlier in the season. 

[Mr X]

Tonda in again..... Yeah definitely...the right manager

[SWLondon Saint]

Welington is surprisingly good in the air despite his size, he won a lot of long balls from Stoke and most importantly always competes.

Him and Bree just make a world of difference on the flanks, they get in tight and don't let the wingers turn and run at us. To be fair when Jelert came back it looked like he has the same idea. Those 3 are actual full backs though unlike Fellows who should never have been put there or Manning who should also never be played there.

[badgerx16]

We need three more wins in the next 16 games than everybody else.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Mr X said:

Tonda in again..... Yeah definitely...the right manager

nope

[notnowcato]

1 minute ago, coalman said:

Were Stoke poor or did we compete and make it hard for them to play?

We were on them from the start and for once kept our foot on their throat. 

[benjii]

Lots of good performances. 

Downes, Welly, Stephens, Fellows first half.

Jander and Azaz very good games too.

THB great passes.

Bree solid. Stewart played his part.

Quiet from Leo but still contributed.

Perezt SOOO much better than Baz.

[badgerx16]

1 minute ago, SWLondon Saint said:

.... or Manning who should never be played.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by badgerx16

[Viking Saint]

Agree, but why has it taken so fucking long to realise the absolute obvious. Am not buying that Bree's return is the reason for 4 at the back and an upturn in form.

P*mpey to lose and Blackburn and Oxford to win would cap off a good Saturday

[AlexLaw76]

We were comfortably the better side. Lots of good performance there

Stoke have loads of players out.

remember, it not about formations

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, badgerx16 said:

We need three more wins in the next 16 games than everybody else.

Have you given up on automatic?

[Saint86]

This is a strange feeling. Its only 2pm on saturday, saints have won away, and the weekend isn't ruined... 

Edited 6 hours ago by Saint86

[benjii]

2 minutes ago, SWLondon Saint said:

Welington is surprisingly good in the air despite his size, he won a lot of long balls from Stoke and most importantly always competes.

Wellington looks like a proper natural athlete. Moves well, agile, great stamina, quick. I bet he's stronger than his size would suggest too.

Edited 6 hours ago by benjii

[coalman]

A big shout out to Peretz there as well. He made two saves that he had no right to get to. Makes such a difference. A bit flappy in places but he was there when it counted.

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

We were comfortably the better side. Lots of good performance there

Stoke have loads of players out.

remember, it not about formations

Even with the right players you still need the right formation. 

[coalman]

Just now, benjii said:

Wellington looks like a proper natural athlete. Moves well, great stamina, quick. I bet he's stronger than his size would suggest too.

He's great with the ball at his feet as well and always busts a gut to give an option of the overlap.

[Hawkswood]

Oddly, Im starting to warm to Downes ( the player). Never thought Id feel or say that. Isn't the world full of surprises!!

So we go to a back four and look far more solid. If only a few more people on saintsweb would've spotted that.

Solid performance and players looking like they give a shit.

Wellington my MoM today. One little mistake towards the end but I thought he looked solid throughout.  Most of the back 5 decent plus Downes and Jander looked good. 

 

 

[Paul_B]

Good solid performance mostly.

Being Saints, normal service will probably resume shortly.......Stewart will get injured stumbling off the coach home and we will return to a back 5 with Manning 🫣

[Kingsland Codger]

3 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Fair play to Tonda - he got it right today. Very strong performances across the whole team and a deserved MotM for Azaz.

Big shout out to our fullbacks who were both incredibly solid.

Hopefully Rasmus' back 3 is behind us now.

If it ain’t working consider sticking with it

[SWLondon Saint]

3 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Good to see Oyekunle get a shot but he offered little as we started to defend more. I wouldn't want to have to rely on the youngsters though if Ross got injured though. Not sure what's going on with Archer.

Fine for him to have a chance but I thought he was poor, he could have been way more aggressive and energetic running up front. He closed down less than Stewart and was always dropping back onto a midfielder instead of being on the CBs. Why is it literally only Stewart who seems to understand if your number 9 drops into midfield you drop the whole team backwards? He's the only one of our forwards who keeps up on the last defender.

[davefizzy14]

The complete away performance today 😊 we absolutely controlled that and would have been more if the ref had grew a pair. Peretz, Bree, THB, Stephens and Welington all top today 😊 Downes and Jander put in so much running and tenacity in the middle. Leo, Azaz, Fellows and Stewart excellent 😊 Tonda got it spot on today 😊 My motm was Downes, he won everything in midfield and topped it off with a classy finish 😊

Edited 6 hours ago by davefizzy14

[StrangelyBrown]

2 minutes ago, Viking Saint said:

Agree, but why has it taken so fucking long to realise the absolute obvious. Am not buying that Bree's return is the reason for 4 at the back and an upturn in form.

P*mpey to lose and Blackburn and Oxford to win would cap off a good Saturday

This is a stretch, but I've got a feeling the back 3 is Rasmus' fault and he's now been told to butt out and let Spors and Tonda get on with it having fucked up most of our season.

[coalman]

Just now, SWLondon Saint said:

Fine for him to have a chance but I thought he was poor, he could have been way more aggressive and energetic running up front. He closed down less than Stewart and was always dropping back onto a midfielder instead of being on the CBs. Why is it literally only Stewart who seems to understand if your number 9 drops into midfield you drop the whole team backwards? He's the only one of our forwards who keeps up on the last defender.

He's young. He'll learn. Not to mention we need to create game situations like this if we're to give him a chance to make the step up. Our approach earlier this season made it nearly impossible to bring new players through.

[Behind Enemy Lines]

7 minutes ago, pingpong said:

Got the win despite the usual scary GK moments, good stuff.

Teams playing each other - Wrexham play Millwall, Bristol city, and Ipswich in the next few weeks, so if we put a string of 2 to 3 wins together we absolutely can get close to the top 6.

 

How’s your recovery going Baz? 

[SWLondon Saint]

Fair play to Downes, he put in a shift today. Also +bonus points for scoring a shit scrappy goal of the sort we usually concede 👏🏼

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, benjii said:

Lots of good performances. 

Downes, Welly, Stephens, Fellows first half.

Jander and Azaz very good games too.

THB great passes.

Bree solid. Stewart played his part.

Quiet from Leo but still contributed.

Perezt SOOO much better than Baz.

That's the major positive for me. Not a coincidence either that the defence look better with a leader and communicator making them more of a unit. Like you say Bree decent too. Finally getting some solid championship players playing in their best positions and doing simple things well. So frustrating that it's taken so much of the season and so many wasted games and points to do the simple things.

[Osvaldorama]

I can’t believe we played with a back 5, the shittest formation possible, for over half a season.
 

Whilst all the fans were writing down our OBVIOUS best 11…Which it has taken until FEBRUARY to play. 

Really happy with the win and the good performance, but good God I fucking HATE this club for doing the absolute basics all wrong all the time 

[Saint Marky]

On 28/01/2026 at 17:37, Convict Colony said:

If we dont win marky you are 100% to blame.

Mr Colony, you are more than welcome 😇

[BotleySaint]

2 minutes ago, benjii said:

Perezt SOOO much better than Baz.

I'm trying to be reasonable about it.

But the fingertip onto the post would have found a way to creep in under Baz. Those always did. The fine details are beyond him.

[skintsaint]

3 games undefeated, first clean sheet away from home. Upwards and onwards!!

[SWLondon Saint]

2 minutes ago, coalman said:

He's young. He'll learn. Not to mention we need to create game situations like this if we're to give him a chance to make the step up. Our approach earlier this season made it nearly impossible to bring new players through.

That's fair enough, I just expect young players to have too much energy rather than loping around trying to conserve energy though. Look at their teenager who came on, he ran around like a headless chicken but also had a good chance and created another. That's what you want from youngsters imo.

[St Louis]

Welington, THB and Stephens were superb today 👏🏼 Brilliant team performance, well done Tonda… 7pts from 9, let’s keep it going now! 📈

[Lord Duckhunter]

Best performance since Tonga’s interim spell.
 

Keeper makes a massive difference, together with a proper centre forward. Baz lets two in today, no doubt about that & Ross’ presence and movement is so much better than AA. 

Wellingtons best game imo, and Bree was excellent as well. Whoever made the decision to loan him out needs shooting.

Special mention to jack who gets a lot of clog but was good today. 

Leo not at his best, but that makes the result even more satisfying. 
 

 

[Bushey Saint]

Stream was patchy for me today so I didn't get the full picture of the match.  But there were periods in the first half when we looked really slick - really good first-time passing and movement.  Just needed that final ball and a truly 'lethal' striker.  Ross still looks a bit laboured and short on fitness, and the young lad looked exactly what he is when he came on - a young man still learning his trade.

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Whilst all the fans were writing down our OBVIOUS best 11…Which it has taken until FEBRUARY to play. 

I’d have thought the answer was OBVIOUS. Probably because James Bree was playing for Charlton, Ross Stewart & Wellington were injured had something to do with it. Im also not sure many would have had Jack in their starting 11 either. 

[Bushey Saint]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Best performance since Tonga’s interim spell.
 

Keeper makes a massive difference, together with a proper centre forward. Baz lets two in today, no doubt about that & Ross’ presence and movement is so much better than AA. 

Wellingtons best game imo, and Bree was excellent as well. Whoever made the decision to loan him out needs shooting.

Special mention to jack who gets a lot of clog but was good today. 

Leo not at his best, but that makes the result even more satisfying. 
 

 

Good call on Stephens. He has, frankly, been a bit of a liability over past year or three.  But credit where it is due, da boy dun good today.

[S-Clarke]

That was as comfortable a game as we've had all season, we strolled through that. There wasn't a moment from the first half through to the second half that I was uneasy, and that is a huge thing to say based on how the last two years have gone.

We exploited the space, which Stoke seemed to be allowing. This aids players like Azaz and he is very intelligent in picking up the space between the lines, which he did excellently today.

It's the 'setup' we've all been crying out for, and you can immediately tell how easier it is for the players. Having Fellows hugging the touchline gives us a great out, as we saw time and time again in the first half particularly. Bree and Welington were able to concentrate on defending, which they were both very solid at to their credit. Special mention to Welington in particular who had his best game for us I felt.

It does just play into what we've always said though - Leo and Fellows out wide, Azaz in the 10 and a 'presence' up top. Let the full backs defend and the wingers attack. It's not rocket science and it's no surprise that we look more comfortable playing this way.

Not a spectacular performance, but solid and controlled in a way we haven't seen this season.

[Mr X]

Tonda is bloody weird in interviews! very starey eyes looks right through the interviewer shows zero enthusiasm or charisma even on the very rare occasion where we've won! And says the bare minimum when answering questions

[Sheaf Saint]

Great result, and a much more convincing performance. Seven points from nine is very welcome.

Of course you all have me to thank,  because I chucked £20 on us to be relegated after the Hull game. 

[badgerx16]

21 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Have you given up on automatic?

Weeks ago.

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

1 minute ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Great result, and a much more convincing performance. Seven points from nine is very welcome.

Of course you all have me to thank,  because I chucked £20 on us to be relegated after the Hull game. 

Time to lump another £20 on us finishing outside the play-offs?

[Baird of the land]

Amazing what a different team we look

a much better balance in the formation

suddenly having fit fullbacks that can defend

a keeper that can make saves

a gelling cb pairing

an actual target man

what are the odds though that we’ll be able to keep them available, as outside of cm and rb we don’t have much depth

[woodsaint1]

Hopefully that's the 5 at the back nonsense condemned to the bin for good now. We've looked so much more organised since we went back to 4. Stephens, Welington, Downes and Azaz were excellent today, but the whole team played well. Now lets get a striker in and push on

[Bushey Saint]

2 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Tonda is bloody weird in interviews! very starey eyes looks right through the interviewer shows zero enthusiasm or charisma even on the very rare occasion where we've won! And says the bare minimum when answering questions

Media presence is a skill in itself. Some naturally have it, some don't, and you don't get a whole lot of practice coaching the U-21s.  Frankly, I'd rather he focused on developing a playing style that suits our available players, then training and coaching them to work effectively within that style.  In that respect today's effort was a good start.

[beatlesaint]

Thoroughly satisfied with everything today, no complaints at all, even the Sky coms team weren’t biased against us which makes a change for Goodman!

 

[BarberSaint]

7 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Weeks ago.

But realistically, how well would we do if we went up?

[sockeye]

Didn;t get to catch most of it. A 2-0 win is good and sounds like it came with some tactical/line-up changes so let's hope he persists with them