West Ham v Saints - Sat 24th 3pm

[Miltonaggro]

53 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Prowsey to score a free kick would be good comedy 

90 +5

[disconnect]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

They're not brilliant, but they are the best team in the league, with the best player in Bowen. We could never deal with him in the prem, let alone this lot.

However, Tonda is a very good manager and we are a better side in a more open game (I think it will also suit them)

I'd go with Jander, Downes and JWP personally. Big game, big Saturday 3pm day out, I'm sure the support will be superb

Peretz
Bree Stephens Schlotterbeck Manning
JWP
Matsuki Downes Jander Scienza
Larin

Lets hope Larin is fit, (and has had a bit of a kick up the arse) as he's been off it since the international break.

Think Larin's been off it as he's not fully fit tbh. Came home with an injury after the international break and been having to play as the alternatives are not quite doing it. If Dobbin or Mubama had shown more, I think Larin would've been allowed a bit more recovery time. 

Interesting to see KWP was the starting right back at the start of the season but in the past 4 games has been subbed off twice at half time, played 24 mins vs Lincoln and left on the bench against Swansea. 

[Pamplemousse]

We've been given one of the Prem refs for this one, Michael Salisbury

[musesaint]

50 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

We've been given one of the Prem refs for this one, Michael Salisbury

Hope his eyes are better than last Saturday’s Premier League offering and that he can make some basic decisions without the intervention of VAR. 

[Roy Munson]

Fucking terrible stadium. Still, I'm going to watch us for our 2nd away win of the season.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

6 hours ago, Roy Munson said:

Fucking terrible stadium. Still, I'm going to watch us for our 2nd away win of the season.

Yes, when they got relegated, I was expecting a soulless half empty stadium but the buggers have sold 50,000 season tickets this year. Will be interesting to see the atmosphere on Saturday.

Like Wembley, it's a ground where it's useful to take binoculars to see the players....but I'll give that a miss this time 😉

[saintant]

Many reasons to want to beat these but, if we do manage it, none will be more satisfying than knowing how much it will piss off that prick James Corden. The thought of us winning and leaving him with a face like a smacked fat arse would make victory taste all the sweeter.

[saintant]

10 hours ago, musesaint said:

Hope his eyes are better than last Saturday’s Premier League offering and that he can make some basic decisions without the intervention of VAR. 

Yeah, saw him leaving St Marys accompanied by his guide dog.

[Zorba]

10 hours ago, saintant said:

Yeah, saw him leaving St Marys accompanied by his guide dog.

Pervert!

[Pamplemousse]

Just thinking back to our last games against West Ham at this level. There was a real edge to them, top two for most of the season, Allardyce in charge for them, Hooiveld terrorising them, red cards, brilliant times. And we both ended up getting pipped to the post by bloody Reading who came out of nowhere to win the league!

[Saint Fan CaM]

2-1. We’ll not have enough - our frailties will be exposed.

[suewhistle]

12 hours ago, saintant said:

leaving him

I thought it was always...

[saintwbu]

On 19/10/2026 at 22:58, Pamplemousse said:

We've been given one of the Prem refs for this one, Michael Salisbury

Truly possibly the worst referee in the league - disaster and controversy seems glued to him everywhere he goes. Disallowed our goal against Villa in the first relegation season for Ramsay just falling over next to Elyounoussi, and had several high profile shockers since.

Edited 6 hours ago by saintwbu

[Saint86]

This will be an interesting game vs the stand out favorites to win the league. 1st year parachute side vs 2nd year parachute side (although West Ham under Nuno should never have gone down). Its also the 2 best managers to ever grace the championship (statistically).

If it was the first half of 2026 we'd all be going there with zero fear and expecting to turn them over. This season its still early and a bit disjointed with the personnel changes, spygate fallout etc. But we go into it with 3 clean sheets, full of confidence, and in reality the best CM in the 2nd tier fit and looking like he's come back on fire. No one is living with Jander and JWP in CM and Azaz in front.

There defence is better than ours. Only really Schottlerbeck that threatens that starting back line imo. Although Bree would perhaps have a shout at breaking into it. Keeper wise its a lot closer. Still haven't seen last season's Peretz yet - maybe this weekend is the start of that?!

Attack wise. Larin (if fit) is without question the best CF in the league. But their wingers are a scary prospect - Bowen will be a real issue vs Manning/Wellington with Scienza playing in front - but then equally that will be an interesting dynamic because will Bowen get full freedom if it leaves Leo free to cause havoc himself? Attack the best form of defense down the left?

Pretty confident we'll see Matsuki down the right with Bree - which will give us industry and allow those overlaps we've seen so much off in recent games.

If all of Jander, JWP, Azaz, Larin, and Scienza are fit and avaialble, we will cause any side a whole host of issues - and it will be interesting to see whether Nuno goes toe to toe with us on the attacking front, or we see a cagey game early in the season.

One thing i think that is in our favour is that we are playing the away game relatively early on in the season - West Ham have been solid if unspectacular lately. 2 wins in their last 5 (all comps) and frankly the 9men Lincoln implosion is the oddity there. The other was a 1-0 win vs high flying Swansea, which is not the comfortable win we enjoyed vs them. I would rather be playing them away now than when they're in full flow later in the season, and when their impressive squad gives them the advantage of depth. As it is, we will have home advantage for the crunch home game at St Marys.

In summary, I think this will end up 1-0 to saints or 1-1 (someone needs to back Tonda and the boys!). But lets see. Either-way, its nice to be playing a side of their quality (i.e., not parking the bus or trying to kick the crap out of us) and it will be a very good test of the team.

Ultimately, this side beat Arsenal, Fulham away, and it took Man City 80+min (and a deflected bouncing outside of the box strike) to score against us at Wembley. The belief, confidence, togetherness, and relish in this side will come out in a game like this. I also wonder if the 4-1 might odly play in our favour - sets an expectation among their players and fans that has no grounding in reality.

Edited 1 hour ago by Saint86

[Jack]

Peretz 

Bree Jack Schlott Welington 

JWP Jander Bragg  

Azaz Larin Scienza 

 

Fully expecting Tonda to do something other than an obvious 4-2-3-1 with round pegs in round holes for this one, and assuming Downes won’t make it wearing his space boot. Azaz and Scienza to drop in to look more like a 4-4-1-1 when we needed. I’d be inclined to go with Welington in this one as he’s a better defender and we’ll need to keep Bowen tightly marked, reckon he’ll have Manning on toast. 
 

Probably miles off with that guess, just hoping Tonda ditches the lop sided three left back formation we saw against Bolton. Could be anything. 

[Football Special]

3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

This will be an interesting game vs the stand out favorites to win the league. 1st year parachute side vs 2nd year parachute side (although West Ham under Nuno should never have gone down). Its also the 2 best managers to ever grace the championship (statistically).

If it was the first half of 2026 we'd all be going there with zero fear and expecting to turn them over. This season its still early and a bit disjointed with the personnel changes, spygate fallout etc. But we go into it with 3 clean sheets, full of confidence, and in reality the best CM in the 2nd tier fit and looking like he's come back on fire. No one is living with Jander and JWP in CM and Azaz in front.

There defence is better than ours. Only really Schottlerbeck that threatens that starting back line imo. Although Bree would perhaps have a shout at breaking into it. Keeper wise its a lot closer. Still haven't seen last season's Peretz yet - maybe this weekend is the start of that?!

Attack wise. Larin (if fit) is without question the best CF in the league. But their wingers are a scary prospect - Bowen will be a real issue vs Manning/Wellington with Scienza playing in front - but then equally that will be an interesting dynamic because will Bowen get full freedom if it leaves Leo free to cause havoc himself? Attack the best form of defense down the left?

Pretty confident we'll see Matsuki down the right with Bree - which will give us industry and allow those overlaps we've seen so much off in recent games.

If all of Jander, JWP, Azaz, Larin, and Scienza are fit and avaialble, we will cause any side a whole host of issues - and it will be interesting to see whether Nuno goes toe to toe with us on the attacking front, or we see a cagey game early in the season.

One thing i think that is in our favour is that we are playing the away game relatively early on in the season - West Ham have been solid if unspectacular lately. 2 wins in their last 5 (all comps) and frankly the 9men Lincoln implosion is the oddity there. The other was a 1-0 win vs high flying Swansea, which is not the comfortable win we enjoyed vs them. I would rather be playing them away now than when they're in full flow later in the season, and when their impressive squad gives them the advantage of depth. As it is, we will have home advantage for the crunch home game at St Marys.

In summary, I think this will end up 1-0 to saints or 1-1 (someone needs to back Tonda and the boys!). But lets see. Either-way, its nice to be playing a side of their quality (i.e., not parking the bus or trying to kick the crap out of us) and it will be a very good test of the team.

Ultimately, this side beat Arsenal, Fulham away, and it took Man City 80+min (and a deflected bouncing outside of the box strike) to score against us at Wembley. The belief, confidence, togetherness, and relish in this side will come out in a game like this. I also wonder if the 4-1 might odly play in our favour - sets an expectation among their players and fans that has no grounding in reality.

Appreciate the optimism but getting a bit carried away with Jander who had an excellent 70 mins vs Norwich but then wasn't able to play any of the Bolton game, to be seen if he can last a whole game yet, Downes being injured is a big miss and who knows if Larin can play. Makes us so much weaker than our prime.