West Ham v Saints - Sat 24th 3pm

[Saint Garrett]

On 21/10/2026 at 23:47, Saint Fan CaM said:

Completely agree that Bowen will have Manning on toast. Hoping Tonda will do the right thing and start with Welington, bringing on Manning later particularly if we’re behind.

Welington was awful against Bowen in the cup game at St Marys.  Obviously Bowen is far too good for this league so anyone we put out there will struggle, but not sure there is much between Welington and Manning tbh

[sadoldgit]

15 hours ago, John B said:

Why do you always try to be Billy Big Bollix and bully posters

The point I was making is that in our last four league games (currently)we have only scored three League goals I think which is contributing possibly to a flat feeling and a lack of true confidence within the fan base which includes me.

If we get some good luck we may well score a few goals and there will be more confidence on here

 

 

I’m not sure that stating the obvious can be equated to someone being Billy Big Bollix or bullying. We all know that MLG is a pedant (but he is factually correct). He could also have said that we have kept 3 clean sheets on the bounce so arguably we should have more confidence that we won’t concede! 

[skintsaint]

[Football Special]

10 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Perhaps trying to keep West Ham guessing but I think its very unlikely either Downes or Larin will feature , neither have trained so far this week , who knows though perhaps theyve been doing off-pitch recovery work 

[LiberalCommunist]

Yeah, or we might have a key player harshly sent off in the first few minutes because the ref has failed to account for the slippery conditions and... 

------------------------------------------------------

 

Oh god. Your version feels far more likely now in the cold light of day. Damn it. 

Edited 4 hours ago by LiberalCommunist

[Teamsaint1]

Azaz/Dobbin up top in blustery conditions might work well ?

[BARCELONASAINT]

I can't see anything but a loss unfortunately. I cannot see Larin or Flynn playing and we are woeful up front without Larin. We nee Flynns bite and without it i can see us being over run in midfield. 

[Pamplemousse]

Stupid decision by whoever made it to think we could rely on just Larin for the entire season.

[Patches O Houlihan]

16 hours ago, John B said:

Why do you always try to be Billy Big Bollix and bully posters

The point I was making is that in our last four league games (currently)we have only scored three League goals I think which is contributing possibly to a flat feeling and a lack of true confidence within the fan base which includes me.

If we get some good luck we may well score a few goals and there will be more confidence on here

According to Tonda whilst we have only scored 2 in our last three games, we have made more chances than any other team in the league. It is the quality of finishing that has been missing. (We could have put 3 or 4 past Bolton of course)
 

 

[Lighthouse]

7 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Stupid decision by whoever made it to think we could rely on just Larin for the entire season.

We didn't, we signed Mubama and Dobbin.

[Saint86]

43 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Stupid decision by whoever made it to think we could rely on just Larin for the entire season.

That wasn't the decision though was it. Aston Villa delayed and signed THB right at the end of the window after we'd missed out on preferred targets - and the club decided to keep their powder dry until January (rather than panic spend it on the wrong players) 🤷‍♂️

Edited 2 hours ago by Saint86

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

That wasn't the decision though was it. Aston Villa delayed and signed THB right at the end of the window after we'd missed out on preferred targets - and the club decided to keep their powder dry until January (rather than panic spend it on the wrong players) 🤷‍♂️

how do you know that is the case at all?

We tried for Lankshear, so clearly had the pennies to go. Anyway, Mubama was supposed to be that man....Tonda is obviously not having him (yet)....which is a shame as we needed someone good to go from the off.

I mean, it should have been obvious to all that Larin was never able to play so many minutes in such a time. He was in/out of the team (brilliantly) from Jan, and even his national team manager calls him 'Old Man'.....

 

Edited 2 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[James]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

We didn't, we signed Mubama and Dobbin.

Stupid decision by whoever made it that an inexperienced loanee from Man City would be an appropriate back up to Larin for a team trying for autos. Re Dobbin, clearly it wasn’t part of the plan for him to be ahead of Mubama in the pecking order, he was an alternate for Azaz/Leo. 

[Saint Marky]

We’re gonna smash these ‘fick, muvva, pearly queens’ with their knees up mother brown and shit flat caps. Perv Sullivan is gonna choke on his jellied eels, when our fifth is smashed in, he’ll be blowing bubbles out of his arsehole….don’t know what just happened,I’ve just come all over Wade Garrett… tissues please…

[LGTL]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

You didn't go to Reading in 2008 or Leeds in 2009 then.

Wigan away in the FA Cup quarter final knocks all these out the park. That’s the most cold I’ve ever been in my life, let alone football 😂

[AlexLaw76]

52 minutes ago, James said:

Stupid decision by whoever made it that an inexperienced loanee from Man City would be an appropriate back up to Larin for a team trying for autos. Re Dobbin, clearly it wasn’t part of the plan for him to be ahead of Mubama in the pecking order, he was an alternate for Azaz/Leo. 

we did not need a back up to Larin, we needed someone to challenge him 

[egg]

5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

we did not need a back up to Larin, we needed someone to challenge him 

However you put it, we needed an alternative, but as has been said a million times, nobody decent is coming to play second fiddle in the championship. On paper Mubama looked decent enough, although on the pitch, he doesn't. 

[Graffito]

28 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Wigan away in the FA Cup quarter final knocks all these out the park. That’s the most cold I’ve ever been in my life, let alone football 😂

That was cold but colder was Norwich away, might have been 2013, when a cold front hit at halftime exactly as forecast. Coldest I’ve ever been at a football match.

[Midfield_General]

5 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

At least it's a modern covered stadium so the fans will be dry. I don't think I've ever been so cold at a game than a couple of years ago at Villa Park during a storm. Awful.

Southampton 4-1 Norwich at the Dell, evening kick off, February 1990. Le Tiss lit it up with two beautiful goals but I was at the top of the uncovered family stand and my god, I have never been so cold in any scenario before or since then, including when I was forced to jump in the North Sea on new year's day a few years back. It was extraordinary.

Edited 48 minutes ago by Midfield_General

[Midfield_General]

Edit: should have read the rest of the thread first. 

Edited 50 minutes ago by Midfield_General

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

4 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

You didn't go to Reading in 2008 or Leeds in 2009 then.

Yep, Reading away was a bit parky that night. Coldest I remember was a couple of games against Sheff Utd, early 90s at Brammall Lane, fine when we set off but all changed around Leicester and hit a blizzard. We had a full transit van and drove straight to the ground to see if still on, which it was, and then found a decent pub for a few hours. Went back there again after, left Sheffield late. Great day out other than losing 4-1.

We also had a December game with them at St Mary's years later that was arctic.

Tough call for tomorrow, both sides capable of beating anyone in this division but both having off days early season. Personnel available will dictate.

[suewhistle]

4 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

I’m not sure that stating the obvious can be equated to someone being Billy Big Bollix or bullying.

Not necessarily here but it's odd. Many years ago, before handy smartphones, in a group I was in someone asked about how many litres in a gallon and there was a bit of umming and erring. So I piped up with the rough answer (1 decimal place!) and then got grief for being so positive about it. I really did'nt understand that attitude for such a simple fact.

[swedish dave]

Larin ?.maybe not, and not Downes either, so now we are down to Tonda's Plan B.

Mubama isn't a first choice, and only gets a minutes off the bench in the last quarter

so why aren'r we considering the club's leading scorer with  12 goals in 9 starts.

It's  Princewill Ehibhatiomhan.  (a nightmare for most commentators to keep repeating) 

but the lad seems to be scoring for fun in the U21's , and even if this might be a tough ask

v. WHam away ...why not see how he faces up to a good class opposition?. 

Right now there are lots of fans who would settle for one point -even before the kick-off, but if

we don't take the chance to try our best talents , I don't know when the lad will get any game time.

[sadoldgit]

18 minutes ago, suewhistle said:

Not necessarily here but it's odd. Many years ago, before handy smartphones, in a group I was in someone asked about how many litres in a gallon and there was a bit of umming and erring. So I piped up with the rough answer (1 decimal place!) and then got grief for being so positive about it. I really did'nt understand that attitude for such a simple fact.

For as long as I can remember MLG has been the self-proclaimed fact checker on this forum, something I find quite endearing. I appreciate that he can, sometimes, be over zealous when carrying out his duties. On this particular occasion I don’t think he overstepped the mark. For those of us who aren’t pedantic, I quite understand that this need to be so precise about facts is puzzling, but given what we are seeing in the White House and with many politicians over here, perhaps we need more MLGs in our lives?

What particularly caught my eye was the accusation of bullying given that, due to his pedantry, MLG is one of the most bullied posters on the forum.

Edited 10 minutes ago by sadoldgit
Added text

[Saint Fan CaM]

5 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Welington was awful against Bowen in the cup game at St Marys.  Obviously Bowen is far too good for this league so anyone we put out there will struggle, but not sure there is much between Welington and Manning tbh

Nothing different between them accept that Manning too often gets caught out on walkabout upfield in a dereliction of defending duty and even when he manages to get back he generally fails to close down an attacker, letting numerous crosses into the box. Welington at least tries to defend properly. Agree though that Bowen is a cut-above. Perhaps the answer is to put Welington at LB, Manning at LW and either give Scienza a rest or move him inside (unlikely).