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So difficult to choose. If we are going up, CF #1. If we are staying down, a goalie to challenge Baz. But we are in limbo, so reach into whatever hat you got Scienza out of...

1.) Its great that he's come in and got 6 wins out 7. I don't think we really deserve all 6 wins, but he's got them - so great. And attacking wise, fair play, superb stuff - i really couldn't ask for any more there - he's putting our best players on the pitch, and got them playing some sensational flowing football at times. But game management/defence wise, there are some concerning signs that some of us would like to see improve - its unfortunate that this is seen as a bad thing by some. But, if we can do that, then I personally feel we have another level we can go to. I'm also not interested in talk of "missing out" with this squad, or excuses to that effect. Regardless of the bad start, we are easily in the best three matchday 11's and overall 25man squads in the league. There are 78points to play for and we're only 9 off 2nd despite a very below par start and with every team above us to still play at least once. So to be honest, if Eckert doesn't get us promoted he was the wrong hire, and it really is as simple as that for me - and the same would go for any manager appointment we could have made come the end of the season. In fairness to Eckert, he's basically said the same thing with regards to promotion. 2 & 3.) You're talking about results, but score lines hide performances - and again, i don't think we really deserve all of those 18 points based on the actual full 90min performances 🤷‍♂️. Ultimately this season won't be defined by a one of sample size of 7 games, it will be defined by the 31-34 he'll have as manager - we've played some fantastic attacking football, he's had a good start overall, but we've certainly had a bit of luck in that. I think we can get better and both dominate teams in an attacking sense whilst also looking comfortable and defensively solid (the part we aren't at the present), but to do it he does need to improve on game management and sort his defensive setup/tactics. Get that right and we've got the potential to comfortably be the best side in the league imo. He's a young manager and therefore can be expected to learn and develop. As it is though, we seem to have 2 distinct gears under Eckert, a frankly superb attacking setup that is capable of blowing teams away, and then this jekly/hyde transition into a pretty passive and weak defensive setup - one which I really don't like, and that sees us essentially cede 2/3 the pitch to the opposition and invites them back into games. It has already nearly cost us points vs: WBA - we did everything we could to scrape a draw from a 3 goal lead 🙃, Brum - who had every right to get a draw after twice being 2goals down, QPR - who frankly completely outplayed us for much of the game, And then ofc, we did drop points vs Millwall - where we lost despite leading twice, and which was entirely due to standing off them and dropping deeper and deeper, inviting them on to us, and allowing them to pepper our box with crosses and long shots. Needlessly. If we stay as we are, I still think we'll get play offs like as not, but its going to be pretty tense watching us invite teams to pepper our box with crosses and shots with these awful defensive setups - I can't say i relish the prospect of that in say a play off 2nd leg (or even at Wembley). I don't have an issue resting players - i have an issue with standing off the opposition and inviting them onto us. We are changing the players like for like, but completely changing the system into one that invites pressure. 4.) I don't agree that its patronising - Still's coaching setup left with him, Lallana is now with the u21, and Paul Trollope has also left. There seems to be a bit of a void there to fill with respect to senior coaching support. He's the youngest / least experienced manager ever at this level. The club would look to bring in experienced coaches and assistants to support any other manager, it can't just be deemed patronising because Eckert is 32 😄. And just look at managers like Jose, SAF, or Pep etc., who've had many prominent assistants over the years, not least the likes of Arteta and Maresca recently.

On his way here in January. Just waiting for the President to OK it.

Armstrong and Archer are similar, although AA is twice the player and so Archer is happy to sit on the bench as understudy. Stewart, even if he could keep fit, is a different type of striker…more of a CF and it is here that we need better. Stewart would be more than happy to spend most of his in the treatment room or watching from the bench if indeed that were possible. It is high;y likely he will be released when his contract is up, if not before. So we need a good solid CF - a player that is equal in quality to AA, but a different animal…a tall brick house guy who,can also defend our box at set pieces.

I agree, but he defends much better than Fraser.

We don’t, but Edwards did his defensive duties on the right well against Birmingham. I think he was a better option than Fraser last night.

Huge downgrade on what we have seen so far. A player with 11 goals for a good side in 2022 season and a total of 3 goals over last two seasons won't scare sides when he comes on

You're saying 13 is a lucky number for Norwich? Hadn't read that.

Without Sheffield Wednesday's points deductions, Norwich would only be 5 points better off than bottom, a team that couldn't sign anyone for a fee in the summer, cancelling contracts of senior players and largely playing a young team this season. They've won 1 of their last 16, losing 10. Usually you'd say this is a Saintsy fixture to drop points in, but we should be putting these away with ease this weekend.

A tactic of "we will score more than you" cannot be bettered. Buy the ticket, enjoy the ride.

Would be an astonishing run of form. I doubt we would need that many to finish second this season.

Just taken a few bits out as yours was a long post to quote... 1) fair enough, your feeling. However the evidence is that he is managing to get us to be more successful than any other team in the division, despite coming into low morale and poor form. I would say the objective view is that he is managing at a level you would expect a team to get promoted and if we do miss out it is more likely to be due to the bad start than his management. 2) He has 18 points from 7 games FFS! Genuinely , if you had told me Pep was coming in, I wouldn't have expected that! (Not saying he is Pep before someone jumps on that!). All these experienced managers (?) who are great at setting up defences have dropped more points. We lost one game, away to a decent side, we didn't play as well as other games but it was far from the low levels of earlier in the season, we were away and had more shots, more shots on target, possession etc - I'm not saying we should have won, or defended well, but it hardly deserves a great inquest into poor management. 3) bottom line is - he doesn't. It's working. I am sure he wants to improve it. But he has said he wants to start fast, win games then rest players and kill the game. Maybe these substitutions and resting our best players is why we over run teams in the next game?? 4) I think this comment is patronising. The young lad needs a grown up. Again, happy for him to keep learning and improving but he is beating older more experienced managers every week! And... Since he came in Saints 18 pts +12GD Coventry 16 PTS + 5 gd Middlesbrough 14 PTS +4 gd Ipswich 12 PTS +7 gd Skates 4 PTS -4 gd!

I reckon the first sale probably is a guaranteed sale after the QPR fiasco. They raised the starting point for Charlton after that despite it being a much bigger allocation which tells me they've been doing guaranteed sales since.

If the form of the last 7 games continues throughout the rest of the season. Points won’t be accurate but think positions will be thereabouts. Coventry 103 Southampton 97 Ipswich - 86 Middlesbrough 84 QPR 79 Millwall - 76 Sheffield United 75 Leicester - 69 Preston 69 Birmingham 65 Watford 65 Derby - 64 Hull - 64 Wrexham - 64 Bristol City - 60 Blackburn 58 Stoke - 52 West Brom 51 Swansea 45 Oxford 41 Charlton 39 Portsmouth 37 Norwich 36 Sheffield Wednesday -2

Tonda has us playing in a style where for the very first time in a very long time I am starting to believe we will see a return of the quality football I witnessed as a kid, that fast paced one and two touch football and those emotions are all I want back again.

Sometimes I’m wondering whether it’s actually true, and I’m. It being trolled from across the Atlantic. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S TRUMP GOLD CARD IS HERE TODAY! A direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent. Live Site opens in 30 minutes! https://trumpcard.gov

Now we know why the US Navy has deployed so much hardware to the sea off Venezuela, they are acting as modern day pirates.

We should stuff this lot but it will be something like 2-3 or 3-2, or 3-3. 🤷🏽

I was at that game, where the Wallace brothers were subjected to loud and repeated monkey chants which of course the stewards ignored. Hated Norwich ever since.

Win and we give ourselves an outside chance anything less we’ve have to close a 14 point gap in 23 games, big ask

Marked ✅ Cheers for the heads-up MB 👍🏻

Massive. Prediction breaking almost.

Coventry at home is going to be big!

Leicester weren’t deemed catchable two years ago, and yet for a short period everyone did. All teams will have their drop off.

Stoke have already fallen away. Only just above us on GD and lost 5 of their last 6. Think we have a shot at 2nd but we're not catching Coventry.