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I think 4231 would be better for the team, and less running around.

But which of the ones below Arma in the list is closer to 6 ft "athletic profile" and wants to be part of a prolific partnership and whose club will take a good cash offer in January, that is what Saints need to identify. Arma needs a foil, Archer is not the correct profile so it's either find the right match in the Championship or get Che back from Italy. (BTW very suspicious number of PR planted items about Che and his time at Saints cropping up lately).

What has the Fan Advisory Board had to say on the matter? Surely the club asked them for their input?

First goal I am assuming he didn't see it until late as he doesn't move until its at that bunch of players in front of him by which time its too late...Did note that both Quarshie and Manning tried to stand and block the shot to no avail. 2nd goal he has fallen for the block and couldn't get to a near post cross, which should have been easily punched away if he had just managed the block better.

GK: we have two mediocre (at best) options, but won’t be buying one when we have Ramsdale on the books. Sell him in January and I still don’t think we’d bring in an upgrade. Had Pope kept him on the bench maybe we could’ve gotten him back in January, which would’ve been nice. RB: Roerslev hasn’t impressed, Jelert hasn’t had a chance, Edwards CDAJFU. Bree is back from loan in January and would help, especially if Jelert’s loan is cancelled as is rumoured. CB: THB and Wood look broadly competent. The others don’t. In preseason I was calling for a veteran leader who has played at a higher level; Spors decided Jack Stephens fit the bill (I was looking for someone who was actually good enough for the Championship). Unlikely with the numbers we have but would make sense, especially if we want three on the pitch at once. LB: Manning can’t defend but is decent in attack and has free kicks in his locker (but so does Scienza). Welington is probably better. Jelert can cover here. DM/CM: Bar Romeu we don’t really have any DMs; we have CMs who can tackle. Charles and Jander are too good for the Championship, Downes is good for this level. Four for two spots is plenty, especially when you have Aribo/Edwards and Bragg/Sesay as depth. Number 10/AM: Azaz with Scienza as cover. Without those two it gets a bit messy (Matsuki and Fraser?) but if you can only buy one player it’s not going to be and upgrade on either of them, nor a third-choice Number 10 when we don’t play with one. Left Winger/Forward: Scienza, Robinson, Edozie, Fraser. Plenty. Right Winger/Forward: For wingers, it’s Fellows then nothing. In the current 3-4-3 it’s Fellows and Manning as wingers/wingbacks, so Azaz/Bree/Jelert are all right “winger” options. Without Fellows the better option would be changing to a 4-3-3 and playing an extra defender and midfielder instead of wingbacks. Four at the back, then Downes+Charles+Jander behind Azaz+Armstrong+Scienza. Centre Forward: Stewart great but injured. Armstrong too good for this level. Archer in theory is up to this level but isn’t showing it. Downs is probably a busted flush, at least as far as this season goes. Robinson’s an option, Oyekunle has handled the step up to U21s and been around the squad, Dipepa has 30-odd games of senior football under his belt. The attack and midfield are good and have decent depth. The defence and keepers are questionable. I suppose that’s borne out in the recent results when we’ve scored plenty but haven’t kept a clean sheet. The fullbacks are okay. The keepers probably aren’t for changing whether we want them to or not. We have the numbers at CB to put together a decent enough trio. I’d be fine with bringing in no new players in January, but gun to my head I’d want a Fonte-like figure at CB. I’ve actually thought ahead that if we go up we could look at bringing back VVD (and it’s not just pining for a former player who moved on to bigger things); in the last year of his contract, being trashed as not good enough for an elite side anymore, but done enough to garner respect from his teammates when he tells them what to do and clearly good enough to anchor the defence of a mid-table PL side. So it’s the main hole I see in the side. Tomiyasu is a free agent and could maybe fill it, but is an injury risk and apparently close to joining Ajax. I’m not watching enough PL this season to know of anyone who’s been benched but is still in that “too good for the Championship” range.

Couple of points. 1. Yes, the starting XI is way better than the finishing XI. But I don't mind this. When we have got in trouble in this division it's been when we've had about 45 squad players all of whom are a 6 out of 10. That's just dirge. This season we have some 8,9, 9.5 out of 10 players...and we replace them with 6 or 7/10 players. That's how it should be, really. 2. The substitutions today. Gees. Not the choices. But the timing. We had Fraser and Robinson ready to come on and standing there for what felt like an hour when we were 3-0 up. Suddenly it's 3-1. We might have wanted, say, Edwards now rather than Fraser. Same thing happened as 3-1 became 3-2 with Romeu and Aribo coming on after an age of standing there. Why the f**k does it take so long to make subs and do you have to proceed with the plan if the score changes in the meantime?

Norwich showing signs of improvement under the new boss, certainly not expecting the same scoreline as our Carabao cup fixture earlier this season Perhaps a 4-4 draw

Some turnaround, I'm not entirely convinced by Eckert, but the points don't lie.

Norwich 3-3 Saints. A repeat of today except this time the 2nd half sub gamble will back fire. Our last 2 games have see opponents miss open goals, that won't happen anymore.

Spot on. We don't win headers, don't compete fully, keep giving ball away, cant make correct decisions on clearing ball out in 2nd half.

Both, the subs are not at same level and intensity. Its very nervous and relegation type panic football. We are playing with 10 or 9 and I cant see tge point in that. I don't see any game plan in 2nd half just put 5 subs on and see if our luck rus out. WBA should have won 4-3. If we have 9 lives we only have 6 left.

we they certainly don't defend set pieces.........................................again...............

Definitely a forward on the basis that creative players always get subbed off and the few chances we have 2nd half get wasted. Armstrong is on fire but need another out and out natural goal scorer. Otherwise any position that's one of tge usual subs, we are very light on possession and creative play when subs made.

I’m unsure if Will Still has done more damage to Will Stills career or has Tonda?

Shea Charles isn't far off from returning

Have one adult ticket for sale for this, £32 at cost , cannot meet to hand over as no longer going - am based in Nottingham so can’t meet for handover so I will include Special Delivery postage in price , Andy

He doesn't improve or settle the team when he comes on. If he's not fit then get someone on who is. Saints are playing with 10 or 9 after the mass subs are done so its not a good decision to put another half pace player on. We cant wait 4 to 6 weeks for any player now to get to whatever the expected level is. Just get a player in Jan window that's already playing and competing on pitch.

Thought this was going to be about Bonnie Blue making a special appearance at the next home game..

That was my take on the 2nd 45,we just stopped playing and went backwards ,which was a bit worrying especially since we didnt turn up at all for most part in the second half. There needs to be a more decisive plan and firmness from the manager in playing tactics or we will come a cropper and we dont need sloppy seconds again do we? we seemed to fall back to our own goal line again................

He looks like he has no intention of winning any 50/50s, just drifts around, don't understand him as he's a strong lad but has no desire to battle for the side

I thought the timing of the subs tonight were too early in the case of Leo, and too late for some of the others. Both goals went in with players stripped ready to come on.

Could not agree more. So by that metric I'm happy crushing a team for 60 mins or so and with a few more coming back, getting up to fitness maybe extending it to 70+mins or at least managing the game more. But it's this suggestion that Tonda should be right on it the moment Scienza and Fellows drop off (I keep mentioning them because they seem to a) rely the most on pace, b) on releasing pressure on our back line, and c) I think they drop off more than Azaz and Arma because of their attributes and how they play the game). Let's see how he continues to do and maybe we can all enjoy the thumping we are dishing out.. Agree with your change of formation post too, again something I'm hoping Eckert will figure out especially when we have Stewart/Downs (meh) and Charles back. It's a shame we don't have an u21 we could start utilising in that respect, much like Bragg. Maybe if we're still flying high in January we can convince a signing or two on the hope of premier League football.

Maybe Will Still had Lens underperforming too. They currently sit top of Ligue 1 after 15 games…

Having been to the game tonight I think we are a few 1st team choices light of challenging for top two / playoff win. If you had one chip where would you place it?