Patrick Bateman

Exactly this. I thought we looked decent and created enough chances. Scienza was brilliant, Wood amused me a lot too - but we do need a bloody decent striker who probably with that service, got 3 goals easily. Decent striker and we win that 3-0. That scoreline and lack of win was purely down to poor recruitment.

Far too many hard questions are NOT being asked of these people. I wish our fanbase was not so easily manipulated. Why is our recruitment so poor? Who is leading it, who makes the ultimate decisions? Why do we insist on buying unproven "talent" and trying to be clever? What do these people have against buying in older, experienced pros with no resale value? (and I'm not talking about players who contribute nothing like Lallana last season, but for example Keiffer Moore) Why did we not buy a PROVEN Championship striker? (linked to above) Why loan out Ramsdale? Why buy Long? Why loan out Bree? Why buy Mads? What is the actual recruitment strategy? What team, or type of team are we trying to build? Everything is way off here, the strategy is fkd and unclear, the recruitment is bizarre ... just WTF is going on? Stop being so placid and ask the hard questions. Good grief.

Strength: Iron ball bag.

I'm better than him.

12/1 ... NOW that is worth sticking £10 on.

Agreed, same starting 11 again please. Get some consistency, allow them to understand more about each other and their positioning and styles.

They came over like a bunch of angry toddlers kicking things around. Wilder, Peck and I saw at least another 2 Sheffield United players kicking things (as in not an in-play match ball). No wonder they were fined last season. I mean there is passion and there is just behaving like a 2 year old.

Yeah I honestly don't know tbh, I presume they just didn't want to move to the UK?? Who can blame them, French supermarkets are superb ...

We never replaced Jimmy Case. But jokes aside what you say is true. I would say McCarthy should fulfil that senior leader role, BUT, he's been in some bloody dreadful Saints teams. Ben Mee would've been good.

Unusually for Armstrong, I think he tried to place it rather than hit it hard. Don't think I've seen him do that before.

Could you work with family? My brother would do my head in 😂

I enjoyed that, again. First 30 mins or so was nervy from both teams, good passing in patches, great creativity from Fellows and Jander ... just lacking "something" and the Sheffield United goal was inevitable. Penalty was a penalty. Cannon fouled Alex in goal. The commentators were annoying bellends. I presume Azaz and Fellows came off as planned subs to give them rest time ahead of Saturday, but Fellows really is very good. Wood, Jander, Fellows, Stewart, Edwards all really good. Everyone else did their bit, some better than others ... notably Quarshie had a poor day. But well won 3 points against a team throwing EVERYTHING at it in the end (as they should be, well done to them for trying to do so), same team, performance up another notch on Saturday please.

LOL - I was just thinking the same, good to see you!!

Everyone will be clamouring for Ward-Prowse to come back 😂 (Hopefully not)

Agreed! JPT aside, I can't believe I haven't seen us win a cup, at 49 years of age, sad. But when I look at this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FA_Cup_finals - the last 40 years have all been 'predictable' teams, bar Wimbledon, Portsmouth, Wigan and at a push Leicester and Palace. The league cup is just as bad - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_EFL_Cup_finals - FFS! Sorry diverting the thread away from Will Still. Maybe he's the one to take us to a final, next year ... let's hope.

Exactly. All we want is a football club to support, more wins than not (well, certainly SOME wins) and occasionally giving the big clubs a kicking (whether in the league or cup). I type that but then remember how good is was with Koeman and also the couple of European years ... Forest have that now, but don't look the same. Fulham, Bournemouth, Brighton and even Brentford are 4 clubs in the top flight all much better run than Saints. The player selling will never go away, but the four clubs above are better at recruiting than Saints - although we'll see how Fellows, Jander etc turn out, I am more hopeful for those guys than before.

Talking about himself?

Listing the names out like that made me laugh, made me think if this scene from the film I.D. 😂 - Never said you were a dad, John. - It's not something you shout about. - What's his name, then? - Didn't Trev tell you? James Wilson Hibbin Chatfield Edwards Hutcheson Clark Edmonds Ball Cox Cummins. Fucking brilliant, naming your sprog after the side that got promoted to the Second Division. You want to bring him down to The Kennel. Yeah, bring him down here, John.

You reminded me, we had Christian Daily didn't we for a few matches, I'd forgotten about that classic chant

Assuming he wanted to stay though? I suspect he was one who wanted a move and new start.

I can't a) see this being Saints and b) see this being true. Feels like clickbait and random gossip from Dave in the Red Lion after 8 pints.

He looked okay I thought, I was watching him as the 'Boro fans were giving him stick - he just tried TOO hard with the extra touch at times.

Inverted false 9 specialising in out of possession play ... or some such modern crap 😂

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the arm waving.

I loved Terry Hurlock, proper player - forgot about him thanks!! I still laugh at the Benali one as didn't he think "red army" was "Benali" at one point? Or the other way round, can't remember