Forester

Firstly, and it’s hard because like others I am fuming, I don’t want us to become the next Watford that sacks managers every few weeks. He is currently our fourth manager in 12 months. Once you get that reputation it is hard to attract good people. He should be given at least until the next international break which means four more games and in total he will have had 11 by then. At that point it’s fair at the very least to judge whether he is beginning to address issues, and it looks like he and players are genuinely learning. If we pick up a couple of wins we will be on 16 points, five off of target and a sense of progress. If we are still not winning by then and not dominating games then it may be necessary to pull the trigger

Spot on, exactly how I see it. 4213 or 4231, happy with with either

Good post, this is how I see it

Firstly am not going to go OTT, ten points from six games is only two behind track and there is a long way to go. However….…. Genuinely concerned if Martin’s view is that we ALWAYS have to line up in that formation with one holding midfielder. Compounded with the flexibility he wants to give defenders to get forward (which I don’t dislike) we are too open. Often last night they had four v four on us waiting for something to go wrong. I don’t think we are far off it going forward, but rather than one holder and two attackers I would reverse that and play 4-2-1-3. When all fit probably Downes and Charles as the 2. The lack of tactical flexibility is an early concern for me. I like his philosophy but any style can become predictable if not changed.

This but only if Downes and Charles are both playing as holding midfielder not just one of them

Beginning the long journey home which started at 3am this morning. I think Martin has done a great job so far given all of the disruption, but he needs to learn quickly after today as in my opinion he played a part in that performance. It was a huge surprise to see Mara start, but I assumed that meant AA would play out wide. Mara offered nothing out there, and to be fair to him he is a Centre forward (albeit of limited quality). Second error was having seen first ten mins why stick with one holding midfielder? Clearly we were exposed on transition and it would have been easy to ask Smallbone to play alongside Downes to rebalance the team. Third error for me was leaving Smallbone and Mara on at halftime. Then fourth, fifth and sixth error was ending with Manning at Centre back, KWP left back and Charles right back. Why? Sure the players need to be held to account, several were very poor, but that was a shocker of a tactical and selection performance from Martin.

Of the outgoing rumours: - would be gutted to lose Adams, Bednarek or KWP - would be delighted to lose Tall Paul, Moos - am indifferent, and depends on replacements and fee, about losing Mara, McCarthy, Kamaldeen

Another enjoyable day in a, so far, enjoyable season. Loads of positives, both centre backs (I thought Charles handled physicality really well), good creativity from full backs and both Armstrongs and Edozie good. Only negatives were Stephens injury and always performance from Charlie. New signings started well, particularly Fraser. Would have bitten your hand off for ten points from August. We have our toughest month of fixtures in September, and I would be happy for ten points from those five games, seeing us at 20 from nine

No

I usually dismiss those who say “let’s hold on to player come what may” as deluded, and ignoring the negative impact of a disenchanted player kicking around causing problems, and then them leaving for free a year later. I thought that about Lavia, Salisu and still do about ABK for example. But I feel differently about Che. I may be wrong, but after disappointment hanging around for a couple of weeks I think scoring goals in a championship promotion bid is one hell of a good distraction. And a high scoring season for him, even if we then miss out on promotion, arguably increases his wage claim next summer for a Premier League club. So that, along with the fact that we will make many times more then £13 million by going up, would persuade me to keep him and if necessary let him run his contract down.

Probably because, uniquely, we have two strikers who when last in the championship scored over twenty goals each. I agree a back up would be nice in case of injury, but how you can say the attack is not fine with those stats is puzzling

Delagado must be a candidate here too. Different era with smaller fees

This

A few names to help you out here if this is a genuine question. Please attach name to club (and if they meet your criteria of not being better than mid table championship) they signed from: Hammond, Harding, Fox, Richardson, Butterfield, Chaplow, Cork, Lambert, Sharp, Puncheon

Think people need to calm down. Seen people questioning why we went down given marketable assets? The answer is we had some good promising players who were either too young or unfit to contribute in their first season in PL. Doesn’t mean they are crap, it means the strategy to blood them all at once was crap. I don’t believe we will have a fire sale but if some bids are big enough players will move only if replacements are identified. The owners want PL football big time

What an awful away game experience, the place is literally falling apart at the away end. On the football: - I don’t blame RM for making changes, and we need to give squad players time. I blame him for one selection, and that is using Perraud at centre back which was like a round peg in a square hole and was unfair to him and team mates - SAA is indeed very talented but needs to avoid “over playing” as on many occasions he had time and space to get a good cross in but chose to try and dribble all over again past full back. But a learning curve - It is indeed a shame as now he won’t get to give any squad players and/or new signings a run out in a fortnight

Let me help you then. It’s called “getting match practice in case needed”. Injuries and suspensions do happen!

When you get quotes like this emerging yiu can be fairly sure that one, or both, will be gone from Wet Spam by Xmas

Three weeks later in Saudi apparently

Agree great effort. On the “respect the competition” I am going there but fully expect us to play a different team to Friday because with a huge squad we want minutes in lots of players’ legs, particularly given high likelihood of exits from some playing Friday. I could see the following all not playing Friday but playing at Gillingham which is still a tidy lineup: McCarthy KWP Lyanco Charles Bree Lavia S armstrong Djenopo Adams Aribo Kamaldeen

I think this last paragraph is key. If the window shut now, and nobody left or joined from today, I would be perfectly happy with the current squad for championship. We have cover in all positions as we speak, have proven goal scorers IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, and would in my opinion be well placed to launch a promotion bid. I also think several of our younger players will be much improved a year on. However we all know there will be plenty of movement and unlike recent seasons for me it is less about who we buy and more about who we retain. The danger of leaving it too late is that we may run out of time to land the replacement when someone moves.

I am certainly not in the “we can’t sell anyone good, ever” camp. And indeed many only sign for clubs of our profile as stepping stones promised through the recruitment process. However….. I absolutely don’t think we should sell players simply who state they want to go. Ignoring those who we would actively wish to exit, and simply hope for a decent price (Diallo, Orsic etc) I think we should be prepared to face down players, agents and potential buyers unless it makes great sense us to sell. And we are in a much better position than say Leicester as we have many younger players with long contracts who will still fetch good fees in a year or two. So I would say, reluctantly, if JWP and KWP attract a great bid then sell. If not, don’t. Both have played a part in having some good times at the club. Salisu and ABK appear hugely negative about staying, and neither are irreplaceable. So I am fine with those going if price is met. However unless someone offers us ludicrous money (sufficiently early in the window to let us replace) I am happy saying to Lavia, Alcaraz, Kamaldeen etc “tough shit, you are going nowhere”. The same with Tella, Tino etc. I can see us raising £90K to £100K selling players in the previous paragraph which is an enormous amount, in addition to their wages. Just for fear of offending some of our wallflowers we don’t need a fire sale. And if we retain the vast majority and bring in a couple of midfielders I am confident we will be right up there, even if no one can be certain it will be quite enough to go up. I would like to see something like the following in August for first game: Bazanu/McCarthy Tino, Bednarek, Lyanco, Perraud Lavia, new midfielder Kamladeen, Alcaraz, Tella Adams

Did you say the same about Sharp, Hammond, Fox, Richardson, Butterfield, Hooveldt, Chaplow? Or did you cheer them to the rooftops but fully appreciate the Premier League needed new signings?

The last manager who preached a possession style was Puel, who despite finishing eighth, taking us to a cup final that we narrowly lost and didn’t concede a goal en route to the final, including a two leg win over Liverpool, was sacked with many fans booing him on the end of season lap. He did all this with Van Dijk injured from Xmas, having sold Pelle and Mane and playing 49 games that season. I remain of the view that it was a mistake (the season that followed under Pellergrino and Hughes was only marginally better than this awful season) but accept most fans disagree. However the point of raking this up again is to say that people have not enjoyed an “anti possession” style either when we lose. Oh to have back the so called boring eight place and cup final. And before some smart arse says “yes but we only got 46 points”, then consider the facts above and that in any season that would be comfortable mid table position

Stupidity demanded that we travelled for this. We left as the stoppage board went up to try and get a connecting train from Brighton. To my utter astonishment we were outnumbered by Brighton “fans” choosing to skip their European lap of honour! Incredible complacency from a club fan base about to realise how you have to enjoy these moments that don’t last forever. Anyway to the game. Aribo again guilty of embezzling his salary. Is he the laziest player ever to line up in a Saints shirt? Cannot believe this guy was in a European cup final a year ago. Thought Lavia was well short of normal standards, assume speculation all getting to him. And McCarthy needs to be better with first (under him, not point blank) and third goal (beaten at near post). Positives were good performance from Theo and return of Tino. That really is it.