Patches O Houlihan

Agree with all of this. I'm loving the positive pressure that is being put on players who are top quality in the Championship > Edozie makes one and scores one, subbed off after 60 mins. Fraser scores with virtually his first touch, makes one and scores another. Edozie may well start the next game but knows he has to play out of his skin to keep his place. > Harwood Bellis & Bednarek have formed a great partnership. But they both know that Jack is right there if either of them drop their standards for a moment, and Holgate has played some good games as well. > Manning was forced into improving his game by Bree, and even now that Bree has picked up an injury you suspect that the combination of; KWP as a setter of standards, Jack as a potential RB (KWP to LB) and Megahoma raring to go on the bench will keep him honest. > Charly Alcaraz and Kameldeen Sulemana could be treating the league as if they are rockstars and pushing for a move in January. But they are not, partly because of the culture and atmosphere created in the dressing room by RM's willingness to swap out underperformers and keep faith with those who do play well. It's by no means guaranteed that Sulemana will come straight back into the team, and Alcaraz doesn't just have competition from Stu and Adams now but from Aribo and Mara as well. As Saints fans we have to smell the roses when we can and I'm loving it right now. St Mary's is rocking let's chase down Leicester. COYRs!

As we've seen today we are better playing against teams who fancy their chances against us and come out, as home teams are more likely to do, and these three in particular. The quality of the pressing we have been demonstrating recently when applied to the sides I watched tonight would reap rewards I'm sure.

Watching the game I’m sure we can overhaul Ipswich. If we manage to put some pressure on Leicester that would be great. Big matches against our three rivals to come, not least Leeds on the last day.

Don’t worry - it’s now only 11 points to Leicester - we’ve got this! COYR!

Great finish by Agent Vestergaard!

On today’s evidence I agree. Struggle to imagine pulling back 13 points in 22 games on Leicester though...

It’s a proper match. Leicester’s defence being tested, and resolute so far. Only one moment when Vestergaard has had an oil tanker turning moment.

Rekindling this discussion because I just read this piece https://theathletic.com/5119607/2023/12/08/the-ludicrous-numbers-in-championship-promotion-race-and-what-it-means/ Yes - it's The Athletic - the firm happy to take subscriptions and only then cancel Saints coverage (but not Leeds or Leicester). F**kers But in the interest of trying to get my money's worth I have a read occasionally. Essentially their journo agrees with our analysis - it's been 118 years since such a strong start was made by the second placed side in the second tier. But what was most interesting to read was in the comments: Coupled with the top teams playing each other this might play into our hands a little over the coming months...

My excuse is that I was working abroad when Jay Rod was at his best. I associate the song with Ralph turning us round at Christmas time after Puel, Pelligrino & Hughes.

I can't help but do that - it's the posting equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard, day after negative day.

I agree with all of that, but it's Ralph's song, and always will be.

I couldn't agree more. The almost continuous stream of negative posting even when we've just won 4-0 might be slightly more palatable if we didn't have to continually see that avatar of the world's most arrogant, smug and self-satisfied twat attached to every comment. Jacob Reece Mog is probably the biggest bellend in Britain, so it speaks volumes when you want to be associated with him. Nevermind Legohead what about TweedC**t?!

As discussed earlier I think Sam plays best with confidence. He know's he's not great at recovery tackles and tracking back. So if you play a proper LB behind him you give him licence to play his game. Play Bree or KWP behind him and he'll do fine. Play Manning behind him and we'll ship loads of goals down our left, he'll be less willing to just play his game, RM and the fans will get pissed and then he'll stop being a starter again. Plus Flynn Downes returning gives everyone confidence that many opposition breakaway attacks will just get nipped in the bud. Maybe Smallbone, Fraser and KWP can give him some tips on accurate passes from the byline having passed a defender we might have scored a couple more if he had that skill locked down

The other change was that while we still played plenty of straight through balls on the ground there were a few lofted passes, and Stu did the standing lob over a defender into the area for a runner a couple of times. If we can consistently play with that intensity and variety of passing/movement we'll be top or nearly top for points scored in the second half of the season

Bree for Manning, but playing RB with KWP playing LB allowed Edozie to just focus on beating their right back... and he had him on toast every three minutes until Edozie was swapped for Fraser. Stu Armstrong play like a midfield maestro - back to his pre-covid best. We were cruising the whole game, never really in doubt.

RM already has his eye on him - you can see by the way he's looking at him!

Imagine Downes and Lavia playing together: both receiving under pressure, and then both playing quality straight through balls to the attackers. Both with a good ability to read the game, position themselves correctly and time tackles. It would be like having Romeu & JWP again, only less sideways. The rest of the Championship would get ruthlessly humped! [In midfield at least - we'd still miss a shed load of goal scoring chances]

I can't believe that Ipswich - the original Tractor Boys don't sing it

I appreciate the chat about the Saudi league / Euro Super League taking the Premier League's mantle. BUT I was reading an article this week about the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Super League and the huge salaries they were throwing around. Many of the top clubs have gone bust or are on their way out soon; all the top players left due to high level political decisions beyond the control of the league. I don't think it's a nailed on certainty the Saudis start running things. With regards VAR and the lack of a level playing field I couldn't agree more. Sat on my own in a terrible bar miles from home watching a frustrating game against Watford ~2 years ago it occurred to me that for the last few years I had been subjecting myself to all sorts in order to enjoy a win roughly every third game (and less in our last few PL years). I'm not looking forward to going back to that win ratio or VAR. But I also quite like the team we have now, and would like them to stay together. Which means we need promotion. The Catch22 of the modern non-plastic football fan

Our December fixtures certainly look a lot more winnable

I think its reasonable to expect us to loose at least another 4 or 5 games. So on that basis I agree. So I guess we ought to get the players fired up with a tournament mentality to win the playoffs, practise penalties, and turn Baz into a penalty stopping machine!

I broadly agree with this. But I think we'd do better to focus on scoring more goals rather than giving Baz a hard time. This I also agree with

It probably doesn't help that all our 50/50 games against the expected league leaders appeared in such a tight space of time, just after we lost our big PL stars and before the Championship team had had a proper chance to gel and get used to the new style. I don't have the stats to hand right now. I might go and have a look. 2022-23 Burnley finished first on 101 points (2.20 points/game average). Sheffield Utd were second on 91 point (1.98 points/game average) 2021-22 Fulham finished first on 90 points (1.96 points/game average). Bournemouth were second on 88 points (1.91 average) 2020-21 Norwich won 97 points (2.11 average). Watford second 91 points (1.98 average) 2019-20 Leeds won 93 points (2.02 average) West Brom second 83 points (1.80 average) Right now with 20 games played Leeds are averaging 2.05 points, and Saints are averaging 1.90 points, which normally, assuming teams improve a bit over the course of the year would be bang on top two team status. BUT Leicester are currently on 2.45 average, and Ipswich are on 2.40 average. That's what I mean by a freak season.

But that isn't because we are significantly under performing as a team. As far as I'm aware we are within a point or two of the 'average top Championship team' points haul at the relevant stage of the season, and have been for the last month or so. The issue is that Ipswich and Leicester are having freak seasons. Usually Leeds & Saints would be the league leaders, having built a useful; cushion over the chasing pack.

It feels like about 25% of the commenters here expect us to win easily 3-0 every week. Anything other than that and they have to go looking for a scapegoat. On match days when we win this board is quiet as the grave 15 mins after the match. But if we draw then Baz, RM, Manning get it in the neck; + whichever player's aggressive through ball that they've been pushing to see gets cut out by a defender and lumped up the pitch for a goal.