Dman

Things to you can rely upon in life… Death, taxes, always/chapel end & Nick being bitter & jealous of the CoT’s connections.

As I've said, if he comes back its because there are no better options - not because he has a burning desire to return to the homeland.

Its been a busy few months tieing up loose ends. Looks like January will be a busy one. I can't say too much at this stage, but some might leave, some might join. Make of that what you will.

Because I know him and I know how desperate he was to get out. This whole 'hes a saints fan' persona was a load of bollox.

If he's moved his family back here, I'd suggest he's almost certainly not coming back here. He enjoys keeping his private life private or having a place available to himself.. if you catch my drift.....

I hate to break it to you, but if he was banging in goals in the PL, he wouldn't be linked with a varity of championship teams... on loan. I'm not in favour of brining him back - not because of his ability, but because he couldn't wait to leave and doesn't want to come back. We'd be 'last' resort. However, you could have said the as you have about ings, as you would have AA and he's done alright. Ings is clearly a cut above anyone else in the championship.

as a related side note to this.... Someone should probably remind Che that he is a big reason as to why we're in this leauge. If he didn't have the finishing ability of a 12 year old playing sunday leauge football, Ralph might have still been in a job. I thought this season might have been a good opportunity for him to score some goals, gain some confience and help us get promotion and him a nice move or payrise in the summer. Since the closure of the transfer window, he's been absolutely pathetic. Non-exsistant. If he's dissapointed he didn't get a move in the summer, he needs to look closer to home as to why noone would want him. If we can find a suiter, get him out the door and someone in who's willing to put a bit of effort in.

Which is kind of my point. Is JWP £30m better than Downes? For me, no. He's 5 years older so naturally has more experience, but other than corners (for which WH have significantly more threat from), is a run of the mill PL CM (not just saying now he's left - I've always consistently said that) Would WH be any worse off if they'd kept and played Downes over JWP? Impossible to answer, but again, not for me.

That is exactly what we need in this team. For far too long we've lacked any flair and have been far too safe. Yeah it didn't work, yeah he looked like a tit, but i'd much rather we gave licence to players like Alcaraz and Sully to try things and express their talent. I'd much rather looking like a tit in a game we've won and where the opposition offer 0 threat, than him turn into another Redmond.

What a brilliant player Downes is at this level. Asides KWP, easily our best player and argually the most influentual. Unlikley if we don't go up, but i'd love for us to snap him up on a permant deal. Is there much difference between him and JWP? I'm not too sure there is.

I think it almost certainly would.

If he returns, its because he has no other options, not because he wants to... He'd likley suit our style and is a decent finisher, so would probably do a job for us, but i'd much rather we look forward than look back.

Other than us under Jones and Selles - Blackburn easily the worst side to come to play at St Marys for a long time? We played very well, but jesus, they made it easy for us. No intent to try and win and just let us play our game. Incredible how they're so far up the table.

Our vocal support has been awful for a long, long time now - since probably the first season back in the PL. We generally always seem to take decent enough numbers but half have no interest in making any noise and the others that do, refuse to sing anything other than Oh when the saints. For me, there's a direct correlation between the success of noddy supporters club(s), for example, Nick Georgy and his wife / ex whatever she is. Whilst making away travel more accessible could be seen as a positive, his crowd generally seem to be younger (much younger), elderly or more of a less socially accepted cliental - who, instead of having a few pre-match beers, swap for pre-match prawn sarnies. If you look at the best away support across the country, generally speaking, its full of middle aged (or fighting aged) men who've had a few before hand and are therefore a little more boisterous. Everything about us as a club is a little too nice - our away following is much the same.

Its a cracking away trip...

I thought first 30 we were brilliant, quick, direct and looked dangerous. Had a blantant pen 'missed' for Holgate getting his shirt ripped off and had we gone in 2-0, I think we'd have gone on to win 3 or 4. WBA grew into the game from 30 mins onwards and were probably the better side for the large majority of the game. On balance, a draw would have been a far result. I thought both the CB's were excellant, Holgate worthy MOTM but could have easily been THB. Holgates distribution was brilliant I thought. I thought Alcaraz was pretty poor - very sloppy on the ball and offered very little off it - apart from that everyone else was a 6-7/10. Stewart I thought looked really sharp - excited to see what he can bring and could be the difference for us. Ultimately we won the game, so can't complain too much, but I thought Martins subs weren't great. I'd have brought on Charles for Smallbone and not replaced Bree with Manning. One thing I did notice, which was frustrating; Just before the goal, we had 3 subs lined up ready to come on. We'd been up against it and those subs we're needed to just take the sting out of the game and regain some control. We had a goal kick, the 4th wasn't ready and the bench were screaming at THB not to take the goal kick... We take it quick, they then come down and score. Just a bit of savvyness is lacking.

In fairness that poll was at a stage where we'd lost 4 in a row and were playing a brilliant attacking RB in CM (who's since been our best player), with no signs he'd adjust. To his credit he's changed his formation and now has found a way to get our best players on the pitch in their best position. He's also not been a scared to drop dross like Manning. That being said, I still don't think we look great, especially in front of goal, and still don't think we'll go up under Martin.

Or we could waste 2 seasons with him, lingering around mid-table and then a slightly bigger club poach him.. Much like what happened at Swansea.

Nice ramblings mate. Very well put together. I'll make it simple... Moral of the story is RM is a very average manager who isn't capable of putting a team together to challenge for promotion across 38 - 40 games.

FWIW I agree with and said all of this at the start of the season and was ridiculed. Not by you, but by a number of posters who've now gone quiet as its left them with egg on their face.

Its not that late goals don't count, its that its not sustainable to expect to score them every week. Its actually fairly freakish how many late goals we've already scored this season, which in fairness, is down to the system of keeping the ball and tiring the opponents all game.

Not for me - out of all the options we've tried up top all season, we've looked most threatening (comfortably) when Alcaraz has played in that 'false 9' role.

Its funny, at the start of the season, we had people like @Smirking_Saint telling us how they are skint etc. and that we're in a much better position then they are. Now its proven that's complete bollox, we're being told Leicester have only started faster than us because they weren't as bad as us last season. If we swapped managers, which in the summer was a fair chance of that happening, we'd be top and they'd be where we are, I'm almost certain of that.

yeah, that's kind of how I see it. Go out and start fast, blow teams away in the first 20 or so minutes, like we did Leeds. We have the players to do it. Once the game is won, then keep the ball and tire your opponents. At the minute, we're simply not ruthless enough. Leicester on the other hand are. Which is why they currently sit top of the league unbeaten.

If I recall correctly, when appointed, we were told that at Swansea, he had no 'decent' wingers and that he will here which'll improve his structure straight away. We've got really skillful, pacey and direct wingers who i'd fancy to win more 1 on 1 duals against fullbacks at this level, yet, they've largely looked completely ineffective. I want to see our 'wingers' playing higher up the pitch rather than in the build up. I think its why its worked so well when we've played charley up top, AA and Sully have played much higher and we've played to their strengths of attacking and running in behind.