OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Problem with that logic is we'd then have kept Jones and by now been truly f**ked. See Palace are keeping up their crap form. Didn't see their game today but by all accounts they were useless - though their next six games are all against relegation rivals.

The logic is good. It all depends on mindset. Against Brentford we could have played all day and not scored and with Spurs in the first half we never looked like scoring, yet it the second half there was a complete change in attitude. Similarly, against Man U, we went after them from the start. While I appreciate you can't bomb around for 50 minutes (that's about the average the ball is in play nowadays!), surely you can have that positive attacking mindset for 50 minutes.

The bookmakers have us at 3/10 and Notts For & Bournemouth as prime relegation candidates. We're playing both of these two. Not going to put the house on it but worth a 'lay' punt. Certainly, from how the team has played over the last month compared to the three months previous, I'm remaining hopeful of escaping relegation.....at least until the Palace game.

What was pleasing about yesterday was that when Spurs tried to park the bus, we still went at them rather than the usual passing sideways. Liked Sulemana's forward charges, Mara is growing in stature. Theo gets in to the right places. Keep AA and Ely out the squad and we're a solid mid table side. There's a lot of crap at bottom of the table.

4 wins from the 5 W.Ham, Palace, Bournemouth, Forest & Fulham games could well be enough - this team is more than capable. They need self-belief, they need to be direct against the teams that will be set up to defend against us. W.Ham in a fortnight should go after us which will create opportunities. Still hopeful, though last Wednesday was a real setback. Someone needs to have a word with RB and his obsession with playing Ely. It is so wrong on so many levels. Today things changed when he came off - well, there's a surprise.

I also agree. He's already shown he has potential. There's an obsession with speed nowadays but most the speed merchants have zero ball control (with Lavia the ball is practically stuck to his feet). Sule's control is very average but he can get past people. His assists/shots need practice...keep on saying, can't the players take a football to the training ground??

It's frustrating because there's so many options to sort this nonsense out: Get the player off the pitch and do treatment off the pitch and let play continue; for every minute treated on the pitch, the player has to spend the corresponding time standing on the byeline before coming back on; like rugby, get treatment on the pitch but let play continue... It's the way players lie dead for 5 minutes, then hobble off aided and then sprint back on faster than Usain Bolt that is really galling. I blame De Canio.

The other problem is presuming we go up the football league. This team probably has more chance of staying in the premiership than being promoted back up again next year.

Spurs are all over the place. Fans don't like the manager, the manager doesn't want to be there, the players don't seem to care - nothing would be a surprise. My guess is we win 1-0, get our hopes raised and then make a pig's ear of W.Ham.

This is my hope. Win those four and there's still a chance of picking up a couple of points elsewhere. Just rather miffed that we failed to have more than a shot on target yesterday. The lack of invention is so frustrating. Occasionally yesterday Ely ran in to space but you could practically see the player on the ball look up, see it was Ely and think "He's useless, not passing to him" and look for other tighter options. Just have to be more positive....what don't the players get?

Reason 2 needs to be addressed at FIFA level. This is killing the game more than VAR. All teams do it. We did it at Chelsea. Refs need to show yellow cards and give world cup style extra time Reason 1 - that said, we probably wouldn't have scored with 20 min extra time. Ely was predictably shit. Only Alcaraz seemed to know which way the goal was. Better teams leave space as they attack us, but we have no idea how to break teams set up to defend. Run at them. Draw free kicks. We've got the best free kick specialist in the business. Only thing slower than our play was getting to the M3 post game.

Thought there was some potential in the way Che and Sulemana linked up, more so than Tall Paul and Sulemana. In fact, just getting the impression that Tall Paul isn't really a fit for the current set up, so not sure how much game time he'll get tomorrow.

Yes, I wonder if he realises what ringing that bell means...heard even the portsmouth fans are sick to death of it.

Looks like we need to change the words of our chant!

Tend to agree. Thought all the back four were excellent today with Perraud & KWP making great runs. Midfield is looking solid. Liked the way Alcaraz seemed to spearhead the press. Sulemana is starting to look dangerous. Che can lay off a pass. Main issue is subs. Never ever want to see AA coming on again.

As soon as these two came on, our attacking threat died away. Not sure the Theo experiment has run its course but surely we can't keep giving AA a chance. Played so well. Good confidence boost. Still need 5 wins....starting with Brentford on Wednesday 😀

Thought he was ok under Ralph but nothing special. Got pushed far too easily off the ball. Hopefully, this stint with Burnley has added a little more steel, and what games I've seen of Burnley, he does look a much better player. Whether he wants to come back to us is a different matter. He seemed to look out for his mates and give them a wave most games so maybe he's got a solid base down here.

Perhaps stating the obvious but this is a winnable game for us. Brentford's position in the League flatters them. They've shown against Everton they're toothless up front. All bets on Toney scoring are off 😉

Blimey, didn't realise the score was going to be 2-3 😀. All these stats are interesting but ultimately there to be broken. Always hopeful...will take a point from this one

You can't walk to the ground from there, and no you won't get there in time for kick off catching the tram. Last year, I caught the tram from Manchester Piccadilly and it's a good 20-30min tram ride and the final 10 minute walk after that...and those trams are packed, so you won't get on the first one. Suggest you either get an earlier train or hijack a taxi.

I got the impression after Grimsby, RS said there would be players not wearing a Saints shirt again. Well, what was this clown doing wearing one yesterday? Really does add nothing, and even when going wide, he craps himself when someone comes within two yards of him. Total waste of a player and even more irritating is his strolling around doing half hearted presses.

Man Utd now four nil down. They'll need a real pick-me-up next week. Who are they playing? ........ Blimey, could it get any worse for them?

Tend to agree but on balance I reckon Everton are more likely to go down so preferred Forest to win - pleased they at least equalised. Can accept teams around us only getting a point. Hoping it will be Bournemouth, Everton & Leeds going down. Good weekend all round for us.

Before yesterday, I reckoned needing 6 wins to have a chance of staying up. Now it's 5. Of the next 5 League games, if we only win 1 (W.Ham away or Brentford home), we'll still be in the reckoning - it's the one pointers that kill you.

This is the point. McC reminded us against Grimsby just how bad he is. Forget the penalties which he never looked remotely like getting close to, he can't seem to kick the ball more than 5 yards. His distribution is awful. Willy just looks slow, and as someone said, it looks like we've got Baz until the end of the season. Yes he flaps, yes you take a deep breath every time the ball goes in to our penalty area but the focus has to be up the other end of the pitch. And on that sutjuect, a lot to like about Alcaraz in that JWP-type more forward role. Just tell his to that make-a-heart-with-your-fingers thingy when he scores next time!