Lymington Saint

I can't ever remember a more frustrating season. On the plus side, when plan A is working well, we are good to watch and teams struggle to live with us. Apart from the lack of a goal-scoring centre forward, the problem is the lack of a plan B for those teams that stifle our normal Russball. And a seeming lack of game management from 60 minutes onwards. Substitutions that disrupt the team structure, and an inability to see games out. RM seems to lack any kind of flexibility, which good managers need. Plus he clearly has his favourites (Manning, Stephens, Brookes) In 2011/12, we were blowing teams away up until Christmas, then got worked out by Bristol City at the end of December. NA, bless him, changed things around in the New Year and we got promoted. If we don't get promoted this year, then I can see next season being a rerun of this season.

I have a funny feeling that we are going to win this one, although this might come back to bite me. TBH I would rather Leeds and Leicester finish top 2 as I really wouldnt fancy our chances against either of them in the playoffs. Think that we could beat Ipswich in the playoffs.

Baz is 22 and still learning his trade. He was thrown in the deep end last season when he should have been out on loan. This season has been better, but still some weaknesses. Be interesting to see where he is in 2 or 3 years time. My view is that he wont be a top 6 prem keeper but decent. I think that some of the criticisms on this thread are a bit harsh.

Wonder if it was planned for Wednesday and got forgotten yesterday

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Light My Fire?

Relax. The club are flying a kite. This is not happening any time soon. Council and Police have not agreed it and are unlikely to do so.

It's Downes we need. Smallbone is a much better player with Downes alongside him. I would play Mara down the middle. AA is also really good at chasing back when playing in the wide role. Brookes is very talented but doesn't chase back as much. Which exposes Manning's limitations. And I know that he scored two cracking goals last Saturday, but not sure that Rothwell is quite up to speed yet either. RM has got some decisions to make tomorrow. Really cant afford another loss.

Think some of the posters are being harsh on Baz for the first goal. Watch it closely. The shot came in with lots of top spin. Bit like you see in tennis. Rather than go in a straight line it dipped viciously and bounced just in front of him. And it was hit hard. Having played in goal at local league level I can tell you that the biggest problems come with shots where the ball is moving around. You start your dive expecting the ball to be in one place only to find it's somewhere else and goes past you. I actually thought Baz had a decent game. I lost count of the number of times that he was an emergency sweeper. Hope RM has learnt from yesterday. Especially first half. We play with full backs that like to bomb forward, and defend narrow. Huddersfield played three up front and were knocking balls in behind the full backs. Be interesting to see what side starts on Tuesday and how we shape up. Bonkers game but hugely enjoyable.

Just back. We were dreadful for an hour and only picked up once the four subs were made. RM will have learnt quite a bit from that - mostly negative. Holgate is not a full back, Stephens is ponderous on the ball, Meghoma looks promising, Rothwell is simply not up to speed with how we play, Alcarez was trying to make things happen but kept giving the ball away, Mara is better through the middle and Dibling is not ready yet. Once the subs were made we were much better and moved the ball quicker. The unbeaten run has been based on a settled team who have learnt to play the way that RM wants. Make too many changes and we look like we did at the start of the season. Just have to hope that we dont get a rush of injuries.

Ipswich have one win in the last seven games. Hardly auto promotion form. Really cant see them picking up points at the same rate as in the first half of the season. Keep up our current form - we will lose some games - and think we will finish second. And at the start of the season we would all have been happy with that

Had the feeling that the club were just testing the water. Can't see any way that Hampshire police would countenance putting the away fans in the Kingsland/Chapel corner. Can you imagine what would happen next time the blue lot down the road come to SMS. Would be a nightmare to police. Think that we are stuck with the current arrangement. If the club/fans want an 'end', then putting safe standing at the back of the Chapel is about the only way that I can see of doing it.

After 20 games we have 38 points and are 4th. Nearly 2 points per game but we are 10 points behind Ipswich in 2nd. In 2011/12 after 20 games we had 42 points and were top. So we are not doing as badly as some posters would have us believe. But it does show just how well Leicester and Ipswich are doing. It's an unusual season. Personally if you would have offered me a place in the playoffs this season (which is where we look to be heading) I would have happily taken it after the chaos of last season. Especially as I think that there is still room for improvement. Can see us playing Leeds at Wembley in May in the playoff final.

Really? We should have had at least one more in the second half. Mara should have at least hit the target when through, Sulemana didnt lift the ball up enough when through, Stu Armstrongs header was blocked and Alcarez was straight at the keeper from a free header. Main problem was not being clinical enough. Baz made a couple of decent stops but Stoke rarely threatened. Good solid performance against a horrible team. One thing I did notice was how narrow the full backs were. Meant that Stoke got lots of crosses in, especially from their right. Can only assume that this was deliberate but it seemed a bit odd.

Just back. Looked like a change in formation to me, with a diamond in midfield allowing full backs to push up. Downes as the holding midfielder and Alcarez at the point as a false 9. With two up front in Armstrong and Sulemana. Team looked much better connected, without the huge gaps as in recent games. And they were mixing it up, going long sometimes. Defended well second half. Think that he might have stumbled on a formation that actually works.

Can't see him surviving. Just have no confidence that SR will appoint a manager who will at least get us hard to beat. They are trying to be too clever.

This season was always going to be bumpy. We all knew that and expectations of automatic promotion are unrealistic in my view. Huge turnover of players and not sure who would end up staying. But there are clearly problems with the way that we are playing that need to be addressed fast. Not sure that RM has the ability to adapt his system to fix them. The next few games are key. If we continue the way that we are then he will be gone fairly quickly. Then the owners will appoint another muppet and we will go through the whole cycle again.

Was just about to post something similar and you beat me to it. Goal 2 was well worked, but the others were dreadful. Goal 3 was a well directed free header and he had no one on him to put him off. Manning was at fault for goal 4 but it was 2 against 1. There was a Norwich player coming in behind him completely free. Defensively we were terrible. On the plus side I enjoyed the game far more than any last season. We do at least seem to have a way of playing, create chances and looks like the 11 starters will stay the season. Issue is how many of the other players will leave and who will be brought in. We need someone bigger than Armstrong up front who can hold the ball up and also be a target, and who isnt Tall Paul.

Happy days. Back when 606 phone ins were worth listening to. It's tedious now and I switch off - plastic fans phoning in to moan about refs, managers or who they should be buying/selling. Funniest phone call I remember from those days was from a Partick Thistle fan who ran to away games. When asked the furthest he had run, replied 'Queen of the South'. Dumfries - over 70 miles away. Took him 2 days to get there.

The consensus on this thread seems to be that we will finish 9th. Seems a good shout to me. If we finish just into the top half of the table and end the season with some consistency, then that will be progress. Can then kick on next season. Really don't expect any more than that.

If we had VAR in 1976 then all it would have done is stop Tommy Docherty from moaning about an offside goal afterwards. Bobby Stokes was a couple of yards onside, played on by Martin Buchan the United left back. Had he stepped up in line with the centre-backs then it would have been offside. Problem with VAR is not the use of technology but the way that it is managed. Too often the VAR team seem to overrule the ref on marginal calls. It should be limited to clear and obvious errors. Seem to remember that VAR was managed really well at the last world cup, but this might have been something to do with Pierluigi Collina managing the overall process and everyone being scared of him.