Charlie Wayman

Ich stimme dir zu

It's what he did or didn't do for the rest of his time on the pitch that matters. Every player makes one or two telling passes during a match.

At the arse-end of the season it is a bit nerdish to still be talking about team selections but for me Martin's persistence with Brooks is beyond me. With the exception of about two decent through ball passes he was invisible last night once again. Nor am I convinced about Aribo who seems to run out of gas and ideas after 30 mins in every match and is more of a liability after that until inevitably he gets subbed off. I did agree with MacCarthy's last minute call-up as sub for Baz, after all he has had to stand on the sidelines all season without a game whereas Lumley has featured in cup games. It was nice of Martin to recognise his hard work in training and support of Baz by awarding him a first team appearance in what is most likely his last season as a Saint. Lumley looked pretty hacked off at the decision but should understand that it is the togetherness of the team that matters most and Martin got this right. Optimists on here would have you believe that we stepped off the gas in the second half and just protected our lead, whereas in reality PNE pulled themselves together after the break and played with a lot more pride and commitment and we could not break them down. The freedom of the park that they offered us in the first half and which we exploited mercilessly obviously solicited a mighty b*ll*cking from their manager at half time and it obviously got a reaction. Having said that only rarely were they a threat on our goal. Not inconsequentially resting Downes after HT was a huge factor in our poorer second half performance as well. Without him we are often disjointed and aimless. This must be a worry. Anyway, a great result and big shout out especially for Adams, the Armstrong's and Manning in a performance where most excelled.

Same as normal then?

If we get promoted double his salary in fact triple his salary and keep him here come what may.

Common sense and years of experience says zero chance simply because Saints have to play both Leicester and Leeds on their home turves. No way will they beat both of those sides who are just as desperate as Saints to return to the PL.

Let's hope another warehouse doesn't catch alight and burn down on Tuesday. Also, why aren't the Saints band not marching in anymore? Is it because "When the Saints stand still" is more in keeping with our playing style these days? Nostalgic reunion for my Avatar.

Have you forgotten already the Adkins years? 😂

Jammy buggers, they didn't deserve to win today but they did and we all came home happy. Paper over the cracks and go again! Why the clown started Brooks again is beyond me but at least the penny had dropped by half time. Aribo has no stamina, he was blowing like a knackered race horse after thirty minutes. Great to see Jan back, hopefully we won't have to watch Jack trying to look brave and intelligent for much longer.

One step at a time.

Hoping Brooks doesn't start, he's been invisible in the last two matches. Give Edozie or Sulemana a chance.

I hope that people realise that "brave" is a euphemism for "foolish" or "stupid" in modern management speak.

Not sure you have really understood what I said.

That's a different question of course even though I agree with you.

There are many reasons for voting 'yes' or 'no' not on your list of options. I am no fan of the man but the problem with discussing his future is "who comes next?" That is a huge uncertainty especially for a small-ish club with limited expectations. The pool of talented managers who would be prepared to come here is very small; we are not going to attract nor indeed afford a new Poch or Koeman, Those days are well and truly behind us. So my vote is 'Keep him' for now even though he is not doing a particularly good job. Give him one more season to see what he makes of the PL or of a revamped squad in the Championship. That will also afford ample time to search for a replacement and avoid knee-jerk appointments if one is needed. A greater concern of mine is his apparent loyalty to his players and staff. Others may not concur but in my view we do not have an exceptionally talented squad for the division. The idea of the Saints being "the best team in the league" is an evident nonsense and Martin needs to disavow himself of this notion to make progress. He also needs to look closely at his coaching staff and effect changes where needed, e.g., our defensive weaknesses endlessly exposed by average and poor sides suggest strongly that our defensive coaches are crap. Loyalty must not blind the man to the obvious that some staff and some players are just not good enough. No reason why the old broom cannot sweep out the cobwebs.

Big shout out tonight for James Bree, cool and composed and doing his defensive duties perfectly. We seem to have a player there. Otherwise a good win against a decent side but a few of our lads clearly can't last for more than 45 minutes so our second half performance is almost inevitably a let down. Keep ball is supposed to tire the opposition not us! Brooks and Fraser failed to impress again tonight, how many chances do they get? Mara's total lack of interest suggests that he knows he's off at the end of the season. Not sure how Aribo was MotM but if you leave the choice to the populist vote, that's what you get… Trump, Johnson etc. THB for me by a country mile. We must keep this lad at all cost.

I went out of my way to avoid listening to his infantile drivel and you have to spoil that by spelling it out on here ☹️ 😉

Do you not think that this is a tad unfair? I have not been to an away game this season either but watched most on screen. For most matches the away support has been extremely vocal often drowning out the home support and that comes across clearly on screen. Maybe you just picked the wrong game to attend? It was an absolute bore fest so not surprising that the away support was subdued especially as their season long hopes of a dramatic and immediate return to the PL appear to have been dashed by the recent string of dispiriting performances. If there is nothing to shout about they won't shout and as for trying to lift the team, they've tried that all season with b*gger-all effect. We are all pretty p*ssed off with the current situation aren't we?

Exactly right! The problem for him is that this season may have been his big and possibly only chance to become a PL manager. Arguably he had at his disposal one of the best squads of players in the division if not the best. Next season half of that squad will not be here as they explore other options. He will likely end up with a bunch of plodding journeymen and a clutch of youngsters who are no further forward in their career development than they were this time last year due to lack of opportunities under Martin. On that basis his team might struggle next season to feature in the top six at all especially if transfer money is tight and we cannot replace adequately the star players that won't be here. If he can't get us into the PL this season or next then his days will be numbered and quite rightly so.

Our failure yesterday was entirely down to the midfield. Downes did his job splendidly but Aribo and Rothwell were totally ineffective as creative attacking midfielders. Both seemed content to hang about midfield near opposition players, not bothering to lose their markers and find spaces so that they could receive the ball and turn and run forward. As a result when in desperation the CBs forced a pass to try and get things going the ball was more often than not promptly returned to them at pace especially from Rothwell. Thus the front three were pretty much isolated except for occasional hopeful long balls. Some credit to Stevens for recognising the problem and trying now and then to take up a more central position to get the ball forward down the channels. He is the captain though and could have and should have reminded those players of their responsibilies on the pitch. It was stroll in the park for Blackburn, all they had to do was hold their shape to blunt any efforts from us and then run at us on the counter when they retrieved the ball. Some people have a better opinion of Aribo than I but if you watch him carefully what you see is a player who reacts to situations rather than anticipates them, often like a rabbit caught in headlights; as a result he is nearly always a yard or two too late to get to the ball. It seems to me that he doesn't read the game well and all too often is guilty of ball watching. Apart from an eye for a goal now and then Rothwell offers nothing and like many of you I wonder why he is here at all.

Results are all that matters in this football business. What RM has proved is that there are at least three managers in this league who are better than him. If SR are content to have the 4th best manager in this league then so be it but it isn't an obvious recipe for success.

The only players who have been given enough match time this season under Martin to prove beyond any doubt that they are absolute crap are Manning and Adams. To a lesser extent perhaps Baz has shown that he still has some learning to do but Shea Charles like many other kids has been messed about enough times with RM's weird team selections to do the poor lad's head in. How can he be expected to show his full talent under those circumstances? He is one of those whom I expect to hand in their notice in June and wouldn't blame him. RM is surely "Marmite Man" and there will be a significant exodus of talent in the summer if we fail to go up.

The long sought for mid-Championship mediocrity beckons with Wilcox jumping ship and another SR appointed "next great young manager" proving he is anything but. Some are calling for SR to sell up and go. Their failure to keep Wilcox seemingly demonstrates that they do not have the means or allure to break the mold. Their failure also to see that RM is too set in his ways to be anything other than a mediocre manager in a mediocre league but see him as our future then our future is bleak indeed. Ipswich felt like a kick in the balls, our last, last chance saloon. A predictable failure to rise to the occasion has left many of us with that empty end of season feeling of indifference to the outcomes of remaining matches. Just the time then for Saints to romp to an easy 4-1 win that raises more questions than answers followed by another inevitable let down on Tuesday night.

…and Adams, Stevens & Manning!

Martin is a clown and his lasting achievement here will be to have pissed off pretty much every single one of our players to the extent that none of them will want to stay here after the summer.