Charlie Wayman

Of course but when you're stuck with three of the worst strikers ever in Adams, Armstrong & Mara then it's not so easy.

With the caveat "when it works as intended". Obviously it doesn't work very well when teams press hard and give us little space and Martin needs to find a solution for this. Mindlessly dicking around at the back for 5 minutes when we can't find a way out thus giving teams time to re-set their defence isn't a solution. I think that is what Wade is trying to convey When we move the ball around accurately and quickly with people running into spaces at will as we did against Swansea then it is a delight to watch. Even Man City have off days but they are seem able to sort themselves out very quickly.

You've heard what Martin has to say about other team's players, he takes no interest in what their line up may be but concentrates on his own team selection and the type of opposition he is faced with; will they press, will they sit back etc. Opposition managers' probably have a very similar take to us in their preparations for the match. Very unlikely they are going to have a sleepless night worrying about whether Downes will be back or not.

Isn't he the bloke who is supposed to be training our team. You get out what you put in. It's all down to him. Maybe time for a change?

Once Sulemana went off our attacking threat completely disappeared. Martin doesn't like him that's obvious but AA should have replaced Mara and left our two wingers to exploit the wide spaces. Our subs were a disgrace, no effort, no conviction and no impact. AA did nothing, Adams was invisible and Smallbone beyond awful. If this was a shop window for some of our players then it was more Primark than John Lewis. That's 4 defeats from 5 and it will be difficult to turn this around at this stage of the season especially with a lengthening injury list. Sorry to say we look less and less convincing with every match. The promotion dream is fading quickly.

To be fair to Martin he has had only a single season at a totally new club to teach his methods, recruit a reliable and resilient team and hone their skills to play the way he wants them to play and be expected to gain promotion at the first attempt. On that basis he has over-achieved by any measure of reasonable expectation as witnessed by our recent record unbeaten run of matches. Bear in mind too the pressures on him of knowing that anything less than promotion this season will be regarded widely as failure and that he won't have the luxury of a second season with his current first choice squad of players as many will de-camp in the summer. By comparison our three challengers have had mostly settled teams this season that have played together for a season or two before.

We didn't miss it, his appointment might tip the scales.

Just building a Championship level management team for the next few seasons.

We used to call people like him "fair weather friends". I don't dislike him but I don't trust him.

the play off order is most likely to be Ipswich Southampton Hull WBA so, Ipswich v WBA; Southampton v Hull Probably this will be as far as we go.

Correct! Don't be mislead by all the bluff and bluster on this thread, most people realise that we stand no chance at all against arguably the currently best team in the world. in the heady days of the win against Swansea when we purred like a well oiled machine and didn't put a pass astray maybe there was an outside chance of an upset but now we are in a completely different place with an unsettled and poorly structured team that has lost its coordination and intent.

That's not fair, Martin was moaning at the poor sod almost from the moment he came on, never had a chance to express his talent and as far as Martin was concerned he couldn't do anything right. Obvious that Martin doesn't rate him. One player we will lose in the summer whatever happens. I think we are gradually seeing the real Russell Martin now, it will be the players fault not the coaches if we fail to get promoted.

Look on the bright side, we get to keep Manning, Bree, Stephens and McCarthy if we stay in the Championship.

The invincibles have transforment into the unconvincibles. Russ has been sussed! Simple as that.

"returning to the grass", "crossing the white line" ... Cliche season is well and truly upon us..

We are really getting into the silly season now and it's becoming harder by the minute to determine who is being ironic and who is not. I'll give you the wink!😉 So we play with Tigers and Lions in the same week. We've had one mauling so let's hope we aren't in for another... Nah! 4-0 to Saints, we will put them back in their cage and lock the door.

Manning is getting a lot of stick for his performance on Tuesday but the first goal was down to KWP. Off the ball their left winger ran inside and Kyle went with him leaving a huge hole behind him for their left back to exploit - and he did - received the ball in acres of space and then passed it inside for the goal scoring opportunity.

I hate Millwall so will skip this match. Strong memories of when their fans ran riot in Hill Lane way back in the day and damaged so many parked cars. Delinquent sods, never forgiven them, never will.

Manning may be not very good technically but at least tonight he fought tooth and nail to win every challenge and never gave up until the final whistle. A few others could take a lesson or two from him. He was far from being our worst player tonight. I agree with you about Rothwell, he doesn't suit our playing style at all. Send him back to Bournemouth.

This was an absolutely abysmal performance and fans have every right to be annoyed and exasperated. It looks like curtains for the automatic spots and even if we make the play-offs there are at least two better teams than us with an eye on Wembley. Once again we were out-thought and out-fought and lacked the vision to change things around to our advantage. Another night to forget, that's two from three. We don't have the luxury of a game in hand anymore either. The going is getting tough…...

...or Substract-zee according to one's take on him.

They do realise that most of the top 8 are below us and they will be too if we see off the Tigers on Tuesday evening. We can only beat teams below us!

Obviously a must win and if we play as well as we did on Friday we will win. WBA seem to be a more accomplished and resolute side than Hull yet we completely dismantled them step by step. I realise form doesn't always work out that way as we saw with Bristol City yesterday but our performance at The Hawthorns must give real encouragement to our lads that they can overcome Hull in much the same way - and they will be at home. My bet is 3-0 to Saints and a blissfully happy evening out for 30k Sotonians.

Easy to claim irony after you have been called out 😉😂

Where's Smallbone this evening? Is he even on the bench?