SaintBobby

Smallbone has been very poor

What a flop....sloppy performance....

Nigeria were dreadful....mind you, the match was pretty poor overall. I guess Aribo is available again for the WBA game?

If I had a guarantee of 2nd v a guarantee of winning the play-offs, I’d take the latter. Obvs, the playoffs don’t offer guarantees though - so I can’t imagine hoping we lose v Leeds and come 3rd on the final day. What would our chances be in the playoffs? Maybe c 50%? I still haven’t lost hope of catching Leicester, but they would need to “do an Ipswich” while we keep up our form.

I wouldn’t say I’d blame him for it, but I think he maybe saves an effort like that as often as not.

Brooks was excellent I thought.

On Bazunu, definitely not at fault for the 3rd goal - it’s just a nightmare deflection. However, maybe at fault for the 1st? Not dissing him though - his distribution is incredible (he’s basically a sweeper with the right to wear gloves).

Worth saying, Huddersfield were very good. 17 shots, I think the stats say? But they basically kept 3 men up front throughout, which is utter balls of steel. And it nearly got them a result. They were the better team in the first half too. Met a decent Hudders fan at the bar afterwards who was very gracious (“I expected you lot to score about 5, but never dreamed we would score 3 here, so I’ll take it!”) Haven’t really followed their manager/caretaker situation, but tactically they were excellent.

A few nerdy questions: 1. When, if ever, have Saints scored 5 goals in the 2nd half? (Sunderland 8-0?) 2. When, if ever, have 4 goals been scored by Saints substitutes? 3. When was the last time Saints came from behind twice to win?

Well, that was boring…

Anyone think maybe Brooks in for S Armstrong? Or is Brooks just an out-and-out right-winger?

But disjointed this half. Like the look of Brooks though.

Good line up. Delighted Sam Edozie is fit for the bench.

I'd say 6. Maybe 7. Don't know enough about Brooks, if he's as good as people say, 7. Still think we are missing a centre-forward...and I'm an Alcaraz fan, so sorry to see him go - but the deal makes sense, I guess.

Up the Stones. Didn't see any of the game, did see the stats. 38 shots v 2. LOL.

Yep. The issue is....not something we can affect, merely something we can hope or pray for....would you'd like our chance of 2nd place and promotion to increase OR would you like our chance of 1st place to increase while our chance of promotion actually decreases? I guess, if you had to pick one of the following two what would you pick: 1. Chance of being champions 15% and chance of being promoted 50% 2. Chance of being champions 5% and chance of being promoted 60% I'd pick 1. If you're in camp 1, you want Leicester to lose points to Leeds and Ipswich. If in camp 2, you want Leicester to beat Leeds and Ipswich.

We are now about 8/1 to win the league, 5/4 to come second and 4/7 to get promoted by any means.

I wanted Ipswich to win, but happy with a draw. Over 18 games, I think we will overhaul Ipswich. I want to maximise our chances of catching Leicester. Long shot, but not crazy.

Bollocks 2-1

Let's be honest, we were fucking brilliant. Ok, shoddy last ten mins, but we utterly minced them until that point. Could have been 5-0 at halftime. What a time to be alive!

I’m serious about first place!

I'm starting to get super-confident too. I think we will catch Ipswich (I think it's more likely we will fall behind Leeds), so have half an eye on also catching Leicester. We are about 12/1 to win the league now...not a total pipe dream if we can keep this run going.

He has been a revelation. Perhaps Championship is his level, but he is sure shining at this level. Also, as many have pointed out, he works tirelessly, tracking back etc. I don't recall that last season.

Stunning performance. We aren't just winning games, we are murdering teams at St Mary's.

So glad to see that university students today are so adept at using apostrophes with such grammatical precision in their titles. E-.