Hodgey

Hard to say how much of Turner we will lose to England, but we definitely need a red ball batter - clear weak spot last season.

I heard the guy from the podcast too and if he’s right this is going to be a massive test. He basically said they rarely give chances, are extremely disciplined in shape, and quickly counter only when the opposition is overcommitted. That is basically our Kryptonite at the moment which will be fuelled further by the pressure to attack playing at home. That said we have better players and if we score first makes the job much easier. If they score first we’ll be in trouble. I’m going for an unconfident 1-0 win here, if we hadn’t had our 4 game wobble a draw here wouldn’t be a bad result, but we did so it would be.

Not sure I agree with that. Firstly Leicester were 9 points better than us last season and clearly had a better team so their starting point was better. Secondly they have been much more proactive in the transfer window losing £100m of talent but spending £50m of that - and they have spent it better with Winks replacing Tielemans and the excellent Mavidi replacing Barnes, meanwhile they upgraded their keeper who arguably was a major reason for their relegation (I agree with previous posts that all 3 teams relegated last season had by far the worst gks). Simply put they have better players all over the park - ie strikers they have Vardy, Ihanacho and Daka with their £8m prospect Cannon learning in the wings. Both managers try and play a similar way (Man City style), one has much more capable players to do that with. I don’t think if we had their manager (who turned us down) we would be much different.

Frustrating though it is - it does seem like this was one of those days. We created good chances and dominated. Not sure I can slate RM for today as it looks like his tactics did break a resolute team down, we just finished appallingly. Another bad home result though, and if we don’t turn that around we won’t be going up. Even with a pretty average start we are 3 points off 3rd - so whilst automatics look increasingly unlikely (we won’t catch Leicester, but Ipswich could fall apart if they lose a few) we are in the mix and if Stewart comes in firing we could see dramatic improvement.

Was excellent on Saturday, I genuinely didn’t think he was capable of finishes like that, and has been one of our better players so far. He was also terrible in the 3 games previous. Like many of our players he needs to be in a system that suits him. I’m not sure he can play a lone striker role - as someone else said he seems to be an old fashioned ‘inside forward’ he definitely wasn’t good enough for the Prem, and was given ample chances, doesn’t mean he never will be as there are a few players who needed a couple of bites to get going.

Really enjoyed that, we looked solid and dangerous attacking. The big question for me is has Martin abandoned his oft quoted never will I change principles ?. The inverted fullbacks seem to have gone, and 2 games in a row we have had less possession. My hope is he is adapting to what he has, and being pragmatic to his approach - after all Rome wasn’t built in a day and keeping that as the goal but acknowledging we need smaller steps to get there seems a better way to go. I’m really hoping that he doesn’t revert back to type - we’d been figured out. I reckon half the reason for the win today is that Farke simply wouldn’t have expected that. Back to the game, extremely impressed by A Armstrong - frankly I didn’t think he was capable of those sort of calm finishes, amazing bonus if he can start doing that more often. Bednerak definitely adds something - he helped H-B perform much better. The squad was much more balanced today - more players in midfield and a better mix. Second half we did lose our way, and the subs made no sense. So let’s see what happens at Stoke, but optimistic RM is seeing a different way with this group of players.

Was an interesting game as the Youngsters did really well 1st innings, and fell apart in the 2nd. Guess we shouldn’t be too surprised at that given experience / pressure etc. But without Abbott, Dawson and Vince it would have been a very convincing Essex win.

Central midfield much better, but you’ll have to convince me that Smallbone, Adam Armstrong and Fraser are in any way a top 6 attacking midfield outfit.

Got to say - Dawson has had a very strong season, got to be up there as championship player of the year

Wouldn’t be missed according to many on here. A slow, ineffectual player who was only good at a few free kicks, terrible captain and couldn’t take corners. Glad we’ve now got the likes of Smallbone and Downes who are miles better.

There are a lot of players who haven’t pushed on in 4 dayers. Weatherly has never done it (but looks an improving white ball player), Organ hasn’t progressed, Donald clearly has talent but is out early more often than not (although being reserve gloves man may help), and you have to wonder how much longer our 3 seamers can keep going. Crane needs to move for everyone’s sake and what happened to Campbell ? Wheal I assume will be white ball. If we find a quality opener then Holland may struggle for games. I see something in Currie so hope we stick with him, Turner is just class, and I do feel Albert could be a good opener (still need experience there). There are a few other promising youngsters coming through as well like Kelly, jack and eckland. Hopefully next year is a breakout one for Prest - with his talent no reason he shouldn’t be talked about internationally if he has a good season.

I thought the whole point of messing around with it at the back was to tempt players out of position, would lead to quick incisive attacks of the space, with the risk a few goals when we get it wrong. Also opposing teams would tire and we’d score late goals. That’s kind of how it started first 4 games. I’m now seeing a lot of the latter, but little of the former which doesn’t make sense. Teams are still pressing us knowing we’ll make a mistake (and are), but when we do play through we seem toothless. I can’t work it out - my hope is it’s just the players aren’t quite right. I think if we try Charles, Downes, Edozie, Alcarez and Stu in midfield we may suddenly look a lot more potent. Martin and Wilcox have made such a big deal that they will not change this style - they will just double down on it.

Its on nowTV for anyone who has it - right at the bottom - I almost missed it !

KWP was totally nullified by Mavididi (who at £7m looks a great signing - what I’d hope Sulimana would be) - couldn’t really go fwd because of his threat so they essentially took our best player out of the game (as did Sunderland). Ndidi, Winks and Dewsbury-Hall looked a league above our midfielders - playing quick incisive forward passes. on Martins ludicrous post match comments. I’m assuming he made those so the players don’t totally abandon his style and keep trying possession football. That’s fair enough but what was missing was any kind of acknowledgement of incorrect player selection / poor tactics and frankly players who looked like they wanted it less.

Probably our best player today - kept the score down. Could criticise him for the 3rd as he seemed to offer up a lot of the goal - but when you have 3 players running unopposed at you can see why your positioning may faulter. Was especially pleased to see him get good hands behind a well hit shot pushed out of danger for a corner. I’m hoping that ironically despite conceding 4 tonight will build his confidence. I’m unconvinced he’s a top 6 keeper in this league but so far he’s far from the problem.

Hard not to over react after a couple of deserved hammerings - where to start? so mitigating circumstances - we played probably the best team in the league with some key injuries that said there are some ominous things building. I suspect most saints fans looked at that midfield before kick off (like at Sunderland) and feared the worst. If Russel can’t see the problem it’s a serious fault. Simply put - like last year - we’re reliant on a rookie Man City midfielder to be our def mid - we have no other players in the squad who can do that job. We’ve learnt nothing from last year. I don’t care how bad our cb options are - Charles had to play in front of them - sticking him in defence makes us poorer. You cannot expect to go up if you have no defensive shape whatsoever. One game can be excused - two speaks to underlying problems - I genuinely rarely see teams give away a 3 v gk in professional football. That whole thing was a joke and having Smallbone who can’t tackle or intercept and isn’t quick as the last man was frankly negligent (where was the defence ???) too early to make any judgements but I have no idea what Downes is - so far he looks like a very poor man’s JWP - I’m hoping he’s victim to poor set up. im not buying the ‘Sulimana will instantly replace Tella’ thought. I don’t get the Sulimana love in - he clearly thinks he’s too good for this level and I’ve yet to see any real end product - unlike Tella at this level. There is no way that Armstrong is captain material, and I doubt he is the attacking midfielder Martin thinks either - hope I’m proved wrong here. On that front - again who of this bunch is captain material or has leadership qualities ? Another lesson we seem to have failed to learn. I still believe that the squad we have is a top 4 squad. I also think we need to give Martin until at least Christmas to get his team playing. But there are worrying signs already that he simply can’t adapt and is quickly being found out. Final comment - is this a happy camp post window ? Do Downes / Adams / Sulimana etc really want to be here ? Since the window closed it genuinely looks like a fair few of this team couldn’t give a shit Ipswich will be interesting - hopefully positively surprising…

It’s a fair shout - Dawson has had a few chances, but like Vince you have to say there are bigger shouts. Ahmed is clearly destined for big things and there are arguments for others too - Jacks is handy and a much more explosive batter. The shame really is that we have two players who are class but just outside England quality and we haven’t taken the clear advantage of having them all season. I’d love to see Hampshire developing a genuine young spinner - outside of Dawson we seem to have Organ who is a bit of an inconsistent all rounder and Prest who is a batsman. Crane we don’t seem to know what to do with / don’t rate highly enough. It’s a bit of a gap but it wouldn’t surprise me if we poached Rahim given his Brave link.

Listening to TSP Leicester guest - unsurprisingly they sound like the exact same as us. He commented on their inverted full backs, really slow build up to draw players out, giving chances away and being strong at the end of games. He said he thought they had been a bit lucky with some results and that Winks was a complete class above. They’ve also got loads of Gks on their books they want rid of and have put a ball playing youngster there who by all accounts they highly rate. I think it might be a real cat and mouse game - you can’t have both teams having 70pc possession so something will give. Tactically if we’re smart you’d want to take advantage of the open wings quickly when we turnover the ball - as we know that works against this system !!. going to be a fascinating game - battle of the Poor Man’s Man Cities !

We won’t win every game, and players won’t play that badly so no need to panic. But some alarm bells ringing for me on RM. That starting line up was asking for trouble, debutant in defence, away from home and you protect them with Downes/Armstrong/Smallbone ??. I called out a Tella shaped right wing concern pre this game, and that did nothing to convince me. Mowbray also ruthlessly exploited the inverted fullback idea - drilled his team to get it wide early with wingers hugging the touch line, we had no answer at the start, and still no answer at the end. Many managers will have taken a note. mitigating circumstances given the transfer noise and changes we’ve had (yes so have others but I think we’ve had it especially bad). But post international break there are no more excuses

Sensible, strong window that even if some players don’t perform as we’d like - clear rationale and strategy behind it. On paper the squad should be challenging for automatic promotion which was the aim. Still a couple of question marks / worries - I’m not sold on our right attack - if Sulimana knuckles down (does he really want to be here?) he prefers the left. Stu or Aribo could also do a job there but it does look our weakest position. The other question is around Adams, I’m hoping his response is ‘I’m going to score a hatful then have my choice of clubs when I can sign a pre contract in Jan”. Overall though hats off to Wilcox, Mowbray and RM - excellent job

Great win - getting to the final here and the t20, and being competitive in the championship is pointing to another good season. Really good to see some young players come through / progress. and if you also like t16.4 then Brave women’s finally won and men did pretty well (although no idea how Weatherly ever makes a franchise cricket team…) Can we go a stage further and finally win the championship next year ???

Pretty awful bowling so far by Wheal, Worcester batters looking very comfortable so far and well on track.

Glad it’s working out for him. For whatever reason a decent number of our fans never rated him.I think he’ll have an excellent season at West Ham - may even sneak into England squad, he’s clearly a very good Premiership player at the minimum.

This is the gamble I don’t get. From the start we’ve seen and recent past history those two are pretty much 40 plus goals (they’ve already got us 5 points of our 7). That puts you in top 3 contention and a highly likely £150m plus Prem jaunt (even if we go straight back down). But we’d rather get £35m in and risk it all with an at best unknown recruitment ability.. Just seems completely unnecessary. I get the counterpoints, but ultimately this is a decision we have chosen to make and are in complete control of. It’s almost like keeping them is too obvious and we’re far too clever for that - let’s hope so. I don’t believe for a minute that given the choice RM would want to lose either and he is ‘relaxed’

Yep - he’s scored 2 goals and got us 4 points, that’s not something saints wingers do…..