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Reply | Top 3 Hidden Gem Cities
at 11:11 8 Oct 2025
I used to work in the US including a spell in Chicago. It's very liveable and friendly but in all honesty I wouldn't put it up there as a tourist destination on a par with NYC.
I'd say a unique US city worth visiting is Key West. It's expensive (as is most of the US now) so don't stay long but a visit is memorable, not least for the drive there.
A hidden gem city worth visiting is Portsmouth. Lots of history, culture and friendly people. I'm talking about Portsmouth New Hampshire obviously. |
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Reply | Tall Paul
at 16:53 6 Oct 2025
Ridiculous decision making to not cross to him when we played him.
Ridiculous decision to get rid of him when we then brought in a manager who likes crosses.
Ridiculous decision to not replace him with another centre forward.
Saints = ridiculous |
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Reply | Southampton At Derby County The Verdict
at 16:50 6 Oct 2025
That's ridiculous. No team walks the championship without a centre forward. So far this season we've had one half fit one. Now we don't have one at all. There's no way we can walk this division. |
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Reply | Depth Of Southampton Squad Is Will Still's Problem
at 11:00 3 Oct 2025
"Adam Armstrong has shown that with a run of games he can score goals"
Actually what he has shown is that he's not a centre forward (he failed when played centrally), but if you play him wide he can score goals and create from there. That's his position, just as it was in 23/24.
Not sure why you don't seem to understand the difference between a centre forward and other strikers. If you did, you'd draw a distinction between Ross Stewart and the others. Stewart is the only one who's played well at centre forward and shown that he's capable of playing there, if he is fit enough.
Until then, what you say about our strikers will continue to be meaningless nonsense. |
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Reply | Southampton At Sheffield United The Verdict
at 14:41 1 Oct 2025
Statements can be factually correct while being meaningless nonsense e.g. to say that "we might have won the premier league last year" would be factually correct, but it is meaningless nonsense because it has no bearing on reality.
Equally, to say that we have 4 strikers is factually correct but has no bearing on the reality that we have been desperately short of a centre forward. We are not short of strikers, we are short of centre forwards. Arma, Archer and Downs have all been tried in the role and all failed. If Stewart's fitness doesn't hold up, then this will be a problem all season. |
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Reply | Southampton At Sheffield United The Verdict
at 12:29 1 Oct 2025
"We have three strikers proven at Championship level and a fourth in Damian Downs who is adapting to the English game."
Such a meaningless, nonsense statement.
Let's forget DD. We've seen enough to know he's not going to contribute anything.
For the others, the question is how many centre forwards do we have? The answer is only 1, Ross Stewart. It started to look like WS didn't rate him and he wasn't going to play, so it's great that he's in the team now. But the vital question is how many games will our only centre forward be able to play?
If he plays on Saturday that would be 3 championship games in 8 days. Can he do it? After the game last night WS said the fact that he played 75 mins on Saturday and 85 last night was "massive". That's not the kind of thing you say about a player in full fitness, so we'll see.
Thank God that Stewart is finally in the team, but I hope he can keep going through a very demanding season because he's the only centre forward we have. |
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Reply | Far better
at 11:41 28 Sep 2025
It's obvious why AA plays wide. He's been tried at centre forward and he can't do it (no criticism of him, it's just not his position). WS doesn't play with a second striker, so if he's in the team he has to play wide. |
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Reply | Team today
at 11:42 27 Sep 2025
The best thing to do would be to switch to 4-3-3 with a front 3 of Arma, Stewart and Fraser. With our limited resources, that would be our best goal threat. But I don't think that will happen. |
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Reply | Taxi for Potter
at 11:35 27 Sep 2025
The timing was probably all about Nuno rather than Potter. The fact they'd agreed a contract with him was probably already known by the players so better to clarify things now.
I'm hoping Nuno will now be the Spurs Nuno not the Forest Nuno. |
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Reply | 1st name on the team sheet
at 17:50 26 Sep 2025
Ryan Fraser for me. He's been dependable and shown some quality - a rare thing from those in Saints shirts. |
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Reply | What’s clear already
at 14:49 24 Sep 2025
Not for me. Edwards was at best ok. The other 2 CBs were much better.
His worst moment was gifting them the winner. He left Chiesa totally alone. If he was organising the others then perhaps he should have been worrying more about his own position. |
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Reply | Genuine question,has Damion Downes ever actually been a professional footballer?
at 14:37 24 Sep 2025
If I was being ultra generous I'd say he hasn't been given the chance to play in a position he's decent at (he's utter sh1te as a centre forward). But in reality I'd say he just looks as though he has nothing to offer. WS doesn't play with a second striker and even if he did Arma and Archer would be better options.
Our best hope is that we can get maybe £1m for him in January. Some at the club might want to loan him out somewhere to toughen him up but I think if he was sent out to a League 1 club he wouldn't get many minutes. Better to send him back to a less competitive league.
A prime example of how SR are clueless and ruining the club. |
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Reply | Disrespectful I know...
at 17:21 22 Sep 2025
I agree. He's been poor so far, but that doesn't mean we should sack him now. I have doubts about him too, but he should be given a fair chance.
I'd also say that he's really only had 2 games with his squad. Both very disappointing games, but just 2 games. It's now up to him, he has to deliver, but he should be judged on results with us, not on where he came from or what he did before he started managing. |
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Reply | Disrespectful I know...
at 15:47 22 Sep 2025
There is very little correlation between playing ability and coaching/manging ability. I thought everyone knew that. Who was the more successful manager, Bobby or Jack Charlton? Wayne Rooney or Will Still? |
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Reply | Disrespectful I know...
at 15:25 22 Sep 2025
"in any line of work, would you take instructions from a boss who had never done it themselves?"
So the teams WS managed in France just completely ignored him?? Mourinho's teams completely ignore him?? Does the current Germany team just ignore Nagelsmann?? etc. etc. No, of course not.
WS can be criticised for a number of things, including a lack of experience, but if a player ignores him just because he doesn't have the playing experience, then that player is not only an idiot but is shooting themselves in the foot.
Like any manager, WS will start with reserves of respect from the players for prior achievements. Any manager, ex-player or not can go on to lose the dressing room due to poor performance, but that takes a while to happen and we're not there yet. |
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Reply | Time to reel our necks in a bit
at 19:00 21 Sep 2025
The problem is not the lack of a striker. We have strikers who can score in the championship. Look at your own list. Arma scored 24 (28 in total) in 23/24. He's still at the club. Cameron Archer is just as good.
The problem with the strikers is that we don't have anyone who can play centre forward. So, for example, Arma can score goals playing on the right in a front 3. That's proven. He could probably also score as a second striker in a front 2, as could Archer. But there is no one to lead the line, no one to do the Che Adams role that Arma benefitted from in 23/24. That's what we're missing in the striker department (unless Stewart steps up to the job).
WS is partly to blame for this. It shouldn't have taken him long to see that neither Arma, Archer or Downs are centre forwards and for some reason he doesn't like Stewart. Once he'd seen that he should have demanded a centre forward instead of demanding wingers and full backs. |
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Reply | Long chat with Hull fan
at 15:23 21 Sep 2025
We do have terrible owners but I don't think cost was the reason here. Rohl was the ex Sheff Weds manager so hardly likely to have been on high wages.
Rohl said at the time that he wanted to work in Germany for family reasons. That's probably why he never made the shortlist.
But if SR had been given every manager option under the sun, I reckon they could still come up with a bad choice. |
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Reply | "In his own words" Damion Downs is not a centre forward
at 14:59 21 Sep 2025
I agree he looks like a wimp. He's not up for a physical battle which is the complete opposite of good championship centre forwards like McBurnie.
In the article I posted it suggested he played school "football" i.e. American football, as a quarterback. The quarterback and the kicker are the only two positions in American football where they try to avoid physical contact. His other sport was basketball which is a non-contact sport. It's probably just the way he's always been.
I don't think you can really take a player like that and coach him to be aggressive like McBurnie. He will always be passive. He's happy running on to the ball in space behind the defence. He's not happy if he has to challenge for it or hold it up with his back to goal. |
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Thread | "In his own words" Damion Downs is not a centre forward
at 11:24 21 Sep 2025
I've said here before that Downs doesn't look like a natural centre forward. He's not good with a centre back bullying him, he's not physical enough. He needs the kind of space you only get as a second striker or playing wide.
Also, he's no good in the air, he's not going to win any headers unless he's unmarked. I remembered someone saying that Downs said himself that he was no good at headers so I just googled it and saw this article, which explains a lot. Maybe this has been posted here before but I don't think so:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6550848/2025/08/14/damion-downs-usmnt-southampt
The article describes Downs "in his own words" and says:
"He grew up in Germany playing mostly as a winger or an auxiliary striker (sometimes known as a second striker or shadow striker), and has only developed into a leading No 9 in recent years."
Whether he's developed into a 9 is highly questionable. I'd say not. I say he'd still be better as a second striker, playing the way he learned as he grew up. Interesting that Poch doesn't see him as a 9 either:
"From his understanding, that’s how Pochettino currently sees him, too. In the Gold Cup, his head coach rarely played Downs as an out-and-out striker, preferring to use his qualities to help with the team’s build-up behind more traditional No 9s Agyemang and Brian White."
Yep, that all makes sense. The problem Saints have is that some idiot (Spors?) has bought him to play as a centre forward, while selling Tall Paul, who was the only centre forward we had. Arma and Archer are second strikers too, not centre forwards and the manager doesn't seem to rate Stewart. So we don't have a centre forward. Plenty of second strikers, no centre forward.
I really do wonder about Spors and our recruitment team. As shown by this article, Downs says "in his own words" that he is not a centre forward, so why did those idiots recruit him to play as one? I suppose that once again it's all about SR buying one for the future they hope will come good in a few years time and they can sell on. Will Still must take the blame too, for not being able to see that Downs is not up to it and demanding a centre forward for this season.
Meanwhile we're buying wingers to put crosses in to a non-existent centre forward. How's that going to work?
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