Bank Holiday weekend, first home game back in the PL, the new Northam wall, me doing the match thread, what could possibly go wrong? Match Officials: Referee: Sam Barrott. Assistants: Tim Wood, Simon Long. Fourth official: John Busby. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes. Team news: Cameron Archer in line to make his first start for the club, with Ugochukwu set to be involved for the first time as well. Forest will be without Danilo, after suffering a broken ankle in the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth. While it may be good for Saints that he's missing the game, I wish him a full and speedy recovery from a horrible injury. Team I want to see: McCarthy (with instructions to go long!) THB Bednarek Stephens Sugawara Downes Smallbone KWP Adarma Archer BBD Absolutely buzzing for this already and the atmosphere in the Northam should be incredible.
I absolutely would not be dropping Aribo after the way he played at Newcastle. I can't see RM throwing Archer into the starting XI after just four or five days of training, I think he's someone who places a big emphasis on being integrated and understanding his approach. But otherwise, I like it. Really looking forward to being back at St. Mary's and getting that new season feeling from the fan zones, the club shop, the new Northam end etc.
I'm going to get there early I think as I keep getting emails about downloading my ticket to the app despite having a physical ticket. Most likely it's just the club being too lazy to target their communications properly but given the ticket office has form for huge **** ups I'm not taking any chances.
Think it will be the same starting line up as against Newcastle, unless any injuries. Can’t see us ever only playing 2 midfielders tbh, so can’t see a front 3 being an option unless we use a back 4 rather than 3 centre backs
Can see this being a repeat of the second half on Saturday with them happy to sit back and let us pass it around in front of them while trying to catch us on the break. Will need some patience here (both team and fans) I think.
Yeah as well as we dominated the game on Saturday (even before they went down to 10) we looked pretty toothless in the main I thought. Forest are probably still sticking to the “win at home against the bad teams, draw away” strategy which sees you safe. They will be happy with a point and it will be on us to break them down. Can see us conceding a stupid goal as usual so we need to be a lot better going forward
The Forest guy on TSP said that their wide players don’t help out defensively, which should hopefully give us the opportunity to create 2v1 situations on their FBs. Has to be better than when they last came to SMS.
To see how much of a Tom curse there is I now expect the following: Archer won't start. Danilo will play with a broken ankle and score a hat trick McCarthy will still piss about with it short The atmosphere in the Northam will be crap Joking aside, I feel this will be our first 3 points on the board. Nervy 2-1. BBD & Arma
Will be watching this game with my Forest supporting mate somewhere in Catalonia! Fancy us to take the points.
Fair play to them, the fan zones and other changes etc do look good. Looking forward to seeing what they're like on matchday
Looks good but not for me personally. I'd rather support local businesses than pay for overpriced ****e there.
May whoever has the best overpriced ****e win I know what you mean, though. I quite like stopping off for a pint at the Painted Wagon in town before going on to the stadium once the team news is about to come out, pretty much a matchday ritual now. But I will try and check out the fan zones this weekend to see what's new (and because we have to do the traditional early pilgrimage to the store to grab new Saints tops with family before the first home game, of course) Ultimately whoever is delivering a better experience / better level of satisfaction will win out
Normally either the painted wagon or kingsland tavern for me, though I think the latter may now be shut? The Alex to play darts and battleships if I've got nipper with me! I'm on a detox at the minute so no drinks for me this weekend but will still pop into Master Fryer in St Marys on the walk to the ground. One of those nostalgia things walking over the footbridge with a box of chips I do worry about the local pubs once the one at the ground opens though. The local football club taking business from them isn't great imo.
I just saw that they do Guinness now all around the ground. I dread to think how that will get poured seeing as the staff cant even pour a pint without a 2 inch head. As a non drinker I am looking forward to Guinness zero (apparently the official zero beer of the Premier League), it is identical to the alcoholic version. In a recent blind taste test, only 1 out of 10 people confidently picked the right one.
We generally do The Alex for an evening game, but rarely for an afternoon game. However, whether that will continue this season I'm not yet sure. It looks like the redesign of the stadium, and in particularly the new fencing, might mean that the Chapel isn't accessible from the footbridge. And if that's the case, we might start parking the other side of the ground.
Wrong on both counts. It caused boring delays which annoyed me twice and the ref sent Schar off not VAR.
Usually the Prince of Wales (my late dads pub) but I’ll need to squeeze a couple in at the Engineers Arms as well.
