By Leipziger
October 25 2015

I didn't fancy a rant - trying to be more positive these days - so here's a split of what was going through the mind of Leipy on the train north from Milton Keynes last night.

1) Saints in control

The scorelines show that we were competitive in the first half then less so in the second, but unfortunately I didn't think the Falcons were up to much in the first forty. Northampton were wasteful in attack and kicked penalties they might have played instead, while the Falcons struggled to break the 22. Things came together for the Saints and when they hit another gear in the second half, helped by the speed of replacements Kahn Fotuali'i and Mike Haywood, we simply had no answer.

2) Winter is here, and it could be long

It's getting a bit chilly in The Village these days, and though we're only two games into the Premiership season, the Falcons find themselves pointless after two disappointing shows and joint-bottom with London Irish. Exeter next Sunday and particularly Worcester away the following week now look to be must-win games if we are to avoid a worrisome festive season. Hopefully things will come together as the new players gel and top players return, but strength in depth is looking a little bit of a concern with only three first choice players missing today in JP Socino, Sinoti Sinoti and Mark Wilson.

3) The diamonds in the rough

Giamba Vendetti had a good run on his Falcons debut, looking dangerous with the ball in hand and tackling well. Ruaridh 'Roaring' (according to autocorrect) Dawson was fast and accurate on his Premiership debut, and looks to have potential. Nili 'Milk' (autocorrect again) Latu did some great work around the field. Set pieces generally good - the scrum was solid for a lot of the game, and won a penalty when it looked to me like we had collapsed.

4) Cut of his Gib

A day after I bigged him up online, Jamie Gibson annoyed me with a couple of offences not seen by the referee and a man of the match performance on his Saints 'home' debut. That was a fair enough shout actually, although Northampton's dominance at the breakdown was also helped by a big game from Sam Dickinson. The big question is, does Gibson call himself 'The Gib', which my gaffer at the office called himself the other day?

5) MK A-OK

It's name might have (probably was) made up by some new-age 'consultant' in Shoreditch who was straight out of university and trying to be 'edgy', but looking past that, stadiummk isn't a bad ground at all. A nice concourse with view of the pitch in case it's sold out and you don't like the person sitting next to you, and big padded seats with enough legroom for the tallest second-rower, as well as a generally attractive look. Stewards were quite happy for fans to walk right behind where the Falcons coaches were glued to their laptops too.

Bonus thought) Someone in MK can’t spell properly: