Topcat

3 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

The change in Manager was too late. 

Sad but true.

7 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

Certainly not! He loves his job. He loves the Club. He loves the people he works with. Bless him!!!

But he does not love all the fans.  Just ask Rishi.

So to sum up.  Since we went a goal down they replaced 4 players and we replaced one.  Martin backs his players!

A stat came up that Saints are top of the table in giving the ball away to create goals for the opposition.  9 so far this season.

Looking on the bright side.  Stephens will not be effing things up for the next 3 games.

To stay up we need a proven Mnager that has fought and won relegation battles.  Such as David Moyes.  It would not be a pretty style of play.  But would keep us up for a few seasons whilst the finances and quality of the squads etc can be improved.  He is available now so bring him in.  We would immedialy see an end to the tippy tappy sideways passes at the back.

Sugawara gave two goals away.  Not marking the 2nd and passing away the 3rd.

Playing the ball around at the back is just plain madness.

9 minutes ago, SaintTex said:

2 1/2 matches into the season. 
 

anyone noticing a trend?

Yes.   We have most of the possession, make fewer shots on goal than our opponents, play with AA and BBD upfront and fail to score.

The last time we were in the prem our biggest problem was the lack of scoring.  Same problem this season.  A shame that our Manager is distracted by a new girlfriend.

60% possession but only one shot on goal....

Forest managed 5 on target.

Do we practice taking corners?

Song to be sung

"...

Nathan Jones......
And there's no room in my heart for you no more"

To add to my comment above about Burnley, they look very vulnerable to key losses of players.  They have eight players out of contract in the summer, including Ben Mee and James Tarkowski.  Tarkowski is linked to Newcastle and looks an ideal fit for Newcastle.

We need to be realistic about our chances of relegation.  The best news is that one team, Norwich, look certain to be relegated.  So are there 2 or more teams that will finish below us?

Today there are 3 other teams below our 8 points.   Leeds 7,  Burnley 4 and Newcastle 4.

  The bookies have all of these on shorter odds than us to be relegated.  So anyone really pessimistic should consider the 5/1 available on Saints!

That said, looking at these 3, the common expectation is that Newcastle will have many millions to strengthen in the transfer window and therefore we should expect Newcastle to spend their way out of relegation.

Leeds have recently been missing 5 starters and key amongst them is Kalvin Phillips.  He was on the bench yesterday and if he does play consistently he can be expected to pull Leeds up the table as his win ratio as a starter is high at almost 50% in the Prem.

Burnley however could suffer from player departures to teams such as Newcastle and could therefore be weaker after the transfer window.   So we have 2 teams probably below us Burnley and Norwich and we will need to see teams currently above us drop below us.  Any one of Palace, Watford and Villa?

Look on the bright side.  After this weekend we will not be bottom.  Arsenal will be beneath us....

My rough calculation has us winning just 4 Prem games in 2021, drawing 2 and losing 16.  So why the pessimism?  Two of the 4 wins were against sides that were relegated....

Bournemouth just not battling to stay up. At home vs Watford and only 1 shot on target whereas Watford have 6. Bournemouth have 3 fouls and Watford 13! No heart.

How about Moyes and Pearce coming in to save the season? They would frighten the life out of the half hearted players we currently have.

Match stats

Everton 24 shots, 5 on target.

Saints 4 shots, 3 on target.

Why should anyone expect a win?

This IMO. Four managers have failed to get a tune out of this shower of sh*te, so will a fifth.

After spending the last two seasons in relegation battles, today the team we started with had just ONE new player (Djenepo) from those that played in the previous season.

The Squad needed a major overhaul and by now almost half the starters should have been players that did not play last season. If we go down, I hope that Gao is personally responsible for all the debt required to but us, since his lack of investment in the team is the main cause of the problems aligned with Reed's inadequate scouting system and inadequate Academy (in recent years).

Are you expecting St Mary's to become a sudden fortress?

 

The 15 before RH arrived our record at home was..

 

Won 1

Drawn 8

Lost 6

 

You need to be more patient and give RH credit for the significant improvement on his very poor predecessors

 

We were almost at rock bottom and the recovery was always going to take time

Good point.

Last year our attack was ****, last year our defense was ****.

 

We have added 3 players with pace and skill to that attack (counting Boufal) + we have sold in attack those who had not been contributing.

 

We have added 1 player to our defense and kept the same defense - i still call that progress.

 

You can spin whatever way you want, we are clearly not worse off than last year. Our transfer window was adequate on my scale, not perfect but a progress compared to recent seasons.

Last season we conceded 1.7 goals per game. We start off by conceding 3 in one game. I judge it as worse. Let us see what Liverpool bring. Miracles happen.

There is a lot of blame going on against several players, some of it justified, but in the end the real issue so often is that our midfield (including our wing backs or whatever they are called) are not closing down enough and protecting the back line. Yes our CBs and keeper are making a hash of things at times but we invite the opposition on so often. Second goal yesterday case in point, no one in the middle got anywhere near their players. Happens too often, JWP, Hojbjerg, Valery, Bertrand all hugely guilty.

A good point and the sight of Bertrand jogging along watching the opposition score was the usual state of our defence.

Would have hoped this might have been sorted over the summer. Not sure how Ralph talking and 'sorting' now will make a difference when - Danso aside - he can only shuffle the same players.

Sadly true.