Dusic

Doesnt look like Adams has travelled.

Hard to disagree but the reality for a club like Saints is that unless the player is exceptional (Shaw Saints level) then the only time they would really be trusted to play regularly is either a.) If we are comfortably midtable in the PL or b.) Financially struggling in the EFL or with no serious prospect of promotion. There are also countless examples of players who have been hyped in the Academy, getting good reviews in the U21s with a clamour here/on social media for them to play more and yet who now are miles down the pyramid and often outside of the EFL/a decent level at all. See: Hesketh, Seager, Jankowitz, Olaigbe, Vokins, Ramsay, Small etc. Stating the obvious but its really hard to make the jump from U21s to first team in a consistent way. SAA looked great in a couple of cameos and then was poor when he got a start (think vs QPR perhaps?). Would be a brave manager to keep starting him and potentially leaving out someone like Fraser, Edozie, Brooks, Sulemana from the matchday squad. I suspect and would hope that next season if we don't go up then SAA, Dibling, Meghoma, Ballard and probably Lawrence will feature more.

Strange post. Every press conference is available as a video on the website at 10.30pm once embargo lifted and most on YT too. Re Adams, clear he will be bench at best.

Sounds like bench at best for Adams which is a massive blow. Imagine Arma up top with Fraser and Brooks either side which probably means will be a back four.

Possibly so. The key for the club is to at least get him tied to his first pro deal so that in the event he then moves we can at least claim a higher level of compensation. If he were to move now its a pittance really for someone who is clearly one of the best players in the country for his age. Tough issue because so few actually make it to the first team, e.g the best of the academy prospects, yet as we have seen with Dibling (initially), Morg and Doyle its so hard to keep your best talents to the point where they actually have any impact at 1st team level. In a way the model is broken and really it is just a cash cow rather than an actual tool to bring players into the first team.

Interesting bit in this article about SAA and Meghoma basically being on Championship first teamer wages. For all the talk of pathways, cash is still king!

No Adams would be a huge miss, especially against a physical side like WBA. No chance Stewart will be starting a game soon so would either be Arma or Mara up top which is a big drop off. RM does have a habit of downplaying injuries and it did seem like CA was genuinely injured rather than coming off as a precaution.

He hasnt been used like that regularly since autumn 2023 really so imagine its highly unlikely.

Significant tactical tweak today and excellent overall performance. McCarthy disnt have to do much and Leeds couldnt handle our incisive passing at times. Will be interesting to see if we use the back 5 vs WBA who we have already beaten twice and who are happy to concede possession. A nice change up to have.

Goals since Moore joined Ipswich: Moore: 7 Che Adams: 9 We didnt need Kieffer Moore.

I'm also in the camp that if we had actually taken more of the huge amount of good chances we create then we could have overcome our goals against tally - especially considering that we have conceded heavily in a few games which skews it a little. Of the frustrating games we have lost or drawn e.g at home to Rotherham, Millwall, Middlesbrough and away to Hudds, Watford, Norwich, Ipswich, Cardiff we should certainly have scored more to put these games to bed. These ones hurt more than the ones we have been well beaten in because we easily did enough to win all 8 of these quite comfortably and yet didnt.

Irony being that, including the OP and many others on here, most of the bigger Martin critics I know are actually older rather than younger.

Make your mind up lads. I thought it was essential to have a manager who is experienced and has won promotion from the Championship and/or managed at PL level? (Rohl definitely done well at Sheff Wed - playing style is similar to what we have totally moved away from though)

Very annoying. Looking v likely it will be Norwich for us, would miles prefer WBA.

https://tbrfootball.com/exclusive-celtic-looking-into-signing-incredible-championship-star-vincent-kompany-is-trying-to-sign/

Yeah losing Adams on a free and not getting promoted would be a less than ideal scenario as would cost to replace him, although I do think Stewart was signed with that in mind. Also considering we will need to replace the loan signings that are key players plus signing a first choice GK which probably wasnt planned before GB's injury. Big summer ahead, with no DoF in place and a rookie CEO.

He isnt a defensive coach.

Cedric available on a free this summer. Knows the club and has nice trainers.

After tonight he will be starting the remaining games of the season. Be interesting to see in what position.

With the notable caveat that Martin managed them during the period where their parachute payments were cut and then ended. Cooper has had a mixed bag of a managerial career so far, comes across a bit dour to me. Obviously did well to get Forest up but they lacked any real style of play in the PL and he chopped and changed every week (albeit not helped by having a squad of 60). One thing for sure, if they did sack RM after delivering pretty much 2pts/game then the next guy would need to make a hell of a start. Personally think the last thing we need is more change (plus the costs that entails) and certainly no guarentee anyone else would come in and do better. Change again to a third manager and new style of play in November if we are in the playoff positions and on 1.7pts/game?!

Of the top 3 I would fancy us to beat Ipswich more than the other two.

Hopefully we face WBA rather than Norwich. WBA fixtures fairly kind so hopefully they hold onto 5th ahead of Norwich.

Seeing as Leicester and Leeds were better than us last season (and Leicester for about 5 years before that too, plus not complying with FFP) why should we certainly have been ahead of them? We have been in the mix for promotion for the whole season, and will likely end up with a points tally that would ordinarily get automatic promotion. I think at the start of the season 99% would have taken that outcome for this experiment (whatever that means!)

Failure to kill them off cost us everything. Quite clearly.

Setup the team well to absolutely batter the opponent. If the forwards take chances then we are deservedly out of sight. Clearly the biggest issue this season hasnt been Manning, Stephens or Bazunu...its been taking more of the clear cut chances we have created due to dominating the game. Seems kind off odd as we have scored so many goals but we have left a whole load out there too. The most frustrsting results this season have largely been when we have played well for the most part, gone ahead and but not got ourselves out of sight when we easily could have, only to be pegged back. Today was not possession for the sake of it, or crab football. It was total domination let down only by the finishing. Easy to blame the manager but not always right, and definitely not today.