St Louis

Ive done some coaching badges over the years (as I'm sure many others on here probably have) and I'm always miffed when people here (and elsewhere) suggest that 5 at the back is defensive. Its typically seen as more attacking than a flat back 4, as you have wing-backs (who arent really defenders at all) bombing up the wings and on the overlap, making it essentially a back 3 most of the time. When we have played 4 at the back, we havent looked anywhere near as threatening going forward IMHO. We create more chances than most teams and have scored the 4th most in the division (despite a dismal start) and have been scoring a lot under Eckert and this formation. By playing Fellows and Manning as wingbacks, weve had 5 (of the 10 outfield) players: Armstrong, Scienza, Azaz, Fellows and Manning in attacking positions for much of the game. If anything I think we should consider going more defensive and a (flatter) back 4 on occasion, as we concede too many by playing too attacking, and allowing space on the flanks for opposition to put so many crosses in!

Do you really think that? Or are you just annoyed after today? Because the majority of fans I know, and this I don’t (Total Saints Podcast for example) have been pretty unanimous in saying the last two months have seen some of the best football we’ve played in many years. We lose one game (to a handball, after missing a penalty, etc), and suddenly we are complete shit, play shit football and have a shit manager 🤦🏻‍♂️

This isn’t true since Tonda has been in. We’ve scored 21 goals in his 7 games up until today. That isn’t being passive and stopping attacking, it’s not easy to score 3 a game every week at this level! Second halves we’ve been more passive, as we’ve been managing games and ‘trying’ to not lose a comfortable lead. As others have said, an off day today, but could so easily have been 2 or 3 up before halftime. On to the next one, which we probably will lose as Cov have been flying and beating everyone, so won’t mean we are complete sh*t again!

The keepers'? That explains it!

Correct, the previous club (St Pauli) took a risk on him at 29 years old, and it worked out well for them. Winning 10 games in a row and promotion to the Bundesliga... so you never know!

18 goals in his 6 games and 5 wins from 6! And we still have some fans moaning about how we played and who we took off, christ alive, enjoy it man! I'd imagine Tonda took Scienza off after 60 mins as he missed most of last weeks' training (and the midweek game) with illness, so I'm glad to see Leo rested (and Azaz) and just manage the game and give some others a run out, as we have 3 games in 7 days. Good day at the office... again.

How sad if true, I really hope not. I’m really sick of how shit we’ve been and the negativity around the club for what seems like years (aside from the promotion season). I just want to enjoy being a fan again for a while, please can we give him some time, even if we lose the next few!

Or... perhaps they could also see the performances on the pitch (and had feedback from the squad) and felt that getting rid of Still was necessary, as we were only heading in one direction. And felt that whoever came in, even if Tonda for a few weeks/months until we found the right replacement, would result in an improvement on the pitch. And that's proved the right decision so far. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes that we aren't privy to, perhaps they did/do have someone (or people) in mind, but we need to wait for them. And the spanner in the works has been Tonda getting 12 points from 15, and putting himself into consideration. I feel a lot more relaxed about the situation than many on here it seems. If we were losing every week, then I would be worried and want them to make a quick appointment. But while it's all going OK, I dont mind them taking their time and trying to make the right decision (and a less rash one... like they usually seem to).

Love posts like this 😂 Genuinely intrigued why you think it’s Ankerson picking Baz and Downs each week? Are you blaming him for the poor quality of food and beer at the ground too? It’s all Ankerson’s fault! I’m sure he has little involvement in any of it now he’s based in Turkey, we have a new DoF, etc.

He said for parts, we were the best side he’s ever seen at this level. That was nice to hear… especially from him 😁

Im not questioning that they have made many bad decisions so far, and multiple bad managerial decisions and that things often dont feel like joined up thinking. What I was questioning is the thought that Sports Republic would deliberately be only looking for mangers who 'know less about football than they do'. It's just bonkers and I dont believe anyone really thinks that. Sport Republic have professional and financial skin in the game, they dont want us to fail. They are doing a good job of failing I agree, but that isnt what they want to happen. If we assume they are just a bunch of giant ego's, then they wont enjoy us being where we are right now.

Statements like this blow my mind... do you genuinely believe this? That our owners would rather appoint inferior managers/coaches, who will then provide worse results (on the pitch and the bank balance) because of their ego's? Wow. We have so many people on here going on about how we deserve to know exactly what they are doing and who they've interviewed, etc. Even criticising Rasmus for his selection processes, the time its taking him and that he only wants someone who knows less about football than him....FFS!? We dont even know that Rasmus is involved in the process at all (or to what degree) at the moment he probably has his hands full trying to guide Goztepe into Europe, under his chairmanship. FWIW, theyve lost 2 in 12 this season under the new manager that Sport Republic recruited 2 years ago. Sorry, rant over, it just does my head in how many people on here make so many ridiculous assumptions... how they are selecting potential managers, how many we are choosing from, that SR only want the cheap/crap options really. I never knew had so many forum members sitting in the boardroom and involved in the process.

Exactly this. I know from a previous director that when we have a manager vacancy, we typically have over 100 credible applications. There are 1000's of managers around the globe who would love the job, it would be in the Top 25 jobs in English football and desirable to many (facilities, potential, fanbase, route into English footie... Poch et al) We seem to think that there are only 3 or 4 managers at the table, because thats all we have from whispers and rumours on here. We quite probably will end up with Tonda, as thats the type of thing we seem to do (and have for years... Gray, Wigley, Pearson, Selles, etc) but there are definitely options out there and managers/coaches who would love this job.

George, Bobby and yourself?

I’m not saying you haven’t heard this, but I would be amazed. One reason is that we are pretty strong in the central areas now, so certainly not a priority. And he’s a lesser player than the JWP we sold. Secondly, it was widely reported he was on £100k a week with us, and left for West Ham and a nice big payrise. I don’t see how the numbers could ever work, as we can’t pay anything like that anymore. Would West Ham really cover £80-90k of his £120k weekly wages, just to make him able to play for us? I can’t see it. JWP also won’t be keen to walk away from those wages, as he will never get a contract like that again.

Barnaby Williams on the bench on Saturday then, anybody know what he's like as a player? I dont know anything about him.... attributes, style, position?

The presser is 2pm today, so maybe get an update of sorts then. I guess if he needs to rest for a couple weeks, then Sheff Weds at home followed by an International break is probably 'good' timing.

He also got busted (internally, not made public) for getting it on with my mates Mrs, whist he was manager at AFCB and she worked there! So I must admit... that and the fact he's a Skate really does put me off! Not sure I could bring myself to chant his name! 😂

Mick?

Interested as to why you think Reed ‘got lucky’ with those signings? For me, it’s obvious we need to also be signing proven established players like those two during transfer windows. I’d say that signing those two, and them hitting the ground running and performing to a decent level, wasn’t ‘lucky’ at all, the complete opposite.

I wouldnt say it's Will Still 'supporters', I would say its not feeling like the time is right to give up and ditch him yet. And I'd say I'm one of those. Based on a few things... like the fact I dont think chopping and changing managers/coaches/staff/squad every 5 minutes helps anyone (we have tried that for the last 25 years!) I also think this club is properly rotten/cursed/demoralised (whatever you want to call it), and 4 wins in 50 games, 1 home win in 12 months, etc shows that, and that has been the case long before Still arrived. My main reason though (which is highlighted well in the video embed above)... is that we are creating LOTS of chances in games, and lots of big chances too. We are just not sticking them away, and that isnt Still's fault IMHO. If we werent creating anything, then I would be more worried. I dont think we will go up this season now (we may scrape playoffs if we can start to turn it around soon), but I also dont think we are anywhere near as bad as our league position suggests. Fine margins and all that, and a couple of those chances stuck away and we win those games and are right up there. I understand that the bottom line is that we need wins and points, so my patience will wear pretty thin very quickly if this carries on, but I want him to be given longer for now, probably to reassess at the next International break.

Sorry if already shared elsewhere, but I thought this was interesting and worth 10 mins of viewing...

18th!? We can dare to dream... 😉 Perhaps that lofty height can be reached on Saturday?

Weirdly, I kind of hope he does. I know he's looked less than great so far, but I dont want him binned forever just yet. I still hold a glimmer of hope that he can be useful for us, at least until Stewart is back 'fit'. I'd love to see him have a decent game and get a goal for us, we need all the attacking help we can get! My preference (like everyone's I hope) is that he can turn it around still and grow into the team/division.

I'd assume Bree was the one who wanted the move, and I wouldnt blame him. He clearly has a good relationship with Jones (and plays really well under him), and was probably promised to be a starter, which is something he never really had here. I wish he was still in our squad, but good luck to him.