The Curse of St Mary's

The Athletic is no different to anyone other outlet for transfer stories. They get some right and they get some wrong. Agents play a big part in spreading rumours to aid their agendas. However the Athletic has always been decent for read ups about tactical insights. Both Jacob and the guy before Dan Sheldon whose names escapes me wrote some interesting pieces about saints tactical and systematic nuances.

No team is going to pay a transfer fee for Diallo, Orsic and Aribo. they are going to be loans. Stu will fetch a minimal fee like £2/3m so might as well keep him as a squad filler. Perraud £5m. KWP £15-20m tops. So nowhere near £70m.

Perraud genuinely injured as he went off against Bournemouth I think it was, hence why he's not been invited squad of late. I don't think none of the 3 managers particularly trusted him defensively. Salisu reportedly already engineered a move away. Peculiar situation as he arrived "injured" and will leave "injured".

Jacob Tanswell alluded to lack of dressing room harmony centered around the French speaking contingent. I wouldn't be bothered if they all left the club tbh. None of them have pulled up any trees and all easily replaceable. Sulemana who I assume speaks French maybe the only exception. Raw ingredients there to be a good player but needs right manager to allow him to play to hia strengths

Bednarek and Lyanco proving what we already know both are utterly useless. I do not want to see any of our centre backs or goalkeepers next season.

Tbf Brighton were absolute garbage the other night but they dont need to play well to beat us anyway. Big guns back as well so they will smash us especially given the diabolical line up Selles has gone with. He's must be sticking two fingers up at SR and the fans as he's clearly not bothered about giving fans some optimism for next season. Total joker.

Plus you haven't posted since 2016 prior to this post 👀

I cannot find any reference to him being fostered but it's quite a random thing to make up so I'm going to stick my neck out and believe this has some truth 😬

Obviously Man City are way above anyone else when it comes to ball retention but they do it with a purpose. Last night I noticed that they would look for a forward pass by default and the movement with and without the ball was exceptional. Obviously you need very good players to do it but clearly they are supremely well coached as they know each others game telepathically almost. Having more of the ball means you tire less easily which makes sense for the championship which is Tues >Sat>Tues quite often. However I don't want to see meaningless passing around the back. It has to be with an attacking mindset. I'm not sure these players have it in him as they have been coached risk averse football for so long now. Will they listen and be onboard with an unknown manager from Swansea or anyone else from similar background?

Absolute bollocks that statement. It goes to show how much disregard these players have for the fans. If they truly were remorseful about relegation they would not be saying they tried there all. It's just an utter piss take.

It was cringe yesterday seeing players get applauded off the pitch yesterday by the happy clappers. As MLT quite rightly pointed out the players performance yesterday was gutless, lazy and passionless which was testament to the whole season. They don't deserve any applause. They've not cared enough to raise their game and at least fight for the shirt. They've insulted the fans who pay good money to watch the shit show unfold over course of the season. I propose a 80th minute walkout against Liverpool regardless of the scoreline. The club has to understand that the fanbase is not going to put up with these players feeling they can be allowed to continue with their pathetic weak mentality and carefree attitude any longer. We need to embarrass the players and club.

Anyone who thinks bednarek and Stephens being sent out on loan being a major issue are bonkers. Both are utterly woeful. Ok, our other defenders no better but let's not pretend we would have stayed up with those two being our preferred pairing.

Another gutless performance. Players do not deserve any applause at the end. They deserve much worse and so do the board. Horrific shit show of a season

We are never going to score playing so deep. Onachu needs to be much further fwd to offer an outlet. We just don't have any ball carriers who can stretch Fulham. All very depressing.

Jones had 5-6 weeks to get his ideas and identity across which would have been no different had he got appointed back in the summer. He just didn't have the pedigree or PL experience to get a tune out of these players.

Salisu has the raw ingredients to be a top defender but he has far too many brain fart moments. I think he will end up back in Spain or even take the money in the KSA league. I don't necessarily think he has that burning desire to be the best he can be. I seem to recall he was extremely shy when he moved to saints and took him ages to settle. Wasn't it many months later he did his first media interview for the club?

Did it ever come out what when on when he first joined us?

Alfie really hasn't warmed to Selles. He's one of us 😁

The new manager won't know what he has to work with until that 31 man squad is trimmed considerably and new signings are made which will take quite some time. Hopefully SR can dangle the carrot of substantial investment in the squad and get bulk of dealings done early doors so new manager has enough time to stamp his authority but depends if Rasmus is at the wheel calling the shots.

2005 definitely hurt more. This current team have no balls whatsoever. They are mentally fragile and have no stomach for a fight which has transcended into apathy amongst the fanbase. I won't miss watching us on TV more often than in the championship and I certainly won't miss the clusterfuck that is VAR.

Fans are rightly fed up with the snoozefest that has been served up at SMS for last 18 months or so. The team does nothing to get fans on the edge of their seats. Why should fans sing more when the players themselves can't be arsed to do anything but pass backwards and avoid any sort of responsibility on the ball?

Defending was embarrassing. AMN woeful but ABK was shocking as well imo. No balance in the side with KWP at Left back at best of times but to play AMN was utter madness. Strange Moussa not even on bench tonight.

Definitely a good time for all parties to part way regardless what league we will be in next season. JWP been a terrific servant to the club. He needs to play with better players around him to elevate his game. He's struggled in #6 role this season without Romeu. The only purple patch he had really was when ironically Jones was manager where he played him further forward. It's a shame we attack so little that he won't get the freekick opportunities to equal or break Beckham's record whilst at saints.