Patches O Houlihan

In theory drawing those attackers in and delaying the pass out creates more space for the midfield receivers to work in, but there's a definite risk/reward to consider that we've been often getting wrong, but mostly did ok with today

Well we all spotted that September would be tough, and so it turned out to be. Back in June we agreed that playing Norwich, Plymouth(A), Sunderland (A), Leicester, Ipswich, Middlesborough (A) and Leeds in the first nine games would be a big ask for a squad that was likely to go through a wholesale change. We've got through that period having won 4, lost 4 and drawn 1. I'm sure we'd all have preferred a couple of those losses to be draws or a win, but I'm in a pragmatic mood after as enjoyable a first half as I can remember so I'm going to say we are more or less par for the course at this point bearing in mind who we've played and all the change. Our next nine games are: Stoke (A) Rotherham (H) Hull (A) Preston (A) Birmingham (H) Millwall (A) West Brom (H) Huddersfield (A) Bristol (H) Three of those teams are currently in the top third of the table, so seeing where we are at the end of November should be much more representative of where we are likely to finish the season. The key to me seems to be a) The balance between playing out/bravery & pragmatic play. We largely got it right today. b) The midfield/attacking balance. Personally I'd be playing Charles in the midfield anchor role, but by playing an offensive, creative set of forwards that were willing to run and play quickly we gave them too much to think about. However I think that group of players may get found out if we had still been at 0-0 after 25 minutes... So where do we think we'll be going into December? I think we'll be 5th/6th somewhere there. Thoughts?

He’s keeping the press on - Claire Rayner would be proud

Listen to the Solent Sport Interview.

I think THB and Charles will do fine. But agree Fraser seems to have no speed, creativity or trickery, just a willingness to graft. Holgate and Downes have both been shockingly bad. Charles needs a proper DM partner. Can we re-coach Aribo into being a DM shithouse?!

Flynn Downes has been fucking toilet all game

I don’t think he’s the only one with his head in the sand! Our current situation is far from ideal but there is no way we’d be a better team right now with Selles at the wheel. I’d rather have Peter Selles - and he’s dead!

Look at you! All your anti-hipster raving and it turns out you're a regular listener to the most lefty hipster podcast in Britain 😁😆😂🤣😅 You'll be telling us than veganism is the way forward next 😁 Cheers for the link!

Because when you have a good team likely to get promoted that is playing well, all the 'also rans' will set up defensively and you'll need to play through 10 players packed in the box in order to score goals. Playing on the break, or Ralph style pressing doesn't work then.

Do you have the link for that pod please?

I've watched every competitive game we've played under Russell Martin. Here are my thoughts. I apologise if this ends up being a long post. Firstly I'm as pissed off as everyone else with the last three games (and with the piss weak defence/midfield we showed even in the better results earlier in the season) We are being bullied in this league: Unsurprising really, that's what happens to all the younger smaller kids when they try to play playground football. We may have a squad to play 4-3-3 at some stage later in the season but at the moment I think a more pragmatic choice would be 4-2-3-1 which most modern players are familiar with: Baz - has played well the last few games. I'd stick with him. Bednarek - has been our best CB and immediately improved things last night. Captain's armband because when he's fit he plays, he's a seasoned international, and it doesn't block us from flexible decision making elsewhere in the team. We also know from his time under Ralph that he is a striver and will set a good example like JWP did. THB - Should be the other CB. Seems confident and I thought he's played OK so far. Has some leadership experience at England under and seems to still have some confidence. These two are also reasonably big guys so can support Baz who isn't. KWB - Traditional right back with licence to roam forward provided no one else in the defence is AWOL. Clearly better then Bree. Left back - Perraud. Bugger! We forced Perraud out having only played him whilst still recovering from injury at CB. 🤦‍♂️ Manning isn't a left back, but could do a job. That said the training videos seem to show a much stronger looking Larios than last season. He at least looks bigger than Edozie. Part of our issues in this three game run has been injuries. Bednarek out for 1.5 games and Downes out for 1.5 games, and Stephens out for all of them. This has created a personnel issue and here we come to the crux: Two defensive midfielders. I'd chose Morgan & Big Vic. 🤦‍♂️ Bugger, we don't have them. OK Charles is a solid lad and we definitely look a whole lot better when he is playing DM so he is in. So we'll play Romeu alongside him - he's a safe pair of hands with huge experience to pass on to our 19yo DM. Oh fuck. We sold him for £3m so that he could play in the Champions League for Barcelona 🤦‍♂️ Who else is there? Aribo's a big lad, maybe he can do it (nope 🤦‍♂️), what about Downes he's been playing with the cloggers at West Ham maybe he can do it (jury's out on this one). I still think he's the best defensive partner for Charles and the 4-2-3-1 shape would really help them both. Based on the recent press conference he should be fit for Middlesborough. OK so now we have a team and shape that isn't going to be cut though mercilessly without lube 15 times a game. That gives us a solid foundation to work with. At striker this a no-brainer let's get the Loch Ness Drogba in. "Ross is injured boss" Bugger, that sucks as he's the only striker we've got who can win a header. This means while he's unfit there's no point in slinging corners and crosses in from the byline as every team in this league is bigger and taller than us and will just head them away for fun. OK so Che plays as striker as he can hold it up and play a pass, but we all know Ross is in once he's properly fit. Right so we need two wingers and a number 10 who can play together without relying on airborne crosses. Wingers: Fraser - can do a job for us Sam Amo - can do a job for us (but probably only when we have solid control of the midfield) Edozie - good when played direct and beating players on the edge of the area. Sulemana - A big bloke who was the fastest player at the World Cup. Championship defenders will be scared to death of this guy. We need to shape the attack around his skills. He may not play every minute of every game, but that's fine we have different qualities amongst the other wingers that we can bring in. So who will be our creative 10? We only really have two proper ones: Stu and Charly. When either of them come on they show determination, intelligence and a willingness to drive forward and make things happen. Both get tired, and both give the ball away regularly. So we need to make sure we have a solid midfield and defence behind them (which we sort of have when Downes is fit and we play 4-2-31) So we'll plan to switch between the two during most games. This has the benefit of keeping Stu injury free and his flowing locks puts the manager's in the shade regularly. Plus maybe we can get Charly running with the ball in the threatening Bryan Robson style that we saw under Selles that bought goals. So that leaves Adam Armstrong without an obvious place. But to give him a spot you need to describe a role that he can consistently play really well, and as far as I can see he is only any good when playing as one of two strikers, or in a team that plays on the break, and we're not going to do either of those two things. Aribo can come on and be a big bloke to fill in when our little blokes are getting shoved off the ball. Smallbone plays as a sub in the 10 role when one of Charly or Stu is out injured. As you can see our problems stem from not having enough big strong experienced defensive midfielders, and generally being a small young team. But we can mitigate this if we set up pragmatically. Russell Martin has good communication skills, a good attitude and mostly seems like a good egg. When he comes off badly is whenever he gets into his possession philosophy. I seem to remember that the Swansea fans on here back in the summer said that the great run of 9 games at the back end of last season that got them to within 3 points of the playoffs was because Russ swallowed his pride, abandoned his system and played sensible football. He is going to be under massive pressure this week, and it will get a whole lot worse if we perform how we usually do in the north east at the weekend. So I bet we'll see pragmatic Russell Martin at some point soon. And if he isn't volunteering it then Wilcox needs to hold his feet to the fire until he agrees to at least try it (if nothing else to make us less predictable to play against) If we bin off Russell before mid October we're going to look like Watford, and nobody wants that. I think we at least need to see pragmatic Russ Martin failing before we send him packing. Not least because every single training hire in the last three months has been based in his thinking and nearly all of them are from bloody Swansea. Oh and the set piece coach needs to pull his finger out (or at least get listened to)

Plus we have the Loch Ness Drogba raring to go on the sidelines

Do we think that Wilcox could roll up his sleeves and make some telling defensive changes? Not as drastic as a sacking but done in a no nonsense - this has gone far enough, and you need a bit of guidance kind of way.

This is where I am. His man management and attitude seems good, good relationship with Wilcox, players seem to respond to him. BUT - The defence needs a screen. At one point Downes was playing alongside KWP next to the corner flag. No way you’d have seen Lavia there last year. He needs to set the full backs up much more rationally - by all means break forward, but not both at once. The three against none - I haven’t seen either. At 1-3 down in the 67th minute there is still half an hour to play. Just that one incident demonstrates the naivety with which we are set up. Smallbone looks like JWP under Koeman. Has some talent but no solidity. However I think the reason he didn’t take him down during that break away was because he was already carrying a yellow card having done it once already. As Franny said after - better to not dive in, try to slow things to let team mates catch up.

I bet they didn’t lose 3-1 to Gillingham in that run...

In fairness most of the squad was away on international duty

The we”ve 9 outfield ballerinas right now - Shea Charles is the closest thing we have to a proper hod carrier. Smallbone the most powder puff DM ever

Apart from giving way too much space for his man, leading to their third...

I don’t care what the haters say: Baz is playing really well tonight

Watching England control the game with Rice & Phillips allowing Bellingham to roam was what I think Saints ought to be doing: Play Charles & Downes as a pair and allow Alcaraz (or perhaps AA/SA) to roam freely. Neither Alcaraz or Stu seems to be effective chasing back when we lose possession so commit to a team shape that allows for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Burnley_F.C._season According to this after 5 games Burnley were on 6 points (not 10) and in early November they were beaten 5-2 at Sheffield United. We're all hurting this evening, but there has been some other eyebrow raising results today, and the Championship is known for this sort of thing. We're used to the dull predictability of the modern PL. Small crumbs of comfort...

On the plus side we didn't pay anything for either of them...

With 15 mins gone I was thinking "Holgate needs to be swapped for Shea Charles, he's having a mare", but then I got to thinking "but what does that do to his confidence if he's subbed off halfway through the first half of his debut playing a league down? We seem to be back in control now (~06:00 - 29:00 minutes) let's see if he can settle and maybe make the change at half time." Commentators and me thought there was a chance we'd get one back in the last few mins of the first half, but of course we let in a third. We're very unlikely to come back from that so subbing Holgate at half time most likely doesn't gain you a win/draw it just saps the confidence of a new signing... Holgate had a shocker and there's no disputing it, but I can kind of see why he stayed on as long as he did.

RM's teams historically seem to have a habit of letting in a shit tonne of goals, and watching our first six games its not hard to see why: 2 inverted full backs both playing almost in the no 8 position Lively wingers that cut the ball back to the penalty spot but passes always cut off by the defence and no attacking players in the right spot. Hence we loose the ball with only a couple of players available to defend Generally pretty weak in the midfield Midfielders who do not run back hard to defend when we loose the ball and when the midfielders do get goal side of an attacker seem to be too far back to do anything but create a ricochet that wrong foots the goalie. Surely they need to be pressing much tighter not waiting to be passed through. We have appointed a set piece coach to improve that side of our game. RM came with a coaching team, but that group has consistently coached teams which cough up goals. Is there an argument for bringing in an additional coach specifically to improve the defensive tactics & skills? Or do we end up with a Hasenhuttl/Selles 5 at the back shit fight like we did in pre-season last year? I really like the guy, and really want him to succeed, but we are playing playground football right now