Patches O Houlihan

15 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Not much defensive cover on the bench

Taylor can cover at CB if required. KWP can play both FB positions. Not ideal but I can see why the subs bench is as it is

14 minutes ago, derry said:

When we were going for the play offs under Burley we played Southend, they weren't very good and we won easily in the end. However they caused us all sorts of problems at our corners because they left three quick players up on the halfway line. Our panic was evident. If I was a defender our midfielders and forwards are the last people I'd want in our box. Far better to leave three of the quickest ones up on the halfway line. Personally I'd go with three but as we don't have one I suppose that is a bit much for this manager.. If say Archer, Dibling and one other depending who is playing up were put on the halfway line plus say Fernandez halfway I'd be very surprised if that didn't take half of the opponents team back into their own half. Managers would be terrified of a break.

There is a precedent for this of course 😁

But if you look closely we had no one in the D on that occasion either... Everyone was back defending because we were in injury time and were effectively 1-0 up.

3 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

I know some like numbers to prove things but a bit of football knowledge also shows that we don’t have the fire power to score enough goals. 

I agree numbers on their own mean nothing.

But in this case it does allow us to compare the number and quality of chances we are creating in comparison to the rest of the league: Something that would be tough to do without watching every match unedited, and even then you'd probably start to loose track a bit and start generalising or applying an unconscious bias.

No doubt Whitey will hate it but I'm going to post some stats: So look away now if you don't like this sort of thing

• PL Table sorted by xG - ie the chances we create, we are 8th - ie we're pretty good at creating chances - the players and Russ's methods work. BUT the forwards aren't finishing them

• PL Table sorted by xG against - we are 17th - we give up lots of chances. We are newly returned to the league. No real surprises there.

• PL Table sorted by xPTS - ie how many points we should have if our results had matched the xG - we are 12th. Pretty good for a newly promoted side. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If our strikers can find some form we could do ok. Signing someone handy in January would probably be too late to save us though if our current forwards can't get it together. 

14 sides with an xG rating. We are third highest, but only one goal. It's not lack of chances, its not taking them

I see the usual gang are back on this thread. This is my thought

1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

There was nothing wrong with the tactics or team selection: Play out to encourage a 4 or 5 man press - then play it over them into space for Archer and Fraser to run on to.

Way way too easy to try to pin that on Martin. 

Archer missed one after doing well to enable it

BBD missed a couple of opportunities

Stewart could have done better getting on a couple of crosses. 

 

If we replayed that game with a Lambert, Ings or Pelle as our striker we likely win 2-0 or 3-0 

Striker recruitment, not team selection and tactics was the issue today.

Dibling, Ramsdale, Fernandes, Downes, Lallana were all great today. 

Haggrid messed up a couple of kicks, but made some excellent saves that no keeper we have had in the last 5 years gets to. Absolutely no chance for the massively deflected equaliser.

6 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Tall Paul is miles better than Ross Stewart.

Nessie does seem to be missing a little sharpness right now, which to be fair seems reasonable after the best part of two years out and no pre-season. What he does give us is the big target man to hold it up, which we were all calling for at the end of the transfer window. 

It is really frustrating though; it feels like there is a glass ceiling for strikers when you are a club of our stature.

• SR went all out for Gakpo and missed out - fan base pissed off (quite reasonably) felt like he was probably out of our league
• SR have tried to hold onto and promote a promising young forward (Dibling - doing OK so far, and signed a new contract in December)
• SR tried to sign an injured player who would be out of our league if fit (Stewart, similar to Ings)
• SR tried to sign Championship strikers who seem like they might make the grade (Archer, BBD - also Arma and Che previously)
• SR tried to bring in a high scoring experienced foreign striker from an unsexy league (Tall Paul)

When you're our size it feels like you have to get promoted with a Lambert or Vardy in your team, because you are unlikely to sign a James Beattie, Son Heung Min or Richarlison nowadays

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

Why do we always seem to concede late goals either at the end of the first half or end of matches?

Because the players are having to play at 100% capacity just to make the grade; they get tired, and mistakes get made. Was the same under Ralph

7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Standard 

Martin out 

There was nothing wrong with the tactics or team selection: Play out to encourage a 4 or 5 man press - then play it over them into space for Archer and Fraser to run on to.

Way way too easy to try to pin that on Martin. 

Archer missed one after doing well to enable it

BBD missed a couple of opportunities

Stewart could have done better getting on a couple of crosses. 

12 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Fernandes off, a close second best player on the pitch after Dibling.

He's been good, but Ramsdale's saves have been superb 

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

If it’s The Richest Game in Football™ then why are we so poor?

You know the answer to this - so you'll need to try harder to get a rise out of me 😉

7 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Yes RM has a lot more credit in the bank than NJ but IF we lose the next two games I believe it'll be our worst start in Premier League history. Not good PR for Russ. 

I was specifically responding to this statement from Dark Helmet: "He could end up with a record even worse than Nathan Jones."

Even if he was fired after losing 10 PL games in a row he would still have a better record than the Welshman with a chip on both shoulders.

5 hours ago, Mr X said:

Make or break for Russy baby it's not to early to say this is a pivotal game a six pointer it you like, anything less than a win and I think the tide may turn in the good will towards him, if you can't get a single point on the board and your losing to other clubs predicted to be in the relegation mix things aren't going to end well for you. He could end up with a record even worse than Nathan Jones. 

WTF?!

RM managed us to a promotion, winning The Richest Game in Football™ for many fans one of the most enjoyable days following Saints they can remember.

Nathan Jones wasted the World Cup window, lost 8 of 9 PL games and was sacked after just 95 days. The cup wins against Lincoln Town, Everton plus the genuinely unbelievable match against Man City must be doing a lot of heavy lifting in your head!

42 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

A very Saintsy goal in the champions league in the Young Boys vs Villa game.

 

https://streamff.com/v/af4fde0f

 

 

Men against Boys 🤔

3 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

I'd have gone with the back two that I'd also pick to start against Ipswich. Give them a match in a lower pressure environment against Everton in the cup to allow them to get their partnership/cohesion back (If it's THB & Bednarek), or start building their partnership (If it's ABK & Bednarek). Centre-backs should also be able to start 2 or 3 games a week, especially after a two week break.

But, that isn't the centre-back duo that's going to start against Ipswich. At least I hope it isn't...

Benarek will have been knackered Saturday lunchtime - not a long period to recover for this game, and hence would be risking injury.

An injury to Bednarek, and Stephens suspended wouldn't be ideal against Ipswich & Bournemouth.

On 15/09/2024 at 07:38, Turkish said:

I wouldn’t speak too quickly. 

On 28/08/2024 at 17:50, Turkish said:

 He’s clearly fucked and will likely never play again at a decent level. 

😉

At least it was on target. This one pissed me off quite a lot

8 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Tuesdays carabao will be interesting, I think Everton will edge it due to home advantage and Dyche will take the Cup more seriously than Russ. 

Adam Blackmore's interview with Russ suggested a few changes, but that he will be taking it seriously. We can't afford to get humped, and then try to win a six pointer against Ipswich with no momentum whatsoever

6 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Positives:

First 30 minutes we more than matched them.

Dibling.

Not much tippy tappy at the back.

Jack Shoehorn will be out for 3 matches I think.

Negatives: Everything else. We went to pieces after that poor penalty miss.

We desperately need a CF who can score, he would lift the whole team, whose confidence will ebb away after every defeat. How long will Stewart be fit, and if so can he do it at this level? BBD is hopeless on the wing, if you must play him have him more central. And Tall Paul is with us, give him a go FFS Russ.

There's not much wrong with this, although I might delay Tall Paul for a game or two yet, and I thought Fernandes and Big Les showed good potential starting their first PL games for us.

15 minutes ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Is that really all you've got? Helmet emoji thingy. 

There are plenty of teams in the PL eg Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford, Forest who don't have deeper pockets and none of which would consider Bednarek as a good choice for a CB in the PL

What are you getting at? You literally quoted my answer earlier!

You saying that you didn't think our most consistent international centre back signing a contract extension was good news.

I think this statement is that of someone with very little understanding of football finance. That it also insults one of our senior players warrants you getting one of these.

1 minute ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Meanwhile, Villa are in the champions league and we have a championship level defender

Is that really all you've got?

Villa sadly are a bigger club than us, and have deeper pockets. 

On 28/08/2024 at 12:22, S-Clarke said:

The whole thing is a bit odd, to not even travel to Spain for pre-season rang alarm bells for me. We were given excuses to do with the grass in Spain not being right for him and all sorts of shit. There's almost certainly more to this than is being let on, he's obviously got some sort of chorionic long-term condition that he's having to manage. He'll be advised to retire in the next year, I'm sure of it.

 

On 28/08/2024 at 17:50, Turkish said:

Yep he was apparently working on his strength training back here. Load of bollocks. He’s clearly fucked and will likely never play again at a decent level. 

On 03/09/2024 at 19:37, bangkoksaint said:

Just looking at his injury history I honestly don’t see him coming back and playing at this level again. An expensive mistake? Yes’s but it’s sweetened by the fact we off loaded Lavia when we did and for what we got for him. 

On 03/09/2024 at 20:31, Harry_SFC said:

Yeah, I'm just not convinced he's going to play another game for us. RM keeps feeding us bullshit about how he's going to be back soon but there's been nothing to back that up. 

On 04/09/2024 at 00:28, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’m very surprised there’s been no decent journo digging around and finding out what’s happening with him. It’s been such a long time for what on the surface appears to be a relatively minor injury or even injuries, there must be a decent juicy story somewhere. If it’s true that he’s been out playing golf then there’s something fishy going on.

On 04/09/2024 at 01:04, trousers said:

Most, if not all, local journos tend to prefer to ingratiate themselves with the club they report on, as they know that rocking the boat is likely to cut them adrift. I'd be surprised if most journos don't already know the full story with regards RS and are keeping it under their hat to avoid souring relations with the club, which is understandable I guess.

These quotes are just from the last 17 days. 

Yes the club don't always make the best decisions, and aren't always blessed with luck. But perhaps after last season's turnaround and promotion, Adam Lallana showing he can still play a bit, and 'Ross Stewart rising miraculously from the dead' we might just cut them a bit of slack for the next month or two...

Bloody well done Ross for getting back to fitness and playing your first 34 Premier League minutes; even if it was under particularly difficult circumstances.

I'm looking forward to seeing him play regularly, as his style could work well for us, and certainly offers a contrast from BBD/Archer/Armstrong/Cornet/Tall Paul. 

22 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Everton, Ipswich and Bournemouth next on the league. We've got to be looking at minimum 6 points from that lot.

First we must learn to score tho.

So that means win all our league games then  (Everton match is in the League Cup)

36 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Love that. 

We need to get Dibling's contract sorted! 

Smallbone goes from starting to completely out of the squad. 

He played two full games for Ireland - maybe that is part of the reasoning? The write up I saw suggested he was Ireland's best player in the second one (but that they were crap)