gio1saints

FWIW - for the Championship this is a marquee signing signal of intent “we want automatic “ type of signing. Boro selling him to us - from his stats - I regard as an admission from them and him that we are > than them regarding promotion prospects. Bad for them good for us.

Who does he displace? He is obviously a starter. Other regular starters if here and fit , on current form (imo) : Bazunu, Stephens, THB, Mads, Fernandes, Charles, Downes, Fraser Robinson, and now Azaz. That makes ten. Room for a centre forward basically - Archer presumably or a big guy? or does he cushion the blow of losing Fernandes and becomes a genuine #10 for us??

No apologies required but here’s a very very useful stat 😉that really puts into perspective Gavin Bazunu. There’s been 96 goals conceded in the Championship this season so far ( according to wiki) . Guess how many Gavin has let in?If you were thinking 25 or 30 of those you’d be wrong! Yup, get this, he has only conceded FOUR! Out of 96 in the league! That’s an amazing statistic. Good job Baz! 🤣 NB Another useful FACT /STAT : Nobody scores with a header versus Gavin this season - nobody - he is invincible when it comes to headers. That’s quite some stat eh?

No I think you are not. I Like you and most of your posts and posting style but this is crass. If genuine you’d wait until there was a statistically useful sample - not 3 matches. Or anything from two years ago. You 100% know that. You also know with 99% certainty what those who can be bothered to be activated by your dog whistle will say. So what’s the real purpose? Do you really expect people to have encyclopaedic knowledge of every championship goalkeepers performance in the last three matches or are you really just having a bit of fun activating Gavin haters into a froth for your amusement ? What’s more likely? If you want to find a new way to have a go at a player who was not even playing last night ( why??) I know you can do better than this fake poll effort.

Shameless dog whistling. 🙁. After 3 matches you disingenuously ask who is his better in the league. Come on you can do better - why not try : “Calling all Gavin Bazunu haters here is a thread you can vent your spleen on.”

Yes fully agree we were not good first half and it was v Norwich reserves - so our squad > their squad. Was not intending to over praise but certainly first time I’ve seen certain things ( the swarming press, less gap to forwards etc) under Will Still. Its less than a week since playing at home to Stoke with same 3cb approach the tactic of launching sixty yard balls to Adam Armstrong up by himself against big centre backs or just blindly sending cross after cross into the box was Plan A,B and C. Last nights 2nd half performance showed evidence of quick learning and adaptation by Still- and its execution in a revised, better game plan.

First match under Still that I’ve seen an effective high press being used. We pressed in numbers and in ways I’d not seen since Ralph and Poch times. We need to be fit for it - but second half we were constantly swarming them in possession time and time again. Looked much faster stronger and fitter than Norwich reserves. The whole team seemed to revel in bullying Norwich out of possession. Another thing I noticed was the obvious reduction in the gap between our forwards and rest of the team. MUCH closer to Stewart and Archer and consequently even if the balls to them we’re not won cleanly there was somebody close at hand to mop up or regain possession - or basically stop Norwich doing whatever they wanted. Hope that was a blueprint for rest of season.

I thought Mads looked premiership class tonight. He will start every match if he is fit from now on, ironically he might be dropped for the next round as a rest to let Bree have a kick about if fit but he’s 100% a league starter. Bloke looks like he knows what he’s doing and improves us both defensively and offensively. And he’s got quite some engine on him.

He took his chance.✅ I love it when a player gets a chance and takes it by scoring a fantastic goal immediately. Nothing says “pick me” and “ how’s this for impact” like taking the ball on the turn running ten yards and smashing it into the net. WP son. 🙌

My three word match summary : Norwich. ARE. Shit.

Yes I think so. His age and profile don’t fit what we generally take on board. I feel ( like most) that he is way more likely to be influential than Charlie Taylor who has not worked - or Rothwell or perhaps even Ryan Fraser. All about same age. But he’s expensive old and no resale. I don’t think SR can get over that bit in their heads. Yet.

Josh Brownhill would only come to Saints as a last resort. If £45k pw at Burnley is inadequate….God knows what he wants paying ….In any case im certain some lower/mid EPL clubs will have him down as a late in window option before he even deigns to consider us. Arguably He is worth it with his track record and free agent status - but he does not feel like an SR kind of recruit to me.

Reasons to be cheerful, part 1: 1. If those six all leave and we get only the one very good attacking player incoming it’s a result in my book. 2. If 3 or 4 leave but we pick up two decent attackers that’s a good result too. 3. If only two or three leave but we pick up three decent attacking players that’s a good result also. Bad or indifferent results : 4. If only one or two leave and we only recruit one or two of our third / fourth choice type players and a desperate late loan. Knowing Saints I’d say option four is most likely, but being optimistic I’m hoping for option two on the basis that SR will not push the boat out if players have not been unloaded but if 3/4 are definitely out then they’d feel ok bringing in a couple transfers/ top loans .

You’d think so - but not being left footed didn’t stop KWP playing there. Not ideal obviously though. Ryan Fraser may be tasked in that emergency. Saving the £30k pw of Taylor’s wages is quite some incentive for someone who is currently not even making squads…

How many of the starting eleven we have are good enough to be going for automatic promotion then?

I understand where you’re coming from - but the last time we were in the championship and Bazunu got a bad injury McCarthy become first choice and…did brilliantly. Alex performance has not got really bad in the intervening period. He’s hardly played tbf.

George Seems a divisive signing but I’m not sure why. And it’s turned into a bit of pile in on Gavin Bazunu - who I felt had a good preseason ~ and proved why he should not be sold - and saved us points in the last home game to Wrexham. That decisions been made. The fact we still own Aaron Ramsdale is barely mentioned - yet it’s surely a big - maybe single most important - factor in the decision to borrow this guy for a year. And that Alex McCarthy is in his final year is also connected. If we didn’t still own Ramsdale it would almost certainly mean a different - and higher - profile goalie recruited. As it is we have essentially conducted a holding exercise loaning a 3rd choicer for the next 12 months. The contract situation with Aaron at end of season, and with Alex ditto may well prove interesting - and Gavin will be in his final year also ….. As it is I see no reason to get irate over the decision. I’d love us to have Ramsdale but we can’t- and SR are not going to blow big bucks to relegate Alex and Gavin to essentially cone collector and warm up buddy status - on £40k and£20k per week respectively.

There’s merit in working with a slimmed down squad. One is that it fosters greater personal responsibility and allows for more intensive one to one work with coaches ( think a classroom with 20 kids or one with 30- which is easier to teach with and to what higher standard might be possible if main teacher has more time with each of them?) and a better, tighter, team spirit. If Will is that good then with fewer in the squad his added value Manager/coaching skill will be reaped-not diluted perhaps like at present.

Can’t see the point of Charlie Taylor hanging around either. He’s not displaced Wellington or Manning from his training or playing displays and he’s not needed as a back up Centre Back. Push comes to shove Ryan Fraser can do left wingback anyhow also.

I think the “ playing the cards he’s got” excuse (though entirely valid imo) only has a limited number of weeks to go. The end of window basically. After that, and assuming he has been given the players, that excuse is redundant. I expect to see different formations post window. I do not expect fluidity or even winning from our team using them. That would be too lovely and that’s not Saintsy 😇. I do expect though to see something OTHER than the 3CB system used. The current system may have delivered great XG ~ but in real life has not delivered REAL GOALS. Keep repeating until it does ? Or Try a different way. Will that’s what you are paid to decide.

@Smirking_Saint. Think you are right. And I’d add- and pass to the forwards more often - and faster. The forwards we have are statistically very good for this level - yet so far all I see is they don’t get given the ball. Enough. Give them the ball let me see if “statistically good “ is “ actually good”- or not. But if they only get three bad position touches a half it’s putting a lot of onus on the mf and backs to score for us - and ours are the opposite of prolific.

@Convict Colony I think this is some, maybe most, but not all the issue. Passes that risk losing possession risk you losing your career in football. Some longer in the tooth professionals know this and have made a career out of not losing possession. It’s easier not to be blamed if anything goes wrong then. Of course, if your job is to knock crosses into the box unless they always hit the first man or go miles over you are given leeway. The Ryan Manning situation is quite intriguing. I felt he did what he was told and his overall “dangerous cross” rather than “dross”ratio was decent. At least one should have been a certain goal for Stewart, for example. The number of crosses was good. BUT, notably, for someone with his crossing ability, his dangerous pass or chip into a channel or find the centre forward with a long pass record is zero. This is 100% NOT because he cannot do it or see it but rather because he knows if he fucks it up he looks bad - but if he just knocks it into the box that’s his job. Career safe. IF Will Still directly told him to find the runners AND keep pumping balls into the box saying “ it’s ok it’s a numbers game I won’t blame you if it fails or we lose possession they counterattack and score because I’m confident we will score more than concede “ - then we might see it happen. Same is true from Mads on the other side. At present if true to form I think Mads is going end up doing crosses NOT dangerous passes - if my theory of current instructions and pro career protection instincts is correct. Saints Should not be waiting for a new #10 to make those dangerous passes. Last dangerous pass I saw was from Jay to Downs for his goal- Jay who had not read the instructions..it should be more than just one persons job and the FB’s are always in a perfect position to do it. Will- let them!

If he wanted a practice at a 442 or simply four at the back and perm how you like the rest this is one option ? Alex Mads. Edwards. Quarshie. Manning. Wee Man. Downes. Charles. Matsuki. Downs. Archer/Stewart.

Don’t see a formation change just personnel for this. Sadly. At least seven different starters from Saturday to include some or all of :Alex, Quarsie, Edwards, Downs, Stewart, Manning, Cam, Mads, Matsuki. NB Robinson 100% rested.

Was thinking exactly that. Really hope Will Still learns from that brutal tactical lesson he got taught. Everything Ive heard about him says he will and can so fingers crossed. Harsh lessons often the best and I have belief in his pragmatism. I don’t think he’s one for repeating something over and over again like RM was even when it’s not working.