gio1saints

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.

I think its interesting with Armstrong up front alone first half we regularly punted long high balls to him. None of which he controlled. THATS the kind of ball Downs or Stewart would be more competitive with. Second half we put on two 6ft + strikers and stopped hitting the ball long. Yes Ryan put crosses in but we never went direct quickly despite our obvious height advantage. Why?? When Stoke went down to 10 men we then totally forgot about any pass over 5metres and began a football by numbers routine from the book of “how to play against ten men.” Which incidentally we are shit at. See Newcastle away last year. In retrospect we should have started the way we finished, and finished the way we started. And changed it when we saw was not working. Players played bad ✅BUT, Manager played BAD also ✅

Think your observation is correct. It’s why they don’t play them when under intense transfer speculation. Fernandes looked great in warm up but on the pitch was just off it sufficient for casual observers to conclude his performance was impacted by the speculation and he was not fully present in his head. Think that’s the last we will see him in a shirt myself.

Downs was desperately disappointing yesterday poor service or not. He looked frightened to me. What runs he attempted looked weak and unconvincing. On the ball he looked rushed and swarmed. He did not exude confidence and simply did not cope. He was never in control of the ball. It was a bad performance. We DO need a big centreforward - and it’s either him or Stewart. Nobody new is coming in until either or both are proven failures. And that will take more than one bad half of football. So, if there’s a new CF don’t expect it until the Jan window - which should be long enough to ascertain whether either of those two are worth persevering with. Or indeed Cam and Adam.

The reason they largely do that is not necessarily muscle-memory, though admittedly you’d understand if some ( Downes!) seem on autopilot playing that way. I’d say it’s more likely they are not imaginative enough to see a killer pass. And/Or not technically capable of delivering that killer ball. It’s far easier to pass it to a same shirt sideways in front of 30k fans than to do the mental gymnastics of putting the ball into a place where your same shirt can be in a position shoot/head/score - and take responsibility if the pass goes wrong. This is true. Saints fans- like all after such a defeat - ARE too reactionary - but some of the chances missed to date are going to be the same, better system, more creatives and a back four or not. For me it’s plausible that none of our players can play a killer pass to our forwards, or enough killer passes. Plausible but not really as likely as the elephant in the room; for me, it’s more likely they are simply frightened to. The consequences of a mistaken pass can lead to a goal conceded - and that fear for our players currently, is greater than the desire to win. Not losing > winning at Saints and that needs addressing.

Agree. If I was him, playing and losing to ten men, at home, against Stoke bloody City I need no further encouragement to get the hell out. You simply cannot get beaten at home by a team plays with ten men for half an hour and not expect a big dose of career introspection in your star players. Mat Fernandes does not get picked to play International football if he’s playing for a team loses at home to ten man Stoke City. He does not need his Portugal Manager to tell him that or his agent not even his barber or the guy who washes his car. If a final straw were needed - which in fairness it was not as it’s pretty clear he’s going (to me anyway) then this was it. PS : upset as we all are at the defeat- and manner of defeat more to the point - sometimes a result and performance like this are what’s needed to give everyone - obviously the fans but absolutely including SR- a reality check about this squad and its prospects. My Three word summary: Better. Players. Required.

Agree we dealt with the crosses reasonably well but putting Quarshie on was surely a no brainer. If there’s a team designed to suit Quarshies attributes it was Stoke. I’m livid a team could beat us with such a basic plan - go long lob crosses in the box : repeat.

Quarshie would have caught the fucker before he got the ball. That goal was EXACTLY why we bought him to stop happening. It was a straight foot race and Quarshie’s extra pace would have won and it would have been a draw not a loss. And he was benched instead. Fecks sake. Oh and all those 359 crosses that Stoke put into our box? And the 15 quick kicks Down the middle to isolate a CB against there quick forward? Who is the biggest fastest guy in our squad who will eat those all day? Why didn’t Still know this was a tactic and play his best player against that tactic instead of benching him? Got to go down as manager error. Stupid error too. Quarshie was born to play against Stoke ffs.