Holmes_and_Watson

Again, that central counter. Mo's shot a little too far out to curl it there. Selles' consistency pays off! (shame it lost so many of the other games, waiting for days like this one - and there's a lot to go here.)

good to see JWP linking up with Alcaraz again there.

More attacking teams like Liverpool, (who also bring with a number of personnel who can give the odd error), play into the central, quick running of SellesBall. It's him not having a tactic that works against all the other types of tactics in the league, that has resulted in him departing after the final whistle.

Brutal hack on star midfield maetro Mo there. Should have been a booking! 🙂

Wows! SellesBall paying off with a sharp central break and an effort on goal. Liverpool careless in midfield, but again, quick central running (key in SellesBall) pays off with a nice finish. C'Mon Saints. Great to see good work by Sulemana, new to us and staying next season, working well with veteran Walcott under watchful eye of Selles both of whom...ah...

I was going to post that as rubbish as we are, even we can take advantage of TAA's 'definding' 🙂

Desperation. Utter desperation to replace him with anyone wearing goalie gloves.

Yaaaaaay! Come back is on!

His was one of the brighter spells in the squad, when called for. No doubt the club had been to offload him a lot earlier, which may have got in the way of his playing time. Shame his return to us wasn't better for all concerned.

Both of whom have earned it, showing fight and commitment our club can only dream of, right now. Looking around the table at the off field shambles, elsewhere, the resources of some of the others, it's all the more gutting our club made so many poor decisions, to drop down instead of them.

As the game wore on, and players needed to be replaced, you could see the drop off in quality. I tuned in as the game was stopped, so can only hope Tom Lockyer makes a full and speedy recovery. And sympathy for Dabo, who hopefully, after some time, remember how well he did to get here, and realise there's no reason he can't do it, or better, next season. Luton looked easily the best first half. Second half, Robins did really well in changing the shape. Had they lost this, with those efforts that deflected off arms, before going in, and other efforts, Luton would have been even more gutted. And a thought for James Bree. Makes the step up, only for his boss to be (unsurprisingly) fired, drop down the pecking order in a different tactic, and then take a 40% pay cut, as all his former team mates go the other way. No reason why he can't play a solid part in getting us up next season.

That's going to make us even slower looking than this year, which I thought wouldn't be possible. 🙂 Sorry, couldn't resist.

Invent

Was it Tony Adams whose post match team talk after a defeat was goals win games. Then he walked back out.

There's a challenge mode where you can select "you will be owned by SR" and you have to succeed with Rasmus making baffling decisions above your head. Good luck! Actually, I imagine that giving us a good FM team is one of the few SR successes. The game loves high potential wonderkids. So Lavia, Bazunu, ABK, possibly Larios and of course Tino will give you a strong base for success.

He's too slow...he's a highlight reel player...he's past it... Looking forward to the he should pack it in...we can't keep carrying him...isn't it time he retired...posts. 🙂 Just bracing ourselves for rejection a bit.

I clicked thinking they'd signed extensions.

More on the reasons, for those not familiar... https://humanevents.com/2023/04/30/indiana-councilman-comes-out-as-lesbian-woman-of-color-faces-death-threats-and-doxxing-by-outraged-lgbt-activists

I'd love JWP to stay. We've just been watching him with a succession of horrendous, ineffectual tactics. But he's had better spells not that long ago. He had been keeping us in games not far back either. However, if he wanted to go (And it's important that's first, because the club will happily push people towards the exit nad then say that they wanted to go) and we got a significant fee, then I would hardly begrudge him stepping up, hopefully to get European football. I'd wish him well. Even if he doesn't have a relegation release clause, I'd love him to stay. After all, the club should be commited to going up at the first attempt, so it's not going to be a massive inconvenience if they can follow through on their aspirations. We could happily lose any number of deadwood players to compensate for the salary difference.

Not sure VVD would be that popular now, after the way it went last time. 🙂

I was being comedically on the edge without the safety net of a smiley... and I'd like to come back in off the ledge now...help... 🙂 EDIT: Besides which, I undermined my own post later on down the thread. 🙂

I'd have thought that any manager from any non top league would see this position as a decent post to have. The chance to be part of an overhaul, with some resources, and a big squad at the start of the summer, to get back into the most lucrative league on the planet. Even among some of the top leagues, if you're not likely to be getting into European places, or with realistic chances of getting there soon, then I'd have thought we would be a decent draw too (premier League and the odd other excepted as the resources in those leagues improves) For managers currently not employed, unless they want to only join at a top or European spot chasing club, I'd have thought we'd be a decent draw too. SR are a bit of a shambles at present as they address the leaving staff. But that isn't likely to 1)put anyone off or 2) not get resolved shortly. The above is fairly broad stroke, and illustrates the level we're at and is not a "we can get anyone." But we're in a relatively good place, considering what a horror show of a season it was. We should be amongst the strongest teams to get back up to the richest league. It's a little surprising to find out that it's all nonsense and we're lucky to get someone who's never managed in a top league with that standard of player (used loosely for our lot 🙂). I get the positives in getting Martin. But also the risks, and think we sell ourselves short. We paid Ralph very well. We've not be averse to paying significant compensation either to get a manager in. So those aren't obstacles either.

My tongue was more than slightly in my cheek. Probably less so as I kept typing. 🙂 Like Jones, he would have been mad not to accept the role. He'd have seen Marsch come in for talks, and know that even his own coaching position, might be sidelined or short lived. Some of the signings we'd just got in, were for Jones. Had the club stuck with someone who preferred the pressing, and bought for that, Selles would have inherited better options for his style. But he was as hamstrung as his predecessors were. It was a horrible watch, but I do see the logic in the tactic. Persisting with it though, means either he had no faith in the players to try something else, his own ability to change, or simply didn't know how to change. I even get why managers would pick Mo. All of them have picked him. Not that they feel blessed to be able to do so, but because he fits with what they want to do slightly ahead of the others, who look like bigger duds in their tactics. It's been such a shambles all the way through the club. I can't complain about the investment. I can't blame managers being offered such big moves. But the buck does stop with Rasmus who would have been responsible for the recruitment policy, the managerial signings, the back room decisions, nearly every one of which has been dreadful. Yet, there's a parallel world where their backing of Ralph was reinforced by the strikers who did sign in that last week. Who then offered us creative outlets to get us to safety. Allowing Romeu to go was an awful decision, but a few extra goals may have got us to stumble through, between periods when Lavia wasn't fit. Instead their risky model came right back to bite them. Not really anything Selles had control over.

Smile

Apparently, he got nutmegged a little bit before, lost his cool over it and put in a very bad tackle. They've had 10 reads this season. Small's picked up a couple of those. Mixed feelings about him there, but definitely needs to have more self control. That was part of the issues in our last pre season.