coalman

5 at the back. Armstrong down the middle. Fellows at wing back. THB and Stephens playing keepball. What's not to be excited about?

He said Google twice and while he may have had a chat with someone at Google at some point he had fuck all to do with Google's well.publicised research into high performing teams. Saints do not meet any of Google's five requirements for high performing teams.

Have they learnt nothing from Sport Republic's genius?

I believe it's a choice between Tonda Eckert, T. Eckert, Tonda E. and Mr Eckert.

I'd rather see action before the goal than reaction after it. Tired of watching our defence throw their hands in the air blaming each other. I would expect my captain to be telling someone to get rid of it before we committed footballing suicide. Nice bloke who cares only gets you so far.

Steve Jobs is meant to have said "As hire A players, Bs hire C players". The people running our club are, sadly, Cs. The glaring issues with our squad were and have been for a while - no striker since Ings. We got Archer last summer, Downs this summer and Stewart the summer before. We are now playing Armstrong through the middle - goalkeeper. We brought in Ramsdale last summer. He didn't go that well and now he's sat on Newcastle's bench and we're left with Baz and McCarthy - central midfield. Jander looks like a player but is a 34 year old Romeu going to make our midfield less porous? Probably not if we persist with our bat shit formation. - bloated squad. It's still too bloated and reverts to Russball at the drop of a hat - manager. Is it even possible to succeed at Saints? - culture. No winning mentality and complacency. Extending captain Jack ensured continuity of this. - defence. Ball watching. Out of position players who get in each others way. Weak against crosses. We brought in Quarshie who is a beast but raw and can't get a game, Jelert who can't get a game and Roerslev who barely gets a game. - creating chances. We bought in Fellows who we're playing at wingback and Azaz who looks lost. It's Spors job to fix this and no fix seems to be in sight. Picking Tinda as a continuity candidate is a bit mental because the last thing we need right now is continuity of the ineffective football we've produced over the last couple of years. On paper we've got a squad that should be doing much better but we've recruited into an environment where players get worse and our team is considerably less than the sum of its parts

Because it doesn't make for a compelling Ted Talk.

Whoever they choose I sincerely hope they succeed. However, it's Sport Republic doing the choosing so chances are low. Throw in our players who apparently still long for the pampered days of Russell Martin and will undermine anyone who hurts their feelings and we're fucked for the foreseeable future. Our culture of mediocrity, platitudes and lack of accountability is so ingrained now that anyone is going to struggle to change it. We have senior people from Sport Republic actively involved in a succession of terrible decisions and the most revolving of manager revolving doors. Then whoever comes in through the door has to confront the ghost of Russball past.

8 points clear of the relegation zone!

We need another couple. Can't see us defending a 2-1 lead

If we blow a 2-0 lead to lose to Sheff Wed at home can we sack Eckert and appoint another interim coach while SR dick around with Still's replacement?

Usually at 2-0 after 15 minutes you'd be asking how many will we get but right now I'm wondering whether we'll concede the equaliser in the 60th or 70th minute

Stephens does his best but Bazunu up to the save

Own goal seems like our most likely outlet right now

Thank god we've got the premier target man in the league or this system wouldn't work at all.

wtaf dude. Hope they see sense

Let's hope we can survive to half time so we can get some more centre backs on after the break.

He helps us hit our quota of 50% of the outfield squad being centre backs.

And why wouldn't they for the easiest away fixture of the season.

You make him sound like Jack Stephens. He's been here for three years. We've been relegated twice and promoted once. We're somewhere around our 7th manager and 3rd DOF. Before he joined we had fuck all money yet managed to comfortably beat relegation the previous two seasons. It's unclear how much he is involved right now but he was front and centre during a number of disastrous transfer windows. As people have said he's still CEO and Dragan's right hand man in football matters. He also recruited Spors and, let's face it, his recruitment record stands out for all the wrong reasons. We've gone from a side that briefly topped the Premier League under Ralph to 5th bottom of the Championship under his guidance. We've got a huge squad with no functional striker, goalkeeper or defence and we've spent 100s of millions getting there. He might help grannies across the road and be a nice bloke to have a chat with but he's clearly not up to running our football club in any capacity.

I'm struggling to pick a best and worst team for entirely opposite and very predictable reasons. Bravo Sport Republic.

I feel we need one of those rarest days when the sun shines on a dog's ass for SR to hire a decent manager as opposed to the utter dog's ass they're going to make of it. Again.

I sincerely hope we're not about "keeping things ticking over". We got lucky playing badly against QPR. Playing as badly again is unlikely to continue yielding the same results. The last thing we need is continuity.

If we think about what we need from a new manager. 1. Coach some defensive solidity into our current defenders and keeper. 2. Have a functioning midfield. 3. Transition from defence to attack. 4. Preside over a bloated squad which needs to be trimmed. 5. Deal with players who don't have a good work ethic, don't want to be here or generally feel they should be in charge. 6. Provide some stability for players who've had too many managers recently. 7. Stand up to whatever nonsense Rasmus is trying to manage from behind the scenes. No sane human would take on that job (for point 7 alone). But trying to fix 1-6 with your hands tied? No fucking way. The next manager appointment doesn't matter until we can provide an environment they have even the barest chance of succeeding in. Finding someone that is both talented and blood minded enough to get the job done would be a miracle. You need someone willing to come in and be a complete wanker from day one whilst bringing everyone along for the journey. The only miracles Sport Republic are capable of is spending Dragan's money as wastefully as possible.

After a dominant 2-1 victory over form club QPR you can expect Tonda to be riding high. Time to roll out the changes and show his job credentials. Expect to see Damion Downs start in the regulation SR 9-0-1.