Galway saint

if you wanted to throw him a bone I agree that’s right no PL manager can be happy when he’s given BBD and Archer as his forward signings and maybe his decision to put all five on the bench tonight was his way of saying that to the club

We are totally out of our depth and don’t look like a Premier League team. Save for Newcastle against 10 men we haven’t all season. We are a pretty toxic mix of a bang average squad and a poorly coached team. There were some horror shows last season but we got away with it because we had better players. There’s absolutely no pragmatism now in recognising our weaknesses and adopting a strategy that plays to the strengths. At the moment I have no idea what we are trying to do apart from not lose the ball and we seem unable to create decent goal scoring opportunities. We just fanny about with it - it’s hopeless football and teams must love playing us. We are also fucked by an abysmal recruitment strategy that today saw us play without a recognised CF but with 5 (five) on the bench. How much have we wasted on bang average football players instead of signing a few top drawer ones. We have played six games and our defenders have contributed 2/3 of our goals ! I guess at some point we will win a game but the moment we are a team that concedes and cannot score so it looks like this could be an absolute horror show of a season and I feel it’s already over. Think we have to replace RM. I don’t think it will make a difference to relegation but whatever he’s trying to do isn’t working and it seems wrong to keep him there.

If we can score ( and it’s a big if) we go above cardiff in least goals scored in the football league.

Can’t see we would have scored Ipswich’s second as soon as the ball went out to the left it would’ve been recycled

There was a stat during the wolves game saying we have conceded 5 goals from set pieces in 5 games and the league average is 1.5 ! Seems a damning indictment of how we set up to defend set pieces, the ipswich goal being a prime example

Hopefully the boys preparations won’t be disrupted by Cardiff scoring, meaning we are now joint bottom in the four leagues for goals scored. However looks like tranmere or salford could get dragged into it so all to play for

I think the team looks ok ( not great but ok) with the exception of the forward quartet that aren’t going to score enough goals

You omitted to mention that around 60 mins we will make 4 subs that will on the whole make us worse

…we can and will do better… just not this season by the looks of it I always thought Adams was a decent support striker and a good link man for us.. He was our best striker post Ings but wasn’t good enough to keep us in the PL but neither are the current crop of forwards who look a poor bunch by PL standards pleased he’s doing well

it’s the lack of quality up front that will condemn us ultimately and we just haven’t addressed that since Ings left. the defence isn’t that bad but in games against premiership opposition this season we average a goal every two games and that’s comfortable relegation form. indeed if you include the two games against the spanish and italian sides pre season it’s 4goals in eight games so we don’t score enough goals and unless that changes quick it’s game over

Be interesting to ask the recruitment team how on earth they thought our forward recruitment was going to score enough goals to keep us up. arguably we have a no better forward line than last season. seems weird that they can pick out a really good player like fernandes but get is so badly wrong when it comes to strikers RM is not without his faults but he deserves better than he has been given in the forward department

can’t see it making much difference when the forward line is so poor. You could bring in someone to tighten up the defence but you’re not going to get enough goals from AA, BBD, Archer or Stewart for it to make any real difference

We have a poor track record in recent seasons of signing a CF but the decision to sign 2/3 of the blades forward line beggars belief really, unless they already have one eye on next season. frankly feels like the season is already slippping away after the 5th game

shame - three points would have given some hope. feels very bleak as we clearly aren’t going to score enough goals to survive or even give ourselves a fighting chance. we have one goal from our forwards in 5 games and that’s from an 18 year old. for the last quarter we had AA, Stewart and BBD as a front three which speaks volumes. The Club haven’t bought enough quality up front and that’s been a mess for a few years now. Not sure what RM can do about that really, as there just isn’t enough quality. For me that game was a must win and we didn’t manage it because we didn’t take our chances. Not sure where the first win will come from at the moment

I think that’s the problem really. We have a very limited strike force and it’s difficult to understand why our recruitment in this area has been so consistently poor over the past few seasons, since Ings left. I just can’t see us scoring enough unfortunately and so if we do get rid of RM, I’m not sure there will be top coaches queuing up to take the job knowing what they have to work with.

RM has his failings as a coach but I can’t imagine he asked the recruitment team to assemble the Sheffield United strike force for him this season to spearhead our campaign. Seems another really odd recruitment decision to add to the lengthening list

I feel quite pessimistic really and we are only 4 games into the season. We don’t look organised at the back but up front we are incredibly limited and today we fielded the Sheff United strike force from last season. Our recruitment in the final third has been abysmal now for two or three years and we cannot improve things until January. I think it will be all over bar the shouting then anyway so I don’t think any further material investment will be made. I can’t see changing the manager will make much difference. Maybe a decent coach can get us organised at the back but trying to get a tune out of AA, Archer and BBD in the Premier League is not happening. We simply cannot score enough goals to stay up. They says it’s the hope that kills you but I don’t feel any hope at present. Cant remember another season like it really but we look really out of our depth and during the second half today it looked like the team thought much the same.

This has been pretty depressing stuff since the penalty Ignoring the league cup, we have so far scored two goals in six games, if you include the two spanish games. We look toothless up front ( haven’t had a shot since the penalty) and likely to concede at least one or two every match, so it’s looking pretty bleak. Not sure there is much more Martin can do as the side was set up as most people wanted but a number of the players just aren’t good enough

we look dreadful defensively

predictable stuff bossed the half really and 1-0 down

these things happen - don’t beat yourself up about it

seems ridiculous to say a guy is available for selection in a PL game where he hasn’t played any meaningful football for two years.

he’s in good company then as quite a lot of the team who have started the season aren’t if we were to sell him with his new contract in place he would fetch say £15million and that’s generally where we shopping at present so seems a sensible move to me

It’s not ‘irrelevant’ in that if you don’t have any possession you cannot win the game ( barring own goals) and equally if you have all the possession you can’t lose the game (again barring own goals) but clearly we are demonstrating that possession of itself it doesn’t win football matches

Seems counterintuitive that 68% possession can produce one goal scored, five goals conceded and no points from three games and that’s against two of the weaker sides shows you need the ball less than a third of the game time to beat saints - nuts !