Gloucester Saint

Onachu sees the club take a bath. So much wasted on him and Carrillo, for c15 appearances, 0 goals, one assist. To prop up the two worst managers in the club’s history who were finally dispatched within a month or so. Branfoot is now into the third worst ever - how much of a business disaster has the club been post-2017? The USA lad reminds me of when Saints signed Kenwyne Jones from T&T - signed as an exceptional athlete who could be developed to play anywhere in the spine.

I think Downes will get his foot in, just suffering a bit physically after the food incident. Two weeks now to pack in the protein to restore what was lost and get some of his stamina back. Steak for lunch at Staplewood and lots of protein shakes. Smallbone needs to go on a similar regime but for the whole season. Looks like the club feed him on millet. If he does play in the PL in the future again, Rodri or Rice will only need to fart to shrug him off. A gust of wind off the Itchen even. Alcaraz is developing the stocky build to compete a bit more but learning the positional awareness, expectation to track runners (if he wants to play for City/Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea that’s what will expected there) is a work in progress. Good attitude though and a potential diamond. The best build for this level is Charles, and he will mix it. Back to relying on a talented 19 year old DMC which is a huge risk over a 46 game season. The thought gives me chills but hasn’t Holgate played in DMC for Everton? Might keep him away from CB positions!

Priority 1 - clean sheet Objective 1 - Select Charles and Downes as automatic CM selections, Alcaraz or Smallbone as the more offensively minded midfielder but still helping the other two out when we are under the pump. Objective 2 - Russell Martin to meet with Dean Hammond to watch through and discuss some of the games from 2011/12 where the CMs were Hammond, Morgan, Cork (thank you S Clarke!) and a wide midfielder in Chaplow who also worked very hard both ways. Lallana was the only genuine free spirit but produced the assists and goals. Actually, he did help out Fox tbf but was often freed up if Nigel was chasing a game eg Burnley away. It’ll help him understand the types of characters and level of solidity needed at this level. Yet to be convinced that he understands that yet. Objective 3 - the two wide players/forwards need clear instructions to cut in and run at Leicester’s glacial centre backs at every opportunity, Che needs to start as a focal point to feed off. Priority 1000 - possession stats and being nice to watch. Set up dry and if it is a pig ugly 1-0 win as per the spring, I’ll be happy and so will 30k others, Sunderland forgotten. Same again for next two games. Footballing Imodium to stop the diarrhoea.

If you’re talking about Ronald, Poch, Nigel, Pards and early Ralph in recent times, WGS further back, I agree with you. When the manager is Pellegrino, Nathan Jones, or Ralph post-March 2021 then no, because that how you end up with Onachu, Carrillo etc and tens of millions down the drain. As for Djenepo, great start with those two solo goals but struggled with fitness and any sort of consistency since, although the club has been a bin fire over the last 18 months where you needed to be a Lavia calibre player not to be dragged into the football gutter. Good luck to him, always put in a shift unlike most of the players in his era at the club.

Good point on JV, RM needs to be looking at ways of ensuring AA is left one on one with JV as often as possible. That could happen if Che is up for it and occupies the other CB

I was at a stag weekend in Norwich and was at that one. The normally more placid Norwich fans gave the team and the board hell, two fans were banned for throwing their season tickets at Gunn in the dugout. The atmosphere will turn toxic v Leicester if there’s further repeats of yesterday and with the internationals there’s no time to get an experienced coach in to get the back four and midfield organised because I’m losing confidence in Martin to do it. Just the basics. Norwich made some swift changes which transformed them. Firstly, Paul Lambert was Colchester manager and they moved for him. Gunn had bought an Australian keeper who made Bazanu look like Gordon Banks. They paid off his contract. Ostemebor played the Holgate performance and was frozen out, eventually coming to Saints for a few games after Norwich also paid him up. If the next couple of games are showing the side as equally disorganised and open, then it’s either someone like Pulis as a short-term mentor to help Russell organise and tighten up off the ball during the week, or it’s goodbye. I can’t see SR sitting on their hands after the Jones debacle.

In the next three games, the overriding priority has to be a clean sheet. Track the runners properly, reduce the crosses coming in and become much harder to beat. If we nick a goal somewhere for a 1-0 win, even better but the priority is to play dry. If the club needs to get a Winterburn or Dixon figure in short-term to get the back 4/5 tightly and systematically organised for the rest of the season then do it, worth every penny. At the moment, the level of disorganisation and chaos is moronic to not learn from and fix. Basics like closing down for the second goal yesterday, last week QPR and Colbeck, Sara v Norwich. Close the space down quicker. It’s just laziness early on in the game when everyone should fresh. Bazanu was guilty of it on the first goal yesterday too, that’s his ball, get to it first and if their striker is off on a stretcher because you clean him out, that’s how it is. As long you clearly get the ball first, it ain’t a foul. The number of crosses just allowed in with no effort whatsoever to close down (Sheffield Weds it was an issue second half, Norwich’s opener, Plymouth and yesterday x2) has been going on since Ralph lost the plot. Pochettino double sessions and pure drilling/practice will instil the right habits. The possession football is fine but always has to be built upon two basics - win the midfield in the first 30 minutes and ensuring the defence is screened. The nice stuff can come only after that. Pep expects Rodri to dominate his battles and at present, Wilcox has to put his foot down about Downes and Charles, when fit, are automatic XI selections. Alcaraz or Smallbone can be the luxury more offensive CM. As fans, we expect to see a much higher work rate in the next few games, closing spaces and better positional awareness. Do the basics well, get a foothold in the game and then we can pass teams to death in the last 30 minutes with cutting edge from the strong bench option against a worn opposition. City did it several times at SMS when Saints were on a good run. I don’t want to keep sacking managers but Russell is learning the hard way with the dreadful goals conceded, and going dry for a few games would be a very good idea, a few clean sheets and build a platform to be more progressive from there. Leicester is huge game and a clean sheet would help ease any concerns the owners may have about poor organisation and training.

It’s a big September for him, and I think Wilcox watching on Sky will be saying on Monday ‘Russell, this is part of a tough run now, it’s going to be THB-Downes-Charles-Adams as a spine. Pick who you want around that’. Empathy with Holgate, the manager has thrown him under the bus with that midfield and it’s not helping Bazanu either. He needs to own this defeat, shore it up to avoid it being 5 or 6 to destroy the season and bring some professionalism to his tactics to know when to be open and when to nick a 1-0 at Elland Rd on the counter. He’s got arguably the best squad at this level, yesterday was clearly disruptive and Mowbray is running rings round him as a result. He can overcome today but must learn from this and the Norwich game to tighten the midfield, limit the crosses and long range shots coming in and screen the back four. If there are a couple more defeats like this during September where the level of disorganisation and lack of structure are so evident, he will be under significant pressure if Wilcox and the board don’t believe he can learn, adapt and adjust. His squad now. Let’s see what he’s made of.

Been one of the better posters on here over the years

That’s because he’s doing his job, Stu’s and some of Smallbone’s. Martin hasn’t learned from the poor set up v Norwich where the midfield was left far too open for the attacking qualities of Sara and Rowe. Same again today, clearly a Downes and Charles type of game. By all means go more open for the sides in the bottom half. All not lost as some transformative players on the bench but a mountain to climb. Poor tactically here and has to improve.

820000 new jobs created and sustained since he took office, deficit reduced by 350bn since inheriting huge debt from Trump and projected to be 1tn by the election. He’s also stood up to Putin on Ukraine because Vladimir doesn’t have dirt on him unlike Donnie. He got a bi-partisan infrastructure package post-Covid for 1.2tn through the Houses to kick start growth and that’s why the unemployment rolls are the lowest since 1969. He’s also recommitted America to being part of the world’s efforts to tackle climate change. Oh, and talking about how what you support reflects upon you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump Not some crazy fabricated QAnon shit about pizza joints and basements with all the credibility of a chain letter. Simply what the Orange fascist has been doing and saying since 1973. We won’t even go into the comments on public record about injecting bleach to kill Covid https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52407177

If it’s either of those two, it won’t be before Friday as Aberdeen have a second leg European game v Hacken Thursday night (on BBC iPlayer)

Exactly, pick him up in January to add firepower, like we did with Billy Sharp who also had a bad injury in the August 2011 window. If Che does go this week what we need first is our ‘Lambert’ eg main striker fit and ready now. We are playing too many promotion rivals in September and October to risk throwing points away in.

Seems the toxic paints and materials in the old East Stand at the Dell might have not been healthy for the brains of some Boomers

Suella outclassed, outwitted and humiliated on Sky News this morning https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/editors-picks and then taken apart by Richard Madeley after that https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1806675/Richard-Madeley-Suella-Braverman-clash A lot of rumours she is being sacked next week and too much smoke for her not to be fired - although some reservations about how much shit she’ll fling from her backbench cage egged on by the loony ERG and swivel-eyed shire membership. Good - every soundbite from her is worth 10 extra seats to Labour or the Lib Dem’s at the next GE. She’s actually surpassed Boris, Liam Fox and Grayling as the worst ever cabinet minster.

VVD lost some of his recovery pace in that ACL incident with Pickford. Still a good PL CB but not the top drawer one that he used to be. Been on the decline for a while. Liverpool shocked as so many people outside major conurbations support them or Man U that Stockley Park wouldn’t bail them out this time.

Yep, would be a idiot purchase on par with buying Boufal with a major injury. If he’s fit in January, looks his former self and hasn’t signed a new contract then move for him in January if Adams’s replacement isn’t scoring 1 every 2 games by then to give them more competition. Be even cheaper then too. A bit like we did with Billy Sharp in 2011/12, he got a bad injury opening day for Doncaster but was fit and firing by the next transfer window. It’s the sort of stupid transfer we’ve seen before from Saints but you hope Wilcox has a bit more intelligence. No, they have to be fully fit now and able to hit the ground running.

Thierry Small might need to go out on loan sharpish - plenty of beef from a challenge by him on Miovski in St Mirren v Aberdeen last season.

Somebody posted earlier who seemed vaguely ITK that Djenepo believe it or not has a few clubs keen to sign him. Don’t know whether loan or perm. Can’t see him getting much of a look in with Russell Martin and moron decision by the club with last season’s extension. Sulemana - who knows, get a sense he wants to go but was expensive and nobody wants to commit break even money (£22m or so). So he ought to get fit and get his head down and make a huge impact in the Championship. If he doesn’t and someone offers a deal washing the club’s face then there would need to be at least one new wide player with a bit towards the new striker if Che goes to stretch the budget. Maybe two if Mara is loaned out. I again can’t see Mara fitting the detailed way RM wants to play. The first team badly lacks goals with Tella going and Adams very likely. Can’t rely on a loan option to get a 25 goal striker. AA decent so far but I think RM wants him just off the main striker.

Piroe may disappoint Leeds, he was by all accounts struggling at Swansea with the new pressing style Michael Duff has introduced. We all assumed, me included, that RM would know how to get the best out of him. But maybe RM believes he needs something different. What is a fact though is Piroe’s stand out scoring record at this level and Che’s replacement needs to out-perform Piroe for Saints to be top two. Quite a significant ask, risk, and probably a fee at this level breaking Neves’s record. £12-16m for Piroe would be cheaper and less risky. As we’ve seen with Archer, that player probably signs for Fulham or Sheffield Utd instead. So probably a higher potential player than Piroe and maybe a player that was widely assumed would go to the PL, La Liga top side or Serie A but we’re the final stage before that for a big club to put down bigger money if they score 30 goals and get us up. Fuck knows who that is, but hope Mowbray and Wilcox do. Huge pressure on JW to deliver now and by 1 September the squad and first XI needs to be clearly the strongest in the division and bookies favourites. SR cannot fail a second manager in two summers on a striker signing. No ‘forgetting’ to buy a main striker. No ‘we tried’ or ‘we’re happy with the squad’. It’s either take the risk on running Che’s deal down + another option, or Che goes and balls out on a replacement which makes us odds on favourites. The fans, the club, it needs a talisman as we had in 2010-12 with Lambert. Duk is probably Mara’s replacement, he’ll be loaned out and eventually sold. There’s talent there somewhere but let some other suckers take 5 years to find it. Let Duk have some cameos off the bench and settle in without the pressure of being the talisman.

So are Leeds and there’s a thing called parachute payments. If SR want a Stoke or Swansea stuck in the Champ or a Wednesday bobbing between Champ and League One, then they’ve lost far more than one bad season and they will be stuck with a club post-parachute payments in three years leaking money and debt all over the show and no way of getting it going forward stuffed with FFP (also see QPR, our visitors on Saturday). Leeds and Leicester didn’t just sell the players for the fees we did and there’s probably still Adams/Sully/KWP to go. Get the main striker right if they will join and top two is a serious option this season.

Which is fair enough if Piroe wasn’t their top target and they purchase a better striker for a bigger fee that blows that league out of the water which requires waiting for Che to leave. If the replacement performs worse than Piroe this season - and this season is what counts - that’s fair and square a fuck up and there’s been too many big fuck ups at the club in recent years. To let two managers down in successive Augusts around getting a headline striker would be the end of the road for SR with the entire fanbase. Duk is fine if they loan Mara out but not acceptable to our fanbase as a main striker. Trouble is, is any striker better than Piroe going to want to play in the Champ, even as one of the league’s biggest earners? And there’d be no slack for bedding in or learning RM’s style, it’s an expectation of 1 goal every 2 games at this level with the chances they’ll get. Big ask. They simply have to get this right. Tick tock.

If I was Che’s agent and my client really wanted to leave, I’d be hotting things up with Forest and Bournemouth to get nearer to Wilcox’s valuation as Everton sound like an absolute busted flush. As poor as Luton and Sheffield Utd are, Everton seem just as bad and the Blades are just dropping £18m on Archer despite allegedly being up for sale themselves. Palace lacked someone to hold it up the other night, Ayew isn’t the answer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Roy popped up.

Right now, the move is a moot point unless Everton (allegedly) get serious about the amount up front. The rumoured £7m up front is a joke for a current PL club, even Luton or Burnley could do better than that. If I was Wilcox, I’d want most of it upfront as they are clearly in some serious financial/FFP trouble and could go pop with trying to fund that new stadium. I wouldn’t be surprised if more substantial bidders such as Bournemouth come back to the table or Forest if Everton can’t go on the potty, especially if they pick up an injury at the weekend.

Hove looks a very decent signing on the face of it, see he was widely scouted and linked 2-3 years ago by Saints, Man U, Brighton, Palace and others. Question would be whether his progress stalled or whether PL clubs will want to pick him up after a stint in the Championship rather buy now and loan him out? Looks like he can deal with the physicality, albeit not the tallest, and decent technique. Don’t know how much the release clause was for but looking forward to seeing him compete for a first team place. Nathan Wood could be a decent buy - I like his recovery pace, good composure and some decent headers on the clips. Young and English, could soar in value with a good season or two. Tactically will need some work and more experience around where to play/not to play.