Oh no Mick Mills

This thread is full of DOOM mongers. St Stephens , Flynnaldo and Armalaand will guide us to a New Dawn.

For me , we simply have a much weaker squad/team now compared to 23/24. When you consider that the two worst "regulars" imo were Manning and Bazunu and they are still here and likely be regular starters this season. Appreciate McCarthy may hold onto his spot but he's hardly a big upgrade. None of our fullbacks are a patch on KWP . He opened teams up and created so much space with his ability to beat a man. Bednarek was easily better than the current crop of CBs. Downes , Aribo and Smallbone and Stuey Armstrong complemented each other and covered up their flaws. Adam Armstrong had Che Adams to share the goals and handle the opposite CBs. Edozie, Fraser and Brooks were all great for certain periods and which meant their was always a threat down the wing. We've got such a poor side compared to this now. I'm really hoping and will be pleasantly shocked if the new manager can get a tune out of the current lot.

Tbf , fans say we were boring under Martin and you say we'd have the odd shot on goal up front. 23/24 Season we scored 87 goals. Only bettered by Ipswich on 89 and Leicester 92. We let loads in too. Lots of the games were goal fests . Please dont beat me up and say I'm a Martin fan boy, I'm just pointing out a fact.

Plus 5 shit centre backs and no decent fullbacks.

Heard a rumour( Probably a wind up) Its a done deal. 2 year contract.

I think it's going to be Martin..🤫

Jimmy Ball is doing a great job at AFC Totton. Dad's a Saint legend. Cheap wages. Left field. S.R are all over this.

We should be looking for a guy who's proven at this level. Gets teams promoted. Unlike Still has a clear defined style of play. The players can get on board with. Lovely hair and beard. Sexy girlfriend. Lets get back our Russ. Poem is on its way to the Echo now.

Exactly. My 12 year old lad is a real passionate Saints fan but he's gone from crashing out over defeats to just being numb and disinterested now. ..this club are literally breaking its own fan base...Wankerson must be so proud.

To be fair to him he was absolutely vital to us in the Championship last time around. We rarely played well when he wasn't playing and the saying sprung up " No Flynn , no win" Stephens was the usual scapegoat but if you actually look back at alot of the defeats or crappy draws it was when Downes was not in the side.

Madrid were a great side. Miles better than our lads. Superb passing and control of the ball which had us chasing shadows most of the game, but the most impressive thing for me was the way they worked so hard off the ball , they pressed us like demons . A real lesson and wake up for our players.

Regis Le Bris and Enzo Maresco had no Championship experience yet managed to get their respective clubs promoted out of the Championship. Still understandably deserves criticism and will inevitably get the sack unless we have a big improvement. But I'm sorry , I just think the players are shite and we the fans have overhyped them. Both keepers are crap. Stephens is proven mediocre. THB has completely lost the plot. Edwards is distinctly average at best. Quarshie. All the attributes but shaky and crap first touch. None of the full backs have looked particularly good apart from the occasional Manning cameo. Azaz . Crap , non existent. Boro fans warned us he disappears. Jander. Decent on the ball. Prospect. But lightweight and misses chances.(is he any better than Smallbone) Charles. Quality. But still doesn't boss games enough. Fellows. Decent, but no goals or assists yet. Armstrong. Proven. Decent . But misses too many chances. Archer. Crap. Can't hold up the ball. Terrible first touch. Scienza. Best player. Bye bye next season. Robinson. Exciting but raw , little end product.

Let's show up in numbers fellow Saints sufferers. Better than just complaining about the clowns on forums. Time for action

Seems like there has been a proper tactical shift in both Prem (Brentford, Bournemouth)and now championship clubs as witnessed by the demise of our good selves, Leicester and Ipswich as examples of.. on paper "stronger"sides that are getting done week in week out by "lesser" teams who low block and quickly counterattack and Saints simply have no answer for it. I'm would expect Blackburn to use the same tactics. Can Still find a way to deal with this?

Am I right in saying the dreaded Shoehorn was skipper last time we played Swasea at home in the league...anyone remember the score?

Sadly it does feel like this now. They've squandered our Premier league status and are now allowing smaller Championship clubs to overtake us. Look at at supposedly basket case Leicester, everyone thought they'd struggle. Look at the quality in their team compared to ours.

I've already posted something similar on the Damion Downs thread . I watched 1 full FC Koln game on You Tube just as we signed him. He played for 70 mins and to be fair got 1 assist in a 4 nil home win against Kaiserslauten. Other than that he barely touched the ball and when he did he gave it away badly on a couple of occasions. He had a terrible first touch which one of them ended up being so bad it became a through ball for the opposition attack to have a clear run on the Koln goal. I'm a punter ..a fan ..not a recruitment guy and I admit it was only one game, but the alarm bells were ringing for me due to SR overall incompetence.

Looking back at my view of him based on watching one game...feeling a bit smug but ultimately a damming indictment of our bozo recruitment team that some punter like me can watch one game on YouTube and see a dud . Did they actually use their eyes or computer data.?

I really want to believe it'll come good for Downs but I remembered that I watched him play for FC Koln and the warning signs were there for all to see...

Agreed..should have been 5 years.... Joking aside 3 years was a bit dumb . 1 year extension would have made sense with a review at the end of it. I'd love us to bring in better CBs but we keep trying a failing. Salisu and Bella Kotchup were the most disappointing ones. Clearly two naturally talented defenders. Strong , quick , great tacklers and in particular AMK was pretty decent coming out with the ball at his feet....but two total bellends attitude wise. I like the comment from the Peterborough fan saying give Edwards 5 games. I agree with this..just give the lad a chance to bed in and don't slaughter him when he makes an error ...similar to Downs really..disgraceful to cheer when this 20 year old lad gets taken off.

Surprised no one has set up a dedicated thread to criticise Harwood Bellis. Stephens is the favourite plaything for the playerhaters amongst you. He's a mediocre championship standard CB who cost 500k...what do people expect..prime Maldini? Who's made the most mistakes over the last two seasons, costing us goals. 20m transfer fee full England international THB? Or 500k Stephens? Who got forward in injury time to score the goal and get us our only win we've had this season...anyone mentioning these facts...nah. Keep slating boys.

I think I'd prefer Will Smallbone as the CAM compared to 12m Azaz. Can we not end his Millwall loan.

I think this whole debate misses the point. All that matters is our players hearing us sing and make a noise , that then hopefully inspires them to push on and take us to the heavenly delights of an occasional win! Honestly I couldn't give a monkeys and neither do the players what the away fans think or whether the Northam sounds quiet from the Chapel!