SWLondon Saint

Wow. That is truly delusional bollocks. Their goal came from a hopeful long ball which our defenders made a complete meal out of due to the complete lack of defensive organisation. I would also add it looked like THB was TRYING TO WIN POSSESSION rather than defending first and thinking about possession later. And whose fault would that be...

Also, I would love to know how many crosses we attempted today. SAA put in a great one which could easily have gone in if we had a decent striker on. Other than that I can't remember any decent ones.

People keep blaming the players, but the fact is their goal was the product of total lack of coaching. Why the f*** is THB going over there when Duran is being marked by Wood? It happened a number of times in the 2nd half too - this just should not be happening and I blame the coaching staff 100% as this is absolutely basic defensive organisation. How many f***ing defenders are on our staff and why is no one sorting this shit out?

Guardian saying Chelsea thrashed us - to be honest, I disagree completely - they were crap and should feel ashamed they only scored 5! Any team with a bit of self belief should have been in double figures at least....

However much RM tries to spin it, football will always be the same game - if you want to arrive at the opponent's area with a player advantage, at some point you have to beat one or more of their players. We're not succeeding at doing it by passing so the only times it happens for us is gonna be either when we break quickly or Dibling or Fernandes beat a couple of people.

Well I did say 'supposedly'...

Watching that again I'm thinking how the f*** do you get yourself ahead of the ball as a supposed top-class striker? Pretty much every 3v2 attacking drill you can make up that is the number 1 thing to watch out for as an attacker....

I don't think Cap'n Jack was meant to be in Def mid when we didn't have the ball, it's just that he wandered up pitch so much when we had it he was always level or ahead of the ball when we were in defensive transition! When we were in a low block, he was definitely one of 3 CBs, usually the free man. If you look at when we were playing our goal kicks, KWP and THB were doing the split CBs thing and most of the time Cap'n Jack was ahead roughly in a DM / pivot position. Bloody daft thing is, he is not good enough to receive the ball with anyone near and I think everyone else in the team knows that he will play you into trouble if he gets it. I actually agree that Manning has been better defensively this season, weirdly. Lowlights - getting ball from Manning with enough space to make a decision, he plays the worst possible pass trapping Manning in the corner - getting ball in a DM kind of area as we're going forward he plays an absolute horror pass across midfield left to right straight to them which luckily ended as a corner - standing in midfield congesting play waving his arms directing play while everyone tries to pass round him - marking space and realising it with a feeble jump for the goal then pulling Suga up and keeping a low profile. A good captain should know if a player needs encouragement or a rocket but he knew he was out of position too. Should have held his hand up then got Suga going again.

The problem with your theory is that when we go down (which is certain), the breakout young stars will leave (also certain). And while we have looked better the last 2 games - fewer insane risks, a bit more pragmatism with sometimes going longer with passes - RM's biggest flaw is still organising the defence and that has not changed at all. You can try and put all the blame on Suga for an individual error, which it was, but with 3 CBs that ball should never, ever have got there.

In real time when it happened I definitely thought he was trying to flick it with his heel as it went past. If he had just been running past his back foot would never have got up that high.

Oh, and on the positive - Fernandes and Dibling are definitely £50 million+ players. They both have the odd rash mistake of youth in them but bloody hell they can play. Dibling made 'both' our goals and some of Fernandes' takes/turns + passing was as good as anyone I've seen in a Saints shirt.

Also, while Sugawara was definitely at fault for their goal, I am pretty sure Martin was saying 'bounce' on camera and for the first time I agree with him, how is it with 3 centre backs there is no-one heading that off the penalty spot? If there's not one of them free standing right there waiting for it then something has gone seriously wrong even before Suga decided to have his 40 winks.

I was actually expecting the goal to be disallowed as I did see AA try to play it as he flew across and I was just wondering how someone who thinks they're a PL striker can manage to get ahead of the ball even before it's played.

For the Downes goal, was anyone else yelling about how many touches AA wants to take in the box? He had a touch out of his feet then a clear chance to hit it but took 2 more and it was blocked. Lucky it fell to Downes...

They can't and won't. It was exactly the same decision as the Arsenal goal against us except Merino actually made a proper try to head the ball. AA still pretty brain dead though to even flick at it when he was AHEAD of the ball when it was played....

Oh, and why the f*** is Cap'n Jack swanning around in midfield leaving THB and KWP as the centre backs when we have the ball? Just... Completely mystifying. He can't take the ball under pressure so he just stands there waving at people, then when he gets it in space he either plays someone into trouble or gives it away.

That goal was bloody criminal from start to finish. Why have 2 fullbacks on the left side and there is absolutely no pressure on the player crossing the ball? What on earth is Stephens doing? - he's marking space and doesn't even get close to the flight of the ball. And what was Sugawara doing, taking a nap? - he has to anticipate better. The winger is favourite if the ball gets to bounce like that but he's still got to at least be close enough to challenge. Honestly, what are ABK, Wood, Edwards and Taylor doing in training that we never see them and why are they even here if they're so crap they offer nothing over this lot? Did they get caught wanking over Lucy Pinder or something?

Pretty much sums it up. Out of his depth, cares more about himself than the club, can't organise a defence, blames other people.

Except according to the actual facts, he was pretty much completely mediocre in terms of points per game compared to managers before and after: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/swansea-city/mitarbeiterhistorie/verein/2288 Steve Cooper was miles better than him, 1.61 ppg Vs RM 1.35ppg And at MK Dons: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/milton-keynes-dons/mitarbeiterhistorie/verein/991 Liam Manning who succeeded him got 1.65ppg Vs RM 1.38ppg Paul Tisdale who he took over from was also better than him at 1.51ppg

Yep, me too. I don't think I've ever stopped caring about a season in November before. We have no chance in the cups, we're relegated already... I was watching Sunday but I pretty much just shrugged when their 3rd went in. Completely expected it and the manager clearly doesn't give a shit about the club compared to his 'principles' so while I'll always be a saint, right now caring about the club too much would just give you blood pressure problems.

I don't particularly blame Suga, but this thread is about him, so gave my honest thoughts. I do think it's too early to make a judgement, and I do also definitely think other players have been more at fault and the manager most of all. Downes is another one bring shafted by the system. What kind of muppet asks their main CM to play in a back 3?

Well you've kind of made my point for me - with Martin at the helm we have absolutely no chance of ever making it back into the PL and being a stable PL team again. So why not get rid and see if we can find someone who can get more out of slightly lesser players than a manager who needs probably a champions league team to even stay in the PL?

Well, we signed Taylor with tons of PL experience on a free and he's seemingly been exiled to the land of ABK. Tall Paul definitely looks like he has some quality and he got his first start 11 games in after barely being in the squad most of the season. Fernandes is clearly a PL standard player. Downes is certainly at least a fringe PL player as is THB. You really think if we get promoted next year we'll sign 4-6 players better than that lot?

On that note, what the hell is going on with Taylor? He seems to be in the same place ABK is in which is bloody weird considering he was just signed over the summer presumably with Martin's full knowledge? Just feels like as much as he has his favourites, he has his players he doesn't like and won't give a chance to either.

I think his confidence is shot. He's a young and fairly inexperienced defender who may or may not be good enough at this level but right now he's a mess. Some of that is on him for not better mentally prepared, but there's no question that Martin is at least as guilty. He is clearly second guessing himself and Martin bollocks and drops him for his mistakes when Cap'n Jack can play any number of hospital passes and lose the ball in his 'libero' role and he's the first name on the teamsheet. Anyway, he'll be stuck here for a few years as no-one will want him after this season so we should all hope he comes good! 😑