The Kraken

Precisely this. I’ve been a stuck record (and the likes of Fabrice tend to get a bit arsey about it) but me and many others have been asking since day one “what is Will Still’s style for us”? I’m still none the wiser now, I’ve seen no identity and quite frankly a shockingly bad imitation of a cohesive team. I’ve got no idea what’s going on behind the scenes but it seems likes we’ve got some really good players for this level (Scienza, Charles, Fellows, Azaz, Downes, Armstrong) mixed in with some other not bad players and some other players who are clearly ok for this level. We’ve also released players in Smallbone and Bree who seemingly aren’t good enough for us but are good enough for sides currently in third and sixth place respectively. But something inside the whole collective is just off. I think Still’s “leadership” is terrible, I said before on here, I watched the Hull game from behind the dugouts and he just looked like a little boy lost. I see no evidence of what these players are being coached. He’s just massively out of his depth, and the coaching staff we’ve got are clearly doing nothing apart from putting the cones out. Such a shambles of a club and burning the life out of the parachute payments and enormous sums we got for Fernandes and Dibling.

Their bad calls started before that. Ralph’s time was done with us the season before, we scored 4 points from our last 12 games. Then the club decided that the way to go was to forcefully appoint Ruben Selles as first team coach / assistant manager. Completely undermining the manager. The rest, as they say…..

It’s been clear for too long that this bloke is massively out of his depth and is sinking. Get rid of him immediately. Absolute fucking chancer.

Reports suggest he’s just training with Cov as a favour to him. As I see it, we’re at desperation stakes up front. So yes, hcdajfu imho tbh ffs. Even though he’s barely into double figures of goals since summer 2021. In fact he’d fit right in with our lot with that record.

See above, I think (hope) he was doing a funny.

Nice one Kemi 👍

3-1 down and we’ve still got 5 defenders on the pitch.

We are utterly horrendous. Still out.

Does seem a bit strange to not play Fellows in the position he came on at the weekend. But that too would’ve been a square peg in a round hole so meh. Struggling to have enthusiasm to watch it, might stick bake off on instead.

Yeah definitely. Once we got relegated I remember thinking fuck me, Bristol away, that’ll be really difficult and definitely “id take another draw but they may have too much for us, especially at home.” How our expectations have dropped under a fraud of a manager.

I don’t disagree with what you say. I think we knew there was a hefty compensation fee being touted for Rohl and as a consequence he wasn’t really in the running, IMO.

I’m not sure. I reckon Rohl could have been top of the list, but as soon as Sheff Wed starting talking about a hefty compensation clause he immediately went out of the reckoning. I seem to recall Sheff Wed’s owner made a very public proclamation about it at the time, could have been 2+2=5 or could’ve been we made an enquiry and got told to stump up.

Not all that clear to me. We played great for 20 minutes before half time. I found most of the rest of the game extremely frustrating to watch. This squad is performing far, far under the sum of its parts. And I don’t see much evidence that Still can coach them into something better. This season is such a massive advantage for a relegated side. No matter how much effing scar tissue we’ve supposedly got. Still is wasting the squad he’s got, not getting anything out of them. In fact he’s neglecting the talent he has got. I can’t go along with your cheerleading whatsoever I’m afraid.

She’s a fucking horrendous little rat.

No I know. I mentioned it as I thought/assumed that was what Still wanted in his sides, as well as wingers. I largely don’t disagree with what you said, although I dont agree we have a good front press, I’ve not been impressed with that part of our style for a few games now. And I think any Saints fan would say “more of that please” from Scienza’s first half in particular.

Cheers. If you’re right in what you say, that this is his third plan, then that says something in itself. Good to be flexible but having 3 styles within two months doesn’t look like great leadership to me. I hoped his style would be akin to the last 20 mins of the first half. Full backs pushed up, “wingers” getting on the ball very high up the pitch and running at defenders. Midfielders driving forward into the box like Shea Charles did a couple of times quite effectively. I enjoyed watching that part of the game. The rest I found quite frustrating. Personally I can’t see that style being sustainable while playing 3/5 at the back, just doesn’t give enough possession high up the flanks and doesn’t play to the strengths of having a “number 10”. Which is why I think we look disjointed and are playing a formation that doesn’t tally with a certain style of play.

Except it is. The statistics from today will demonstrate that the game pretty much reflected the eye test. Nobody has ever suggested that stats will provide a definitive result of the game, but they can paint a picture of it. Todays did just that.

Genuinely interested to hear what you think Still’s style is, because I haven’t really worked it out yet. He seems to have settled on a formation, but the style just seems a bit of a jumble. Take pretty much any half decent manager for us in the past 20 years and, very quickly after they began, you could see an identifiable style. Probably best exemplified by of all managers Russell Martin, you could see in our very first league game how much the team had taken his principles on board (for better or worse). I’m still a bit in the dark about what a Will Still side is. Today he complained that the side aren’t doing what he wants, it’s too much Russball, but what is it he actually wants them to do?

Terrible parenting 🫣

Not just most expensive, but most important positions to fill. Still whinged in the time before they were signed, saying he didn’t yet have the players to play “his” system. Now he’s got the players, he doesn’t use them. And when he finally brings them on to the pitch, it’s not in their natural positions. Pretty hard to defend a manager who says and does that.

It really isn’t. In fact it’s pretty much the opposite.

I know just the man for the job.

Apart from the last 20 minutes in the first half I’m not sure how you can say with conviction that we “played really well”. If anything I’d say we very much underperformed compared to what this lot should be capable of. Yes, poor finishing and lack of composure up front cost us, but it’s not the only story and the performance as a whole is indicative of our problems right now.

Really disappointing. Armstrong and Archer need a good hard look at themselves. Some other poor finishing too. But just papering over the cracks again, Still doesn’t seem to have an idea of what his system is other than throwing on lots of attacking players after 60-70 minutes. The 20 minute spell before half time should have seen us with a game plan to push them back but we just regressed to a pale imitation of Martinball. Scienza looks great when he’s on it. Wood is our best centre back by a distance. Fellows looks very lively but needs an outlet to aim for. Shea Charles genuine quality, some other bright spots too but overall we are so much less than the sum of our parts right now, and I don’t see Still turning it around.

How the fuck?