Sheaf Saint

Does he play in a team full of son-in-laws?

I reckon that's our strongest starting 11.

They're essentially just asleep at the wheel. Martin was able to badly mis-manage the team with seemingly zero oversight from anyone above him. A shocking indictment of SR's ownership really.

It's a constant irk to me that he's the only player, aside from Dibling, who has his own song. It's not like he's ever done anything to earn cult hero status among the fans.

Manning once again showing how hideously one-footed he is there. If he could have played it to Dibling with his right there, he might have been able to do something with it.

I thought the ref wasn't going to give this one either for a second.

Dibling and Sulemana coming on.

Nice move. Unlucky Fernandes.

Damnit. Gonna rue those missed chances aren't we.

I'm not sure that should have been overturned. He slipped because he was out of control.

He flew in with both feet before slipping.

Red card!

Indeed. MOTM so far for me. He creates chaos in the opposition half. Surely only a matter of time until the goals come from him.

But... But... But.... It wAs tHe pLaYeRs!!!!!!

Harsh. He's being stretchered off.

I've never seen that before - a player getting booked for a collision with a keeper from a corner.

Oh that's unlucky. So close.

And doesn't even make the bench in Juric's first game in charge. Interesting.

He has been ill with a virus recently, so probably still not 100% fit.

Just checking - Stephens has served his suspension now, right?

This aged well! Merry Christmas to all of you.

Nope, you're not mental. Or at least if you are, you're not alone. Watching Saints under Russ had become a joyless chore. There was no reason to get excited, because even if we did manage to take the lead you just knew we would shoot ourselves in the foot and find a way to draw/lose the game. So it reached the stage where I couldn't even bring myself to celebrate us scoring anymore. When we got that string of corners in injury time, I was actually on the edge of my seat because we had defended properly as a team and kept ourselves in the game until the last minute, and I dared to allow myself to believe that we might actually steal it at the death. I can honestly say that was the first time this season I felt that. However, while it was encouraging and enjoyable, it also just made me feel even more angry that we had continued with the RM experiment for so long, because we might not be in such a perilous position right now if the board had taken notice of what was actually happening on the pitch and acted sooner.

What is the evidence for this?

He went off injured 3 times in the 2022/23 season. Twice for his shoulder problem that he eventually had surgery for, and once for a knee injury that kept him out for around 10 games. Should he have just carried on playing each time just because some armchair fans were questioning his commitment?

What do you mean by "the amount of games he tossed off that season"? He suffered 3 injuries during games and each time was side-lined for numerous games afterwards. This narrative that arose on here about him just not fancying it and finding a way to get himself subbed off is utter bullshit. He may well have an attitude problem, but we know already that RM had his favourites and would willingly drop people on principle rather than on form, so his claim that Russ just preferred the promotion lads seems entirely plausible. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks I guess, but I'm not ready to write him off completely yet when there were clearly other factors at play.