BARCELONASAINT

I am really not surprised at all if this is true. I said at the time i didn't believe he would leave Saints because i have a friend who is close to the Dibling family and everything he had heard had suggested he didn't want to leave. I have no idea what happened to change this? Bad advice? Saints wanting to sell? I have no idea but i do fear TD may just disappear and become one of those youngsters that never broke through.

Is anyone genuinely optimistic that we will win?? We played 2 awful teams in our last 2 matches and walked away with a point! What's changing today with no strikers?

I'm trying not to let my emotions dictate my thinking on the manager. If i did i would want WS gone because it's criminal with the talent at his disposal that we are floundering just off the relegation spots. Thinking cold and objectively i think WS and previous managers have been extremely let down by our recruitment team. It really is criminal that we have not signed a striker proven at this level. I don't care if the striker we signed was for one season only, because like AA they would be seen as not able to make the step up to the Premier League. Yes we would have a striker still on our books with an outgoing wage BUT that striker might have been the missing part of the jigsaw and helped get us promoted. Don't tell me doing this is not economically viable after the amount we have spunked on DD!! The recruitment team have also failed to provide the manager with a real leader on the pitch, there is no one in our squad that fits the bill and consequently the minute we concede we go to pieces because no one takes control out on the pitch. For me these are the 2 main reasons we are where we are. I'm still fed up with WS and believe he is not what we need but has he been screwed over by our board and recruitment team?

he's not wrong though is he!!

she did not start her position until well after Downs was done and dusted. Her remarks about her thoughts on him were well before he had kicked a ball for us!

I got her job title wrong, it's head of group talent acquisition and she has an impressive CV. Extremely well thought of and yup i'm happy to trust her opinion!

I know for a fact that our scout that joined us from Norwich after Downs was unfortunately signed would not have recommended signing Downs at all, she did not and does not rate him at all

You really don't need to be a body language expert to see he has no interest in being here and when he is on the pitch he does everything possible to not get picked for the next game. He wanted to leave the moment Russball got sacked!

We have no leaders on the pitch, none at all. We have been crying out for an experienced leader to grab this lot of weak minded, spineless idiots by the scruff of the neck and give them a good hard kick in the balls to remind them they are supposed to be men, not a bunch of bloody girls (no disrespect to the girls who show more fight). No strikers, no leaders, a porous defence and a TinTin as manager. We may as well just take relegation now and get it over with!

I would love to hear a view of Downs ability from one of his team mates who see him day in day out in training. Unfortunately it's highly unlikely to happen unless it's very positive comments which you do occasionally here from players about new members of the team. I don't understand why he was on the bench yesterday if WS never had any intention on using him. The lads confidence must be rock bottom already and then having to watch yesterday a game that was crying out for someone to lead the line only for him to be totally ignored. Now i'm not saying for one minute he should have been brought on, so far from what i have seen i completely agree with most on here he's shockingly bad but that again highlights the glaringly obvious, why was he taking up a bench spot?

The issue is even if we play well no one can see where a goal is going to come from so you start thinking "at best we can get a draw" and that is just bloody depressing!

Just back from the game and i'm still wondering how the hell we did not win that game! Standout player for me was Leo and he must be a starter every week, incredibly unlucky not to have scored today and he was the only player that looked like scoring. I never thought at any point that Swansea were interested in trying to actually win the game, i don't remember McCarthy having a shot to save. We are still so slow in the build up and until we change this pedestrian approach we are not going to win games. Hugely frustrating again.

Got offered a free ticket at 0930 this morning and as i only have a 10 minute walk to the stadium i thought it would be rude not to. Attending is more in hope than expectation. The last game i attended was the first game of the season!

Thats a very strong bench on paper for the Championship!

The International break came at a good time for me. Personally i was fed up with our inept manager, fed up with our shit owners and fed up with our shit players that lack any back bone. Am i raring to go for the tomorrows match?....No, they can all fuck off. WS is still making excuses and i don't expect anything different from these players playing under his management! Sorry but this is how I feel about this shower.

only a bunch of morons would believe that....oh wait one!

It really is a very depressing time to be a Saints fan because there is absolutely no excuse from the club for being in this position. The whole bloody football world could see we were crying out for a striker last season. There was so much time to plan for this season in that department and not gamble on a player that has barely played a minute since he joined us and purchase a totally unproven American at this level. We are truly up shit creek without a paddle in regards to forwards and this is entirely down to absolutely mental recruitment in the striker position.

Casper Jander is in the second group. *Casper*

He firmly believes we needed more creativity which he agrees we signed but has not clicked yet and that we should have signed someone with experience of the Championship not another player from overseas who has no idea about the Championship. He's never mentioned a striker we should sign and to be fair that's not his job but he knows the players he does not rate in our side and which of our new signings he thought were solid signings IF played to their strengths. He doesn't rate Baz, Stephens, THB, Edozie , Quarsie, Ryan Frazer. He thinks we have done well with Scienza, Jelert, Azaz, Casper and Fellows

You are quite correct Sheaf Saint. My son is the chief scout for an American outfit called Pheonix Rising. He mainly concentrates on looking at players from South America and the US and had seen a fair bit of DD because of him being in the United States International team setup. He was scathing of DD abilities when he heard we were signing him and was absolutely gobsmacked we had bought him. To be fair he is not very enthusiastic about many players coming out of the states! He started working as an football agent/scout in Venezuela tapping into a generally little known market and looking for players that could make the move to the MLS or the lesser European leagues. He quite quickly built a reputation for an eye for a player and whilst still living in Caracas, Venezuela is now working mainly for Pheonix Rising. (their manager is as bad as Martin and Still). He has built up a lot of contacts both abroad and back here in the UK, Saints and Norwich to name but 2. We sometimes differ in opinions about players but i 100% trust his judgement on players.

I can confirm DD was signed before she took her position and from what i've been told she would NOT have recommended him!

How many of us on here know work colleges that have got promotions based on the fact they interview very well because they know all the corporate buzz words and use examples of work they have done that is usually complete lies and never checked by their employer. These people often turn out to be absolute shit at their promoted roles because they lack any common sense and get found out very quickly!!!

why not, we have shoehorned him in every other position!

Will Still is clearly out of his depth and has not been helped by shit recruitment in vital areas of the pitch. We took a punt on DD who my son said the minute we bought him was a massive mistake and that he was a terrible player and could not believe one of our scouts had recommended him. (He should know, he's a professional scout) Where is the leader on the pitch, i just can't see one anywhere, i just don't understand why we have not bought a true leader. Again in defence we lack a leader, an organiser. Goalkeeper has been an issue for seasons now and yet we have gambled again

I'm not one for sacking managers but even i have had enough of this lacklustre football and want Still out now!