saintant

If they'd been monitoring him for some time why the fuck did they buy him?

How can you possibly criticise him for their first goal? - McCarthy decided to pass the ball straight to Cienza. Quarshie had nothing to do with it.

Quarshie may be a little raw but he's learning fast and has the useful assets of pace and power. It's not as though Stephens and THB have been any good so it's a low bar. Quarshie was excellent last night in a big game against good opponents and did little wrong so why not trust him.

Agree with this and Wood also carried the ball some distance out of defence. These 3 looked good together so no reason to break them up to accommodate Stephens or THB.

Pony is your middle name 🙂

You'd think they'd have a pretty good idea of the comparative merits of both players.

If they have maybe they could stick an E between the N and S. Not perfect but would give slightly more street cred.

Don't agree. If we miss out on promotion but look to be building a decent team which of our current players is going to attract other clubs because PL sides won't want them? So that leaves a move to another Championship side or to a foreign club - either option will be very unlikely to pay them more than they're getting here. So the idea of wholesale departures if we don't go up probably won't happen unless we have a disastrous season.

And getting beaten at home most weeks in the PL creates an amazing atmosphere doesn't it 🙂

So you could argue that if Scienza scores a simple header to a goal only guarded by a scrambling defender Liverpool would have been kicking off when Macca made his howler. We'd have been one up and people would have raved about Macca's goalkeeping performance and few would have been advocating a return for Bazunu. Thems the fine margins but I'd always put my trust in Macca ahead of Bazunu who continually rates bottom or near bottom for saves made and has for at least 3 seasons. With Baz in goal we go one down in the first 45 seconds because he doesn't stop the Isaac shot - even if he gets a hand to it his chocolate wrists don't keep it out.

Will Still alluded to this when asked about Downs after the game. He said something along the lines of Downs needing to make an impact and maybe he should try picking a fight with someone which I took to mean be more niggly and aggressive. He resembles a passive boxer who only gets riled when his opponent punches him hard in the face so maybe it's more that a defender needs to pick a fight with him and rough him up good and proper because he looks far too laid back and lethargic.

Think he's one of those who looks quite quick on a through ball where he builds up pace but he's very slow across a few yards or in bursts so cannot do the press or win many second balls. Also seems slow to react and is so ponderous. I don't think he's lacking effort but his style makes him appear to. He's not a hustling bustling centre forward which is probably what we needed. Doesn't appear to be capable of leaping for headers and lacks body strength and aggression. Not sure he'll make it other than at a much lower level as there just seems too much needed to work on. Think the recruitment team badly fucked up on this one considering what we paid for him. He'll probably start banging in goals for fun now 🙂

Think he was being a bit ironic/sarcastic to the fact that we again gift wrapped a goal to our opponents so did not learn anything.

So why not play well in every game? Surely that gives him more chance of attracting interest than playing well in the odd game of his choosing.

That makes me feel a lot better...not!

A Millwall fan said similar.

A good appraisal of the many weaknesses of Capt Jack and THB. Stephens is also very slow in thought and decision making when in possession which stops us from playing with any sort of fluidity, he just faffs about and dithers. On last night's showing Wood is our best centre back - he's strong in the air, has pace, can bring the ball out of defence as he showed last night and that block he made in the first half was superb. Ditch Stephens and THB who are holding the team back.

It's a possibility but the inference was that he picks and chooses when to play well which is what I'm questioning.

Good point. Assist for big Quarshie as well wasn't it although don't think it was meant - looked more like a swing and miscue that turned out to be a perfect nick into the path of Charles.

Yes, it is clearly a coincidence. Why on earth and what would Downes gain by picking big games to play well in? It is abject and utter nonsense.

Will Still said in a post match interview that Jander picked up a nasty ankle injury.

Swap Macca for Baz is a no brainer. I'd also Keep last night's 3 centre backs so Edwards instead of Capt Jack. They moved the ball far quicker than Stephens and THB, were better in the air and worked well as a unit. Other than Macca's brain fart our play out from the back looked far more assured and all 3 passed well to their wing backs and dropping midfielders. However, we all know Stephens starts every league game for reasons I can't begin to fathom because he is so slow on the ball and lacks spatial awareness.

Saints overall played very well and there were many positives not least the fact that we looked like a team rather than a bunch of individuals. The 3 centre backs played well especially Wood who deserves to start on Saturday as does Jelert who had an excellent debut at right back. Jander and Downes were strong in midfield although the former picked up a knock. Front 3 of AA, Archer and Scienza were lively - Scienza should have scored just before we gifted Liverpool their first goal. Macca made some good saves and did most things well aside from the customary brain fart of trying to play out from the back when it was not the right option and giving the ball to Chienza who set up Isaac - such a stupid mistake and Will Still was clearly fuming after the game and could not conceal his distain at another schoolboy error costing us a goal. We passed the ball well and found pockets of space to give Liverpool plenty to think about and Charles scored a deserved equaliser. A moment of class saw them get the winner but the positives far outweighed the negatives which include the fact that Downs does not resemble a professional footballer.

If he gets to be anywhere near the standard of Shane Long he'll become a very good footballer. Still don't get the derision by many because Longy did a good job for us and played all his games in the Premier League - can anyone imagine Downs playing in the PL!

He's playing against Stephens and THB so they probably make him look like Alexander Isaac.