teamsaint

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

And yet only one of them has made the team of the season. KWP, THB and Downes are top quality. Bednarek, Stu and AA have been decent for the most part. Fraser, Aribo and Adams are good on their day but those days seem sporadic at best. The rest I can pretty much take or leave.

So much of our supposed talent has contributed f**k all. Sully, Rothwell, Edozie, Alcaraz, Mara, I wouldn't care for one second if they all left tomorrow.

What is your problem with Edozie ? ( can’t disagree about the rest although we do seem to have been worse without Alcaraz around the squad?) 

2 hours ago, West end Saints said:

McKenna two points from last two games

Maresca 0 points from last three games

Farke one points from last two.

Martin six points from last two.

Clearly only manager who can handle the pressure.

 

 

(Not serious point!)

Not sure why he seems to make it hard, but suppose after good early start and wanting a comfortable 3-0, what happened was more enjoyable.

Those criticising subs- there were some tired players there today, Smallbone played very well but was correct to sub him. I would have been tempted to change KWP, he was puffing and leggy towards the end.

 

 

Jo Tessem was adamant that KWP needed subbing from quite early .

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Fella and his annoying kid next to me left on 95 minutes "seen enough". 

 

 

My Grandfather left Saints V Norwich early in about 1973, and I was sitting with him, and had to leave with him

missed a Paul Gilchrist equaliser.

Suffice to say, I haven’t left a game early since that time, other than two which were well and truly over.

Match after match …....” The goals we conceded were rubbish”. 

Maybe the next 8 games will help him sort this out. Would be nice. 

1 hour ago, Saint In Cornwall said:

Flames - Sia

Match of The day theme

Great Balls of Fire. 

27 minutes ago, Chez said:

Was the game shown live? I can't remember it all.

Pretty certain it wasn’t. But it was at least at 3.00 PM on a Saturday as it should be. 

I thought that I remembered Moran missing a decent chance, maybe not long before the first goal ? 

Very sad news. Great player for us, such an important part of building a promotion side,and as part of probably our best ever team in the early 80s, and did as much as could be expected following Lawrie as manager .

A sad end to a distinguished life. As a player my main memory will be of seeing that thunderous long distance goal for Villa in the League Cup Final second replay at Old Trafford.A truly classic football moment.

RIP

A couple of injuries to some of the best players for any of the teams  would make a huge difference to the outcome.

There is a very long way to go.

4 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

SSN not particularly interested in our game. Got a one line comment from Sherwood.

Best he leaves it at one line, really.

2 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Yep. Whatever happened at Saints (or Stoke for that matter), his record at that level is very impressive.

Presumably this will save Saints some of the redundancy payments ? I guess deals are done so that both Saints and Jones are better off with him in a job ? 

22 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

What’s the most visits a team has made to St Mary’s without ever winning a game? That was Wednesday’s eight unsuccessful visit in all comps, they last won here at the Dell in 1997.

We had a very long unsuccessful run against them in the 70s and 80s I think., broken “ only” by cup QF win in 84.

3 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/12/championship-predictions-season-december-2023-24/

 

Some interesting predictions from Opta's Championship Super Computer. We're still an outside bet for top two but we've got play-offs nailed on basically.

So they are predicting, on average   89 points for Ipswich , which is just 1.6 points per game from now , the same as WBA have done to date ? 

If somebody offered RM a 90 point target for promotion, he’d take it in a heartbeat, I should think.

I was wondering what realistically would be a good target for us to hit from here. We have 4 very tough away games , (including Leeds last day and who knows how that will affect things ).

13 wins, 6 draws 3 defeats would get us to 93, if my maths is correct.
 

1 minute ago, CSA96 said:

For the opener he also went 'ARRIBA, ARRIBA, ARIBO!' 

I managed to miss that ( not being at the game today) due to a mislaid ( but now discovered ) phone.

Most try to see the goal. JA is looking the business at last. Does demonstrate how being in a poor side ( and maybe out of position) can make a decent player look substandard.

In the side ahead of Charly is quite a compliment about how well he is doing.

11 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Was that the usual commentator on Saints player? Seemed like he'd been at the sherry with his comments on goals one and three. Clockwork mouse wtf

I think he said the clockwork mouse thing twice ? I wouldn’t be calling him that unless I was very sure of myself. !! defenders must dread facing him.

Anyway, terrific performance , good to see us do what we know the squad is capable of. Other champ sides can only dream of having the likes of Che, RF and Charly on the bench, so we need to make hay.

Mental strength  is going to be key. I think RMs pretty tough start to life here will stand us in good stead.

The cup winning season we went 16 unbeaten in league and cup , starting with this beating of Sunderland, and ending at York.

24 minutes ago, obelisk said:

When I look at the Saints squad I just think we should be doing better than this. And then I remember the lack of a prolific striker, something that I should be used to by now.

Saints should make the play-offs but I wouldn't bank on them having enough to win through that sort of tension at the moment. Who knows though, by that time things might be starting to click at long last. I think we can now forget about automatic promotion.

Compared to the last promotion team, the very obvious difference in quality is SRL. That team went up with 88 points, a total we may well beat this season.

Last season the current points total would have had us second , just behind the  leaders on GD.

1 hour ago, SNSUN said:

M-m-m-My Girona

They have a knack of winning…..

1 hour ago, JRM said:

Feel sorry for big Nige. 

Could be interesting 

 

So if City want Jones, and offer him less money than we are paying him , presumably a deal can be struck that reduces our payments, and gives him more money overall  than his pay off deal? 

29 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

The female commentator had it spot in so slow and safe passing no threat until be upped the tempo.

Teams can stroll back behind the ball by the time we pass it ten times between goalie and defence and midfield.

Yep, she has us worked out, and if she can, so can  Championship managers. 

Couple of great strikes from Tommy Conway for Bristol City last night.

4 hours ago, the colonel said:

So what happens next if we lose our 5th on the trot?

Then we will have had( within the first 10 games)  a worse losing run than the dismal side of 2008/09 managed. 

Just out of interest, through 2007/08 and 2008/09 I think we had just one run of four straight defeats, in December 2008.

and they were two really terrible seasons, and we know how it ended.

Puts this run into certain context.

40 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

What's wrong with changing things up a bit from game to game, changing up the formation based on who we are playing? No one has yet explained why having a philosophy means having to make the same mistakes constantly until we get a bit better at it. 

Nothing wrong at all with changing the system, but nobody ever wins things without a settled back four and decent cover in CM.A non- negotiable start point. Inverted full backs might, just might be part of the mix from time to time, but only when we have developed real solidity, and that is a way off, as we all know.

49 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

He should be sacked on the team he selected last night alone.

Also, what is this bravery he talks about?  Is it continually playing sideways and backwards until we lose it, or hoof it?  Strachan called it propaganda football and he was spot on.

The sooner he goes the better.

Very little point in being “brave “if you have literally nobody to pass to, and nobody moving. Might as well lump it out of play 30 yards into their half. 

After that shambles last night , we could go very simple 4-4-2

Whoever fits the  MF and defensive slots best, Adams and Armstrong up front, get something useful out of KWP as an orthodox RB, and at least we would look like a proper team.

obviously we won’t, and with the we have injuries, I’m very pessimistic.

Oh, and it is time for Aribo to step up and earn his wages. Thought he at least looked interested when he came on last night.