hypochondriac

I don't mean anything extreme like selling all the experienced players and solely playing the youngsters, I'm just saying I'd rather see Ameyew and Ballard coming off the bench than Mara and Sulemana or Fraser at the moment.

I had some more thoughts about this today. If we are going to lose and perform poorly I think almost every fan would prefer to give some of our youngsters a chance to see what they could do. At the very least it would give a more supportive atmosphere at home. I'd much prefer to see the likes of Ballard as the backup this year over Mara (it would be difficult for Ballard to perform worse) and I'd probably give Dibling and Doyle a go in midfield as well and of course Ameyew who must be gutted to immediately be behind Sulemana in the pecking order. What we have just isn't working and you never know they could surprise us and outperform the so called first team. Persisting with proven failures is just bumming everyone out and leading to this terrible atmosphere.

Wasnt that one of the stated reasons for bringing in Fraser and Downes?

That's the exact same team I posted except I wouldn't have Adam Armstrong anywhere near the team.

Which is why it's absolutely ridiculous to be having pops at the fans for this situation. It's actually unbelievable what we as a fan base have had to endure the last few years and this is the cherry on the cake. Losing in that manner and by that margin is frankly obscene.

If anything I'd like to see us be less brave. Knowing when to get rid and hit it long is just as important as pretty passing and possession.

The aggregate of the last three games is 10-1...

Exactly. You could even look to transition to this new style of you're hellbent on it but you coukd do it gradually over a season.

Again, name the fan base that has gone through the last three years that saints have - particularly at home - and wouldn't react in the manner our fans do. I think we have forgotten some of the stuff they have had to endure over that period, it's truly shocking and I think at one point we were second bottom of the entire football league in terms of points won.

It means he wants them to pass it around at the back, even if their instinct tells them not to and even when the opposition know that is what is going to happen and specifically press in those areas to counter it. It's somehow brave to pass it around almost every time rather than mixing it up a bit and going long when it is warranted to prevent yourself from having to do a piece of skill to keep the ball or simply giving it away.

Bazunu KWP THB Bednarek Manning Charles Sulemana S.Armstrong Edozie Alcaraz Adams Play the wingback as proper wingbacks, give Alcaraz license to roam, ditch Smallbone and Adam Armstrong who are both god awful in their current positions, Fraser who is largely shite and maybe put Ameyew on if Sulemana needs changing. In my opinion that team beats the team we put out every day of the week.

We have a squad that - regardless of its deficiencies - is clearly good enough for top six at a minimum. Ignoring everything else for a minute this means they are clearly underperforming at present and it's primarily due to the manager no matter how much he tries to pass the buck with talk about scar tissue (wheres the scar tissue for Leicester ffs?). I think the pressure is getting to him.

I think if we lose this - quite possible - it wont be far off the season being over. No one loses four in a row and goes up which makes it rathe unlikely in my view that we will be doing anything this year. What you want is some sign that we are starting to understand this system if we are refusing to deviate from it. We need a win first and foremost but more than that we need some confidence for other games that we are on kind of the right path and not going wildly off course.

Don't be so cynical. If we just out our hands together and believe hard enough, it will work, and if it doesn't it's the fans fault for not believing hard enough and maybe the fans will get another chance the week after.

We'll win more than we will lose is what Martin said. Well currently that is not the case.

We have a top six squad, it would be very difficult for anyone to seriously say otherwise. We have decided for some inexplicable reason that we want to be the coolest club in the championship so rather than prioritising results and pragmatic football that works and can change from game to game, we've spent months farting about with a footballing philosophy based on wingbacks doing god knows what and a passing based system that relies on skill levels found in top level premier league players. We don't have the players to be successful with this system that's true, but it's not the fault of the players that we are performing so poorly, it's this ridiculous system. That's not a mental assessment, it's absolute fact unless you think that any manager in this league would be seeing us shipping the most goals of any team that's ever played in this division for their first 7 games and getting humped in consecutive home games.

You can express serious misgivings. It's not the results necessarily, it's the manner of the defeats. They said themselves that the stayed aim is automatic promotion this year. Teams that go up automatically do not lose three games in a row and they certainly don't ship as many goals as we have and look so shambolic. It's not primarily the players, it's certainly not the fans, it's this confusing system that is causing all this and that is on the manager. They either need to have an overhaul of things tactically (even though Martin has said he isn't going to do that.) or in my opinion they are going to have to give serious consideration to what they do if this carries on over the next five to ten games. Martin needs to change.

I'm interested in all of that but I do think that appointing Armstrong as captain is an example of wrong headed thinking which is one of the reasons we are where we are. Certain posters don't like it but it may be the case that we didn't push for Piroe because we thought we had Armstrong who is similar. That's an appaling decision.

Imagine playing a system that thinks Adam Armstrong is superior to Alcaraz.

How the feck did we end up with someone as awful as Armstrong as captain? That's one of many ridiculous decisions, he shouldn't even be a starter.

We didn't win a single header from a corner. Not one.

Junking this system and playing our best players in their proper positions with a more pragmatic approach would make us more successful I'm almost sure of it.

Yep. Started the season well and it got my hopes up. Last few games have been criminally shit and unfortunately it looks like we have some fundamental problems with this approach.

Also can we bin off Smallbone and only ever play him in an emergency? He's shite.

Martin sounded defeated in the interview which is a worrying sign. Still says he isn't going to make any changes. Still having indirect jabs at the fans. Maybe if he'd had to sit through the last few years which costs so much money he'd understand why fans are absolutely fed up at having to watch dross.