Tommy Mulgrew

RM had talks with Brighton during the international break according to Football Transfers. https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/transfer-news/tag/exclusive-newsnow/exclusive-transfer-news-brighton-russell-martin-roberto-de-zerbi-jacque-talbot Could explain a few recent things, including his strange comments earlier today.

Death by a thousand passes so far, with us just as likely to die as Blackburn.

Which is why I and several others have consistently called him out for insisting that our FBs, especially Manning, play close to the middle of the pitch instead of marking their wingers and closing the latter down thus preventing unhurried crosses onto our penalty area.

The save from Salah v Liverpool last year. I think it was voted the EPL save of the week/month. It showed he had anticipation, speed and bravery in racing out towards the edge of our penalty area to smother the shot, knowing he would probably get one or two boots in his face.

No; sorry that I did not express myself more clearly: the THB at RB problem was before the Ipswich game.

When on song we are great to watch and that applies as much to our usual slick but not-getting-anywhere-fast passing game as to yesterday’s unusual quick, incisive passing-led goals. The trouble is that we do the former 99% of the time and the latter 1% of the time. And we do the former 99% of the time in our half and our penalty area. Inevitably we lose the ball sometimes and, instead of our DMs and defenders setting themselves in a solid defensive formation, our fullbacks play tucked into the middle of the pitch, leaving huge gaps that opponents’ wingers and fullbacks can exploit. Most goals we concede come from that; yesterday we saw two examples of it (maybe even three - I can’t remember enough of the build-up to the second goal) and the Middlesbrough game was similar. Even in our unbeaten run we exhibited the same weakness but managed to outscore most teams or at least get a draw. Now we face better opponents who are fired up to achieve promotion or avoid relegation our frailty is exposed more starkly. If we stop gifting space in No-Mannings Land and on the RHS as well, we shall be more difficult to score against, even with Stephens playing. Unless RM sorts out our defensive shape we won’t succeed in our efforts to get back to the EPL. What is needed is for our DOF to emphasise that as an imperative or else… . Oh we seem not to have a DOF! The Board should let rip at RM in no uncertain terms. I agree dropping KWP was disastrous and playing THB out of position was wrong. And the other points above about strange subbing decisions. But IMO the main problem is the wrong defensive shape. The rigid adherence to our way of setting up and style of play makes it worse. The red and white future is not looking as bright at present as it should do with our squad of players, who are easily good enough to achieve promotion.

No mention of his goalkeeping heroics for us, against Newcastle IIRC. https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/dexter-blackstock-the-ex-southampton-man-now-making-serious-money/

Yes, and we have discussed it at length on here before. The trouble is that we seem to suffer the defensive disadvantages of that system, especially on our left-hand side, without gaining any of the advantages. Some would say that other teams do the opposite. I could not possibly comment.

Blimey, legs almost as spindly as Peter Crouch’s.

Christophe will no doubt be devastated but probably not surprised. We could send one or two to VFC in return. Perhaps they need an Irish left-back! 😉

Cup-tied.

I see only one “sad fucker” on this forum.

Noke; you?

You did say “best players”, right?

Does anyone know what he is doing at present? He does not seem to play many games. He went out on loan a couple of times and I remember that he did well at Carlisle and seemed to have been well regarded by the manager and fans. But I have not heard much of him this season. He has the physicality needed for a reasonable cb and his background suggests that he should be skilful enough to play competently for a Championship side now or in future. He’s gone off my radar so I do not know how he is getting on now. If he does go, I wish him a good and long career at a progressive club.

A mixed day for our recent and not so recent leavers: Reading score 4 and win easily😀; Eastleigh concede 4 and lose easily 😩; Charlton draw 1:1🫤. Pompey win 1:0 and remain top of their league😭; Tranmere win 1:0 at Wrexham 😃. 😆

But Bree or Stephens would be an upgrade on Manning. Arguably, Meghoma would, too. (We have seen the truth of those statements earlier this season when those three players played at LB instead of Manning.). We could play either of those replacements depending on the strengths of the opposition. And I bet we would do better than if we did not. But, regrettably, I doubt that RM would agree. Unless RM sees sense, our promotion hopes will remain unfulfilled. IMO, of course.

I agree with you, WG, but that is not the way that our manager wants the team to do it. KM’s first instinct is to control the ball and run with it but he did not even manage to get full control of it because two opponents were on him so quickly. Perhaps he would have yanked it had he done so, perhaps not.

Because Manning fucked up a chance to clear the ball, which fell to Sully, who had two opposition players in close attendance and did not have much of an alternative to trying to cut inside and clear the danger. He did not succeed but imo it is harsh to blame him for the goal. Other than kicking the ball all the way across the pitch and out into row z, he did not have many choices available to him.

RM told Manning to cover the blaze and then tackle it. We’re still waiting. 👀

Brizzl doing the business but Leeds and Leicester win. spoke too soon: IT:BC now 2:2 finished 3:2 bugger!

This was posted a few hours ago: I think you will find that an 8.7% chance justifies “almost over” and that conceding two goals a game by having Manning play the way he is at present justifies “our chances of victory in the play-offs is under threat”. If anyone is over-reacting, it is you NNC. Still, each to his or her own, I suppose.

To me, it does not really matter whether the cause of the problem is Manning or Martin. The problem is costing us about two goals a game at present. Ultimately Martin has to sort that out. Like others on here, I would prefer, in descending order, Bree, Meghoma or Stephens at LB. Even without the required tactical adjustment to stop the problem happening so frequently, that simple change would probably reduce our goals conceded to more acceptable levels. Surely Martin and his staff and the players can see that every one of our recent opponents has targeted No-Mannings Land and been notably successful in doing so. As a result, our push for automatic promotion is almost over and our chances of victory in the play-offs is under threat. If that does not galvanise action to overcome the problem, I don’t know what will. We do not need a change of manager. We do need our present manager to act decisively and shore up our faltering promotion challenge. Him merely saying “rubbish goals” after every match without changing anything is no good whatsoever. Action, not words, Russell. Not long now until we welcome Preston. Please tell him, gio1saints. 🙏 Thank you.

Played for 90 minutes from the start today and provided the pass for Juv’s equalising goal. 2:1 to Napoli in injury time. Have not watched but he probably did well having played almost the whole game. Juve have 28% possession so not quite Russball.

I posted that on a different thread. I think it is relevant on this one; so here it is. FWIW I thought we were pretty good for the first hour or so against Liverpool, mixing up our usual approach with a more direct one via Sully and Edozie, but then went back into our predictable and ponderous, shell fannying around and getting nowhere fast, coughing up two preventable and unnecessary goals. More of the first half please, mixing up our routes out from the back so that we are less predictable and more incisive. It would help if we could score from some of our carefully created chances, though. Looking forward to tomorrow in the Venice of England.