Tommy Mulgrew

0.16xG from open play. At home. Against a team that is hardly in a run of away form. Absolutely pathetic from one of then best-resourced teams (us) in the league. Manager’s fault for setting us up so negatively and overloading us at the back and lacking in midfield and persisting with a non-CF at CF. Coaching staff’s fault for our shapeless, pressless and slow build-up play, our inability to break teams down and prevent them from pressing us into mistakes and breaking us down almost at will. Why do we persist with Manning taking free-kicks and corners instead of Scienza? Why do all our throw-ins give the ball to the opposition? Why do all of our opponents look better coached and better prepared than us? Players’ fault for playing without guile, passion and skill ( one or two honourable exceptions). Except for Leo and Jander we never looked like scoring. SR’s fault for lack of a decent CF, CDM and GK, appointing a DOF who thinks DD is the solution to our striker problem and appointing a manager who is patently not what we need atm. All this on top of the clusterfuck of the past few years is enough to try the patience of a Saint. I’m out. Hopefully not for ever. But certainly for as long as SR and Still and the present coaches are stinking the place out. Hasta la vista, baby.

http://www.fawanews.sc/

Scored 90+4 minute. 1:1 final score.

And, if he did, probably nicely tucked in the corner of the net by Macca’s near post. Same result but an OG.

Been looking at the free agent list and ignoring the small, the old and the completely unknown, these three strikers and one DM caught my eye. On has played in this country before but does anyone know anything about the others? All in all, I reckon I prefer Aribo; at least he is a known quantity. Our squad is too big anyway; I don’t know why I bothered! https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dembo-darboe/profil/spieler/699182 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gerard-deulofeu/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/129476 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/george-puscas/profil/spieler/208690 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/idrissa-doumbia/profil/spieler/430579

Why on earth have you asked this question: Perhaps you are a masochist for whom SM just isn’t quite enough.

Hmmmmm. Now let me see. I think you might be behind the times, S-Clarke. SR is ahead of the curve: we’ve been recruiting (with some notable exceptions) for league 1 for a few years now. Such foresight.

Two solutions: or http://www.fawanews.sc/ Tough choice,

Playing at Brighton without a recognised attacker in the squad, let alone the starting eleven. 0:0 at half-time. Defender at CF. If it’s good enough for the women, why not let the men try it? The chances of scoring could not be much worse than they were yesterday. Aribo and Stephens to vie for the starting spot, the other coming on off the bench. You read it here first. 🤩

Will Ferry captained Dundee Utd to draw at Rangers, 2:2; even without Martin, Rangers still cannot buy a win.

Merde! 😩 What are your thoughts on that performance, Fred? 💩

He looks about 8 years old but I see he is 16. The latest in a long line of Saints attacking midgets. Let’s hope he grows quickly from now on.

If we’re looking for a goalie, we could do worse than 29 year-old Henri Avagyan, who kept Ireland at bay for most of the match and, importantly, made several good saves. Market value 200,000 peanuts. Spertsyan was at the hub of most Armenia’s play but wasted his opps to score; an intelligent and industrious player. Azaz and Smallbone distinctly average. Manning took some good corners and got forward well but did little else but get a yellow, which rules him out of the game against Portugal.

Are you sure you were watching Saints women?

1:0 to Saints McAlonie scored after 19 minutes. Couldn’t get another. Pompey offered little.

Salisu and Sulemana scored today in a 5:0 win for Ghana v Central African Republic. Isn’t it wonderful how prolific our “rejects” are after they leave us? 🧐

Go on then, I’ll ask the obvious question: whom does he think we should sign (or should have signed) as a CF to set the Championship alight in Still’s preferred attacking style? Answers on the back of a brown envelope, please.

No. If you read the next sentence in my earlier post you will see that it ends with an exclamation mark. Perhaps I should have used an emoji. Still is known as an adaptable manager, fitting in with the players he has available to him, but we have not seen much success from his adaptability so far. He could adjust our style of play to suit Archer or Armstrong (or both) but if he does not and wants to continue with a bruiser of a CF to get his head to crosses coming from our wingers or wing-backs the players I listed are those we have who are well over 6’. We don’t yet know what he will do. Fact is often stranger than fiction. We might be surprised by his choices of a central attacker in our next few matches if Stewart is unavailable. I don’t mind what he does as long as it gets us several wins.

Agreed. But we have plenty of wildcards we could try: Aribo, Quarshie, THB and Stephens to name but four. I assume that none of the under21s is ready to step up yet. Prepare to be astounded at our forthcoming ingenious solution!

Juan scores again for Goztepe, who, with only 28% possession, win 1:0 to go third in the table, up there with Galatasary, Trabzonspor and Fenerbache. Only two goals conceded in eight games. Why cannot we learn something from our sister club?

Agree with all that. Except for a proper CF and a decent back-up to Macca, our squad is totally acceptable for getting promoted from this league. What is missing is how we play effectively most of the time. When we progress forward at pace, either by passing to unmarked players or willing runners or by running directly into the danger zone with the ball, as Leo did yesterday, we look as though we could score loads of goals. But we don’t do enough of that. Look at our crab football on Saturday. I’ll say it again. Look at our crap football on Saturday. Always gives enough time for getting 10 players behind the ball to defend against us. And seldom draws opponents out-of-shape. At least, with Still, it occurs mainly in the middle third of the pitch and not in our defensive third, which it seemed to under Martin. But it slows the game down to walking pace and we find it difficult to up the pace again. I find it impossible to believe that every other Championship side can impose an effective block on our forward passes whereas we struggle to do the same to them. But that is exactly what my eyes tell me. Where are our unmarked midfielders and unmarked attackers? Where are our attackers making runs to receive the ball? When they do run into unmarked space, why do they rarely receive the ball? Crappy crab football sets in yet again. It is a really depressing watch. Almost as bad as when Martin was our manager. And, when they receive the ball, our wide players are immediately closed down whereas we almost always give theirs (especially on our left) plenty of time to cross into our penalty area. Closing down opponents is a basic part of the game. We do it (most of the time) in the middle of the pitch; why not out wide? Our main on-pitch failings are coaching-related. Still and his coaching team have not yet worked out how to win and win again and again in this division. Until they do, us fans will remain disappointed and frustrated. It’s the SR Saints way, unfortunately.

Not according to those in charge of Birmingham, of all places: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5yv8qj0y0zo That attitude will get only stronger, I’m afraid. Sad. What hope is there for almost all EFL clubs?

Liverpool need CB cover now that Leoni is out for the rest of the season. Perhaps Lallana can at long last do something positive and put in a strong recommendation for Cpn Jack. 😀

Well, well well (and btw I agree); I wonder whether that consideration entered the thought process of those who came up with the suggestion. 🤔

What is Kevin Davies doing these days? Surely he wouldn’t turn down the chance of getting 100 (or more) yellow cards. I’d suggest George Kirby but he’s a bit past it!