Saint Fan CaM

You’re absolutely right. The problem is, to get out of the Championship you’ve got to play at lower Prem level at least to get near auto-promotion. Signing and playing JWP would be shooting ourselves in the foot for what? More possession? Someone who can score at least 80% of free kicks taken on goal? He’s never been a tackler…never be been a decisive provider of through balls or assists in general. If I remember correctly his corners were a pretty ineffective. There was a season where he played in a more ACM role and managed to score a couple of goals, but I suspect those days have gone. Minimal gains and a big drain on the salary budget. Not for me unless Spors really can’t find anyone better.

You may be right, however for some reason (presumably under instruction) a lot of the damage was done because in defence Edozie moved to LB so that Welington could act as another CB, possibly because It was seen that Capt’n Jack was having a torrid time. Edozie failed to be an effective LB and Stephens got in the way of Welington in his hybrid LB-CB role. The whole thing was a fucking shitshow, but I don’t think you can blame Welington who was not match fit but still managed to be as good as any other SFC player on the pitch (not hard I’d agree).

We’ve lost three influential players from the spine of our starting 11 - THB, Charles and Stewart - plus there’s a big Jander shaped hole in midfield too. Couple that with the calamity that is Stephens and Wood together and two attacking players that have yet to bed in and you’ve got a perfect storm of a squad in disarray. Using known flops like Edozie is another huge mistake. I think I said weeks back that keeping the unbeaten side from last season together will be important in maintaining momentum especially in light of Spygate. So far Spors has not replaced THB, Charles or Stewart with quality suitable replacements and that might be the defining factor for this season unless he’s got something remarkable up his sleeve. This is SR, so no-one is holding their breath. We’ll be lucky to reach top 8 playing like we did this evening.

Stephens should have been binned off for Captaining a relegated side and for playing like an arsehole.

Please go Edozie - you’ve got nothing to offer this club anymore.

WTF? Why was Edozie acting as a LB? Is this some stupid inverted inversion position or something? Shambles.

We’re in defend at all costs mode now. Just very poor value.

I’d take off Stephens for a start and put on anyone in the bench. They’d make a better stab at being a credible CB.

What the fuck do they expect? It’s a shambles performance and guess what - all because Stephens can’t kick a ball into row ZZ.

I’d get Fellows off and get Matsuki on for all the good he’s done.

Why the fuck do we revert to attacking 11 players as soon as we go one up? And give the opposition every chance to get back into game. It’s been a feature ever since Stephens has found himself back in the team, regardless of who’s next to him. Don’t like to be overly negative with our players but he provides lots of ammunition!

Looks like we’re in Jack Stephens full and boring pass mode now.

Welington doesn’t set the Workd alight but he’s nice and consistent.

Stephens is so shit at passing out of defence. Not a fucking clue.

Horrible little kick on Scienza and no fk or card. Refs a twat.

If it helps anyone I’ve got the game on Bein Sports 4, although it is a French commentary.

Lovely from Leo!

Trying figure out which SkySports channel it’s streaming on…just a load of studio chat at the moment.

Winner winner chicken dinner - nice one Mr T…that’s thinking outside the box, unlike our strikers. 😉

I’ll give you a proper strange one. When trying to buy two matchday tickets on the website you can’t buy two of three seats in a row leaving the one seat spare. I understand that single seats are less likely to sell, but when choice is limited for general admission sales surely it’s better to allow two supporters to sit together? Just seems a bit daft.

So…this protest then…

Yeah, I’ve seen links to us surfacing. Looks like a good one to replace Stephens. Not so good to replace THB.

What you’re trying to say is that he’s not off the starting line yet? 🤭🤣

I think he was trying to protect Scienza from being marked up by 3 men and getting bullied off the ball. Of course it didn’t work particularly well. One positive is that Tonda does seem to learn quickly about what the squad can and can’t do, so I agree - it’s unlikely he’ll try that one again.

Afraid I don’t agree with this entirely. When there’s the mentality to play slowly and pass the ball backwards or sideways, so they’re able to marshall 11 players behind the ball, it invites those crunching tackles on Scienza. Yes Watford are notorious cloggers who had a game plan to nobble Scienza, but we don’t help ourselves. And it’s not a one off for Manning - he’s shown time and time again that he’s brain dead when it comes to closing down attackers, not helped by Scienza not being a hard tackler himself. And from the reports I’ve seen, Manning repeatedly couldn’t cross the ball past the first defender…again, another trait of his. If Tonda is not willing to use the players at his disposal effectively we’re in for an even more disappointing season than last I fear. And for those who are already looking forward to next season and ‘becoming a Swansea or Stoke’…I fear we may have already got there.