Saint Fan CaM

First thing Still needs to do is get Bazunu, THB, Stephens, Manning and Fraser out of the team - I mean drop the fuckers back so they’re not even on the bench. Get them training away from the first team. They are part of the shit that is metaphorically sticking to the sole and not allowing progress. After replacing those guys with new players he needs to devise a system that allows the transition of the ball forwards through players that are mobile and not inclined to pass the ball sideways or backwards. If he and his coaching staff can’t do that then Spors needs to grow a pair and get them out. Unfortunately I fear even these extreme measures will not be enough…the club is rotten to the core and there’s little to suggest further decline is not on the horizon. There are some worryingly similarities to when we fell out of the Championship to League One last time.

AA scores in the 95th fucking minute. Shambles.

Fuck me - nearly 4-0.

Trouble is, I don’t think it’s all on the Manager. However why play the worst CB pairing from the relegation season? Why play the statistically worse GK from the last Championship season? Why persist starting a full back who can’t defend? Why leave the best playmaker on the bench? The list goes on and on and on…

3-0 … what the actual fuck? Totally outplayed and outdone tactically. Just abject shit.

Every fucking time - Stephens to Manning…Manning back to Stephens.

When the Manager was changed the entire first team should have been changed. This bunch have no clue how to win a game of football.

What a bunch of utter twats. At this rate we’ll be fighting relegation!

Manning did his usual thing of standing off the crosser of the ball. That was the first mistake. Then Bazunu did his usual crisp packet hands thing by parrying the ball straight to their player. Both scarred players.

Some of us were warning that the squad had not been exorcised enough of the losing mentality…the scars if you like. There are far too many players strolling around with the intention of breaking through 11 oppo players without anyone having the skill to do so. And then you have a manager who leaves our best players on the bench until the 75-80th minute. It’s a shitshow and no mistake.

Always perturbs me a tad when I see a strong bench - I start wondering why the players on the strong bench are not actually starting the game? I mean is there some aversion to playing our best players? 😏🤔

Ah, simpler times Badger. When I first got interested in pro footie teams me and my group of friends were not particularly interested in inter-club rivalry - if players were great in our eyes, then that was all that mattered. All that changed when I started supporting Saints of course and particularly in my mid-teens when any Pompey louts were in town for a bit of aggro. It wasn’t really until the infamous and distressing 3-4 capitulation against Leeds at SMS that I developed a loathing of the club.

HIV? (He’s Indeterminately Vapid) 😉😂

Memory doesn’t serve me well that far back 😉 but a quick Google helps… The 1972 Leeds United team that won the FA Cup against Arsenal featured key players like Billy Bremner, Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray, Mick Jones, and David Harvey. This legendary side, managed by Don Revie, secured the trophy by beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley I liked Lorimer too - renowned for the fastest/strongest shot on account that he used to toe punt shots I believe.

I wanted to be Billy Bremner when I was a kid (I’m not a ginge 😉), so naturally followed Leeds Utd not really understanding the significance of ‘home’ teams. Then as I got a little older I wanted to go to live games and Leeds was obviously too far, so started going to Saints reserve games at the Dell. I could only just afford the bus fare from Swaythling to Shirley, so kids getting in free at the Dell was the only way I could watch a pro game. I loved seeing the first team players coming back from injury and playing in the reserves to get back to match fitness. The key thing I guess in hindsight is that watching pro live football was the impetus to me switching to supporting Saints proper - as a kid, it provided a deeper connection than watching on TV. Does the Bremner idolising give my age away? 🤔

Even that doesn’t suggest they surrendered possession to us and just sat back to defend. They had more attacking intent than us in the first half.

Agree with everything you’ve said except not sure he’s useless - he got us promoted - just, although maybe that was despite his tactics!

Oh don’t get me wrong, Russ is not exempt from blame. Comparing Rangers plight to Saints is not a simple direct correlation in my opinion, but it’s clear he’s not doing a great job and will leave plenty of scars if left in place.

I think concern is that he’s inexperienced in an English football league at a time that the squad needs a massive overhaul. And the scars often mentioned are real in the sense that the style of play we’ve seen since the last Championship season has remained. Can’t underestimate the terrible state of affairs following relegation.

What? The problem with Russball was not Russball as such. It was that the players at his disposal were barely good enough to utilise his tactics to get promoted and were certainly not good enough to do it in the Prem. Nothings changed - the squad is still not good enough. Still knows that, but does he have an alternative that’s effective.

Not sure what you’re disagreeing on - Pompey did come with a game plan and executed it very well given the value of their squad versus ours - bully for them. We didn’t look like having a game plan at any time during that game. A huge derby game. So what if they were time wasting etc etc. - they got a result. We didn’t. All this bollocks about should get significantly better - when might that be? We’ve been patiently waiting for years now since SR took over. And lastly if it weren’t for the financial implications of not going up, I couldn’t give a toss about promotion. I like the Championship. What I don’t like is seeing my team look like a bunch of f-ing strangers after a full international break, playing 8 ‘old guard’ players of the 11 starting the game in the one home game that should really matter. Let’s see how we’re getting on over the next 5 games and we’ll see if there’s been an improvement.

I can’t remember exactly, but there was a point in the first half - perhaps about halfway through - when the stat was shown on the TV. True story.

Point 1: Pompey came to win - they had close to 70% possession in the first half and almost scored hitting the bar - that’s not a team sitting back. Point 2: You’re right, Saints won’t face a Pompey-type team every week…they’ll face better teams that can score goals and win games. I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

I think the issue is the supply players - those who are supposed to feed the forwards don’t have a clue what system/process/tactics/whatever they’re supposed to be utilising. They all look like strangers and it makes you wonder what the hell they get up to in training. It certainly cannot be practicing inventive ways of transitioning the ball forwards and beating defensive lines. There’s some f-ing huge scars still hanging around it seems - Still has acknowledged this himself, but so far I’m not seeing any evidence that he’s found a way to overcome the problem. For me the core of the issue is the number of ‘scarred players’ still getting first dibs on the starter team sheet.