Saint Fan CaM

First shit cock-up by Ely. He's slower than drying paint.

Great - ABK fouled and injured so badly that he's off. Bastards.

Not now - looks like he's off with an injury. Nice. Won't affect the result.

Well either Selles will show us what an absolute tactical genius he is with that line-up or it'll suggest that there are other reasons why he has to pick these players and he's just another wannabe Prem Manager that can't get it right. I know where my vote would fall and it wouldn't be in thinking he's after Pep's job. Talk about capitulation - this is a real shambles.

The McMenemy Stand The Channon Stand The Le Tissier Stand The Marcus Leiber Stand

Interestingly, one of the things that I learnt from studying Economics at College was that the UK's balanced economy has generally served us well since the Second World War and this is brought about by a swing between the Conservatives and Labour - in simple terms one advances us in a certain direction, the other advances us in another direction. The Tories of course have seen the lions share over recent decades and the Blair years were successful (in home affairs) because his Government was centre left. Boris got a huge majority because he presented a pseudo-Socialist agenda and pretended to be Mr. UK for Brexit. You're spot on with the lack of credible alternative - the way things are, 'Joe average' voter may still not vote Labour, mainly because there's a growing apathy to make change in general - the majority being comfortable enough not to risk change and adopt the better the devil you know stance. On the other hand, there may be some that are now of the opinion that enough is enough - the pendulum needs to swing the other way for a while to regain that 'balanced economy' and perhaps a 'balanced society' too. If Labour find the right Policies they'll get a landslide which is preferable to a hung parliament.

Don’t often get drawn into political chat as generally I’m of the opinion that politician's have no real answers to most of the things that really matter to the country. Plus it really pains me to hear anyone spouting off about the Govt not spending enough on this and that, but then in the same breath complaining about taxes being too high. Sustainable energy supply is of critical importance to our future yet neither party is committing seriously to how new power infrastructure (nuclear and adequate to serve the Nation for the next 50+ years) will be achieved within the next 10 years. And it has to be state owned or at least owned by a UK resident company. We should not be ‘held hostage’ by another country ever again, but there’s no cross-party strategy (which needs to be embedded in law to ensure longevity). Our utilities (e.g. water supply and sewage) are crumbling due to under investment. Water supply is a basic human commodity that should be owned by the State once again to serve the Nation. But there’s no backbone to address it or the money, so nothing will happen even under Labour. The NHS is a fantastic concept and deserved of success, however it’s been terribly mis-managed over decades and in its current over-stretched form is unsustainable as a free to all service. It is broken…anyone who’s tried to see a GP lately will testify to this. There are some unpalatable decisions that need to be made to cut the cloth, including the exclusion of certain non-life threatening conditions from free treatment, but neither party will bite the bullet…not even the Tories, who have deliberately steered the service to its state of failure. Even Labour don’t have any cohesive sustainable answers either…just sticking plasters at best. The whole concept of attracting retirees back to work is laughable. Successive Governments have previously encouraged people to scrimp and save for retirement to increase their chances of a more prosperous, longer life. Working times meanwhile have increased and pressure from employers to do more and more have taken their toll, so more and more people are realising that having a life outside of work with less money, is better than going to work to enjoy a small percentage of the week (when you’re knackered from work anyway) and then dying before enjoying retirement. And of course this was very much encouraged by loosening the pension controls giving more choices from age 55. A good number of my friends have realised that they’re better off in all respects being retired and would not contemplate returning to work to earn more money which they’ll have less time to spend and will get taxed to the hilt anyway. Rant over!

When we can’t beat Grimsby, or any other number of mediocre teams, you know the games up. We can’t score goals…there’s very little indication that the team know how to utilise each other to score goals. With the slow ponderous pace Saints play in possession, Spurs will easily counter any attack to the point where we’ll perhaps muster 1 or 2 shots on goal and even those might not be on-target. I can see Selles setting us up not to lose rather than trying to win, so the best result I might imagine in that scenario would be 0-0, but we all know that’s not going to happen unless the game is cut down to 15 minutes per half. Spurs however have goals in abundance in their side, so in reality I’m expecting a 0-3 embarrassment and the usual post match excuses. Reckon the team will be… Bazunu AMN. Bednarek. ABK. Perraud. JWP. Diallo Alcarez. Ely-no-usey. Che. Theo. Only possible change to the above is that Lavia may start as they will be thinking he’ll need to be in the shop window against a top 6 side starting around now ready for a summer sale.

Can their squad play 4222? If not could be a disaster in waiting for them.

Funny, I was clearing out a cupboard the other day and came across some old Saints stuff from the (end of) Lowe days, among which was a programme with notes by Michael Wilde, a window sticker for Saints FM and a window sticker…wait for it…saying ‘A Saints supporter for life, not just the Premiership’!!! Talk about Deja Vu. 🤣🤣🤣

Once again, after suffering another disappointing performance at home, I've been subjected to another invite to complete a supporter survey. I'm usually truthful in my answers to surveys anyway coming from a career in standard setting, but I've let them have it both barrels this time. Do I think anything will happen? Of course not - how do you explain in a survey 90% focused on subjects such as food, turnstiles and the welcome from staff, that you've been driven to utter despondency due to the very poor standard of entertainment being served up on the pitch for at least three seasons running? Or that the atmosphere is crushed by our 'home end' being constantly messed about with due to ticket sales to opposition fans? I think I need counselling, but these surveys just seem to rub salt into the wound!

That’s because the coaching is not good enough. There’s some sort of policy clearly insisting on the same slow build up play, re-cycling the ball between the midfield and CB’s, hardly ever threading in a through ball or putting one over the top for Sulemana to run onto. It’s been like this for years and at least three managers. Why?

Not only that, but he’s playing for a team that has decent coaching and co-players that know how to pass/attack at pace. He’d be wasted here and frankly, I don’t see him wanting to come back. Wouldn’t blame him one bit.

If it takes just two players in such a large squad to disrupt the first team that speaks volumes about how poor the quality overall is, including the coaching. Yes, Ely-no-usey was terrible and contributed little, but Diallo was actually no worse than JWP and at least showed more flair and ability to move and pass forward. Diallo was definitely not the reason we lost that game…it was all about the non-existent goal threat, the lack of pace in attack waiting until all 11 opposing players were behind the ball, the lack of through balls, the lack of ideas in and around the box.

Be in that dwindling number!

Re-group and go again?!?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The reason we can’t win games is because we don’t score goals. The reason we don’t score goals is because nearly every attacking move involves waiting for the opposing team to re-group into 11 men behind the ball, thus making it difficult if not impossible for our mediocre players to break down a defence. Contrast this to the excellent creative move for the recent Che assist / Alcarez goal. We just don’t do that stuff enough. It’s not just Diallo and Ely-no-usey…JWP is a culprit too, along with our two centre backs who dawdle on the ball (although who they’re supposed to thread a pass to is anyone guess). Brentford are well drilled, set up to compete and generally play fast flowing football. They don’t have well known expensive players. In fact to be honest they had few chances this evening, but they were tidy and clinical in taking their 1st goal (that essentially won the game). We were no match and that’s the sad reality. We are not as good as Brentford…let that sink in. The madness is that we’re still not mathematically down, but those who know a dysfunctional team when they see one will know that we’re dead certs for the drop. In truth, we have been all season.

Like others have said I was pleasantly surprised at his ball control and passing. However, his heading ability is nothing to write home about and most importantly for me, he doesn’t seem to have a sharp footballing brain…i.e. his positional sense is poor, meaning he will see very few chances or create very few chances. Not that he can’t improve…but we’ve seen how this goes with other strikers that don’t have that natural instinctive talent for the Prem…it doesn’t end well. Compare him to Lambert who came up from the lower leagues - he had that instinct that gave him a head start.

As is often said, there’s no point over analysing what other teams do. We have to concentrate on winning our games and if that’s still not enough at least we can be proud of our team for giving everything.

Oh I get it now. Your TSW name is a red herring…it’s you! 🤣

So you think we’ve got a better or equal chance of beating Spurs rather than Brentford? Really? Of course we don’t HAVE to beat Brentford - we don’t HAVE to win another game this season - but if we don’t start picking up three points we will ultimately run out of time and opportunities. With that in mind, it’s true to say that thanks to the abysmal performances up until Jones was sacked, EVERY game from now until the end of the season is ‘must win’. Or to put it another way, I wouldn’t send a team out saying “don’t worry…just have a fun time…we don’t need to win”, would you? 🤔🤨

Laurie McMenemy will always be revered for his work with the club and in particular winning us the Cup in ‘76. I know from first hand experience that he’s a great guy to spend time with and has some wonderful stories to tell.

Yep, can't help myself...snagged a ticket. Huge game..too huge for a stream.

Cannot underestimate Brentford and the relatively great season they’re having. They’re a well drilled side, difficult to break down and able to find ways to win games. We’ll need to once again be at our best to get a result, but three points here could be huge. I’m not overly confident to be honest…head says 1-2…heart says 1-0.

That table makes for very sobering reading. When you’re bottom it doesn’t matter how many heroic draws you achieve - it’s three points that gets you out of the mire and we’re just not capable even against 10 men. Shocking how few shots on target our strikers got away…I stand by the contention that’s what will relegate us.