Saint Fan CaM

Understand your point, but I don’t think Jones is seen by the club as a long ball tactician…just someone who instructs his GK to mix it up a bit with better distribution - supposedly Bazunu’s strength. So in short I do think Jones is a safe bet appointment in the event of relegation - perfect preparation for a tough first season in the Championship. When an organisation wants to change out top management and bring in preferred candidates, the moves will be planned and executed over months if not years. It’s kind of a win-win…Jones keeps us up, he’s a hero and we get a very suited DoF. We go down, we’ve got the best Manager for the league and a ready made DoF to re-build as new CEO. Think Shields was another piece in the jigsaw but that didn’t work out as planned clearly.

Looks like they didn’t look back at all the lost games to check whether we had scored in any of them. And then look to see how times we’d won with a margin of more than one goal. The stats don’t lie - worst GD in the league surely tells you it’s not just about the defensive aspects of the game…we’ve not been scoring goals and goals win games. I’m shocked to read that SR and Semmen’s have apparently ignored this fact.

A turnaround of that magnitude is not going to happen. The more I think about what’s happened since Ralph’s sacking, the more I think we’re preparing for the Championship. As I’ve said elsewhere, this goes right to the top with the sacking of Semmen’s and the new Director of Football stepping in - a perfect choice to provide continuity for all the youngsters we’ve signed…someone who knows how to develop and utilise (read sell) emerging talent. #saintsy

Exactly this. He’s always been our player and unless Villa had an option to buy then he was always going to come back at some time. Obviously his remarks on departure were bizarre to say the least, but probably indicative of either a shortage of brain cells or an overzealous agent speaking for him, rather than any dislike of Saints (although I suspect he’d had enough of some of our lovely ‘fans’ screaming abuse at him). I suspect the latter - “going to a bigger team” is a lazy stock phrase. Villa clearly didn’t like what they saw of him in training and that speaks volumes about where our squad is quality-wise. NJ is talking him up because the only way he’ll wring benefit out of him is to make the other players think he’s in contention with a chance of starting.

I think the smart money would go on certain relegation at this point. There’s very little evidence on show to suggest this squad and the inexperienced Manager has anywhere near enough to climb away from the bottom three. Even a new striker of repute would very likely not be enough. Which has me thinking that the club started preparing for the Championship when they sacked Ralph…that’s why it took a while to finally pull the trigger. The only aspect that might counter this is the appointment of the new Director of Football, unless of course he’s being lined up as Semmen’s successor when we go down, which would be just deserts given the shitfest he’s served up over the last 5 years. Yep, the dominoes are being lined up.

Exactly. Jackson, despite only being a strong rumour, was representative of the clubs efforts to sign a striker better than Adams, Armstrong or Mara that we’ve needed for nigh on two years. That this has seemingly failed with circa 75% of the window gone by (and a clutch of winnable games), the competency of the Board must questioned. Throw in the appalling entertainment value we’ve endured and the consequences of relegation to all aspects of the club and it’s no surprise supporters are alarmed.

And your point is what? What exactly do you find ironic? Do you think our league position has been lost on the rest of us? But well done for your insightful opinion - it’s err, enlightening (🤣).

Just watched the NJ preview of the game. How many other managers, when answering a question, reflect on their own playing career? I don’t know whether it’s arrogance or just a lack of experience, but there’s little he says that gives me confidence in his credibility.

How about the disallowed goal in the Cup final against Utd?

Ah good. The defender who is regularly caught ball watching. OK then.

Unfortunately I think Bednarek will be seen as another opportunity to tinker with the starting backline, rather than playing players where they’re best suited…I.e. KWP and Perraud at RB/LB for example. Rinse, repeat, fail.

A broken clock is right twice a day. Obviously there’s some semblance of quality in the squad and enough that when it clicks it clicks really well. Sometimes it’s easier beating the better teams - who knows, perhaps NJ said “look lads we’re probably not going to get much out of today - just go out there and express and enjoy yourselves” and hey presto they did just that? Or to put it another way, the less of a clue NJ has, the more the players have to adapt and play their own game to their own strengths. Stranger things as they say… 😉

NJ has probably seen Pep or Klopp change out three when it’s going tits up. The difference is they have three quality players on the bench that understand exactly what their job is and how to execute it. Our lot (entire squad) look like they don’t have a clue what they’re supposed to be doing and if you’re a forward player you’ve given up picking up the scraps hoofed at you anyway.

Cup games can be exciting affairs, however this is more of an ‘exiting’ affair. Newcastle have better players, a better manager, have better tactics, better discipline on and off the ball and last but not least, they score goals. Then there’s the VAR decisions that will thwart even the briefest glimpse of a good game for us, such is the bias nowadays. Think we will head into the 2nd leg 0-2 down…possibly 0-3. Oh well never mind, the apathy is starting to take hold so I’ll try and convince myself it doesn’t matter.

It’s wrong to label a pro player shit…even in the Championship they’ve reached an elite level in relation to the pyramid of the sport. The right question is, are they capable of returning a good performance in the context of (a) the league and opposition they face and (b) the instructions of the Manager they play for. Che (and Armstrong) achieved well in the Championship under those conditions, but moving to Saints changed the context. A change of Manager has not improved their fortunes because NJ has even less off a clue how to utilise a squad lacking in EPL quality than Ralph did. We might have got away with one of Che or Arma…two failing in the same position is a recipe for disaster, as we’ve seen.

It’s an interesting insight and AB asked the right question, but the big issue is around the appointment of Ralph’s replacement which is an impossible topic for them to explore in a public forum. The style and substance of how the team plays and the team sheet will dictate whether the project is a success or not in the short, mid and long term. This is where the key investment needs to take place, however despite some fortunate wins, they’ve demonstrably got this wrong in my opinion with Jones appointment. That and not improving the pool of striking capability in the SUMMER, but that’s a function of them either backing or sacking Ralph at the end of last season. Everything has happened too late…Semmens is behind the curve when you need to be on the front foot to match or better every other club in the Premier league. My biggest fear during Ralph’s reign to date is the deficient style of football we’ve witnessed over the last 3-4 years. It’s not always been this bad, but the substance of how we play has deteriorated due to the quality in the squad being eroded. One goes hand in hand with the other. Where has the pass and move gone? Where has the ‘press as a pack’ physicality gone? Nathan Jones is not a bad Manager - he’s just one that does not know how to be successful in the EPL and now even decent player signings will not get us out this mess. The squad we’ve got is capable- they’re just being managed wrong and the buck stops with the weakness inherent in the Board.

A clinical striker yes, but using an excellently delivered ball to score. When does that ever happen for our dead-ball wonder boy JWP? Never is the easy answer!

Poor starting line up. Poor tactical setup. Poor performances from starting attacking players. Shit officials. Slow to make changes when things not working. Squad thread bare on quality. 37% possession AT HOME!!! This is a team that is showing all the signs of going down.

Another shit JWP corner and no guile from the players to get on the ball.

Utter shit. We’re going down. There’s just not enough about us, either in the bank, in the squad or in management. Why did we think otherwise?

Oh come on … VAR will rule this out…corrupt officials.

Get the very fuck in!!!!

Lavia and Edozie off??!!!?? WTF?!?!

Bazunu is an absolute bell-end!

Wouldn’t touch Edozie, but if I were Jones I’d tell the lad to get his head up a bit more and look to thread a ball through once in a while - completely ignored opportunity’s to put JWP through. Armstrong is not working in his current role - get Orsic on as an unknown. Diallo is having a bit of a mare so Lavia is not able to assist in the forward line, but too early to swap Jim out yet. Lyanco is a red card waiting to happen, so Perraud on and KWP to RB.