Saint Fan CaM

They’re going to win because there’s not the belief that we can win. No use of our extra man. Sullemana is having a fucking mare!

Point is, Walcott is getting into the positions to create the chance in the first place. If that carries on against 10 men he will score. Key here is make the pitch big and don’t panic…1 point is better than none today. The longer the game goes on the more chance we can hit them on the break. Sulemana’s decision making is not honed yet - could have given Walcott a lovely assist to put us one up.

If Carling did…

Would be mad not to play him really if he’s fit. He and Lavia have been the bright sparks of the recent intake, with Tall Paul and Sully not showing their value just yet. Can’t see Che not holding his place - that assist on Saturday was sublime and something we’ve been missing. A friend said to me at the weekend that they thought Che looked better as an advanced midfield provider than an out and out striker…can understand that.

And your thoughts on the game are? 🤨

This is going to be a difficult one, despite their humiliation at the hands of Liverpool, unless of course their players want to send an adverse message about their Manager. Think Selles will need to consider a more conservative formation to protect our fragile defence/GK, but still have pace up top to hit them on the break and give us a chance of a goal. A great result would be a draw…an unbelievable result a tight win (we rarely look like scoring more than one). Bazunu AMN. Bednarek. ABK. KWP/Perraud Diallo. JWP. Lavia. Sully/Walcott. Alcarez. Che.

Ran the calculator and still had us relegated.

It’s a win. No need to over analyse too much, but suffice to say Che made a difference to our attack even in his role as providing an exquisite through ball to Alcarez who finished as well as a seasoned striker. That was the main difference. JWP’s penalty was negligent…an easy chance spurned and the 2nd from a supposed specialist in a season where goals have been few and far between. As for booing fans I cannot for one instant condone that during the match - it is the height of stupidity in my opinion. Do it if you must after the match has finished, otherwise be a supporter…goodness knows this team needs all the help it can get! The only concern I have now is how Selles sets us up for the United game. 442 might be too ambitious so I think 4321 might be a good plan. 3 of JWP, Diallo and Lavia. 2 of Sully and Alcarez. Che up top.

Wonder if the new Director of Football will still be joining from City? Not a sustainable appointment for a Championship team, but sounded like it was all done and dusted.

There is a well known saying - "there are two certainties in life - death and taxes". There's an even more well known saying now - "there are two certainties in life - Saints will be relegated and the Saints / Leicester game will be first on MOTD with Lineker able to gloat over the win". 🤨😉

Trouble is Djenepo invariably looks like Bambi on ice which I think influences officials to ignore stuff like this. If that’s Grealish etc. he goes down writhing in pain, the Ref gets surrounded and there’s a card and free kick. Our lot just give up or get distracted and lose their composure.

Absolutely. Thing is, even if your team is not doing so well, the joy of going to a home game is soaking up the atmosphere and feeling part of something bigger, whether you go with mates or just on your own. One of the reasons I’ve given up my ST of many years and stopped going is because I just don’t get that feeling of inclusivity from the club or a match day anymore. Add in the other inconvenience of Sky/BT Sport re-arranged games meaning missed games and the decision was an easy one.

I know it’s an old hobbyhorse for many, but decimating the more vocal home support in the Northam is a recipe for a quiet game. Those in the ‘home end’ galvanise the rest of the ground or at least they used to. The “we’re the Northam over here” chants were a bit Noddy perhaps, but at least the home support sounded like it had a voice. Last nights lack of attendance, the take over of the Northam by the Grimsby fans and the resultant lack of home support voices made for an atmosphere as bad as I can remember ever.

Yep. The Johnstons Paint Trophy. 😜

Agree with all that, except the bit about Perraud. He’s not the cause of why we’re so shit in any way and in my opinion, he’s as good as any other bottom 8 team LB’s. In terms of a prediction…it will be Saints 0 (we can’t score) - Leicester 2 (they’re not much at the moment).

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Don’t really know where to start…it was so poor. I do believe I called this result (but can’t be arsed to check). For a start as soon as I saw Grimsby we’re going with a 3-4-2-1 formation I knew they were going to pack midfield to stifle the game…with us in a narrow 4-2-2-2 their tactic worked. Selles did nothing to change things around when it was obvious a L2 team was able to press a Prem team consistently well and stop us playing. A couple of accurate long balls over the top behind their high line in the first half would have given them something to think about, but no, we dallied around as usual. Fair play to Grimsby - they looked fitter and wanted it more. Selles also got it wrong making so many changes to the starting line up…should have switched players around after the game had been put to bed. Players I thought were particularly poor - DCC, Orsic, Djenepo, Armstrong, Mara, Aribo, Lyanco. The rest of the team were nothing special - Walcott, Perraud, KWP, JWP, Lavia, Alcarez, McCarthy, nipper. Honestly, if this is the standard of football we can look forward to in the Championship (relegation is an absolute certainty), I fear for our place in league 1 the following season because I watch better teams in those lower divisions. There’s a distinct lack of creativity, teamwork and attacking prowess and I suspect it’s partially the players and partially the manner in which they’re being told to play. Fair play to the Grimsby fans who travelled to support their team, but I mightily peeved that our ‘home end’ supporters are turfed out to accommodate oppo fans…the atmosphere for Saints fans once again was truly awful. We may have as well have played at their ground. But I’m mostly amazed that I managed to get my thoughts written without resorting to expletives. Night night.

4-1-2-3 would suit the players available to us I think. Think Bazunu needs a break, but they're too scared to do this - might impact the investment for a sale. I'd have Caballero despite his age. The fullbacks should be KWP and Perraud - good players in their proper positions. CB's ideally should be DCC and either ABK or Salisu. The latter two don't hold enough experience together. Then Lavia in the CDM role, but important that he doesn't sit too deep when we're in possession. Ahead of him is JWP and Alcarez with the licence to push forward as required. Top three for me would be Sully, Tall Paul or Che, Edozie or Adam Armstrong. Mara and Orsic on the bench - not ready for a start yet. The key to any of this working is how the team moves as a unit in terms of pressing or attacking - must be as one. And when we're in possession, make as many one touch quick passes as possible by ensuring there are always at least two other players within 10 yards open to a pass. Oh yeah and don't dally with the ball and certainly don't attempt kamikaze passes across the backline or via the GK!

There we go - fixed it for you. 😘 🤣

Oh dear, if Aribo gets selected we're effectively giving them an extra man. To be fair Walcott and AMN should be fine against a league 2 team - but we all know that's not how the FA Cup works. I just hope whoever is on the pitch gives a damned good account of themselves - fearless and composed, making Grimsby look like the lower league team rather than the other way around, as we've sadly seen too many times.

Here’s a horrible thought. What if we lose tomorrow in the Cup game - will that destroy what little confidence is left? We seem so fragile at the moment I can honestly see things turning really sour midway in the first half.

With all respect to JWP I don’t think he’d get an offer from a top of the table club unless it’s to sit on the bench and see out his career. Just don’t think he offers enough to be considered a starter in a top team. I personally hope he continues to be loyal to Saints - kids nowadays have little enough to be proud of in terms of legacy and having footballing hero’s.

I just missed out on the delight of the Kingsland padded seats being right on the gangway of block 32. And yes, I think there’s every chance of getting a ticket to any match I fancy going to in the future…nice to be able to pick and choose.

Mmm…not surprised to be honest. I really got very little joy from my ST last season what with moved match times and disappointment in performances and results. So when the choice of renewing presented itself with the pressing energy/fuel costs coming just as I retired, it was a very easy decision to give it up after so many years. In some respects, given I’d waited so long to get what for me was a perfect seat, I’m still surprised how much I don’t miss going…the atmosphere became generally shit (one of my last home games I had to suffer a pissed Pool supporter giving it large two seats in front of me and the Steward doing nothing), the football from Saints was (is) painfully poor, having to pander to Sky etc.. Now I can watch any game from the comfort of anywhere with a decent Leffe beer and snacks, while commiserating with you lot….happy days!

Would the club attempt to hold them to their contracts, assuming the contract allows the club to hold them? This in the expectation that we can return quickly as part of a ‘master plan’ project and building for the future? To be honest, outside of Lavia, I’m not sure we’d have Prem teams beating our door down for many of our players when they’ve been part of a very poor relegated team.