Saint Fan CaM

Look further back in this thread.

With Orsic and Ings we would immediately take a huge step up in attack quality. While Ings is now a devisive character it seems, we’re hardly in a position to expect anything more and at least he has some supposed passion for the club. Let’s hope SR can get this business done quickly and without penny pinching.

If there was any truth in it I wouldn’t be surprised to see the club offloading ANY of the current squad in an attempt to rebuild. With the Championship looming large why not start selling now rather than later when it starts getting desperate.

However much hope there is for a win, the simple fact of the matter is that this team has been incapable of getting a much needed positive result for months. Reckon on a 1-2 loss.

Hate to appear negative but the trajectory of this team has been downwards for months and months - it’s not a new phenomenon. Jones has not got the experience, the respect of the squad or the resources to turn this around and one new striker, unless perhaps we spend £40m+ on a really prolific known scorer, will make that change. While the maths tells us that there’s still a chance I guess there’s a chance, but we were looking like dead cert relegation fodder months ago.

We were poor at the end of last season. Then SR/Semmens failed to get at least one decent striker. Then Jones was appointed. Proverbial nails in the Saints EPL coffin. It’s over for us and with some frankly frightening games/results on the horizon, it could be history making for all the wrong reasons. Is there a way out? Doubtful, but a new name experienced manager, 4-5 starting players with great credentials and a lot of luck might cut it. Not expecting any of those things to happen.

It’s going to be another bad day and another nail in the proverbial coffin. For all the reasons mentioned already, but mainly because the the Manager has no clue how to win a game and the players available offer no escape. Selling Lavia is probably the only way money will be available for transfers, but too late to make a difference anyway. Bleak mid-Winter. Score: 3-0 Fulham.

Bottom of the Prem. The rot started setting in the day Poch was sent packing and the money was taken out by Kat, with a terrible take-over option implemented so she saved face in some kind of perverted way. Marcus’ legacy fucked over by football nobodies. And now the supposedly knowledgeable SR are finishing the job off, appointing a no-mark manager and not investing in decent strikers to reverse the decline. If I’m honest I’ve known we’re due to go down as the performance’s have been so poor for such a long time. Things are just going from bad to worse and I can’t see this manager getting this group of players to save the club. Relegation will ruin the club from top to bottom financially I suspect and SR are probably in no position to weather the storm. The future looks bleak on so many fronts. Of course I hope somehow a miracle turnaround happens and the above analysis is shown to be inaccurate.

On this showing we’ll be lucky to stay UP in the Championship.

Just look at the way Brighton pass so cleanly through the lines…makes it look like they’ve got an extra player on the pitch. Our passing is incredibly poor by comparison and that’s not about passing accuracy…it’s about players moving into positions that provide an opportunity to pass. Oh and as I write this nobody closes down Gross and we’re three down and out of the game. It’s the beginning of the end and I don’t think there’s any saving us.

Oh. That jinxed that then.

Looking like no threat whatsoever. Brighton are running midfield and our forward line is just…mediocre at best.

On this showing so far we’re going down. We can’t match Brighton in any part of the pitch. Bazunu is a liability but will not be dropped because the club needs to sell him at a profit (lol - some hope of that!). I don’t even think a decent couple of players in January will save us. Looking like a poor Championship team. It’s so disappointing.

I see the situation pretty much exactly the same as the OP, but frankly with less of an impression that anything has changed much. We play a league one side at home and still setup defensively, with build up play that equals watching paint dry as a fast paced sport. I see other new managers making an immediate impact, bringing in new vigour and dynamic play. My fear that NJ is here to enact the same old ‘Southampton way’ certainly appears to be bearing fruit, but let’s see…he’s got 2-3 games to get it right and not much longer or we’ll be dead certs for relegation by the end of February.

Well if these two are the level SR are putting their faith in to keep us up, it’s goodbye Prem IMO. Totally underwhelming.

Not exactly the best draw, but at least it’s at home. The Club will give away the biggest allocation of the Northam they possibly can, diminishing further still what is an already quiet ‘home end’. So a pretty shit atmosphere to kick things off. Even if they play their 2nd team we’ll get a good tonking the way we’ve been playing, so the most positivity I can muster for this is that it will provide much needed game time for the two new super-signing attackers we’ll be getting. Yeah right.

Bizarre. Rats and ship spring to mind.

Not really when I was not specifically discussing Adams, although I accept I didn’t make that clear. Adams may have scored 8 goals, but that’s in all comps against some fairly low ranking teams. He’s the best of a poor bunch, but I would still contend that there’s a good chance our system/tactical approach is responsible for at least half the predicament we find ourselves in.

I’m not for minute suggesting that Tella is the answer, but then what is the question exactly? What I mean is, perhaps he’s doing better now because he’s more suited to the system and tactics Burnley play. After seeing an NJ side basically operate exactly the same as Ralphball, I have to say I’m doubtful even a really decent forward player would see more than 3-4 goals a season at best such is the limp nature of our attacking moves.

I can see nothing changed in the way we play. 5 at the back against a supposedly lower league team? We might as well have kept Ralph at the helm. SR and this manager will be taking us down. The only possible way out is to buy a prolific striker and excellent attacking playmaker in January and we all know that’s not going to happen. I don’t know what they’ve been working on over the last four weeks, but any form of improvement has yet to materialise on the pitch.

Thought I’d save my comments for morning after reflection. It’s no better. That was a a dismal display at home to a not very good Lincoln side, although at times they had a better idea of how to move the ball quickly than our inept lot. On that showing we’ll be smashed by most teams in the Prem and dead certs (still) to go down. I was expecting to see something different - more urgency, better off ball movement, intelligent passing…I don’t know, just an improvement of some kind. Worryingly all I saw was more of the same boring style of football dished up by Ralphball. Nothing has changed. More criminally inaccurate passing and certainly a lack of goal scoring prowess. Starting 5 at the back at home against a team two leagues lower than us - wtf?!? AMN was a liability…terrible game and doesn’t look bothered or fit. Armstrong (A) is a waste of a striker space - tries hard but is woefully short of the skill necessary to score goals. The two missed golden chances at the end were embarrassing to say the least - I can forgive Edozie given he’s still learning, but Adams showed a selfish side to his play that should not be tolerated ( good to see Djenepo give him a really hard time). Walcott showed up for the 10 minutes he remained on the field, but now will probably be on the treatment table for another 2 months. JWP…OK, but his corners are so frustratingly poor, looping up and typically easy fodder for a competent keeper. We desperately still need a very good experienced striker and attacking playmaker to save the season.

Didn’t watch the final in the end - may as well have been a fix. FIFA wanted ‘their team’ to win and they did…it was all so predictable. I think the best thing about the final was seeing Mbappe scoring three and still losing, given how he laughed so loudly at beating England. Karma served us well today.

Just pulled the trigger on a couple tickets which were booked on-line and downloaded to the phone. What’s the booking fee for…to pay me for doing their donkey work?!?! Expecting a convincing win, but it won’t be…we know that. Hoping to see the start of NJ’s influence on playing style at the very least and some Saints goals, otherwise what’s the point?!

Other than the prospect of losing the club completely, I really enjoyed the post relegation years - started with me being able to afford a decent nicely located ST seat, losing Lowe from the helm, rubbing shoulders with some influential people, then the piecing together of a new, passionate squad including SRL etc. and the incredible feeling of scoring loads of goals and winning lots of games with a rocking SMS. Let's face it, if you're a true fan can you ever really say you WISH for the club you love to be relegated - i.e. you WANT to see it fail? And the trouble now is that the consequences of relegation might not be so appealing - under the current economic situation (Worldwide), would we see another Marcus come to save us? I doubt it. No, despite previous experience, I really don't want to see us being relegated - we belong at the top table of English football.