Saint Fan CaM

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.

Great to see so many 'underdogs' showing up the various over-confident pundits. In all cases it was the effort expended and team cohesiveness alongside a modicum of skill that won out in the end. If England do not show the same grit and determination this evening then we don't deserve to go through - no complacency, work hard, ensure we score and we'll be in the semi's too.

Might actually be happy with Liam Delap - at least it might inspire the Northam to sing "he's one of our own" instead of the usual continual reliance on OWTSGMI! lol

Forget any other positions other than a striker and an attacking midfielder at the very least. Don’t sort those positions out convincingly in January then we don’t stay in the Prem in my opinion. "Who?" is a very difficult question - we need to sign players of a quality fit to join a mid to high level table team, rather than one in the relegation zone and one that has struggled to find form for months now. To be honest I think it will be nigh on impossible to find the right players willing to come and suspect we’ll end up calling back Tella as the answer. #saintsy

I doubt ABK and Salisu would have featured, so defensively the team would be weaker.

There’s always the charity tin money to fall back on. 🤣

Obviously too early to panic, but you have to say that scoreline provides a tad of a concern. Would love to see the possession stats too and to know if they hit us on the break. One thing it would strongly suggest is relegation will be a disaster with the Championship requiring another big rebuild of the squad etc. - i.e, there’ll not be an immediate bounce back to the Prem.

Ah, must be Bristol City then which makes sense as they’re Championship. Managed by a certain ex-Saints manager too.

Seems there’s a behind closed doors friendly against Bristol Rovers this week before the squad flies to Spain for a training camp and more friendlies. I hope that NJ doesn’t get all warm and cosy with the thought that there’s enough striking talent in the squad to see us safe - can’t help but think we’re heading for a quiet January wrt incoming players.

Dear oh dear, some of these games (e.g. Uruguay vs Portugal) are sooo boring…both teams so scared of losing the first half, the game is 80% passing sideways and backwards. Is this modern top class football now? If so, I’m out FFS!

Awful draw for us, right in the middle of a period where we want some confidence building wins. Palace are a niggly foul giving bunch of diving cheats that will produce a horrible game. The type our nippers will not relish. 2-0 Palace.

A home game against any team we have even a small chance of scoring against.

I think they mean Premier League relegation rivals?!?

An interesting if unremarkable read. I’m sure they believe in the project, although I suspect Semmens was more invested in Ralph than the rest of them. The fact that they had funds to attract two high level players in the summer should mean we are able to hit the ground running in January. What causes me slight concern is that Jones has been hired to slot into the club without changing much. Or at least that’s the way it read to me. Well to my mind, if he doesn’t significantly change the manner in which we attack, we will continue to lose many more games than we win. The first two games after the WC break will be very interesting indeed.

The way things have been lately, just waiting for something extremely negative or at best overly underwhelming to be announced. The enduring hope that sits alongside being a long term Saints supporter is that there’s an announcement about a new top striker signing or new big investment…yeah right.

Go to admit I don’t know enough about him and how he scores the majority of his goals. If Blackburn have unlocked his potential then it’s essential that our style of play is able to maintain the system that suits him. We don’t have the luxury of hoping another Ch’ship striker will come good in a years time.

Clearly not (although I’m not sure I’d class him in the same league as Batman or Spider-Man 😂), but then an experienced and skilled player who knows how to score goals playing a few games a season is more valuable to Saints than he is to Liverpool. Look, I’m not saying the guy is the answer, just that the right deal may be a worthwhile punt providing we still get a great striker and AM.

Surely if he’s ‘destroyed’ his knee his career would be over…certainly at the top level? If that’s true and our medical assessment shows he’s not suitable for NJ’s plans, we’ll politely decline the opportunity I’m sure.

The problem usually is that over the last few years when ‘problem’ players leave, Saints seem to have a knack of signing a lesser option which inevitably leads to an overall drop in 1st team quality and eventual flirting with the relegation zone. Ings and Romeu are the most recent examples but there are others. I guess what I’m saying is that sometimes even a ‘problem’ player is better than a lesser skilled player. A great example of this I think was Le Saux at LB - old legs when with us but positionally he knew exactly what to do and used that to maintain a very high level of performance.

That’s what decent dead ball delivery into the box gets you! 🤣

Yes agreed he has something - as does Mara - but so far it’s not transpired into consistency and success. It will be interesting to see if NJ and his coaching team can find the key that unlocks these players potential - if they can we could have a better side than we’re currently anticipating. But I still think an experienced Ox could help these players, if the deal was right…i.e free transfer and salary commensurate to his pitch time.

Wayne Thomas screamer from 35 yards out almost on the right wing - no bend, straight as an arrow, keeper rooted in shock. Was sat midway up in the Kingsland right behind the line of trajectory and I’ll never forget watching that ball go in and the microsecond of silence as everyone realised what had just happened before the place erupted! A close second was the screamer from Martina C vs Arsenal. It looked a great goal from where I was sat opposite side in the Kingsland, but it was not until the replays on the screen that many realised just how magical the bend on that strike really was!