Saint Fan CaM

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.

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.