Saint Fan CaM

Yes think that’s a good guess at the starting line up - Aribo presents minimal risk / high gain. I do think there’s a chance Bazunu will start (and hope so). The only other possibility is that he thinks Djenepo is a better bet than Perraud - I wouldn’t put it past Ralph.

Well obviously if we’re not so lucky, I’m expecting the result to be worse than 3-0. Don’t think it’s necessary to get any more accurate if it turns out that bad! Who knows, Ralph may get his game plan spot on and the players perform out of their collective skins and we breeze a win - would be desirable but unlikely on the balance of the limited evidence we’ve seen over the last 20 games.

Really don’t understand what you’re saying here…I didn’t write anything about ‘bog standard’ or 6-0. It’s just my prediction for this game and I’ve provided clear rationale why I think that. How can I ‘throw out the bunting’ when the games not even been played yet? 🤣

Fantastic goal and pleased he’s opened his account. Let’s hope he’s not ‘cashed out’ already and that’s the last of his creativity and flair. Reminded me a bit of what Djenepo tries to do, but fails mostly.

It is silly season is it not?!?

Could be ugly. We’ve got new faces, but no greater goal threat. Build up play looks just like end of last season as far as I can see and Ralph is unlikely to drop Bednarek. 3-0 to Spurs if we’re lucky.

Absolutely this. My take is we’ve got a better squad than Ralph’s results indicate. He’s just not getting the best from them.

Just how much shitter can Redmond get? I would be happy to see him released for f -all and a youngster given a chance.

Ralph’s looking dazed and confused not knowing what to do next. Meanwhile Emery brings on 5 subs to affect the game. Think my enthusiasm at the start of the week was premature!😂

Minute Bednarek is back in the team we look vulnerable at the back. Terrible defending.

I hope not - far more important to get Mara up to speed IMO. Glad I didn’t pay to watch this though - very lacklustre.

Still can’t get a stream to work 😔

Spat some beer out moment - brilliant!

You may well be right about his value, especially to us. Fact is he must be central to Ralphball’s plans and losing him now would put a spike in the transfer strategy, especially with Smallbone going out on loan. I don’t think we can afford to lose JWP now (and I can’t believe I’m saying this when I’ve doubted his ability in the past)…he has improved that much.

Close thread? Highly unlikely we’ve got the funds for him anyway if WH failed at £30m. Oh well, there’s others as good or better…

Because other Managers ran rings around him.

Blimey, that’s a stretch. It was a good 2nd half performance, but a better team would have taken us apart and finished us off earlier in the game probably. My feeling is we will finish higher than last season but on the proviso Ralph is able to identify a system to suit a first choice team that includes our best players…i.e. Redmond is left on the bench, Adams and AArmstrong do not play together, Perraud gets the nod ahead of Djenepo at LB. Oh and the high press means more than 1 or 2 pressing…worked so much better when at least three of the front line pressed together as it limited passing out. I’m going to stick my neck on the line and say 12th.

Let’s hope it doesn’t go belly up then.🤣

I thought he played well last night - not too many mistakes and he learning the system all the time. I think he’ll be in the squad for this season at least.

Perhaps it doesn’t work that way in reality, but you would think this deal may have been used as a sweetener for us to sign Broja on a permanent contract. Disappointing that we’ve not managed to leverage something with that unless all our eggs are in the Delap basket of course?

I agree, thought Lyanco had an impressive game - in fact I was surprised at how composed he and Stephens looked, albeit against a non-Prem team. First half though was a bit dire…a lack of creativity, pace, power…just a totally lacklustre performance with some players exhibiting the signs that they’re about to become fringe players. Redmond got a talking to from Ralph after they scored…just stood ball watching. He may have experience/savvy but his legs don’t work anymore. Djenepo was OK, but his legs are still not working in conjunction with his brain!🤣 McCarthy was not put under a lot of pressure, but once again got beaten at his near post and fluffed clearances - I just hope Bazunu starts the season as as no.1. Second half was much better…more urgency, moving the ball quicker, better options going forwards. Thought it was interesting that we didn’t miss our two ‘primary’ strikers at all - Stuey Armstrong was excellent. Interesting to see the decent CB options Ralph has now, given that Salisu didn’t get on the pitch. It was good to see Perraud fit to start - didn’t know he was ready. Still need a decent 10+ goal striker, two attacking midfielders and we’ll be looking OK.

That’s a lot of hope stashed away there! I don’t agree with your description of this transfer window - it’s hardly conclusive until we see results on the pitch. These youngsters may be really great and we all hope they are, however they need to prove (a) they have the ability to deliver Ralph’s instructions on the pitch and (b) flex those instructions if things are not working out to impact the game. Too many in the squad have not been doing these basics very well. And the strategy of growing the squad with several £10m players (that are equally at risk of attempting Ralphball and failing) does have an alternative - i.e. just buy a £25m+ CB and £25m+ striker who are more competent than the current incumbents. Not saying that’s the right mway to go necessarily, especially if you’re looking to turn a profit, but it’s an alternative.

Mmm, am I the only one feeling a bit cautious about packing the squad with a lot of unproven players that might not be really up to the job? Reminds of the Lowe days a bit, although to be fair the scouting and recruitment appear much better now. It provides a lot of competition for space in the 1st team, but also provides Ralph an opportunity to tinker and one of my concerns about his management previously has been his seeming inability to know his best team. Its nice gawking over all these new players coming in, wondering what promise they might have, but there’s only 11 players allowed on the pitch at any one time and if our available squad players are incapable of collectively competing in the EPL (per the last 12/13 games of last season), it’s going to be another difficult season.

Yeah but then we'd need to find someone to kick a decent corner? 😉

An interesting take for a first post and you may well be correct. If we were serious about Delay and Broja then we'd be nearer a signing by now I suspect, although there has been clear interest of some sort. Which more mature ex-Saint from abroad would be a 'massive' signing of GBP30m + that might fit the bill? Tadic - but he's not a striker as such? Can't think of any others!