Saint Fan CaM

Can’t quite fully iterate it yet, but I’m starting to get a nasty feeling that SR have not really learnt lessons and this season will be another shitshow because Still will not get the backing he needs. There’s a long way to go yet, but there’s a huge gap in confidence these chancers have to make up.

Maybe, but therein is the problem - it’s not in his natural gift to play that way and will revert to type as soon as he loses concentration/will/heart. A decent player, but not necessarily one Still could trust a the heart and spine of his team.

If we’re anywhere near this I’m hoping it’s Ankerson / SR doing the dealing. If our recruitment team are getting tied up with this kind of bonkers trading then it’s clear lessons have not been learnt and Dragan/Spors don’t deserve our support.

If Wednesday manage to keep hold of Rohl I think he keeps them up. Unless they get a points deduction for not paying players that is…then all bets are off.

Great to see that our best striker Che Adams put in an impressive performance and scored a hat trick for Scotland today - what’s that…we released him when? Oh…

Thinking a Stewart and Armstrong partnership could work ok if there was any chance that we’d play two up front, so not sure about losing AA. Having said that there are probably better suited players out there if the budget allows a decent signing.

Surprised to see Abu leave on a free - thought he looked a good prospect. Perhaps it’s a potent for whats to come in terms of many so-so players from the 1st team? Let’s hope so.

Anyone remember when the released list deadline is…can’t be too long now?

Don’t see anything particularly outstanding about this guy, especially at the price tag mentioned.

Definitely one of my favourites of all time. The caption for me would be… ”…and stay down you f*cker!”.

Fixed it for you…😉

Yes unfortunately I have to agree that overall Aribo is not of the quality we require to improve the 1st team to match Still’s methods. I think he’s good enough to be a bench warmer, however his salary is probably not conducive to a bit part role. While he’s not got the engine to operate forwards or in a box to box role, he does understand the game and sometimes that can be a big positive in a more defensive setting. With other more pressing player exits such as Manning, he would be one of the last out the door.

Standard, but the least of our problems right now mate.

See that’s a problem - cost is not necessarily the same as value. A £20m player can be priced as such because of a number of factors. And there are times when we’ve arguably had our pants pulled down in terms of player cost - e.g. Sulemana @ circa £20m. Then if the main positive attributes of said player do not match the job he’s required to execute then value is diminished and if that is duplicated across various areas, team cohesion is shot. I bet we’ll see Championship clubs with a much lower priced squad, but holistically fitness is at a peak and the players are invested in the manager whose system suits that key attribute of the team. We will lose at least once to a ‘lower priced’ team like this and be left blaming various factors like ‘crisp packet hands’ etc, but VALUE will largely get forgotten. It would be interesting to make a cost versus value comparison for each of our players from this last season - take Dibling, allegedly would cost a suitor £100m, however Saints fans might agree that realistically we might achieve a maximum £50m and yet his value has been more akin to £5m this season in terms of useful return. In short this is why it is imperative for sentimentality to be given a back seat in this window and unsuitable/unstable/unworthy players shown the door pronto (or put out to garden leave). It’s potentially going to be a tougher season than many on here will be expecting IMHO, especially if Still/Spors do not act carefully in the window.

Tell you what, I’ll know if SR have turned things around when… (a) I see an improved team sheet for match one of the new season (i.e. circa 40% plus of last seasons team replaced and improved upon) and (b) after 15 minutes of play I’m confident that Still has coached ‘Russball’ out of existence (i.e. we’re a threat going forwards and we’ve had at least two shots on target). Actions speak louder than platitudes and stats.

I think we’ve done this already, but perhaps just before Still was appointed. I stand by my previous prediction - get the squad right (meaning a big turnaround of players to ones that are fit, can press aggressively and score goals for fun) and we’ll be auto contenders. Don’t do this and we’ll be mid-table or worse. The squad we came down with is no better than mid-table and we’ll likely lose our better players, so if there’s anyone still doubting the challenge ahead…think again.

“Kuryu Matsuki Will hopefully be the first to come through for us.” What position does the lad play and do we need that? Does he have the right attributes to suit Stills system(s)? Just a couple of questions which might indicate a level of skepticism one might have about the benefits Saints MAY achieve at some time in the future. To date nothing.

I think that’s the point being made…thankfully he wasn’t a part of the 1st team that finished in the playoffs. We may well have seen a better final league position had it not been for Baz’s poor GK record (not that he was entirely to blame of course).

A player is worth what club(s) are willing to pay. I’m not so certain Dibling is worth £50m - he’s yet to really prove what he is as a player…a striker, a winger, a central midfielder? Can he actually consistently score goals at Prem level? Loads of promise yes, but £50m worth of risk? I’m not so sure, but a solid season playing for one of the best teams in the Championship is a perfect place to prove his value.

I think we all understand the financial benefits the group may derive from the arrangements. Saints supporters however will rightly question the bias in benefit from a player movement perspective - i.e. there appears to be little or none in the direction of Saints. And given that it would appear the club is being used as some kind of administrative front for player trading, how much focus is taken away from the business of improving our club in all aspects? Has recruitment lost its way because general competence has been reduced to a ‘Group average’ and way below that required to sustain a club such as Saints operating at the very top of the profession? And is all of this indicative of the reason we’ve seen such decline since SR took over?

Nice link - analysis reasonable and I prefer Alex’s take on the incoming players (whoever Alex is?).

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation. However, it does nothing to really explain what SFC will get from the deal. Assuming we get promoted at the end of next season, will this guy be any closer to a return to Saints? I doubt it, so it brings the benefit into question in my eyes. I’m sure we’ll return to this subject next summer and we’ll see if he gets to play for us.

Manning might be able to get forward, although typically he doesn’t because he’s programmed to stop and pass backwards. Not only that he’s so slow getting back that the defence is severely compromised as a result. When he does manage to get back invariably he stands off his man allowing a cross. He’s nowhere near the quality required and not a patch on Welington.

I’m just surprised this thread and the Jones thread have not been moved to the f-ing muppets lounge. With all that the summer and Will Still promises, I just don’t understand how these two warrant the space and time being invested by the fanboys on here. 😉

From what I’ve seen of him there’s something about him, but it’s pretty inconsistent. He’s had a bad time with injuries, but he’s not really taken his chance on loan it would seem, so sadly maybe it’s time for him to move on.