Saint Fan CaM

Only one person made a mess of things yesterday and that was Gazza - an unforgivable error trying to pass out to Yoshida like that at 1-0 up. Not the first time its happened either which makes matters worse. I thought Shaw looked fantastic at LB - more assured than Fox and more mobile too. First starter from now on IMO. I was thinking at 85mins why NA had not freshened the team up with new legs up front - then I thought, no...he's learnt a lesson - he's sticking with the team that's on top. It was the CORRECT decision.

If it works don't knock it. We're not too long away from finding out (a) just how much the players think about Adkins (as they'll be fighting to save his job) and (b) how much Adkins has learnt in terms of tactics, team selection etc to see out a job. Anything less than three points will mean changes afoot.

Excellent rousing stuff! If only you were in dressing room before the match tomorrow, we would cruise home to a splendid victory.

What they achieved in the past (or not) has nothing to do with their suitability NOW to manage Saints...i.e. neither are up to the job.

WGS and Hoddle?!?! Hahaha - yesterdays men. If NC is serious about taking the club forward then he needs to stick with Adkins or bring in someone of Benitez's level.

Led Zep - any gig. The 70's Earth, Wind and Fire gig at the Gaumont when they had Santana as support!

I played at the Joiners quite a few times 'back in the day' - great venue and as Turkish says, it has always catered for younger up and coming bands, so had a niche in the local music market and it would be terrible to see it go. If it's suffering falling numbers it's not alone - there are plenty of live music venues in and around the City and they are all competing with a dwindling market - The Brook, The Talking Heads, The Platform Tavern, The Concord Club, Soul Cellar, The Joshua Tree + many, many 'regular' pubs that put on live music. Look also at the social club scene - once the first choice weekend evening destination of the working class and key providers of musical entertainment...they're dying on their @rses because the general populace don't want to be seen in those places (despite their often cheap booze), they then can't afford to pay entertainers (or only pay enough for poor ones) and then wonder why nobody turns up! The reasons are many for the decline - cheap supermarket booze, big screen TV's at home, people too lazy to get off their butts and get out, some venues not advertising well enough, Simon Cowell effect, youngsters nowadays have more opportunity to practice music rather than just listen to it...etc. etc. But you can't blame the bands - why should they advertise for the venue and in particular, why should they always be expected to bring rent-a-crowd (I've never got that)? They've already spent a fortune on gear, rehearsed themselves silly, spent money getting to the gig, spent more money on drinks at the gig...etc.

What's the issue here? Article is pretty bland...nothing to report...move on.

Other than getting in more competent players - i.e. of the Ramirez level, there is only one thing that might assist and that is more pace to ensure whoever is on the park can get back to cover and this is mostly needed in midfield. There are midfield players (and I include the two 'outside forwards' in this) that do not have the pace on them to track back in time or indeed the guts to put in a tackle. Chaplow is one of the better options and Cork has some of that ability too and until January I would be thinking about how to utilise them. Having 4 strikers on the pitch at the same time is a luxury we cannot afford.

Absolutely spot bang on the money. Nothing more to say - close the thread.

It's not about waking up - it's about a good proportion of the players just not being good enough mentally and physically unfortunately. If you ask a group of men to jump 4ft in the air from a crouching position, some might achieve it the first time. Every successive time they try to do it, the ones that can do it will eventually tire and stop being able to do it. The ones that couldn't in the first place will see some do it and realise they're not good enough, tire quickly trying and then very quickly give up. It will not take too long for the entire group to stop believing in their collective ability to continue to achieve the task. Failing to achieve a task because of ones own limitations, despite a real and honest desire to do so, induces stress. Stress compounds failure. In simple terms, this is appears to be our team. Add in the pressure of performing in front of tens of thousands of people, any niggling injuries in the back of the mind, a coach that keeps telling you it will come good when everything in your mind and body is screaming "no!" at you and a whole bunch of other issues - then you'll be closer to the truth. This is why we MUST stick with Adkins - he knows this stuff. It's why he MUST be given the opportunity to raise the collective competency of the squad in January. He has spent much time getting to know each one of these players intimately and he is the best one to know where to improve. We know he can organise a competent squad to win games - it's all about getting the right quality of players for the task at hand.

I think we bought the wrong player - full stop.

To answer the OP succinctly. Not a chance.

This would be a good starting line-up - HOWEVER - it just will not happen. And frankly if anyone thinks Swansea are going to be anything other than a huge challenge to overcome, think again...there is every likelyhood that we will lose this. Score : 2-2 at best.

Of course his job is tenable. He's lead the club from L1 to the Prem in two seasons and it would seem that he still has the players on board. OK, so we're not winning games and that's pretty rubbish for us all, however thankfully there are adults made of sterner stuff on the board at SFC nowadays and ditching a good young English manager is a decision that will not be made lightly....no matter how many threads are started or resurrected on here!

He's starting to look forward to his dream move to Anfield in January and can't be arsed now. HTH.

Yeah that's a great idea. In fact, let's re-assemble the entire L1 side again and put all our really Prem level players into the youth squad for letting us down. Now let's see, that will be....Ramirez and...err...err...well, just Ramirez then. Just to clarify something here, in case you've missed the point - the reason we're losing lots of games is because we have a sub-standard squad of players. It's OK having a small number of Championship level players, but if the majority are lacking Prem quality there's only one way forward and that's down!

Meltdown complete.

Had something else on and didn't listen to the game - glad I didn't to be honest as it sounds awful. While in one respect I would be surprised if NC sacked NA, I think Nigel has some pride about him and will offer to walk. Perhaps it's come to this. But I tell you this - Reed should go with him. Benitez is the only available manager I can think of who might sort this squad out and hopefully spend wisely in January without interference.

Why? I don't need to explain my POV - it's pretty easy to comprehend.

You're right and wrong in equal measure IMO. To switch off, you've got to be switched on in the first place - our defence largely is not switched on in the first place. The reason for this is that they do not have the required skill/anticipation/awareness to compete - not one of them (exception may be Clyne, but he's too young and needs more experience). So yes, it is about brains however a bit of brawn helps when the going gets tough.

What, to keep on repeating the same old thing, over and over and over? I guess if that's all you've got going on in your life then sure, rock on bud.

Frankly I'm not too bothered about what league we're in - it's about the winning - I like us winning more than losing. However, there is a very real issue about the squad becoming infused with the habit of losing - very demoralising and that can be taken back down with you which can take long time to recover from. The one thing I feel sure NC will not want to contemplate and that's relegation - it's the only issue I can see that will force his hand over the managerial situation. The big question is when that will happen - it might be left until after we're relegated for example to see whether Adkins can pull the side back together for another push to the Prem.

The problem I have with threads like this is that no matter how much the subject gets tossed around, there is absolutely only one thing that we can do about it and that is provide the team with 110% support and make lots of noise at games. There is no point whatsoever in continually *****ing about where we are - of course we need to win at WBA...we need to win as many games as possible FFS! Cortese, Reed and Adkins are not going to change course because someone starts a new thread on here! The simple fact is this - we came up too quickly and the defence was not improved enough as a result. End of. Unless there's a minor miracle in January and we buy 3-4 new defenders, we are going down because the players are not good enough to compete at this level. Nothing to do with Adkins which is why he will still be here at Xmas sending his pressy list to Saint Nic. Even then it might be too late to recover unless we snatch 3 wins before January.

Results don't lie and so yes, there needs to be something done to sort out the back-line. However, as someone else has suggested the players at the coaches disposal are probably not up to the mark - not on the same wavelength as Prem class attackers and therefore fail to anticipate/too slow to react. I remember seeing Le Saux at the end of his career at Saints and he had the necessarily quality even if he was getting slower - what he lost in pace he made up with in terms of anticipation. You can't learn that if you're not got the capacity to learn in the first place...everyone has limits.