Saint Fan CaM

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”… 🤭😉

I would like to give Edozie a go - low risk. I also think Aribo was not used to his strengths last season and has a shot on him - he’s much more aligned to a no.10 than a CB FFS! I’d add to that list Bazunu, McCarthy, Manning and Wood, but I doubt any of those will go any when soon.

Isn’t he Club Captain rather than Team Captain? I thought there was a difference but I may be wrong. Generally I would argue there are too many quiet ‘nice boys’ on the team and not enough with a vocal ‘scrapper’ mentality. It’s the one useful attribute Stephens brings - poor otherwise.

My word, makes you realise how poor team management has been. As far as Manning is concerned I hope Still is saying… ”The boys that want to defend can get back to defend. Yes Manning, that means you”!

You said it pal.

Well that shows how little you know about the subject. Autism is not determined by professionals - it is diagnosed and the extent to which the patient is affected is determined so appropriate support can be provided as necessary. Nobody here is stating categorically that Tyler is autistic - that’s an absurd accusation. There’s been speculation that he might have been diagnosed, but if that’s the case he can clearly function as a pro footballer with appropriate support. And fair play to him if that’s the case.

He heard they were going in for Bednarek! 😂😂😂

Well he certainly knows how to pick clubs that will provide the maximum amount of controversy - not sure which set of fans will hate him most.

All I saw in the background was the subtle two finger salute! 😂

Gotta say - 2nd kit looks great. And modelled by Fernandes so he must be staying right? 🤞🙏🏼

We’re all on the autistic spectrum and there are an infinite number of ways it can manifest itself in an individual. Struggling with change is remarkably common among the population, whether that be in home life, in work or just living in general - it’s just that some have better coping strategies than others. It’s not a taboo subject and nor should it be swept under the carpet. I have direct experience with a family member by the way. Whether the condition affects Tyler Dibling is speculation, however the club should be commended for bringing him ‘home’ after his Chelsea experience didn’t work out. How far that ‘nurturing’ stretches now he’s an adult on a senior contract remains to be seen, however my feeling is both parties would like to see him renew his contract…the terms are as always the issue.

No transfer news then? 😏😉

Arguably that’s not correct. Lozenge…suck on that if you will!

The context I’m thinking about is over several seasons - not just last seasons relegation. I would argue that overall squad quality has drifted in a downwards spiral since the days of Koeman’s departure (roughly speaking). Yes, we’ve added some individual quality where needed on occasion (Ramsdale / Fernandes) and that has helped to boost the overall squad quality, but those additions have been restorative - not building an improvement. Take them out and overall squad quality will plummet again. On the flip side, retaining Stephens, Manning, Aribo, Taylor, BBD etc, diminishes overall squad quality but they’re still with us. Each successive season squad quality has been depleted to the point where last season the deficiencies were displayed in all their graphic ugliness. I would argue that to get promotion this season and then stay up, there is an significant improvement in squad quality required (without the loss of our best players). Whether that transformation happens this window, the next two windows or atall is questionable. Is it too much to expect a decent sized club like SFC to retain 7 to 9 players of Ramsdale / Fernandes quality, even in the Championship? I don’t think so…

I think we all know that Stephens and Manning will still be stinking the place out!

My guess is that Tyler’s contract situation is somewhat unique to Tyler. My only hope is that if he stays it doesn’t affect his ability to show up this season - for many of us that’s the critical point I think.

Let’s hope that’s a positive. As per the past, it’s the best players that have left, replaced with lesser players meaning the overall quality of the squad drops. That’s been happening for some years resulting in the shitshow of last season.

There’s an important factor missing from that analysis - the timing of outgoings. It also doesn’t factor in the need to refresh the worst performing squad in PL history - i.e. was the previous post-PL seasons window as in need of a refresh as it is now?

Well that’s just like saying ‘irrespective of how Dibling and his agent feel/think, we should not nail him down to a long term contract on low wages’. In reality there’s no scenario where Dibling and his agent would allow that to happen so the point is moot. As you say, there’s likely no acceptable deal being presented at the moment, however he doesn’t want to go due to personal reasons. Clearly he and his agent think they can hang out for a better deal from Saints at some point in the future. A simple impasse that may get resolved if he smashes the upcoming Championship season and raises his real stock value. Even then he’ll have limited options if he’s not willing to leave Saints.

Agreed - and yet Dibling is still with us, with no new contract signed or a new deal offered from another club. Why is that do you think?

Very selective memories IMO. There were occasions when he made excellent interceptions (as well as covering for substandard CB’s), plus being left exposed because the likes of Dibling left him stranded upfield after another failed pass or running into a blind alley. You can’t have it both ways - if he got into advanced positions on orders to cross, then there’s less chance defending adequately in a system NONE of the fullbacks were entirely comfortable with - but who covered for him? Even KWP came under criticism at times under Martin’s system.

Outside of Fernandes and Ramsdale who did? Also his manager(s) were not up to the PL job were they? Seems a bit disingenuous judging him against such a backdrop.

I’m 50-50 on whether it’s worth keeping him or not - he’s seemingly got loads of potential, but there’s little evidence that he has what it takes to realise that potential at the moment. Maybe that’s something that happens at Championship level who knows. I’m not sure he really wants to leave and I wonder whether the stupidly high £100m price tag is an indication of that rather than anything else, although it’s baffling why he’s not signed a new deal. If it’s a game of cat and mouse I don’t think his agent is in a particularly strong position frankly.

For me Suga is not the worst defender or indeed player in a team of misfits. Manning is worse in my opinion for a start as he’s not got the attacking delivery and is useless in defence. Suga has been playing for the most part under a system that was totally unsuitable for the squad and as such was placed into difficult defensive positions when the likes of wonder boy Dibling fucked up and gave the ball away in our half. In terms of the handballs - yes, it’s not great - but there’s a definite argument that on another day/time, it’s judged as a “ball to hand” accidental thing. There has to be a scapegoat I guess, but to my mind there’s at least 16 other first team players that fit that mould too.

So what you’re saying is the club deliberately bought players not good enough for the PL because it was nailed on we’d be in the Championship this season? 🤔