Saint Fan CaM

Oh yes I agree JB we do still need the academy, if only to straighten out and retrain the poor youngsters who have had the first part of their careers ruined by the last 2 odd years of mis-management. While that's happening, the 1st team needs to be injected with new blood to flush through the motivational, cultural and tactical aspects of the team that have been poisoned by the Rupert/Dutch experiment. Oh yeah, and also to get rid of rubbish players like Wotton who can only pass backwards. Now THAT's what I call re-building the club...only time will tell if Markus, Nicola and AP think the same way. If not, I fear for the results and the ability of the team to perform at a level that will overturn -10pts and then play their way to safety this season.

Top post - it's there for all to see and has been for...well...5 years actually. Midfield really has been a complete gash-up of players that could not cut-it as strikers.

Agreed to an extent - it's not just the kids though, 50% of the problem is Wotton who is a very, very long way from being good enough and he needs to be dropped. I think I will lose all hope in AP if Wotton stays in the side alongside Hammond. What I cannot understand though is that I recognised the dire nature of the midfield at Salisbury in pre-season (and when AP was in attedance in the stands)....how long ago was THAT?! And we've only JUST signed Hammond? Perhaps it takes that long to sign Colchester's Captain?!? :confused:

My hope is that Hammond is good enough to be team captain with KD club captain. An ideal combination IMO.

Wow - I think the Mulder and Scully references are starting to get to you Phil!

An excellent point made about the academy and I completely agree about the tail wagging the dog. The solution IMO as I aluded to in my previous post, is that same as you suggest essentially. We HAVE an academy still - trouble is some of them are fulfilling the duties of 1st team players still and this must stop. AP needs to rethink the fundamentals of the 1st team make-up by bringing in the players essential to deploying a side more suited to L1 or CCC and then, only then, will he (we) start to see improved team and individual performances on the pitch.

Having read through the entirety of this thread (mad!) I thought I would add a few comments. I would have thought it was blatantly obvious why some of the players were 'terrified' (although that's not the word I would have used) - put yourself in their shoes - they've been told that their professional training was going to prepare them for great things with the evidence displayed by Walcott et al. They then have two seasons of utilising that training under very underqualified coaches with disastrous results. They are then told to re-think that coaching and its resultant tactics by AP and hey presto it doesn't seem to work. They are, as professionals, suddenly not equipped with the tools to ply their trade! Imagine an apprentice chippy, trained with pro chisels in college, being given a spanner and a screwdriver on day one of his new job in industry to create a professional job of an expensive cabinet - it ain't gonna work and he/she is going to be scared ****less that his career has been built on sand. That's what has happened to our youth players over the last 3 odd years IMO. It has infected the squad. The ONLY way out of this is to take them out of the picture until such time the coaching team has had a chance to sort their training out and they have regained their confidence.

Good post. The above is key - if we have not improved in the areas needed by this time, then I'll be getting quite concerned about the prospects for the season. Xmas window will be too late for us this season due to the -10.

You see I don't see that as negative...it's wanting something good from our team. That's naturally positive in my book mate.

Probably. Heard he liked good 'screw'. Lol

OMB!!! Wotton is off!!! Ffs at last... now stay off forever.

Not heard Lamberts name once in commentary for ... Well the whole of the 2nd half actually!!!

Subs needed urgently now!!!

FFS - Davis saves the day again. Swansea taking **** out of Saints - can this really get any worse? How many outfield players does AP need to replace???

LOL!!!

Paterson nearly gets sent off with a terrible high challenge.

Another Swindon corner - another repeat of Saturday. Loads of opposition corners.

Ah ok - sorry, I think everyones nerves are exposed somewhat with this bollix.

Yeah, there's always some retard blaming the fans for rubbish football.

That was not a criticism of Lambert - as I said, it is down to the midfield and the non-existent service to him.

So where's all the f-ing goals that Lambert was supposed to score?! There are simply too many sh1te players left from the Dutch twerps. Especially at CB and midfield. I only hope AP tells Wotton to buck off because if he remains in the team after tonight I think I will lose faith in AP. Sort it out.

If AP does not sort out the midfield and CB positions quite quickly IMO there is a real chance that Lambert will go 'off the boil' as he will sink to the level of the team supplying him. In fact, there are a number of decent players over the last few years that have seen their performances go dramatically downhill because they have been mixed in with a mis-managed squad of utter poop - (e.g. Lallana). This is not about winning this league and a rapid rise to the Prem - this is about really sorting out the squad so it can SURVIVE this season, play some decent football and then fight its way upwards. At this rate though, we will be lucky to survive L1 such is the state of this demoralised team.

Funny how a dose of reality seems to have sunk in now it's been shown how much work has to be done to repair the squad. Now just a week after being happy clappy, we're starting to see some discontent - but will ML's cheque book be coming out to sort it all out? I wonder if all those that were saying good riddance to Surman now realise what a miss he is now in midfield. In terms of the team picked, I think the worst thing AP can do right now is swap the team around and play the lads out of position. If Melis was brought in for a reason, then play him and bed the lad into the side. Take Wotton out now - he is a spoiler, but he is spoiling our whole effort more than the oppositions by not playing decent football. Replace him with Schneiderlin or Gillet perhaps. At least one experienced and decent CB is required urgently as a permanent fixture in the squad. Anyway, onto the OP - we're still quite some way from being able to confidently beat ANY team in this league IMO. As someone rightly said in another thread, this squad has yet to find its level which is possibly L2. Major surgery before tomorrow will not happen, so I am thinking 1-1 or possibly 2-1 to Swindon.

Football is simple really. Pass to players on your own team- keep possession. Wotton does not do this. He is IMO 50% of the problem. The other 50% is shared by the CB's and wingers we do not have...so I guess that means AP also for not sorting out the mess.

Sorry no. We need a playmaker CM to get service to our strikers (who we have enough of. Agree we need to sort out both CB positions & right wing probably needs to be better.