Saint Fan CaM

Should’ve asked if anything needs breaking.

I see BBD in the same light as all our strikers tbh - no consistency in playing time, often played on a wing and so isolated, no consistent strike partnership to form a firm understanding of play style, lack of service from a slow predictable midfield. Lastly, all of our strikers are proven Championship players with little or no Prem experience/ success and although BBD could claim some modest success in the Prem, he’s not shown any sign of being able to repeat that for Saints with Russball. The team and indeed the fans have been badly let down by 4-5 years of awful recruitment when it comes to strikers.

There’ll be more outs than ins, that’s for sure.

I’m not sure this is the worse ever football I’ve seen from Saints, but it runs close. I think the dichotomy is that there are periods when we can look good, but it’s not clear whether that’s to do with basic raw player talent or as a result of the system. The key issue of course is that despite glimpses of good football and indeed some nice goals, it’s not nearly enough to win a game of football. The team is crying out for (a) better defensive coaching, (b) better final third idea's and (c) a system that plays to the strengths of a primary first team that only sees changes enforced by injury to get a modicum of consistency and understanding across the various zones. At the moment the players look like strangers sometimes. While he undoubtedly has the ear of influential players such as Capt’n Jack, Russ doesn’t seem to able to improve the team week after week.

How scary is it that there’s an element of truth in that plan?!

I presume you mean 10 league games? What is the criteria for making a decision about which way you will fall… possession > %50, more than 0 points gained, a beautifully brave display by the players, Stephens and Manning on the bench, or a combo of all those?

0-2 Everton. Russball will reign supreme once more.

Yup, normal service resumed. Even if we’re somehow winning the officials will find a way of making us lose - Liverpool must prevail at all costs. But we won’t be anywhere near good enough. We’ll sleep walk to a humiliating defeat and we’ll all be thinking we can now concentrate on the league and survival. Oh.

Also, Bree once again had a very good game - looks as good as any of our other fullbacks. Now watch him get sidelined by Russ again.

I actually thought big Les had an ok game with some nice touches and turns with the ball. He gets compressed high up in midfield because we recycle the ball along the CB’s so much and it’s very easy for a loose pass to be pressed resulting in lost possession. Our two CM’s should be feeding the forwards breaking lines, but they don’t … it’s all recycle, recycle, then get it out to the wings.

Amazing eh? What has happened to the lad - at one time he looked a quality, exciting player. Now, not so much.

Gotta say Les;ey looks good value at this level.

My feeling is the damage is done now and not just regarding the lack of points. Think about how difficult it will be for the players to change course mid-season and produce results. We need to face facts…the Prem has moved on…got better, because other clubs have invested better in their playing staff in the same way we did when we had Pelle, Mane etc. We allowed the impetus to fall off a cliff and here we are…significantly short of quality in key areas of the pitch and a Manager who thinks he can make a purse out of a sows ear. We are just another also ran club like Derby, Swansea, Sunderland etc etc., not able to attract or keep hold of the better players or staff in the business. Did Dragan and SR actually think they’d turn Saints FC into a footballing giant by investing in the manner they have, both in terms of funding and competency? I don’t believe they are that stupid - hence, Russ is a long term project…come what may.

I decided to part with mine after the last relegation purely based on not enjoying the football. I couldn’t have imagined that it could get even worse after supposedly repairing everything ready for promotion to the Prem again. Just shows how incredibly complacent the club have been in the transfer market (for some years).

OK, a little summary… 1. We can’t afford to offload Russ. 2. Russball has been adopted across the club…it’s a long term project therefore that the club have invested in. 3. No one of any pedigree will come to us because the season is effectively over, bar a massive up turn in squad quality and performances, which would be a big ask of even the best managers. Consequently Russ is de facto the best option to keep things stable during the transition to the Championship. 4. When we go down, Russ will be seen as the best value option to get us back up, even though we’ll likely lose our better players…(Dibling, Ramsdale, KWP and ???). As much as I hate admitting it, everything points to Russ being here for the long haul. The club don’t give a fig that we’ll be winning all the wrong records by sticking with him - their strategy is that it’ll all come good in the end.

No confidence that we’ll win this. Russ will put out a significantly changed side of strangers who will not know their roles. Stoke on the other hand will be the polar opposite and will score goals. Hopefully with Russ in the stands the players will just do their own thing and actually win a game of football.

I don’t know about you, but ever since I was a nipper kicking a ball around, football was all about winning the game. You did that by scoring more goals than the opposition. It’s really that fucking simple and may go some way to help you understand why an increasing number of Saints supporters are extremely unhappy with the tactics, performances AND the results this season. Playing in the EPL is not some kind of rehearsal - some kind of breeding ground for yuppie managers. It would be lovely if Russ was able to unlock the talent in the squad, but all the evidence (including his time at Swansea) suggests he can’t and won’t.

Make no mistake, this is not brave football - it’s damage limitation football and that’s why it’s it’s so boring / predictable. And if the players are being brave, then the result is a bunch of injuries that will also hurt us - like Downes getting clattered today without any help from the Ref. Thats what Russ demands - draw the opposition onto you and release the ball last minute (but you might get clattered). The fact we’re now bottom, with one point from ??? just shows the system is simply not working. And he’s had enough time to see if his experiment will work, so how much longer??? Bore off elsewhere Russ - I just don’t like what we do 80% of the time. How’s that stat for you?

Fuck me this is painful.

Once again Saints don’t press the ball and we concede. This is just going to be nightmare.

Oh heck - it’s the banana kit. Why not red n white strip???

Disclosure: I’m on an Etihad flight back to the UK from Abu Dhabi. Didn’t think I’d be watching the game, but for some reason they’re playing the match live on Sports24. Must be an omen for a win. Or something. 😬😜😳

Yeah but yeah but, that’s plan B right? You all wanted it…Russ has obliged. Or something.

The stat fairy spoke to Russ last night and said nope, don’t play Taylor in his strongest position. In the real World, wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor questioned Russ over his decision to play Manning ahead of him in the Leicester game.

RM deserves the sack for the mis-management of the team. I mean there’s shooting yourself in the foot and then there’s taking a howitzer to cut your toenails. What a fraud.