Saint Fan CaM

Maybe, but those guys are not youngsters. Not only that it’s hardly fair to judge Charles based on an entire teams performance’s. Fact is he’s improved under a different manager/system.

Don’t mean to be overly argumentative, but we do know that Charles looks better under a different Manager. That’s exactly why he’s getting starts at Wednesday and their fans love him surely?

Yeah, you’ve made some sound points, but I think the key part is the spend of the £44m as an example. It’s clear Fernandes was a good buy at £13m and Suga is worth £6m in my view, although I’m not sure he was needed in preference to other positions/spend. The £29m spent on Archer/BBD, Edward’s and Wood (plus the £8m wasted on Stewart) in my view would have been better spent on a decent striker - Delap would have been a much better alternative. My overall point is that whenever we’ve sold our better players subsequent trading has ended with a weakened squad and it only needs that to happen 2-3 times for big problems to materialise. Having a bloated squad in itself provides increased pressure on the Manager to over-rotate meaning on-field relationships are less likely to form resulting in a team of strangers.

What I meant was, if the players employed by wants to go and the price is right then SR can and will sell. The main point was that based on history the funds from that sale will not be utilised to improve the 1st team. If they get top dollar, replacements will be brought in at top dollar / 3.

OK, perhaps found out is not quite the right phrase, but Martin clearly didn’t think he was good enough for his system. Beyond that you’re conveniently ignoring the fact that players don’t operate in isolation. For example, if a ball is passed backwards to a player under pressure from a press, especially a younger less experienced player, there is more chance they’re going to make a mistake. We’ve seen a lot of that have we not? And nowhere have I said Russball is shit - that’s your simple narrative at play - what I’ve said is that the players employed by the club were not good enough to sustain Russball in the EPL and that it was in general boring to watch - even in the Championship.

The point I’m making is Les has improved (albeit marginally) with Juric and the system employed. I think had Charles been given that opportunity he too would have looked better than he did.

If SR can sell Dibling then they will - and then buy 3 players each worth a quarter of the value of Dibling. Quantity over quality is the way ahead lads.

My view is that as a young lad learning his trade, he suffered the Russball system imposed on him and got found out. Not really fair to judge either him or Big Les based on the chaos that system presented the team.

I get it, but how many times does it happen? Not too many I would wager and if it were possible, then why are the likes of ABK and Stewart still hanging around wasting wages etc.?

Mmm, if that’s true and I’m not disputing it, it makes you wonder if that little nugget of information was ever factored into the recruitment decision in the first place? Not to mentioned being crocked for X months. How many relegations do each of the Bournemouth players have on their CV’s I wonder? Genuine question.

I’m genuinely interested in knowing how you would cancel player contracts without huge cost to the club (even if it was legally possible)? And even if the club managed to ship out players in this manner, what kind of message would that send out to prospective incoming players? If we’re not the most unattractive club in the top 3 divisions of most European countries right now, I reckon that would do the trick. The best we can hope for is that Juric is telling certain players they are no longer needed and they’re working furiously with their agents to get a move away before they have a relegation on the CV’s.

Obviously he had a part to play in being chums with the squad, utilising the sub-standard players by persistently playing slug football. But let’s not dress up what was boring to watch and which saw us only just make it through the play-off final by one goal. It did a job yes, but SR/Martin didn’t recognise the gap in fitness and skill level that existed between the Championship and EPL and the level of player that would be needed to sustain survival. Martin was so naive that he thought he could make the likes of Manning and Stephens into winners against the best in Europe playing the same slug tactics. On the other hand, Adkins achieved two successive auto promotions with a smaller budget, playing expansive entertaining football. And he kept us out of the relegation zone when we went up to the Prem. You need to have a re-think if you can’t see there’s a world of difference between the two and I know which era I derived more pleasure from (not Martins).

Not even Rasmus has those levels of stupidity. Has he? 🤔😳😬

Understand the frustration, but that’s contradictory to what many on here are saying in that skill is secondary and effort is everything (or similar). TP at least looks like he’s trying his hardest - whether he is at optimum fitness might be a question, but I’d say he’s at least trying to use whatever he’s got in the tank. Not sure you can say the same of Aribo and others mind.

Is it a ‘busy’ window for other clubs? Not sure it is - at present anyway. It will almost certainly get busier towards the end of the window as the January sales kick in and idiots like Rasmus start getting itchy trigger fingers.

Please don’t. If the cameras manage to capture it my TV may suffer some abuse. 😉😂

Good post - another who recognises it’s not just about moving heads in and out - we need a step change in quality regarding fitness and skill, especially in the DM and striker areas. Quantity over quality has for years been a blind spot it seems and it stems from poor management such as Lowe and now SR/Rasmus. We really turned a corner when Cortese/Markus came in and that continued right through to the time of Pelle/Mane/Tadic/Van Dyke etc. After that the scouting and recruitment turned to rat shit. Ralph tried to sort it out, but ultimately failed due to very poor backing. And here we are, paying the cost.

Maybe, maybe not, but do you really think SR have the track record to suggest they will opt for a manager with some form of pedigree? Or will Rasmus press for a hipster type with promise as previously? Under the circumstances of a demoralised decimated squad, I think Lallana might not be the worst of options!

I’ve got it on good authority that we’re going to give Swansea every bit of support to ease us out of the competition so we can concentrate on our Premiership survival fight. We’re so kind hearted like that. One might say Saintsy. 😉

I’m convinced the SR strategy was designed to utilise a manager who would get the best out of lower cost players - unfortunately there was a series of managers that didn’t make the grade and the squad eventually ended bloated with mediocrity. With the original plan failed SR about turned and appointed Juric hoping there was enough in the bloated squad for him to work some magic, but leaving Juric enough time to figure out where the gaps in competency were. His reaction after the Brentford debacle suggests he’s probably thinking there’s not a lot to be optimistic about and I reckon there will be some scratching of heads and furrowed brows during tomorrow’s meeting. As I’ve suggested before, either the meeting will sanction a parting of the ways with dross and a significant spend on new better players suited to a high press, pacey attack minded team OR panic will take-over and we’ll see the first tranche of a fire-sale of our ‘better’ players. I’m not a gambling man, but if I was, I’d lay money on the latter such is the incompetence of this Board/SR. Juric will consequently not stay beyond the end of the season and we’ll be plunged into even greater levels of shitness during the summer with Lallana (the new Wigley?) taking over the reigns. God help us.

Well it could be argued that the abysmal recruitment exhibited over the last few seasons on many, has wasted the funds we could have spent on a couple of real gems. Somebody needs to take the spade away from SR/Rasmus etc. - the pit of despair they’ve dug for the club is now looking so deep we may never get out.

That may well have been the plan, but of course the quality of those players both in terms of fitness and skill was woefully inadequate. Plus contracts had been previous signed that meant we entered the EPL with a squad of players barely good enough to get promoted, let alone be successful in the EPL.

He’s a youth loanee in a broken squad expected to deploy experience he’s not gained. He’s a player that should be on the bench to learn from seasoned pro’s used to playing at the top level of the sport, coming on in the last 10 minutes to see out a game or to replace an injured player. Expectations of the lad have been hugely distorted thanks to a massively flawed SR strategy and this is borne out of the results seen before and after he started games. Plus he’s no worse than most other players currently being wheeled out. Plus he’ll be brilliant in the Championship.😉

The thing about the players we have/keep and any players we bring in, whether trying to stay in the EPL or plan for the Championship, they MUST be able to play in Juric’s style - i.e. high press, have pace with the ball and an ability to score lots of goals. Recruiting with any thought of retaining a possession based style will be disastrous once again. This will require a complete root and branch re-think…it’s going to be a massive undertaking and it will mean another huge injection of money (and/or loss of player value to off-load deadwood). Not sure Dragan will sign-off on that.

Difficult to get excited about this in the slightest. The morale and belief across the team must be rock bottom - so much so that another loss is almost inevitable. 1-2 Swansea.