Saint Fan CaM

We’re going to get caught down their right - Stephens going missing and Bednarek being pulled out of CB to help him out.

Brookes has been shite, but then he can hardly be considered match fit given Russ doesn’t know his best team (whatever that is).

Bet the Blackburn halftime dressing room was a lot more positive than Saints!

Fuck me, thank goodness we’re dragging Blackburn down to our level!

We’ve resorted to defenders trying long balls to our powder puff forwards, bypassing midfield entirely. Completely ineffective of course. Naturally Blackburn close to scoring on the break.

Aribo heads onto the bar - completely soft if that goes in, but at least the ball went forwards!

This is utterly boring stagnant football from Saints.

Front three and midfield three playing like strangers.

Blackburn with a player down already. Not sure - maybe ok?

Coventry 1 up vs Leeds

Massive miss by AA proving he’s no CF

Going on the reported team line up, think we’re going to be losing this. Martin has declined into a weak manager - he’s just not learning from his own mistakes in failing to correct individual player poor performances and favouring certain players over team balance. 2-1 Blackburn.

Well to answer your question, you could argue it was shocking that once again we dominated the game but failed to capitalise and win. Pretty obvious I would have thought. I don’t think we were ‘miles better’ - just different. And frankly whatever the difference, they must have been better than us because they won and did so without any flukes. There’s a reason they’re league leaders and it’s probably the no nonsense coaching/management IMO. Something we can’t seem to get wholly right.

The Ipswich game really was a shocker and I have little hope that this will be any different. 1-1 at best but probably 2-1 to Blackburn with a late goal.

When I think about the deficiencies in the side and the manner in which the team is managed, I wonder how we’ve managed to sustain what is a reasonable season. Objectively much is right, with many games resulting in great wins. The problems must be marginal ones, but what are they? 1. Bazunu. The times when a keeper really sets himself apart are when presented with a need to show something extra…to pull off a really good save…one that you normally wouldn’t expect most keepers to get to. With Bazunu that logic is inverted…he seems to consistently fail to propel himself to positions to get an opportunity to save. In my view his legs are unconditioned…too weak perhaps…just not enough spring to make a difference. Consequently he’s a very average keeper. 2. Inconsistent team selections. The best Managers I’ve witnessed over the years are those who know their best team. Russ seemingly doesn’t, making selections that unbalance the team to shoehorn in favoured players. He will say it’s to keep players happy - I would counter that by saying weak Management. This has a knock-on effect in key positions, but mostly across the backline where we suffer most (no one can argue this with the goals against this season). And also the in-game awareness - on many occasions he can’t utilise his squad to best effect to see out games or counter tactical changes made by the opposing team. 3. Underperforming players. You can pick out specific players in defence but in my opinion that’s down to poor coaching of a consistent CB pairing for example, rather than the players themselves. The key area of concern for me is Che Adams who has been on average poor, but mostly the disgracefully negligent failure to sign a striker who performs at a consistently high level. Also, I think of Smallbone who lacks the movement and intensity of Downes…again he’s not terrible, but not at the required level to make a difference. I think of Sulemana, Mara and Edozie - they’re probably lovely to watch with their tricks in training, but there’s not enough end product and when the going gets tough they go missing ambling around the field and not closing down quickly. 4. Lack of a midfield enforcer. A player like Romeu who puts his boot in and lets the opposition know they’re in for a fight. Ipswich had several players like this who somehow didn’t get a card - perhaps they did their homework and knew the Ref was soft on hard challenges?

Martin screws around with a winning team time and again. Bazunu has no leg strength so every time he has to jump/spring for a shot he’s left short. Recruitment of a decent non-crocked striker a telling fuck-up for 4 seasons. Watch the rats try to escape the sinking ship now - except Manning…he’ll stick around for his mate.

And there goes our auto slot.

There we go. Ref bottled it again. Stupid from Bree, but he was in a no win situation.

We’re going to lose this. Just feel it.

Edozie is not the answer whatever the question.

Honestly, this Ref is having a shocker…our players get clobbered and he gives nothing. They fall over and he’s all over it.

WTF is Bazunu doing???!!!

Absolute disgrace - that’s a red all day long.

There you go - bottlers. Martin has fucked up by not getting KWP on.

Trouble is he’s been a timid fucker all game.