Saint Fan CaM

It’s generous and friendly offer, however I’m not sure I see the attraction of supporting a team in a PO postcode, over a true Southampton club such as Sholing FC who are incidentally somewhat better (recently beat Fareham in the cup 0-3 and are unbeaten in their league). In Southampton we are blessed with some very decent non-league teams - Eastleigh, Sholing and Totton immediately come to mind.

That gives the club an easy out in my view. With £15m + wages spent on Downs and Stewart (for example) we could have tempted a good range of strikers to join - instead we spunked it on a crock and a guy that would struggle in L1. How did Derby manage to scout/sign their US striker (can’t remember name) - he would be 10 times better than what we currently have to endure. 4-5 seasons of utter blindness to the need for a solid CF now. Urgent action needed Mr. Spors!

Aribo, Aribo! The Saints fans shouted from the remaining stand of the once magnificent St Mary’s Stadium, after their talisman 35 year old striker slotted home his 10th goal of the 2029 League 2 season. It’s all looking roses for Saints now sitting in 15th in the table.

I didn’t make myself clear - I didn’t mean it will be fixed in January, but the decisions made in January will be critical to finishing the fix. For example, trying to purchase a striker is likely going to be a fruitless exercise and too costly. Loaning the right player from an EPL club or equivalent could be the right option - yes, it might be costly, but then so would another season in the Championship or worst still relegation to league 1 if the squad is decimated further. An astute loan or two would allow a pathway to a continued purge of deadwood and improved signings next summer.

I actually don’t think Still views his players in that way - he’s said he will play those who suit the system to defeat the opposing team. Having said that he has come to realise that starting Stewart at CF was his best option given the system he wants to play. We saw a small glimpse of what the player (and the team) can achieve - nipped in the bud by a fragile player unfortunately, but I believe he was working hard to become one of the first on the team sheet and will hopefully be viewed as a big loss which needs replacement to mount a serious challenge for the play-offs.

True, we may need to wait until then, however there is the free-agent on a short-term PAYP contract or even the U-21’s team to look at. Relying on Downs, AA or Archer (or anyone else in the 1st team squad) to play CF would be utter madness.

To be fair I don’t think Spors has been all bad considering the overhaul task on his hands from last seasons debacle. There have been some very astute signings - Jander and Scienza for example…even retaining Charles was the right call. Obviously there have been some avoidable mistakes - Capt’n Jacks contract, lack of decent GK and lack of best in class CF being the obvious, but as I say it was a big turnabout to manage. The next window will be critical to finishing the job.

What I find hard to accept is that neither Still or more pertinently Spors have provided fans any indication that the loss of Stewart for the foreseeable future will be taken seriously and a replacement found. I understand we don’t want o look desperate, but surely the ineffectiveness of the team and the subsequent financial implications of remaining without a competent CF should be sounding alarm bells ringing all over SMS?

A chain is as strong as its weakest link. There are a number of weak links in our club (ignoring the obvious - SR). Let’s start at the back and work forward. GK: how we started with Bazunu and McCarthy in goal is a major miss from Spors and co. Neither are good enough, however thankfully McCarthy has some basic competency as shown by the saves that have kept us games. Baz is a busted flush as shown by the worst stats of any Saints keeper I believe. Defence: Manning is the biggest weak link - doesn’t know how to close down and wipe out a winger. Plus watch him - often seen just stood in no-man’s land doing fuck all and watching the game pass him by. This in turn unbalances the entire defence and it may be the reason Still can’t move to a back four. Midfield: since Jander and Charles have been together things have been much better - BUT - once Downes is called on because one of the others is knackered or on a yellow, everything goes tits up. Why? Because he is a completely different player who can’t play forward or turn - he HAS to pass backwards. Aribo would do a better job. Attack: the lack of a really great no.9 is still a massive weak link and the insistence on putting AA in the middle to compensate is insanity. Now Stewart is likely out for weeks we’ve got a huge problem because Downs is not fit for league 1 let alone lead the line for a Championship promotion hopeful. Again Spors has to take responsibility for this position. So if we’re looking to place blame it’s a combo of Spors and Still / Trollope / Lallana. Other than the key weak link players mentioned above, there is a team there which should be doing better than we are, however most of the weak links are importantly in the spine of the team, Manning aside.

You alright hun? PS: climb down from your pedestal and don’t be such a twat blaming posters on here for voicing opinions - it’s a fans forum FFS. There are some of us who recognised early signs that this season was not going to be barnstorming top of the table affair….no hindsight.

Downs continues to prove he’s far from a competent footballer at this level…disaster of a signing. We missed Stewart’s presence when he got injured - let’s hope it’s not too serious, but it probably will be weeks out. We desperately need another big presence up front because Archer is just another AA. Manning is a defensive liability (just in case my deep dislike of the player wasn’t already clear!) and a couple of decent free kicks is not enough to justify his awful positioning or defending - he basically gifted them their equaliser today. Downs just cannot rid himself of his tendency to play backwards or foul. He slows everything down and not in a good way. McCarthy, Charles, Jander, Scienza, AA and Stewart had great games today. Other than Manning, Still needs to keep the CB’s and put Mads and Jewett in as wing backs. The rest of the team picks itself, but Downs is not the answer to anything in a footballing sense.

It worked - had to move to get an optimum Wi-Fi signal in the hotel but managed to watch the game. I’ve had vpn issues when abroad - tuned out it was the hotels Wi-Fi system blocking the stream.

If we run at them second half I can see them picking up a couple of reds.

On a positive note, McCarthy has been massive for us, although he shouldn’t have left Edward’s to defend the cross that led to their goal.

We’re looking good and Derby are on a lot of yellows, so it’s there for taking. Manning is an absolute nightmare liability at RB…has no idea how to defend…at least three times just caught in no man’s land, not closing down and watching the game pass him by. Then he argues with the Lino and gifts Derby a good cross leading to the goal. Get the idiot off.

Decided to pay the £10 for the clubs stream rather than faff about - the hotel Wi-Fi is bad enough anyway. Only problem is it’s too early for the bar to open. ☹️ Think we could get something today. 1-2 Saints.

I’m abroad 5 hours behind with my Saintsplayer service ending, so I’ll be hoping for a good stream link from someone pleeeez!

Thing is CB’s should NEVER be judged on their own. It is imperative that a pairing is established and it’s unfortunate perhaps for THB that he has been forced to find a way to work with Stephens and they clearly are not good together.

If they’ve got a strong right winger or wing back then I’d leave Manning on the bench - he’s useless at closing down his man. Otherwise leave the side alone…they’re starting to gain some traction. Do this and we could get a win. What will likely happen though is Still will cave and allow Cap’n Jack, THB and Downes back in on the pretence of resting players, which we all know translates to keeping the squad placated and happy. It also would mean the odds improve on a Utd win.

If we were the better side we wouldn’t have dropped deep and allowed Boro the opportunity to play and score. Still is close to identifying the best team at his disposal, but it’s far from being better than Boro who are, let’s not forget, top of the table unbeaten. We’re 19th for a reason.

Mate, if we don’t start winning games soon we’ll be dropping into the relegation zone let alone finishing mid-table and that’s going to be a potential disaster as it will mean the hierarchy need to make a decision on Still. Don’t think it’s not feasible - it’s happened to similar sized clubs to us. I don’t for one minute think we’ll be relegated and I did predict we’d be more mid-table than play-off hopefuls, but this league is brutal…we’re not producing the wins (how many games now?)…and we’re sinking. Still has seemingly found a line-up that works, but we saw on Saturday what happens when subs are introduced - it goes tits-up. Complacency is something we cannot afford at this point.

What did he do to warrant an endorsement? He certainly didn’t score and can’t remember a decisive through ball other than to one of his old teammates. For an ACM he was poor in my eyes, but that’s not to say he can’t improve and as I said, he should start on Tuesday. Still needs to build on today’s overall better result.

Interesting that the commentators were saying we need the strikers to be better - actually we need our midfielders to have more composure in the box and score - Azaz was poor today and as I predicted Scienza did come in and looked better immediately. We effectively lost the win by not pressing as high later in the 2nd half…as usual we thought 1-0 would do the business. Overall you could argue 1-1 against the league leaders was a good result, but that still leaves us 19th I believe…that league position is nothing really to celebrate - check out the teams above us. A win on Tuesday now is looking almost essential. I think Still needs to leave this team in place - so much more attacking intent, grit and fight. Importantly, more chance of this line-up improving.

Azaz obviously is going to divide opinion. Personally he’s not looking right to me - not at ease with his role, particularly in this match. I would get him off but who replaces him? Fraser could be a good shout….could Scienza play central?

Cannot complain in the slightest at that line-up in terms of losing the scar tissue. Whether these players are enough to win a game of football we will see in a short while, however it would be fantastic if it’s very obviously the right choices. The disappointment for me is Jelert not getting a start, but otherwise I think Still can be applauded for giving it a go. COYS!