Saint Fan CaM

Possibly, if there was suitable evidence to demonstrate he was the right fit in the squad and could play the system employed. Value is about potential until proven. In the case of Tella, he's proven he can score goals (which, in case you've forgotten 😉, wins games) within the squad and system Burnley employ, so his value should be commensurately higher.

Absolutely - £20m for a proven Championship goal scorer of notoriety is a joke…should be closer to £30m in todays market unless he has a release clause.

Errr, actually…🤣

Because I have a SW supporting friend who has offered me one of his seats. Why do you ask?

Anyone else keeping their head down in a home stand like me? 😀

I do wonder if Martin will buckle to the temptation of starting a 'safe pair of hands' with Stu Armstrong? We've seen this before with three previous managers.

If I were a Burnley supporter I'd be hiding behind the sofa hands over my ears, singing "lalalalala", hoping it all goes away! Beyond embarrassing!

If true that's surely an admission that there are a certain number of current players that have been assessed as incapable of playing his system? I'm not sure that I am encouraged or dismayed at this realisation. There is really no difference between the systems employed by Jones, Selles, now Martin and to an extent even Ralph, except faster movement of the ball when passing - more one touch movements. There is still an insistence on keep ball in defence and midfield to pull oppo players forward and create openings, all of which is pointless if you don't exploit those opportunities by playing forwards and creating real chances in the final third. And by real chances I don't mean nimble footed step-overs by wide attackers trying to beat 3-4 men and running into a blind alley. If I were Martin I would get all the team in front of a big screen to analyse how AZ were able to pull our team all over the place so much so that a simple pass to an unmarked player led to their one excellently worked goal - it was put on a plate for him. How were they able to execute this when our attack minded players can't? The answer in the final third in my opinion is... (a) too often our attack has 11 opposition players to work through as we've taken so long to move the ball forward, (b) we work in tight pockets on the wings and wonder why we get turned over there and, (c) there is a lack of forward line movement to draw players away from central positions thereby creating holes for on-coming players to shoot. There are some good examples of how this should be done in this pre-season - one of Adam Armstrongs few goals came from just such movement and also Stu Armstrong's recent goal too. The evidence suggests that they can do it - they just don't do it enough. Could chopping and changing line-ups have something to do with it? Will a more settled 1st team by more productive? I guess we'll start to see after a week of more training and a more definitive line-up on Friday at Sheffield Weds.

Well the result was no better than what we’ve seen in the 2-3 past seasons. Yes, we passed the ball better showing improvement in transition, but ultimately it was useless as we didn’t look likely to score. Why? Not because our strikers can’t shoot. It’s because (a) 95% of our attacking moves have to find their way through all 11 opposition players, (b) there is little or no invention in attacking play…it’s a case of one player - usually the wide player like Tella, Edozie or AAA - trying to dribble through 3-4 defenders. Smallbone is an ok utility DM but he is useless around the penalty area and couldn’t hit the proverbial barn door. Baz was not at fault for their goal…he was lucky it went near enough to him to get a touch…the goal was wide open and the striker unchallenged. It was in fact a very good move…one that we could only dream of scoring it seems. Prediction. If the attacking phase of this teams game is not sorted out we’ll end up losing as many games as winning this season…the Championship is not as bad as some seem to think. On that showing, promotion is a pipe dream right now in my opinion.

Which side?

On first thought you’d have feel underwhelmed by a 19 year old, however the interesting part is that it’s expected that he’s able to command a 1st team place, plus he’s from Arsenals squad so can’t be too shabby. For us in the Championship it’s probably a good move to replace ABK and Salisu.

The way things are moving in the transfer market it’s difficult not to imagine a selection problem for Martin in the early stages of the season. I’d be wanting to field my strongest team at Wednesday, however does he do that or leave out Lavia, JWP, Tino etc. in favour of starting to gel the longer-term team? Yes, for me it’s go with the strongest players as points on the board early doors will provide a buffer and increase squad/supporter moral before any possible outgoings (or indeed incomings needing to get up to speed with the system).

I was a bit shocked to see Charles in at CB last night…did an ok job, but it’s clear ABK and Salisu are out in the cold. The GK situation is a disaster in waiting - neither Baz or McCarthy have what it takes. At times there were huge holes left in central midfield which will be ruthlessly exploited by most of the teams in the Championship, but the introduction of Smallbone helped. Think Che and Arma we’re not great last night, although I lost count of the number of times Che could have been fed the ball but was ignored. The team are obviously under strict instructions not to change the system and resist changing from a pass it out from the back method, which I personally think is a big mistake as it stifles invention and creativity. They must have an opportunity to put one over the back for Tella or AAA to run onto occasionally (in fact this happened a couple of times in the 2nd half and it worked). Intro of Stu Armstrong really turned the game for us…he’s such a good influence on the ball and his goal was superbly taken. He should be a starter as (at his best) he’s more effective than Alcarez. Overall we could be a very effective and successful side, however I can see that there are big risks to how Martin wants us to play. There will be many turnovers in midfield leading to breakaway goals. It will be a season of ups and downs, but I doubt it will be one that ends in promotion unless a decent striker and a better no.1 are brought in.

Something tells me they and JWP are not too particularly bothered if he’s sold or not, hence the price they’ve set. I don’t think Downes is needed even with Diallo gone, given Smallbone is back in the mix. Lavia is the most obvious leaver from midfield so yeah, not sure we’ll see JWP leave.

😳 blimey that’s not good…why, is it being boycotted for some reason?!?

Well yes I knew it was on the badge FFS, but still doesn’t really explain why! And having it on the badge doesn’t really explain why they’d think it a good idea to put it on the shirt…it’s a bit of a mess. Think a design that utilises the Bargate would be much more appropriate. lol

Baz needs some decent competition to keep him sharp. McCarthy is not that man…we need better.

Think the new third kit is ok, with of course the exception of the oversized sponsor logo. The black with yellow works. Have to say though, I don’t really get the New Forest on the shirt thing…Southampton and it’s suburbs are not really in the Forest - even Marchwood/Staplewood. Is there some historical connection such as ship builders using timber harvested from the Forest?

I decided to get a ticket before the Reading game in anticipation of things starting to click and one of the few opportunities I’ll get this season to get to a match. I agree, a great deal of pleasure would be taken from a win, but a stuffing would be hilarious. It’s unlikely though - we’ve still got most of the squad that relegated us and they’re getting better.

And that right there is indisputable proof why we were relegated bottom of the league. Plus we didn’t sign a decent striker after Ings left. Plus we hired not one, but two, out of their depth Managers in Jones and Selles.

Absolutely this. Let’s remember, he was brought in to be our no.1 in the PREM! No EPL keeper let alone Championship keeper should be making those kind of rookie mistakes. It’ll end up costing us.

I’m pleased to say that there WAS visible improvement, we won comfortably (despite two Baz howlers) and I do think the team is moving in the right direction. What I am less sure of is whether we’re near a level that will get us near the playoffs…think the quality in the teams that have been in the Championship for a while might come as a bit of a surprise.

Disagree. Bednarek was at fault for gifting the opportunity yes - but Baz was at fault for making hardly any effort to stop the shot. His positioning was really poor and consequently he was not able to make himself ‘big’ in front of the on-coming player to give himself maximum chance to save it. If he’d done that and they’d still scored I wouldn’t be blaming him at all. Most decent Pro keepers manage to get those kind of basics right 99% of the time - he’s going to cost us points unless he ups his game quite considerably.

For someone who gets behind the team so unconditionally, this really takes the biscuit! Do you realise quite how contradictory those highlighted statements are? And lastly, I think you need to calm down a bit and realise that supporting the team at a game and posting on an internet fans forum are very different things. 😂

Mmm, a good result and generally good performance against a poor L1 team and let down by some very dodgy keeping. Pretty much all of the Championship teams will put up a more determined test against us. Baz made his best impression of a statue for their first by not moving out to face the oncoming attacker, the got his positioning all wrong and gave them the softest of late goals. I’ve not wanted to be overly critical of the lad but those types of mistake will be the difference between us challenging for promotion or not. Think he needs some time away in L1 to gain experience, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen…all our GK eggs are in the Baz basket.