Saint86

What we currently have is diallo and JWP as central midfielders... Ely, Stu, edozi, Adam Armstrong as attacking mids, and Che Adam and mara as strikers. I will kindly suggest that anyone thinking that is a premier league level squad is living in cloud cuckoo land. It really does show how important lavia is to us; not only is he a quality player, but he is also the only competent anchor man for the midfield - and his defensive abilities and mobility are key to us being competitive in that area. Losing him (and now ABK and to a lesser extend ANM and Livramento) is a real blow to a squad like ours - we didn't have that much depth to start with. The fact that I can sit here and say that losing someone as average as ANM to injury is a blow says it all. And seriously, if we lose one more of JWP / KWP / Salisu / Che long term then I think we can all collectively kiss the Premier league goodbye. Slatterly would be getting game time right now if he was still around, and i think the central midfield titan that is Will Smallbone certainly would... And whilst i'm at it, I am surprised we haven't seen more of ballard this season, we don't have anything to lose and at least he can finish. The saving grace might actually be the world Cup at this rate - in that we can regroup without too much international footy and get a full strength squad. But fundamentally, I don't care who the manager is. Fans need to be realistic about this squad and our current injuries. We are in serious trouble atm, and I don't think there is any manager that is going to be able to come in and magically cover over the basic holes in the team's quality.

Because we have no CDM's to speak off. And west ham capitalised on that by pushing our mids deeper, isolating our attack and exposing our extremely soft centre. Unless you want to start playing Lyanco in CM and further mess up our formation, i don't really see what you do about this - we have no squad depth to speak of in central midfield. I maintain the only way this is going to work with the currently fit players is JWP adopts the defensive anchor man role and gives up any pretence of playing further up the pitch. Yes thats a loss, but Armstrong can pick up his attacking play, and JWP is a better CDM by far that the currently fit alternatives. I would go so far as to say that neither Diallo (nor AMN currently) look even remotely like competent premier league level CDM's / anchor men. And regardless of the views on their ability levels, we are simply not going to win many football games until we restore some serious grit to the middle of the pitch - and we only have an injured 18year old that specialises in that precise duty. This overshadows the need for a good attacker for me!! Whilst i think our back 4/5 are more than good enough, we currently have a blunt attack, and poor midfield for either possession or ball winning/turnovers.... That means there is very little way out as the ball simply doesn't stick further up.... We're going down with the (fit) players currently available. Absolute have to buy a decent CDM/cover, and a striker in January.

Credible point vs very good west ham side. Our squad minus Lavia and ABK is a relegation level team - Not sure its much above that even with them. Not that we were great for squad depth anyway, but AMN (who is not match fit and hasn't impressed) now also now injured? Selling Romeu was criminal and could well be the move that makes us.

Exactly this. Part of a wider issue with fanbase toxocity/negativity atm. It feels like we've lost a lot of the relegation / league 1 feel that followed the club through thick and thin, and instead become a much more impatient and entitled fanbase, one where some fans are seemingly only happy with unrealistic expectations. We've been underfunded for years (but not the fault of those currently at the club). So whilst it's understandable, letting those frustrations spill out is only going to damage our prospects. And we're very quick now to direct en mass negativity at the club on all fronts, even turning on the promising youngsters we've signed (e.g. bazunu lately) - Something that is the antithesis of saints imo. The fans need to stay behind the club and players atm. Whilst people are still engaged and trying for the club they get supported, not turned on... Or we'll be back to league 1 minus 10 points before you know it. Joe shields leaving after a few months for a pay cheque is all about him, not something to slate the club for.

Get a grip man! Developing and selling these players to clubs flush with cash is our recruitment and growth strategy... As for shields, its not the club's fault that he's been offered the director of recruitment role at a side like Chelsea. He isn't a saints fan and its a huge step up for him. It's an absolute no brainer career wise but it still reflects poorly on him as a person / loyalty wise. But what exactly do you want the club to do about it? It also shows we did well in hiring him if he's already being hunted by Chelsea... Although I'd argue we failed to get both cdm cover or a good striker - so jury's out really.

I genuinley hope the pompey fans go on about this one, would be absolutely laughable 😅🤣.

People scoff, but Dyche makes sense with the players we have.... The only good thing about saints is our defenders and JWP, and lavia when he is fit. The rest of the side can be described as distinctly average at best...

And yet people think more sports Republic is the answer... Failed to buy a striker, and left us weak in central midfield with no cover. It could well prove the 2 key reasons for us getting relegated in May.

Our only fit comeptant defensive central midfielder is JWP. You won't stop conceded goals by taking him off defensive duties. ANM is currently a championship level central midfielder, and diallo is lower prem level. If you want saints to stop concededing, I actually think we have to deploy JWP as the anchor man until lavia is fit. We have no other viable options. Then play Armstrong and diallo in front of him in a three. I make no bones about it, this is an incredibly weak midfield for ball winning / possession football, but that is a clear and glaring recruitment failure. Then it's Adam Armstrong and aribo giving width, And che in the middle. Asking diallo to have the ball in the CDM spot is suicidal, he is too slow on the ball and gives it away in a key area. The failure to buy a good striker and cdm cover could well get us relegated. I have no faith that any other manager can come in and magically fix those issues as they stand. We need lavia back ASAP and for his return to be niggle free.

The critisicm of bazunu is not justified. I actually struggle to see it as little more than negative fans seeking to piss and moan at the club and players to vent frustrations, rather than being constructive and continue to support players who are clearly still trying. Our 2 biggest issues stem from the fact we have no central midfield depth, and didn't buy a good striker. And that is on the club hierarchy, not our young keeper who has actually been fairly solid in games all things considered. By all means, if you really want to have a shit show of a season, start getting on the back of all these youngsters and destroy their confidence 👍

Given we've played 4 of the top 5 in those 9 games, that isn't that shocking a record.

I personally don't hope we lose just so he can be sacked. Heard a couple of weeks ago that we were waiting for a Premier league manager to become available... If true it was unlikely to be someone like Frank becuase he is in zero danger. If it wasn't Cooper, it could well be bodgers. Could also have been lampard or gerrard I guess. Given our players, I actually think lampard would have been a good fit... But no chance now. I actually think it's irrelevant who we get atm. Without lavia and romeu we have no midfield anchor, and we don't have good enough creative attacker's / strikers to seriously threaten. Our defence is fairly good, but we don't carry a meaningful threat which means teams can punish us without too much concern. Any manager is going to struggle to keep us up with this squad.

Not yet no, guess we're committed to him for the big week ahead. Needs to get 6 points I reckon... Should be interesting given we have no cdm and don't look remotely like scoring.... 😅

We so badly need a striker. All our good form under Ralph has been when he's got someone who can be relied on to finish chances - be it ings, or Broja last year. SR are seriously guilty in that regard. Instead we've got a manager thats been roasted over the coals for attacking in the past (and suffering the odd bad loss), and so has resorted to defensive boring football, with no identty, and seemingly no confidence in anything anymore. Ralph has been good for us, but this does now seem like the end of the line - both with the fans and the players. Its just not working and its going on for too long. But I certainly have my doubts than anyone else will keep us up with no decent strikers and no CDM. West Ham at home is now a massive game for the club. Really need to win that.

No, and no one is saying we should be "pleased"... but we can still be grateful it wasn't worse. Put it that way, a 4-0 loss at the Ethiad won't be the worst result there this season.

Fair play to the saints fans that are up there. Finished 4-0 because man city were in training mode for much of it. Clear we never had any belief in getting a result today, maybe the intent was only ever to limit the battering.

We have two youngsters on the pitch. One is in goal and has done well all things considered. The other is ABK and has done well. Bizarre comment. We're losing becasue KWP is having one of the worst games i've seen him have for us, and because Diallo is a passenger and certainly not the ball winning CDM that we badly need. If KWP had played a bit better it would likely be 0-0 to be honest!

I mean, we were robbed there last season, should have been 2-1 and vs 10men

Think we'll put in a good performance actually... but winning at the Etihad... vs this city side. You'd be a bold man to put any significant money on that.

What do you mean Steve? Are you implying that a finish of 7th place in each of the last 3-4 seasons was in some way unrealistic? 🤣

Said it before, his connections come out when the club need some positive media spin put out. Nothing against the bloke (i like him and enjoy his coverage), but he isn't a good sports journalist. He reports on and is basically a fan of saints (i know he's mainly a villa fan above that).... but whatever he says about saints is from an angle that's either approved by the club or may as well be imo. Don't try to read anything else into what he writes beyond that imo.

I'd actually love Poch to return... Can't get away from that. He's available, he's being linked with premier league jobs (lately villa), and we have young players that fit his style of play. Plus we can whip out the old "we signed pochettino" chant. I do realise it isn't happening. But i'd still love it.

Huge difference between allowing the club to continue running itself and stepping in to sack the manager. I think the call will be with Semmens, although they'll be pressure from above i'm sure, and he'll likely have to act at a certain point to protect himself.

I thought SR weren't going to take a hand in the day to day running of saints? In which case its on semmens like as not?

Yup, agreed, especially if you look directly at promotion rivals West Ham who had a significantly better squad and yet we pipped to automatic promotion after taking 4 points to them - "yet he was consistently out coached by his rivals". Struggling to understand how over a 46 game season we can finish second with a thin squad largely new to that level, and it be described negatively. The entire fanbase bites your arm off if you offered them that 5minutes before kick off vs leeds in August... (still remember Hammond's goal, was sat right behind it, beautiful start to a season 😍). As for, "its amazing how people's impression of his abilities improved over time".... - the only reasonable assumption one can take from this view, is that there was a raft of people saying we were going to win the league before a ball was ever kicked, and anything else was an under achievement. Do the old pre season prediction threads still exist? Can't remember anyone saying "win the league or he's shit" that pre season 🤣 Also, you can say what you want about the ability of some of those players - but Adkins coached them to that level over his time with us 🤷‍♂️.