Saint86

I seem to recall a Rob that was asking questions at the Fans forum and claimed to be leading voice of the saints fanbase?

Ah yes Bree, forgot about him 😄

Reckon we might start the season with Stephens, Bednarek, Lyanco, and DCC as our 4 CBs. LBs are Perruad/replacement, and then Larios and maybe small. RBs will be tino plus KWP replacement (😰) Entirely new CM incoming. Although i would badly love the club to just hold on to one of JWP/Lavia and Alcaraz.

Its risky for sure. Implications are that the plan is to consolidate and then build for promotion, but that requires fan patience with whatever we get at the start. I could maybe see this as a viable plan if we were intending to keep at least some of our better players - i.e. JWP/Lavia, ABK, Alcaraz, Adams etc. But by all accounts we're pretty much shifting anyone good out of the club... So we're going to reset to a championship level of squad entirely. Martin doesn't appear to have much experience of quickly turning things around (even at MK it took him time and he new the dressing room inside out). But at saints, as fans we will surely demand performances from the get go - there has been remarkably no real reaction yet from the fans re relegation, but surely a bad start upon landing in the championship and it is going to turn incredibly toxic and hostile?! I think he could be good if we keep some of our genuinely better players for him to build a spine around at least...

Reading that, it sounds like he is being hired to be part of a project with the intention of being given time. Which suggests possibly a stabilising approach to the championship and building towards promotion - Or at least, that is Martin's comfort zone.

Don't know enough about him other than they'll be plenty of goals at both ends. What's clear is we'll need some clinical finishers, a rebuilt central midfield, a rebuilt defence, and a good keeper... that isn't changing whoever is manager 🤣

Those are the raw stats - its up to you to interpret them but don't shoot the messenger because you don't like someone referencing them - just read on . You'll also see me make note of the fact that within the players ranked above him on that measure, there will be players with limited number of low xG shots yet scoring (i.e. free kicks, worldies, statistical outliers etc) - so i don't think that's where he literally sits for how clinical he is, but that his stats do suggest he isn't the most clinical striker in the league. Again, we'll just have to disagree. Also, clinical strikers and their impact on tactical styles is clearly related, I'm not sure what you're arguing with there to be honest. Clinical strikers (such as ings for us vs Armstrong/ely/che) make a huge difference to how a team plays/performs. If you can score with every attack you don't need to be as open at the back. Swansea were extremely gung ho and created a lot of chances, but equally they only achieved a +4GD as they were too open at the back - and that won't get us promoted. We're hiring a manager that is very attacking and open at the back with a team that's already demonstrated it can't defend and a keeper that is still very raw. We're likely losing our best central mids and defenders on top of that, and we then look to be signing a striker who is far from the most clinical in the 2nd tier. It doesn't inspire confidence currently. A fresh start, some positivity / winning mentality, and continuity in style (if we get to carry it up into the prem) is all good - but i can't see that Piroe is a significant improvement on paper over our two former champ strikers.

A JWP free kick goal would be nice...

Eddie Howe debate is fairly academic. Our squad has been appalling in recent years due to lack of investment - I don't think Howe or any manager would have done meaningfully better than Ralph did. End of the day our attack at the end of last season / before SR started buying players this summer was Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Ely, and injured Stu, a loaned out Tella, and walcott. I also suspect SR would have gone out and signed players under basically the same strategy this past year regardless of who the manager was. If anything the fact that we spent £160M and Newcastle spent £150M - and they're 3rd and we're 20th should tell you all you need to know about the comparative levels of overall recruitment this past year.

To be fair, i just sorted by non penalty goals:xg for that one, which gives him as 91st 🤷‍♂️. Agree with you on his comparative rankings against similar players. Bottom line is I would have hoped we would be more ambitious. The other way to maybe look at it, is that if we aren't going to go super clinal in attack under Martin, maybe we'll be sorting out the defence to offset it.

Will have to disagree with you there. That's like arguing if we had provided che adams with the most shots in the premier league, the fact he then scored more goals would magically make him a better centre forward. Also, Swansea's record is GD of +4 with 64 goals conceded - the 5th worst in the league. So what you've got is a bunch of teams that finished higher with more clinical attackers that allowed them to better balance their defensive/attack in games. Which ofc is one of saints' main issues in recent seasons - our attackers can't finish and we're forced to be more open / chase games. What might actually be of more interest from that is that our new manager is going to give us a lot of goals (at both ends) next season. Anyway, sorry if the underlying stats offend you though - You're absolutely entitled to think we'll get promoted if we sign a striker of average finishing ability from the championship, go gung ho, and end the season with a +4GD. I was merely offering some caution on people's Piroe hopes 🙃 And if we do sign him, i look forward to those stats being proved wildly wrong and his finishing being top quality.

He had the most chances most shots of any player in the league, and under the same manager that he'll have at saints... Is he really good enough to spearhead our promotion charge, let alone as an investment for the premier league / resale (aka the SR way).

He ranks 93rd in the championship for non penalty goals scored - (minus) non penalty expected goals ... 🤮 (For a comparison, Akpom of Boro is 2nd, Tella is 3rd, carlton morris of luton is 5th). In addition, he is: 77th for goals per shot. 1st for total shots. 1st for shots on target. Also, 6 of his 19 goals were from free kicks/penalties. Which means that he scored 13 goals in open play over 42 games worth of 90mins. Sounds like someone who needs a lot of chances to score / can't finish. But hell, didn't quite work out with Che and AA, may as well roll the dice, spend some more money, and see if its 3rd time lucky. https://fbref.com/en/comps/10/shooting/Championship-Stats Notable that Burnley, Boro, Luton, Milwall, and Sunderland all had great seasons and all had very clinical strikers. Funny that 😂 * I am aware that it doesn't just come down to striker accuracy, but also things like quality of chances created. However i think the above stats still speak for themselves.

Because one is a 20year old German international, the other is a mile off that. What was the point in spending millions on promising youth players on long contracts and getting relegated... if we then go and sell our best prospects to sign more 20year olds of a lower standard. I really hope that is not the plan for the summer. With 40% wage reductions and parachute payments, we should be digging our feet in and keeping our long contract prospects!!

You almost make it sound like we've done well to drop down a division and replace the likes of Lavia, KWP, Alcaraz, Prowsey, Adams and co with some classic 2nd tier players... 😆

Exactly this. He feels like a fall guy for Rasmus' absolute mare / cock up of a season... no 2 ways about it for me. Semmens did very little wrong in his tenure with cards he had, and if anything, he had a strong hand in keeping us up for longer than we probably should have been, clearing the deadwood on a shoestring, and keeping us comepitive... What do fans expect with zero investment, debts hanging over the club, and players like hoedt, carillon, lemina etc to shift. Him and Ralph take a lot of credit together on that front. In 12months of decision making, Rasmus/SR have largely dismantled all of the progress they made; and spent £160M to weaken the squad, saddle us with greater debts, get us relegated, and reduce our income... If you were picking ceo's out of Semmens or SR's side, you'd be a brave man to pick from SR - putting it kindly. Semmens was also very transparent with the fans... Good luck with that given Rasmus "I won't get too involved" is now in sole unopposed control - or maybe i am being too harsh on him there? I guess he did turn up at the fans forum and engage in debate 🤣

As others have said, you need to be agressive in this to get the required points. We will not get promoted playing more of this possession heavy nonsense and Dmpossibky even rasmus' beloved 5 at the back. I would much prefer a 4-2-2-2 or formation that entails more direct and attacking play myself. One of our biggest issues has been that we abandoned our high press attacking style when SR came in... That and squad / first 11 quality has declined repeatedly.

Everton and Leicester, not because i want to face them in the championship, but because i can't stand either of them and just want to see them suffer. Although in all seriousness, i think relegation will be a disaster for Leicester. And actually, i would expect similar problems for everton given they've already breached premier league FFP rules 2 seasons running (without punishment )

The only serious senior staff member in place is Wilcox? Barring a club and department wide recruitment miracle, we are absolutely fooked. People realise that right?

He doesn't have a release clause for transfers. But there has been nothing regarding him having a relegation wage clause. Conversely its been stated by pet journos that the squad does has relegation wage clauses. So the only conclusion to make is that he'll be having the same wage reduction as other players (40%), but that he'll retain the clause re matching highest earners.

FFS Turkish, don't be tempting fate with stuff like this.... 😰

We aren't keeping him and Paul... i'd keep che, but suspect that wages and contract lengths dictate we'll be keeping Paul.

They all have 40% wage reductions allegedly. Most are young players on relatively low wages and long contracts. We get parachute payments. Its not the disaster it is for other clubs... But the disater for saints is that basically every department in the club has not only lost its upper management, but often several of our best staff as well. So even if we could persuade the likes of Lavia and JWP to stay, the chances of us efficiently shifting and replacing the substandard players we have had this season quite low... And thats before we even get to the biggest issue - which is the fact there is seemingly no one competent in place to challenge Rasmus on the appointment of our next manager - based on several rumours / press leaks.... and that is a huge concern.

You wouldn't want KWP and JWP to stay if we can afford it? or even Perraud and Tino? What about ABK, or Tella, or Smallbone? Adams as well would be a great one to keep in the championship. And lets not even start on the total shitfest that is every single department at the club atm. The less transfer shuffling we have to do the better imo. ....

It wasn't just that. Selling Romeu, and then injuries to Lavia, ABK, and ABK (plus Tino being out) effectively kneecapped us defensively for the entire start of the season. Paired with Bazunu in goal (young and developing bot not fully there yet) it just left us too weak at the back... And then yes, the "attack"... barely even justifies being called that. Some fans were flat out just expecting miracles i'm afraid - this really is an awful awful squad once you factor in a injuries to a handful of our better players.