Saint86

Could potentially see him as a DoF, esepecially as selles and the coaching teams are all sticking to the playbook as a club identity, and given Ralph had the experience of working in the multiclub redbull model. But how often do people go back to people / an organisation that previously sacked them? Plus he's also said numerous times that he wants to pack it all in and go back to Austria etc. 🤷‍♂️

Selles said it in one of his early press conferences, but he declined to go into any further details on it. I thought it was quite interesting that he even brought it up to be honest as he wasn't being pushed there by the questions.

You've basically got him back with Selles anyway lol. He was Ralph's preffered candidate for the role, they've stayed in contact, and the playbook is back at the fore...

Have to say this is fairly ludicrous from the club. How many fairweather Tottenham fans do they have attending from central/eastern europe ffs. As usual its a heavy handed blanket approach that penalises paying customers of the club.

Trust the BBC to represent Leicester's zero shots on target as a non-zero percentage of that diagram. Did we have all the shots on target or not... 😅Basic from the Beeb as always.

JWP had one of his worst games for saints in a while. Maybe the recent form and grimsby result has got his head wondering what he's doing with saints, maybe it was just the early penalty miss messing win his head, but he almost dropped us in it with that foul late on. Hopefully a one off! Lavia was poor, no two ways about it. The guy has got a lot of ability and potential, but he's not showing what he can do enough! Maybe one with his eyes on his next move and see saints as a transitory stop?

Not surprising given a lot of the shit our fans gave him in fairness. Let alone our outlook in the league.

He's had more final 3rd quality than the rest of the wingers (/10s) or CFs combined recently... I don't have an issue with him getting minutes as it stands. Him, Edozie, sulemana, and Stu should be our 10's / wingers. Djenpo probably deserves some time as well.

Yup, my thoughts on baz. And the passback was a shocking pass back to him, skimming and bouncing accross the turf 3-4 times with pace, and when he was already under pressure.

This is an absolutely must win game today. If we are going to have any chance of getting out of this we absolutely have to get a win today... doesn't matter how, but they have to get it done.

The team is okay, apart from both bednarek and ANM. At most we can only afford to play one of those at a time, and I would strongly argue neither.

Is lavia meant to be the small one with big hair?

Why is AMN playing over perraud ffs. And bednarek in the 11 when salisu is seemingly fit and on the bench. Not good. Rest of the team looks solid. Like the front 3 and central midfield 3. Would expect we'll see a Paul > che swap, as well as an edozi > theo at some point.

A win would actually be massive given how other results are looking.

It was pretty obvious what he was doing with Lavia, the kid is class but is playing within himself - if he wants to be the best he has to keep rising to the occasion and offer more. I.e. Selles has challenged him to step up and do more if he wants to reach his full potential. He also said numerous times within his presser not to load expectation on 18year olds - which is fair as we have a young squad and expectations need to be managed. Fan's getting upset about it are being a bit silly tbh. Selles also eluded to the fact that Lavia has potential moves away in the summer.

If | | | | | | | - - - Very long pause - Yes i am going to say this... | | | | | | We win... Then we're not down regardless - we'll be on 21 points and within touching distance of safety 🤩

To the people who actually believe sports Republic will turn this slide around to the point where we'll do well in the championship - I'll have what you're smoking. On paper we should be fine... But everything they touch turns to dust.

1. Bednarek. 2. Maitland Miles. 3. Aribo That would be my picks in order. 4. Probably Moi - but could pick a few at this point.

Rasmus ankerson is in the process of systematically dismantling everything good about the club through his quite incredible ineptness. That's the reality.

Add his permanent appointment to the long list of Rasmus cock ups. Whether he is good enough or not (which remains to be seen), he should never have been made permanent until he'd earned it. Certainly not just after the Chelsea win - in which we were very lucky. I like the guy, and he may prove to he decent. But if he isn't ready we can't afford to be his learning curve this season. Flipping that, as said previously, have the players just succeeded in getting a cushty mate too play for? And equally, how is he going to sort the mess out and reset the club's form/tactics/morale when he was an integral part of it this season? He has no fresh perspective and that is a worry tbh!

Shocking officiating. But we've been dire in attack. Same old story there.

I can't be the only one who thinks our starting 11 is stronger that Leeds given there is no "Janny B" or Ely?

Looking at prem statistics (from the official website): Stu has a minutes per goal ratio of 550 compared to Ely's 900+ He has a superior pass completion rate, 5 times as many touches from only twice as many games (or 3 times as many minutes), and ditto 5 times as many goals (15vs3) 9 clean sheets to Ely's 2. 59 interceptions to his 7 163 tackles to 27 71 clearances to 11 Stu also has a shooting success chance of 8% to Ely's 4%, which is even more notable given Armstrong shoots far more from outside the box than Ely, and on that note Stu has 6 goals from outside the box to Ely's 1. Most telling of all... El7 has missed 6 "big chances" to Stu's 7... despite playing a 3rd of his total minutes. As the OP says, fans have their own views on different players, but I honestly cannot see a single metric where Ely seriously offers more than a fit Stu Armstrong 😅- which was your original point. We should be starting the likes of Theo and Edozi over moi.

Might be somewhat controversial but i would somewhat tweak the formation away from our standard norms. I would go for a 4-1-2-2-1 (i.e. glorified 4-3-3). KWP/Perraud as wing backs pushing up to support the wingers, but not necessarily tasked with overlapping and playing quite as attacking as previous - only if the opportunity arrives. With Lavia as a proper midfield anchor man. JWP and Alcaraz as our CMs - with licence to push up and support the attack/wingers. Sulemana/Edozie as either wingers - tasked with running at defences, carrying the ball, and crossing to che/Pall or the CMs arriving from deep. Che/Paul as the focal point. Baz KWP ABK Salisu Perraud Lavia JWP Alcaraz Sulemana Edozie Che Could also play this narrower - with the wing backs overlapping and a concerted press - with lavia and the two CB's providing a central core that will be hard to play through. In summary - try and get all our best players on the pitch and in their preferred roles...

I just can't agree with this. Stu is our best 10 by a long way - the issue is he isn't fit for whatever reason. He's able to hold onto and carry the ball, dribbles past players, links up well, and offers a goal threat. Something which is actually quite obvious when looking through their comparative metrics (be it personal or team): https://www.premierleague.com/stats/player-comparison The only case you can perhaps make for Moi vs Stu, is maybe that he offers more defensively. But then when Stu's playing the team wins more, generates more chances, has more possession, keeps more clean sheets and returns more points - so by inspection there is less to do defensively. I.e. - picking players with no attacking threat who are worse in possession invites more pressure onto saints.