Saint86

No real surprises here - we are where we are basically because of our finishing, that and key injuries across the back and midfield. Without attacking additions, its hard to see how we get out of this mess - regardless of who the manager is.

Pendant alarm - Nathan Jones took control of the team before the world Cup and managed the side vs Liverpool. Therefore a ball had been kicked... Regardless, I can certainly see the points Steve (OP) has made above, and there are some concerning signs early doors. The reality is Ralph was failed on the recruitment front but would likely have kept us up if backed with a good striker/CAM in Jan. I'd go so far as to say that if we had signed a quality striker in the summer (and not had the injuries), that we'd have been pushing top 10 comfortably - even with this young side needing to gel. But alas, we have Che Adams, Adam Armstrong, Walcott and Moi as our main attacking outlets. We all know that without reinforcements, Jones is likely doomed to take us down - hopefully he was insistent on additions as part of taking the job. But Ralph is gone and Jones is here now - and he is clearly SR's man. That he's come in and we've gone straight back to the same (I would say doomed) 5-3-2 long ball (bollocks) that Ralph mysteriously started playing in pre season is interesting to me. Could be coincidence, maybe it's the state of the game tactically right now, or maybe it's how SR want us to focus our style and recruitment approach. Whatever the reasons, its a style of football that this squad has shown is is deeply unsuited for previously, I have my doubts it will work at this level (or indeed even vs Lincoln), and that the fans surely won't tolerate unless we start winning every game. I want to say there are mitigations for why we changed our typical style and started with 5 at the back and long ball football at home vs a league 1 side... But there are perilously few legitimate reasons I can come up with for that... And from a manager who said he wouldn't change things too quick as well. So when Steve voices concerns about it - he is not going to be alone... Credit to Jones though, he did change it up eventually, and here is to hoping that whatever formation Jones actually settles on is effective at anyrate. I think he's probably a decent manager in the making, but he's going to be up against it at saints - due to the situation we're in, the poor quality attacking options, and the fact that fans will expect a certain style of play from him. Looking forward to seeing us against Brighton at anyrate (have missed saints playing regularly even if we have been pretty dire 😂), and I'm curious to see how we set up and how effective we are.

Its also not very accurate. The back 4 is the strongest part of the team 😂. We are going down of we don't start scoring our chances. The end.

I agree with most of what you've put here.... except your use of the word "if"... 🤣 We could barely beat Lincoln, let alone the best club side in the world.

If its any consolation, Brighton are no longer the team they were under Potter.

We badly need to sign a good striker, and we cannot be playing that back 5 with those passes across the back and long ball bollocks... it offers no serious penetration at premier league level. Teams will just set up and wait for us to give the ball away... and one loose pass across the back/middle with those 3 CB's and we'll have a far better attack that ours through onto Bazunu. Stuff of nightmares - and we can all see it happening I reckon. Work to do!

So genuine question - anyone out there seen enough tonight to think we can beat a premier league side anytime soon?

Lets be honest - we all knew he was going to miss that...

WTF was that... embarrassing

Too much time spent training with armstrong and che....

Did anyone else see Lyanco doing his arms clenched/pumping celebration for that foul (by jackson in our box) being given... he clearly is not right in the head.

JWP isn't a winger, and for the first 60min we played an utterly retarded formation with minimal attacking outlets.

Just the kind of strike Adams is good at - one where he has no time to think where the keeper is... Incredible the improvement in our play since Theo, Armstrong, and Edozie came on... and we abandoned this nonsense 5 at the back vs a league 1 side.

Find myself wondering if the 5 at the back is a sports republic decision - start of the season it was a noticeable change that Ralph was wrestling with and didn't like. Now Jones is introduced and straight away is 5 at the back. Notable that we've abandoned the formation and immediately improved.

No chance, its headed onto his hand from directly behind him - Well refereed actually.

Have to say that first half was extremely concerning. Playing 5 at the back vs a league 1 side at home. Minimal penetration and making them look comfortably compact... and when the 3rd tier side attack they look more threatening. He's actually got us playing a worse 5-3-2 than Southgate used to play... and Southgate used to get away with it because we had one of the best squads in international football with Kane and co up front... I cannot even tell you the last time i watched a top flight side use that many long balls. WTF. The only mitigation i'll allow for that first half is that he's possibly using it to familiarise the team with a defensive shape for some of the more dangerous attacking teams in the prem... maybe... He talked in his press conference about needing to keep things tight, and then finding ways to get a goal. Looks quite worrying on both fronts in that first half.

Its just a friendly! No need to get defensive about it... not unless its really bad. The Robins' result is understandable imo. Important one is beating Bournemouth - hopefully a good marker against a good strength side.

I believe were were rumoured to have lost to Bristol City and beat a barca youth side.

On this we agree, but it does highlight how bad we are 🤣

I think very few people have actually written him off... so as @The Kraken said above, calm down somewhat. You're going to cause yourself a lot of aggravation if you deem right from the start that no one can raise a word of caution... How are you going to handle a potential cup upset vs Lincoln - they do happen... Jones is an unknown manager at this level, but he and the club knew that when he was given the job of trying to gel a young relegation threatened team... the pressure is going to be on him to prove himself and to ultimately succeed. That is natural and it is to be expected that people will take an interest in how he manages the team, his methods, what he says etc. Frankly it would be downright weird if that wasn't the case - Not least because all our fans are rightly concerned about where the club is right now. And within all of that, fans will see traits/signs in Jones to be positive about, and some things to be wary or concerned about. No manager is going to be perfect.

This is wrong though isn't it... Some people have a good eye for when someone should have scored etc. Some people are less fortunate, and are afflicted with similar judging abilities to your Jenas's or dixon's... But xGs vs actual goals is an incredibly simple way to statistically contextualise the finishing ability of our strikers. Unless you disagree and think they're finishing is acceptable for the chances generated? 🤣

It doesn't have to be a relegation scrap though. Or didn't have to be at any rate. We were 13th for xG and joint 15th for goals conceded when Ralph was sacked. That's despite having to gell a young inexperienced team, and with significant injuries to 4 of our best players in KWP, ABK, Lavia, Tino. The reason we are where we are, is because we were 18th for goals scored. I'd say the promotion /adkins prem team carried more attacking threat at the start of our return season that this lot (Lallana, lambert, jayrod). I can't be the only one who's Immediatley bite someone's arm off to have those #3 (previously only championship players) in our side now? We never replaced ings fully, and then we never even replaced broja 😂. It's beyond shocking on a recruitment front. And I think it's fair to say that adding a quality attacker would also have improved our xG stats as well. The issue now is that Jones has got to perform better than Ralph with much the same players (albeit without the same injuries) just to keep us up, which I don't think is a given because I think (or the stats indicate) Ralph was actually doing alright with the players that were actually available. We just badly had to sign an attacker in the summer, and we have been unlucky with injures this year. I want Jones to do well and I'll back anyone that tries as long as they're trying and carry a threat (assume we all will). But I also think he's up against it, and the body language in that video (albeit it's only a snap shot) is slightly concerning. If the players don't listen/respect him for these early games, we're going down.

Any somewhat negative story about saints and Sheldon is all over it like a rash.

Fair enough I guess. He's tended to move around a fair amount in his career. Be interesting to know the reasons behind it, but what really matters is we make a good appointment on the back of it.

Now that would be something i'd love to see 🤣