Saint86

I bet you wonder why we even have cup competitions...😅🙈

IMO the critical mistake was not buying Ralph a striker and CDM cover in the summer. Do that and we're comfortably clear of relegation this season and likely mid table given the bottom half league table. As it was, they effectively hung him out to try until fan sentiment turned and made him into a good scapegoat for SR's transfer failures. Similarly, everything that has followed (since failing to sign a ST and CDM) has basically been reactive fire fighting... And by that, i even mean down to where we are recently - i.e. Jones (or any manager) would have had a significantly greater chance of winning more points had a competent CDM been available for their first few games, ditto a striker who could finish. SR ultimately are responsible for our summer transfer business and the general upheaval of both playing and off field staff - they've tried to change too much too fast, and simultaneously missed the most important aspects. Repeatedly.

Fundamentally all the recruitment issues are on SR. They hung Ralph out to dry in the summer, and if they fail to deliver goals this January I'm not blaming anyone but SR.

That's interesting and something I hadn't picked up on. Especially given he didn't have lavia fit for those games. I do think that Ralph would have kept us clear with a good attacker and cdm cover in the summer especially. But equally, I don't think Jones has failed yet - we do stay in games and it comes back to the same fundamental issue in that we are lacking quality at the business end of the pitch.

As would I. I think that team is close to our best current 11. Arguments for edozi / djenpo, or mara/Che. Whats happened to Stuart Armstrong.

They should have had a striker deal ready to go at the start of Jan. The longer this window goes on the worse this all gets and the more desperate we become sadly.

Ah I follow. Who knows. I would like to see alcaraz and orsic playing the next game. They can't be worse than the alternatives as a minimum. Diallo did some decent tracking back but gave the ball away so many times in dangerous areas... Has to be dropped I'm afraid! Edozi and orsic behind Che, with lavia/jwp/alcaraz - the league Cup game is the opportunity to trial this.

Orsic came on yesterday and played on the right / centre from where i was sat. He did very little other than make one of the most offside runs I've seen in years. Totally invisible other than that. I wasn't really looking out for him in fairness so may have missed anything else, but If he's meant to be our saviour it was all a bit concerning tbh.

We're going to be in a position where we're looking to pay hugely over the odds to a team for a cf who will also demand over the odds wages to join a struggling relegation threatened team. The player won't really want to be here / up for the fight. Likely becoming another financial burden. Makes the decision not to pursue the supposedly interested ings look even worse when you think about it.

We did enough to get at least a point out of villa yesterday, and arguably 3. He has made us a lot harder to beat and we stay in games as a result. But equally we aren't creating enough for the quality of our strikers to put away... We need a better CF and a better left winger!! Not down yet.

My overall take on the game is two fold. The referee was appalling, blew up at any excuse to give villa free kicks, even for the most innocuous decisons. Ultimatley coating us 3 points through dodgy officiating. We clearly lack the required quality in the final 3rd to take enough chances. With a better left winger and central striker, we wouldn't have needed jwp's goal 😔. What I would say is that our response to the var call was poor. We were all over villa prior to it, but following that call we totally dropped off - despite no tactical changes from villa or substitutions etc. No excuse for that. Was a close game apart from that. But ultimatley 3 points have been lost due to Michael Salisbury (always shit for us) and Richard West on VAR, and that could very likely send us down. Also, the policing response to drone was simply not good enough. Supporters in much of the ground didn't realise what was going on until it was finally announced once the players were basically off the pitch, and many fans could be heard to say, "what about our safety" (re announcement on the players safety). Which is spot on - seemingly no provions in place to stop someone flying drones into the crowd if someone desired.

An immediate confused reaction to this. I guess I should be flattered by the close attention! 🥰.

But of course 😁. I just think it would have been nice if he had just credited SuperSAINT and the broader SaintsWeb community for his content 🤷‍♂️😊

He's not good enough Sheaf, the Championship doesn't... count haven't you heard? Chris Wood is what we need 😘🤣😂 But in all seriousness, great news for tella, hopefully we can use him next season.

MLG has stolen this and shared it all over twitter 😂

I honestly don't even think he is. And even if he was slightly better, he's still a very limited dinosaur of a player, excelling at hold up play only. I prefer Che's work rate and mobility, and i don't think there is any real difference re goal return. Newcastle fans think he was terrible business as well and are desperate to get rid of him. Says it a lot tbh. We've got Mara, Che, and AA as strikers. They offer mobility and a combination of strength and pace - but for finishing, a poor return. Chris Wood might be better at physical duels than Che but honestly i think that is it. And, for me, there is just no point spending significant money on that position unless it comes with a significant upgrade - Chris Wood is not that!

Chris Wood is not a what we need ffs.

Tella is doing pretty well for a winger...

Adams is a capable centre forward with respect to hold up and link play - especially if he has 2 inside forwards/wingers and midfield runners in support. But his finishing (or more to the point, composure) is badly lacking. AA does alright on the wing in fairness, but yes he isn't a striker. We've added goals to the team with Orsic and getting JWP back up the pitch. Perhaps upgrading the wing with Jackson will give us enough? But i agree, its a bit risky. I am not at all convinced that spending £20-25M on another winger will add significant value over Ely, AA, Edozie, S.Armstrong, Aribo etc. Whereas i feel spending £20-25M on an upgraded CF would make a notable difference. Saying all that, i reckon Mara has got something about him. I've always been impressed by his movement and sharpness, it would be interesting to see him being given a run of games - although I admit that is risky given the situation.

Valid point - Tella seems to have been forgotten lately.

An interesting snippet - if only from the perspective that Everton cannot afford him... 🧐 If its come from his agent/Udinese, it implies someone is sniffing around. The next link on that site is 2hours old and says Everton are also after Zapata on a loan with option to buy.

New manager bounce incoming?

I checked his last 5 match appearances (and more), he's a sub that played generally on the wing.

No. It really isn't. Incredibly limited player and not a good goalscorer.

Ducky, you may not like stats / think they're animals from the forest. But probably one of the key points there is that he is averaging nearly 4 shot creating actions per 90min over the past year, despite playing in a struggling side, and despite being "held back" by Ralph for the first half of this season. For comparison, i was looking at Jackson the other day (who plays for a better team relative to their league, generally as a winger / sometimes CF, and often an impact sub) and he was averaging approx. 1 per 90min. Its been levelled at jwp a lot on here that he doesn't impact our attacking play, or that his passing is poor etc. But equally its been said (admittingly less often) that he offers some great attacking plays that go unnoticed by the fans. i.e. lots of good cross field diagonals and through balls etc. that the fan's don't notice because ultimately they're falling to Che (or edozi a couple of times lately), and they get spaffed into the crowd... and the fans tend to then remember the misses rather than the creative play behind them. We all know that he's a good player in the press, harrying the midfield, interceptions etc. But the stats do also show that he contributes significantly in an attacking sense as well