Saint86

What? 😅 It is not going to be a 4-3-3 under SR for starters. We replaced the coaching setup, signed players for, and seemingly tried to get Ralph to switch to 5 at the back in the summer. Then we hired a new mananger who plays 5 at the back. If there was any interest in 4-3-3 I'm not seeing it, to me the "playbook" (and 4-2-2-2 or 4-3-3 high press/turnover and possession based football) is dead in the water. But even if it was a midfield 3, a trio of JWP, lavia, and stu Armstrong would be fine for a starting 11 - the issue is we have no cover for lavia at CDM. Your post seems to imply that JWP needs replacing as a CM... He is frankly out best player even now? 🙄 Stuart Armstrong is not a winger, so not sure if thats a typo and you meant adam Armstrong? Whereas for Adam Armstrong and/or Che Adams as attacker's, the statement of "or new signing", is not strong enough by any measure - we absolutely HAVE to sign a striker who can finish the chances we create... And a new winger is also required. So regardless of formation, we need a striker, a CDM, and if possible a good winger. span widget

It won't matter sadly. Lose to forest and we're certainly down. Heads would well and trully go. New manager bounce though...

Ralph didn't have to go, he needed a striker who could score and cdm cover in the summer... We were losing/drawing key games by fine margins under Ralph - despite having to gel a young squad, having played all the best teams, and having had key injuries to abk, lavia, kwp, and Livramento.... If we had had Ralph with a good striker, a 5 week break, and a fit squad, then we'd have got the points required this January. It's a huge failure by the board and recruitment teams. Instead we've hired a manager far shitter than Ralph. But it's crazy how are fans can continue to bemoan the quality of players we have, and yet ignore that Ralph was actually performing a borderline miracle keeping us in touch despite the injuries and lack of quality. He never had ings replaced, and then no replacement for broja. This summer we basically left him with Ely, aribo, Armstrong, Adams, and edozie - with which to try and score goals (newsflash they can't) and stay competitive. And against that, ABK, lavia, kwp and Livramento were all out injured on the defensive side of the team... The boo boys wanted him gone, they ignored the performances he had actually been getting and any mitigations that go with it, and they assured everyone we couldn't get a worse manager than Ralph... But hey, game stats and analysis doesn't matter, all that matters is the win rate... 🙄 Despite the signs that we were very nearly there even with the injuries. And now we're definetly looking at a grim 2023. But I'd suggest no team in the league has a worse attack / midfield than saints. And when you pair that the injuries at the back and the fact we'd played all the best teams, it's a damn miracle we weren't rock bottom. But some fans seemingly thought we should be comfortably mid table (or perhaps even higher) - I mean he had to be way off to justify that atmosphere, the chants, and the sacking... 🤣🙄 Absolute car crash from SR, failed in the summer, fired a manager that would have kept us up to seemingly distract from their own car crash, and then hired a worse mananger in Jones...

Agree with all of this except you've not singled out lyanco for criticism... He should be nowhere near our first 11. Bazunu will be a decent keeper, but he is constantly exposed by our defence gifting the opposition free chances, space, opportunities.... Any young keeper would suffer under that situation. The board should have just given Ralph an ings replacement and strengthened depth in cdm.

Okay, I've calmed down marginally. Trying to work out what that team actually is. Reckon ANM and lyanco might be playing cdm or RB between them. I'd actually put lyanco at cdm of the two... KWP at left back. Then jwp at cm, with ely/aribo playing in the 10, and then edozi and ely/aribo as wingers... Its the only sense I can make of that team. Not playing Stuart Armstrong in the 10 is poor. If lyanco is at cdm it might work, but if he's playing CB I would pick sali or DCC over him all day. If we're play 5 at the back with that midfield he deserves all the shit that's coming to him.

That midfield is horrific. Jwp, aribo, Ely, edozie.... Going to get absolutely destroyed. And ANM should not be playing over perraud unless he is injured.

Agreed. That's more of less our strongest 11 I would say. Under Ralph I'd back that team to get results in the upcoming two games. Issue was he didn't really have a fit lavia, ABK, kwp for much of the season. Under Jones... Who knows... Here is to hoping. But tbh, how many of us are expecting him not to put lyanco in over abk, and diallo in for Armstrong 😭

The captain needs a cool and disciplined head, with the awareness to apreciate the flow and feel of the game, steady the team, and drive them on at the right times. They should also be committed to the club. So no, not him.

Alvarez is class. Granted he joined them only this summer from river plate and most English fans would struggle to name more than a handful of teams from that league... But it doesn't change the fact that he is class. He'll be a regular for City next couple of seasons. I think he's only about 21 as it is... Has a very big future.

Not sure its worth debating this with Bad Wolf, from his post above he has written him off because he plays wing and doesn't have a comparable goal record as past championship strikers. You're comparing apples and oranges from that point on as i suspect he is viewed as a very different player for different people. The fact he is a fan favourite at the side top of the championship says a lot. As does the fact that we are bottom of the prem and have rather poor players throughout both wings and the striker position. Its an opportunity to sign a fan favourite from the side top of the championship for free, in a position we desperately need to strengthen. Unless we're about to go out and sign two top quality wingers, its a no brainer for me. Who knows - maybe we are...

Would you look at that, near parity between goals and xG... a thing of beauty (i mean Moffi, not adams... obviously).

I can tell you this much, they're all above us in the league table, and they can probably all afford to pay him more 🤣

He is a far better finisher than anyone we have at the moment. On that basis alone we should sign him.

Does Nathan Jones press? I didn't realise this. I genuinely thought the tactic was to stand off with 5 at the back, wait for the opposition to give us the ball, and then hoof it 50yards and hope Che wins us possession before the oppo can recycle it...

If we can't beat Forest on Wednesday we are down imo.

Oh joy, another 9-0 castration on live TV to look forward to 😕

Disagree with that and think it's quite harsh. He always carried a threat at saints but was inconsistent. He's gone to Fulham, played regulary, and has developed and honed his attacking play. He's still young but clearly he would add something to saints given our wide attacking options currently are Ely, theo, edozie, Adam Armstrong... The only two of those that offer any kind of assist/goalscoring record at all are theo and Ely... Edozie may be able to beat a man, but his finishing is atrocious and I am yet to recall him completing an actual assist.

That isn't how loan deals work? If we recall him he has to come back - it's not a transfer, he is our player?

ABK and Sali can handle mitrovic ffs. Our issue is we have no CDM to speak off. So our defence is going to be exposed down both flanks and through the middle. They're being led to the slaughter every game as it stands. Realistically if we're going to turn this around and survive, we need to be getting a draw here and beating forest. A failure to win either of these games and we're fooked. And in reality, can I see a well honed Marco silva team losing to a low confidence Nathan Jones team... No. Its going to be a cake walk for silva/fulham - they beat Luton 7-0 last year 😬😑

From where we are right now approaching new years? Sack Jones. Rehire Ralph - it's his team and they know his tactics... Then actually buy him a decent striker (to replace ings) and get him a fit CDM ffs. Easily finish 15th or higher over the rest of the season and then go again next year with a fit and competent squad. If only we had done that rather than the actual calamity SR have presided over. When you look at this season, it's actually very difficult to imagine how they could have made a worse bunch of decisions than they have done.

And we sacked that mananger to bring in Jones... When all that was really needed was a proper striker in the summer.... And jones' previous side have improved since he left 🤣. I made the decision to not renew my season ticket after Puel's final home game. I didn't realise then quite what a good decision it would be. But puel was a terrible mananger and I couldn't bring myself to pay that money to watch that shite for another season... Although in fairness, puel is probably a better than Jones...

I wouldn't mind weghorst and tella from Burnley, and then a good cdm.

I thought of two other silver linings to the brighton game... 1.) It was only 3-1, our GD could well be important. 2.) it might actually be beneficial that the team put in such a shit performance before the window opens - should focus minds significantly. No need to thank me for cheering you all up with that positive non xG related insight, we're all in this together... 😇

I actually agree re the keeper. Bazunu or macca should be sufficient given the other gaping issues in our team. Truthfully the defence should be fine, but they have no protection from midfield. We have absolutely no central defensive midfield grit without lavia / romeu. No organisation, no holding man, no one to win and recycle possession. Its a huge huge issue for us and it means the defence are constantly exposed through the middle, or by a 10 spreading play to the flanks with minimal pressure. If lavia isn't fit or is leaving, we need to go out and get a proper CDM. Lavia, jwp, and an anchor would be a tasty trip regardless. And ffs, go out and sign a goalscorer. No excuse for at least one of the above not being in place for forest on the 4th. If that is in doubt then someone needs to go and light a bonfire under the board PDQ.

Yup I largely agree. And I don't get why people have such an anuerism over statistical analyses of the game. xG for example is a very useful statistic for looking at a team's actual threat in a match, and in a lot of ways is more useful than total shots, shots on target, and possession re attacking output. A team could have 60% possession and 20 shots for example, but if all of them are at 30yards and either easily saved or miss the target, who actually cares? Hmm, well that would probably correlate to anyone that actually enjoyed puel's football actually... Reality is, the only sliver of anything positive from that Brighton game was that we did show some threat on the attack, and we did limit them to clear cut chances. It's not his fault that bazunu was having haemorrhage. And sure Brighton could well have upped it, but we'll never know. Eitherway, we were far too easy to play through in the midfield, and our attackers still can't finish for toffee. The team selection was also absolute dogshit... Borderline inexcusable in fact. Except it is his 2nd real game... Who knows, maybe there is something in this view that he had never really seen the players competitively, time will tell. Anyway, people can keep complaining about the use of stats if they want, it's a free country. But I still think they add something to the general understanding of a given game, and their ever increasing use and popularity in all parts of football would support that.