FA Cup 1/4 Final @ Bournemouth

[Maggie May]

Thierry Henry in the Bournemouth dugout for this one? 

[LGTL]

53 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

Thierry Henry in the Bournemouth dugout for this one? 

Hopefully! What an odd appointment that’ll be. 

[alehouseboys]

4 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Thierry Henry in the Bournemouth dugout for this one? 

I wonder if portsea island’s finest will all be stood outside going all weak at the knees and clapping?

[saint lard]

Woodgate will be announced as full time manager/head coach any moment now. 
much to the dismay of their fans. 

[S-Clarke]

20 minutes ago, saint lard said:

Woodgate will be announced as full time manager/head coach any moment now. 
much to the dismay of their fans. 

Yep, manager until the 'end of the season'.

They might as well have kept Tindall. Cheap option originally, but at least he offered a bit of continuity from the Howe years. 

Might have someone lined up for the summer I guess, but it strikes me as a club doing it on the cheap as per Jason Tindall when Eddie Howe went. Don't think we'll be seeing them back in the top flight for an incredibly long time.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Yep, manager until the 'end of the season'.

They might as well have kept Tindall. Cheap option originally, but at least he offered a bit of continuity from the Howe years. 

Might have someone lined up for the summer I guess, but it strikes me as a club doing it on the cheap as per Jason Tindall when Eddie Howe went. Don't think we'll be seeing them back in the top flight for an incredibly long time.

Absolutely. If they don't sneak up though the play offs this year, then that team is going to be broken up. The likes of Brooks and Lerma will be off and they will be back to obscurity where they belong. 

[Pilchards]

They will have Adam Smith missing with what looks like a bad ankle injury.

They also have Lerma missing through suspension. I expect Long is not allowed to play which gives us the upper hand I guess.

I suppose it depends if we get some confidence from the Brighton game plus Walker-Peters doesn’t get injured.

[Matthew Le God]

9 hours ago, Pilchards said:

They will have Adam Smith missing with what looks like a bad ankle injury.

They also have Lerma missing through suspension. I expect Long is not allowed to play which gives us the upper hand I guess.

I suppose it depends if we get some confidence from the Brighton game plus Walker-Peters doesn’t get injured.

Bournemouth also play in mid week, so Saints should be fresher.

[JRM]

11 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Bournemouth also play in mid week, so Saints should be fresher.

That never seems to work in our favour, we just look knackered a anyway. 

Strange game, should be really looking forward to it, local derby 1/4 final and chance to get to Wembley but everything feels so flat at saints at the moment. 

Minamino cup tied, Ings, Walcott and Romeu important injuries for us still. 

Week preparation should help, Bournemouth have been very poor recently and are falling away from promotion race, massive game for them on Tuesday v Swansea. 

Even if we get through hard to be that excited with tough opponents waiting, just like when we got to the semi in 2018 the shiteness of the Saints team led to mass apathy towards the Chelsea semi final. 

[Micky]

Really couldn't give two tosses about the game to be honest,  could be a blessing in disguise if we lost narrowly.  Let's be honest, with what's on the other side of this game we're likely onto another hiding.  Was at our last semi against Chelsea and realistically it wasn't even close.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Micky said:

Really couldn't give two tosses about the game to be honest,  could be a blessing in disguise if we lost narrowly.  

You wouldn’t say that if you worked with their twatty fans 

[JRM]

40 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

You wouldn’t say that if you worked with their twatty fans 

True, they really really hate us, we've got to win just so they don't get the pleasure of celebrating what they'd see as one of the greatest days in their history beating the scummers to get to Wembley 

[BotleySaint]

Can we give them special permission to play Shane Long?

[Teddeer]

19 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Can we give them special permission to play Shane Long?

Even Longy might score against our defence.

[BARCELONASAINT]

I cant remember the last time we got to the quarter final of the FA Cup with a very realistic chance of getting to the semi's and i couldn't give a toss about the game.......oh it's probably because it's never happened before. After Saturdays gutless performance i really don't care if the Cherries beat us, this team don't deserve a Wembley appearance, absolutely spineless bunch with no leaders on the pitch.

[Saint Fan CaM]

In one sense the result matters little - well get knocked out in the semifinals whatever, so talk of a Wembley appearance seems a bit pointless. On the other hand, moving into a run of 4 potentially winnable league games with a cup win could (should) provide an added boost.

The one big issue is the wear and tear on players - Bournemouth will see this as their cup final and will be a tough nut to crack...i.e. there will be a high degree of physicality to the game. We have to play, so my instructions to the team will be pass quickly and do not provide 'hospital passes' which increase the chance of injury. Let's hope the pitch is in a decent state of repair.

Wouldn't like to call a score, but our form would suggest it could easily be another loss. 

Edited 15 March, 2021 by Saint Fan CaM
Typo

[Dorchester Saint]

Does anyone think our progress in the FA cup could be affecting how the players apply themselves in the league? Fear of injury and not getting to feature if we make it to Wembley? (unlikely I know) 

Im just looking for reasons....

[BotleySaint]

6 minutes ago, Dorchester Saint said:

Does anyone think our progress in the FA cup could be affecting how the players apply themselves in the league? Fear of injury and not getting to feature if we make it to Wembley? (unlikely I know) 

Im just looking for reasons....

I dont think so. The issue is that the players are no longer on-board with Ralph "vision" and they are all just going through the motions expecting someone else to fix it. For a while that was Ings, sometimes it's Armstrong or JWP. But ultimately even they have given up most games due to a lack of collective will. Think we'll be embarrassed this weekend.

Edited 15 March, 2021 by BotleySaint

[DT]

Personally think this may be a good watershed. They know they must win the game so might just rediscover, oh, I dunno, going forward? Actually attacking rather than getting semi-ons about how well they're knocking the ball around the back. Perhaps we might even be able to build on that, assuming Ralph doesn't do more mysterious tinkering.

OR

If we again get beat (in my view likely) it will crystallise our attention on survival. Think it's hard-wired into the club's DNA to only turn up when it's essential. 

But the really scary thing is the players have lost all faith in Ralph and are going through the motions before their next club, so convinced are they by their own skills in making their dream trot up to Spurs to join Hoivelt or whoever. Actually having fans back might buck their ideas up, but by the last game it still might be too late

 

[S-Clarke]

I think you'll see a relaxed/positive performance in this one. That's what I expect anyway. Pressure isn't on this game, so the players will come out of their little shells they like to hide in.

When we're back in the league against Palace they'll have those shells in full force again I'm sure.

[JRM]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think you'll see a relaxed/positive performance in this one. That's what I expect anyway. Pressure isn't on this game, so the players will come out of their little shells they like to hide in.

When we're back in the league against Palace they'll have those shells in full force again I'm sure.

Palace is semi final weekend so if we get through no sure when we'll play them. 

My hope is if we sneak through by the time the semi comes around we'll have Ings and Walcott back and fortunes would have changed to give us a chance. 

[S-Clarke]

12 minutes ago, JRM said:

Palace is semi final weekend so if we get through no sure when we'll play them. 

My hope is if we sneak through by the time the semi comes around we'll have Ings and Walcott back and fortunes would have changed to give us a chance. 

Good point.

For some reason I thought Palace was our next game, that's why I highlighted that one! It's not, it's Burnley..!

Edited 15 March, 2021 by S-Clarke

[Chapel End]

4 hours ago, DT said:

Personally think this may be a good watershed. They know they must win the game so might just rediscover, oh, I dunno, going forward? Actually attacking rather than getting semi-ons about how well they're knocking the ball around the back. Perhaps we might even be able to build on that, assuming Ralph doesn't do more mysterious tinkering.

OR

If we again get beat (in my view likely) it will crystallise our attention on survival. Think it's hard-wired into the club's DNA to only turn up when it's essential. 

But the really scary thing is the players have lost all faith in Ralph and are going through the motions before their next club, so convinced are they by their own skills in making their dream trot up to Spurs to join Hoivelt or whoever. Actually having fans back might buck their ideas up, but by the last game it still might be too late

 

How do you know the players have lost all faith in Ralf?

Making shit up I I reckon 

The more likely scenario is that Ralf is losing faith in the players as he is obviously not instructing them to be so poor 

[SKD]

10 minutes ago, Chapel End said:

How do you know the players have lost all faith in Ralf?

Making shit up I I reckon 

The more likely scenario is that Ralf is losing faith in the players as he is obviously not instructing them to be so poor 

What a silly thing to say. Obviously no manager, no matter how good or bad, would instruct players to be shit. 

Ultimately, the buck stops with the manager.

If the managers tactics aren’t working, it’s for the manager to change them to make them work. 

if the players aren’t playing to the managers instructions, then it’s for the manager to either Pick players who will or get the players he has to play his way. We don’t have any money, so option 2 is his only option.

If I was the board, I’d certainly be worried as to why the players aren’t playing to the managers instructions. 

Id suggest it’s probably due to lack of confidence and fear of making a mistake. It’s for the manager to install that confidence, if he can’t, we need to get someone in who can. 

[Baird of the land]

I want to see much greater intensity and positive mindset. If we play like we did at any point on Sunday i’ll Probably just turn off. We may not win the cup but losing to the league below would be an embarrassment.

[Toussaint]

19 hours ago, SKD said:

What a silly thing to say. Obviously no manager, no matter how good or bad, would instruct players to be shit. 

Ultimately, the buck stops with the manager.

If the managers tactics aren’t working, it’s for the manager to change them to make them work. 

if the players aren’t playing to the managers instructions, then it’s for the manager to either Pick players who will or get the players he has to play his way. We don’t have any money, so option 2 is his only option.

If I was the board, I’d certainly be worried as to why the players aren’t playing to the managers instructions. 

Id suggest it’s probably due to lack of confidence and fear of making a mistake. It’s for the manager to install that confidence, if he can’t, we need to get someone in who can. 

I agree in principle, but it all falls down as the rest of the squad is so very average. That's exactly the reason I'm not in the Ralph out camp, in reality he can't implement option a or b, which is why I believe we are where we are. 

If we go into this game with the wrong attitude we are going to suffer further embarrassment. I don't expect a positive result.

[Killers Knee]

Walked it