manji Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 1 hour ago, West end Saints said: Yesterday we 'bossed' the first half against a team head and shoulders better than any we will face. I'm still unsure how we will do, but preseason has been quite a change, with quicker, more incisive passing. There are still things needing improvement / addressing, however I've seen enough to think it will be decent season. We will be comfortably top half, probably top 6, and wouldn't be surprised if we are automatically promoted. That depends on how quickly we sort team out but also whether anyone else has storming season. Careful you won’t last on here with that positivity. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewy Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 (edited) 17 hours ago, lambtiss said: So Che had scored nothing? Very good at holding the ball up. He was a great foil for Ings. Yes, he misses chances, but so do all strikers. When i said nothing I wasn’t being literal. And I’ll be honest I like Adams - he has a good attitude, normally works hard and has some attributes as a foil. But as a lone striker he doesn’t offer enough of a threat to be worth playing. His finishing is dreadful. And your stats above actually prove the point I was making - he’s gone from a 20+ goal striker in the championship to scoring 1 in 4 and assisting 1 in 7 in his first PL season. And then got worse. Form and confidence are shot. Same goes for ArmA. You didn’t include his stats and I haven’t looked them up but imagine they’re even worse. He reached the point last year where he couldn’t even control a football. Again, nothing wrong with his attitude but form and confidence are gone and I’d be amazed (very happily so) if he returned to the form of 3 seasons ago. Edited 30 July, 2023 by Chewy Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manji Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 8 minutes ago, Chewy said: When i said nothing I wasn’t being literal. And I’ll be honest I like Adams - he has a good attitude, normally works hard and has some attributes as a foil. But as a lone striker he doesn’t offer enough of a threat to be worth playing. His finishing is dreadful. And your stats above actually prove the point I was making - he’s gone from a 20+ goal striker in the championship to scoring 1 in 4 and assisting 1 in 7 in his first PL season. And the got worse. Form and confidence are shot. Same goes for ArmA. You didn’t include his stats and I haven’t looked them up but imagine they’re even worse. He reached the point last year where he couldn’t even control a football. Again, nothing wrong with his attitude but firm and confidence are gone and I’d be amazed (very happily so) if he returned to the form of 3 seasons ago. Always thought Che played well for Scotland he had more support even confident enough to get back and defend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 31 minutes ago, manji said: We are buying more players FFS. Yes, we know we’re going to bring in some new players. But, as Martin himself has said, we need to get rid of players for that to happen, and it’s looking like people need to leave before the club will bring their replacements in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 1 hour ago, Chewy said: We’re in the 5th best league in the world, remember? You never know, we might actually make sixth next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 (edited) 40 minutes ago, manji said: We are buying more players FFS. If true that's surely an admission that there are a certain number of current players that have been assessed as incapable of playing his system? I'm not sure that I am encouraged or dismayed at this realisation. There is really no difference between the systems employed by Jones, Selles, now Martin and to an extent even Ralph, except faster movement of the ball when passing - more one touch movements. There is still an insistence on keep ball in defence and midfield to pull oppo players forward and create openings, all of which is pointless if you don't exploit those opportunities by playing forwards and creating real chances in the final third. And by real chances I don't mean nimble footed step-overs by wide attackers trying to beat 3-4 men and running into a blind alley. If I were Martin I would get all the team in front of a big screen to analyse how AZ were able to pull our team all over the place so much so that a simple pass to an unmarked player led to their one excellently worked goal - it was put on a plate for him. How were they able to execute this when our attack minded players can't? The answer in the final third in my opinion is... (a) too often our attack has 11 opposition players to work through as we've taken so long to move the ball forward, (b) we work in tight pockets on the wings and wonder why we get turned over there and, (c) there is a lack of forward line movement to draw players away from central positions thereby creating holes for on-coming players to shoot. There are some good examples of how this should be done in this pre-season - one of Adam Armstrongs few goals came from just such movement and also Stu Armstrong's recent goal too. The evidence suggests that they can do it - they just don't do it enough. Could chopping and changing line-ups have something to do with it? Will a more settled 1st team by more productive? I guess we'll start to see after a week of more training and a more definitive line-up on Friday at Sheffield Weds. Edited 30 July, 2023 by Saint Fan CaM additional thoughts 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 2 hours ago, West end Saints said: Yesterday we 'bossed' the first half against a team head and shoulders better than any we will face. I'm still unsure how we will do, but preseason has been quite a change, with quicker, more incisive passing. There are still things needing improvement / addressing, however I've seen enough to think it will be decent season. We will be comfortably top half, probably top 6, and wouldn't be surprised if we are automatically promoted. That depends on how quickly we sort team out but also whether anyone else has storming season. we bossed the game, but scored no goals and got hit on tghe counter to lose 1-0. I don't think that'll be the last time i type that this season. We look a lot slicker, but still lack any quality in either box. Based on what I've seen pre-season, I think we'll be play-offs maximum next season. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baird of the land Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 Do we know was Livramento HT sub due to potential injury or just a pre-meditated sub. He seemed to be struggling late in the first half after landing awkwardly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wsaint Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 8 minutes ago, Baird of the land said: Do we know was Livramento HT sub due to potential injury or just a pre-meditated sub. He seemed to be struggling late in the first half after landing awkwardly. Posted on twitter that he's fine and was always coming off at HT. No idea of its a legit account though, no ticks or anything (not that ticks mean anything anymore) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodymatt Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 5 minutes ago, Wsaint said: Posted on twitter that he's fine and was always coming off at HT. No idea of its a legit account though, no ticks or anything (not that ticks mean anything anymore) Martin said in his interview on Saints OS that he was feeling his ankle not his knee and that it was sensible to take him off. Admitted that he ‘probably could have played on’ and that he is fit for Friday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Saint Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 (edited) 22 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said: Probably too subtle for you to understand. Not in the slightest. When you match someone, you are equal to them. Given that they had a goal more than us, we weren't matched. A grasp of English is clearly not your strong point, or is it too subtle for you?? Edited 30 July, 2023 by Viking Saint 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERMUDASAINT Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 20 hours ago, BARCELONASAINT said: didn't deserve to lose, ref blind as a bat not to give the first half penalty. Some really nice possession football but we lack a real cutting edge to our game. Looks like the EFL is going to be even more rough and tumble! Not making it easier for our light weights, or tricky players. Sounds like the bournmouth game, very physical, more injuries expected without ref protection this season. The EFL added that match officials will also try to keep the game flowing by maintaining a "high threshold for penalising contact" and not awarding a foul for "all contact yet penalising when contact has a detrimental impact on an opponent". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over land and sea Posted 30 July, 2023 Share Posted 30 July, 2023 Anyone at the game notice what shirt number Bycroft had? I ask because a couple of websites suggest he was number 1 which seems highly unlikely but might add fuel to rumours that McCarthy is off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 31 July, 2023 Share Posted 31 July, 2023 On 29/07/2023 at 19:53, West end Saints said: Clasie was surprised at our team play, pressing well, passing etc, likened the style to Barcelona or Man City, but did make the point that not at same level! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0g3psh7?s=09 Pretty sure he was taking the piss. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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