Saints 0-1 Ipswich - Match Thread

[trousers]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

I mean, he set up with Will Smallbone and Joe Aribo in the middle of the park

Russell Martin can get in the bin, his football is terrible

You won't get any disagreement from me on that score as things stand 👍

[Miltonaggro]

21 minutes ago, The Cat said:

Second half shows we have to play Charles in midfield and Bednarek at the back. 

As soon as Charles went in there he won tackles, made interceptions and gave us better shape. 

Harwood-Bellis immediately looked happier having a proper experienced CB next to him and some cover from midfield.

Surely now the manager will realise we have to play with that solid midfield base. If we do we'll be fine.

Very much this and baffling why we didn’t start with this set up. So much more solid at the back and through the middle second half.  What worries me more is that we can’t seem to break down defences at the moment, despite having Sully, Alcaraz, Adams and Mara on at the end. Ipswich did a right shut out job on us as did Sunderland and Leicester. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

The thing is, we have a track record of turning half decent players into poor players... Manning may well have turned out as a decent player for a bottom half team in the PL, regardless of how he performs for us...

This is sadly true, we seem to put dark clouds over any player who comes here. As soon as they leave they look decent again. It used to be the other way around.

[Saint_Jonny]

Cuntish giveaway for their goal. 

Cuntish fans in the ground. Just impatient unhelpful cunts everywhere you look. 

Cuntish roadworks on the at home.

Just a cunting good time all round. 

[trousers]

15 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Luckilywe have 3 winnable games coming up in our next 4 to paper over the cracks.

If we don't beat at least two of Middlesbrough, Stoke and Rotherham we are in major trouble

Us facing Middlesbrough in our next game is about as Saintsy as it gets... A team struggling for their first win of the season... "Would you like that gift wrapped sir...?,"

[Midfield_General]

Embarrassing. Again. That’s it. 

[Roo1976]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Back from the game

smallbone shit, manning shit, Charles shit, atmosphere shit, setup shit, tempo shit, tactics shit

Russell Martin, your football is shit

Lampard in i say............or Potter,or...big sam(fuck what was i thinking)NO. We seem to take 10 passes to find one side of the pitch to the other and still not find space to move on. That young lad double barreled name ,looks bright and not affraid to make a cock up, why did he not play,Smallbone (WTF) as someone else pointed out, the new Redmond/Ely(shudders).Weve shown no real goal threat or seemingly have very little pressure to put onto any of the teams that weve played over the last 3 games and ...............................fucking breath.Flabbergasted to say the least.

[saintant]

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? After dropping a division I had been looking forward to seeing lots of good football and wins from a well drilled team brimming with confidence. If anything we look worse than we did in the Premier League. Bad choices again I'm afraid.

[gammon cheeks]

Same as Friday night really ...Ipswich not as clinical as leicester otherwise we would have lost by more .

[SambaMaverick]

There's no patterns going forward, they seem to have evaporated since the start of the season. There's very few overlaps, no clever cut backs - meaning we're just relying on individual "brilliance" from Fraser, Sully, Edozie, etc.

AA is in the middle floating around the 10 space but is literally the opposite of what is required in that role.

It was one of my biggest problems with Jones. We got to the final third and just looked like we'd run out of ideas, over and over again.

Couple that with being utterly powderpuff in midfield and downright suicidal at the back, it makes for a fucking shit football team.

[Oldandtired]

The most one dimensional team set upI’ve seen in a long time. Plan A doesn’t work, on to plan B….oh hang on a mo there is no plan B. Neither Leicester, Sunderland or Ipswich particularly good, just well organised and capable of switching it up when necessary. We are not.

Edited 19 September, 2023 by Oldandtired

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Before Martin trots out with defensive progress...

If we wanted a narrowly defeated, toothless side, we could just have kept Selles in charge. Actually, with Selles at least he had a plan of attack, using Alcaraz through the middle. Once we went behind under Martin, we had a Manning shot and that was about it. 

We were a midfield glaringly lacking JWP control, and an attack without that direct threat from deep that Tella had.

We went through yet another window thinking we didn't need cover in defensive midfield. So, when Charles was moved from that role we ended up with a midfield with no control over the game. Aribo has a couple of things he does well. But it was more than offset tonight by glacial pace and waving his hands about to get teammates to pass to anyone but him.

Smallbone looked fine when picking up space from JWP. By himself, he needs more specialist support, and a coaching team that can show him, and others, how to create an attack through the middle.

We are a team with an error in them. And we're not alone. You get most teams to play out from the back under pressure, and there's going to be an error. Today it was Charles on two occassions, with Aribo giving it away on another. We had one pass out that was very similar to how we conceded against Sunderland. Desperate to pass out, even when the receiver has no clear out ball of their own.

I didn't see too much of Martin's possession heavy, but with purpose, team. I was lots of passing back, without looking up, with no outcome. Some was to draw Ipswich out. But most of it was just by the numbers, on several occassions missing out better options, allowing Ipswich to reset and for us to lose any urgency.

We're playing with the same up front as last season, to about the same effect now. We're having to wait on our injured new signing to even provide some competition.

Sulemana is a pace merchant, only used when we're behind and the opponents are sitting back comfortably, leaving less space to run into. We bring on Stu and Alcaraz, who are direct, but again run straight into a compact defence. We had no clear plan on how to use them to unlock the defence. Just hope for the best stuff. KWP and Stu linked up decently. But nothing on the end of it. At one point we put a ball in for AA to win a header. It was laughable.

Martin will no doubt trot out some positives, and how his system is developing and for us to be patient. All his predecessors thought they were progressing too. At a higher level. With similar outcomes to what we're seeing here. Hopefully Martin can actually make the changes necessary. 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? After dropping a division I had been looking forward to seeing lots of good football and wins from a well drilled team brimming with confidence. If anything we look worse than we did in the Premier League. Bad choices again I'm afraid.

Yep. Started the season well and it got my hopes up. Last few games have been criminally shit and unfortunately it looks like we have some fundamental problems with this approach. 

[AlexLaw76]

14 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Back from the game

smallbone shit, manning shit, Charles shit, atmosphere shit, setup shit, tempo shit, tactics shit

Russell Martin, your football is shit

forgot to add..

 

Manji, thoughts?

[Wiggles31]

Tactically that was another shambles. It was beyond obvious Charles needed to be in midfield and Bednarek in defence. 

Also how can Alcaraz not get into this team whilst useless Adarma runs about like a poor man’s Shane Long?! 

The space we leave for number 10s to roam about in is ridiculous. There was a non existent midfield for most of the game so the back 4 looked like Bambi on ice with no passing outlet. 
 

Pull the plug on this manager asap. 
 

[The Cat]

1 minute ago, Miltonaggro said:

Very much this and baffling why we didn’t start with this set up. So much more solid at the back and through the middle second half.  What worries me more is that we can’t seem to break down defences at the moment, despite having Sully, Alcaraz, Adams and Mara on at the end. Ipswich did a right shut out job on us as did Sunderland and Leicester. 

Partly I think that's because in those games we've been behind and the opposition has sat deep and cut down any space. 

We also lack clinical strikers which is a huge issue. Add in to that the fact we pose zero aerial threat so any crosses that come in at height are easily dealt with.

Hopefully Stewart will help in both respects.

[Chez]

11 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought Manning would be decent for us, but he is as bad a player as I've seen play for us for many, many years - and we've had a few.

I find it hard to believe he had PL suitors.

if he had Premier league suitors he'd be in the Premier league.

[imadirtyurchin]

why oh why did we loan out onuachu to then spend the entire game slinging in crosses and corners to our players that have no aerial presence? it just makes no sense. made it way too easy for ipswich to defend.

 

[CylonKing]

7 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Since August 2021 we’ve won 9 out of 43 home league matches. 3 wins out of 23 this season and last. How miserable. 

So it must be the home fans that are the issue then!? 😉

[revolution saint]

That starting line up is the first time I’ve seen a last throw of the dice selection start a game. Utterly bizarre and if Ipswich had watched the Sunderland and Leicester games they’d have been out of sight by half time. We’re getting worse, not better. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, imadirtyurchin said:

why oh why did we loan out onuachu to then spend the entire game slinging in crosses and corners to our players that have no aerial presence? it just makes no sense. made it way too easy for ipswich to defend.

 

Throwing diagonals upto Adam Armstrong and/or Ryan Fraser was a particular highlight

[sfc4prem]

Just now, CylonKing said:

So it must be the home fans that are the issue then!? 😉

These home fans are just so impatient. Can't they just support the team? Letting out any form of frustration is simply not on.

[Wiggles31]

Can we just LOL that Joe Aribo was played in midfield?! How mental is that?!?!?

[Miltonaggro]

Just now, Wiggles31 said:

Can we just LOL that Joe Aribo was played in midfield?! How mental is that?!?!?

It was ok, no fucker noticed, including him! 

[ErwinK1961]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? After dropping a division I had been looking forward to seeing lots of good football and wins from a well drilled team brimming with confidence. If anything we look worse than we did in the Premier League. Bad choices again I'm afraid.

Hmm personally I expected us to struggle, it’s 5 years of funk to shake off and that wouldn’t change overnight.

Didn’t expect this level of kamikaze football / mistakes though.  

[S-Clarke]

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? After dropping a division I had been looking forward to seeing lots of good football and wins from a well drilled team brimming with confidence. If anything we look worse than we did in the Premier League. Bad choices again I'm afraid.

Feels a bit like that.

After what feels like so many years I'm desperate for a team to get behind and enjoy watching again. This football club has been a chore for what feels like a ridiculous period of time now, something has to break this cycle at some point. We've changed managers, spent stacks of money on players, new owners, coaches and just get the same.

I have no idea what we do next. I'm totally at a loss with this club.

[rallyboy]

Dreadful.

It's like Claude Puel, but without the charisma.

[6ft8saint]

Just back from another awful game at St marys. I bought my boy season tickets and so far it's rubbish. 

 

Both Harwood belis and Charles are pants. Why the boss thinks that putting kids in defence is gonna work is beyond me. We need to stop thinking we're man City and playing put from the back. It's costing us silly goals. Kick it long. 

We need to be faster with each ball and and stop sitting back.

 

I hear that the players are carrying baggage from last season but only they can stop that. Score goals win matches. 

We have vertically challenged attackers stop going for crosses every time and instead shoot at goal from the angle rather than straight in front of keeper. 

I'm with the others we let the wrong people leave and then panicked we should have kept others and let smallbone go. Massive over rated.

 

Fans we better tonight in corner but however the other 80% need to get involved. However with the risk of being told off by stand managers for showing passion you can see why some may not. Absolutely ridiculous behaviour by club officials.

 

Rant over

 

COYR

[Jack]

Pros: Only conceded 1

Cons: Absolutely diabolical from the team sheet to the final whistle. Dire tactics, wrong personnel, no desire, no plan B, stupid mistakes. I have zero faith in Martin to turn it around, wrong man for the job. 

[bpsaint]

4 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? After dropping a division I had been looking forward to seeing lots of good football and wins from a well drilled team brimming with confidence. If anything we look worse than we did in the Premier League. Bad choices again I'm afraid.

More wins, less games moved for TV, better atmosphere…. A big fat 0 out of 3 as it happens.

We’re fucked, we’re headed for a double relegation the way things are going. There’s a bad cloud over this football club and it’s being caused by hipster cunts hiring hipster managers with “philosophies” to try and win matches. How fucking hard is it to play simple football with players in their favoured position? Any prick that tells us “it takes time to turn it around” can get fucked, other teams are managing it quite easily in the same amount of time. Honestly our best XI is more than good enough to get promoted, but if it doesn’t happen now which let’s be honest already looks a stretch, then next season is going to be an absolute train wreck.

I’m sick of this fucking football club, honestly. I wish I could quit it sometimes and it not be such an important part of my life.

[vectraman]

Just sack captain clueless Martin. 
Get Chris Wilder in, someone who knows what it takes to get out of this league. Proven at this level.
Not some clever dick who thinks he’s a genius and results prove him deludedly wrong. 

what were you thinking Sports Republic? Always trying to be clever, thinking you’re smarter than everyone else when you clearly are far from it. Just get a normal manager in and get rid of this ‘process’ bollocks conceited twat. Please. 
We are not and never will be able to play like Man City so stop pretending we need a manager who thinks we can. 

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, imadirtyurchin said:

why oh why did we loan out onuachu to then spend the entire game slinging in crosses and corners to our players that have no aerial presence? it just makes no sense. made it way too easy for ipswich to defend.

 

We didn't win a single header from a corner. Not one. 

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, 6ft8saint said:

Just back from another awful game at St marys. I bought my boy season tickets and so far it's rubbish. 

 

Both Harwood belis and Charles are pants. Why the boss thinks that putting kids in defence is gonna work is beyond me. We need to stop thinking we're man City and playing put from the back. It's costing us silly goals. Kick it long. 

We need to be faster with each ball and and stop sitting back.

 

I hear that the players are carrying baggage from last season but only they can stop that. Score goals win matches. 

We have vertically challenged attackers stop going for crosses every time and instead shoot at goal from the angle rather than straight in front of keeper. 

I'm with the others we let the wrong people leave and then panicked we should have kept others and let smallbone go. Massive over rated.

 

Fans we better tonight in corner but however the other 80% need to get involved. However with the risk of being told off by stand managers for showing passion you can see why some may not. Absolutely ridiculous behaviour by club officials.

 

Rant over

 

COYR

Harwood-Bellis isn't pants, he stopped us getting tanked by a few more goals tonight based on his positioning. He is the first name on the team sheet for me alongside Bednarek. Let them build a partnership.

Manning, KWP full back. Charles and Downes in CM, Charly in AM/Rotating with Smallbone/Armstrong. Then wide with Sulemana and Edozie, rotating with Fraser/SAA. Adams up top/rotating with Stewart. Adam Armstrong and Aribo wouldn't even make the bench for me.

It really shouldn't be rocket science for a manger if we can figure it out on a forum.

[Saint Billy]

Owners, manager, team not fit for purpose.

[Galway saint]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Feels a bit like that.

After what feels like so many years I'm desperate for a team to get behind and enjoy watching again. This football club has been a chore for what feels like a ridiculous period of time now, something has to break this cycle at some point. We've changed managers, spent stacks of money on players, new owners, coaches and just get the same.

I have no idea what we do next. I'm totally at a loss with this club.

Feels like we still haven’t hit the bottom.I remember driving up to sunderland with a fair amount of optimism but feels like after the last three games we are miles away from being a coherent team challenging for promotion. unless we sort it quickly the season is just going to evaporate and with each season the squad quality will diminish.

having said all that still feel we will be in and around the play offs come the end of the season but that’s blind faith really at the moment 

[egg]

Just now, vectraman said:

Just sack captain clueless Martin. 
Get Chris Wilder in, someone who knows what it takes to get out of this league. Proven at this level.
Not some clever dick who thinks he’s a genius and results prove him deludedly wrong. 

what were you thinking Sports Republic? Always trying to be clever, thinking you’re smarter than everyone else when you clearly are far from it. Just get a normal manager in and get rid of this ‘process’ bollocks conceited twat. Please. 
We are not and never will be able to play like Man City so stop pretending we need a manager who thinks we can. 

I get the sentiment but Wilder played under lapping wing backs and over lapping centre backs. 

That said, I'd take him. He's tried and proven at this level and I agree that we need someone who is. Martin wasn't, and it's going about as well as I anticipated unfortunately. 

 

[farawaysaint]

Jesus feck, I try and avoid knee jerks but replace the manager ffs. 

[die Mannyschaft]

For the First time since 1976/77 left early with 7 mins added. The standard of football is conferance south. The players first instinct is to stop the ball, pass, pass another 5 times, then back twice then pass to opposition. Ipswich kept tackling until they got a yellow, we did nothing defensively, no one in midfield at all, great open spaces. I did the right thing by not renewing my season ticket. Just such boring football with no aim. How can a team win games if they don't play to score goals. I can't see Saints winning a game before new year. And 2 players in the 6 yard box when we have a goal kick, what tge he'll is that about, surely that's not in the UEFA coaching level 3 handbook of how to win games. 

[obelisk]

I suspect we're going to be in this league (or lower) for a long time now. The St Mary's curse and the losing mentality are far from beaten. Players leave the club and start scoring goals for fun while Che remains and carries on missing sitters. It's a grim outlook.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, obelisk said:

I suspect we're going to be in this league (or lower) for a long time now. The St Mary's curse and the losing mentality are far from beaten. Players leave the club and start scoring goals for fun while Che remains and carries on missing sitters. It's a grim outlook.

I wouldn't have called that a sitter to be fair to him. Hit it straight at the keeper mind, but it wasn't a sitter by any means.

[hypochondriac]

How the feck did we end up with someone as awful as Armstrong as captain? That's one of many ridiculous decisions, he shouldn't even be a starter. 

[Chez]

18 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anyone else starting to feel really cheated? 

not really. 

[obelisk]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

I wouldn't have called that a sitter to be fair to him. Hit it straight at the keeper mind, but it wasn't a sitter by any means.

The whole goal to aim at from a few yards out and he manages to find the 'keeper's head. For a highly paid striker with Premiership ambitions that is a sitter in my book.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

How the feck did we end up with someone as awful as Armstrong as captain? That's one of many ridiculous decisions, he shouldn't even be a starter. 

it is insane. WHy does Martin insist on playing him in the 10 position, when we have Alcaraz and S.Armstrong sat watching the game with their boots on

[spyinthesky]

My view of player performance

1. Baz..................no blame for the goal and made one very decent save second half   6/10
2. KWP................our best player. No doubt will be off in January.                                   8/10
3 Manning..........like many fans, expected a lot from him. Average at best                     5/10
4. Smallbone......looked reasonable at start of season. Fallen away since then..............5/10
5. Charles..........not a central defender. Betterish in midfield. Responsible for the goal  4/10
6 Taylor Bellis....looked more comfortable when Bednerak came on.                               6/10
7. Edioze.............didnt contribute much.................................................................................5/10
8. AA....................ditto. How did he score so many goals at Blackburn?............................5/10
9. Adams.............had one straightforward chance but keeper made a decent save.........5/10
10. Aribo..............lost possession which should have resulted in a second goal. V poor  4/10
11. Fraser.............made a decent start in his first game. Disappointing since.....................5/10
 

12, Bednerak.......made a difference strengthening defence when he came on.
13. Stuey.............some decent tuns but little overall influence
14. Sulemana.......so frustrating. There is a player there but tends to give up at times.
15. Alcaraz...........what has happened to him? Nothing to add to the game when he came on.
16. Mara...............did he touch the ball?

Russell Martin..... really wanted him to succeed but as Swansea fans predicted, he may not finish the season with us.

[Saint_Jonny]

14 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

More wins, less games moved for TV, better atmosphere…. A big fat 0 out of 3 as it happens.

We’re fucked, we’re headed for a double relegation the way things are going. There’s a bad cloud over this football club and it’s being caused by hipster cunts hiring hipster managers with “philosophies” to try and win matches. How fucking hard is it to play simple football with players in their favoured position? Any prick that tells us “it takes time to turn it around” can get fucked, other teams are managing it quite easily in the same amount of time. Honestly our best XI is more than good enough to get promoted, but if it doesn’t happen now which let’s be honest already looks a stretch, then next season is going to be an absolute train wreck.

I’m sick of this fucking football club, honestly. I wish I could quit it sometimes and it not be such an important part of my life.

Yep. It's been 6+ years of absolute dog shit following this football club. Life can be hard enough on its own without over investing financially and emotionally in the biggest shower of cunts known to grace football in the history of cunts. 

Honestly Saints. Just fucking wind it all up. Do us a favour. Wankers. 

[egg]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

How the feck did we end up with someone as awful as Armstrong as captain? That's one of many ridiculous decisions, he shouldn't even be a starter. 

I think the captain choice is the least of our concerns. I'm more interested in having a team with our best players in their best positions, the full backs playing at full back, the players working hard and tackling, and being coached so that they can attack/defend/create and look like an actual football team. 

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

it is insane. WHy does Martin insist on playing him in the 10 position, when we have Alcaraz and S.Armstrong sat watching the game with their boots on

Imagine playing a system that thinks Adam Armstrong is superior to Alcaraz. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Imagine playing a system that thinks Adam Armstrong is superior to Alcaraz. 

just wait till Ross Stewart is fit and raring to go....good should for left wing

[trousers]

"Nothing wrong" tactically this evening apparently...

 

 

 

Edited 19 September, 2023 by trousers