Cardiff 2-1 Saints - Match Thread

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, washsaint said:

What is with the sense of entitlement from some Saints fans?  Calling for Martin's head if we don't go up is utterly ridiculous: we have played some of the most exciting football for years.  Yes we have been frustrating at times but much of that is to do with the recruitment - not getting a fit striker in the summer was criminal.

Add to that, Che (who blows hot and cold), the pointless signings of CHarles, STewart, Rothwell and Brookes (together with the unmitigated disaster signings of ABK, Suleman, Tall Paul, etc. last season) it's a miracle we have done as well as we have this season.  I recall the same complainers whining we would be lucky to finish top half at the start of the season.

Sacking the manager every 12 months (or sooner) is not a recipe for success and I really enjoy watching our style pf play.  Today was not on Martin but on Che, Brookes and AA who had a shocking time in front of goal.

 

"Most exciting" ?

I've seen a lot better.

[chownie20]

18 minutes ago, washsaint said:

What is with the sense of entitlement from some Saints fans?  Calling for Martin's head if we don't go up is utterly ridiculous: we have played some of the most exciting football for years.  Yes we have been frustrating at times but much of that is to do with the recruitment - not getting a fit striker in the summer was criminal.

Add to that, Che (who blows hot and cold), the pointless signings of CHarles, STewart, Rothwell and Brookes (together with the unmitigated disaster signings of ABK, Suleman, Tall Paul, etc. last season) it's a miracle we have done as well as we have this season.  I recall the same complainers whining we would be lucky to finish top half at the start of the season.

Sacking the manager every 12 months (or sooner) is not a recipe for success and I really enjoy watching our style pf play.  Today was not on Martin but on Che, Brookes and AA who had a shocking time in front of goal.

 

Well said.

[Lallana's Left Peg]

Not much more can be said that hasn't, but I find criticism of the manager ridiculous.  We should have been out of sight at HT due to the way he set up the team and has us playing.  He can't make these players better finishers.

The weakness in the tactic is always resilience defensively because we're set-up to have possession.  We had possession, wasted chances, and the inevitable happened.  It'll happen next time too if our players fail to score great chances.

The Ross Stewart transfer continues to be the biggest regret of the summer.  With a consistent number 9 we'd be top by 10pts.

[cambsaint]

Having read the article in The Guardian this morning, I shall be reasonably happy if we don't go up.

For instance screwing Everton and Forest in FFP, when their entire team is probably worth less than a coup;e of players from the big boys.

Do we really want to be a Burnley?

I accept that Brentford have done amazingly well and Brighton and Bournemouth too, but you have to be very lucky to survive unless owned by megawealth.

 

[Kenilworthy]

1 minute ago, Lallana's Left Peg said:

Not much more can be said that hasn't, but I find criticism of the manager ridiculous.  We should have been out of sight at HT due to the way he set up the team and has us playing.  He can't make these players better finishers.

The weakness in the tactic is always resilience defensively because we're set-up to have possession.  We had possession, wasted chances, and the inevitable happened.  It'll happen next time too if our players fail to score great chances.

The Ross Stewart transfer continues to be the biggest regret of the summer.  With a consistent number 9 we'd be top by 10pts.

You can criticise the manager for not being able to read the way the game was flowing like we could in the stands. When it was clear we were unlikely to score again due to wastefulness and some exceptional saves you react by closing the game down to ensure you don't concede, which is not helped by creating a shapeless midfield you could drive a bus through.

[Kenilworthy]

2 minutes ago, cambsaint said:

Having read the article in The Guardian this morning, I shall be reasonably happy if we don't go up.

For instance screwing Everton and Forest in FFP, when their entire team is probably worth less than a coup;e of players from the big boys.

Do we really want to be a Burnley?

I accept that Brentford have done amazingly well and Brighton and Bournemouth too, but you have to be very lucky to survive unless owned by megawealth.

 

But do we really want to be a Stoke. That is where the future lies if we stay in this division.

[saintstowin]

Crikey just seen the highlights. Miss after miss after miss. And then letting a far inferior team back into a close game. Again. Two things that = a painful result. Could debate which is worse but the fact is the combination did for us today. 

The worry might be that the misses are unlikely to happen on that level very often, but the second bad bit likely will. 

[woodsaint1]

3 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

May I just raise this one thought? If Leeds lose on Monday and we beat Leicester on Tuesday then how sickening is this result going to look?

About as sickening as the late Ipswich winner, late Boro equaliser etc etc. We gave ourselves an outside chance of automatic promotion again, but ultimately we're exactly where we deserve to be in the league. Not killing teams off and conceding silly goals is whats cost us time and time again

[Esher Saint]

24 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

I doubt that Solak would be able to just arbitrarily fire Ankerson. He isn't an employee, he's the founder of a company Solak invested in. I'm sure DS has considerable power at board level, but it won't be as simple as snapping his fingers in displeasure.

 

I see....that probably explains it even more then....a unique position where the guy thats put all the money in (Dragan) can't fire the guy thats clearly behind all the bad decisions (Ankerssen)

So Dragon can not fire Ankerssen - all he can do is divest from the company that owns Saints.  Not a great structure from Saints point of view. 

 

Russell Martin isn't a great manager.

He seems like a decent enough fellow, but he is unadaptable, inflexible and dogmatic in his beliefs.

In football, life, whatever - the most successful people can adapt and evolve to everything that changes around them.....RM lacks those necessary characteristics. 

Ankerssen seems the same as Martin - dogmatic, inflexible, etc. 

The difference though is Ankerssen seems to lack humility....I believe he has been the person behind most of the decisions that have resulted in the under-achievement we've seen last few years.

I can't not see how we sustain a higher level with the current structure here. 

 

 

 

[captainchris]

Two things stand out for me with Martin.

His game management seems to be woeful, he struggles in particular with second halves often making very strange subs and almost always at 60mins plus which is not plausible game after game at the same moment. Other coaches very often out think him once our intensity starts to drop. 
Secondly defensively we have been weak all season. Letting teams score with virtually their only attacks of a game really is amateur. 
Yes we play beautiful football for 45 minutes but then Martin just loses his way and appears not to grasp the direction of the game after the first half.

The concern is that his frailties have been on repeat all season…

 I just wonder if RM is capable of improving on his current level, I am thinking probably not… 

With this squad he has been consistently just behind the curve. 

RM really needs some experience beside him to help with critical thinking, personnel decisions and defensive priorities… It’s either that or the board have to ask RM set out how he would change his strategies because next year will be a lot harder than this for him….
 

[Convict Colony]

The reason we lost today isnt the manager.

He put a team out that created 4-5 golden chances, those shit stains fucked them up.

[DrSuess1979]

As has been said 

finishing was dreadful we should have been 3-4 up after 30 mins 

RM can’t be blamed for that 

 

[Hayling Saint]

1 minute ago, DrSuess1979 said:

As has been said 

finishing was dreadful we should have been 3-4 up after 30 mins 

RM can’t be blamed for that 

 

Totally agree, not RM's fault

[captainchris]

1 minute ago, DrSuess1979 said:

As has been said 

finishing was dreadful we should have been 3-4 up after 30 mins 

RM can’t be blamed for that 

 

The reason we lost this game and others we have dominated is conceding goals simple. If you don’t concede you don’t lose! 

[Convict Colony]

6 minutes ago, captainchris said:

The reason we lost this game and others we have dominated is conceding goals simple. If you don’t concede you don’t lose! 

This sounds like something che adams agent would say.

If you think we lost today because of our defending then i have some magic beans to sell you

Edited April 20 by Convict Colony

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, captainchris said:

The reason we lost this game and others we have dominated is conceding goals simple. If you don’t concede you don’t lose! 

To win today would have needed a clean sheet and more often than not that doesn’t happen. Few teams in any league have ever successfully 1-0’d their way to being champions, your defence has to be exceptional.

[captainchris]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

To win today would have needed a clean sheet and more often than not that doesn’t happen. Few teams in any league have ever successfully 1-0’d their way to being champions, your defence has to be exceptional.

Well by the same token you cannot expect to have to score three or four times every game, that is not a realistic achievable strategy.

[Jack]

2 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

This sounds like something che adams agent would say.

We lost because of defenders not the shit fuck attackers.

We lost because of both. We haven’t been anywhere near good enough defensively this season, we looked vulnerable in the first half as well in amongst all those chances we butchered 

[Lallana's Left Peg]

33 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

You can criticise the manager for not being able to read the way the game was flowing like we could in the stands. When it was clear we were unlikely to score again due to wastefulness and some exceptional saves you react by closing the game down to ensure you don't concede, which is not helped by creating a shapeless midfield you could drive a bus through.

What use is a point to us in this situation?  It's win or bust in our scenario.  It's disappointing how the arse fell out the team the moment we conceded but shutting up shop for a point isn't any good to us in my opinion.  Plan A is a very good plan and more often than not executed very well.  When we don't finish things go very very wrong and teams get confidence and belief.

I also think our shapeless midfield exists out of possession from minute one, except we retain possession well enough for it never to be a problem.  Martin sets up that midfield three to hold and progress the ball - he doesn't want a pure destroyer in there, let alone two.  If they do their job properly our weaknesses aren't exposed.  When they lose grip of the game in possession the weaknesses are evident.

[BotleySaint]

37 minutes ago, cambsaint said:

Having read the article in The Guardian this morning, I shall be reasonably happy if we don't go up.

For instance screwing Everton and Forest in FFP, when their entire team is probably worth less than a coup;e of players from the big boys.

Do we really want to be a Burnley?

I accept that Brentford have done amazingly well and Brighton and Bournemouth too, but you have to be very lucky to survive unless owned by megawealth.

 

I can relate. If we went up, we'd be just as likely to be the next Sheffield United. A season of struggle and straight back down. Whomever has the most money wins with only a few exceptions (most hilariously, Chelsea). Football is broken.. 

[a1ex2001]

7 minutes ago, captainchris said:

The reason we lost this game and others we have dominated is conceding goals simple. If you don’t concede you don’t lose! 

If you score 4 in the first half hour you don’t loose simple, the club gambled on a crocked striker and that combined with a dodgy spell as the transfer window closed has cost us our season.  Had we not had that dreadful 4/5 game run we would be going up and I think if we had a better striker we would be going up.  I had hoped Che would step up at this level but he has been a dissapointment and AA has gone off the boil at critical moments with nobody to take the weight off him.

[Chris cooper]

4 hours ago, East Kent Saint said:

Would Baz have saved us ?

No !!!!!!!

[a1ex2001]

1 minute ago, BotleySaint said:

I can relate. If we went up, we'd be just as likely to be the next Sheffield United. A season of struggle and straight back down. Whomever has the most money wins with only a few exceptions (most hilariously, Chelsea). Football is broken.. 

football has always been this way it’s just the sums of money involved have got bigger and the top clubs are slowly but surely concentrating the wealth and power.

[DrSuess1979]

13 minutes ago, captainchris said:

The reason we lost this game and others we have dominated is conceding goals simple. If you don’t concede you don’t lose! 

I don’t disagree but

if you score 3-4 in a first half you shouldn't lose either 

Edited April 20 by DrSuess1979

[RedArmy]

8 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Well by the same token you cannot expect to have to score three or four times every game, that is not a realistic achievable strategy.

But we should have. We had 2 chances that would be scored 9 times out of ten. Che hit a 1 on 1 straight at the keeper and fuck knows what Brooks was doing. 
 

That’s ignoring Stu hitting the post and missing 2 or 3 other good chances. 

[captainchris]

6 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

If you score 4 in the first half hour you don’t loose simple, the club gambled on a crocked striker and that combined with a dodgy spell as the transfer window closed has cost us our season.  Had we not had that dreadful 4/5 game run we would be going up and I think if we had a better striker we would be going up.  I had hoped Che would step up at this level but he has been a dissapointment and AA has gone off the boil at critical moments with nobody to take the weight off him.

Sorry but as I said, a strategy based around having to score three or four every game is just not realistic or achievable. A solid defensive plan is critical to winning over a season.

[manji]

30 minutes ago, Esher Saint said:

 

I see....that probably explains it even more then....a unique position where the guy thats put all the money in (Dragan) can't fire the guy thats clearly behind all the bad decisions (Ankerssen)

So Dragon can not fire Ankerssen - all he can do is divest from the company that owns Saints.  Not a great structure from Saints point of view. 

 

Russell Martin isn't a great manager.

He seems like a decent enough fellow, but he is unadaptable, inflexible and dogmatic in his beliefs.

In football, life, whatever - the most successful people can adapt and evolve to everything that changes around them.....RM lacks those necessary characteristics. 

Ankerssen seems the same as Martin - dogmatic, inflexible, etc. 

The difference though is Ankerssen seems to lack humility....I believe he has been the person behind most of the decisions that have resulted in the under-achievement we've seen last few years.

I can't not see how we sustain a higher level with the current structure here. 

 

 

 

FFS what’s it got to do with Rasmus you cretin . Rasmus is in charge of sorting out the other teams in the SR. Nothing to do with recruitment here. 
The ignorance of some fans is unbelievable.

[adrian lord]

32 minutes ago, Esher Saint said:

 

I see....that probably explains it even more then....a unique position where the guy thats put all the money in (Dragan) can't fire the guy thats clearly behind all the bad decisions (Ankerssen)

So Dragon can not fire Ankerssen - all he can do is divest from the company that owns Saints.  Not a great structure from Saints point of view. 

 

Russell Martin isn't a great manager.

He seems like a decent enough fellow, but he is unadaptable, inflexible and dogmatic in his beliefs.

In football, life, whatever - the most successful people can adapt and evolve to everything that changes around them.....RM lacks those necessary characteristics. 

Ankerssen seems the same as Martin - dogmatic, inflexible, etc. 

The difference though is Ankerssen seems to lack humility....I believe he has been the person behind most of the decisions that have resulted in the under-achievement we've seen last few years.

I can't not see how we sustain a higher level with the current structure here. 

 

 

 

Post of the season. 

[Whitey Grandad]

58 minutes ago, Lallana's Left Peg said:

Not much more can be said that hasn't, but I find criticism of the manager ridiculous.  We should have been out of sight at HT due to the way he set up the team and has us playing.  He can't make these players better finishers.

The weakness in the tactic is always resilience defensively because we're set-up to have possession.  We had possession, wasted chances, and the inevitable happened.  It'll happen next time too if our players fail to score great chances.

The Ross Stewart transfer continues to be the biggest regret of the summer.  With a consistent number 9 we'd be top by 10pts.

If you give him credit for the first half then you have to criticise him for the second. 

[Block41 Saint]

10 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

But we should have. We had 2 chances that would be scored 9 times out of ten. Che hit a 1 on 1 straight at the keeper and fuck knows what Brooks was doing. 
 

That’s ignoring Stu hitting the post and missing 2 or 3 other good chances. 

That's what Che does 9 times out of 10. 

[manji]

1 hour ago, Esher Saint said:

 

interesting thks Manji....

Been thinking for a while that we have a unique problem at Saints - and it lies specifically in the chain of command between the owner (Dragan) and the man running the club (Ankerssen).

Perhaps being naive and over-simplistic here, but lets say the chain of command goes like this....Owner - CEO - DOF - Manager - Players and the rest.

Like most organisations, everything cascades from the top....the owner has put his cash in, he wants  1) a return on his investment eg. SFC needs to become worth more than the 200mio odd quid he paid for it   2) a legacy / something he can show off / be proud of.

When neither of these things happen, the owner usually gets pissed off and makes changes - usually replacing the guy immediately below him. In other words 'Rasmus, why did you appoint Wilcox, and agree for him to appoint Nathan Jones, RM and everyone else associated with failing? You spannered it, you're out"

This hasn't happened.

So begs the question:   Is the owner that bothered about getting a return on his investment or is SFC just a place to park some capital.

Perhaps he just has unflappable belief that Ankerssen will eventually get things right.

No idea, probably being very naive, just something I've pondered. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragan didn’t buy Saints for financial reasons . Do some research. He owns a lot of corporations in Serbia and Greece . He’s well known in the Balkans. Not a perfect comparison but he’s like a Balkan Rupert Murdoch.

Richest man in Serbia .He’s a major thorn in the side of the pro- Russian government because of his huge communications business. Dragan pro- west .

Dont underestimate him . He’s so pissed the Serb government. He doesnt visit Serbia anymore for fear of being assassinated. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20 by manji

[Lighthouse]

9 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Sorry but as I said, a strategy based around having to score three or four every game is just not realistic or achievable. A solid defensive plan is critical to winning over a season.

Two or three a game definitely has to be the target for any team serious about promotion. Scoring once means there's literally only one score you can win by, you're cutting it very fine and will come unstuck more often than not. Our defending does need to be better but you can't go missing all of those chances we did today. A sitter missed is as bad as a howler conceded.

[Galway saint]

Gutted about that result and for Stu. Feels very flat.

We should have been out of sight in the first half and you can’t blame RM for the team missing so many opportunities.

Looking ahead to the play offs the second half of games are becoming a problem for us as we cant sustain our performance for 90 minutes ( or even 60) and RM is too wedded to 4-3-3 to shut up shop. Really needs to be more pragmatic.

We are too often descending into a bit of a shapeless mess post subs.  It doesn’t feel like there is any great plan beyond get a couple of fresh wingers on and take Aribo off. Maybe that’s all the personnel allows for but I still don’t think we have the right blend and structure in midfield for that final third of the game.

Can you see us beating a decent side over two legs ? Maybe but at the moment we are likely to concede 3 or 4 over the two legs on current form and we too often cave under pressure - again I think that’s the formation as much as anything 

[Galway saint]

26 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Sorry but as I said, a strategy based around having to score three or four every game is just not realistic or achievable. A solid defensive plan is critical to winning over a season.

I’m just not sure a 4-3-3 formation provides a solid defensive platform. It’s the midfield that’s the problem for me that when we are going forward it’s feet but going the other way not so good.

[woodsaint1]

54 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Two things stand out for me with Martin.

His game management seems to be woeful, he struggles in particular with second halves often making very strange subs and almost always at 60mins plus which is not plausible game after game at the same moment. Other coaches very often out think him once our intensity starts to drop. 
Secondly defensively we have been weak all season. Letting teams score with virtually their only attacks of a game really is amateur. 
Yes we play beautiful football for 45 minutes but then Martin just loses his way and appears not to grasp the direction of the game after the first half.

The concern is that his frailties have been on repeat all season…

 I just wonder if RM is capable of improving on his current level, I am thinking probably not… 

With this squad he has been consistently just behind the curve. 

RM really needs some experience beside him to help with critical thinking, personnel decisions and defensive priorities… It’s either that or the board have to ask RM set out how he would change his strategies because next year will be a lot harder than this for him….
 

We brought Colin Calderwood in earlier in the season. After a noticeable improvement in our defensive performances when he came in, we quickly reverted to poor defensive lapses

[SNSUN]

2 hours ago, Fan The Flames said:

Adam Armstrong is top of the goals scored + assists. 2nd for goals and 3rd for assists.

Now imagine his output next to a striker that has also scored 20+ goals. As much as our GK, Defence and Midfield have been to blame at times this season, the lack of a striker that can regularly put the ball in the back of the net and convert chances has cost us autos. Ross Stewart may have been that striker but when you sign a player who has been out for 8 months, that's the gamble you take. And we (or rather the club decision makers) lost that gamble. This should have been addressed in January but instead we stuck by the inconsistent Adams, the inexperienced and seemingly lazy Mara and we signed Brooks instead meaning AA has had to play up top at times which is not his best position (despite that being the position he wants to play in). 

I sincerely hope whatever League we're in come June that our transfers are better than they have been. 

[Hodgey]

RM has definitely made mistakes this season, when I saw the team sheet I wasn’t happy shea wasn’t playing but reading the comments seems his team hammered Cardiff in the first half and just missed a hat full of easy chances (again)

Our players are mentally weak, have been for years and whilst RM has improved this it’s arguably only the loan signings that have done this (Downes, Fraser, THB). Not a huge amount he can do about that when he can’t really buy any players - although those bought in have been poor (but was this RM fault or our traditionally terrible recruiters).

We may still go up -but  given our struggles to convincingly close out any game I’d put it at 25pc, look how close games have been with us and WBA/Norwich. 
If we do we will get hammered with RM style as manager and our finances, I reckon down by March. If not I actually think we should stick with him. The reality is we will be a slightly above average championship squad next year, he’ll have had play off experience and most of the team will know his style. Hopefully we have another successful loan market and blood some of our young players , and honestly with our min aim being play offs he is a bit ‘better the devil you know’.

[Harry_SFC]

45 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

Gutted about that result and for Stu. Feels very flat.

We should have been out of sight in the first half and you can’t blame RM for the team missing so many opportunities.

Looking ahead to the play offs the second half of games are becoming a problem for us as we cant sustain our performance for 90 minutes ( or even 60) and RM is too wedded to 4-3-3 to shut up shop. Really needs to be more pragmatic.

We are too often descending into a bit of a shapeless mess post subs.  It doesn’t feel like there is any great plan beyond get a couple of fresh wingers on and take Aribo off. Maybe that’s all the personnel allows for but I still don’t think we have the right blend and structure in midfield for that final third of the game.

Can you see us beating a decent side over two legs ? Maybe but at the moment we are likely to concede 3 or 4 over the two legs on current form and we too often cave under pressure - again I think that’s the formation as much as anything 

Despite our poor finishing this season we have scored a lot of goals. A proper promotion chasing side wins that game today 1-0. At the end of the day it is our structure in the second half of games that will inevitably see us remain in this division next season. 

[sandwichsaint]

1 hour ago, manji said:

Dragan didn’t buy Saints for financial reasons . Do some research. He owns a lot of corporations in Serbia and Greece . He’s well known in the Balkans. Not a perfect comparison but he’s like a Balkan Rupert Murdoch.

Richest man in Serbia .He’s a major thorn in the side of the pro- Russian government because of his huge communications business. Dragan pro- west .

Dont underestimate him . He’s so pissed the Serb government. He doesnt visit Serbia anymore for fear of being assassinated. 

 

 

 

 

 

Serbia you say? It will probably be a while till he shows his visage around St Marys too.

[washsaint]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

"Most exciting" ?

I've seen a lot better.

Like when?

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Like when?

Do you really expect me to go back over every game that I've watched in the last ten or twenty years? 

We play one-paced football with the occasional flash of brilliance every now and then. Exciting it ain't. 

[washsaint]

30 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Do you really expect me to go back over every game that I've watched in the last ten or twenty years? 

We play one-paced football with the occasional flash of brilliance every now and then. Exciting it ain't. 

Cobblers.....you said you've seen better football in recent times and then can't say when?

It is not one paced football - I would rather watch this than what we have been subjected to in recent years (Selles, Jones, Hassenhuttl, Hughes, Pellegrino, Puel, even Koeman who was pragmatic).  Last time we had an exciting, entertaining side was under Adkins/Pochettino.

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, washsaint said:

Cobblers.....you said you've seen better football in recent times and then can't say when?

It is not one paced football - I would rather watch this than what we have been subjected to in recent years (Selles, Jones, Hassenhuttl, Hughes, Pellegrino, Puel, even Koeman who was pragmatic).  Last time we had an exciting, entertaining side was under Adkins/Pochettino.

I'm too long in the tooth to get caught by such naive journalistic questions. 

I know what type of football I like and this isn't it. I want my teams to attack like a tiger and go for the throat. Not be a boa constrictor and try to slowly squeeze the life out of the opposition. 

 

[a1ex2001]

2 hours ago, captainchris said:

Sorry but as I said, a strategy based around having to score three or four every game is just not realistic or achievable. A solid defensive plan is critical to winning over a season.

Neither is never conceding any goals and nobody said you need to score 3/4 goals to win a game you only need 1 some weeks but when you create a glut of clear cut chances in the first half and don’t put the game beyond the opposition you are in trouble as Chelsea found out today, they dominated the first half against city failed to take there chances and were then undone at the other end late on.  I’m not saying our defence isn’t a worry but it isn’t the main reason we lost today.

[JRM]

3 hours ago, DrSuess1979 said:

As has been said 

finishing was dreadful we should have been 3-4 up after 30 mins 

RM can’t be blamed for that 

 

I normally don't care about such stats, but what was both teams xG today? We should have scored 10 

[verlaine1979]

37 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Cobblers.....you said you've seen better football in recent times and then can't say when?

It is not one paced football - I would rather watch this than what we have been subjected to in recent years (Selles, Jones, Hassenhuttl, Hughes, Pellegrino, Puel, even Koeman who was pragmatic).  Last time we had an exciting, entertaining side was under Adkins/Pochettino.

We played much, much better football as recently as the games after the covid season break.

[Kermitzasaint]

5 hours ago, Hayling Saint said:

Totally agree, not RM's fault

Yet RM decimated the midfield through bizarre substitutions. He weakened the team bringing on further pressure that led to the loss. 

That's not his fault either? 

[Maggie May]

On 19/04/2024 at 05:27, Maggie May said:

3-1 to Cardiff. It’s the hope that kills ya.

I’m really sorry guys. Made quite a bit off this. 
 

Pompey our main rival next season, sadly. 

[SoberSaint]

 

The fact that we didn’t win 4-0, was the players fault!

The fact that we didn’t manage the game to a 1-0 win was Martin’s fault.

[Long Shot]

10 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

The reason we lost today isnt the manager.

He put a team out that created 4-5 golden chances, those shit stains fucked them up.

Who picked those shit stains I wonder and who coaches them?