Johannes Spors

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

Better to have someone good for a short time, than plod along with someone other clubs think aren't good enough.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. 

Grateful if you could also answer my first question rather than gloss over it. Cheers 👍🏻

[Matthew Le God]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

Spors will have a legacy of signing Downs, giving the shoehorn a completely unnecessary new deal, and appointing Still

He also has the likes of Scienza and Jander who both look to be very good signings (so far).

[trousers]

15 minutes ago, trousers said:

Out of interest, what other clubs struggle to keep hold of their DoFs after 6 - 12 months due to better clubs enticing them? (Genuine question)

If the answer is "not many" then perhaps we need to stop employing DoFs that are seemingly too good for the club as it's obviously counter-productive...?

 

13 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Better to have someone good for a short time, than plod along with someone other clubs think aren't good enough.

 

11 minutes ago, trousers said:

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. 

Grateful if you could also answer my first question rather than gloss over it. Cheers 👍🏻

Have had a quick look at the top 2 clubs...

Coventry... DoF in post since 2022

Middlesbrough... DoF in post since 2021

Assume they're also being head-hunted by bigger clubs as we speak, given they're not "plodding along" at the moment....?

Edited 7 hours ago by trousers

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, Crouchie's Lawyer said:

Hmmm.

 

You could also make a case for Manager choice. I'm firmly in the "it would be mad to sack Still this early on" camp but Spors was the one who appointed him when others were possibly available. I'm thinking Steve Cooper, a manager who has a decent pedigree at this level and knows the Championship and how to get out of it, like the back of his hand. It may not have been the sexy, cool, outside of the box thinking appointment but if we are likely to be a yo-yo club going forward, he is a decent manager. Therefore you could argue that is a mistake.

 

Downs you have covered which I agree, looks like a bad signing but it's still very early on for him too. Downs may end up being a good signing down the line by the time he has adjusted to life in England, has grown up a little and has gained a bit of confidence or we try to play to his strengths (which seems to be a bit like Archer/Arma with balls in behind rather than as a target man. His height is perhaps a bit of a red herring to how he likes to play as he doesn't appear overly physical.

 

The blame with regard to Downs where Spors is concerned is that he seemingly felt Downs was all we needed on top of what we have so either he has misidentified what Downs strengths are and thought he would also be another Ross Stewart type target player with the added benefit of a bit of pace too or he was gambling on Stewart staying fit for the whole season with Downs being a 'one for the future' back up who would make cameo appearances. I personally think he got the Downs appointment wrong which is a terrible mistake for a position so important in this league. You cannot also gamble on relying on a player who has been out injured for the majority of his stay with us just because he managed to stay fit from the last few games of last season and through preseason as a Championship season is a very long season and guess what, all our fears concerning RS have come to light with his most recent injury leaving us without that focal point up top Still's system really relies upon.

 

I'd also go as far as overlooking the physical side of the Championship. A team can carry a few players who you'd consider flair players who have no physicality but in the championship and Prem you also need Physical athletes who will shrug players off with their strength and out muscle them. Sunderland have shown that with some of their signings and they seem to be doing ok so far (already meeting our abysmal points tally from last year this early on in the season!). Scienza, Azaz, Jander, Fellows, Jelert and Mads are not the physical athletes a team need, neither are the returning Charles or Edwards. Arma and Archer are not that type either and neither is Manning and Wellington. You possibly could argue a case for Harwood Bellis but even still, I wouldn't call him physically dominating, he often gets shoved off the ball. Wood is probably the closest thing to it. We need a strong spine with the flair/lighter players complimenting this. A Wanyama or a Romeo in the middle, a Chris Wood type unit up top and a Virgil, Guehi, Konate or Ake type player at the back.

 

Not to be one for slating lack of height, arguably one of the best players to have played football over the past 20 years is vertically challenged for a footballer (Messi) but you cannot have a team full of players that size. In what most would consider our players in and around our best 11 currently, we have Arma, Archer, Edwards, Manning, Wellington and Frazer who are all small players. Fine if the rest of the team were filled with absolute units over 6 foot 3 in height but built like brick shithouses but (ignoring Quarshie and Downs who is 6 foot 4) our biggest players seem to be THB, Charles and Wood who are all 6 foot 2 inches.

 

I think it could also be considered a gamble or oversight to rely upon Bazunu and McCarthy for the season. Bringing in the Norwich reject keeper as a third choice, glorified training mannequin instead of setting our aims higher was a mistake. I suspect the excuse given will be that we let Ramsdale go out on loan and there was a chance if we go up next year that he would want to stay and be our number 1 then, which is fair enough. Trying to sell the dream of being Saints number 1 keeper this season only to potentially lose your place next season to a new signing would be a tough one to do but we didn't have to sign someone permanent, we could have loaned a keeper to challenge for the number 1 spot this year. If we sell Ramsdale next year then look at signing a better number 1 then, if Ramsdale stays then our keeper issue is resolved but the stop gap is filled in the meantime with a keeper which would likely be better than McCarthy and Bazunu.

 

To end this essay of a post, for me, the main issue with the club at the moment is we seem to be putting making a profit from player trading above buying players who we actually need for the here and now to progress the team and success of the club. I get we are not a top 4 team in England and effectively everyone else is therefore classed as a selling team and due to FFP and sustainability, we do need to turn a profit on players but our sole focus of recruitment should not be on this trying to profit from player sales basis. There needs to be a balance between getting what the team need and bringing in a few 'potential for profit' players.

Excellent ost. Worth the read . 

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, trousers said:

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. 

Grateful if you could also answer my first question rather than gloss over it. Cheers 👍🏻

 

Them being good for a short time means some good transfers. Being consistently mediocre or shit for a long time because no better club want you, lumbers the club with a bloated squad of shit players you can't shift.

The first question is a tu quoque fallacy. The second one wasn't a question even though it used a question mark.

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Them being good for a short time means some good transfers. Being consistently mediocre or shit for a long time because no better club want you, lumbers the club with a bloated squad of shit players you can't shift.

The first question is a tu quoque fallacy. The second one wasn't a question even though it used a question mark.

As I always say MLG, please never change

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

As I always say MLG, please never change

Promise 😘 xx

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, Turkish said:

How do these guys keep failing up?

Ross Wilson, Joe Shields, Jason Wilcox now Spores

all been shite for us yet somehow land better jobs at bigger clubs 

It's a matter of time before we all end up  being recruited to the forums of bigger clubs.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Ha... Now that's amusing... The last journo to block me was Factless Allen... What is it with the these local journos that can't handle critical questioning...? Note to self: be more sychopantic in future....

 

 

Legwear spelling variation from trousers noted. 🙂

[Wade Garrett]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Ralph?

What a catastrophic mistake that would be.

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Ha... Now that's amusing... The last journo to block me was Factless Allen... What is it with the these local journos that can't handle critical questioning...? Note to self: be more sychopantic in future....

 

 

Yikes, that's the Saintsweb equivalent of blocking Bambi.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't believe that Sports Directors keep leaving us simply because other clubs come knocking, there is seemingly a will for them to explore other opportunities and open the door for these approaches quite quickly. It's usually a good 6 months > year and the cycle continues.

They must see the chaos and they know they're better off running rather than committing long term, and let's not forget that if Rasmus still has his muddy hands all over everything, he could certainly be winding up any Sporting Directors once they've been in the room for a period of time. 

There is a consistent factor which pre-dates Sheilds, Wilcox and Sporrs - and he's called Rasmus.

Probably because they’re restricted to only buying players we can sell on a year or so.

Wouldn’t blame Spors for going.  Be away from Wankersen as well.

[capitalsaint]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Better to have someone good for a short time, than plod along with someone other clubs think aren't good enough.

Certainly working well for us thus far 😉

[Football Special]

4 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

This is pretty bad, if true  

The downs signing was ridiculous but apart from that he seems to be doing ok. 

The main problem is not really losing him, it’s yet more upheaval. 

It could be Spors has sensed growing resentment towards him amongst our fanbase due to shite recruitment and another wasted transfer window failing to recruit in key areas so got his agent to leak the story in the hope our fans suddenly think of him positively again and hope he stays 

[Toussaint]

14 minutes ago, Football Special said:

It could be Spors has sensed growing resentment towards him amongst our fanbase due to shite recruitment and another wasted transfer window failing to recruit in key areas so got his agent to leak the story in the hope our fans suddenly think of him positively again and hope he stays 

I doubt he’d care one bit if he believes in himself. I think it’s more along the lines of the commonly held theory there is something not right about the club.

[bugenhagen]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Them being good for a short time means some good transfers. Being consistently mediocre or shit for a long time because no better club want you, lumbers the club with a bloated squad of shit players you can't shift.

The first question is a tu quoque fallacy. The second one wasn't a question even though it used a question mark.

That sounds a lot like us...

[die Mannyschaft]

Can't our coaches at each game in dug out just make notes on opposition players and complied a list of who we could buy in transfer windows. They all look decent enough players to me. No need for consultants or even PS5, XBox data. Its not difficult. Or I can do it from Northam end.

[lambtiss]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

He also has the likes of Scienza and Jander who both look to be very good signings (so far).

True, but the main position in which we needed strengthening was central striker. He failed miserably on this. 

[Give it to Ron]

He should be ordered to stay as long as the captains new contract or pay it up if he wants out 🙂

[SuperSAINT]

SR will probably get Ben Chorley in.

[die Mannyschaft]

1 hour ago, lambtiss said:

True, but the main position in which we needed strengthening was central striker. He failed miserably on this. 

Scienza looks class so he will be off end season.

[Osvaldorama]

4 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Better to have someone good for a short time, than plod along with someone other clubs think aren't good enough.

Absolute bollocks. As proven by how shit the squad is. 
 

You end up with a mix and match of players all signed for different strategies with no coherent plan. 
We need a DoF to stay for a minimum of 3 years, preferably longer to give them a chance to implement a style and positive changes. 
 

 

[Matthew Le God]

45 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Absolute bollocks. As proven by how shit the squad is. 

Nonsense. Completely misrepresented my point and argue against things I did not say in the post of mine that you quoted. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Nonsense. Completely misrepresented my point and argue against things I did not say in the post of mine that you quoted. 

It has gone raaaaather well since we started chewing through DoF under Sports Republic

[saintant]

8 hours ago, Baz Fl said:

Yeah you’ve got a point. Fellows looks poor because he’s a winger with no target to cross to. I’m just a little salty about Spors not fixing the #9 problem and wasting 7M on a player that will be another squad bloating boat anchor we can’t move on. So far Scienza looks the best of the bunch while Downs and Azaz disappointing 

Spors has been hopeless - good riddance if he goes. He should have presided over the rebuild of a credible squad but all we've done is sign a bunch of players who do not address the big problems which are clearly goalkeeper, centre forward, centre back and midfield enforcer.

[you muppets]

dont let the door hit you on the way out Johannes

[Andrew Watson]

A  get out of jail card for Spors,I doubt the lot in charge will ever sack him. What a total laughing stock the club has become.