Will Still

[RedArmy]

Do we have to wait for FM26 to come out before he gets good? 

[Weston Super Saint]

Aren't we supposed to be winning at all costs now, or something?

[Saint_clark]

36 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Evidently, Will Still is a very poor communicator witnessed by his painful press conferences. Is there any reason to suppose that he is any better at communicating with his players especially the more stroppy and arrogant ones.

That could be part of his problem, players take little notice of him because he can't get clear messages across

Disagree completely, the footage I saw of him from his previous jobs where he was giving team talks and training in multiple languages simultaneously. I don't give a fuck about saying the right things in press conferences, Martin said a lot of good things when interviewed with us. 

[saintstowin]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Who was he talking to ? If he was consulting  Trollope that's one thing, conferring with Nivea another. 

Or was he just talking to himself in the Tech Area. ? That might mean deeper problems for both us and him.

I'm really not sure. It was to a fellow human though! But my overall concern is a slow reaction time to change things. Whether that's because he's new and lacking confidence in himself, or wants to seek counsel, I do not know.

[saints-til-i-die]

The more I reflect, the more concerned I am. We looked totally clueless yesterday as we have for most of the season. He bought wingers for crosses but we don’t have the forwards to get on the end of them. What on Earth is going on? I just can’t see how that will improve. Surely he won’t abandon wingers after insisting on needing them for ages. I am genuinely totally at a loss to understand what he’s trying to achieve.

[saints-til-i-die]

Strange that Danny Rohl never ended up anywhere. 

[The Wyvern]

My concern with Still and his poor start is that if we look through every manager we've had in say the last 20 years I think its safe to say we've known if they're going to be good or bad once we're 7 games in.  I can't think of any managers that have looked poor at the start and turned out well or vice versa.  What we got at the start, we got for the rest of the time with the club.  Not looking good for Still on that basis. 

[James]

1 hour ago, The Wyvern said:

My concern with Still and his poor start is that if we look through every manager we've had in say the last 20 years I think its safe to say we've known if they're going to be good or bad once we're 7 games in.  I can't think of any managers that have looked poor at the start and turned out well or vice versa.  What we got at the start, we got for the rest of the time with the club.  Not looking good for Still on that basis. 

Took Strachan quite a number of games to get his first win from memory and then we were patchy before an uptick. Not always the case that how we started with a manager was what we got longer term.

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, The Wyvern said:

My concern with Still and his poor start is that if we look through every manager we've had in say the last 20 years I think its safe to say we've known if they're going to be good or bad once we're 7 games in.  I can't think of any managers that have looked poor at the start and turned out well or vice versa.  What we got at the start, we got for the rest of the time with the club.  Not looking good for Still on that basis. 

We've played one game with the final squad, and that was a derby game so is an outlier. Give it another 7 games and see where we're at.

[Gloucester Saint]

9 minutes ago, James said:

Took Strachan quite a number of games to get his first win from memory and then we were patchy before an uptick. Not always the case that how we started with a manager was what we got longer term.

WGS and Lawrie slow starters. Pellegrino reasonable start and then became the worst Saints manager I’ve ever seen. Reed and Kruger must have on the lash most of that season to not sack him until March.

[CB Fry]

Pardew took a long time to get going and then finished his season on promotion form.

 

My worry is that, like Ralph in his last year, Still could fail in his first year because no one is scoring the goals.

[The Wyvern]

36 minutes ago, James said:

Took Strachan quite a number of games to get his first win from memory and then we were patchy before an uptick. Not always the case that how we started with a manager was what we got longer term.

I'm not suggesting its an exact science, or that I can remember the quality of performances from 25 years ago to be honest, but I am racking my brains to think of a manager that has shown so little first up and then turned it around.  I thought we were abysmal in the first half on Sunday, unacceptably so.  

25 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

We've played one game with the final squad, and that was a derby game so is an outlier. Give it another 7 games and see where we're at.

The "final squad"/"derby" is meaningless to me, every game and every manager works within some kind of constraint or other.  I don't expect us to win every game or even play well every game, I did expect much more from Still than we've seen to date though.  I want him to do well, I like the bloke, much more than Martin.  Got to see some significant improvement at Hull on Saturday. 

[vectraman]

My issue is he said he wants fast passing to get up field, but it’s so ponderous and slow.
Particularly from the back where tippy tippy wank football continues. Time to put his foot down and make it clear - quick forward looking passes or you’re out the team.

We still can’t shake off the LEGO head shit slow football, mainly because the central defence is unchanged. THB and Stephens ARE decent championship quality, but by fuck do they need a rocket up their arses to get the ball forward quicker. Downes ditto. 

We bought Downs as a pacey forward but he’s not even a starter - yet again we try to be clever and worry about ‘sell on value bollocks’ rather than buying the right player for the job. Keifer Moore, cheap, direct, a handful - job done. Not us. Let’s be clever. Bore off SR. It is about results now, not the future you melts.

We simply have to play two up front - Stewart and Archer play off each other, and go old school 4-4-2. Coz what we are doing with a midget up front is not and will never work in the championship,  please just sort it out.