Will Still

[Saint86]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Sorry you and your son didn’t have a better experience today - hardly encouraging for our younger fans - but at least the fans gave them both barrels. In the real world if you don’t put the work rate and organisation in, customers and suppliers let you know, so no reason the wallflowers should escape. 

Sadly, the recent seasons are absolutely costing the club young fans. 

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

True, but hardly a ringing endorsement.

Yep!

[Wade Garrett]

34 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

He kept a shit team with dysfunctional owners in the Championship last season and was in with a shout of reaching the playoffs.

Sounds like ideal experience, then.

Not convinced.

[Miltonaggro]

2 hours ago, Ivan Katalinic's 'tache said:

So are we thinking Will Still is the “ginger Juric”?

More of a ginger durex.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

More of a ginger durex.

Featherlight though, tears and leaks through the middle.

[Morse]

I think Will Still could be out managerial equivalent of Ali Dia !

[saintant]

Where on earth is our high press? Where is the fast transition? Where is the pass and move, find space and play between the opposition lines. All basics that we are just not doing. There is no defined shape and no clear indication of what, if anything, we are trying to do. Surely football is not that complicated. We look like a panic stricken bunch that have never played the game before and are just thrown on the pitch to make it up as we go along. There has to be a structure, a plan, a formation where every player knows his job and performs it in at least a semi proficient manner.  We've just spent a week training at Staplewood following the Pompey debacle only to look even worse. There must be at least one coach at the football club who knows what he's doing.  Then factor in a goalkeeper who today gifts our opponents their crucial opening goal not for the first time and we know it will happen again. He's not helped by defenders who are weak and mark fresh air. Where are the green shoots of recovery?

[AlexLaw76]

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

Following the club line whilst twiddling his Aviator moustache. Local journalist following the club and area in having absolutely no ambition and being a carrot-crunching backwater (which is what I’m supposed to be living in!).

Edited 12 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

Nobody expects to see total football after six games but I think we are entitled to see signs of progress and a move in the right direction.

[die Mannyschaft]

7 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

More of a ginger durex.

The problem is there used to be just 2 formations in football for years. Now 55 or 100, all these stupid setups, rotating players, 5 subs and some mangers like this crap. Diamonds, 3 diamonds,  3 boxes shapes its over tactical and players cant play football like this. Watched EFL highlights today no ones playing the 'tales of the unexpected' football we play. Saints for some reason must have overctactical football that just puzzles are players, stops them dead mid attack or defending. Players have to understand all this stats, position etc first, actual basic football comes second. Its like EA26 but  Saints version. We would be very good at American football 🏈.  

[Osvaldorama]

11 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

That’s poor from him 

 

Doesn’t take a journalist, or even anyone with a modicum of football knowledge to see that this is an absolute fucking shit show. 
 

Hes absolutely wasted pre-season, then switched formations, has no clue with his subs. It’s absolutely horrendous and worse than I could imagine in my worst nightmares. 
 

What has he done in his career to prove that he deserves time to sort this out?

Go and get a real manager FFS. 

[die Mannyschaft]

8 minutes ago, saintant said:

Where on earth is our high press? Where is the fast transition? Where is the pass and move, find space and play between the opposition lines. All basics that we are just not doing. There is no defined shape and no clear indication of what, if anything, we are trying to do. Surely football is not that complicated. We look like a panic stricken bunch that have never played the game before and are just thrown on the pitch to make it up as we go along. There has to be a structure, a plan, a formation where every player knows his job and performs it in at least a semi proficient manner.  We've just spent a week training at Staplewood following the Pompey debacle only to look even worse. There must be at least one coach at the football club who knows what he's doing.  Then factor in a goalkeeper who today gifts our opponents their crucial opening goal not for the first time and we know it will happen again. He's not helped by defenders who are weak and mark fresh air. Where are the green shoots of recovery?

In 5 seasons time we may have players who understand and can apply none attacking,  low press,  low block , wait 35 mins for an opening through pass. Stats, videos and power point presentation in dug out restricts players abilities to think for themselves on the pitch. You can see players stop put thier foot on the ball and look round rather than shooting. 

It looks like our managers are stuck between risking playing real football and taking advice from stats,  modern tactics. Saints go from one thing to another, certainly one half vs 2nd half. 

 

[bpsaint]

Whilst it may be needed on occasion, I’m concerned that once again today he made a triple sub in the second half. I know things had to change but that was due to his tactics in the first place, making such regular wholesale changes is the sort of thing you do playing FIFA. Just seems like completely tactical naivety at this level. 

[Forester]

We need to calm down, I’ve driven up and back to Hull today and am fuming but we have lost two games in the eight in all comps we have played so far.  It’s mad to be calling for a sacking, and we are in danger of becoming Watford if we look for our fifth manager in less than 12 months.  Seriously!

[trousers]

35 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

Contrast the sychopancy of the local journos down here with those in Glasgow... 

I've nothing against Alfie (and Adam Blackmore) personally, but they're too in hock with the club to ever properly put them on the spot....

Edited 11 hours ago by trousers

[trousers]

18 minutes ago, Forester said:

We need to calm down, I’ve driven up and back to Hull today and am fuming but we have lost two games in the eight in all comps we have played so far.  It’s mad to be calling for a sacking, and we are in danger of becoming Watford if we look for our fifth manager in less than 12 months.  Seriously!

I recall many people saying the same thing about our manager this time last year...

I'm usually a 'benefit of the doubt' kinda guy but when you've witnessed the bus hurtling towards the cliff edge so many times, you kinda get a sixth sense that it's about to happen all over again... #groundhogday

There's a fine line between 'giving a manager more time' and 'dithering'... We all know what Sport Republic will end up doing again this time around... They'll initially dither over Will Still, sack him too late and then panic with his replacement...

#beenthere #seenthat #gottheteeshirt

 

Edited 11 hours ago by trousers

[Gloucester Saint]

31 minutes ago, Forester said:

We need to calm down, I’ve driven up and back to Hull today and am fuming but we have lost two games in the eight in all comps we have played so far.  It’s mad to be calling for a sacking, and we are in danger of becoming Watford if we look for our fifth manager in less than 12 months.  Seriously!

Respect your opinion but we’ve also only won three, two of those were against Northampton and Norwich reserves and the other required two injury time goals. Last week Pompey had the better chances and have had just as much squad churn on 10% of his budget. As @CB Fry pointed out, Bristol City, Boro and others are top 6 with new managers and no parachute funding. 

I don’t see what he’s trying to do and I’d say that’s coming across in the performances that the players don’t either, not that I rate any of them in any way. Not sure any of the current squad are anywhere near good enough to play for Southampton FC tbh. We don’t have likeable players who can get a crowd going with a change of pace, taking a player on, piece of skill or winning a key 50/50.

Scienza might be one I hope who is. It’s all a one-paced highly predicable blob otherwise, 

The usual shite from Jack Stephens post-match winds people up as well. We can see they’re going through the motions and not pressing or closing down which is why there are so many crosses coming in. Going forward, nobody is breaking the lines or carrying the ball forward. 69% of passes went sideways or backwards today.

Even by SR’s pitiful standards, I’d say he’s getting onto thin ice.  Seven points from the next nine as a minimum, and personally I’d part ways rather than wait for getting tonked by Boro. Today was the type of performance early on like Jones v Forest where it’s not going to work and points/targets set aren’t changing it. A better effort last weekend might have bought him a bit more credit in the bank.

Edited 11 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[bugenhagen]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

I recall many people saying the same thing about our manager this time last year...

I'm usually a 'benefit of the doubt' kinda guy but when you've seen the bus heading towards the cliff edge so many times, you kinda get a sixth sense that it's about to happen again...

There's a fine line between giving a manager more time and dithering... We all know what Sport Republic will end up doing again this time around... They'll initially dither over Will Still then panic with his replacement...

 

Well said. It's basically how I feel, and why I am all too eager to pick up the pitchfork. Seen it all before...

When the red mist subsides I might even agree with Alfie's tweet more or less, but that does not excuse their weak ass matey questions after games and on pressers. Even if they are not calling for his head, they should be calling him out on poor performances.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, bugenhagen said:

Well said. It's basically how I feel, and why I am all too eager to pick up the pitchfork. Seen it all before...

When the red mist subsides I might even agree with Alfie's tweet more or less, but that does not excuse their weak ass matey questions after games and on pressers. Even if they are not calling for his head, they should be calling him out on poor performances.

And they should be equally be reflecting the views of local people who buy their shit rag/online AI GPT output who travel hundreds of miles to watch millionaires not doing the basics of their job. 

[Patrick Bateman]

Watching the football league show, some of the League 2 football / goals look better worked out than what we've been served up with. 

[Fabrice29]

On 31/08/2025 at 12:32, Fabrice29 said:

1 season and 4 league games at a push. Not years. 

But okay so what drastic 1 player swap gets a drastic improvement do you think? You take out one of the CB’s and stick in who and where that suddenly makes everything better? 

Shocked changing the formation wasn’t the magic bullet some people thought it would be. 

[Baird of the land]

7 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

I can see giving him next 2 league games. If he hasn’t turned it round by then, giving him longer would be criminal.

[Lord Duckhunter]

10 hours ago, Ivan Katalinic's 'tache said:

So are we thinking Will Still is the “ginger Juric”?

Juric is a far better manager, He’s not even good enough to be the ginger Jones, or Ginger Lego yet…

[coalman]

7 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Whilst it may be needed on occasion, I’m concerned that once again today he made a triple sub in the second half. I know things had to change but that was due to his tactics in the first place, making such regular wholesale changes is the sort of thing you do playing FIFA. Just seems like completely tactical naivety at this level. 

So much this. The last two times he's done it we've lost all the momentum we were starting to build and didn't get it back. It may be a factor of trying to keep his large squad happy but it's not helping the football on the pitch.

[Patches O Houlihan]

12 minutes ago, coalman said:

So much this. The last two times he's done it we've lost all the momentum we were starting to build and didn't get it back. It may be a factor of trying to keep his large squad happy but it's not helping the football on the pitch.

Maybe he watches a lot of rugby - they like ‘finishers’

When we were in the Prem we used to complain that 5 subs meant we’d play the end of the game against top teams with 5 fresh superb players.

Our bench was ridiculous for this game. Maybe that is the thought? Maybe Scienza knows he’ll get 25 mins. Maybe Fellows is told to gauge his efforts for 70 mins max? 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

7 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Going forward, nobody is breaking the lines or carrying the ball forward. 69% of passes went sideways or backwards today

There isn't any obvious plan going forward. Last week it was lump it to Archer and quite what he was supposed to do with it on his own, no-one knows. Win a free kick was the best we could hope for and then the kick taker would knock it sideways. Today there didn't seem to be any plan at all so players just pass sideways to improve their successful pass statistic. I appreciate he's learning but today he stood there and didn't seem to know what to do.

Run at players, get to the bye line and whip in a cross...show intent. C'mon Will. It's time to step up a gear.

[Fabrice29]

6 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Maybe he watches a lot of rugby - they like ‘finishers’

When we were in the Prem we used to complain that 5 subs meant we’d play the end of the game against top teams with 5 fresh superb players.

Our bench was ridiculous for this game. Maybe that is the thought? Maybe Scienza knows he’ll get 25 mins. Maybe Fellows is told to gauge his efforts for 70 mins max? 

Maybe we were 3-0 down and not looking like scoring so he decided to change things? 🙄

[Lord Duckhunter]

Looks to me like he’s floundering around a bit, unsure of his best players or system. As much as I hated Lego, at least he got his ideas across and stamped his mark on the players. This bloke doesn’t seem capable of doing so and flip flops about. A bit like Jones & Juric, but the big difference is he’s had all pre season to bed his ideas in, they didn’t. 
 

To me, there’s worrying signs already that the players aren’t buying him. 

[LiberalCommunist]

9 hours ago, saintant said:

Where on earth is our high press? Where is the fast transition? Where is the pass and move, find space and play between the opposition lines. All basics that we are just not doing. There is no defined shape and no clear indication of what, if anything, we are trying to do. Surely football is not that complicated. We look like a panic stricken bunch that have never played the game before and are just thrown on the pitch to make it up as we go along. There has to be a structure, a plan, a formation where every player knows his job and performs it in at least a semi proficient manner.  We've just spent a week training at Staplewood following the Pompey debacle only to look even worse. There must be at least one coach at the football club who knows what he's doing.  Then factor in a goalkeeper who today gifts our opponents their crucial opening goal not for the first time and we know it will happen again. He's not helped by defenders who are weak and mark fresh air. Where are the green shoots of recovery?

Hope this gets floated around the boardroom. Some serious questions need some serious answers. 

[EnoughAlready]

Still seems like the anti Russell Martin. Martin's obsession with building from the back ultimately cost him his job when he refused to adapt his style of play to avoid weekly humiliation in the premier league. Still likes to present himself as a pragmatic do what it takes to win manager, but theres no clear identity. He's not giving the players the detail they need to beat the opposition. The Hull manager's comments speak volumes about how easy we are to play against.

"At the end it succeeded because we scored three beautiful goals, especially with crosses, because when we analysed Southampton they struggled with controlling the players in the box."

29 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Looks to me like he’s floundering around a bit, unsure of his best players or system. As much as I hated Lego, at least he got his ideas across and stamped his mark on the players. This bloke doesn’t seem capable of doing so and flip flops about. A bit like Jones & Juric, but the big difference is he’s had all pre season to bed his ideas in, they didn’t. 
 

To me, there’s worrying signs already that the players aren’t buying him. 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by EnoughAlready

[benjii]

9 hours ago, Forester said:

We need to calm down, I’ve driven up and back to Hull today and am fuming but we have lost two games in the eight in all comps we have played so far.  It’s mad to be calling for a sacking, and we are in danger of becoming Watford if we look for our fifth manager in less than 12 months.  Seriously!

Rubbish.

We have a better squad than everyone we have played so far and we haven't played well in any of those 8 matches.

We haven't looked organised in pressing in any of those matches.

We haven't looked good going forwards in any of those matches.

We look as bad as we did under Nathan Jones. 

There is no excuse.

[bangkoksaint]

7 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Watching the football league show, some of the League 2 football / goals look better worked out than what we've been s

[bangkoksaint]

8 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

And they should be equally be reflecting the views of local people who buy their shit rag/online AI GPT output who travel hundreds of miles to watch millionaires not doing the basics of their job. 

Yeah. On the way back from Hull last night I was listening to TalkSPORT. O’Hara was talking about the questions the Moose asked Potter. One of which ‘are you the right man for the job’. Fo4 me it’s great journalism. Ask difficult questions, ask what the supporters want to ask and stop cosying up to these managers because you don’t want to be banned.

[Sheaf Saint]

4 minutes ago, benjii said:

Rubbish.

We have a better squad than everyone we have played so far and we haven't played well in any of those 8 matches.

We haven't looked organised in pressing in any of those matches.

We haven't looked good going forwards in any of those matches.

We look as bad as we did under Nathan Jones. 

There is no excuse.

This is the depressing reality of it. Even without great tactics and organisation, we should have enough quality on the pitch to still, occasionally, dig us out and get something. The fact that we're so badly set up that this doesn't appear possible is 100% on the manager.

[Gloucester Saint]

It’s staggering how easy Saints have been to play against for many years. It’s been the case since Ralph’s last few months and deteriorated rapidly as the recruitment has declined further even since Les Reed’s sanatogen specials. 

In all of that time, they just haven’t done the basics other teams do defensively across the team, such as limiting crosses and forcing them to be delivered from further up the pitch so they are a simple clearance or claim. No pressure on teams taking shots at goal when the owners force the managers into selecting a goalkeeper who couldn’t save a document on Word. Marking is someone that farmers do to livestock. Zonal-based system doesn’t work with thick players. 

That would be bad enough, but offensively no-one carries the ball between lines and on the rare occasions it happens, everybody is stood on their heels watching. Witness Archer v Skates, who the hell is following in on that? All stood ball-watching and let Cameron down when he created a chance from hard work. Something they all seem averse to.

The tempo is dreadful as well, have they never heard of pass and move? Combine that with some of the shittiest players to wear our shirt since the 1960s and at best the late 00s, and cluelessness from the touch line and boardroom, I think you can see why the fanbase has had enough by and large.

Only positive is that they got plenty of stick yesterday from the away end and that’s going to get a whole lot worse with piss taking and gallows humour. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[benjii]

1 minute ago, Sheaf Saint said:

This is the depressing reality of it. Even without great tactics and organisation, we should have enough quality on the pitch to still, occasionally, dig us out and get something. The fact that we're so badly set up that this doesn't appear possible is 100% on the manager.

Quite, and a bit of magic from Bazunu and Manning is the only reason we didn't lose at home to Wrexham FFS.

[egg]

6 minutes ago, EnoughAlready said:

Still seems like the anti Russell Martin. Martin's obsession with building from the back ultimately cost him his job when he refused to adapt his style of play to avoid weekly humiliation in the premier league. Still likes to present himself as a pragmatic do what it takes to win manager, but theres no clear identity. He's not giving the players the detail they need to beat the opposition. The Hull manager's comments speak volumes about how easy we are to play against.

"At the end it succeeded because we scored three beautiful goals, especially with crosses, because when we analysed Southampton they struggled with controlling the players in the box."

 

Yep. We have a weak defence and keeper that the oppo target with balls in, and have absolutely no plan going forwards. Basically, the oppo only has to score the first goal and they've won. 

I knew nothing about this bloke before he got here. Pre season was a worry as we looked disjointed and weren't doing the basics, and that's continued into the season. We don't pass, move, make runs into channels/space, break the lanes, our defence can't hold its line, we don't press or play around/through the press, we don't switch up formations, etc, etc. 

His only tactical tweak has been to take a CB out making us weaker at the back, but without that extra player further up the pitch doing anything effective. 

The players look scared. I'm with Duck - I don't think they're buying into it, and I'm certainly not.

I'd give him until the Derby game then take a view. 

[CB Fry]

1 minute ago, benjii said:

Quite, and a bit of magic from Bazunu and Manning is the only reason we didn't lose at home to Wrexham FFS.

The flipside is we will win some games because we have a significantly better set of players than almost every other team. 

And this will be taken as proof that the manager is "on the right track" etc so will just buy more time. One win in every four or five matches and he stays in role until the January window closes and we're 12th ("only seven points off the play offs")

What a wasted pre season, a wasted window. And we are on the brink of a wasted season.

 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Shocked changing the formation wasn’t the magic bullet some people thought it would be. 

New owners who purchase players to build the spine of a team, and not one-off transactions in an attempt to make money based on what AI Co-Pilot spits out, instead of scouting properly and watching players, is the only remedy. Replacing such failures eg Bazunu with more of the same eg Downs though the spine as projects (Alfie House’s words) is leading to the same outcomes season after season when you add in inexperienced managers who won’t tell them to keep their nose out. SR isn’t working. 

Sheff Utd are also down that road but even their batshit mad board and owners have decided to bring the professionals back in to sort out their mess.

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint
Plural

[benjii]

14 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

The flipside is we will win some games because we have a significantly better set of players than almost every other team. 

And this will be taken as proof that the manager is "on the right track" etc so will just buy more time. One win in every four or five matches and he stays in role until the January window closes and we're 12th ("only seven points off the play offs")

What a wasted pre season, a wasted window. And we are on the brink of a wasted season.

 

This is what happened against Norwich. Couple of lovely strikes.

[EnoughAlready]

17 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

The flipside is we will win some games because we have a significantly better set of players than almost every other team. 

And this will be taken as proof that the manager is "on the right track" etc so will just buy more time. One win in every four or five matches and he stays in role until the January window closes and we're 12th ("only seven points off the play offs")

What a wasted pre season, a wasted window. And we are on the brink of a wasted season.

 

It may well pan out like this. Still's record in France was mid table finishes, but more performances like Hull and we're following Luton down the back to back relegation plughole.

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, EnoughAlready said:

It may well pan out like this. Still's record in France was mid table finishes, but more performances like Hull and we're following Luton down the back to back relegation plughole.

I would say it am assuming a best case scenario where someone could come in for the last third of the season and Iain Dowie us into the play offs. It could be worse but I don't think we will be in relegation risk.

[Turkish]

His tactics at the moment seem to be a hybrid of the worst bits of Martin and Jones. Pass it sideways and backwards very slowly or lump it aimlessly forward. 
 

We have been getting worse as the season has gone on which is very worrying. All of the players out there yesterday were good players for this level but they played like a team of strangers. Thats on Still

[Badger]

10 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We have soft as shite journos with access to the club 

 

Blackmore’s quiet on this front since yesterday. Possibly working to the principle of if you’ve haven’t got anything good to say, say nothing. 

[Hodgey]

Just saw the highlights - if you can’t deal with diagonal long balls into the box in this league expect trouble, and the half chances we created for Downs - I don’t think he is capable of finishing.

Agree with others - whatever Still is trying to do, is a puzzle as tactically it looks all over the place. He needs to quickly get across a style so fans can see where we are trying to go - think we can be more patient if we see some kind of goal that we are building towards. Liverpool reserves away with no real expectations is a great chance to show us - I want to see his best 11 playing a style he wants - the result isn’t important, the team he picks, performance and style is.

He does need more time though - Christmas is the time to asses.

Finally I wonder how much that South coast derby disrupted both teams as Portsmouth were equally dogshit at home which is actually very unusual for them.

[BarberSaint]

57 minutes ago, Hodgey said:

Just saw the highlights - if you can’t deal with diagonal long balls into the box in this league expect trouble, and the half chances we created for Downs - I don’t think he is capable of finishing.

Agree with others - whatever Still is trying to do, is a puzzle as tactically it looks all over the place. He needs to quickly get across a style so fans can see where we are trying to go - think we can be more patient if we see some kind of goal that we are building towards. Liverpool reserves away with no real expectations is a great chance to show us - I want to see his best 11 playing a style he wants - the result isn’t important, the team he picks, performance and style is.

He does need more time though - Christmas is the time to asses.

Finally I wonder how much that South coast derby disrupted both teams as Portsmouth were equally dogshit at home which is actually very unusual for them.

His highlights and analysis of him showed that: he was essentially a third-rate target man, bringing others into the game. We overpaid for him. Same with Quarshie if you watched him: crap on the ball (which is why I said he'd never make the step up to the league above).