Will Still

[coalman]

2 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Nice to see what a Leicester supporter would be hacked off with calling it ‘extended highlights! Not sure if the result was due entirely to Will Still’s Lens being very good or Leicester being decidedly crap.  What was obvious from the outset was the intense high press, the fluidity of the players movement and the rare pass backwards/sideways. So different to Saints this last 2-3 seasons. I’m looking forward to see if Still is allowed and able to bring that to us with the squad he inherits.

I'm hoping for another Poch Lambert conversation where a senior player goes to complain about double sessions

[John B]

On 28/05/2025 at 17:23, Maggie May said:

Yeah but these players are the second worst team ever to play in the Premier League, and looked second rate against teams in lower divisions.  It will be hard to shake off. 

I think the standard of the PL was the highest ever just look at Man U they had a decent squad put finished in a very low position

[coalman]

5 minutes ago, John B said:

I think the standard of the PL was the highest ever just look at Man U they had a decent squad put finished in a very low position

With a manager dogmatically sticking to his system... And a billionaire meddling in the running of the club 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

6 minutes ago, John B said:

I think the standard of the PL was the highest ever just look at Man U they had a decent squad put finished in a very low position

I think the standard of fitness among the elite is the highest ever but the football hasn't been all that imaginative.

Too many managers stick to a system. Hopefully our WS will be different.

[Convict Colony]

5 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

I think the standard of fitness among the elite is the highest ever but the football hasn't been all that imaginative.

Too many managers stick to a system. Hopefully our WS will be different.

Good post I think a lot of managers are dogmatic to a system, something they feel comfortable with rather than looking at he next match and trying to work out how to win.

[John B]

12 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

I think the standard of fitness among the elite is the highest ever but the football hasn't been all that imaginative.

Too many managers stick to a system. Hopefully our WS will be different.

It is results that count no matter what system or systems he uses that is apart from Puel who got us to 8th if I remember

Lets hope he stays for sometime

I just want us not to lose so many games

[Nolan]

just looking at Will Stills final formation for Lens' 40 victory against Monaco....

 

What a statement of intent. Will we be pulling this one out of the bag in 25/26?

[SW11_Saint]

On 30/05/2025 at 11:00, revolution saint said:

All about opinions but if Onuachu is better than Stewart then Stewart may as well give up.  FWIW I disagree, Onuachu is slow, immobile, lacks stamina and, for a tall fella, pretty poor in the air.  Sooner he's out of the club the better. 

Bit early on to judge Stewart but he won most of the aerial duels against Arsenal and got about the pitch well enough.  Injuries is the big thing with him though so I wouldn't be relying on him.

Agree - Onuachu isn’t better than Stewart.

In the last few games I think we’ve seen there is a player there in Stewart. He can do a job in the Championship, no doubt, but fitness will be the key. So though I do agree we can’t put all of our eggs in one basket, and need reinforcements, I’d like to see RS stay. 
 

 

[SW11_Saint]

Watching that ‘High Performance’ Pod,  it was bugging me who Will’s demeanour reminded me of… especially the “They called and offered me the job. I said, “What?”…” parts (there were several). 
 

Then it came to me… 

(Comedian James Acaster for those who don’t know him…). 

Edited yesterday at 20:29 by SW11_Saint

[Saint_clark]

On 30/05/2025 at 11:00, revolution saint said:

All about opinions but if Onuachu is better than Stewart then Stewart may as well give up.  FWIW I disagree, Onuachu is slow, immobile, lacks stamina and, for a tall fella, pretty poor in the air.  Sooner he's out of the club the better. 

Bit early on to judge Stewart but he won most of the aerial duels against Arsenal and got about the pitch well enough.  Injuries is the big thing with him though so I wouldn't be relying on him. 

This simply isn't true. In fact, and even I'm surprised by this, on Premier League Miscellaneous Stats | FBref.com it shows that Onuachu won a higher percentage (61.2%) of aerial duels than any other forward in the league, coming 34th out of all players in total. 

[EBS1980]

Do you think there might be progress on his back room staff soon or do you think it’ll be closer to the start of pre season? 

[Fabrice29]

21 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

This simply isn't true. In fact, and even I'm surprised by this, on Premier League Miscellaneous Stats | FBref.com it shows that Onuachu won a higher percentage (61.2%) of aerial duels than any other forward in the league, coming 34th out of all players in total. 

He's 6'7 and the fact that this surprises you says quite a lot. 

[sockeye]

13 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

Do you think there might be progress on his back room staff soon or do you think it’ll be closer to the start of pre season? 

I expect everyone's on the beach now, Still/Quarshie were probably done this early because it was close enough to the end of the season?

[Saint_clark]

10 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

He's 6'7 and the fact that this surprises you says quite a lot. 

...right? Did you read the post I was referring to where someone was saying he is poor in the air? I was clearly disagreeing with them, I think he does win a lot of headers. However it was still a surprise to find out he tops the list of aerial duels won for forwards in the league, especially a league that contains Chris Wood.

[EBS1980]

7 minutes ago, sockeye said:

I expect everyone's on the beach now, Still/Quarshie were probably done this early because it was close enough to the end of the season?

Still mentioned he was on a two week holiday before getting started, one week to go on that. Kinda assumed he’d have his team around him for day 1

[revolution saint]

44 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

This simply isn't true. In fact, and even I'm surprised by this, on Premier League Miscellaneous Stats | FBref.com it shows that Onuachu won a higher percentage (61.2%) of aerial duels than any other forward in the league, coming 34th out of all players in total. 

Nah, he’s shit

[Fabrice29]

34 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

...right? Did you read the post I was referring to where someone was saying he is poor in the air? I was clearly disagreeing with them, I think he does win a lot of headers. However it was still a surprise to find out he tops the list of aerial duels won for forwards in the league, especially a league that contains Chris Wood.

He is poor in the air. Despite how many headers he wins. That's my point.

[kitch]

9 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

He is poor in the air. Despite how many headers he wins. That's my point.

Agreed. Heading is much more than just the height you can reach, it's all about timing and awareness. He should be the best header of a ball we've ever had.
As it is, he's worse at heading than you'd think he would be, given his size, and he's better at close control than you think he would be, also given his size.
 

[saintant]

38 minutes ago, kitch said:

Agreed. Heading is much more than just the height you can reach, it's all about timing and awareness. He should be the best header of a ball we've ever had.
As it is, he's worse at heading than you'd think he would be, given his size, and he's better at close control than you think he would be, also given his size.
 

He and any other forward would have to go some to eclipse the aerial threat and heading power of the late great Ron Davies.

[Saint86]

13 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

He is poor in the air. Despite how many headers he wins. That's my point.

No he isn't/wasn't - he played in a shit side with crap service, most of which were bread and butter balls for CBs, and he won more than any other striker. He was also routinely (isolated which made it much easier for CB's to mark him and be comfortable in their positions). Had saints actually been getting down the flanks / to the byline, whipping in crosses rather than over the top balls of deep diagonal crosses, and had players off him, he would have won more and had better stats for assists and chance creation.

We were shit, he's a limited striker, but to say he's poor in the air is needless revisionism.

Edited 11 hours ago by Saint86

[Mr X]

Onuachu is a weird one I like his enthusiasm and he's had a couple of decentish appearances for us where he's tried to rally the troops but he's much the same as our other strikers ie looks terrible once he gets anywhere near goal and a poor decision maker, he looks clumsy /lanky and slow at times but there is an decentish player in their somewhere..... Sadly I don't think it's ever going to work out for him at saints, English football where you get nano seconds to make decisions doesn't seem to suit him! Best for all parties if he finds another club

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Mr X

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

https://punchng.com/onuachu-leads-chart-for-most-goals-scored-with-headers/?amp

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=40044

[waylander]

31 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

No he isn't/wasn't - he played in a shit side with crap service, most of which were bread and butter balls for CBs, and he won more than any other striker. He was also routinely (isolated which made it much easier for CB's to mark him and be comfortable in their positions). Had saints actually been getting down the flanks / to the byline, whipping in crosses rather than over the top balls of deep diagonal crosses, and had players off him, he would have won more and had better stats for assists and chance creation.

We were shit, he's a limited striker, but to say he's poor in the air is needless revisionism.

He's a decent striker IF we set up to play to him.

[suewhistle]

29 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

We were shit, he's a limited striker, but to say he's poor in the air is needless revisionism.

I think that's a fair summary, but I wouldn't say he was good in the air either!

But as you point out we never played to his strengths. From my limited experience of Stewart to me he is plainly a better player. Having both on the pitch at the same time might be interesting and a worry for CBs!

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

No he isn't/wasn't - he played in a shit side with crap service, most of which were bread and butter balls for CBs, and he won more than any other striker. He was also routinely (isolated which made it much easier for CB's to mark him and be comfortable in their positions). Had saints actually been getting down the flanks / to the byline, whipping in crosses rather than over the top balls of deep diagonal crosses, and had players off him, he would have won more and had better stats for assists and chance creation.

We were shit, he's a limited striker, but to say he's poor in the air is needless revisionism.

I don’t disagree that his service has been woeful and I’m sure he could contribute to a side built around him but I’ve literally watched him jump for balls going straight up and down and miss them completely. I don’t think his control with his head is particularly great and would suggest his heading stats are somewhat masked by his height and defenders not fully engaging and aiming to pick up 2nd balls. 

Btw side note whilst quickly looking to see if I could find some decent evidence beyond headers won (he’s high on headers lost too btw) and more specifically what happens with those headers I noticed that both he and Ramsdale are in the top 10 worst passes success percentages in the league. Along with Pickford and Beto as well. That doesn’t particularly bode well for progressive goalkeeper we are trying to sell or his target man being particularly effective. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Fabrice29

[kitch]

4 hours ago, saintant said:

He and any other forward would have to go some to eclipse the aerial threat and heading power of the late great Ron Davies.

He played his last game for Saints 10 years before I was born, and I'm middle-aged! 😆

Regardless of the semantics, the point stands. Tall Paul should be much better than he is in the air.

[Badger]

5 hours ago, saintant said:

He and any other forward would have to go some to eclipse the aerial threat and heading power of the late great Ron Davies.

Always worth remembering about Big Ron is that he was only 6’ or 6’1” so by no means a giant. But he used to get up a lot better and direct his headers better than the giants we’re now talking of. As did Lambert (6’2” according to Wikipedia). 

Tall Paul obviously doesn’t have the Paine and Sydenhams to act as providers. But if he did I suspect he’d still be a bit shit. 

[samhammond]

Apologies if posted in this thread already, but this is a brilliant watch and some real insight into Still’s man-management and training approach. Full behind the scenes access for training and mic’d up during a match at Reims.

(Watch on YouTube with English subtitles on).

 

[chivvy]

HE didnt score many from headers so he wasnt that great.  He was just difficult to beat from long goal kicks or clearances .  Maybe if we got the ball in the box more he might have been more lethal. Chris Wood is a much better targetman.

Edited 7 hours ago by chivvy

[Gloucester Saint]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Always worth remembering about Big Ron is that he was only 6’ or 6’1” so by no means a giant. But he used to get up a lot better and direct his headers better than the giants we’re now talking of. As did Lambert (6’2” according to Wikipedia). 

Tall Paul obviously doesn’t have the Paine and Sydenhams to act as providers. But if he did I suspect he’d still be a bit shit. 

My old man always said Ron Davies could head a ball harder than most could kick it at the time. The Man U and Chelsea away displays sounded like centre forward masterclasses.

[CamSaint]

19 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

My old man always said Ron Davies could head a ball harder than most could kick it at the time.

My brother (who was a goalkeeper) played in a game featuring Ron, and those were exactly the words that he used!

[saint michael]

41 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

My old man always said Ron Davies could head a ball harder than most could kick it at the time. The Man U and Chelsea away displays sounded like centre forward masterclasses.

Your dad was right Gloucester I loved watching him getting onto the crosses from Paine and Sydenham. I remember him coming to my school and showing techniques. He also whacked a shot at goal and it hit the keeper and nearly took him in net. It was wet and left a welt mark imprint of ball on his leg with one of those all leather balls  🫣😂

[miserableoldgit]

Big Ron was a great, great player! With Paine and Sydenham on the wings, you couldn't go wrong! Weirdly Wyn Davies, who was around at the same time, playing for Newcastle, used to get more publicity, but Ron was, IMHO the better player!

[Chez]

6 hours ago, Badger said:

Always worth remembering about Big Ron is that he was only 6’ or 6’1” so by no means a giant. But he used to get up a lot better and direct his headers better than the giants we’re now talking of. As did Lambert (6’2” according to Wikipedia). 

Tall Paul obviously doesn’t have the Paine and Sydenhams to act as providers. But if he did I suspect he’d still be a bit shit. 

You could add Joe Jordan to that group. Not a giant, but he had a tremendous leap on him and a real desire to win everything. I do see similar desire from Onuachu, but not the leap of timing. I'm not a fan at all, but you have to feed him and we just haven't.

[Andrew Watson]

Ron Davies in his prime would have been worth an absolute fortune in todays game. The only downside would be there is no player in the modern game to touch Terry Paines crossing ability. The only player to have come close since TP,was the brilliant John Robertson at Forest. What the club would give now to have Davies and Paine.