Ipswich 1-1 Saints - Match Thread

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

So who still thinks that Armstrong, Archer and BBD are really good attacking options to rely on at this level? 

@Matthew Le God I think you were telling us they’d be really good because they’ve all scored goals in the championship before? 

Armstrong was central today where he isn't as good, Archer wasn't on long and BBD didn't play. Our two main big central strikers (Damion Downs and Ross Stewart) were ill today.

Edited 15 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Mr Brightside]

Good point. Seems like both teams and managers were settling for a draw 2nd half. 
Important to get points on the board while we’re in flux before the window shuts. 

[S-Clarke]

Yeah, that's a good result. You can clearly see that both teams are still finding their way, it was disjointed from both if we're honest. Error-strewn from both sides.

It's too early to come to massive conclusions, but what Impressed me is that we didn't end up camped in at the end of the game, we actually came forward and used some of the space ourselves.

Quarshie has good physical qualities, but he can't play football - so that's a concern. Early days I guess, but the basics of touch, control and passing evades him.

Armstrong to his credit battled his arse off, but you can see clearly where our problems sit. We are relying on the wing backs to give us width, which they do to a point (and it got us the goal), but we really need some proper wide attackers stuck up top giving us an option when we move forward. 

Tough first away game I think, and we navigated it quite professionally. But lots of work to do, as we're nowhere near yet.

Edited 15 hours ago by S-Clarke

[saintant]

47 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Let's just say that THB is looking somewhat rusty.

Yeah, if he's in the shop window it'll be the bargain bucket 🙂

[OneMrsWallace]

Take that all day thanks. Three unbeaten given we are still in flux is better than I expected and plenty of commitment from the players. Desperately need some new, hopefully quality faces in before the window close. If we do that, could be an exciting season. 

[obelisk]

Give away that many daft free kicks against even moderate opposition and we'll concede a lot of goals, especially considering the numbers of headers we fail to win.

[madge]

We had no out ball today hence we kept losing it in midfield. Needed a striker to hold up the ball and bring others into play. BBD would have been the sensible choice to offer that but it shows how far away he really is. Need a big week in terms of outgoings and incomings 

[Farmer Saint]

12 points we got last season - 12 fucking points. Very similar squad.

What do you guys expect?

[Hawkswood]

1 minute ago, Saint86 said:

Don't know how anyone can watch that game and say Stephens was motm firstly, or come out having a go at baz for not sweeper keeping enough... If not for baz being quick out of his box, we'd have lost that to another spectacular Stephens calamity.

To be honest, I was clutching at straws. Best of a bad bunch really and I didn't knock Baz for not being off his line quick enough. You can blame Stephens for the header obviously but Quarshie should never have played that ball inside to him. I played semi pro as a CB and that goes out or down the line every time. And my Baz comment still stands. Even that Chaplin chance at the end, if he scores that's Bazs fault for not dominating his box. Easily. And there were about half a dozen crosses that a more dominant keeper would have come and punched to relieve his defence. I genuinely don't think my comment was laughable and I hope that explains why I said it.

. 

[egg]

6 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

We are conceding the midfield a lot. From his comments, my impression is that because we are short of signings he needs in 2-3 positions at least that this is backstop option.

Yep. I've said before and say again, he doesn't want to play this system, but he hasn't got the players to play his preferred 433. We're a RB, CM, wide player, and arguably a CF short of that.

The bloke is managing with one arm tied behind his back. 

[saintant]

35 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

We are clearly short of a few good players..

To put it another way, we are clearly short of a good few players.

[vectraman]

9 minutes ago, saintant said:

Decent enough point after gifting them a goal. Some good moments but still far too many mistakes and we continually give the ball away and give away cheap free-kicks. Robinson was very good as was Wee Man. The rest not so. Manning again looked solid when he came on so would prefer him to Wellington. Quarshie still looks like an accident waiting to happen - doubt we'll have to wait long. Need to get to September and see what we've got - need that creativity in midfield for sure.

MOM - I’d agree that Robinson and Fraser were decent, for me though Charles and Downes were our best pair, Charles shades it for me 🏅

Edited 15 hours ago by vectraman

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep. I've said before and say again, he doesn't want to play this system, but he hasn't got the players to play his preferred 433. We're a RB, CM, wide player, and arguably a CF short of that.

The bloke is managing with one arm tied behind his back. 

Isn't his favoured formation 4231 rather than 433? Notably different in that a 433 had a single pivot vs a double in the 4231. Plus we'd need a number 10 role player in the 4231 which you don't have on 433.

Edited 15 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Wiggles31]

Great point. Poor attacking performance. Desperately need a bit more in the final 3rd. Thought the back 3 were especially poor and invited more pressure.

Can someone please come in for Dibling. I’d take £35m for him now.  

[Saint86]

I suspect last season (and at the start of Martin's championship season) we don't get this point and we don't win that Wrexham game. This is the best team in the league (on paper), away from home, and we're a squad in transition coming off of one of the worst ever season's in English football's top flight. We evidently are now resilient - and hopefully we continue to get better and better.

A good point today, hopefully we can sort out the squad ASAP and get a wins out of stoke and Watford. Would be great to go into the derby unbeaten.

[Sir Ralph]

10 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

they also hit the post, Hirst fluffed a good chance after getting past all our defenders

Fair enough. Good point on that basis. I liked the way we have dug in in both games

[Holmes_and_Watson]

An away point against a promotion rival, who were better than us in the last 2 league campaigns is realistically decent (even if we did better in our head to head last season).

Still will have taken lots of lessons about his team from that.

Our defence were ridiculously error prone. All of them in the first half, and Quarshie in particular. Most of them in the second, with Stephens being bailed out by Baz, but making a strong covering block later on.

Baz looked quick, with his usual cool ess and distribution.

Fraser has a high work rate, but really is an emergency right wing back. You can see Suga clearly knows he's not first choice, and could be moving.

Quarshie struggled all through the game, and needs support to get past that. He can join the support group the rest of them are in. At least he's not alone.

We're in another season without a proper DM. Downes, wearing his I love Russell, T-shirt is now the closest we have. Incapable of playing a forward pass, but the most likely to harry back. Charles and Fernandes did fine, but with little impact.

Robinson got his goal, which is more than anyone else looked likely to do. Dibling back with a welcome cameo at the end. 

But we really offer nothing up front. AA is wasted there. Archer did little and Manning had no targets.

Still is rapidly going through his squad and finding flaws in quite a few of them. Ipswich were the better side today, carrying more threat.

We've still got lots of resources and talent compared to lots of other teams. But we're quite a way off where we could easily be, with some decent recruitment in the next couple of weeks.

[Mixedkebab]

Would snap the hand off for 4 points from those first two, we have the basis of a good side

Corners and free kicks are fucking awful excluding Manning 

3 at the back is leading to far too many errors so hopefully Still gets the personnel he needs to change 

No decent striker is there for all to see, Still knows it 

But otherwise happy days and praying that we carry on unbeaten up to the skates and then bury them 

[saintant]

35 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Still none the wiser as to what Matsuki is like.

Runs around a bit and gives away free kicks.

[It's There]

1v1 without our ill two tall strikers, a rusty TBH, a new centre back unused to the speed of the Championship, players potentially leaving… a great result!

[egg]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

To put it another way, we are clearly short of a good few players.

To put it another way, we clearly have a few short not so good players.

[tdmickey3]

11 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I don’t recall Ipswich having a decent chance either, other than at the end with the header. Good point at this stage of the season

They hit the inside of the post mate, v unlucky not score

[Matthew Le God]

Just now, Mixedkebab said:

No decent striker is there for all to see, Still knows it 

Two of them were missing through illness. I doubt we'll sign another.

[Baz Fl]

Good result but not a great performance. We are seriously lacking power and pace in attack. Would like to see some useful transfers instead of rumors but we still have time. Highlights for me, Jay’s goal and it looks like Baz has become a much better keeper         🙏

Edited 14 hours ago by Baz Fl
Add

[pimpin4rizeal]

Can’t complain with that .. it hurt us with both Stewart and downs unavailable we did miss the focal point in attack .. Robinson was great, Fraser showing he still delivers with the end product .. and touch wood bazunu is so far looking a lot better then he has previously 

[Sir Ralph]

19 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

They hit the inside of the post mate, v unlucky not score

Overall a good performance. I thought tactically a tight unit second half. Stopped the gap between centre backs and wing backs that happened first half. What did you think?

I also thought we have shown good character in both games - do you agree?

Edited 14 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[egg]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

Isn't his favoured formation 4231 rather than 433? Notably different in that a 433 had a single pivot vs a double in the 4231. Plus we'd need a number 10 role player in the 4231 which you don't have on 433.

I don't do distinctions like this. One CM sitting, one slightly more advanced, and one getting up with the striker, (a 6, 8 and 10 in new money) isn't much different to 2 in the middle with one going box to box, plus one in behind a centre forward. However you cut it, both involve 3 men in midfield areas doing slightly different things, one up through the middle, and 2 out side. 

Both are variations of the same thing, but most importantly, both are a million miles from the back 3 he's having to play. 

[Saint86]

Also, for all our mistakes at the back - Ipswich only had one shot on target.

[ErwinK1961]

Respect the point, hope that next week we’re a step closer to our final squad.

[Gloucester Saint]

12 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep. I've said before and say again, he doesn't want to play this system, but he hasn't got the players to play his preferred 433. We're a RB, CM, wide player, and arguably a CF short of that.

The bloke is managing with one arm tied behind his back. 

He needs to be a bit more obvious about that though. Previous managers have played nicely whilst the DoF plays around. Time to get the clock ticking publicly for what he needs. He will carry the can if he doesn’t get them so why not apply some pressure? Decent start so he has some political capital.

Edited 14 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Thought Quarshie was really poor, especially on the ball. Would’ve taken him off for sure. 
 

Good point though. 

[hypochondriac]

With all the squad uncertainty you have to say that's a good point. Aim of the exercise before the window closing is to stay in contention and we've done that so far which is good news. Yes there were problems but the squad is going to be totally different in a couple of weeks and it's going to be difficult to judge. 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

9 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Isn't his favoured formation 4231 rather than 433? Notably different in that a 433 had a single pivot vs a double in the 4231. Plus we'd need a number 10 role player in the 4231 which you don't have on 433.

Do people who analyse football like this get any enjoyment from it. 

I just like it when they score good goals and stuff. Sometimes enjoy a crunching tackle too.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

He needs to be a bit more obvious about that though. Previous managers have played nicely whilst the DoF plays around. Time to get the clock ticking publicly for what he needs. He will carry the can if he doesn’t get them so why not apply some pressure. 

How do you know they aren't actively working to get rid of players and bring some in? It's not football manager. 

[SWLondon Saint]

Thought both sides were poor in the second half, only way Ipswich were going to score was from a mistake by us, which to be fair there were quite a few of. Definitely take the result though. Big match next week too since Stoke are top at the moment!

[DrSuess1979]

Ill take that 

Transition from the shower of shit last season was always going to take time so to be unbeaten from Wrexham (new boy bounce) and Ipswich (solid well drilled team at home) is a bonus 

Robinson looks like a gem

[Matthew Le God]

5 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Do people who analyse football like this get any enjoyment from it. 

I just like it when they score good goals and stuff. Sometimes enjoy a crunching tackle too.

Noticing the formation being used is hardly a deep analysis. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

How do you know they aren't actively working to get rid of players and bring some in? It's not football manager. 

I’m sure they are but I’d be frustrated if I was him having to play what is an alien formation for a string of games. 

[Pamplemousse]

Draw a fair result. We've navigated two tricky games well.

 

[PerthshireSaint]

18 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Quarshie has good physical qualities, but he can't play football - so that's a concern. 

Laughed way too long and hard at this. 
 

[OttawaSaint]

Downs and Stewert will need to be decent because, AArm, BBD, and Archer aren't scaring anyone.

My worries about goals from forwards still linger...

[Saint_clark]

20 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

12 points we got last season - 12 fucking points. Very similar squad.

What do you guys expect?

I mean two games in we're already a third of the way there.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I’m sure they are but I’d be frustrated if I was him having to play what is an alien formation for a string of games. 

Highlights how well he has done under the circumstances. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, OttawaSaint said:

Downs and Stewert will need to be decent because, AArm, BBD, and Archer aren't scaring anyone.

My worries about goals from forwards still linger...

I do have the same niggle. I don't think we can really rely on Stewart, so we'll only have Downs for most of the season as a focal point.

Be interesting to see if we do anything there.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I’m sure they are but I’d be frustrated if I was him having to play what is an alien formation for a string of games. 

I believe an alien formation, is what keeps MLT up at nights in a tin foil hat. 🙂

[Lord Duckhunter]

Armstrong pony again. Archer a little bit better, at least he worked the channels a bit. Need to get some physical presence up front. 
 

Comes to something when Stephens was the best central defender, that how bad the other 2 are. I’d bin THB, not half as good as he seems to think he is. 
 

Baz did ok, but I’d like to see him dominate his 6 yard box a bit more. Maybe it’s old fashioned, but he needs to come and claim stuff in there.
 

Downes like a petulant teenager first half, but did ok second. 
 

Charles, Robinson and Frasier our stand out players. 
 

Good point, but we’re not going up defending like that. 4 points about par, but we could easily have 0. Good sign that we’re unbeaten despite not playing  particularly well, but don’t seem to have a pattern to our play yet. Very hit and miss at the moment. 

[ally_uk]

Happy with a point.

Squad still needs major work, 

Desperately need a winger or two. I'd even get one or two of our strikers off the books and refresh with a proper center forward. 

Fenandes or Dibling one will go, just get it done quickly so we can reinforce across the squad. 

[Baz Fl]

1 minute ago, OttawaSaint said:

Downs and Stewert will need to be decent because, AArm, BBD, and Archer aren't scaring anyone.

My worries about goals from forwards still linger...

I totally disagree, AArm, BBD and Archer scare the crap out of me. 

[OttawaSaint]

Just now, Baz Fl said:

I totally disagree, AArm, BBD and Archer scare the crap out of me. 

Touché!

 

[Smirking_Saint]

Everything under consideration thats a good result for us, away to the league favourites missing both of our ‘recognised’ no.9s and to walk away with a point is great

Thats 3 games, 2 wins, 1 draw… for a team very much under construction both in personnel and tactics is very good going

Clearly we need some creativity, and clearly need more cohesion… not convinced that 5 atb, especially with 2 in midfield is the best fit for us, but it is what it is

We actually looked pretty poor defensively today and never struggled hugely imo, their goal was an absolute fuck up and Szmodics did well to hit the post from that angle although Quarshie didn’t do enough for me

Armstrong can’t lead the line for me, nothing sticks and if nothing sticks we can’t build

TLDR; Two poor performances from both sides, Saints will largely be happier