Our 'forwards'.....

[washsaint]

A damning indictment of our recruitment the last few years:

Stewart - so far off the pace it will take months to get up to speed and he has not looked clinical any time he has played

Downs - speechless.  Looks like he's never played before

Armstrong - given a new contract when clearly not good enough for the top level.  Been abysmal this season

Archer - what an utterly abysmal signing this guy was

BBD - why?

And these are all still here playing.   It's tragic that our most dangerous attacking threat is an 18 year old (Robinson) or CBs.

Shambles of a club - and it does not seem to be getting better

[Osvaldorama]

Tragic is the correct word. 
 

 

[Gloucester Saint]

9 minutes ago, washsaint said:

A damning indictment of our recruitment the last few years:

Stewart - so far off the pace it will take months to get up to speed and he has not looked clinical any time he has played

Downs - speechless.  Looks like he's never played before

Armstrong - given a new contract when clearly not good enough for the top level.  Been abysmal this season

Archer - what an utterly abysmal signing this guy was

BBD - why?

And these are all still here playing.   It's tragic that our most dangerous attacking threat is an 18 year old (Robinson) or CBs.

Shambles of a club - and it does not seem to be getting better

AA new contract was Martin’s doing, and we can see from Rangers what that looks like (again).

Downs - to me, that has to be a dismissal of the scout who recommended him, or Spors if it was his doing. Might as well do a KLF and burn £8m on a Scottish island. Can’t hold up, can’t control a football, can’t run, can’t head it, and can’t kick it. As someone else observed, the players don’t want to pass to him either as he’s clearly no better in training. Needs to be told on Monday he’s being loaned out to League 1 or 2 to get some experience and Dragan will have bail Spors out on the wages. Plymouth and Cheltenham urgently need strikers for example and will take him on if he isn’t costing them much.

AA has done it for us before but he’s not a striker through the middle. How many fucking times do managers need to be told this by the fans? You’re the professionals FFS.

BBD - subsidised loan, confidence totally gone. Needs a new environment. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[sockeye]

Anyone who puffs their chest about Martin continuously getting pelters on here needs to remember he was responsible for 3 of these, 2 of which that will take years to shift

Edited 14 hours ago by sockeye

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, washsaint said:

A damning indictment of our recruitment the last few years:

Stewart - so far off the pace it will take months to get up to speed and he has not looked clinical any time he has played

Downs - speechless.  Looks like he's never played before

Armstrong - given a new contract when clearly not good enough for the top level.  Been abysmal this season

Archer - what an utterly abysmal signing this guy was

BBD - why?

And these are all still here playing.   It's tragic that our most dangerous attacking threat is an 18 year old (Robinson) or CBs.

Shambles of a club - and it does not seem to be getting better

Not one good enough to give us the power, drive, ability to unsettle defenders, focal point, strong tip of the spine and goals this season. Our recruitment team continue to pussyfoot around this and do absolutely nothing to resolve it.

[LGTL]

We don’t finish anywhere except mid table with that selection of utter bollocks, no matter how many stats MLG throws around. 

[tdmickey3]

… are backwards 

[Saint NL]

The strikers can't cut it in the championship, but a year ago they were expected to keep us up in the PL 😂

Total shambles.

[Sparkkyy]

Absolutely hopeless. Don’t even look like scoring 

[bugenhagen]

Same as has been for years. Who is our main man? The guy who bails us out when we need it, or puts away the early chances in the game when we are on top and kills it. Even when we win, we are usually not clear winners (maybe a couple of times two years ago?)

[Andrew Watson]

All 4 combined have supposedly cost between 45 and 50 million pounds and not one could hit a barn door from 6 yards. Get Josh Sargent in and get rid of as many of these jokers as possible.

[S-Clarke]

I've always been quite bemused by people who say our forward options are amongst the 'best in the league'. They're really not, they're hopeless.

Individually they have had good seasons in the past, but collectively they do not work together. Armstrong, IMO, is done for us. We got that one season out of him where he bagged a bucket load, but he's not the same player now.

Stewart is not someone to be relied on. I've said it from the outset. People keep calling him this proven Championship striker which baffles me, he isn't. He played 13 games with Sunderland at this level and hit a purple patch, that doesn't make him proven at this level.

Downs is a 'project', probably in a position where we needed to avoid a project if we're honest. 

Archer is at his best with a powerful CF, but we're forced to play him wide due to our horrendous lack of options. I'd probably keep Acher around and obviously Downs, but the rest can do one as far as I'm concerned as they're not good enough.

Edited 12 hours ago by S-Clarke

[ally_uk]

We didn't properly replace Ings, constantly cut corners trying to be clever, enough f##king about put £20 -25 million down on someone half capable...... 

[Osvaldorama]

Our only good attackers came through the academy 

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

We didn't properly replace Ings, constantly cut corners trying to be clever, enough f##king about put £20 -25 million down on someone half capable...... 

That Ings sale always annoyed me. The club were internally patting themselves on the back for weeks and weeks by being proud of the fee they got from Villa for him. Yeah, it was a good fee and probably above his market value at that point - but we didn't reinvest the fee in a replacement, so what's the point of being excited by getting £30-35m if it's not reinvested.

The club tried to be clever and put down 12-15m on Adam Armstrong to try to replace him.

Edited 12 hours ago by S-Clarke

[LGTL]

4 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

We didn't properly replace Ings, constantly cut corners trying to be clever, enough f##king about put £20 -25 million down on someone half capable...... 

Who is, coincidentally, sat on his arse doing nothing right now. And still comfortably better than any option we have. 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

That Ings sale always annoyed me. The club were internally patting themselves on the back for weeks and weeks by being proud of the fee they got from Villa for him. Yeah, it was a good fee and probably above his market value at that point - but we didn't reinvest the fee in a replacement, so what's the point of being excited by getting £30-35m if it's not reinvested.

It’s the same for Dibling, was for Lavia and will be for Fernandes too.

Can’t wait until SR and the last vestiges of the Semmens era are wholesale gone out of the club and happy to drop down the leagues again to achieve that. The club having a heart and soul, even a pulse, is worth more than anything, 

[Saint_clark]

All I'll say is, with all these crosses into the box...tall Paul would probably have scored every game so far. 

[Baird of the land]

It’s amusing we sold our top scorer from last season and we replaced him with a project player. Smacks of complete arrogance. 

[S-Clarke]

5 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

It’s amusing we sold our top scorer from last season and we replaced him with a project player. Smacks of complete arrogance. 

If you're referring to Onuachu, that's stretching it a bit. He only got 4 goals. We hardly scored any goals last year.

[Gloucester Saint]

8 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

It’s amusing we sold our top scorer from last season and we replaced him with a project player. Smacks of complete arrogance. 

Onachu didn’t want to play in the Championship and wasn’t a Still player at all. Although not sure who would be today? Big wages.

But, yes 💯 agree on Downs, seemed a very odd signing in the context of only needing players who would be natural starters this season in ability. Ditto Quarshie although his recovery pace is at least one point of difference. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Gloucester Saint said:

Onachu didn’t want to play in the Championship and wasn’t a Still player at all. Although not sure who would be today? Big wages.

But, yes 💯 agree on Downs, seemed a very odd signing in the context of only needing players who would be natural starters this season in ability. Ditto Quarshie although his recovery pace is at least one point of difference. 

Kyogo would have been a starter for us. These players are there

[Badger]

2 hours ago, LGTL said:

We don’t finish anywhere except mid table with that selection of utter bollocks, no matter how many stats MLG throws around. 

Archer - 18 goals in 40 championship games. Or so I read, and read it again, and again just to make sure.

That was once upon a time though. 
 

Dreadful player in the EPL. So far no better in the Championship 

[die Mannyschaft]

We don't have any. 

[die Mannyschaft]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Archer - 18 goals in 40 championship games. Or so I read, and read it again, and again just to make sure.

That was once upon a time though. 
 

Dreadful player in the EPL. So far no better in the Championship 

Really,  how is that possible. Must be fake news or AI.

[Osvaldorama]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Archer - 18 goals in 40 championship games. Or so I read, and read it again, and again just to make sure.

That was once upon a time though. 
 

Dreadful player in the EPL. So far no better in the Championship 

Because the team was set up to help him score goals. They played through balls into him. He’s a good poacher that runs the channels etc. 

 

Only saints are dumb enough to play crosses into archer/arma etc. 

 

For some reason we never play to our players strengths. 

[Patrick Bateman]

5 hours ago, washsaint said:

A damning indictment of our recruitment the last few years:

Stewart - so far off the pace it will take months to get up to speed and he has not looked clinical any time he has played

Downs - speechless.  Looks like he's never played before

Armstrong - given a new contract when clearly not good enough for the top level.  Been abysmal this season

Archer - what an utterly abysmal signing this guy was

BBD - why?

And these are all still here playing.   It's tragic that our most dangerous attacking threat is an 18 year old (Robinson) or CBs.

Shambles of a club - and it does not seem to be getting better

Agreed - strike force is horrific and a priority to fill.

[die Mannyschaft]

2 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Agreed - strike force is horrific and a priority to fill.

I honestly think Saints have employed tennis or golf consultants no one knows anything about football.  The tactics don't match the players, the players can't play the tactics or the are playing last seasons tactics. 1st half then 2nd half player changes etc etc. Had plenty of time since end season to sort out. 

[LoyalSaintSO50]

Speaking to Stoke fans in the pub before the game and understandably they think we have loads of options up front. 

We can’t get a tune out of any of them. I’ve no idea what the best combination is. We’ve been fleeced on the Downs signing. He’s fkin horrific 

[Patrick Bateman]

12 minutes ago, LoyalSaintSO50 said:

Speaking to Stoke fans in the pub before the game and understandably they think we have loads of options up front. 

We can’t get a tune out of any of them. I’ve no idea what the best combination is. We’ve been fleeced on the Downs signing. He’s fkin horrific 

Not being rude, but they don't watch our forward clowns every week ... 

[LoyalSaintSO50]

Their point was the likes of archer, Armstrong, bbd, Stewart etc is quality at this level. My point is we can’t get a tune out of any of them

 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, LoyalSaintSO50 said:

Their point was the likes of archer, Armstrong, bbd, Stewart etc is quality at this level. My point is we can’t get a tune out of any of them

 

The rep Stewart has got is so odd. He played 13 games at this level for Sunderland, that's it. A purple patch does not equate to someone being quality at this level.

The way he's viewed by fans and pundits is odd, everyone seems to class him as this proven Champ striker. He is anything but.

[Osvaldorama]

9 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

The rep Stewart has got is so odd. He played 13 games at this level for Sunderland, that's it. A purple patch does not equate to someone being quality at this level.

The way he's viewed by fans and pundits is odd, everyone seems to class him as this proven Champ striker. He is anything but.

Yep. Waste of space, sick note. Unbelievable that the club are thinking of relying on him 

[Wade Garrett]

Ings on a free fucking loses the shite we’ve got.

[LoyalSaintSO50]

Would be an instant upgrade on downs, even when injured 

[Whitey Grandad]

It doesn't matter what or how many forwards we have on our books, they're not use if they're sitting on the bench most of the game. Starting at home with five at the back couldn't be more negative. 

[trousers]

Did Still say after the match that it's not the quality of our forwards that is the issue but the quality of the supply they are getting (or words to that effect)?

But doesn't this stat suggest the opposite? 

 

Edited 10 minutes ago by trousers

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, trousers said:

Did Still say after the match that it's not our forwards that are the issue but the quality of the supply they are getting (or words to that effect)?

But doesn't this stat suggest the opposite? 

 

That just proves how useful these 'stats' are.

[Teamsaint1]

And if the other forwards don’t learn from him, there is no hope for them.

if he wants to come back it is a no brainer. We have plenty of options to do the running around, but we simply will not find anybody else of his quality.