Hull vs Saints - Saturday 3pm

[saintant]

4 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

I can’t understand why we want to play Stewart up front as a target man as he’s so ineffectual. What are his strengths ? Maybe once had had some but to me he looks slow, lumbering and brittle. Has he scored a goal yet for us ? I had he mind he might have got one at some point.

Well if we are intent on getting our wingers to do nothing more than get crosses into the box we need someone over five foot nothing in the middle and he is better than nothing. Personally I'd change the tactics and get our wingers cutting into the box or getting to the byline for cutbacks which makes more sense if you don't have a big, strong centre forward - maybe that's too simplistic an idea. 

[east-stand-nic]

This really is a game we must win. Hull have so far beaten Oxford with a last gasp winner and lost 0-3 at home to Blackburn. There is no way we should be accepting a draw at such a place, especially being that we are now falling away from the top lot. We have to start winning. 

Looking at this weekends fixtures, some points will be dropped by one or both of the contenders this coming Friday with Boro playing WBA. So we can make up two or three points on one of them. Then on Saturday we have Liecester v Coventry, so more points being dropped by one or both there. Brum v Swansea will be an interesting one also, as they seem quite equal and both are just above us. Some chances here for us to make up the gap a bit and we have to. 

People who think it is too early for must win games need to think, dropped points are dropped points no matter the first 6 games or the last 6 games. Later on in the season we may well rue some of the points we have dropped so far and away to hull will I am sure be one of those games. 

[sockeye]

No league wins in over a month. Time to get on with it.

[disconnect]

Very interestingly Still stated "How many times has Flynn Downes played the ball into Finn Azaz - Zero". Sounds like he's identified we need to get the forward to the creative players a bit more...

[AlexLaw76]

Will still prezzer….

 

We need to be better than the 1^st half against Portsmouth

We need to be much more committed with the ball

How many times did Azaz pass the ball to Fellows? Zero

How many times did Downes pass the ball to Azaz? Zero

We understand why we were poor, but we need to be brave on the ball

Just passive in the 1^st half, corrected in a way in the 2^ndhalf

Everyone was frustrated, long injury breaks, just frustrating

Frustrating day all round. We never hit the required levels

Rome was not built in a day, nor the rubble that last season created

It looks a bit messy at times, but we are calm and we know where we want to be

We have all the stats, loads possession, loads of Xg. Arma could have scored a couple.

We have conceded dodgy goals. We need to tilt that in our favour

You create your own luck and fortune. We know we are not quite there yet but will keep working

We have spoken about it, but as a whole, the meeting this week all have a level of expectation

We cannot think we will steamroll the league, and we are well aware where we are at

The gameplan is not to smash long balls to Archer

We wanted to stretch their block to create space

We just refused to use that space

I am not blind, we cant smash it long to our striker, we want be more smarter than that

All of or players are good at getting in behind, we need to create overloads and space

I hope the Hull game is better than the last one, we hope it is an open game

We defended fairly well last week but not well in attack

Everyone enjoys football when it is not stop start, but it is what it is

Not thought about the logistics of the next phase of games, just want to win as many

We will stay up north after the Sheffield united game for some time together

Everyone has the same sort of schedule so we will just get on with it

We play Hull, then think about Liverpool game but that is not important right now

Hull is the only priority right now

Out-swinging corners should allow for more powerful headers, that is the idea

In-swinging corners are also dangerous

 

[Jack]

Doesn’t really matter if the corners are inswinging or outswinging when they never beat the first man.
 

Would love to see us start attacking the underhit corner and try to flick it on, will be far more dangerous than letting the opposition spring a counter attack from our corners 

[sockeye]

14 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Will still prezzer….

 

 

We need to be better than the 1^st half against Portsmouth

We need to be much more committed with the ball

How many times did Azaz pass the ball to Fellows? Zero

How many times did Downes pass the ball to Azaz? Zero

We understand why we were poor, but we need to be brave on the ball

Just passive in the 1^st half, corrected in a way in the 2^ndhalf

Everyone was frustrated, long injury breaks, just frustrating

Frustrating day all round. We never hit the required levels

Rome was not built in a day, nor the rubble that last season created

It looks a bit messy at times, but we are calm and we know where we want to be

We have all the stats, loads possession, loads of Xg. Arma could have scored a couple.

We have conceded dodgy goals. We need to tilt that in our favour

You create your own luck and fortune. We know we are not quite there yet but will keep working

We have spoken about it, but as a whole, the meeting this week all have a level of expectation

We cannot think we will steamroll the league, and we are well aware where we are at

The gameplan is not to smash long balls to Archer

We wanted to stretch their block to create space

We just refused to use that space

I am not blind, we cant smash it long to our striker, we want be more smarter than that

All of or players are good at getting in behind, we need to create overloads and space

I hope the Hull game is better than the last one, we hope it is an open game

We defended fairly well last week but not well in attack

Everyone enjoys football when it is not stop start, but it is what it is

Not thought about the logistics of the next phase of games, just want to win as many

We will stay up north after the Sheffield united game for some time together

Everyone has the same sort of schedule so we will just get on with it

We play Hull, then think about Liverpool game but that is not important right now

Hull is the only priority right now

Out-swinging corners should allow for more powerful headers, that is the idea

In-swinging corners are also dangerous

 

Haven’t watched it but he doesn’t sound happy at all

[Turkish]

16 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Will still prezzer….

 

 

We need to be better than the 1^st half against Portsmouth

We need to be much more committed with the ball

How many times did Azaz pass the ball to Fellows? Zero

How many times did Downes pass the ball to Azaz? Zero

We understand why we were poor, but we need to be brave on the ball

Just passive in the 1^st half, corrected in a way in the 2^ndhalf

Everyone was frustrated, long injury breaks, just frustrating

Frustrating day all round. We never hit the required levels

Rome was not built in a day, nor the rubble that last season created

It looks a bit messy at times, but we are calm and we know where we want to be

We have all the stats, loads possession, loads of Xg. Arma could have scored a couple.

We have conceded dodgy goals. We need to tilt that in our favour

You create your own luck and fortune. We know we are not quite there yet but will keep working

We have spoken about it, but as a whole, the meeting this week all have a level of expectation

We cannot think we will steamroll the league, and we are well aware where we are at

The gameplan is not to smash long balls to Archer

We wanted to stretch their block to create space

We just refused to use that space

I am not blind, we cant smash it long to our striker, we want be more smarter than that

All of or players are good at getting in behind, we need to create overloads and space

I hope the Hull game is better than the last one, we hope it is an open game

We defended fairly well last week but not well in attack

Everyone enjoys football when it is not stop start, but it is what it is

Not thought about the logistics of the next phase of games, just want to win as many

We will stay up north after the Sheffield united game for some time together

Everyone has the same sort of schedule so we will just get on with it

We play Hull, then think about Liverpool game but that is not important right now

Hull is the only priority right now

Out-swinging corners should allow for more powerful headers, that is the idea

In-swinging corners are also dangerous

 

Is he saying there is anxiety amongst the players, that we are suffering from scar tissue from last season, that the players are not following the plan and the players need to be braver?

Edited 22 hours ago by Turkish

[Jack]

And thank God WS has confirmed that his tactics aren’t to lump it forward to Archer. He now just needs to make the fans believe him when he says it 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Is he saying there is anxiety amongst the players, that we are suffering from scar tissue from last season, that the players are not following the plan and the players need to be braver?

TL;DR - yes (sounds familiar)

also, he ain’t stupid and knows the pressure is building 

Edited 22 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Wade Garrett]

36 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Will still prezzer….

 

 

We need to be better than the 1^st half against Portsmouth

We need to be much more committed with the ball

How many times did Azaz pass the ball to Fellows? Zero

How many times did Downes pass the ball to Azaz? Zero

We understand why we were poor, but we need to be brave on the ball

Just passive in the 1^st half, corrected in a way in the 2^ndhalf

Everyone was frustrated, long injury breaks, just frustrating

Frustrating day all round. We never hit the required levels

Rome was not built in a day, nor the rubble that last season created

It looks a bit messy at times, but we are calm and we know where we want to be

We have all the stats, loads possession, loads of Xg. Arma could have scored a couple.

We have conceded dodgy goals. We need to tilt that in our favour

You create your own luck and fortune. We know we are not quite there yet but will keep working

We have spoken about it, but as a whole, the meeting this week all have a level of expectation

We cannot think we will steamroll the league, and we are well aware where we are at

The gameplan is not to smash long balls to Archer

We wanted to stretch their block to create space

We just refused to use that space

I am not blind, we cant smash it long to our striker, we want be more smarter than that

All of or players are good at getting in behind, we need to create overloads and space

I hope the Hull game is better than the last one, we hope it is an open game

We defended fairly well last week but not well in attack

Everyone enjoys football when it is not stop start, but it is what it is

Not thought about the logistics of the next phase of games, just want to win as many

We will stay up north after the Sheffield united game for some time together

Everyone has the same sort of schedule so we will just get on with it

We play Hull, then think about Liverpool game but that is not important right now

Hull is the only priority right now

Out-swinging corners should allow for more powerful headers, that is the idea

In-swinging corners are also dangerous

 

For me, that’s a breath of fresh air.  Like it.

 

[VectisSaint]

36 minutes ago, Jack said:

And thank God WS has confirmed that his tactics aren’t to lump it forward to Archer. He now just needs to make the fans believe him when he says it 

More accurately he needs the players to do as they are told. We don't win points by making the fans believe anything. Very clear on Sunday and from what I have heard today that the problem is the players not executing, it was better in the 2nd half v Skates though still not great, players clearly took something on board that WS said at half time.

[Give it to Ron]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Is he saying there is anxiety amongst the players, that we are suffering from scar tissue from last season, that the players are not following the plan and the players need to be braver?

In the derby game yes we will see what happens before next international break.

[BARCELONASAINT]

1 hour ago, sockeye said:

Haven’t watched it but he doesn’t sound happy at all

I said after the game he was furious with that first half performance last week and a few on here laughed....you don't need to be shouting and cursing to be angry, anyone that has studied body language for most of their career would have seen he was angry that the players did not execute the game plan.

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

I said after the game he was furious with that first half performance last week and a few on here laughed....you don't need to be shouting and cursing to be angry, anyone that has studied body language for most of their career would have seen he was angry that the players did not execute the game plan.

It makes you wonder why he didn't get a very early message to the players from the technical area after about 5 minutes of hump ball. He has to be proactive.

[Midfield_General]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

And thank God WS has confirmed that his tactics aren’t to lump it forward to Archer. He now just needs to make the fans believe him when he says it 

Interesting when he was talking about that the three striker options he called out were Archer, Armstrong and Stewart, saying they all like to play in a similar way which is to peel off the last man. 

Also quite bluntly said “I’m not blind, I can see pumping it up to Archer in the air won’t work” or words to that effect, which was at least good to hear. 

So I take two things from that:

1. He obviously does want the ball played along the ground and into space behind, so he needs to get the players to start responding to that and properly coached not to do the hoof they were doing on Sunday, and…

2. Damion Downs wasn’t mentioned. I think he is very firmly 4th choice CF at the moment and if we play 4-2-3-1 again on Saturday I doubt he’ll even make the bench again. I don’t think Still fancies him now he’s seen him, and if Quarshie is also left out of the squad again then that is not a great indictment of our summer recruitment in two key positions. 

Edited 20 hours ago by Midfield_General

[BARCELONASAINT]

41 minutes ago, saintant said:

It makes you wonder why he didn't get a very early message to the players from the technical area after about 5 minutes of hump ball. He has to be proactive.

I don't think it was as simple as that. At least half the players played like rabbits caught in the headlights and although they are all professionals they played as if feeling a massive weight on their shoulders because of the Derby. We will never know as fans but how much did having ex-players coming in to talk about the importance of the derby weigh on players shoulders. They played as if too scared to make a mistake and opted to either just lump it up front or like Downs sideways, back or to a Pompey player!

It really will be interesting to see if the performance against Hull is very different.

Edited 20 hours ago by BARCELONASAINT

[CSA96]

Flynn Downes a doubt for the trip to Hull with sickness...

Edited 20 hours ago by CSA96

[Saint Scott]

The club would be better off investing in a private chef for Flynn. There is only so much raw chicken you can eat...

[The Kraken]

Flynn Downes is ill again.

 

[CSA96]

Sometimes E.coli effects can last for years, so I am guessing it's likely all linked back to when he was seriously ill not long after signing for us, rather than just feeling a bit under the weather on multiple random occasions? We'll never know (not arguing that we should, really)

[hypochondriac]

Downes being injured could be a blessing in disguise if it allows us to try some new players in his system. Jander or Aribo for me.

[LGTL]

Archer is also a doubt with a tight hamstring. 

[TheSoundman]

Yes, Flynn went ill as soon as he was told Jander was playing instead of him on Saturday.

[benjii]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Will still prezzer….

 

 

We need to be better than the 1^st half against Portsmouth

We need to be much more committed with the ball

How many times did Azaz pass the ball to Fellows? Zero

How many times did Downes pass the ball to Azaz? Zero

We understand why we were poor, but we need to be brave on the ball

Just passive in the 1^st half, corrected in a way in the 2^ndhalf

Everyone was frustrated, long injury breaks, just frustrating

Frustrating day all round. We never hit the required levels

Rome was not built in a day, nor the rubble that last season created

It looks a bit messy at times, but we are calm and we know where we want to be

We have all the stats, loads possession, loads of Xg. Arma could have scored a couple.

We have conceded dodgy goals. We need to tilt that in our favour

You create your own luck and fortune. We know we are not quite there yet but will keep working

We have spoken about it, but as a whole, the meeting this week all have a level of expectation

We cannot think we will steamroll the league, and we are well aware where we are at

The gameplan is not to smash long balls to Archer

We wanted to stretch their block to create space

We just refused to use that space

I am not blind, we cant smash it long to our striker, we want be more smarter than that

All of or players are good at getting in behind, we need to create overloads and space

I hope the Hull game is better than the last one, we hope it is an open game

We defended fairly well last week but not well in attack

Everyone enjoys football when it is not stop start, but it is what it is

Not thought about the logistics of the next phase of games, just want to win as many

We will stay up north after the Sheffield united game for some time together

Everyone has the same sort of schedule so we will just get on with it

We play Hull, then think about Liverpool game but that is not important right now

Hull is the only priority right now

Out-swinging corners should allow for more powerful headers, that is the idea

In-swinging corners are also dangerous

 

P.s. Flynn Downes has the shits.

[bangkoksaint]

Just now, TheSoundman said:

Yes, Flynn went ill as soon as he was told Jander was playing instead of him on Saturday.

Yeah. From what I’ve seen he has little appetite for a fight and maybe wants everything on his terms. 

[benjii]

14 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Sometimes E.coli effects can last for years, so I am guessing it's likely all linked back to when he was seriously ill not long after signing for us, rather than just feeling a bit under the weather on multiple random occasions? We'll never know (not arguing that we should, really)

Needs to lay off the jellied eels.

[Zorba]

…

Edited 3 hours ago by Zorba

[BARCELONASAINT]

Flynn Downes being allegedly sick again is very convenient after Will Still has publicly named him in his presser as being one player failing to pass it once to Azaz in the whole game. He has been shocking and a shadow of the player we had in our promotion season. He plays like he's in a permanent sulk and it is no surprise no Premier league team is interested in him. Hopefully Jander plays and we see a solid performance from the lad.  

[UpweySaint]

9 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Thanks for the lecture.  I wasn’t looking to make a political point.

If you see it as a lecture okay. It was intended as a polite ask on my part. Onto the footie I guess Jander may get a chance to show us what he can do on Saturday with Downes likely unavailable.

[trousers]

Anyone else getting Stu Armstrong vibes with the Downes situation? i.e. seemingly never fully recovered from an illness and was never really the same player again? (Covid in Stu's case)

Edited 17 hours ago by trousers

[RedArmy]

3 hours ago, The Kraken said:

Flynn Downes is ill again.

 

Pathetic little cunt. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

3 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Flynn Downes a doubt for the trip to Hull with sickness...

All I’m saying is in any other career profession you’d be looking at his sickness absence percentage now and he would be on a warning.

Ross Stewart despite being currently fit you’d be considering his fitness to continue in present role. 😂

[Katalinic]

4 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Sometimes E.coli effects can last for years, so I am guessing it's likely all linked back to when he was seriously ill not long after signing for us, rather than just feeling a bit under the weather on multiple random occasions? We'll never know (not arguing that we should, really)

Or Crohn's. Clearly the club can't release the specifics either way.

[Andy Hill]

Whatever the reason Downes will be no loss. He has been one of the worst players so far this season (not a high bar I must admit).

[Andrew Watson]

No more excuses, must win game.

[OneMrsWallace]

6 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Sometimes E.coli effects can last for years, so I am guessing it's likely all linked back to when he was seriously ill not long after signing for us, rather than just feeling a bit under the weather on multiple random occasions? We'll never know (not arguing that we should, really)

Quite possible. I remember one of the Man Utd players was often out through illness and finally was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis which is a horrible condition. Sadly sports people aren't immune from developing debilitating long term conditions. I hope that's not the case for Flynn. 

[SaintStinger]

He missed a third of each of the previous 2 seasons for various reasons. I expect the same this season.

[SW11_Saint]

3 hours ago, RedArmy said:

Pathetic little cunt. 

He has an underlying long term illness…

[Verbal]

"Rome wasn't built in a day. It also wasn't built on a load of rubble, which is what we were reduced to last season."

Is almost Koeman-esque.

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

Anyone else getting Stu Armstrong vibes with the Downes situation? i.e. seemingly never fully recovered from an illness and was never really the same player again? (Covid in Stu's case)

No Armstrong was by and large excellent for us 

Flynn Downes seems like a little drip

[egg]

7 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

He has an underlying long term illness…

That's speculation. All we know is that he says that he's unwell quite often.  And has deteriorated on the pitch. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

9 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

No more excuses, must win game.

Agreed. Too many excuses so far.

Says he wants to win games, well shown it then.

[wild-saint]

10 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

No more excuses, must win game.

What happens if we dont win? 

[AlexLaw76]

17 minutes ago, wild-saint said:

What happens if we dont win? 

we can start to forget about automatic promotion, IMO

[Saint86]

16 hours ago, The Kraken said:

Flynn Downes is ill again.

 

I suspect Casper Jander will prove to be a better payer... Can see Flynn regretting these bouts of illness for more than one reason.

[RedArmy]

9 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

He has an underlying long term illness…

Get an Imodium down you and go and do your job. 

[Graffito]

We keep getting reports of Downes being ill. We know his form has suffered. Maybe it’s true that he’s ill and the illness has affected his form. Just a thought. 

[Appy]

14 hours ago, trousers said:

Anyone else getting Stu Armstrong vibes with the Downes situation? i.e. seemingly never fully recovered from an illness and was never really the same player again? (Covid in Stu's case)

Where’s this come from that Armstrong wasn’t fully recovered? 
 

He was excellent in our promotion season until he got injured at Cardiff. 

[revolution saint]

18 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

 

2. Damion Downs wasn’t mentioned. I think he is very firmly 4th choice CF at the moment and if we play 4-2-3-1 again on Saturday I doubt he’ll even make the bench again. I don’t think Still fancies him now he’s seen him, and if Quarshie is also left out of the squad again then that is not a great indictment of our summer recruitment in two key positions. 

I could be mistaken but I thought Still did mention Downs.  Agree though that he probably is 4th choice at the moment but I do expect him to come back into the matchday squad at some point.  Obviously seems to be quite a steep learning curve for both Downs and Quarshie but they've not been helped by a team struggling for confidence and getting to grips with a new style so hopefully with a few wins that'll start to change.  

I think Quarshie in particular will start to get used more simply because of his recovery pace which will allow us to press higher up and keep distances short.