Saints vs Swansea - Saturday 1230

[Lighthouse]

A win here and things actually start to look a bit better. 8 points from 4 games is the form we need to be at the sharp end come May. It’ll be interesting to see if the international break has been used wisely to sort out our formation and best XI.

[Doctoroncall]

Hopefully a team turns up rather than a bunch of individuals. There were a few signs in the last match but not having a decent forward as a focal point may hinder things. 

[ant]

Selfishly glad it's an early one. I'm on annual leave, so if we fuck it at least there's plenty of day left. 

The sad part is that through thick and thin it's rarely felt such a chore.

[AlexLaw76]

Looking forward to another 5 man defence, with a defensive midfield, and passes pumped from our defensive 3rd into Archer....

Should be a cracker

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Looking forward to another 5 man defence, with a defensive midfield, and passes pumped from our defensive 3rd into Archer....

Should be a cracker

And a 1-1 draw 

[Andrew Watson]

22 months ago we hammered them 5 - 0,unfortunately cannot see beyond a 1 - 1  draw this weekend. We cannot score more than one goal per game [ on average ] and cannot keep a clean sheet.

[Football Special]

Sounds like Quarshie might miss this  game with an injury 

[die Mannyschaft]

On paper Saints 3-1

Based on last few games Saints 1-1

With injuries Saints 0-2

Not having a consistent team and style of play Saints 0-0

[Morse]

Probably get a draw or a narrow 1-0 win, and we'll limp on looking for a corner to turn. 

[ally_uk]

3-0 Saints Armstrong and Archer up top tearing them apart. 

Downs on 2nd half top bins worldie to silence the critics 🤣

[Midfield_General]

Man up you bunch of fannies

This is the game it's going to click. We're going win 5-0 and Damion Downs is going to score all of them 

[Chris cooper]

Back to a back 4 with quarshie injured 

Stephens will partner wood at the expense of Edwards .

Swansea 0-1 narrow win from a mistake from skipper jack!

[Saint Fan CaM]

If Quarshie is out then it’s an excuse to shoehorn Cap’t Jack back into the team, which means more calamity in front of goal, especially if Manning is given the go-ahead to pussy around at the back and Baz is given another chance to test out his concrete boots. 0-2 Swansea.

[Dusic]

Got to revert to a back 4 IMO, it is what the summer recruitment was done for.

Get Fellows, Azaz and Scienza in the positions they have excelled in and put Arma up front as he has to play.

Alternatively Arma for Fellows and Archer up top.

Either way, our season rests on getting the best out of Fellows, Azaz and Scienza and to increase the goal output from those positions.

Edited Wednesday at 11:36 by Dusic

[Barton Saint]

Last paragraph absolutely 

[Sunnyside Saint]

 I feel Scienza could be the one to galvanise our season.

Fully embrace him and our attacking prospects/intent, and all that comes with that, look better.

Alternatively we will plod along with more of the same mediocrity.

[Wade Garrett]

Let’s go 4-2-3-1 and smash the cunts.  None of this negative 3 at the back bollocks and cut out the slow passing.

Definitely won’t be a bang tidy day for our sheep worrying Welsh friends.

 

[saintstowin]

49 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Let’s go 4-2-3-1 and smash the cunts.  None of this negative 3 at the back bollocks and cut out the slow passing.

Definitely won’t be a bang tidy day for our sheep worrying Welsh friends.

 

Pre-watershed....

We should revert to a less defensive set up and it'll be full steam to victory.  We must avoid too many defenders detracting from forward options, and also move the ball around quickly. 

Doing so will no doubt mean our opponents leave unhappy and return back to their livestock. With whom a national stereotype exists.

[IFHP]

Will be a close game between 2 sides that aren’t going to challenge for the playoffs and neither are going to be in a relegation battle.

the obvious result is another draw as we can’t keep a clean sheet. 

[Football Special]

Playing Swansea always reminds me of one of the greatest tv shows of all time 

 

[Charlie Wayman]

Will Still will still be in charge and will shoehorn in Shoehorn so 1-2 to the Swans, Shoehorn scoring all three.

What's the situation with Wellington, any hope of a return soon?

 

Edited Wednesday at 20:53 by Charlie Wayman

[sockeye]

We will extend our unbeaten run to 4 games

[ErwinK1961]

Let’s hope the two weeks prep is put to better use than the last international break…

McCarthy, Jelert, Wood, Edwards/Stephens, Manning, Charles, Jander, Azaz, Scienza, Fellows, Armstrong

Hate putting Armstrong as the lone striker, but what other choice do we have. The striker situation is just an absolute fcking disaster.

[Charlie Wayman]

20 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Let’s hope the two weeks prep is put to better use than the last international break…

McCarthy, Jelert, Wood, Edwards/Stephens, Manning, Charles, Jander, Azaz, Scienza, Fellows, Armstrong

Hate putting Armstrong as the lone striker, but what other choice do we have. The striker situation is just an absolute fcking disaster.

Doubt it, half our lads have been away on ID

 

[Dr Who?]

Think this will be quite open and highish scoring. 2-2 or 3-3…

… so 0-0

[Oh no Mick Mills]

10 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

If Quarshie is out then it’s an excuse to shoehorn Cap’t Jack back into the team, which means more calamity in front of goal, especially if Manning is given the go-ahead to pussy around at the back and Baz is given another chance to test out his concrete boots. 0-2 Swansea.

Am I right in saying the dreaded Shoehorn was skipper last time we played Swasea at home in the league...anyone remember the score? 

 

 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Am I right in saying the dreaded Shoehorn was skipper last time we played Swasea at home in the league...anyone remember the score? 

 

 

No - he didn’t play, we won 3–0, but then we had a better team with Ramsdale, KWP, Bree, Bedders, Big Les, Dibling and Sully. Of course it was better than Championship standards in general and indeed better than our side now, but nowhere near good enough for the EPL.

[Football Special]

5 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

No - he didn’t play, we won 3–0, but then we had a better team with Ramsdale, KWP, Bree, Bedders, Big Les, Dibling and Sully. Of course it was better than Championship standards in general and indeed better than our side now, but nowhere near good enough for the EPL.

"In the league" 

We won 5-0 with this team on boxing day 2023

[StrangelyBrown]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

"In the league" 

We won 5-0 with this team on boxing day 2023

That starting 11 really wasn't much better than what we have now. KWP, Stuey and maybe Bednarek would make us better, but otherwise we're stronger in other positions. I.e. Jander better than Aribo, Fellows better than Edozie, McCarthy better than crisp packet hands.

Obviously we could do with someone like Che but he was on the bench.

Says a lot about how well we've been managed so far.

[Dman]

Must be getting close to a must win for Still. Not convinced a draw will be acceptable at this stage. 

Fresh start after the internation break. Lets go 4231 and give it a right go on the front foot.

McCarthy

Jehert THB Wood Manning

Jander Charles 

Fellows Azaz Scienza

Armstrong

 

[saintoaks]

Archer up top for me with Scienza and Armstrong either side (no other option in my opinion). Want Fellows in the side but dont know where he will fit in with this shape. Big couple of weeks for Will Still. Patience is running thin for me already. Dont care if we dont go up just need to see progression and win more games.  

[trousers]

 

 

[Hodgey]

This game is psychologically significant, win and those 4 away points look great, lose or draw and they look poor.

its also significant as we’ll see if Still is as tactically great as we hoped and solves the cf issue (either via formation or personal) and start getting performances from his transfers.

I was disappointed to read about poor performances from Manning and Aziz against a poor team with 10 men, and we have Charles who did well potentially exhausted.

i think it’s going to be another draw, ramping the pressure up for BC on Tuesday. 1-1, can’t see us scoring more than 1, can’t see us keeping a clean sheet, plus we always seem sluggish after an international break.

hoping I’m wrong, and clinging to the fact that we seem to be a bogey team to Swans, putting them away with relative ease in recent years.

 

[Pamplemousse]

We need to start turning draws into wins, that's our problem. We need a big win and we'll get it on Saturday.

[VectisSaint]

17 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

 

What's the situation with Wellington, any hope of a return soon?

 

Don't know, but hasn't really done much since Waterloo.

[Saint86]

2 hours ago, Hodgey said:

This game is psychologically significant, win and those 4 away points look great, lose or draw and they look poor.

its also significant as we’ll see if Still is as tactically great as we hoped and solves the cf issue (either via formation or personal) and start getting performances from his transfers.

I was disappointed to read about poor performances from Manning and Aziz against a poor team with 10 men, and we have Charles who did well potentially exhausted.

i think it’s going to be another draw, ramping the pressure up for BC on Tuesday. 1-1, can’t see us scoring more than 1, can’t see us keeping a clean sheet, plus we always seem sluggish after an international break.

hoping I’m wrong, and clinging to the fact that we seem to be a bogey team to Swans, putting them away with relative ease in recent years.

 

Lets be serious here, even if Charles is exhausted, a midfield pairing of Downes and Jander is far superior to anything Swansea can field. Ditto our wingers/attacking midfielders. A failure to beat Swansea will only come from tactical incompetence or poor player performances - turn up and get it right and we should comfortably beat them - and that is true of any 11 we will realistically field. We're at a point now where there can be no more hiding from these realities.

Edited 20 hours ago by Saint86

[AlexLaw76]

Will still Prezzer….

Used the 2 weeks to give us confidence and belief to turn 1 point into 3s

Got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves when things don’t go our way

You don’t turn something that we want overnight

We are at where we are at, but we have clear goals until the next international break

We have to pick up as many points as we can, and correct things

But we cannot look for excuses and feel sorry for ourselves

Ross is out for a substantial period, we probably wont see him before new year. Injury linked to his tendon

We have to find new ways of playing, but we are still conceding too many, many easy and cheap goals

It is down to determination and will. Sounds basic but it is not rocket science

Starts with energy and belief

We have to win games, that is obvious. No one more frustrated with 5 draws than me

Just want to get on with it, and we have to hit the ground at SMS on the right foot

We just cannot panic if things don’t go our way, and we aware that it has not gone to plan so far

I don’t know if I need more time, that is up to the universe to decide

But be honest, last season was brutally poor. There have been many changes made

Some of those changes did not make a difference, and here I am. 

I am here with new staff and I have to manage the psychological status of the players last season

There are good teams in the championship, we have found that out

Anyone who thought we would walk it will have had a reality check

Just changing a few players and expecting it to change is a bit simplistic

We are not a million miles off where we want to be, but yeah, we should have had more wins

Every single social media expert wants free flowing attacking football, but that is not reality

It is my job to get the best out of our attacking players

Yes, we have a big squad, yes there is a high level of competition

Players maybe felt that if they made a mistake they would be out of the team, but that is not the case

I need them to enjoy playing. The size of the squad is what it is but it does not help. But that is football

It is taking more time than I and the supporters hoped to make this better

Mads played when we lost at Hull, we struggled as a unit. Jelert deserves more of a chance

But the 2^nd goal we let in at Liverpool was down his side.
We have tried Tom and Fraser at RWB, with an unbalanced set up, which worked at Sheffield but not at Derby

 

To be fair, Blackmoore did ask a few probing questions at the end…then cut for the Ludacris media blackout thing…

[Greedyfly]

It wasn't an inspiring one have to say. 

 

Ross big loss. 

Still no clear idea on best personnel or formation. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Greedyfly said:

It wasn't an inspiring one have to say. 

 

Ross big loss. 

Still no clear idea on best personnel or formation. 

Seems like he conducting pre season. Trying anything until something sticks

 

[Greedyfly]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Seems like he conducting pre season. Trying anything until something sticks

 

Feels very much like that, agreed.

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

“4/10 want him gone after 9 games into the season, now if we were in the bottom 3 then I can see why but when we are above mid table with 3 wins 3 draws and 3 losses that 40 % shows how many pretentious fans we have and I suspect most don’t even go”

Nope, that’s not a quote from a Saints fan, that’s a Swan from one of their boards…and they’re higher in the table than us - but echoes similar thoughts down here. Both sets of fans need a lift and present form reflected in the expected attendance for this, they took the smallest allocation of under 1,200 and sounds like they’ve sold less than a thousand to date. Plenty of home seats available too.

The shit 12:30 kick-off and on SKY+ ain’t helping.

We’ve got to get going at some point (surely) so 2-1 us.

[hypochondriac]

I'm not sure blaming it on last season is going to hold for much longer. 

McCarthy 

Mads Edwards Quarshie Jelert 

Charles Jander 

Fellows Robinson

Azaz 

Downs 

Is a team we could put out that would have almost nothing to do with last season. Even the team we do play if it contains Manning, Armstrong and Archer will have very little to do with last year. I think it's a crap excuse.

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not sure blaming it on last season is going to hold for much longer. 

McCarthy 

Mads Edwards Quarshie Jelert 

Charles Jander 

Fellows Robinson

Azaz 

Downs 

Is a team we could put out that would have almost nothing to do with last season. Even the team we do play if it contains Manning, Armstrong and Archer will have very little to do with last year. I think it's a crap excuse.

And those players who were here have proven credentials as good/top level players in this division.

I don’t rate Still, and he seemingly is just chopping and changing until he stumbles on something that kid of works.

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not sure blaming it on last season is going to hold for much longer. 

McCarthy 

Mads Edwards Quarshie Jelert 

Charles Jander 

Fellows Robinson

Azaz 

Downs 

Is a team we could put out that would have almost nothing to do with last season. Even the team we do play if it contains Manning, Armstrong and Archer will have very little to do with last year. I think it's a crap excuse.

.

Edited 18 hours ago by Midfield_General
Sorry - misunderstood the point of your post

[Midfield_General]

Presser: 

 

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

And those players who were here have proven credentials as good/top level players in this division.

I don’t rate Still, and he seemingly is just chopping and changing until he stumbles on something that kid of works.

TBF I think there are some players who have been ruined at least temporarily by last year. Chiefly:

THB 

Stephens 

Archer arguably 

But most of the others have already left.

[hypochondriac]

Anyway, I've had enough of Manning. My team would be 

McCarthy 

Edwards Wood Quarshie Jelert 

Jander Charles 

Fellows Scienza 

Aribo 

Armstrong

 

But we will probably play Azaz. 

[LGTL]

He doesn’t really have a clue what his best 11 is, what his best formation is or how exactly he wants us to play. No wonder we constantly look a confused mess. 

[Lard]

Watched the presser live. 
it was frankly the most uninspiring drivel ever. 
excuse after excuse. 
no solutions to anything. 
almost resorting to blaming last season just like Martin and his ‘scar tissue’  bollocks. 
He is so fucking out of his depth at present.

doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.
and I wager that it transmits to the players. 
 
 

[DT]

Another chance for the pseudo coach to shake the numbers in a cup and come up with another line-up and formation to please his computer past and Monday Night Football screens but get unstuck by real humans playing in real time. 1-1. Bunch of strangers kicking the ball vaguely around the pitch waiting for Flynn Downs to get a yellow for his moment of appearing to care.

Or, 5-0 and it's amazing.