Southampton 0-2 Preston - Match Thread

[Sunglasses Ron]

This club, honestly, what a fucking disgrace. A shambles from top to bottom. What a miserable experience it’s been supporting us for the best part of the last 10 years.

[Harry_SFC]

5 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

Azaz 6’1

Fellows 6’0

Downs 6’4

 

Height does not translate to physicality.

Azaz and Downs are both weak as piss.

There is no athleticism, no strength. Especially in the forward areas. 

[Sir Ralph]

11 minutes ago, stfrancisofbenali said:

No excuse. I blame the parents. Get the lad to grow a pair and dig in for the long haul. Or would you prefer to take him to Highbury/Anfield? 

As hardened fans if we are starting not to care, why would a 13 year old? At the moment there is nothing to care about

Edited 14 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[OttawaSaint]

7 minutes ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

This club, honestly, what a fucking disgrace. A shambles from top to bottom. What a miserable experience it’s been supporting us for the best part of the last 10 years.

Yep. That table of fan mysery had us 92nd over the last 5 years. That was with a promotion season. The other 4 seasons plus this one have been utterly abject.

[Football Special]

10 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

As hardened fans if we are starting not to care, why would a 13 year old? At the moment there is nothing to care about

For me....there is a lot to care about  we have a club that meant something, I went to The Dell just like my father and his father did, it is something worth preserving as.it means something, watching custodians run it into the ground with bad decision after bad decision is not ok, we should have fucked these cunts off after the first relegation, fans need to stop being so tolerant and stand up and be heard, make their lives hell, fuck Solak, fuck Ankerson, fuck Lallana. They all need to be gone 

Edited 3 hours ago by Football Special

[Tommy Mulgrew]

0.16xG from open play.  At home.  Against a team that is hardly in a run of away form.  Absolutely pathetic from one of then best-resourced teams (us) in the league.

Manager’s fault for setting us up so negatively and overloading us at the back and lacking in midfield and persisting with a non-CF at CF.

Coaching staff’s fault for our shapeless, pressless and slow build-up play, our inability to break teams down and prevent them from pressing us into mistakes and breaking us down almost at will.  Why do we persist with Manning taking free-kicks and corners instead of Scienza?  Why do all our throw-ins give the ball to the opposition?  Why do all of our opponents look better coached and better prepared than us?

Players’ fault for playing without guile, passion and skill ( one or two honourable exceptions).  Except for Leo and Jander we never looked like scoring.

SR’s fault for lack of a decent CF, CDM and GK, appointing a DOF who thinks DD is the solution to our striker problem and appointing a manager who is patently not what we need atm.  All this on top of the clusterfuck of the past few years is enough to try the patience of a Saint.

I’m out.  Hopefully not for ever.  But certainly for as long as SR and Still and the present coaches are stinking the place out.

Hasta la vista, baby.

[Roger]

Anyone got a clue whether still will be sacked or not? 

[Sir Ralph]

6 minutes ago, Football Special said:

For me....there is a lot to care about  we have a club that meant something, I went to The Dell just like my father and his father did, it is something worth preserving as.it means something, watching custodians run it into the ground with bad decision after bad decision is not ok, we should have fucked these cunts off after the first relegation, fans need to stop being so tolerant and stand up and be heard, make their lives hell, fuck Solak, fuck Anderson, fuck Lallana. They all need to be gone 

I agree - my 9 year old son supports them but if, when we were kids, we had to watch this I think it would be difficult for us to get excited or interested in it. I hope things get better and the fans need to start booting off. My “joy” will return but it’s pretty hard not to be apathetic at the moment in relation to the team itself

Edited 13 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

67 shots on goal in the last 3 games and 2 goals scored. How many chances do you want us to create!?

Did we create another 23 chances this game? Fuck statistics, fuck Xg. I'm starting to think we're just frankly a bit shit.

[OttawaSaint]

3 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

67 shots on goal in the last 3 games and 2 goals scored. How many chances do you want us to create!?

Did we create another 23 chances this game? Fuck statistics, fuck Xg. I'm starting to think we're just frankly a bit shit.

Where did you get that? I have us at 36 in last 3.

[Football Special]

3 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

67 shots on goal in the last 3 games and 2 goals scored. How many chances do you want us to create!?

Did we create another 23 chances this game? Fuck statistics, fuck Xg. I'm starting to think we're just frankly a bit shit.

Yeah fuck the laptops, fuck the stats, it's all bullshit,  any real person who watched the game in person today could see that team wasn't going to score 

[SambaMaverick]

6 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I agree - my 9 year old son supports them but if, when we were kids, we had to watch this I think it would be difficult for us to get excited or interested in it. I hope things get better and the fans need to start booting off. My “joy” will return but it’s pretty hard not to be apathetic at the moment in relation to the team itself

My first seasons in memory were the couple after relegation from the PL. Went through a lot on the playground in the years to follow, but I like to think it's given me a tough skin - not that the last few years haven't worn me down 

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Trouble with our fan base is the majority can't even bring themselves to sing OWTS when we're winning let alone be vocal about our failings. Too many happy clappers happy to clap the team off for mediocre performances.

It costs a fortune supporting saints and it's about time the weak minded entitled millionaires who make up our team felt some ire for another woefully pathetic performance.

Some cunt in the Northam tried shouting down protests saying "theyve spent money" 

We'll I've fucking spent money, more than I can afford following these wankers, don't know why others couldn't see it earlier but this whole fraud about how good our players are needs to end ASAP, completely dysfunctional as a team for this division 

[Mboto Gorge]

37 minutes ago, stfrancisofbenali said:

No excuse. I blame the parents. Get the lad to grow a pair and dig in for the long haul. Or would you prefer to take him to Highbury/Anfield? 

No thanks. He’s gone off football completely now. 

[AlexLaw76]

I dont what was worse, those who had to sit in the ground at watch that, or those who watched the live feed with the screeching in the background 

Horrible day all round

[bpsaint]

Wonder what our glorious club captain Jack Shoehorn is doing behind the scenes to help address the issues. Reckon he has any involvement whatsoever to try and turn things around or is he likely helping instigate the shite attitude from some of the players?

 

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

honestly no issue

Someone was probably being a twat to him so fairplay he gives it back, to react like that doesnt come about from someone saying you played badly.

He's been a "better" players, made plenty of mistakes but not the issue or maybe he is indicative of the issue given he is the starting CB

We had a corner 90+4, in front of Northam,  game was obviously gone by then, fans let players know what they thought of them quite rightly,  from what I could see Wood only one to visibly react dismissively to not fit to wear the shirt, well if the manager and club won't tell them it's up to us, fans fucking hate you you useless bastards, no turning back now , they need to know, we have a low bar and they've gone well below it 

[OttawaSaint]

Things must be really bad. Only sporadic visits from MLG. Not even to correct anyone or big up Spors and our formerly freescoring pool of forwards. Sad indeed.

[Football Special]

3 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Wonder what our glorious club captain Jack Shoehorn is doing behind the scenes to help address the issues. Reckon he has any involvement whatsoever to try and turn things around or is he likely helping instigate the shite attitude from some of the players?

 

Fuck knows, but I've met and chatted to Stepehens a few times over the years, as an individual he's not a great player but.i can guarantee he cares and has been with us in moments like winning at Anfield in a semi final so he gets it, this will hurt for him.at the moment 

[CougarSaint]

So, here we are in Yorkshire. My grandson was always proud to wear the Saints shirts we bought at Christmas and birthdays, including at junior football before they got the proper team kit, I was asked if it was a Stoke kit! Saints had respect up here, we went to games all over the north, sometimes in the home end! We could be proud of the team, but now we've become a laughing stock. He doesn't wear his Saints shirt any more, he doesn't watch Saints any more. All I want is a team that fights for the shirt; when we lived further south, we watched Shearer, Le Tissier, Case, Ruddock, Wright, Armstrong (David), Holmes, Dennis, the Wallace's, I could name many...

I know PSR changed has changed the landscape, and exclusion from Europe because of Heysel denied opportunities to grow...but what has happened to pride in the shirt? We still produce good players, but then block their path with non-performing signings, and then we don't even play them regularly to get on board with the team Southampton ethic. And maybe that's the issue, who are we now? 

[BarberSaint]

Every team I've seen at SMS this year has been 'functional'. Organised, hard-working, very little talent but strong and they stick to it. I'd hope that a half decent Saints would have easily beaten them all. Preston were the same i.e. in real terms shit, but we were even worse. No movement, no energy, no working together, still taking forever to pass it from Manning to THB to Wood to Edwards to fuck off. They're set after the second pass, if not the first and we have neither the balls nor the brains to do anything. We have one player who can take others on and so break the structure, but we don't move again so that gets shut down quickly.  There was at least one pass through the lines that went out because Manning didn't push up like a wing-back and look for that ball but most of the time it was pedantic crap.  Joined in with "Sports Republic get out of our club" because it's time they did. I think Still can't handle the personalities in the club and was probably a bit too nice when he came in but I agree with those that we now need a Warnock/BFS type character.

 

Ratings:

McCarthy. Last year of contract. He now looks as though physically he's a bit slower and that first goal was fucking dire. We really need to clear out all the goalies and start again as we won't keep Ramsdale.

Roeslev. Can't dribble, isn't fast, isn't a wing-back would probably struggle against a top-end attacker with pace and power. Should have done much better when he cut inside during the second half, but bottled it with a 'cross' that was never on.

Edwards. I knew he was slow but thought he could read the game. I think if he wants to do anything more he'll have to dry to move into DM because he just won't ever cut it against pace and power and skill. Either that, or sell him.

Wood. Never rated him. Still don't. Can't pick a pass (very few of our team actually can), panics, isn't strong.

THB. Slow. Shit. One-footed. Weak. No brain. Can't read the game. Can see exactly why Blackburn didn't try to take him on permanently. Might do ok as a flat track bully when carried by others. 

Manning. Can't dribble, you know he'll nearly always turn back, passing is shit, panics, makes a fuss rather than getting on with things and hides behind that bullshit. Just get rid.

Downes. Absolute nothing of a player. West Ham getting us back for JWP.

Jander. He does again, struggle against pace and power and he's ok but I've never really seen him just nullify the opposition's midfield or control that space.  Need to see more from him. He can't dribble and haven't seen any early or clever passes from him apart from the one mentioned above (I think that was him).

Azaz. Seen nothing from him. Assume he'll be another who's a bit of a flat track bully.

Leo. Yep, like Leo.

Armstrong. Can't pass, gets offside, can't tackle much but does put himself about a bit, can't dribble, always looks to spin and go for the ball over the top/round the side (which we haven't done since before Gabbiadini) and just isn't a goal threat really. I'd get shot of him.

Aribo. Not on long enough but know he can play football now and again. Not sure he's really what we need now though.

Robinson. At least he moves a bit and provides energy and a spark. Looked up a bit more and did move it on quicker at times (but there's no movement and we make it so easy to mark us). Needs more game time. 

Fellows. Starting to annoy me now because he has very little end product and while he runs with it he doesn't really take us forward that much and he is a bit lightweight. 

DD. D for effort. D for talent. I think most of us would have made more of that golden ticket if we'd found it in that raffle. Yes, I can see the curling runs in behind that our team never will but apart from those ... well, he did kick the ball today.

Oyekunle. The one thing that he did was actually just look like more of a footballer than DD - his posture, positioning and movement were better. He didn't do very well when he had to jump for a ball but that's just part of his having to learn that the defenders he'll be up against will fight him for those so he'll have to get used to battling and losing a lot more duels.

Here's to another long day next Saturday.

 

 

[Saint Fan CaM]

7 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Because it's only 180 seconds into the match? 

Interesting to look back on this comment based on my observation very early in the game that we were not able to get out of our half, despite PNE being able to press us high up and actually keep possession. It was clear VERY early on to me that 5 at the back was not going to allow us to pass the ball forwards easily through midfield - and as predicted PNE kept up a high press most of game.

Now why can an old bloke in the stands see from the first 5 minutes that tactically we had been sussed already, but the coaching staff who get paid a decent wage just act like statues not realise and act asap? Seems to me the club is sleep-walking into another relegation.

Lastly, a message to Wankerson. It IS fucking broken, so what next you utter clown?

Edited 13 hours ago by Saint Fan CaM
Extra thought…

[saintant]

1 hour ago, EBS1980 said:

Azaz 6’1

Fellows 6’0

Downs 6’4

 

I'm not only talking about height - the players you list are all fairly weak in upper body strength and easily knocked off the ball. Come on, you can't seriously call Downs a physical player. He may be 6'4 but that doesn't matter because he has zero physical power. Just watched Liverpool Villa and there were real big, strong athletes in both teams all over the pitch not just at centre back. We must start to address this or we'll continue not to compete.

[SWLondon Saint]

27 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Interesting to look back on this comment based on my observation very early in the game that we were not able to get out of our half, despite PNE being able to press us high up and actually keep possession. It was clear VERY early on to me that 5 at the back was not going to allow us to pass the ball forwards easily through midfield - and as predicted PNE kept up a high press most of game.

Now why can an old bloke in the stands see from the first 5 minutes that tactically we had been sussed already, but the coaching staff who get paid a decent wage just act like statues not realise and act asap? Seems to me the club is sleep-walking into another relegation.

Lastly, a message to Wankerson. It IS fucking broken, so what next you utter clown?

This is exactly what gets me as well, it's like there's no planning in place at all - what have they actually been doing in training all week? You literally know every team is going to come out and put 3 players on our CBs and push their full backs onto our wing backs, and push their midfielders onto our 2 so there's no easy ball on. WHY THE F*** is there no plan to deal with this? It's not rocket science, I'm sure plenty of people on this forum could come up with decent strategies so why can't our coaching staff???

[CSA96]

 

Edited 11 hours ago by CSA96

[warsash saint]

7 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

They deserve a League 1 or two club really. As pathetic as the club. 

Yeah you sit there calling us fans pathetic whilst you sit there behind your keyboard??!!

Edited 11 hours ago by warsash saint

[warsash saint]

6 hours ago, Saint86 said:

This really is an issue for us. We rarely kick up a fuss and demand better.

Tomorrow we will have won 1 game in 365 days... and our fans either left early or quietly filed out at the end

.

Edited 11 hours ago by warsash saint

[LoyalSaintSO50]

1 hour ago, warsash saint said:

.

If it helps I tried all afternoon to get the usual chants ‘sports republic get out of our club’ no one gives a fuck sadly 

[adrian lord]

All the hallmarks of a relegation club:

bloated squad yet gaping gaps in first team 

morale on the floor 

incompetent, detached, delusional management (Still and SR)

[ally_uk]

It's taken me a day to process my thoughts. Yes I did say Saints would win 2-0 I was feeling a bit daft 🤣

I watched the game and thought we were terrible. 

- What is our actual plan style of play ? We look like a bunch of strangers.

- Downs is not a footballer.

- why did we get rid of Small? He looked decent on the wing. 

- Will still isn't the man to take us forward  clearly is out of depth. Has the charisma of a wet sponge.

Dragsn Solak wake up and smell the reality. 

Experienced battle axe of a manger required who can dish out bollocking.

New experienced coaches 

 

 

 

[Football Special]

10 hours ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

0.16xG from open play.  At home.  Against a team that is hardly in a run of away form.  Absolutely pathetic from one of then best-resourced teams (us) in the league.

Manager’s fault for setting us up so negatively and overloading us at the back and lacking in midfield and persisting with a non-CF at CF.

Coaching staff’s fault for our shapeless, pressless and slow build-up play, our inability to break teams down and prevent them from pressing us into mistakes and breaking us down almost at will.  Why do we persist with Manning taking free-kicks and corners instead of Scienza?  Why do all our throw-ins give the ball to the opposition?  Why do all of our opponents look better coached and better prepared than us?

Players’ fault for playing without guile, passion and skill ( one or two honourable exceptions).  Except for Leo and Jander we never looked like scoring.

SR’s fault for lack of a decent CF, CDM and GK, appointing a DOF who thinks DD is the solution to our striker problem and appointing a manager who is patently not what we need atm.  All this on top of the clusterfuck of the past few years is enough to try the patience of a Saint.

I’m out.  Hopefully not for ever.  But certainly for as long as SR and Still and the present coaches are stinking the place out.

Hasta la vista, baby.

I think as fans you can see it's hard to pin point one thing to blame, board,  manager and players all useless but change has to start from the top , I'm not too fussed on any Still Out campaign as just changing manager won't really improve things with SR making the appointment. They've had long enough and have been given enough chances, there's no future for the club with them in charge. 

[Harry_SFC]

13 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

It's taken me a day to process my thoughts. Yes I did say Saints would win 2-0 I was feeling a bit daft 🤣

I watched the game and thought we were terrible. 

- What is our actual plan style of play ? We look like a bunch of strangers.

- Downs is not a footballer.

- why did we get rid of Small? He looked decent on the wing. 

- Will still isn't the man to take us forward  clearly is out of depth. Has the charisma of a wet sponge.

Dragsn Solak wake up and smell the reality. 

Experienced battle axe of a manger required who can dish out bollocking.

New experienced coaches 

 

 

 

Small would easily be our best left back/left wing back if we still had him. Looked miles ahead of Manning, a supposed experienced championship player. 

[Football Special]

8 hours ago, CSA96 said:

 

Find posts from Blackmore frustrating, calling out the players for lack of effort , won't disagree  with that, but he then needs to push the club on what is so rotten behind the scenes for that to happen, players not trying for Still or coaching staff , rot starts from the top and he should be more forceful , publicly call out Spors and invite him for interview rather than hiding in Germany. 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Saints fans have now seen just one win (Wrexham) at home in 365 days - a whole calendar year, so no wonder some are mightily pissed off. That is a shocking record and probably unprecedented. In fact I can hardly believe it. 1 home win in a year😱 

[stknowle]

10 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

This club, honestly, what a fucking disgrace. A shambles from top to bottom. What a miserable experience it’s been supporting us for the best part of the last 10 years.

Absolutely. You just run out of words for it in the end. Just relentless ineptitude and misery. Keep on thinking things can’t get worse and they do.

[Football Special]

12 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Saints fans have now seen just one win (Wrexham) at home in 365 days - a whole calendar year, so no wonder some are mightily pissed off. That is a shocking record and probably unprecedented. In fact I can hardly believe it. 1 home win in a year😱 

Our £ spent per win ratio will be easily the worst in professional sport , fans deserve credit for still turning up in such numbers to be honest 

[Football Special]

9 hours ago, BarberSaint said:

Every team I've seen at SMS this year has been 'functional'. Organised, hard-working, very little talent but strong and they stick to it. I'd hope that a half decent Saints would have easily beaten them all. Preston were the same i.e. in real terms shit, but we were even worse. No movement, no energy, no working together, still taking forever to pass it from Manning to THB to Wood to Edwards to fuck off. They're set after the second pass, if not the first and we have neither the balls nor the brains to do anything. We have one player who can take others on and so break the structure, but we don't move again so that gets shut down quickly.  There was at least one pass through the lines that went out because Manning didn't push up like a wing-back and look for that ball but most of the time it was pedantic crap.  Joined in with "Sports Republic get out of our club" because it's time they did. I think Still can't handle the personalities in the club and was probably a bit too nice when he came in but I agree with those that we now need a Warnock/BFS type character.

 

Ratings:

McCarthy. Last year of contract. He now looks as though physically he's a bit slower and that first goal was fucking dire. We really need to clear out all the goalies and start again as we won't keep Ramsdale.

Roeslev. Can't dribble, isn't fast, isn't a wing-back would probably struggle against a top-end attacker with pace and power. Should have done much better when he cut inside during the second half, but bottled it with a 'cross' that was never on.

Edwards. I knew he was slow but thought he could read the game. I think if he wants to do anything more he'll have to dry to move into DM because he just won't ever cut it against pace and power and skill. Either that, or sell him.

Wood. Never rated him. Still don't. Can't pick a pass (very few of our team actually can), panics, isn't strong.

THB. Slow. Shit. One-footed. Weak. No brain. Can't read the game. Can see exactly why Blackburn didn't try to take him on permanently. Might do ok as a flat track bully when carried by others. 

Manning. Can't dribble, you know he'll nearly always turn back, passing is shit, panics, makes a fuss rather than getting on with things and hides behind that bullshit. Just get rid.

Downes. Absolute nothing of a player. West Ham getting us back for JWP.

Jander. He does again, struggle against pace and power and he's ok but I've never really seen him just nullify the opposition's midfield or control that space.  Need to see more from him. He can't dribble and haven't seen any early or clever passes from him apart from the one mentioned above (I think that was him).

Azaz. Seen nothing from him. Assume he'll be another who's a bit of a flat track bully.

Leo. Yep, like Leo.

Armstrong. Can't pass, gets offside, can't tackle much but does put himself about a bit, can't dribble, always looks to spin and go for the ball over the top/round the side (which we haven't done since before Gabbiadini) and just isn't a goal threat really. I'd get shot of him.

Aribo. Not on long enough but know he can play football now and again. Not sure he's really what we need now though.

Robinson. At least he moves a bit and provides energy and a spark. Looked up a bit more and did move it on quicker at times (but there's no movement and we make it so easy to mark us). Needs more game time. 

Fellows. Starting to annoy me now because he has very little end product and while he runs with it he doesn't really take us forward that much and he is a bit lightweight. 

DD. D for effort. D for talent. I think most of us would have made more of that golden ticket if we'd found it in that raffle. Yes, I can see the curling runs in behind that our team never will but apart from those ... well, he did kick the ball today.

Oyekunle. The one thing that he did was actually just look like more of a footballer than DD - his posture, positioning and movement were better. He didn't do very well when he had to jump for a ball but that's just part of his having to learn that the defenders he'll be up against will fight him for those so he'll have to get used to battling and losing a lot more duels.

Here's to another long day next Saturday.

 

 

Of all our terrible business I think Roeslev might be the most disappointing, he just offers nothing and is nowhere near the levels of James Bree, might as well have just kept him

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

24 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Saints fans have now seen just one win (Wrexham) at home in 365 days - a whole calendar year, so no wonder some are mightily pissed off. That is a shocking record and probably unprecedented. In fact I can hardly believe it. 1 home win in a year😱 

At least that Wrexham win was comfortable...

[Chez]

10 hours ago, BarberSaint said:

Every team I've seen at SMS this year has been 'functional'. Organised, hard-working, very little talent but strong and they stick to it. I'd hope that a half decent Saints would have easily beaten them all. Preston were the same i.e. in real terms shit, but we were even worse. No movement, no energy, no working together, still taking forever to pass it from Manning to THB to Wood to Edwards to fuck off. They're set after the second pass, if not the first and we have neither the balls nor the brains to do anything. We have one player who can take others on and so break the structure, but we don't move again so that gets shut down quickly.  There was at least one pass through the lines that went out because Manning didn't push up like a wing-back and look for that ball but most of the time it was pedantic crap.  Joined in with "Sports Republic get out of our club" because it's time they did. I think Still can't handle the personalities in the club and was probably a bit too nice when he came in but I agree with those that we now need a Warnock/BFS type character.

 

Ratings:

McCarthy. Last year of contract. He now looks as though physically he's a bit slower and that first goal was fucking dire. We really need to clear out all the goalies and start again as we won't keep Ramsdale.

Roeslev. Can't dribble, isn't fast, isn't a wing-back would probably struggle against a top-end attacker with pace and power. Should have done much better when he cut inside during the second half, but bottled it with a 'cross' that was never on.

Edwards. I knew he was slow but thought he could read the game. I think if he wants to do anything more he'll have to dry to move into DM because he just won't ever cut it against pace and power and skill. Either that, or sell him.

Wood. Never rated him. Still don't. Can't pick a pass (very few of our team actually can), panics, isn't strong.

THB. Slow. Shit. One-footed. Weak. No brain. Can't read the game. Can see exactly why Blackburn didn't try to take him on permanently. Might do ok as a flat track bully when carried by others. 

Manning. Can't dribble, you know he'll nearly always turn back, passing is shit, panics, makes a fuss rather than getting on with things and hides behind that bullshit. Just get rid.

Downes. Absolute nothing of a player. West Ham getting us back for JWP.

Jander. He does again, struggle against pace and power and he's ok but I've never really seen him just nullify the opposition's midfield or control that space.  Need to see more from him. He can't dribble and haven't seen any early or clever passes from him apart from the one mentioned above (I think that was him).

Azaz. Seen nothing from him. Assume he'll be another who's a bit of a flat track bully.

Leo. Yep, like Leo.

Armstrong. Can't pass, gets offside, can't tackle much but does put himself about a bit, can't dribble, always looks to spin and go for the ball over the top/round the side (which we haven't done since before Gabbiadini) and just isn't a goal threat really. I'd get shot of him.

Aribo. Not on long enough but know he can play football now and again. Not sure he's really what we need now though.

Robinson. At least he moves a bit and provides energy and a spark. Looked up a bit more and did move it on quicker at times (but there's no movement and we make it so easy to mark us). Needs more game time. 

Fellows. Starting to annoy me now because he has very little end product and while he runs with it he doesn't really take us forward that much and he is a bit lightweight. 

DD. D for effort. D for talent. I think most of us would have made more of that golden ticket if we'd found it in that raffle. Yes, I can see the curling runs in behind that our team never will but apart from those ... well, he did kick the ball today.

Oyekunle. The one thing that he did was actually just look like more of a footballer than DD - his posture, positioning and movement were better. He didn't do very well when he had to jump for a ball but that's just part of his having to learn that the defenders he'll be up against will fight him for those so he'll have to get used to battling and losing a lot more duels.

Here's to another long day next Saturday.

 

 

Very good description of the players in yesterday's team. 

[saintant]

53 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Our £ spent per win ratio will be easily the worst in professional sport , fans deserve credit for still turning up in such numbers to be honest 

It's the new Moneyball.

[ant]

Trying not to care, as a method of self-preservation. But still absolutely livid this morning.

[Gloucester Saint]

9 hours ago, warsash saint said:

Yeah you sit there calling us fans pathetic whilst you sit there behind your keyboard??!!

Did my bit during the Branfoot and Lowe years at the demos and marches and spent thousands - don’t even want to think about how much - watching them up and down the country. And as live a bit further away than Warsash and didn’t mind the £150-200 cost per match under Nigel, Poch, Ronakd, even Puel or Ralph, but renovating a house here ain’t cheap and I’m not spending that kind of cash every week unless I’m going to see some work rate and players who give a shit. And this house I type from which is part our pension fund does mean leisure activities have to be in some senses enjoyable. I’ve seen Saints get hit for cricket scores at times away in the 90s (Everton 99 comes to mind) but it was still a good day out with friends and affordable.

Well done to you for keeping going, respect genuinely, but it won’t get better with Still or SR, same as it wouldn’t under Branfoot or Lowe.

Your choice as to who you think can reverse this death spiral. If you believe Still and SR are the answer and you’re loyal to them then that’s your view. I just shrugged my shoulders now and laughed, no point expending emotional energy on the losers. They or the manager have no vision or purpose running the club and boy does it show. Just another ‘project’ and player trading arm. 

In a couple of years I’ll be able to watch them play Cheltenham at Whaddon Rad so there’s a silver lining, 

Edited 1 hour ago by Gloucester Saint

[Wade Garrett]

42 minutes ago, saintant said:

It's the new Moneyball.

ShiteBall.

[Mr X]

The only way SR are going to consider fucking off/selling is if St Mary's is totally empty every week and we all know that isnt going to happen 

[madge]

Stop buying beers in the saints pub and stop buying food on the concourses.. that has to be the starting point.. hit SR where it hurts..  they’re out of touch with the fan base… they’ve not got the balls to release any sort of comment. 

[S-Clarke]

This season no longer reminds me of 05-06, it's very, very similar to 07-08.

We look doomed. No one wants to be out there. The squad isn't united, they're a load of individuals thrown together in a manner that simply isn't working.

The vibe I get is that there are huge divisions in the squad. The squad planning in the summer has been a disgrace and it's left us with probably one of the worst squads we've ever had, certainly since that 07-09 period. I'm not talking about financially/reputation, but more so the mix, size and type of player we have available. It's an absolute bloated mess and this isn't fixed overnight, it will take years and years.

We are not finishing top half this year, this season is a bottom half Champ battle. This is exactly the area you live in when the Championship 'isn't fun', as many proclaimed when we were getting relegated. I saw this sort of season coming a mile off. Clubs don't recover from 12 point seasons for a long time and sometimes they never do.

This is beyond the manager at this point, but he'll go and we'll get another one in who will fall by the wayside too. L1 at this stage is absolutely inevitable, it's just a case of when. 

We won't have Markus coming over the hill to save us this time either. It's a long and probably impassable road back, and it's all on SR.

Edited 1 hour ago by S-Clarke

[ant]

10 minutes ago, madge said:

Stop buying beers in the saints pub and stop buying food on the concourses.. that has to be the starting point.. hit SR where it hurts..  they’re out of touch with the fan base… they’ve not got the balls to release any sort of comment. 

Looks like the club still hasn't posted anything on social media since before the match, which is interesting. 

A conscious attempt not to give fans somewhere to react? Waiting until it's news of the manager getting the boot? Or option C...?

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, ant said:

Looks like the club still hasn't posted anything on social media since before the match, which is interesting. 

A conscious attempt not to give fans somewhere to react? Waiting until it's news of the manager getting the boot? Or option C...?

It's what usually happens after bad news - try and silence it as much as possible and push it away from the conscious, they don't want to give their social media a platform for loads of negative posts. So they go quiet, in the hope we calm down, and then try again on Wednesday.

[Cabrone]

12 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

Yep. That table of fan mysery had us 92nd over the last 5 years. That was with a promotion season. The other 4 seasons plus this one have been utterly abject.

Yes this is the table....

https://footballrates.com/lastfiveyears

 

We are 89th out of 100 teams and as you say that includes a promotion season. Add to that the fact that we have 1 home win in a year. It's an abusive relationship.

I don't have bad feelings towards WS but he needs to go. Sorry fella - you tried but you failed. Get someone who understands the basics and builds from the ground up.

Much more importantly SR need to throw the towel in and accept that they haven't got a clue.

While they stay we will keep on going downhill.

[Sunglasses Ron]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

It's what usually happens after bad news - try and silence it as much as possible and push it away from the conscious, they don't want to give their social media a platform for loads of negative posts. So they go quiet, in the hope we calm down, and then try again on Wednesday.

Yup, been happening for a while and a pretty cowardly way to go about things. Do they honestly think not mentioning things makes the reality go away? Just more evidence of the dreadful way the place is being run.