Tonda Eckert

[St. Ciervo]

8 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

That doesn't explain the huge drop off in second halves of games, which is massively concerning. 

The drop off comes from Scienza truly being able to last 60 minutes at his blistering pace, and we are a one trick pony.

Edited yesterday at 02:52 by St. Ciervo

[benjii]

3 hours ago, St. Ciervo said:

The drop off comes from Scienza truly being able to last 60 minutes at his blistering pace, and we are a one trick pony.

Yeah, he definitely looks to run out of puff and his touch gets noticeably worse. If he's here next season we need to get a proper expert to help him with his stamina in pre-season.

But yesterday the drop off came much earlier than that so I don't think we can say this was the cause.

Edited yesterday at 06:42 by benjii

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, benjii said:

Yeah, he definitely looks to run out of puff and his touch gets noticeably worse. If he's here next season we need to get a proper expert to help him with his stamina in pre-season.

But yesterday the drop off came much earlier than that so I don't think we can say this was the cause.

Leo actually played the full 90 yesterday for once, but we were appalling from the moment the second half kicked off.

[AlexLaw76]

59 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Leo actually played the full 90 yesterday for once, but we were appalling from the moment the second half kicked off.

we were bad from about 15 mins in. They, like WBA did in the 2nd half and others before that, just shut down the space in the middle of the park. That is why we pass it around the back, because THB is not Pirlo in defence ffs...

I will be amazed if Coventry do not try and do that. 

Obviously, we do have good players, which is why we usually score early, but the patterns of the games cannot be ignored.

[coalman]

7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

we were bad from about 15 mins in. They, like WBA did in the 2nd half and others before that, just shut down the space in the middle of the park. That is why we pass it around the back, because THB is not Pirlo in defence ffs...

I will be amazed if Coventry do not try and do that. 

Obviously, we do have good players, which is why we usually score early, but the patterns of the games cannot be ignored.

Agreed.

When we move through ball so slowly it's easy for the man receiving our obvious passes to be under pressure as they're receiving the ball. 

Then we have no out ball. Then the ball keeps coming back at us. Whereupon nobody puts a tackle in and the other side strolls up to the edge of our box to cross.

Rinse and repeat.

That's two games running we've managed to repeat the worst Russball from Martin, Juric and Rusk only in a League lower. The only difference being that Norwich figured us out early rather than in the second half.

[Toussaint]

We don’t have a traditional 9 to provide an outlet, especially in second halves when we would benefit from someone holding the ball up. 

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

we were bad from about 15 mins in. They, like WBA did in the 2nd half and others before that, just shut down the space in the middle of the park. That is why we pass it around the back, because THB is not Pirlo in defence ffs...

I will be amazed if Coventry do not try and do that. 

Obviously, we do have good players, which is why we usually score early, but the patterns of the games cannot be ignored.

This is something I hope we don't expect to happen every week, the space THB got to play that role against Charlton in particular was an anomaly. The space Armstrong got to receive and turn in those games deep in CM was an anomaly, it's not the norm. The worry is that this is now all we will try, every week, and act surprised it doesn't work every week.

It won't. 1 or two games a season you may get lucky with passive teams enabling that, but in the main in this league teams press, harry and remove space in the midfield areas. That's basic lower league 101. If we have nothing to our game bar THB getting in space, and being able to spray it to an unchallenged Armstrong, then we will tumble down this league quicker than we came up it.

Edited yesterday at 11:08 by S-Clarke

[Maggie May]

14 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

I really think if we won a game because of a handball and the opponents missing a penalty you wouldn’t be claiming our manager had sussed theirs out. 

If you look at my post history, I posted Norwich had our number 10 minutes into the first half. I was met with a few laughs, but ultimately I was spot on as usual.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

This is something I hope we don't expect to happen every week, the space THB got to play that role against Charlton in particular was an anomaly. The space Armstrong got to receive and turn in those games deep in CM was an anomaly, it's not the norm. The worry is that this is now all we will try, every week, and act surprised it doesn't work every week.

It won't. 1 or two games a season you may get lucky with passive teams enabling that, but in the main in this league teams press, harry and remove space in the midfield areas. That's basic lower league 101. If we have nothing to our game bar THB getting in space, and being able to spray it to an unchallenged Armstrong, then we will tumble down this league quicker than we came up it.

The plan from kick offs also seems to be to get the ball to Scienza or Fellows and hope one of them can run past a player or two and create space for the others. With Fellows out yesterday, it limited our options...and from kick off it was frustrating to see the ball in our corner flag, that's asking for trouble.

I would have though Matsuki or even Edozie might also be able to run at players and create openings but these two seem to be sidelined.

[sadoldgit]

1 hour ago, Maggie May said:

If you look at my post history, I posted Norwich had our number 10 minutes into the first half. I was met with a few laughs, but ultimately I was spot on as usual.

Can you apply for the job when Eckert gets sacked please?

😉

[AlexLaw76]

45 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Can you apply for the job when Eckert gets sacked please?

😉

Around May 2026

[Fabrice29]

2 hours ago, Maggie May said:

If you look at my post history, I posted Norwich had our number 10 minutes into the first half. I was met with a few laughs, but ultimately I was spot on as usual.

Good for you. Again though, you wouldn’t be saying we had their number if we had won because of a handball goal and a missed penalty. So you were overreacting after 10 minutes and now. 

Edited yesterday at 15:17 by Fabrice29

[bangkoksaint]

TE isn’t taking this team up. A nice purple patch of results but most teams will have worked us out now so together with sticking with a back 5, playing tippy tappy football and having a clown in goal we’ll just fizzle out. It’ll then be when they sack him

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

TE isn’t taking this team up. A nice purple patch of results but most teams will have worked us out now so together with sticking with a back 5, playing tippy tappy football and having a clown in goal we’ll just fizzle out. It’ll then be when they sack him

Agree

Tonda won’t be our manager next season. 

[Wade Garrett]

14 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

TE isn’t taking this team up. A nice purple patch of results but most teams will have worked us out now so together with sticking with a back 5, playing tippy tappy football and having a clown in goal we’ll just fizzle out. It’ll then be when they sack him

If the season pans out like that then you’re probably right.  I would like to think he is an intelligent guy who’ll work out how to get the best from his squad.

It wasn’t that long ago that a lot of people were questioning Tuchel, an intelligent manager who has now worked it out.  I’m not saying Eckert can be compared to his countryman, but there is a chance that he can work it out and show he isn’t another philosophy manager wedded to one system.

 

[Maggie May]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

Good for you. Again though, you wouldn’t be saying we had their number if we had won because of a handball goal and a missed penalty. So you were overreacting after 10 minutes and now. 

Absolutely not. You could see Norwich were easily dealing with our build-up play through the middle, even after 10 minutes.  

[saintant]

Coventry will be a big test for Tonda because teams are starting to expose our weaknesses. Think they'll press us high and hard from the start and try to pin us back and wait for the inevitable errors. It's pretty evident we don't have a plan B so if the THB quick ball into midfield to get us attacking is sniffed out we'll struggle. Time to ditch playing with 3 centre backs in my book and try something different.

[Fabrice29]

6 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Absolutely not. You could see Norwich were easily dealing with our build-up play through the middle, even after 10 minutes.  

And yet they needed us to miss a penalty (which we got because of the easily dealt with build up play) and score a handball goal to beat us. 

2 hours ago, saintant said:

Coventry will be a big test for Tonda because teams are starting to expose our weaknesses. Think they'll press us high and hard from the start and try to pin us back and wait for the inevitable errors. It's pretty evident we don't have a plan B so if the THB quick ball into midfield to get us attacking is sniffed out we'll struggle. Time to ditch playing with 3 centre backs in my book and try something different.

Yeah 5 wins in 7, we’re one of the most form teams in the league and we’re playing top of the table. Ditch it all and try something new makes most sense. 

Edited 18 hours ago by Fabrice29

[saintant]

26 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

And yet they needed us to miss a penalty (which we got because of the easily dealt with build up play) and score a handball goal to beat us. 

Yeah 5 wins in 7, we’re one of the most form teams in the league and we’re playing top of the table. Ditch it all and try something new makes most sense. 

Maybe 5 wins in 7 could have been 7 wins in 7. Ever think of that?

[SouSaint]

He needs to work on the defensive shape, we are set up to let the opposition cross at will and have 3 pretty crap CBs who do not cope with balls into the box very well. 

5 at the back will always invite pressure. 

[tdmickey3]

15 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Agree

Tonda won’t be our manager next season. 

Yep, another inexperienced name, sooner or later it will work out.... won`t it?

How many have SR appointed and sacked up to now....

[Fabrice29]

8 hours ago, saintant said:

Maybe 5 wins in 7 could have been 7 wins in 7. Ever think of that?

Yeah sure but if you really think Saturday is the time to try something new you’re a mad man.

 

4 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Yep, another inexperienced name, sooner or later it will work out.... won`t it?

How many have SR appointed and sacked up to now....

If winning games of football isn’t enough for you then yes, he’ll be sacked soon no doubt.

Edited 10 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Dman]

17 hours ago, bangkoksaint said:

TE isn’t taking this team up. A nice purple patch of results but most teams will have worked us out now so together with sticking with a back 5, playing tippy tappy football and having a clown in goal we’ll just fizzle out. It’ll then be when they sack him

If being worked out results in us arguably "should have been 3 up" at half time then I'll take that. 

Result and second half wasn't great yesterday, but its easy to forget Downes missed essentially an open goal, we missed a pen and should have had another in the first half. 

Fancy us to beat Cov tbh. 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

Yeah sure but if you really think Saturday is the time to try something new you’re a mad man.

 

If winning games of football isn’t enough for you then yes, he’ll be sacked soon no doubt.

The point here is that we need a plan B and the quicker that is developed on the training ground the better. Right now Tonda is a one trick pony and, if the opposition decide to block us in with a high aggressive press we don't have an answer. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching our games. Isn't doing the same thing and expecting a different result the sign of insanity?

[Jack]

Tonda at least flirted with a back 4 for a little while on Saturday, I hope he’s seriously considering it. The fact that our defence and goalkeeping department are fucking rubbish should be a reason to have less of them on the pitch, not more. And give them some proper protection from the extra man in midfield. 

Then it’s just a case of replacing the goalkeeping department, Manning, Stephens, Quarshie, probably Wood, Mads, Jelert if he can’t get fit 

[Fabrice29]

10 minutes ago, Jack said:

Tonda at least flirted with a back 4 for a little while on Saturday, I hope he’s seriously considering it. The fact that our defence and goalkeeping department are fucking rubbish should be a reason to have less of them on the pitch, not more. And give them some proper protection from the extra man in midfield. 

Then it’s just a case of replacing the goalkeeping department, Manning, Stephens, Quarshie, probably Wood, Mads, Jelert if he can’t get fit 

Until we have a fit right back, I’m not sure what people expect. Also, taking out a CB is fine but unless you are replacing him with someone just as tall you’re making us weaker at set pieces, as well as having less people to defend crosses in open play. You’ll need a right back and probably Charles back first. 

[Fabrice29]

29 minutes ago, saintant said:

The point here is that we need a plan B and the quicker that is developed on the training ground the better. Right now Tonda is a one trick pony and, if the opposition decide to block us in with a high aggressive press we don't have an answer. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching our games. Isn't doing the same thing and expecting a different result the sign of insanity?

We’ve won 5 of our last 7 mate. I want the norm, not the different results. 

Yes plan B’s sound wonderful and we obviously need to improve in that area but given we have probably the smallest front line in the league we’re not suddenly going to go long and suggesting we should change what’s working seems crazy to me.

We would need the personnel to do something different firstly and it all sounds dreamy to seamlessly switch up a way of playing from game to game and half to half but given we’ve just come from 2 wins in 13 I really think that we shouldn’t be taking for granted our current form and start suddenly bemoaning when we’re under some pressure in games. That’s the league we are in, it’s famously competitive and unless you’re a well drilled team at taking the sting out of teams, we’re going to have to suffer and just learn to get better at that rather than seeing us lose the odd game and perform badly for a half and start demanding the manager just conjures up a new tactical plan that solves everything immediately, especially with the same players.

Edited 8 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Jack]

10 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Until we have a fit right back, I’m not sure what people expect. Also, taking out a CB is fine but unless you are replacing him with someone just as tall you’re making us weaker at set pieces, as well as having less people to defend crosses in open play. You’ll need a right back and probably Charles back first. 

I don’t think Tonda cares much about being weak at set pieces or we wouldn’t see Bazunu in goal. The back 5 we play is just an open invitation for crosses into the box, would be nice to see less of them coming in but no chance of that with Manning and Fraser. I honestly think we’d be better with someone out of position at RB in a 4 than with Fraser there, and Manning in no man’s land the other side. 
 

With Fellows fit, the 5 does work until the opposition work it out and close down the out ball into midfield. But then it stops working, and we’re just knocking it around the back 5 and keeper, and that’s a load of shit. GK and defence aside, we’ve got one of the best squads in the league, we need more than 1 way of getting our best players on the ball.

[Fabrice29]

21 minutes ago, Jack said:

I don’t think Tonda cares much about being weak at set pieces or we wouldn’t see Bazunu in goal. The back 5 we play is just an open invitation for crosses into the box, would be nice to see less of them coming in but no chance of that with Manning and Fraser. I honestly think we’d be better with someone out of position at RB in a 4 than with Fraser there, and Manning in no man’s land the other side. 
 

With Fellows fit, the 5 does work until the opposition work it out and close down the out ball into midfield. But then it stops working, and we’re just knocking it around the back 5 and keeper, and that’s a load of shit. GK and defence aside, we’ve got one of the best squads in the league, we need more than 1 way of getting our best players on the ball.

I think you’re right in the sense he’s made a choice to prioritise an extra man in possession at the back over command of the box. Not that I think McCarthy is that much of an improvement really tbh but I really don’t think facing a team with the goal scoring prowess of Coventry is the time to start stripping out defenders and changing our approach completely. 

I would say that closing down the out ball in midfield is easier said than done. Even Saturday the penalty comes from the recycling of possession and it’s not like teams aren’t trying to stop it from the start and the goals we’ve scored is just luck. We definitely need variation to our play but without the personnel I’m not sure what else we can do. I don’t think changing the formation magically changes our way of playing, you’d still need to play into the feet of our front line. 

[Challenger]

18 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Agree

Tonda won’t be our manager next season. 

Another sticking plaster over the SR sore.

[tdmickey3]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

The point here is that we need a plan B and the quicker that is developed on the training ground the better. Right now Tonda is a one trick pony and, if the opposition decide to block us in with a high aggressive press we don't have an answer. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching our games. Isn't doing the same thing and expecting a different result the sign of insanity?

All correct but don`t expect Fabrice to understand, he backs anything the manager does or doesn't do with the exception of Juric as he hated him because he replaced Lego.

We have won games, this is always welcome but the flaws are beginning to show more and more now, most can see this and are just asking for it to be addresses with immediate effect but sadly I don't think Ekhert has the tactical knowledge to do so without a wise head to assist him.

SR continue to make what they consider as clever appointments but we have seen with our own eyes the failure this has been

Edited 5 hours ago by tdmickey3

[Osvaldorama]

On 14/12/2025 at 09:57, Toussaint said:

We don’t have a traditional 9 to provide an outlet, especially in second halves when we would benefit from someone holding the ball up. 

In my opinion this is the whole problem. 
 

Nothing up top with arma there 

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Until we have a fit right back, I’m not sure what people expect. Also, taking out a CB is fine but unless you are replacing him with someone just as tall you’re making us weaker at set pieces, as well as having less people to defend crosses in open play. You’ll need a right back and probably Charles back first. 

We have a large squad of professional footballers. You’d think that we would be able to find someone with a reasonable level of competence to fill in at RB  for a few weeks.

[Fabrice29]

46 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

We have a large squad of professional footballers. You’d think that we would be able to find someone with a reasonable level of competence to fill in at RB  for a few weeks.

Probably. But given I’ve asked this question a few times to people now and the only response I’ve had is THB or Edward’s and that would effectively change nothing about our play, I’m going to suggest it’s a mute point. I suspect we’ll get this at some stage as I got the impression Jelert is back soon, but I’m not convinced it’ll suddenly improve our current 5/7 win rate. 

I’m much more interested in seeing different player attributes on the pitch than seeing the same ones in a slightly different place on the pitch. That’ll makes us noticeably different.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Fabrice29

[ally_uk]

Haven't we got anyone who can play right back in the reserves? 

Call them up give them a chance. 

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

We have a large squad of professional footballers. You’d think that we would be able to find someone with a reasonable level of competence to fill in at RB  for a few weeks.

We could do a lot worse than play Edwards there. Stephens has played there in the past as well without disgracing himself (well, not by his standards anyway).

I simply don't buy this idea that we have to stick with an obviously flawed formation just because Mads and Jelert are injured.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

I, too, would like to see what we can achieve with an extra midfielder and only two CBs.  The main point of progress, however, would be if we can drastically reduce the number of crosses coming into our six-yard box - that should be possible with either 4 or 5 at the back - and play a goalkeeper who makes saves and is not afraid to come and catch or punch crosses, even if he is less assured with the ball at his feet.

I have previously drawn attention to our sister club’s good performance in Turkey.  Goztepe have conceded only 9 goals in 16 games; that is three, five and six better than the next-best defensive teams in the league.  Goztepe play with three CBs, usually in a 3:4:1:2 formation.  True, they don’t score many but surely some inter-club dialogue could take place and we might both learn from each other.

An extra midfielder would give us more and better options when trying to get the ball forward quickly to our attackers and to get runners onto cut-backs in the opponents’ penalty area.

[Osvaldorama]

3 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

All correct but don`t expect Fabrice to understand, he backs anything the manager does or doesn't do with the exception of Juric as he hated him because he replaced Lego.

We have won games, this is always welcome but the flaws are beginning to show more and more now, most can see this and are just asking for it to be addresses with immediate effect but sadly I don't think Ekhert has the tactical knowledge to do so without a wise head to assist him.

SR continue to make what they consider as clever appointments but we have seen with our own eyes the failure this has been

I’ve disagreed with Fabrice on here about Martin, but he’s right here. 
 

Some of you have absolutely ridiculous expectations.
 

We are the form team in the league. Of course you should always look for improvements, and there is a lot to work on, but the negativity on here is ridiculous. 

[tdmickey3]

26 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

I’ve disagreed with Fabrice on here about Martin, but he’s right here. 
 

Some of you have absolutely ridiculous expectations.
 

We are the form team in the league. Of course you should always look for improvements, and there is a lot to work on, but the negativity on here is ridiculous. 

Sorry, but there is nothing ridiculous about expecting a manager/coach to identify glaringly obvious flaws in our tactical set up and make attempts to rectify them but we have seen nothing so far.

We play one way and when it is nullified we don`t have an answer except desperate backs to the wall defending, yet in that defending we continually let teams put crosses in to our box virtually unchallenged, inevitably teams will score as was proven on Saturday

This backs to the wall stuff has been evident for a while now, we got away with it against QPR and West Brom, Millwall and Norwich beat us after our first half did not bear fruit we needed and we offered very little in the 2nd half of each game

Sadly i think the Coventry game will be the time it will be shown to be a major issue

Edited 2 hours ago by tdmickey3

[DT]

16 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

I’ve disagreed with Fabrice on here about Martin, but he’s right here. 
 

Some of you have absolutely ridiculous expectations.
 

We are the form team in the league. Of course you should always look for improvements, and there is a lot to work on, but the negativity on here is ridiculous. 

We are not the form team in the league.

We are 10th in the form league table.

https://www.soccerstats.com/formtable.asp?league=england2

[AlexLaw76]

58 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

I’ve disagreed with Fabrice on here about Martin, but he’s right here. 
 

Some of you have absolutely ridiculous expectations.
 

We are the form team in the league. Of course you should always look for improvements, and there is a lot to work on, but the negativity on here is ridiculous. 

Form… over how many games?

[badgerx16]

2 hours ago, ally_uk said:

Haven't we got anyone who can play right back in the reserves? 

Call them up give them a chance. 

At the same time find an slternative to Manning at LWB.

[Willo of Whiteley]

4-3-3 with a holding midfield allows the DM to drop back into a rough CB position to pick up the ball as an alternative.
This spreads the CBs slightly wider, thus making a third CB completely redundant.
I got so frustrated with Nathan Wood running five yards across Bazunu for every pass yesterday, it was so pointless.

By the DM dropping deeper and pushing wide players either way you get left with this overload on the wider positions to attack, something that, let’s face it, Fellows and Manning are decent at.

Generally a ST can drop deep (AM position) and this pushes not only the full backs higher, but allows the two wingers to come inside a lot more into ST positions - creating more of a threat.

It’s very basic tactics. Nothing fancy hut would allow players to play to their strengths, eg. some of our midfielders are good at coming deep (Downes, Charles, Romeu), allow Manning and another full back to play higher up, and allow attacking players to play in more attacking and threatening positions.

Constantly playing a back five wastes a position on another CB, we can’t fucking defend anyway so it’s a waste of a position, and nullifies attacking intent.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Willo of Whiteley said:

4-3-3 with a holding midfield allows the DM to drop back into a rough CB position to pick up the ball as an alternative.
This spreads the CBs slightly wider, thus making a third CB completely redundant.
I got so frustrated with Nathan Wood running five yards across Bazunu for every pass yesterday, it was so pointless.

By the DM dropping deeper and pushing wide players either way you get left with this overload on the wider positions to attack, something that, let’s face it, Fellows and Manning are decent at.

Generally a ST can drop deep (AM position) and this pushes not only the full backs higher, but allows the two wingers to come inside a lot more into ST positions - creating more of a threat.

It’s very basic tactics. Nothing fancy hut would allow players to play to their strengths, eg. some of our midfielders are good at coming deep (Downes, Charles, Romeu), allow Manning and another full back to play higher up, and allow attacking players to play in more attacking and threatening positions.

Constantly playing a back five wastes a position on another CB, we can’t fucking defend anyway so it’s a waste of a position, and nullifies attacking intent.

agree with this, Romeu could do well in a 3,....but asking him to play in the current set up is ridiculous.

But this is saints under Sports Republic, and we do ridiculous things

[RedArmy]

1 hour ago, DT said:

We are not the form team in the league.

We are 10th in the form league table.

https://www.soccerstats.com/formtable.asp?league=england2

Who the fuck does form as last 4? 

[Midfield_General]

Brendan Rodgers set to accept a job in the Saudi Pro League:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/dec/15/brendan-rodgers-in-talks-to-take-over-at-saudi-pro-league-club-al-qadsiah

I'm sure they've waved huge wads of cash at him, multiples more than we ever would. But would he have been tempted by the Saints job if he'd been offered it over Eckert? 

I guess we'll never know now, but it will be interesting to see how he gets on and whether his heart's still in it or it's now just a case of him going wherever gets him the biggest payday possible for the rest of his career. 

Edited 12 minutes ago by Midfield_General