Tonda Eckert

[tdmickey3]

Might as well have Ankerson on the sidelines during matches, he’s all over it anyway

[Forester]

If we take a step back from the emotion of yesterday and look at the stats they tell us fundamentally where the gap is between us and serious promotion prospects.

Last season the top three were Leeds, Burnley and Sheff Utd, who were super unlucky not to go up and started with points deduction.  We are exactly halfway through our season and have scored 37 goals and conceded 33.  So on track for plus eight scoring 74 and conceding 66.

The finishing goals for and against last season were:

Leeds 95 scored, 30 against.

Burnley 69 scored, 16 against 

Sheff Utd 63 scored, 36 against.

 

So while many, me included, think we lack a big centre forward option having gambled on Stewart’s height, the reality (perhaps surprising) is that we are on course to out score both Burnley and Sheff Utd from last season,  teams that accumulated massive points totals.

However, at just the halfway mark we have ALREADY conceded more than both Leeds and Burnley did IN THE WHOLE SEASON, and are just three short of Sheff Utd full season total.  So, what could we do?
 

 I think we have been hampered by both Roeslev and Jelert being injured starving us of natural right back, but we could still have played either Edwards, Stephens, Welington or THB as a right back in a back four.  Admittedly as the two Danes return to fitness they are better choices.  
 

For me, Manning is excellent going forward but poor defensively and never stops a cross coming into our box meaning we face too many 50/50 situations in our penalty area.  So Welington is for me the better choice.  Back to basics of full backs who stop crosses coming in.

Then we look at centre backs and goalkeeper.  Our style of play suits Baz but his shots stopping is poor.  So McCarthy gets the nod, or perhaps give Long a try as an experience championship keeper.  Then there is no evidence, per above, that we are benefiting from three centre backs and so why not go to a back four and pick the best two.  Probably Wood and THB.  That said, Edwards hasn’t been given any run in the team.

By shifting to a back three we have the chance to play Azaz as a number 10 in front of two other midfielders giving us the chance to play three of Armstrong, Scienza, Fellows and Stewart across the front line.

There appears little point continuing to do what data tells you isn’t working.  So change it.

Edited yesterday at 14:15 by Forester

[ally_uk]

Yes it's not rocket science our defence and goal keeper are shite..... and it's costing us 

[badgerx16]

19 minutes ago, Forester said:

There appears little point continuing to do what data tells you isn’t working.  

But Tonda gives the impression that he is doing what he is told, regardless of whether it is working or not. The issue is either (1) he lacks the gumption to realise, which the Charlton and Leicester performances suggest is not the case, or (2) he is strictly following somebody else's diktat, and does not have any flexibility.

[saintant]

27 minutes ago, Forester said:

If we take a step back from the emotion of yesterday and look at the stats they tell us fundamentally where the gap is between us and serious promotion prospects.

Last season the top three were Leeds, Burnley and Sheff Utd, who were super unlucky not to go up and started with points deduction.  We are exactly halfway through our season and have scored 37 goals and conceded 33.  So on track for plus eight scoring 74 and conceding 66.

The finishing goals for and against last season were:

Leeds 95 scored, 30 against.

Burnley 69 scored, 16 against 

Sheff Utd 63 scored, 36 against.

 

So while many, me included, think we lack a big centre forward option having gambled on Stewart’s height, the reality (perhaps surprising) is that we are on course to out score both Burnley and Sheff Utd from last season,  teams that accumulated massive points totals.

However, at just the halfway mark we have ALREADY conceded more than both Leeds and Burnley did IN THE WHOLE SEASON, and are just three short of Sheff Utd full season total.  So, what could we do?
 

 I think we have been hampered by both Roeslev and Jelert being injured starving us of natural right back, but we could still have played either Edwards, Stephens, Welington or THB as a right back in a back four.  Admittedly as the two Danes return to fitness they are better choices.  
 

For me, Manning is excellent going forward but poor defensively and never stops a cross coming into our box meaning we face too many 50/50 situations in our penalty area.  So Welington is for me the better choice.  Back to basics of full backs who stop crosses coming in.

Then we look at centre backs and goalkeeper.  Our style of play suits Baz but his shots stopping is poor.  So McCarthy gets the nod, or perhaps give Long a try as an experience championship keeper.  Then there is no evidence, per above, that we are benefiting from three centre backs and so why not go to a back four and pick the best two.  Probably Wood and THB.  That said, Edwards hasn’t been given any run in the team.

By shifting to a back three we have the chance to play Azaz as a number 10 in front of two other midfielders giving us the chance to play three of Armstrong, Scienza, Fellows and Stewart across the front line.

There appears little point continuing to do what data tells you isn’t working.  So change it.

One of the main reasons Eckert plays with 3 centre backs is to get some extra physicality on the pitch because without them we are mainly short and weak. It is about time SR sorted out the lack of physicality in our squad. Spors said he'd do it but he hasn't. 

[bugenhagen]

29 minutes ago, Forester said:

If we take a step back from the emotion of yesterday and look at the stats they tell us fundamentally where the gap is between us and serious promotion prospects.

Last season the top three were Leeds, Burnley and Sheff Utd, who were super unlucky not to go up and started with points deduction.  We are exactly halfway through our season and have scored 37 goals and conceded 33.  So on track for plus eight scoring 74 and conceding 66.

The finishing goals for and against last season were:

Leeds 95 scored, 30 against.

Burnley 69 scored, 16 against 

Sheff Utd 63 scored, 36 against.

 

So while many, me included, think we lack a big centre forward option having gambled on Stewart’s height, the reality (perhaps surprising) is that we are on course to out score both Burnley and Sheff Utd from last season,  teams that accumulated massive points totals.

However, at just the halfway mark we have ALREADY conceded more than both Leeds and Burnley did IN THE WHOLE SEASON, and are just three short of Sheff Utd full season total.  So, what could we do?
 

 I think we have been hampered by both Roeslev and Jelert being injured starving us of natural right back, but we could still have played either Edwards, Stephens, Welington or THB as a right back in a back four.  Admittedly as the two Danes return to fitness they are better choices.  
 

For me, Manning is excellent going forward but poor defensively and never stops a cross coming into our box meaning we face too many 50/50 situations in our penalty area.  So Welington is for me the better choice.  Back to basics of full backs who stop crosses coming in.

Then we look at centre backs and goalkeeper.  Our style of play suits Baz but his shots stopping is poor.  So McCarthy gets the nod, or perhaps give Long a try as an experience championship keeper.  Then there is no evidence, per above, that we are benefiting from three centre backs and so why not go to a back four and pick the best two.  Probably Wood and THB.  That said, Edwards hasn’t been given any run in the team.

By shifting to a back three we have the chance to play Azaz as a number 10 in front of two other midfielders giving us the chance to play three of Armstrong, Scienza, Fellows and Stewart across the front line.

There appears little point continuing to do what data tells you isn’t working.  So change it.

Sensible and thoughtful post, but sadly, none of the observations and potential solutions will happen or change.

There is no hope. That’s what really hurts…

[Jack]

26 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Yes it's not rocket science our defence and goal keeper are shite..... and it's costing us 

The ridiculous, failed system we use makes it worse. We’ve got a far better goalkeeper not playing because the manager thinks passing ability is more important than stopping shots and claiming crosses. He’s also hell bent on exposing our shit left back and putting our defence under pressure as he wants them to complete 100 passes each per game, and keep us outnumbered in midfield. 
 

Was desperate for Still to be a success, Tonda too, but trying the same shit over and over and expecting success is madness. We need SR out and a manager who knows what it takes to get us out of this mess. But you just know we’ll get more experiments. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

17 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Let’s not rewrite history here. The guy absolutely deserved the opportunity to finish off the season because of his results and the improvement in performances. An 18 month contract is irrelevant, if he doesn’t make the play offs, he’ll be toast. 

The improvement was driven by 4 players, Azaz, Fellowes, Leo & AA, with Downes & Jander playing a little bit better as well. The defending and keeper remained a shit show, but our attacking play was massively improved. What’s happened since is Fellowes has been out injured & has had a disjointed run, Azaz has been inconsistent & AA looks knackered to me. Leo is the only one performing anywhere near that level, so it’s no surprise we’re lacking any sort of cutting edge. The back ups are just nowhere near those guys at their best, so nobody is really capable of stepping up when those 4 are off colour. 
 

He now has to find a way to win games when those attacking players aren’t firing or aren’t available. Clearly he hasn’t got any experience to fall back on, and the weak mentality of this group of players, make it a difficult task, let’s hope he’s a quick learner. 
 

Your usually quite on point but I disagree strongly about him deserving the job. We shouldn’t be appointing inexperienced coaches on the basis of if they win a few games on the bounce they get the job it’s absolutely stupid and Mickey Mouse might as well let a fan have a go .. the key point is he never had the credentials for the job so shouldn’t be getting a trial in the first place  why are we giving out managerial jobs like yeah might as well give him a go ?

Everyone on here would have thought this was a batshit crazy idea originally which it is and the bigger picture would be to not let a little run of games change that opinion if he doesn’t have the credentials for the job he doesn’t have the credentials 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Everyone on here would have thought this was a batshit crazy idea originally which it is and the bigger picture would be to not let a little run of games change that opinion if he doesn’t have the credentials for the job he doesn’t have the credentials 

That wasn’t the general opinion, there was almost universal agreement that he deserved the job. I’m not saying it was the right decision, only that in the main, the vast majority of supporters thought he deserved it after the results and performances during his “interim “ spell. 

[Gloucester Saint]

Agree with your post @Forester but as @badgerx16 says, the reason Tonda keeps repeating the same mistakes in formation, personnel and goalkeeper is because he’s got a gun to his head from Ankerson almost certainly.

It’s also why there’s such horrific turnover in Sporting Directors - Spors is clearly casting his net in the Bundesliga. The DoFs are supposed to be reporting directly to Dragan after Kraft was dismissed but I bet Solak delegates it to Rasmus and that’s exactly how Ankerson manipulated it at SR Board level I strongly suspect. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

That wasn’t the general opinion, there was almost universal agreement that he deserved the job. I’m not saying it was the right decision, only that in the main, the vast majority of supporters thought he deserved it after the results and performances during his “interim “ spell. 

Yes but that was after he had his few game winning streak what I mean is nobody at all would have wanted him before that . His actual credentials for the job where pretty much zero.

the fan base are fickle after a few wins they acting like he would win every game now the haters are starting to come back but we shouldn’t be appointing managers on a little trial the credentials should be there 

next season we could have the likes of West Ham,Wolves forest in the league.  this was our best chance to get back up and we messing about with managers with no experience 

Edited yesterday at 19:06 by pimpin4rizeal

[Saint86]

18 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree with your post @Forester but as @badgerx16 says, the reason Tonda keeps repeating the same mistakes in formation, personnel and goalkeeper is because he’s got a gun to his head from Ankerson almost certainly.

It’s also why there’s such horrific turnover in Sporting Directors - Spors is clearly casting his net in the Bundesliga. The DoFs are supposed to be reporting directly to Dragan after Kraft was dismissed but I bet Solak delegates it to Rasmus and that’s exactly how Ankerson manipulated it at SR Board level I strongly suspect. 

This. There has been enough noise and signs that strings are being pulled from afar. Need ankerson out of the club asap.

Or do people still think it's a coincidence that we're playing 5 at the back?

[Lord Duckhunter]

22 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Or do people still think it's a coincidence that we're playing 5 at the back?

Why do you persist in this ridiculous pony. We don’t play 5 “at the back”. 

[Miltonaggro]

18 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree with your post @Forester but as @badgerx16 says, the reason Tonda keeps repeating the same mistakes in formation, personnel and goalkeeper is because he’s got a gun to his head from Ankerson almost certainly.

It’s also why there’s such horrific turnover in Sporting Directors - Spors is clearly casting his net in the Bundesliga. The DoFs are supposed to be reporting directly to Dragan after Kraft was dismissed but I bet Solak delegates it to Rasmus and that’s exactly how Ankerson manipulated it at SR Board level I strongly suspect. 

 

[Edmonton Saint]

Good to see Adam Blackmore call out the return to Russball on Twitter earlier. It’s been noticeable and the drop off in performances has been marked.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I am not sure Ankerson is involved on a day-to-day basis - when I was a guest in the Board room for the Pompey match he was nowhere to be seen.

I would be prepared to give Eckert a lot more time if he dropped the "Russball playing it out sideways" tactic. It seriously does my head in.

[skintsaint]

Feel like his subs are preplanned no matter what is happening out on the pitch, and will not make any changes to the formations structure going on what I've seen so far.

[East Kent Saint]

I agree that our managers have ,  once appointed and bedded in , are told to play 5 at the back , Baz , and work out from the back ! 

[EBS1980]

I thought we were close to bringing in additional coaching support a few weeks ago?! Wonder what the delay is…

[tdmickey3]

2 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

I thought we were close to bringing in additional coaching support a few weeks ago?! Wonder what the delay is…

Ankerson hasn’t made his mind up, which “experienced” man he wants yet

[StrangelyBrown]

On 27/12/2025 at 14:13, Forester said:

For me, Manning is excellent going forward

For me he's ok; good crosser, good deadball delivery, gets into good positions and occasional good shots from range, but frustratingly can't beat a man and often makes poor decisions that lead to us losing the ball.

[StrangelyBrown]

4 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Ankerson hasn’t made his mind up, which “experienced” man he wants yet

Rumour has it he wants R. Ankerson as assistant to the head coach, Rasmus A as defensive coach and someone with the initials RA as the new set peice coach.

[Lighthouse]

8 hours ago, Saint86 said:

This. There has been enough noise and signs that strings are being pulled from afar. Need ankerson out of the club asap.

Or do people still think it's a coincidence that we're playing 5 at the back?

I still can't for the life of me figure out what people think RA's motive is for insisting we play five at the back. Especially when we've played a couple of games this season with a four.

Why, of all the weird things to insist on, would playing a back five be mandatory? What does it gain anybody associated with SR, financially or otherwise?

[danjosaint]

Was it not 'out there' that he said the data supports 3/5atb

[bugenhagen]

23 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I still can't for the life of me figure out what people think RA's motive is for insisting we play five at the back. Especially when we've played a couple of games this season with a four.

Why, of all the weird things to insist on, would playing a back five be mandatory? What does it gain anybody associated with SR, financially or otherwise?

Can only speak for myself, but it is because I hold SR in such low regard. In my eyes they keep making the same mistakes over and over. Most football related decisions they make are either wrong or poor, at best. 

I don’t think they are deliberately trying to fuck up, because they genuinely believe in what they are doing, which is the real problem. Every time they make a change, we somehow end up back at the exactly same place, or worse. 

[InvictaSaint]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

I still can't for the life of me figure out what people think RA's motive is for insisting we play five at the back. Especially when we've played a couple of games this season with a four.

Why, of all the weird things to insist on, would playing a back five be mandatory? What does it gain anybody associated with SR, financially or otherwise?

Glad somebody is finally asking this question. There’s a lot on this thread and others about SR and RA in particular pulling the strings and insisting we do things in a way which, on the evidence available before us, won’t work and won’t lead to promotion. Why would they do that? Why actively and knowingly work not to achieve the thing that would make them richer? It’s entirely illogical and ridiculous. And even if it isn’t self-destructive malice, but rather sheer incompetence…..how could RA or anyone else not see that the plan simply isn’t working?