January Transfer Window

[DT]

6 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

If we stay in the Championship why would you not want Armstrong?

Because his heart is not in it and he's bang average. But wait 'til he goes to Wrexham and is suddenly Ronaldo because a) he will get his arse in gear b) he wants all that Hollywood bollocks c) he might have better coaches and certainly a better manager there

Christ.

[Fabrice29]

3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

 

This squad is more than good enough to be achieving a playoff finish and should be challenging for the autos. The answer isn't to get more players - its to hire a competent manager.

Don’t remember the manager missing sitters all season but might have missed it. 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

7 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

If we stay in the Championship why would you not want Armstrong?

Because he's not very good, seems to have lost his interest in us and he's a useless captain. And that's just off the tip of my tongue. Hope it helps.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, woodsaint1 said:

We need to be using up our allocated loans. At least if it doesnt work out then we're not stuck with the player on a 4/5 year contract. Would rather that than panic buying another Carrillo or Tall Paul

The club seemed to decide that it was better to buy young players like Quarshie and Downes to help build a side that would survive after getting promoted without having to sign a complete new team. Just two loans in the summer, with Peretz making it three. I doubt they will buy anyone in this window, but maybe a loan on the last day of the window if they find someone better than we have. 

Like others have said, if you are unlikely to get relegated or promoted this season, then adding wages doesn't make sense. We are only 7 points behind Wrexham in 6th with 17 games left. Does the club still see a chance of making the play offs? Will one loan signing make all the difference or is the reality that the current squad with a more comfortable back four, with Peretz, Wellington, Bree, Stewart and Charles returning get their act together?

[Lee On Solent Saint]

7 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

If we stay in the Championship why would you not want Armstrong?

Because he misses more chances than he actually scores from. We need somebody more clinical in front of goal. Fed up with him missing chances such as the one on Sunday. 

[Fabrice29]

1 minute ago, DT said:

Because his heart is not in it and he's bang average. But wait 'til he goes to Wrexham and is suddenly Ronaldo because a) he will get his arse in gear b) he wants all that Hollywood bollocks c) he might have better coaches and certainly a better manager there

Christ.

I’m quite happy to see the back of Armstrong (as long as we replace him properly) but the idea that he goes to Wrexham and suddenly turns into Ronaldo/Gets his arse in gear is quite funny. He’s got plenty of goals this season and if he continued to do that at Wrexham it wouldn’t be some up turn of quality, it would be a continuation. 

[Chez]

23 minutes ago, SaintLondon said:

Let me rephrase, you're right, plenty will want to come here BUT I don't think they'll be able to tempt players here that we, the fans, deem better than we currently have. People have been talking about players such as Callum Wilson, Josh Sargent and Taiwo Awoniyi and I'm saying nobody of that sort of calibre is going to come here. Not a chance in hell. So, we'll be left with players who are seen as risks - lower leagues etc or young foreign imports. Obviously for every Scienza there is a Damion Downes so it's just more gambling. We shouldn't have signed Downes in the summer, we should have signed a proven Championship striker who at the time would have seen us a shoe in for top 6 and an easier sell. Once again, they opted for a clever move and once again it's not worked out. 

Agreed. If we were in the top two, that might help a fraction to get that better quality of player (like we did with Brooks), as a player could see themselves staying with the club on promotion. For someone like Piroe, who has made it to the PL, dropping down a division is bad enough, dropping down a division for a side going nowhere isn't all that attractive. 

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Because he misses more chances than he actually scores from. We need somebody more clinical in front of goal. Fed up with him missing chances such as the one on Sunday. 

He definitely hasn't been as clinical this season as he was in our promotion season. In our promotion season his goal tally pretty much matched his xG. He scored 24, while his expected goals scored was 23.94. This season he has scored 11, xG is 13.74. I'm not up on my football stats, but I read that as he really should have scored 14 goals this season, and obviously if he had tucked a few really tough chances away, he could have got a few more. 

[danjosaint]

17 minutes ago, Chez said:

and obviously if he had tucked a few really tough chances away, he could have got a few more. 

They weren't tough chances Sunday 

[saintant]

3 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I think we’ll be lucky to get anyone else in.

Why pay out on a striker or upgrades in certain positions when let’s face it, the board and fans alike cannot be convinced that we’re good enough to get there on large.

As much as it’s mathematically possible, why pay out more when they need to cut wages and you won’t gain from it.

Last year was a prime example. Too little to late.

Not being in a good position to chase promotion is not a strong reason not to do business in this or any other window. Transfer windows should be used to trim and strengthen the squad. Ours has clearly not been good enough to sustain a promotion attempt and needs work so, if the right deals are unearthed, we should do some business. As previously said the big caveat is that most of us have no faith in SR, Spors/Ankersen to get it right.

[saintant]

30 minutes ago, Chez said:

He definitely hasn't been as clinical this season as he was in our promotion season. In our promotion season his goal tally pretty much matched his xG. He scored 24, while his expected goals scored was 23.94. This season he has scored 11,xG is 13.74.  I'm not up on my football stats, but I read that as he really should have scored 14 goals this season, and obviously if he had tucked a few really tough chances away, he could have got a few more. 

The nonsense of Xg laid bare - how do you score 0.74 of a goal. They could at least round their figures up or down as appropriate.

[Chez]

5 hours ago, danjosaint said:

They weren't tough chances Sunday 

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals from a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Chez

[Saint Fan CaM]

This idea that not getting another striker this window because this season is over in terms of promotion or relegation is very, very noddy thinking and totally SR style strategy in my mind. You speculate to accumulate, with the key success factor being squad BUILDING - it takes time to bring a player in and get them playing in cohesion with their teammates, so starting that process before next season surely has to be the smart move. If there’s no-one available that’s a different matter, however I refuse to believe there’s no decent striker out there to be hired.

[Chez]

11 minutes ago, saintant said:

Not being in a good position to chase promotion is not a strong reason not to do business in this or any other window. Transfer windows should be used to trim and strengthen the squad. Ours has clearly not been good enough to sustain a promotion attempt and needs work so, if the right deals are unearthed, we should do some business. As previously said the big caveat is that most of us have no faith in SR, Spors/Ankersen to get it right.

And the club has used it to trim with Edwards and Fraser departing. I am sure they are not palming off bids for Aribo and Edozie either.

If we not getting promotion, than loans are a pointless expense, but like you say, strengthening the squad still makes sense. Buy someone now, bed them in and see them fly next season. However buying players in January is pretty tough as clubs and players prefer to weigh up their options in the summer. 

 

[coalman]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals form a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

Or more numerous. The BBC had xG as 1.66 to 1.11 in their favour on the basis of 14 shots (3 on target) to our 6 shots (4 on target). So while we had the better chances we really didn't create all that much.

[Fabrice29]

15 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

This idea that not getting another striker this window because this season is over in terms of promotion or relegation is very, very noddy thinking and totally SR style strategy in my mind. You speculate to accumulate, with the key success factor being squad BUILDING - it takes time to bring a player in and get them playing in cohesion with their teammates, so starting that process before next season surely has to be the smart move. If there’s no-one available that’s a different matter, however I refuse to believe there’s no decent striker out there to be hired.

It also forgets that we have another 17 games at least to sit through as fans. The people who say it won’t be sat there next week telling everyone the season is over and the missed chances and dropped points they are witnessing doesn’t matter because ‘the season is over’. Didn’t happen last season and won’t happen this season. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Mozz]

33 minutes ago, coalman said:

Or more numerous. The BBC had xG as 1.66 to 1.11 in their favour on the basis of 14 shots (3 on target) to our 6 shots (4 on target). So while we had the better chances we really didn't create all that much.

More numerous, plus the impact of the goal itself given it was basically point blank into an empty net.

Opta have a total xG for Portsmouth of 1.66 of which half (0.885) comes from the goal itself with the remainder coming from 13 other shots.

By comparison they have us at 1.18 xG from 6 shots, from which Leo's goal was  0.554 and Armstrong's missed one-on-one 0.421.

 

[Turkish]

47 minutes ago, Chez said:

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals form a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

just proves what a load of crap it is then. Did they have a single chance? A few long range shots that went miles over and that one that went across the goal and just wide, even their goal was a sort of bundle it in after a big defelction off THB which could have gone anywhere. We had  2 x 1 v 1 inc the goal, Armstrong has missed a ton of them this season by the way, plus their keeper made a great save. 

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, LeG said:

Unless something has changed since last week, I believe the club are working on two players coming in before the window shuts. No other information unfortunately. 

If we can shift some of the deadwood as well, it will be a nice window. 

We can still sneak 6th... There's always a team who will make that late charge up the table, and usually they're the ones who do well in the play offs.... I don't think we are good enough to go up this season though. I'm firmly in the 'Its the players camp'. I think Tonda will have a good career. 

well we dont have to bother going to see them play so that'll save time

[SaintLondon]

Is mad that there hasn't even been a sniff of an incoming transfer - fair play for keeping it quiet (presuming LeG's source is correct and we're working on two)

[davefizzy14]

Hopefully we can get these two deals that we are working on completed as LeG alluded to.

Edited 4 hours ago by davefizzy14

[Willo of Whiteley]

I’ve said before; everyone scoffs at Adam Armstrong, yet if he was playing for someone else or against us those same people would 100% want him.

Likewise if he was sold those same people slagging him off would be going “what are the club playing at, our best striker, our top scorer etc”. Can’t win.

[Wurzel]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals form a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

I guess they factor in who the chance falls to. Haaland? 2.8  Arma? that's an 0.9 then

[Doctoroncall]

On 26/01/2026 at 13:59, coalman said:

And, therein lies the problem. If you buy enough players then sometimes you're going to find a good one. Is that because of your process or in spite of it? In the same way that recruiting a Sulemana or a BBD doesn't mean your process is bad.

Attempting to rank all teams in Europe into a single league to identify the teams doing well is a novel approach but you're comparing vastly differing sample sizes of teams playing between leagues and basing your inference model on performance that changes from week to week and season to season. Are a player's stats good because they are good or is it because of the players around them or the tactics they are employing? Does a recruitment approach that worked for a Danish top tier side work for a Premier League team? This is just scratching the surface on why this approach is sketchy. Fundamentally, is a team outperforming its league down to its players, training or something else? Unless you've demonstrated a causal link you're just making decision based on coincidence (or statistically, correlation).

At best, you might use a statistics based approach to identify players that might be worth looking at further. But then you have to watch them (whether on video or in person) to understand why the stats are saying that. You also want to watch them when the camera is not on them (for example - anyone watching Manning play with the ball might think he's a great ball playing full back - anyone watching him amble around the middle of the park without the ball would immediately spot that he's left a gaping hole for the other team to exploit at left back).

To give some examples. It's arguable that Pochettino was among our best managers ever. Adkins got us promoted twice and Saints were competing in the Premier League but changing from Adkins to Pochettino led to a marked improvement in both performance and results with the same players. Almost overnight. Hughes managed to keep us up and yet changing to Hassenhutl again led to a massive improvement with the same players. Did the players become that much better or were they in an environment where they were able to perform better? Towards the end of his reign the game had moved on and Hassenhutl's tactics were found out. Does this mean the players had gotten worse?

Ankersen's approach has no way to normalise for this. If he'd analysed Saints under Adkins he'd have been far less likely to see Saints players as worthy of recruitment yet under Pochettino the exact same players would have been a far more attractive proposition. One might reasonably argue that getting the manager right is critical to getting the environment right and the best out of players. Under Ankersen's approach the manager is there to implement policy with the players he is given not develop an environment in which they can excel.

From the bit of reading around the Midtjylland FC, the scouting is for one club, it is integrated into the club and they follow it. The club has formal agreements with a network of over 100 ‘clubs’ (no idea of their status but in Denmark and N. Germany), partner clubs in Africa. The data analytics part has come from Benham, for use in the multi club model, so includes Brentford. 
Data Analytics applies to:

player acquisition 
tactics - including set pieces,
game strategy 

At Saints, it looks a bit different where scouts and analysts work together across the football teams. Ankersen’s spreadsheets, seem to be less integrated with Saints decisions makers - DoF favouring known markets (Man City academy, bundesliga, previous manager's clubs). All in all it seems a bit chaotic. 

[Toadhall Saint]

5 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’ve said before; everyone scoffs at Adam Armstrong, yet if he was playing for someone else or against us those same people would 100% want him.

Likewise if he was sold those same people slagging him off would be going “what are the club playing at, our best striker, our top scorer etc”. Can’t win.

Just like the the team then 

[OldNick]

6 hours ago, Saint86 said:

 

This squad is more than good enough to be achieving a playoff finish and should be challenging for the autos. The answer isn't to get more players - its to hire a competent manager.

I personally feel the fanbase overrate the quality of our squad. We have faced most clubs this season who have players more than capable to overcome our so called quality. 

 

[OldNick]

11 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’ve said before; everyone scoffs at Adam Armstrong, yet if he was playing for someone else or against us those same people would 100% want him.

Likewise if he was sold those same people slagging him off would be going “what are the club playing at, our best striker, our top scorer etc”. Can’t win.

I scoff at AA everytime he misses a penalty and one on ones. How many times has he cost us points with inadequate finishing? Yes he does score a few but he is not as good as he believes he is...and as for thatgoal celebration!!!!

[Toussaint]

1 minute ago, OldNick said:

I personally feel the fanbase overrate the quality of our squad. We have faced most clubs this season who have players more than capable to overcome our so called quality. 

 

I agree, we have quite a few show ponies who are nowhere near prem quality but don’t have the physicality and character required for the championship. Hence the tendency to being flat track bullies.

[bugenhagen]

I agree that a lot of our players are overrated, but if we had a real manager, we would be getting a lot more out of this gang. Sadly, we will never know...

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

22 minutes ago, OldNick said:

I personally feel the fanbase overrate the quality of our squad. We have faced most clubs this season who have players more than capable to overcome our so called quality. 

 

Sorry not having that. On paper the squad is more than good enough for top 6 in the championship. 

However factor in attitude, confidence, shitty coaching and an endless obsession with 5 at the back and you've answered your own question. 

Edited 3 hours ago by JohnnyShearer2.0

[Fabrice29]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

The nonsense of Xg laid bare - how do you score 0.74 of a goal. They could at least round their figures up or down as appropriate.

That’s not nonsense, it’s you not understanding how it’s calculated. Given a penalty is 0.75/0.8 in most models because that’s roughly how many times they are scored you can start working out the logic from there. 

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals form a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

Not sure about ours but they scored from a yard out, so it’s no surprise their XG is higher. 

[St Louis]

4 hours ago, DT said:

Because his heart is not in it and he's bang average. But wait 'til he goes to Wrexham and is suddenly Ronaldo because a) he will get his arse in gear b) he wants all that Hollywood bollocks c) he might have better coaches and certainly a better manager there

Christ.

Tabloid press state that Wrexham want to buy him, and suddenly people say on here that his heart is not in it!? Maybe he does fancy a change (or feel under-appreciated, given we loaned him out last season) but he certainly looked like his heart was in it against the Skates to me, he was closing down and running his socks off all match. On another day he has a goal or two, but I wouldnt say missing those chances (the first was a brilliant save BTW) means his heart isnt in it. His confidence may be a little low after a bit of a drought, but I hate the way this gets changed to 'his heart not being in it' on here.

In his last Championship season for Blackburn he scored 29 goals, he scored 24 goals for us in our promotion season (including the winner at Wembley) and this season he already has 11 (only one player in the whole division has scored more!) I've never understood why we under-appreciate his goals and effort so much.

We also know that he's performed better for us when out wider in a front 3, but this season with Downs being a flop and Stewart only just returning, he's been forced to play through the middle, and he's still delivered. I'd love to see Stewart stay fit and firing as the focal point, with Armstrong drifting behind or wider. And when/if needed, we know he can also do a job up top on his own, as he's done this year (when we play to his strengths), so he's also versatile in a squad.

There arent many better at this level to guarantee goals, and I dont trust we could find or afford better personally. I wouldnt be so hasty to bin him off, be careful what you wish for (Archer, Downs, Brereton Díaz, etc...)

Edited 3 hours ago by St Louis

[SuperSAINT]

1 hour ago, SaintLondon said:

Is mad that there hasn't even been a sniff of an incoming transfer - fair play for keeping it quiet (presuming LeG's source is correct and we're working on two)

Can we bring in one or two prem loans? Any idea? 

[OldNick]

28 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Sorry not having that. On paper the squad is more than good enough for top 6 in the championship. 

However factor in attitude, confidence, shitty coaching and an endless obsession with 5 at the back and you've answered your own question. 

Well on paper they do look good but Ive been to many restaurants where on paper the meal looks wonderful but when it is served it is poor with no flavour.

[Matthew Le God]

4 hours ago, DT said:

Because his heart is not in it and he's bang average. But wait 'til he goes to Wrexham and is suddenly Ronaldo because a) he will get his arse in gear b) he wants all that Hollywood bollocks c) he might have better coaches and certainly a better manager there

Christ.

He is prolific in this league. That isn't 'bang average'.

[saintant]

50 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Sorry not having that. On paper the squad is more than good enough for top 6 in the championship. 

However factor in attitude, confidence, shitty coaching and an endless obsession with 5 at the back and you've answered your own question. 

If you look at how useless our passing is it paints an entirely different picture. Blame it on poor coaching or any number of things but if professional footballers can't make simple passes they are not as good as they're cracked up to be.

[Matthew Le God]

4 hours ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Because he's not very good, seems to have lost his interest in us and he's a useless captain. And that's just off the tip of my tongue. Hope it helps.

He is very good at this level. As his goal record shows.

[Matthew Le God]

4 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Because he misses more chances than he actually scores from. We need somebody more clinical in front of goal. Fed up with him missing chances such as the one on Sunday. 

He is prolific at this level.

[Fabrice29]

32 minutes ago, saintant said:

If you look at how useless our passing is it paints an entirely different picture. Blame it on poor coaching or any number of things but if professional footballers can't make simple passes they are not as good as they're cracked up to be.

Our passing statistics are as good as most in this league fwiw. Possession, pass success, accuracy, creativity, goals scored in open play, whatever pass based metric you want to use.

 

30 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He is prolific at this level.

He's a fascinating player because statistically he has more shots than anyone in the league which means he's wasteful and yet racks up numbers. No player has had more shots on or off target than him. Given the above about our creativity both this season and last time we were in it, I'd suspect his numbers would drop significantly elsewhere which is what happened at WBA.

Anyway, the main reason we shouldn't fear letting him go is he's not got the quality of where we presumably want to be. The main reason we should fear letting him go is replacing him.

Edited 2 hours ago by Fabrice29

[saintant]

Just now, Fabrice29 said:

Our passing statistics are as good as most in this league fwiw. Possession, pass success, accuracy, creativity, goals scored in open play, whatever pass based metric you want to use.

 

He's a fascinating player because statistically he has more shots than anyone in the league which means he's wasteful and yet racks up numbers. No player has had more shots on or off target than him. Given the above about our creativity both this season and last time we were in it, I'd suspect his numbers would drop significantly which is what happened at WBA.

Anyway, the main reason we shouldn't fear letting him go is he's not got the quality of where we presumably want to be. The main reason we should fear letting him go is replacing him.

I don't use those stats - I watch the games and just judge what I see with my own eyes. 

[sambosa75]

4 hours ago, DT said:

Because his heart is not in it and he's bang average. But wait 'til he goes to Wrexham and is suddenly Ronaldo because a) he will get his arse in gear b) he wants all that Hollywood bollocks c) he might have better coaches and certainly a better manager there

Christ.

He scores goals at this level.  Probably always will but he severely limits how a team can play and has more than proved he isn’t capable of the step up in the very unlikely event that we were ever promoted again in the next few years.  Much rather a forward with the raw materials to develop into a decent player capable of managing the step up if given game time to develop.  Assume that was the clubs thought process when buying Downs but he appears to be miles off the required standard.

[Fabrice29]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

I don't use those stats - I watch the games and just judge what I see with my own eyes. 

I know.

[Saint86]

22 minutes ago, saintant said:

If you look at how useless our passing is it paints an entirely different picture. Blame it on poor coaching or any number of things but if professional footballers can't make simple passes they are not as good as they're cracked up to be.

Most of football is tactics, setup, and having a well coached team. We clearly have very good players for this level.

Our tactical setup is absolutely appalling, and the players look lost half the time and completely uncoached for what they're being asked to do at certain points in games... Its massively down to the managerial appointments currently - which are directly influenced by SR, and the type of mangers they want and the style of football they want. 

As for the squad...

I know we've been managed appallingly, but still.. how on earth can people look at our an attacking midfield 3 of fellows/azaz/scienza and not see its one of the best in the leauge? Azaz and fellows are two of the best attacking mids in the champ in recent years. Scienza is better still... Then our striking options - AA and Stewart (when fit) is a very high level of attacking player for the league? AA was the top chance goal/assist player in the entire league 2 seasons ago and is on the for the golden boot. Money boots wrexham are looking at him to fire them to promotion...

Or take the likes of Charles (hands down one of the best young players in the champ over the past 18months), Jander (very impressive young player), and even Downes (top player in our previous promotion season) - all fighting for 2 CM spots - that is again quality for the 2nd tier! 

RB we have bree, roerslev, jelert who are all good options for a promotion chasing side, Roeverslev is a promotion winner, Bree would have been at Luton.

LB is actually our weakest position now imo, and even that has Wellington and Manning, one of which has already won promotion.

CBs are THB (who is a multi promotion winner - once as champion), Stephens (promotion winner), Quarhsie, and Wood... its still a quartet offering experience, ability, and depth - more than enough for a promotion challenge at this level...

Bazunu was a weakness but has moved on, peretz looks better by a good distance as well.

This is a squad filled with previous promotion winners or new talent that arguably exceeds them (scienza, charles, fellows, azaz, jander).

Sadly we have also had managers who's tactical approach and/or coaching or drilling of the side has left a lot to be desired.

Edited 2 hours ago by Saint86

[Wade Garrett]

4 hours ago, Chez said:

Someone that knows their footie stats better than me will need to explain how two one-on-one chances plus the snapshot from the Bree cross equals an xG of 0.90. From those three chances, my expectation would be at least one goal scored, but perhaps the expected goals form a one on one and less than you think.

The skates xG was 1.48 by the way. The observer obviously felt their opportunities were better than ours. 

xG is a load of bollocks.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

51 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Well on paper they do look good but Ive been to many restaurants where on paper the meal looks wonderful but when it is served it is poor with no flavour.

Ok, not sure how you can compare food at restaurants compared to players at football clubs. 

To me stew looks like dogshit at times but can still taste good.

Probably one of the most asinine comparisons ever.

 

[Convict Colony]

18 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

xG is a load of bollocks.

[notnowcato]

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

I personally feel the fanbase overrate the quality of our squad. We have faced most clubs this season who have players more than capable to overcome our so called quality. 

 

Yeah but no club with more quality.

Clearly we lack the minerals to perform consistently.  The cojones to dominate teams for 90 minutes rather than 25.  The balls to turn up week in week out and show the fight that the best Championship clubs have.

[benali-shorts]

46 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Most of football is tactics, setup, and having a well coached team. We clearly have very good players for this level.

Our tactical setup is absolutely appalling, and the players look lost half the time and completely uncoached for what they're being asked to do at certain points in games... Its massively down to the managerial appointments currently - which are directly influenced by SR, and the type of mangers they want and the style of football they want. 

As for the squad...

I know we've been managed appallingly, but still.. how on earth can people look at our an attacking midfield 3 of fellows/azaz/scienza and not see its one of the best in the leauge? Azaz and fellows are two of the best attacking mids in the champ in recent years. Scienza is better still... Then our striking options - AA and Stewart (when fit) is a very high level of attacking player for the league? AA was the top chance goal/assist player in the entire league 2 seasons ago and is on the for the golden boot. Money boots wrexham are looking at him to fire them to promotion...

Or take the likes of Charles (hands down one of the best young players in the champ over the past 18months), Jander (very impressive young player), and even Downes (top player in our previous promotion season) - all fighting for 2 CM spots - that is again quality for the 2nd tier! 

RB we have bree, roerslev, jelert who are all good options for a promotion chasing side, Roeverslev is a promotion winner, Bree would have been at Luton.

LB is actually our weakest position now imo, and even that has Wellington and Manning, one of which has already won promotion.

CBs are THB (who is a multi promotion winner - once as champion), Stephens (promotion winner), Quarhsie, and Wood... its still a quartet offering experience, ability, and depth - more than enough for a promotion challenge at this level...

Bazunu was a weakness but has moved on, peretz looks better by a good distance as well.

This is a squad filled with previous promotion winners or new talent that arguably exceeds them (scienza, charles, fellows, azaz, jander).

Sadly we have also had managers who's tactical approach and/or coaching or drilling of the side has left a lot to be desired.

Couldn't agree more. And I'd add to that the lack of strategy and competent management from the top down (different directors of football, different coaches, different styles, no clear plan) leading to an average stay of, what, 4 months per manager / 'head coach'? This squad should easily be top 6, and certainly capable of competing with Coventry and Boro for automatic promotion. The coaching is feebly formulaic and lacks identity, and the team follows suit. 

[OneMrsWallace]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

He is prolific at this level.

Sorry, I'm not sure I follow your point. Are you suggesting he's prolific at this level? 

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Wurzel said:

I guess they factor in who the chance falls to. Haaland? 2.8  Arma? that's an 0.9 then

not sure they do, do they?