Galway saint

so our no 1 is saints worst keeper in years/decades and our no 2 is QPRs worst keeper in years - fucking great ! you could lot make it up. we should get rid of whoever is in charge of recruitment…

I’d like to think Fraser will stay but maybe that depends on RM’s future ? Would I take another season of RM if we could keep fraser ? Tough one….

This thread is now 41 pages for a single player which of itself shows how long the debate has been running. It’s all been said before but I feel after Monday we will a see a change in goal on Saturday. We have to stop shipping goals at the current rate and Baz isn’t up to it so with automatic promotion gone I think they will try and bed in Lumley ready for the playoffs. If he can drop KWP then he can drop Baz.

he’s ok if it’s close to him ( the save at preston was a good one) because he can rely on his reflexes but anything low to his left is a real problem. it’s been like that for a while now and doesn’t seem to be getting any better really. the position he took for the first was also odd as he seems to be crouching down rather than extending his frame.

we’ve conceded 22 goals in the last ten games, if my maths is correct - that’s pretty abysmal and we need to address that if we want to go up. should also have kept fraser on today as he is so effective and gets us up the pitch at pace forgot we spent £10million on Edozie until the commentator reminded me. Along with Charles, Larios, Bazunu that’s some business Man City did.

That’s unusual to single him out. The second was as bad in my view. Can’t make my mind up for the first. You shouldn’t be beaten from there from that angle unless its a wonder strike. Not sure it was but will give him the benefit of the doubt. Think the club need to honest with itself that this isn’t working and it’s hasn’t worked for the best part of nearly two seasons now. The rest of the regular season should be used to bed in Lumley and get him used to the way Martin wants to play ahead of the play offs. There is no point agonising over the defence and working on defensive drills when any half decent shot is going in. I accept the defence is at fault for the third and one of them should have blocked it but if I was a defender in that team I’d be looking at my keeper and saying he needs to do better when i’ve ran my legs off for 97 minutes and we’re down to ten men. If we can play that well and still lose that’s crushing for any side and we need to replace him as with a decent keeper we would have won that

I thought we played well and were the better side. The subs again made us weaker but with a decent keeper we win that game. Id like to see Lumley given a go for a few games going into the play offs as at the moment it feels like any half decent shot is a goal.

how can we be so in control of a match and then up hanging on with ten men

yes he should have saved the second will have another look at the first you have very low expectations of what a keeper should be doing at this level

totally dominant and very good but only one goal up should be two as we shouldn’t have conceded that

brilliant football

classic bazanu

what position is stephen’s playing ? he’s just been our most advanced player

we’re not going up automatically but i’m interested to see how we do here as ipswich are the sort of team who could tear us a new one with their counter attacking pace down the wings and our propensity for leaving massive gaps behind the FBs hopefully fraser starts and puts them on the back foot - he’s such an important player for us

he persists because he cost us £20million plus and we are hoping at some point he will come good so we don’t have to write off the investment. its the same reason he persists with Bazunu despite his failings we really have bought some mediocre players; it’s the loans that have saved us but they won’t be here next year if we don’t go up, albeit am optimistic Fraser will stay regardless.

‘ok’ is about right. it’s a valid question about what Russball can achieve. in his defence he hasn’t been given a proper striker at number 9 but i feel this season is his best chance as next will be a very different team. i dont see why we can’t win the play offs but our form since February has been very ordinary. when was the last time we had proper control in a game ? maybe west brom. it’s crazy really given the amount of possession but it reflects the fact that we are very vulnerable without the ball. maybe that’s down to the 4-3-3 he plays.

I agree with a lot this. He‘s far too dogmatic if we go up his approach will see us getting walloped and if we don’t go up I can’t see him doing better next year with a weaker squad his sides concede too many goals and don’t capitalise on the enormous possession they enjoy

we are out of it after today to have any chance we would need to stop conceding goals and we show no signs of doing so

ipswich have won so that’s that. no team has a right to automatic promotion and this season is exceptional but to not even be in the mix for the last 8 games or so is pretty shit

we have lots of possession but concede far too many goals so that tells it’s own story. we are poor without the ball and RM doesn’t appear able to improve that

what about if we go up and they sack him ? what can we infer from that ?

Average goals conceded during RM’s managerial career : Mk dons : 1.40 swansea : 1.49 Saints :1.32 So not much difference really despite having much better players to work with. I agree he seems to view this as a price worth paying for the possession based game. Major difference from his previous teams is goals scored is now 2 per game

it’s so dreary watching them. how can a team with foden, rice and bellingham be so flat and unimaginative. he’s had two years since the WC to find a replacement for Maguire yet we are heading into the euros with him still playing the stockport v mk dons game was more engaging

some great advice there my tip would not to leave massive gaps behind our full backs when they counter attack at pace down the wings

80% ball retention and our goals conceded suggests we need to be a lot better without the ball