Gloucester Saint

Something else to look forward to then. Given Martin’s Norwich connections, their fans will dish it out at him if Ipswich are 3/4/5 goals ahead. Could be worse than the flak Jones took from Forest fans given his prior run-ins when you factor in the East Anglian factor. Coulc be a painful last game for Russell if he hasn’t achieved a massive improvement in midfield and scrapped the inverted fullback nonsense.

1-3 Ipswich. Their counter-attacking style will be perfect for picking off Martin’s suicide tactics. Lose this one and Martin’s job is in real jeopardy. It isn’t must win but certainly mustn’t lose and a 0-0, 1-0, or 1-1 would help reassure people that he has some sort of clue on how to coach and buy him a few more games to show he can adapt. I just think Saints are an experiment for him though and he won’t change. Hence I give him a month absolute tops. Personally, I’d part company now. It’s as obvious as it was with Nathan Jones that it isn’t going to work and the level of disorganisation since the Sheffield Wednesday game is as bad as the Forest/Wolves games.

There’s going to be a new manager thread if he doesn’t instil some basic level football organisation and discipline imminently. Another heavy defeat tonight and he is serious danger of being gone within a couple of weeks. Dragan cannot be satisfied. He’s made the same mistakes in having a wide open midfield as he did for Norwich and Sunderland. He might sound brighter than Nathan Jones but the same shambles and chaos is evident. OK - this is getting worse and worse. Maybe for the best if it’s a 0-6 and a change simply has to be made this weekend. An experienced manager this time please and one who can mine the free agent keeper market.

If this doesn’t improve rapidly, and we concede 3 or 4, Russell Martin is under some significant pressure already. Nice bloke but out of his depth at the moment. That’s the third time he’s got the line up wrong after Norwich and Sunderland debacles where the midfield is far too open. I think bring in a defensive coach if they want to keep him in the job. He’s starting to lose the fans already though going by what’s audible in the stands.

Even semi-retired is a generous description if you’ve read his book (got it for a quid on Kindle). The club has a reputation for clever recruitment but really that’s based on short periods eg late 90s, early 2000s (Terry Cooper), and Paul Mitchell working with Poch and Ronald mid-2010s with the odd standout moment eg Lavia, which has been wiped out in part by Onachu, Orsic etc. Recruitment was good 2009-12 but then we had a bigger budget comparatively which helps. Throughout the 90s it was crap, wasted so much on Dixon, Speedie, Hurlock’s contract, only really Kenny Monkou and then Pahars and Beattie towards the end of the decade who were good. 2003 thought they’d cracked it and went cheap and nasty refusing to back WGS with quality, preferring Norwich fringe players, same again after 2016 with refusing to pay over £17m when the market changed. All clubs have hit and miss on recruitment but I’m not sure the club’s strong reputation and own self-congratulation on recruitment is entirely justified.

The Ice House in Shirley Warren was where some of my extended maternal family saw to it that Boxing Day lived up to its name. Dockers will be dockers. London Arms in Woolston was rough as a badgers arse - friend did stand up in there once and a small group of NF lads were heckling at the back, one of the best out-downs ever when one of them was going to the bog ‘I hope you’re taking a pig as an air freshener’. Nearly caused a riot when the vast bulk of the audience were laughing at it! Target in Sholing had plenty of issues and part of the concrete jungle of Antelope Park (along with that UBM/Jewson tower which became scruffy - now the Range). Bullseye had its moments. One of my old neighbours lost his front tooth over an argument about the pool table at the Merryoak.

Onachu sees the club take a bath. So much wasted on him and Carrillo, for c15 appearances, 0 goals, one assist. To prop up the two worst managers in the club’s history who were finally dispatched within a month or so. Branfoot is now into the third worst ever - how much of a business disaster has the club been post-2017? The USA lad reminds me of when Saints signed Kenwyne Jones from T&T - signed as an exceptional athlete who could be developed to play anywhere in the spine.

I think Downes will get his foot in, just suffering a bit physically after the food incident. Two weeks now to pack in the protein to restore what was lost and get some of his stamina back. Steak for lunch at Staplewood and lots of protein shakes. Smallbone needs to go on a similar regime but for the whole season. Looks like the club feed him on millet. If he does play in the PL in the future again, Rodri or Rice will only need to fart to shrug him off. A gust of wind off the Itchen even. Alcaraz is developing the stocky build to compete a bit more but learning the positional awareness, expectation to track runners (if he wants to play for City/Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea that’s what will expected there) is a work in progress. Good attitude though and a potential diamond. The best build for this level is Charles, and he will mix it. Back to relying on a talented 19 year old DMC which is a huge risk over a 46 game season. The thought gives me chills but hasn’t Holgate played in DMC for Everton? Might keep him away from CB positions!

Priority 1 - clean sheet Objective 1 - Select Charles and Downes as automatic CM selections, Alcaraz or Smallbone as the more offensively minded midfielder but still helping the other two out when we are under the pump. Objective 2 - Russell Martin to meet with Dean Hammond to watch through and discuss some of the games from 2011/12 where the CMs were Hammond, Morgan, Cork (thank you S Clarke!) and a wide midfielder in Chaplow who also worked very hard both ways. Lallana was the only genuine free spirit but produced the assists and goals. Actually, he did help out Fox tbf but was often freed up if Nigel was chasing a game eg Burnley away. It’ll help him understand the types of characters and level of solidity needed at this level. Yet to be convinced that he understands that yet. Objective 3 - the two wide players/forwards need clear instructions to cut in and run at Leicester’s glacial centre backs at every opportunity, Che needs to start as a focal point to feed off. Priority 1000 - possession stats and being nice to watch. Set up dry and if it is a pig ugly 1-0 win as per the spring, I’ll be happy and so will 30k others, Sunderland forgotten. Same again for next two games. Footballing Imodium to stop the diarrhoea.

If you’re talking about Ronald, Poch, Nigel, Pards and early Ralph in recent times, WGS further back, I agree with you. When the manager is Pellegrino, Nathan Jones, or Ralph post-March 2021 then no, because that how you end up with Onachu, Carrillo etc and tens of millions down the drain. As for Djenepo, great start with those two solo goals but struggled with fitness and any sort of consistency since, although the club has been a bin fire over the last 18 months where you needed to be a Lavia calibre player not to be dragged into the football gutter. Good luck to him, always put in a shift unlike most of the players in his era at the club.

Good point on JV, RM needs to be looking at ways of ensuring AA is left one on one with JV as often as possible. That could happen if Che is up for it and occupies the other CB

I was at a stag weekend in Norwich and was at that one. The normally more placid Norwich fans gave the team and the board hell, two fans were banned for throwing their season tickets at Gunn in the dugout. The atmosphere will turn toxic v Leicester if there’s further repeats of yesterday and with the internationals there’s no time to get an experienced coach in to get the back four and midfield organised because I’m losing confidence in Martin to do it. Just the basics. Norwich made some swift changes which transformed them. Firstly, Paul Lambert was Colchester manager and they moved for him. Gunn had bought an Australian keeper who made Bazanu look like Gordon Banks. They paid off his contract. Ostemebor played the Holgate performance and was frozen out, eventually coming to Saints for a few games after Norwich also paid him up. If the next couple of games are showing the side as equally disorganised and open, then it’s either someone like Pulis as a short-term mentor to help Russell organise and tighten up off the ball during the week, or it’s goodbye. I can’t see SR sitting on their hands after the Jones debacle.

In the next three games, the overriding priority has to be a clean sheet. Track the runners properly, reduce the crosses coming in and become much harder to beat. If we nick a goal somewhere for a 1-0 win, even better but the priority is to play dry. If the club needs to get a Winterburn or Dixon figure in short-term to get the back 4/5 tightly and systematically organised for the rest of the season then do it, worth every penny. At the moment, the level of disorganisation and chaos is moronic to not learn from and fix. Basics like closing down for the second goal yesterday, last week QPR and Colbeck, Sara v Norwich. Close the space down quicker. It’s just laziness early on in the game when everyone should fresh. Bazanu was guilty of it on the first goal yesterday too, that’s his ball, get to it first and if their striker is off on a stretcher because you clean him out, that’s how it is. As long you clearly get the ball first, it ain’t a foul. The number of crosses just allowed in with no effort whatsoever to close down (Sheffield Weds it was an issue second half, Norwich’s opener, Plymouth and yesterday x2) has been going on since Ralph lost the plot. Pochettino double sessions and pure drilling/practice will instil the right habits. The possession football is fine but always has to be built upon two basics - win the midfield in the first 30 minutes and ensuring the defence is screened. The nice stuff can come only after that. Pep expects Rodri to dominate his battles and at present, Wilcox has to put his foot down about Downes and Charles, when fit, are automatic XI selections. Alcaraz or Smallbone can be the luxury more offensive CM. As fans, we expect to see a much higher work rate in the next few games, closing spaces and better positional awareness. Do the basics well, get a foothold in the game and then we can pass teams to death in the last 30 minutes with cutting edge from the strong bench option against a worn opposition. City did it several times at SMS when Saints were on a good run. I don’t want to keep sacking managers but Russell is learning the hard way with the dreadful goals conceded, and going dry for a few games would be a very good idea, a few clean sheets and build a platform to be more progressive from there. Leicester is huge game and a clean sheet would help ease any concerns the owners may have about poor organisation and training.

It’s a big September for him, and I think Wilcox watching on Sky will be saying on Monday ‘Russell, this is part of a tough run now, it’s going to be THB-Downes-Charles-Adams as a spine. Pick who you want around that’. Empathy with Holgate, the manager has thrown him under the bus with that midfield and it’s not helping Bazanu either. He needs to own this defeat, shore it up to avoid it being 5 or 6 to destroy the season and bring some professionalism to his tactics to know when to be open and when to nick a 1-0 at Elland Rd on the counter. He’s got arguably the best squad at this level, yesterday was clearly disruptive and Mowbray is running rings round him as a result. He can overcome today but must learn from this and the Norwich game to tighten the midfield, limit the crosses and long range shots coming in and screen the back four. If there are a couple more defeats like this during September where the level of disorganisation and lack of structure are so evident, he will be under significant pressure if Wilcox and the board don’t believe he can learn, adapt and adjust. His squad now. Let’s see what he’s made of.

Been one of the better posters on here over the years

That’s because he’s doing his job, Stu’s and some of Smallbone’s. Martin hasn’t learned from the poor set up v Norwich where the midfield was left far too open for the attacking qualities of Sara and Rowe. Same again today, clearly a Downes and Charles type of game. By all means go more open for the sides in the bottom half. All not lost as some transformative players on the bench but a mountain to climb. Poor tactically here and has to improve.

820000 new jobs created and sustained since he took office, deficit reduced by 350bn since inheriting huge debt from Trump and projected to be 1tn by the election. He’s also stood up to Putin on Ukraine because Vladimir doesn’t have dirt on him unlike Donnie. He got a bi-partisan infrastructure package post-Covid for 1.2tn through the Houses to kick start growth and that’s why the unemployment rolls are the lowest since 1969. He’s also recommitted America to being part of the world’s efforts to tackle climate change. Oh, and talking about how what you support reflects upon you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump Not some crazy fabricated QAnon shit about pizza joints and basements with all the credibility of a chain letter. Simply what the Orange fascist has been doing and saying since 1973. We won’t even go into the comments on public record about injecting bleach to kill Covid https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52407177

If it’s either of those two, it won’t be before Friday as Aberdeen have a second leg European game v Hacken Thursday night (on BBC iPlayer)

Exactly, pick him up in January to add firepower, like we did with Billy Sharp who also had a bad injury in the August 2011 window. If Che does go this week what we need first is our ‘Lambert’ eg main striker fit and ready now. We are playing too many promotion rivals in September and October to risk throwing points away in.

Seems the toxic paints and materials in the old East Stand at the Dell might have not been healthy for the brains of some Boomers

Suella outclassed, outwitted and humiliated on Sky News this morning https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/editors-picks and then taken apart by Richard Madeley after that https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1806675/Richard-Madeley-Suella-Braverman-clash A lot of rumours she is being sacked next week and too much smoke for her not to be fired - although some reservations about how much shit she’ll fling from her backbench cage egged on by the loony ERG and swivel-eyed shire membership. Good - every soundbite from her is worth 10 extra seats to Labour or the Lib Dem’s at the next GE. She’s actually surpassed Boris, Liam Fox and Grayling as the worst ever cabinet minster.

VVD lost some of his recovery pace in that ACL incident with Pickford. Still a good PL CB but not the top drawer one that he used to be. Been on the decline for a while. Liverpool shocked as so many people outside major conurbations support them or Man U that Stockley Park wouldn’t bail them out this time.

Yep, would be a idiot purchase on par with buying Boufal with a major injury. If he’s fit in January, looks his former self and hasn’t signed a new contract then move for him in January if Adams’s replacement isn’t scoring 1 every 2 games by then to give them more competition. Be even cheaper then too. A bit like we did with Billy Sharp in 2011/12, he got a bad injury opening day for Doncaster but was fit and firing by the next transfer window. It’s the sort of stupid transfer we’ve seen before from Saints but you hope Wilcox has a bit more intelligence. No, they have to be fully fit now and able to hit the ground running.

Thierry Small might need to go out on loan sharpish - plenty of beef from a challenge by him on Miovski in St Mirren v Aberdeen last season.

Somebody posted earlier who seemed vaguely ITK that Djenepo believe it or not has a few clubs keen to sign him. Don’t know whether loan or perm. Can’t see him getting much of a look in with Russell Martin and moron decision by the club with last season’s extension. Sulemana - who knows, get a sense he wants to go but was expensive and nobody wants to commit break even money (£22m or so). So he ought to get fit and get his head down and make a huge impact in the Championship. If he doesn’t and someone offers a deal washing the club’s face then there would need to be at least one new wide player with a bit towards the new striker if Che goes to stretch the budget. Maybe two if Mara is loaned out. I again can’t see Mara fitting the detailed way RM wants to play. The first team badly lacks goals with Tella going and Adams very likely. Can’t rely on a loan option to get a 25 goal striker. AA decent so far but I think RM wants him just off the main striker.