saintant

Think it's first time we've lost 6 in a row at home.

Think we'll win a couple of those home games and pick up 2-3 draws so another 8 or 9 points will get us over the line.

What does this mean?

Would love some rumours that we are in for a couple of big, strong, athletic, mobile midfielders who get their foot in, know how to break up play and do the simple stuff because we are constantly getting bullied and out muscled in every game. I hope IJ is looking to address this - too many small, slight weaklings is never going to get you far in the elite league.

I guess if you want to emphasise how bad we've been this season then 16 goals scored and 53 conceded in 23 games speaks volumes.

For what it's worth I totally agree with you that 4231 is the way to go and have been banging that drum for ages.

I agree apart from you saying 'go back to'. When did we ever play this formation before?

Martin had a full preseason with players he'd managed the season before. Juric inherited an unfit squad drilled into playing walking, keep-ball football and suicidal passing out from our own penalty area. I remain unconvinced that our desperately poor performances are not the result of the shortcomings and vanity project of the previous manager.

Juric has a tough task and I think he is doing a lot of things well and improving us despite the continuation of poor results. However, I'm not convinced about playing with a back 5 and we are doing it very badly. A back five should never part like the Red Sea and allow an opponent to waltz unchallenged through the middle to score - it happened twice yesterday and will carry on happening unless we are better drilled. The 3rd goal was a complete joke because THB and Bednarek were miles apart and I don't even know where Bree was. In addition we are still failing to close down, mark players or put in tackles when opponents attack - this is basic stuff and an unfortunate carry over from the previous manager but IJ must drill the players to carry out these basics. We cannot continue to ship 3 goals every game. I'd like to see him try 4231 which is what most sides play these days. THB is never happy in a back 5.

Shouldn't be that difficult 🙂

Do they have any key players with injuries? 🙂

Thanks for your service 🙂

Maybe reading between the lines we've agreed to sell him to Newcastle 🙂

Why are you mentioning world football? Our transfers can only be compared with our peers in the Premier League and, in that sphere, we can be classed as poor.

So you don't think staged payments are to the advantage of the richest clubs and to the detriment of poor clubs like us then? Ok 🙂

Therein lies the problem - we all know it will not be a lump sum but stage payments.

We used to have a very good home record against these but not since Eddie Howe went there. Time to change that and get a much needed victory. We still owe them for the time under Covid they pulled the player shortage card so let's make Saturday pay-back time.

Looks to be a younger version of Lallana so potential to be a good signing who, if he comes, could learn a fair bit from training alongside Adam.

Agree - we've already seen with Sulemana, Big Les and Tall Paul that Russball prevented us from seeing the best of players and also restricted their chances.

Could this be connected to the fact that Rishi Sunak is a Saints fan?

Forest fan saying Tall Paul gave them more problems than any other centre forward this season. Said they are always confident to let crosses into their box but today they couldn't deal with TP because of his size.

Doesn't matter - it came as a result of a corner to the near post flicked on by Dibling.

They had that coming. No more best buddy with players and rightly so. RM treated the players like his best mates and the training ground like a place to have a laugh. Juric will soon make his mind up who is with him and those that aren't can do one. The days of being told they're so brave are over so some home truths might come as a shock but the little flowers are paid a lot of money and need to start earning it.

In his defence he was clearly indicating to Downes that a better pass was on but for whatever reason he was ignored and put under pressure - Downes has not been the same player since RM left so better to leave him out if his heart is not in it.

Funny how, with new coaches, we suddenly look much more dangerous from corners. We've scored twice from them in our last two games plus Bednarek had his late header cleared off the line. What did RM and his coaches do on the training ground? I think it must have been a couple of quick sprints, a jumpers for goalposts kick about for ten minutes then a collective laugh and a joke - that's on the few days they actually went in.