austsaint

Think you deserve a few pats on the back and a few retractions from those who rubbished your long standing support for Sulemana. He was brilliant last night and his performance is a tick for Juric and a colossal fail for Martin who didn’t have the vision, man management or coaching skills to get the best out of the lad. Similar story with Les Ugochukwu; Juric saw and encouraged, in a few days what Martin ignored for half a season.

He should not be on the field. The whole momentum of the game changed on the hour when Smallbone came on. All our attacking threat evaporated, we sat deeper and a shell shocked Man U were invited back in.

Completely agree. Charles was poorly managed by Martin. Just take a line through Will Smallbone, a player Martin placed a lot of faith in while sending SC out on loan. Charles, some 4 or 5 years younger than WS and clearly on an improving trajectory - he can now benefit Saints next season in the Championship or be sold for a reasonable fee; let’s hope it’s the former.

You like Juric too, no?

They can both be influential players next season in the Championship.

One of the tests for Juric (in my mind) will be how quickly he works out that WS should be plying his trade back at Stoke, or Swansea.

Yes, it has to be this. Juric gets the rest of the season to sort out the squad, demonstrate he has the capability to be at a level approaching a Benitez, Bielsa, or a Silva, otherwise he packs his bag at the end of this season and a new Manager is recruited.

Indeed. No one doubts we have a poor squad of players - many of whom lack the Prem quality required. But let’s not forget the crazy dogma of Martin’s game style, and also that he was responsible for many of the poor players recruited, especially after Wilcox left. Juric deserves the rest of this season to straighten this mess out before any judgements are made.

Retaining Charles and offloading Smallbone would be my preference. I can’t see WS fitting into Juric’s set up - even at Championship level.

Might be a good time for you to have a spell. Fernandes, aged 20! Looks like one of the most gifted young players seen in a Saints shirt. Up there with Lavia - and like Lavia has had to get to grips with the Prem in a weak, ill fated team. He will surely progress to another Prem team and represent Portugal in the near future.

I know it’s time to let go of the frustration of the Martin era, but watching Les Ugo and Onuacho today, and the return of an orthodox set up and style of play confirmed the suspicion that Martin misjudged and mismanaged players and didn’t have the wit to see beyond his farcical obsession with possession Football.

He (Martin) did blank him. The minutes v Cardiff (where Bella-Kotchap did well) were quoted by Martin as evidence for prospective buyers that ABK was healthy (after the failed medical) and in the shop window - the game was played in late August - and he wasn’t selected by Martin again. That’s about as “blanked” as you can get!

You’re right about Traore. Seems to play out of his skin against us. Always starred for Wolves v Saints, and nothing has changed.

No, what I was talking about were long Ramsdale clearances initially won by a Fulham player but intercepted or regained by a Saints player high up the pitch.

Glad we didn’t lose the battle for Wellington.

Along similar lines; I noticed that of the many Ramsdale long clearances which didn’t find touch - around half resulted in Saints regaining possession in Fulham’s half.

Yep. If that recent quote is accurate, it reinforces the suspicion that Martin was too quick to judge and overlook players. ABK, Les Ugo, Sulemana, Tall Paul, Taylor, even Cornet strike me as players Martin couldn’t get a tune out of, or wasn’t interested in trying to. I’m expecting several of them to get an opportunity and show improvement now, should they survive the transfer window. One of Martin’s legacies will be the poor judgement he showed in believing players like Smallbone, Stephens, Bazunu and Manning were first choice players.

Good call. Happy to see Sugawara and KWP retaining the wing back roles too, rather than Manning. Dibling was below par today, so a sub role might work better. Depending on the state of the game I’d welcome cameo roles for Tall Pall and Sulemana. Very interested to see if Les Ugo can build on his impressive performance yesterday. Suddenly a bit of interest and anticipation in watching Saints has returned.

Somewhere between that and one of Robert De Niro’s un-hinged characters. I haven’t felt this encouraged about some sort of Saint’s revival since the better days of Ralph….before he hit the wall.

It’s certainly time he did something - Big Ben.

That’s a gem. …”I know, it’s only Danny Rohl, but I like it, like it, yes I do”.

Yes, might be too soon for ABK, even if there is a plan to play him to gauge what he can add or shop window him. Perhaps Airibo on for Lallana after an hour. Even Sulemana on in the second half depending on the state of things. I know he’s been ordinary but he has plenty to play for and there is ability there with a bump of confidence and a different playing style.

Like that team because you’ve got four players who have been frozen out previously, with something to prove. I also like the idea of Downes having more defensive cover in midfield. Let’s just hope for a spirited, aggressive attitude and a more organised defence.

He’s marked your card pretty well.

Yes, the second of your sentences is just as important as the first. There has to be a credible DoF brought in as well as the new Manager. At Prem level Martin was hopelessly exposed. He also demonstrated a dogmatic belief in a fanciful style of Football which has only ever worked at this level with world class players. Team selections, tactics, overrating of pet players and prickly, unauthentic press conferences built an inevitable demise which even a flawed, blinkered Sports Republic could ignore no longer.