S-Clarke

I expected around five at this stage from both Armstrong and Archer, not ground breaking numbers by any means but even that would have probably put us closer to the pack. I naively thought we'd discovered the best way to use Armstrong, he was coming into this season on the back of 25 goals and with the same managers/coaches who got that out of him, so I think most would have expected more than 2 at this stage tbh. I also expected goals from BBD, not ground breaking numbers either but enough to at least put us in the pack. I'm not saying any of these guys are any good, but I still thought they were a tiny notch better than this.

I don't think people are against Dragan, he's put his money where his mouth is. The issue we all have is the management of said funds and how it's been used. That's on SR as an organisation and their 'plan', which I don't think anyone really knows. Everything they have touched has gone south from the moment they gained real control. Staff turnover is huge as retention seems to be difficult. Recruitment has been an unmitigated disaster and we have financially lost so much money. The only people we can point at is the organisation running the club up to this point, which is Sports Republic. The slight positive is that Dragan has now stepped in himself to oversee much more closely so we'll see if things improve.

I think Wolves will pick up enough between now and the end, but it will be close for them. I see them as the only team involved from the rest of the pack though, it'll be quite an isolated relegation battle. Personally I think it'll be Ipswich, Leicester and ourselves down as once again the 3 promoted go down.

Do we have the players in CM to be able to protect against transition at this level though? I don't think we do. Downes is too slow, Lesley is incredibly erratic, Aribo is a lower league footballer and so is Smallbone. The recruitment in the summer was a mess and we are totally under prepared for this level. That's on Martin as he wanted to build a team of his lower league mates. It'll be interesting to see what/if we do in the final week to mitigate the big midfield hole we have. (and CB hole, and wide attacking hole, and ST hole etc etc)

Just to emphasise that even further, Jan Bednarek is joint top scorer with 2 goals - alongside Aribo, Tyler, Archer and Armstrong. I think even the most negative of Saints fans expected better returns than that.

I trade you Alan Bennett, quite possibly the worst CB I've ever seen play for us.

Yep that was a terrible feeling, but oh I long for the days where we actually compete to stay up like that year! I think the worst feeling I had was Ibra in the final, we'd done everything right in that 2nd half, we were perfect in so many ways - as good as we'd played under Puel. That last goal was so inventible though, I think it came from one of our efforts being cleared off the line. We didn't really create anything in the final few mins, totally defeated us. That was our chance to win something and it took me a little while to forget that one.

I think Martin smuggled him out of the door with him, they're probably cosied up most nights watching Netflix.

I'd argue that Sam AA hasn't had anywhere near enough opportunity for a club who bide it's self on providing a pathway. I don't know why. In the brief times we've seen him (back end of our last PL stint) he looked ready, but I don't know what it is. Even if he's not ready for PL football, putting him in place of Armstrong isn't really an issue as Armstrong isn't ready and never will be ready for PL football. We'd have been better off giving him more mins in my eyes. If anything SR could look to recoup more $$$ if he looks decent, as that's their model at the end of the day.

He's another odd player, similar vein to Lesley. In the same game, sometimes within the same 30min period, he can look decent with a tight touch, yet the next second looks like a pub footballer and lumbering mess. If Paul doesn't score then there's nothing else to his game. He's obviously very big and strong, but I think decent defenders will always have his number. For a guy of his size he doesn't win much in the air as his timing is all wrong. You can see why he'd do well in much lesser leagues, he can bully CB's at those levels and he has a bit more time. At a higher level though he's nothing.

How have you come to that opinion though? Don't get me wrong, the club have made a cluster fuck of nearly every single thing they've touched, but I think it's very, very hard to have a fair assessment of this change when the feeling of losing every week is there. We haven't had an opportunity to 'create' a wall of sound to see us over the line in the later parts, because we're never in a position to be seen over the line - the game is always long gone by then.

I think that's a fair view. We look to have more of a structure and plan to us under Juric, from the limited sample we have - but ultimately he is always going to be let down by the level of player he has available in relation to the level we're at. I don't deny that they're trying, certainly after the Brentford game, but the lack of ability/quality is so glaring when up against even the most mid-table of PL sides - there's only so much you can do. I don't think shoehorning 3 at the back is working though, when we have a squad as limited as we have I think there's an argument to keep it as simple as possible.

Sorry, I realise I must have overreacted at us losing 19 of 23 games of top flight football. Easy to turn that around for sure, my mistake.

It hasn't been too bad at all in my eyes/ears. But it is hard to truly judge it when all we do is lose games of football at our home ground. But based on what we've seen I think us fans have all been hero's this year and the club should fricking well reimburse us all in some way, I'm being serious too.

Last time we were miles better than this outfit. We have played 23 games and have 6 points. The worst ever at this stage. We will be the worst ever PL team. That is a huge hangover, losing every week doesn't just 'vanish' from a players mind with a change of manager in the summer. I'll be really surprised if it's anything other than a big old slog next season. I don't think you can underestimate what a season like this can do to players, coaches, clubs etc. How we went down last time and how Sheff U went down are different stories. We won't even get near 20 points.

The 3 at the back with one right back in centre back seems a bit bonkers. Bree isn't good enough as a RB at this level, let alone a right sided CB. Shouldn't be on the bench for a competitive PL side. I really don't get the fixation with 3 at the back when there aren't the players to do it. 3 at the back works when you have mobility in the middle and pace with at least one of the centre backs. All of our centre backs are slow as shit and we are about as immobile as a tanker in the midfield. It also helps if you have attacking pace to stretch the game and we don't have that either. Sometimes there is merit in 'keeping it simple stupid' when the players you have available are so, so , so limited. Les is a really odd player, no middle ground from him. He can look good, then he looks like a fan trying to play football - quite often during the same game.

I feel totally lost with this team, even more so than our season under Wotte and co. It was pretty miserable but it still felt like football and there was 'something' to hope for. This is just shit, the entire place just feels dead. The players use us as a temp stop over, so we never have a chance of building a team anymore. I don't know what the future holds. There's no way we compete in the Championship next season, no matter what anyone says. The club will take some time to recover from the absolute shambles of having a 'season off' of professional football. I see us heading into Stoke and Swansea territory at lightning speed and becoming an absolutley nothing Championship side.

If we can get our money back on him then happy days. He was ok at the level below, but not really spectacular. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. There are plenty of better players than Aribo out there.

I don't have a problem with Ivan at all, but he's into a lost cause really. What baffles me more than anything is that the club have once again completely changed tact. We went from high press Ralph to a more dogmatic and defensive Jones (long ball really). We went from a dogmatic Jones to a pass, pass, pass Martin and built a squad for that purpose. We've now gone 360 back to high press again and revisiting what we already had under Ralph, but with the wrong sort of players as we replaced them with passers. It feels a bit like pin the tail on the donkey with these SR guys, see what sticks. My hunch is that a high press/in your face style does work better for 'lesser' teams, when lesser teams try to out football the better side it never works and I don't know why we thought Martin would be any different.

I wouldn't say he ever came with a big rep, maybe people were a little optimistic based on the handful of goals he scored for Sheff U, but he didn't have a big rep and was ultimately an almighty flop in Spain. My personal view on BBD is that he was the wrong player for us, he didn't suit a passing style which is why he always looked like a rabbit in headlights. Awful touch and awful mobility which meant he was pretty much null and void in a team which needed legs to stretch the game, in the occasional moments we decided to put the ball forward. He will be a good player at the right club, but that wasn't us. The decision making in the summer was bizarre though, I'm not sure what we expect as a club by signing the two forwards from the 20th team from the previous year.

Second half was much better with Les in the middle and Armstrong out of the game, Downes is just a yard or 10 off the pace at this level and Armstrong just cannot hack it. The difference physicality and power makes in the PL is there to see. Damage was done though, they rallied a bit, but at the end of the day it's another loss and it's groundhog day in the main.

VAR saves Ramsdales blushes. Not that it matters.

That reprieve lasted longer than I thought. I guess this now counts as yet another thrashing.

I'd say the entirety of the team are. Even last season they were shown up in moments, heads dropping and wilting when the going gets tough. Their somewhat limited quality may squeaked them over the line last season, but you need more than that at PL level. I'd be inclined to start completely afresh and get as much $$ as we can for every single one of these players in the summer. They've shown they're all incapable at this level, some have had multiple stabs at it, so there is no point in keeping them around if our ambition is to somehow establish in the PL.

I'd say a good % of their fans, just have a read up on their views on him. He was hated up there, lumbered them with a load of crap. He may be pulling off some good things at Forest, but like others have said that doesn't automatically abstain him from his time here - where he quite frankly started our decline and financially handcuffed us with players like Elyounoussi, Vestergaard and Carillo to name a few.