Saint Fan CaM

You say Larin - I raise you Mubama and let’s face it, Larin took sometime to get to mediocre…he’s hardly prolific even now is he?

Don’t think a loan striker is the answer - has to be perm and someone decent who has a point to prove by getting promoted.

I’ve left myself a little time to post a reaction in an attempt at a reasoned view. I’m torn. On the one hand I want to say - it’s one game, don’t panic…there’s plenty more points and there’s no one team moving away from the pack at the top. And anyway, who needs the Prem - surely we’re better off being a big fish in smaller pond? The Championship is where proper competitive football is played. Move on - onto the next game. No need to get too emotional and disappointed. But then we know there are problems. Quality in defence is lacking when Stephens once again is your first choice CB. Quality in attack is lacking when you can’t score against the leagues bottom team and there’s next to no decent shot on goal in the first half. That for some reason there is a propensity for this squad to overplay the ball - to look for the ‘perfect’ goal as one commentator put it or walk it into the net as another said. Trying to be Peps Man City when the quality is not there to execute such tactics against a side willing to put their bodies on the line and commit as many ‘professional’ fouls as they can get away with. Always trying to attack 11 players. That’s on Tonda and his coaching team. To those who say we didn’t replace Stewart I say, yes we did…it’s Mubama. You might say he’s shit, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was employed to be the big lump up front. The problem is Tonda doesn’t trust him enough to start BUT throws him in late to save a game! It’s stupid tactically and makes no sense. On Saturday would it have made any difference to the result if he’d started? Who knows, but I’d hazard a guess it wouldn’t / couldn’t have been any worse. That’s on Tonda and his coaching team. Where does this lead? I guess it appears Tonda and his coaching team are not very good at finding a way of utilising the squad to beat hardworking, lesser skilled, well organised teams. If somehow we don’t go up this season then Tonda will not be answer going forwards - we’ll need a different sort of Manager (someone like the PNE Manager) because we’ll end up with a group of players with a very different profile to those we have now. So enjoy the likes of Scienza and Azaz while we can.

Actually Scienza seems to have forgotten how to pass - two wasted chances when a teammate was free.

Think it’s more about how how he’s being marked and clattered by teams who have worked him out.

Lovely turn from Dobbin - draws a yellow. Then switch off and they fucking score. I don’t understand what the defence shape is. It’s completely unbalanced.

Stephens - WTF?!?!

We’re slowly adapting to the new shape, but it’s not looking good. PNE know how to press us.

PNE appealing for every fucking pen chance they possibly can. Thank fuck the Ref seems decent.

Welington already looking better in defence.

Looks like it’s a shoulder popped out. 😳😩

Oh shit - Schlotterbeck gets a stretcher? Abbot coming on?!?

Can’t get out of our half!

Scienza already making a difference - light years ahead of Edozie.

Not sure what the other top 8 teams are doing at the weekend - can’t be arsed to look. But we do need to win to maintain momentum and keep up with the drive to the top 2. It’s pretty tight in the top 10 or so places, so not winning could mean a slow decline in our position which will be tough to claw back. We should have enough to win convincingly, but it’s the Championship and strange stuff can happen. Should be 0-3 if Manning and Stephens have decent games.