Smirking_Saint

A terrible terrible night and genuinely one to forget Bednarek and KWP maybe the only ones with any credit, Brooks looked ok, he tried We have significant depth in many positions but CF and DM we struggle behind Downes and an in form Adams Charles was poor tonight, but not THAT bad, everyone else was misplacing passes too, we just look so weak with Smallbone in the 6, he’s looked lost every time he’s played there Armstrong, unfortunately cannot lead the line, he’s fantastic at RW, but not ST Manning… Ive said it all year, Danny Fox MK II… great on the ball, awful defensively We looked tired though tonight, as we did at the weekend, a big recovery job needed Friday. No need to panic yet, but we need a reaction

This is laughable

I don’t think he’s good enough, and considering this is a forum to discuss the club then yes, Ill happily make my opinion known

Apologies, didn’t realise I couldn’t criticise our lord and saviour

You realise it was for a professional foul right ?

He made two Arguably he was at fault for the cross too He isn’t very good, he’s never been very good He is a reactive defender that suffers from too much nonchalance or lapses in concentration… he absolutely doesn’t fit this system and for one reason or another has never worked in a partnership with Jan

He is fucking useless

Rodrigues wants a word

Funny how some of us suggested at the start of the season that JS was of a lower quality than JB and THB but got thoroughly shot down in flames The armband frankly should never have been passed to him He is.. ok.. but far too many lapses in concentration to be a consistent performer Great back up at this level, but JB/THB would firmly be my partnership

And yet Rotherham were able to steal a point and we just about got away with it against Hull this weekend which in the end is a great result away from home Again Im generally a happy clapper and my posts history on here is exceptionally pro Russell M and Sports Republic especially in light of my links with the club We’re on an excellent run, after a dreadful run… we now need to maintain this consistency

Good win that, certainly not the best performance from us but we ground out the win Starting to out a good sequence of results together

Im a fan of possession based football, and I’m also a fan of teams that have an identity. I used to do a lot of coaching in my youth, so Im always appreciated and ‘geeked out’ over tactics The Russell Martin appointment always intrigued and excited me, but the more this goes on the more this feels like a busted flush… before I get chastised, Im speaking from balance here, Ive always found Im more of an optimist around Saints on here and on twitter, but Im starting to get genuinely concerned. We can argue until the cows come home about ‘time’ and ‘patience’ but at what point do we start to question this ? We look destined for mid table obscurity with arguably the best ‘squad’ in this division, yet, we look like one of the easiest to beat ? Unfortunately if we are waiting on things to click, then things are going to have to click with a real ferocity to salvage this season… or are we assuming we are gearing up for a push next year ? I need to see more then just words, because so far we have one of the most fragile underbelly’s in the league

Was right in line with it, Fraser got there first and got his leg across.. actually looked at first like the linesman gave it, then changed his mind.. odd Ref I thought had a poor game overall, allowed Rotherham to play bully boy tactics and it got worse as the game progressed

One of them, played some good football and if it wasn’t for a great deal of poor luck again we would of won comfortably Despite my restraint though Im really annoyed, we simply play with an arrogance at times that we can pass teams of the park… but we just aren’t positive enough Im not sure the substitutions were that bad, or to blame really. We just never push our ascendency enough, and thats the real difference between the likes of us, Leeds or Leicester. We’re simply, at times, too easy to play against

He should have been the captain from the start

It was genuinely terrible tonight, the only positive was it was slightly better than Leicester and Sunderland… a side note, the referee was horrendous, Ipswich were able to carry out little niggling fouls at will For a possession based team our passing options are terrible.. we look like we don’t want the ball, especially in our own half, its awful No idea how Aribo got the nod tonight, and certainly didn’t convince anybody he is worthy of another Smallbone was largely anonymous again, as was Arma… for a team with such quality centrally we are increasingly powderpuff there It felt like we have now wrecked Shea’s confidence.. no reason why he should have started at CB again tonight, it should have been Bednarek who was excellent when he came on We’re too easy to play against basically, and Ipswich played EXACTLY as I said they would and low and behold we lost, we have one of the best squads in the league and we’re wasting it propping up Martins stubborn ego

Why on earth would you drop Charles ?

I think we need to line up like this, Charles simply HAS to start in defensive midfield for me, we just look far too soft without him in there Smallbone had a poor game against Leicester but Im hoping we have more control Tuesday and can see the best of him If Bednarek isn’t fit then unfortunately I think Id rather see Holgate at CB then weaken our midfield any further I think Im also tired of the Arma at 10 experiment… I think he’s better coming from the left, and can help cover Mannings lack of defensive awareness Simply put.. we HAVE to see a huge improvement on the last 180 mins of football, primarily defensively.. if we are wide open again then serious questions on RMs systems have to be asked… offensively and in possession I do think we are fine, but it mean’s absolutely nothing when we give up so meekly when we concede possession

I mean… lets not put words in my mouth, Im not admitting Im wrong as I don’t think I am It was a pretty decent window with everything considered and we have one of the best squads in the division Our issues imo are largely tactical around team shape and defensive structure, not necessarily personnel

Ive just seen this and your responses Im sorry to hear this Whitey, I hope whatever happens will be as easy as it could possibly be for you and your family

Probably won’t Tuesday either

If they have any sense they’ll sit high on us, and if we manage to progress they’ll just leave a couple high and wide… we’ll overplay in the wrong position and be 2 goals down by halftime

We’ll have to stick Smallbone at 6… or Holgate at CB… so not sure it is really

Im not writing off Smallbone, I think he is a clever player but his attributes really are just passing the ball and offering passing options, unfortunately he wasn’t much good last night at offering enough options, infact he basically ran from SC for the first goal (being hyper critical) He just isn’t good at being combative at all, Ive never seen him be able to effectively play in any defensive way, which is why I don’t see him being an effective 6 at all When we’re in possession and things are going well he’s great, when they aren’t and we need to get stuck in then he isn’t.. and thats the problem My ideal midfield would be Charles and Downes with probably Alcaraz in front of him because those three are IMO more adaptable

Because there’s more too it than that Declan Rice, Odegaard, Mason Mount and Jude Bellingham are all CMs but play in very different ways