saintscottofthenortham

A staggering number of our fans really need a wake up call, hey? We've managed to waste the entire World Cup break and our easiest run of the entire season, on Nathan Jones. As a result, we're now an almost impossible proposition to try and sell to an even remotely respectable manager. The damage is done. The first serious knife wound was Forest at home and we've been defenceless to every fatal blow since. If we'd have won yesterday, we would still have had an enormous task at hand. That was the final nail in our coffin. We're done. Accept. Reset.

Does this read to anyone else as though we already have a replacement lined up? "First Team Lead Coach Rubén Sellés will take charge of training and prepare the team ahead of next weekend’s game against Chelsea." If we didn't, you'd expect this to read that Selles is taking on duties on an interim basis, which would leave it open ended for him to take any matches necessary until a replacement.

Better unashamedly late, than never. Unfortunately the damage is done and we're a significantly less attractive proposition to any potential gaffers now. A lot of lessons in this for SR, though. How I hope they take heed of them. A relief, at last.

Yep. That about summed up our last half hour.

AMN was "okay" in a fucking diabolical back line. Doesn't change the fact he should be nowhere near this team, let alone at CB.

He actually did do that.

Went to the game... Still not sure what I watched has sunk in. I thought I'd take time to calm it down, rather than let it out whilst boiling over. However, I think I've been on a solid simmer since. The first 45 minutes were ideal, even prior to Lemina's red... However, that back line he put out there today, be it a two, three, four, five or six... Whatever the f*** that was meant to be, was absolutely suicidal. At the end of the day, we've given Wolves three sniffs at goal, we conceded from two and they probably should've done better for the third. How he can look at us and think we are a stronger, "more aggressive" defensive unit with Jan f******* Bednarek in the middle of it, is beyond words. How he can then think it logical to throw AMN into that back line, is just a testament as to what a shocking situation we're in. AMN didn't do anything particularly wrong, and in fact, next to Bednarek, he looked okay... But it's little wonder the few sniffs they got resulted how they did. It was an utter madness. We were in total control of the game, stemming from a fierce high press and it was working perfectly, but there were warning signs there from the start as every time Wolves got the ball forward, they were cutting through us with ease and we were especially susceptible down their right wing, which on paper looked the stronger side of our back line. Perraud done well coming forward today, but between he and Sali they never looked comfortable. One moment they managed to create a half(ish) chance with a ball over the top to absolutely nobody, Bednarek was nearside to the ball and his closest man was a good 12-15ft the other side of him, and he STILL managed to get beaten to the ball. Quite what happened around the 60 minute mark, beyond me. It looked to me like we were screaming out for fresh legs, but they just didn't come. I don't think it was that that cost us though, as it very much felt like a desired change in impetus, where we looked to sit back on it. Lethal at just 1-0 with so long to go and how edgy we'd looked at the back. You could feel the shift in momentum and thirty seconds before they scored, I said to my mate "you can feel it coming here". Their equaliser summed us up entirely though. It is almost like we actively try and give goals away. We couldn't clear our line, heads were all over the show, Bazunu was lost at sea and didn't know whether to come or run away but definitely decided he wasn't going to defend his line and then Bednarek done a Bednarek and managed to somehow shepherd the ball into the net, which looked harder to do than keep it out. I swear there is either water balloon where that twats brain should be. Onuachu was a clumsy oaf all afternoon, but he was at least a handful and caused problems, which opened it up for Sulemana who is an outstanding talent. That lad just made me smile every time he got the ball. The attacking impetus was instantly nullified when Che came on or Onuachu and you could almost see the Wolves back line relax and take control. We done the square root of f*** all from then on, which has been the story of our season. Talking to a few different Wolves fans after, none of them could believe what they'd seen and were even asking us how we've managed to throw it away. This is a team who haven't been able to score for toffee, and yet we've allowed them to run the bulk of the second half with ten men and inexcusably turn it around. Quite a remarkable achievement and, without a shadow of doubt, goes down as one of our single worst results in my living memory as a Southampton fan. Rasmus said during the fans forum that they will stand by him until they don't believe any longer. If we were long done believing already, I can't possibly fathom how they can after that. A loss there would've been, you'd think, the icing on the sh*t cake, but the manner of which is was done just compounds the utter misery. The question of who replaces him is irrelevant at this stage. The damage done is so bad that, realistically, we are done already and the candidates who we could've attracted, we will no longer be able to. The remainder of the season for me is about damage limitation and try and put ourselves in the best possible position for next year. The sooner we have someone at the helm who can give us chance in the Championship, the better, but many Saints fans are kidding themselves as to who we'll still have at our disposal then. We'll have a shell of a team remaining and it'll be one hell of a rebuild job. We are in a dire situation... and this is now, unfortunately, just the beginning of an extremely long and winding uphill road. Sport Republic have an awful lot to answer for.

With the way we've looked under Jones thus far, I can't see us getting owt from Chelsea, Spurs or Liverpool, no matter what they do or do not have to play for. Leicester (H) was one we could possibly turn into a win, and West Ham (A) one we could potentially knick something from, which would boost the tally from 19 to somewhere in the mix, but it all just feels that bit too unachievable, on all we've seen thus far. If we somehow turn this around, whilst on paper it wouldn't look it, it would be one almighty saviour. Left ourselves too much for me to even think about believing it, unfortunately.

Looking at our fixtures, 22 points is looking a big ask. I've just done a realistic expectation (that includes 3 points at home to Palace so take realistic with a pinch of salt)... I've got us picking up 18 points in our run-in. Five "winnable" games - Wolves (H), Palace (H), Bournemouth (H), Forest (A) and Fulham (H). For me... We're doomed.

Agree with this and I think this is why they’ve stuck by him. They know the damage is done. Reset if/when someone on their shortlist comes available.

How I want us to line up... vs How I expect NJ to line up...

We also had our most winnable run, just around the corner. The run which, on Saturday, ends.

It's not far off a sell-out.

His positioning is awful and it's really letting him down. But... He's 20 year old mate. Not many keepers are playing No.1 in Prem and representing their country at his age. As I've said further back, his bad positioning could well be down to just a complete lack of confidence. Worth remembering he has been playing in a constantly changing back-line, too. If we could settle (and keep fit) a CB pairing it would do him the world of good. I'm not saying he will be top of the pile, but lads his age are usually plying their trade in League One or League Two. Kasper Schmeichel was playing League Two with Bury at this age. Aaron Ramsdale was at Chesterfield, in League Two. Emilio Martinez was at Oxford, in League Two. Nick Pope could barely catch a game for Welling United in the Conference South. We've made an almighty big ask of Bazunu. Long before we should even consider him ready. In time, he'll be a very good keeper. But we're years off of that.

Wouldn't particularly want to see us offload the lad. I'd sooner we bring in a more experienced keeper, send Baz out on loan for a few years and bring him back into the fold then. He definitely needs more experience, but he will certainly be prem standard in a few year. We've just chucked him in the deep end before he can swim, in my opinion.

Who does this sound like?

You’re making yourself sound right stupid here. “Fake views”? 😂 I am not blaming him for results. I am pointing out that his positioning is consistently bad and that is the single most fundamental attribute in a GK, and likely the reason he is rock bottom, by a long margin, of any Keeper in Europe. His defence hasn’t been great, no. But he isn’t giving himself much chance at present. Especially so because he hasn’t got the fastest of reactions either. I’ve no agenda against him. My only problem with him is with those who decided to hedge our bets on a 19 year old out of League One.

Rasmus and co are quite literally begging for trouble.

I imagine being shunned for the Fans Forum is a big part. If they don’t give him any privilege, he owes them nothing. He is to be a voice for the fans in the press. If he has a relationship with the club, which he did, he has to manage that somewhat. If he doesn’t, it’s free country.

We can see why Rasmus and he got on, can't we! Both know-it-all's.

I was after saying to that Hot Saint last night, do they not realise this is a club who were literally watching their manager fail, fairly dismally (as NJ has often pointed out), yet half of the fanbase STILL didn't want to see him sacked? Blaming anything on us as fans is a madness. He had a bee in his bonnet from the offset, because he knew he wasn't a big name and a lot of that was (naturally) spoken about. The club knew it was a risk, as did he, the fans and anyone remotely interested in English football. I think he was being given a fair assessment until he orchestrated that heinous home display against Forest and THEN tried to insist that it wasn't bad! That was the turning point (the post-match), because as much as he likes to think we are, we're not stupid and we know what we're watching.

Paddy Power go from 3/1 into 4/11. Matter of time before it's announced.

No idea. Andrew Sparkes has been in the building for a good few years now and we've hardly been blessed... But I've never watched him work so how could I comment? Fraser could never master claiming a ball into his box or punching a ball clear rather than catching it, either. Keepers have habits... Maybe this is his. My comment was more about in his youth, so as now it would come naturally.

It was still 10/1 yesterday. Only late evening yesterday did it start moving in.