A team to charm neutrals and madden the faithful

[aintforever]

I think a change of style like this would probably kill the team completely. It's one thing bringing in a new manager but to get kids who have been brought up passing the ball and introduce them to the direct style would just ruin everything. If we wanted the direct approach, we should have committed to it while we still had some wily old pros at the club who might have taken to the direct game.

 

I tend to agree with this to an extent, the problem, is I don't think we have a chance of staying up with the way thing are. These kids cannot handle the pressure of playing at home at the moment - imagine how bad they will be during the REAL pressure of a relegation dog-fight. The games at the moment are relatively pressure free, experience is worth it's weight in gold when things get serious. IMO we will only stay up if we have a mid-season purple patch.

 

If things are still so poor come Xmas I think we would be wise to bin the experiments and get a proper gaffer in.

[Winchester]

How do you think you'll be playing on Saturday?

 

We're a similar team to Wolves in terms of our playing style (keep it on the deck, use the wings), and you coped reasonably well against them last week, despite the result.

 

Do you think you'll be trying to play us at our own game, or have tactics in place to thwart our attacks?

[mitch01]

Accurate report, we play some good stuff but it will only be succesful if we sort out the defence, which looks vulnerable whenever the opponents use the oh-so-subtle approach of hoofing the ball into our box. Lancashire did OK, Pearce did OK, Skacel may well have been the man out of position for the first goal and Cork was not really noticeable. We need some good players back there, forget about Svensson, if he plays any games it is a bonus. Any money we make in January by selling Lallana should go on a £2 million centre half. Gerrard was the man we were chasing from league one wasnt he?

[Fowllyd]

Regarding Billy Davies, the original suggestion that he is only capable of playing teams with a route one strategy having sparked this particular discussion, I think that this is a misconception. I believe that BD is a pragmatical manager, well able to make the best of whatever he has available to him and play to their strengths.

 

I think that's spot on. Billy Davies seems to be remembered by many on here with great loathing because of his Derby team and his behaviour at St Mary's. However, he's managed other teams and, as far as I know, it's only with Derby that he got the reputation of being a hoofball exponent.

[slickmick]

How do you think you'll be playing on Saturday?

 

We're a similar team to Wolves in terms of our playing style (keep it on the deck, use the wings), and you coped reasonably well against them last week, despite the result.

 

Do you think you'll be trying to play us at our own game, or have tactics in place to thwart our attacks?

 

 

Without Pearce and probably Svennson our defence will have a tough afternoon. I would expect Reading to score 3 or more as I don't think we will have tactics to thwart your attacks. we seem to play the same system regardless.

Having said that, our away form has been better and I think we are close to clicking up front. Robertson scored 2 in reserves last night, so he could be the one that springs a surprise result.

[Wes Tender]

How do you think you'll be playing on Saturday?

 

We're a similar team to Wolves in terms of our playing style (keep it on the deck, use the wings), and you coped reasonably well against them last week, despite the result.

 

Do you think you'll be trying to play us at our own game, or have tactics in place to thwart our attacks?

 

We always learn things from previous games and utitilise that information to good effect in the next game.

 

So our strategy is to get another influential player red-carded, but this time even earlier in the game, so that we have even more time to score, as that is what we need to find the net. Then the sense of injustice will fire the lads to greater heights of effort and you will have a torrid time of it from then on. But I shouldn't worry as a Reading supporter. The only guy capable of scoring at the moment is the lad we have on loan from you and he isn't playing.

[Gordon Mockles]

Yes.

 

There is no way the current regime are going to stop us going down.

 

The only thing that will keep us in this division this season is Forest and Doncaster continuing to be worse than us, and another club going into administration and losing ten (or more) points.

 

Frankly I am sick of "keep the faith" and sick of "we're playing brilliant stuff".

 

I am not the most regular match goer, I make no claim to be (you'll notice, unlike Alpine, I keep my mouth shut about matches I haven't seen) but I have seen us live three times and on TV three times and all six times we flatter to decieve. Even when we're at our "best" we're ineffective - lots of pretty tappy triangles, but no finishing, and often not even a final ball.

 

And I went to our best game at Derby, where, granted, we were really good for one half of football, but we were pretty bloody average in the first half, and being that we kepp getting told how we are going to "build on" things, that good half of football was in August and we have yet to better it from what I have seen, heard and read since.

 

So I am sick of "we're going to build on" the occasional good results we've had. Because we've done nothing of the sort, and we're winning the number of games that a relegation team would win in this division by law of averages.

 

I'm going to Reading, and I am expecting us to get tonked.

 

So yes, sacking the manager is not an unreasonable thing to ask.

 

There are actually some experienced managers around that might just turn our season around if they start now.

 

That's a good post. I reckon those points resonate through the heads of many Saints fans. As Wes says, I also don't always agree with certain points you make but you always put across a well structured argument. In this case, we're in agreement.

 

I firmly believe our squad hasn't enough depth and experience to survive this season. We need change NOW. Considering how Jan seems to blindly truck on regardless (nothing against the guy but he must realise he's flogging a dead house with the current tactics and influence), we don't have time to persist with this ideology. Persisting with a single striker (especially Mc Goldrick) is NOT working (seems crazy when we've 3 more established & experienced strikers loaned to other clubs. In some cases, rivals). We do seem easy to defend against. Also, I am in firm agreement with Wes and others who express their concerns about our passing. It's not penetrating and often switches from side to side (very little going forward, attacking the box) and there is a distinct lack of personnel for getting on the end of crosses and attacking balls (i.e. When Holmes drilled in crosses, there was no-one in the box 80% of the time - to attack the ball). Mc Goldrick often out of position, no back up from the congested midfield and even Lallana lacks power in his shooting, especially from range.

 

The best game I have seen this season was the home game against Norwich. Even then, we still looked frail against any penetrating passes and runs. A pacey winger exposed us on more than a few occasions. We played well attacking and won against a poor Norwich side. Better opposition, as has been proved already this season (too many times), punish us with high balls, overlapping surges down the flanks and set pieces and route one football. Our back line cannot cope. I'm bored of saying but starting a season with no recognised full backs, combined with Lowe's pig headed attitude not to play/pay most senior pros, has helped create this mess. We are only seeing Skacel play now because of desperation (and that's on a forced 50% pay cut with reduced contract duration, plus he'll be gone in January along with most of the other senior strikers). What will happen post January? I shudder to think.

 

We need change now. If this reviled and arrogant approach by Lowe continues (and make no mistake, Lowe is pulling all the strings), I can only assume relegation serves as some form of retribution or, more controversially, some master plan to pick up assets from the club on the cheap! You never can tell with the Saints boards. The club has always taken a back seat & suffered at the prosperity of the executives & major share holders. It's a sad sign of the times as you don't see any of those supposed "Saints supporting directors" (past and present, particularly Lowe’s ‘proxy’ who purport to be fans of SFC) dipping into their pockets in Saints desperate hour of need. That in itself speaks volumes. They've bled us dry, they smile and watch us die. They’ve ripped the heart and soul from our club and Saints are no longer of importance to the likes of Askham, Wiseman, Lowe, Wilde, esq. Well, only to salvage their shares. That'll be the only decent thing to come from administration. Those b*stards losing their shares. I feel sorry for the genuine fans who will suffer but not for those money-hungry parasites!

 

As some have already suggested, neat passing from side to side and a good attitude are not enough to keep us in this division. We need goals, strength, power and experience (from top to bottom) and a change in tactics as this flogged horse needs putting down!

 

Lowe got through so many managers in the past, Sturrock didn't even get a chance. Why is Jan remaining in charge when results are pitiful and even our Championship status is in severe jeopardy?! Surely Rupert's arrogance doesn't distort the realisation that his own failed appointments (in Poortvliet and Wotte) will get us relegated if he persists with this madness!?

[eelpie]

if we had kept Rasiak, Saganowski and John wouldn't we be bankrupt by now though?

 

if we had kept Rasiak, Saganowski and John wouldn't we be bankrupt by now though?

 

If you read my past posts, you will see that since the summer I have advocated that we keep just one of either Rasiak, Saga or John. I fail to see that the wages of just one of these goal-scorers would be more than the present catastrophic financial loss resulting from our mind-boggling drop in attendances. This because of our inability to score. Each of these experienced strikers is capable of 10 goals per half season. John kept us up last year. Saga got us into the play-offs. Rasiak has scored over 20 match-winning goals a season.

 

Lowe's negative maths doesn't add up. We will end up in the Conference playing part-timers if his madness is allowed to continue.

 

We now have a very large squad of admittedly promising lads but who together must be very costly. Lowe has already failed to keep to his plan of an economically lean squad. We would have been better with fewer, specialist talents, including a top quality proven striker, and proven experience in the defence, like we had in Lukardi last season. Lowe's meddling with the squad is costing us thousands of paying customers -the fast route to administration!