Cardiff 1 Saints 0 Post Match

[stknowle]

Anyone know how Alfie Jones is getting on in his loan spell at St Mitten ??

 

They're carefully nurturing through apparently, you know sort of treating him with kid gloves.

[wessex saint]

Yeah just chill the **** out everybody. 5 wins out of 47 matches. What's to worry about. Leave it another 8 weeks and it'll all be sorted.

 

I know we have no time, but I don’t see the point in getting bent out of shape based on yesterday.

Half that starting XI won’t start next week....

 

 

 

 

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[It's There]

Dear oh dear- what a sad lot of comments. It will take 6 months at least to improve the squad and for RH to stamp his imprint. Whether we stay up or go down, the club will be in better shape by the summer. My guess is that there will be an upswing in Jan/Feb as training will be less interrupted by games and confidence gradually restored. I believe he will improve the players he wants..whilst others are shipped out/loaned/reserved!

[doddisalegend]

Dear oh dear- what a sad lot of comments. It will take 6 months at least to improve the squad and for RH to stamp his imprint. Whether we stay up or go down' date=' the club will be in better shape by the summer. My guess is that there will be an upswing in Jan/Feb as training will be less interrupted by games and confidence gradually restored. I believe he will improve the players he wants..whilst others are shipped out/loaned/reserved![/quote']

 

 

How will the club be in a better shape if we are relegated?

[whelk]

This, times a million. How is he not at the club? Ditto Sims

 

 

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No doubt you’d be clamouring for Targett if he was on loan somewhere to be first choice LB.

Deluded fans who think all out youth players will be our saviours until they get a chance and then realise not good enough. But while away they are all superstars. Gallagher bound to score 25 PL goals a season, managers just don’t want to choose this option for some reason.

Valery would run rings round Cedric of course.

[Nolan]

How will the club be in a better shape if we are relegated?

 

by having evolved into a team that can win and get itself promoted, again.... not exactly rocket science especially as Ralph H explicitly said in his Presser on Thursday that the way the team plays against Cardiff will be unrecognisable from a team that plays for him in 6 months time.

[labibs]

No doubt you’d be clamouring for Targett if he was on loan somewhere to be first choice LB.

Deluded fans who think all out youth players will be our saviours until they get a chance and then realise not good enough. But while away they are all superstars. Gallagher bound to score 25 PL goals a season, managers just don’t want to choose this option for some reason.

Valery would run rings round Cedric of course.

 

A thousand times this. Sims can’t get into a poor Reading side, yet he’s exactly what we’re missing here.

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

Everyone states the Les G-Reed legacy. But neglects to mention, WW Wilson is still here. And is IMHO, more to blame for the p*ss poor recruitment. Than G-Reed! Just saying..

[doddisalegend]

by having evolved into a team that can win and get itself promoted, again.... not exactly rocket science especially as Ralph H explicitly said in his Presser on Thursday that the way the team plays against Cardiff will be unrecognisable from a team that plays for him in 6 months time.

 

 

There is no way the club hired Ralph to get relegated and rebuild in a lower league they hired him to keep us up not be contenders in the championship. If we get relegated the team will certainly look different next season...

[Yorkshire Saint]

I hear the new manager came over to the fans at the end. Did he just come over and clap or was it more imotive ? Was the fans reaction very positive ?

[qwertyell]

Dear oh dear- what a sad lot of comments. It will take 6 months at least to improve the squad and for RH to stamp his imprint. Whether we stay up or go down' date=' the club will be in better shape by the summer. My guess is that there will be an upswing in Jan/Feb as training will be less interrupted by games and confidence gradually restored. I believe he will improve the players he wants..whilst others are shipped out/loaned/reserved![/quote']Not sure the raw materials are there for Ralph to mould this squad into anything competitive.

 

Unless we massively overhaul the squad in January, which seems unlikely, there's nothing much there to work with.

 

We've got two half decent keepers, two occasionally solid full backs (who don't want to be here), and one midfielder of inconsistent quality who is probably our only saleable asset.

 

Good luck turning those slim pickings into anything other than a bleak future, Rabbit Man.

 

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[Nolan]

There is no way the club hired Ralph to get relegated and rebuild in a lower league they hired him to keep us up not be contenders in the championship. If we get relegated the team will certainly look different next season...

 

Watch Thursdays Presser. The intention is clear, whatever the outcome.

[trousers]

Anyone know how Alfie Jones is getting on in his loan spell at St Mirren ??

Good news: he scored a goal yesterday

Bad news: they lost 3-1

[trousers]

If this guy Ralph keeps us up he will have done really well.

 

No, according to Unbelievable Jeff, it'll just be because 3 teams scored less points than us...

 

(Sorry UJ... Couldn't resist)

[Chez]

Was there any change in play at all? I know he's only had a day with them but even just a glimmer?

 

I would go as far to say that the slight change in formation made us worse. I can't say it cost us, we made so many basic errors at the back that were not as a result of the set up of the team, but it did make us even less effective going forward than before. We were completely toothless. Part of it was that in the first half Lemina and Redmond just didn't seem to know where they were supposed to be. Armstrong also was non existent. In the second half Redmond seemed to play wider which helped initially, but once we conceded the space dried up.

 

The plus side was that in the first ten minutes there seemed to be some sort of press, or perhaps a better description was that when we lost the ball the nearest man ran towards the guy with the possession and closed him right down without thinking. No jockeying, no concern about which player to mark, just run. That lasted about ten minutes, tops. It didn't have an affect, but for a few minutes I thought to myself that under Ralf we are going to try something different. Hopefully something blossoms from that.

 

I didn't see anything else. We didn't move the ball quicker, the passing and control was so average that there was never an opportunity. There was no fast breaking. There was no width except for the fullbacks, and with those well forward it left those terrible CBs exposed. Would we be better if we didn't allow them to cross the half way line? Actually there was one practiced corner routine but Austin was too slow to get in front of his man, so it didn't come off.

 

I think what is interesting is the formation and whether he can find the right personnel to fill it. From this game alone Ralf would have seen Romeu and Lemina (sort your body language out mate) were up to the task, but Austin wasn't.

Edited 9 December, 2018 by Chez

[SaintMB]

I thought we did ok, individual mistakes aside. Plenty of areas could improve, but I expect there to be a downturn in performances whilst the new guy’s approach beds in.

[DT]

No doubt you’d be clamouring for Targett if he was on loan somewhere to be first choice LB.

Deluded fans who think all out youth players will be our saviours until they get a chance and then realise not good enough. But while away they are all superstars. Gallagher bound to score 25 PL goals a season, managers just don’t want to choose this option for some reason.

Valery would run rings round Cedric of course.

 

Didn't say anything about any of those other players you mention, or that they should be definitely playing. Good try though. How's that prediction about Sarri doing badly at Chelsea and Puel not lasting doing?

 

 

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[Shroppie]

I hear the new manager came over to the fans at the end. Did he just come over and clap or was it more imotive ? Was the fans reaction very positive ?

He came over to thank the fans and clapped. It looked genuine appreciation and, around me at least, was well received.

 

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[CB Fry]

How's that prediction about Sarri doing badly at Chelsea and Puel not lasting doing?

 

 

Predictions, eh?

 

#Lemina

#hesgoinghesgoinghesgoinghesgoing

#waaaaaaaaaaah

[doddisalegend]

Watch Thursdays Presser. The intention is clear, whatever the outcome.

 

 

I must have been watching a different presser I don't remember him saying the plan was to take six months and relegation to get the team the way he wants it. He did say his first job was to get us away from trouble but he couldn't guarantee it.

[Micky]

No doubt you’d be clamouring for Targett if he was on loan somewhere to be first choice LB.

Deluded fans who think all out youth players will be our saviours until they get a chance and then realise not good enough. But while away they are all superstars. Gallagher bound to score 25 PL goals a season, managers just don’t want to choose this option for some reason.

Valery would run rings round Cedric of course.

Exactly, youth is not the way. Anyway tossing them into this mess would only ruin their development as footballers. I watched Reading v Sheffield United yesterday, Simms subbed after an hour, played ok, nothing special - Billy Sharp got the winner after 85 minutes. We need the right players to do the job, our youth are not going to get us out of this mess, they're not ready.

 

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[Charlie Wayman]

That's why we're going down!

[Lord Duckhunter]

I hear the new manager came over to the fans at the end. Did he just come over and clap or was it more imotive ? Was the fans reaction very positive ?

 

I thought it was a mixture of thanks and a “keep your heads up”, sort of thing. Certainly was more than going through the motions, seemed genuine. Well received by supporters, but a lot had left by then

 

 

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[Charlie Wayman]

No doubt you’d be clamouring for Targett if he was on loan somewhere to be first choice LB.

Deluded fans who think all out youth players will be our saviours until they get a chance and then realise not good enough. But while away they are all superstars. Gallagher bound to score 25 PL goals a season, managers just don’t want to choose this option for some reason.

Valery would run rings round Cedric of course.

 

Absolutely agree with you. Anybody who has watched an U23 game this season - 525 at the last St Mary's match - would not place their hopes in any of the young lads. Obviously the 525 did not include many of the wishful thinkers on here.

[derry]

I watched a 6' 7" centre back yesterday allow a much shorter player continually back into him and stop him from winning the ball. The man is either chicken, dopey or both. what he should have done was back off then get a run and jump. If the forward still tries to back in and block, make him by your actions aware that there is a lot of pain coming. Nothing concentrates the mind more than the thought of 14 stone clattering into your back. Fonte did that effectively and he wasn't the biggest but he was brave.

 

The legacy that came from Les Reed then carried out by Puel and Pellegrino that possession was the all important criteria has destroyed our ability to defend. Recently we have conceded goals that could have been easily prevented by belting the ball away from the danger area, however our players want to pass no matter what. Some of the passes we make are ridiculous and so short the ball can only go backwards and sideways. Yesterday we had 67% possession practically no penetration, only a couple of half chances. Not much of that possession was in the last third. Our defenders need to safety first it out of the danger area and stop fart arseing around with tippy tappy back to the keeper as he is going to mostly belt it anyway so why pass back. Had Vestergaard belted the ball yesterday there was no goal.

[DT]

Predictions, eh?

 

#Lemina

#hesgoinghesgoinghesgoinghesgoing

#waaaaaaaaaaah

 

Fair cop

 

 

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[kyle04]

Despite the injuries, the weather conditions and an energetic cardiff side, that was as bad a display as anything witnessed under Hughes. The commentator at one point described our defense as a shambles, which it was. We were no better going forward either, not one shot on target AFAIK. We gave the ball away so many times it was embarassing. Nobody really put in a performance, maybe Lemina. Redmond and Armstrong largely anonymous, Targett and Vest were woeful, Valery no match for Murphy and was rightly subbed. This game could have gone either way in reality but you just knew we would make the crucial error at the back, and we did.

I really can't see us getting much from our next 5 games. Arsenal, Citeh and Chelsea will tear us apart, and WHU are much better than us on their day, so at best I'd say 4 points , at which point we could be 6 points+ adrift.

We're in trouble , and RH will know it.

[Viking Saint]

I'm gobsmacked that most on here seemed to expect an instant change with the new manager. I think he needs more than one training session to try and sort this shower out.

 

I don't think most do. The disappointment on here is with individual player performance, yet again. Most seem very balanced that the new manager will need time to make changes

[Dalek2003]

we don't have two months though. We are rapidly falling behind the pack two more months of losing and drawing before we pick up will see us already relegated.

 

That is when we need to clear the deadwood and allow the manager to keep those that he feels will be commited to a fight in the second division.

[saintwbu]

At the end of the day, the ‘we’ve won 1 game in blah blah blah’ and ‘we’ve only scored this many goals in this many games’ stats mean absolutely nothing, nor do the number of points we have. The only thing that matters is how many points we are from exiting the relegation zone. At the moment we are one win away from safety, and all the while that is the case, we are in with as good of a chance to stay up as anyone.

[Halo Stickman]

I agree with other posters on here who say that, as our squad stands at present, Stephens and Yoshida should be our first choice CBs, even if this means having to accept the odd mistake now and again.

 

The pair of them actually formed a pretty solid partnership under Puel, following Van Dyke’s injury, and, IMO, we’d have been better off letting this partnership develop rather than disrupt it by the woeful CB signings of the past two seasons. Both players—Yoshida in particular—have shown that they perform better given a settled run of appearances, added to which, both players seem more committed to the club than the other candidates. All this chopping and changing has only served to undermine players’ confidence and ability to form decent partnerships.

 

As for yesterday’s match, I was desperately hoping for some sort of ‘new manager bounce’, but, if anything, the team selection and performance seemed to be more of a step backwards. Let’s hope the steps forwards are just around the corner.

[trousers]

At the end of the day, the ‘we’ve won 1 game in blah blah blah’ and ‘we’ve only scored this many goals in this many games’ stats mean absolutely nothing, nor do the number of points we have. The only thing that matters is how many points we are from exiting the relegation zone. At the moment we are one win away from safety, and all the while that is the case, we are in with as good of a chance to stay up as anyone.

Kindly take your pragmatism elsewhere. It's not welcome here.

 

[whelk]

Didn't say anything about any of those other players you mention, or that they should be definitely playing. Good try though. How's that prediction about Sarri doing badly at Chelsea and Puel not lasting doing?

 

 

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Oh no the shame. Did I predict something that didn’t come true?

Quite sad, or impressed, that you have taken time to remember them though. I think I said we’d win 3-1 yesterday. Silly me, don’t trust my predictions.

[Norm]

I would love to see Rondon up front for us! Chances? Nil.

[del boy]

I was at the game. First half we were embarrassing. The defence looked like it had never played as a unit before ...oh, wait a minute.

 

There seemed to be a tactic to get the ball forward quicker (long ball) but that just gave the ball away and the defence was under pressure again. Its difficult to say whether the flanks or centre were more fragile. There was clearly no confidence there. We were lucky not to concede 2-3 goals....lucky Cardiff are as bad as us.

Second half we kept possession much better and started to play some football - but all too slowly. There was no real threat up front even if we got that far. Lemina was by far the best player, but with not much competition for that title. Redmond was trying hard but with little success. Saints were on the ascendancy however and possible the better of two poor teams until we gave Cardiff the early Christmas gift and with it the 3 points. Even then Saints were the better side, just, but with nothing to show for it. An awful lot for Ralph to do - but he will, and we will hopefully not recognise the team and results in a few months time - lets be optimistic, the only way is up

[benjii]

I don't want to slag players off but the main reason, in a tactical sense, for lack of penetration yesterday was Austin. He can't run channels and he can't hold the ball up. He's useful to have on the bench but really shouldn't be starting.

 

One of the first things Gabbiadini did when he came on was to make a run down the right channel, force the Cardiff defence to turn and win us possession high up the pitch.

 

Yesterday's 41221 system always had a sense of "safety first" about it, which was understandable considering the lack of time the new manager has had. I thought there were some interesting signs there though and I think we will be OK as an attacking force once he gets a better understanding of what the individuals can and can't do.

 

His biggest challenge is to find a decent centre back pairing amongst the crud we've accumulated. That will determine whether we stay up or not.

[Batman]

Austin is a terrible player when you are not dominating the ball and creating loads of chances

 

He would be good for Man City given the amount of goals they score in the box and he would not have to contribute to anything else

 

 

Appalling player at the mo. All you see him do is jog towards an opposing player with his arm out pointing to someone

[verlaine1979]

Only caught the highlights, but the contrast between Murphy and Redmond was quite stark on that evidence. One has pace, the other doesn't, and it seemed to make a big difference in transition and attack.

[StrangelyBrown]

Austin is a terrible player when you are not dominating the ball and creating loads of chances

 

He would be good for Man City given the amount of goals they score in the box and he would not have to contribute to anything else

 

 

Appalling player at the mo. All you see him do is jog towards an opposing player with his arm out pointing to someone

Couldn't agree more. He is stealing a living as a professional athlete.

 

I couldn't believe he ran around for 20 minutes and then was knackered. How he had the balls to give Valery a ticking off at half time is beyond me when he'd barely done anything for 25 mins.

 

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[benjii]

Couldn't agree more. He is stealing a living as a professional athlete.

 

I couldn't believe he ran around for 20 minutes and then was knackered. How he had the balls to give Valery a ticking off at half time is beyond me when he'd barely done anything for 25 mins.

 

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I'm fairness, I thought he was offering some supportive words to Valery. One thing I will say for Austin is that he does seem to have more bottle than a lot of our guys.

[The Cat]

I'm fairness, I thought he was offering some supportive words to Valery. One thing I will say for Austin is that he does seem to have more bottle than a lot of our guys.

 

Exactly that. I'm no fan of Austin but he was pretty obviously trying to help Valery, which is what the experienced pros should be doing with youngsters.

[Micky]

Austin is a terrible player when you are not dominating the ball and creating loads of chances

 

He would be good for Man City given the amount of goals they score in the box and he would not have to contribute to anything else

 

 

Appalling player at the mo. All you see him do is jog towards an opposing player with his arm out pointing to someone

Aaah you've noticed this as well, what's it all about, because I can't fatham it. He does try to work hard, but essentially runs out of steam after 20 minutes. He is a good finisher, but you have to do all the spade work for him. If we had a good team making lots of chances we could carry him, but we don't, so he's a bit of a passenger really.

 

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[Ludwig]

Aaah you've noticed this as well, what's it all about, because I can't fatham it.

 

To me it looked like he was closing down and pressing and encouraging someone else to also close down...... Which is right because he can't press by himself. They've got to work together to effectively press and when he pointing whilst running towards someone he indicating he needs someone else to press in a certain area

[doddisalegend]

To me it looked like he was closing down and pressing and encouraging someone else to also close down...... Which is right because he can't press by himself. They've got to work together to effectively press and when he pointing whilst running towards someone he indicating he needs someone else to press in a certain area

 

We are awful at pressing, have been for the last couple of seasons, when we do it we never seem to do it as a unit it just ends up with one or two tearing around like headless chickens while the rest of the squad look on.

[Ludwig]

We are awful at pressing, have been for the last couple of seasons, when we do it we never seem to do it as a unit it just ends up with one or two tearing around like headless chickens while the rest of the squad look on.

Agreed...... I'm not saying he was part of an effective pressing unit, I was just trying to offer an explanation of his actions. Anyway, they all seemed to give up pressing after about 20 minutes. It's going to take time I guess. A lot of new stuff to take on board whilst simultaneously trying to remember to be less sh*t than last week.

[derry]

It's not Austin to run the channels, it's Hojbjerg, Lamina, Armstrong, Redmond etc that need to get up quickly I bet we'll see a difference shortly with all of them getting up front quickly. It's not Rocket science, Revie had Leeds doing it in the sixties. They have to start hunting in packs not just one poor bastard in between three while the other players back off or spectate.

Edited 9 December, 2018 by derry

[OldNick]

Once we win the ball back and get the chance we have to put it away. That has been the problem for seasons. 'In Les we trust' lol

[OfnPanad]

Against one of the opponents that we hope will take one of the relegation places a loss was a blow and feels disproportionately bad.

 

I look at it this way - we are changing. It's never easy to do this mid-season but I feel like we have the man to do it. This is a problem 3 seasons in the making and RH should be given a free hit this season, with the provision that we stay up and the football is more exciting, as he has promised.

 

Once strategy and formation is set, the team will grow in confidence. We can name a full team of seasoned international players - how can they not be good enough?! We don't need to spend massively in January, We just need to get this groups' heads on correctly.

 

BELIEVE!

[Micky]

To me it looked like he was closing down and pressing and encouraging someone else to also close down...... Which is right because he can't press by himself. They've got to work together to effectively press and when he pointing whilst running towards someone he indicating he needs someone else to press in a certain area

Yeah I guess so, but he's rarely near his own man, and as I said before we're not fit enough to do this all game. Going to take a lot of work from the players to get this going, not gonna happen overnight.

 

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[Suhari]

Against one of the opponents that we hope will take one of the relegation places a loss was a blow and feels disproportionately bad.

 

I look at it this way - we are changing. It's never easy to do this mid-season but I feel like we have the man to do it. This is a problem 3 seasons in the making and RH should be given a free hit this season, with the provision that we stay up and the football is more exciting, as he has promised.

 

Once strategy and formation is set, the team will grow in confidence. We can name a full team of seasoned international players - how can they not be good enough?! We don't need to spend massively in January, We just need to get this groups' heads on correctly.

 

BELIEVE!

 

Yep.

 

And I for one believe we will stay up.