Radio Solent Fans Forum

[qwertyell]

10 hours ago, Puddings and Monkeys said:

You do understand that he had to play Djenepo as Peraud only had two weeks of training and couldn’t play 90 minutes.  KWP was chosen to try and nullify their threat on our right.  Who else did he have to call on to play on the left?

Jake Vokins - an actual left back with a little bit of Premier League experience. Salisu - who has filled in at left back on occasion (might as well make use of having seven CBs in the squad). Is it Matt Carson who is quite highly rated among the youngsters? We didn't think that picking an 18 year old in midfield was an outrageous gamble. Why not give him a go? The worst he can be is not up to it - and completely indistinguishable from the rest of the team.

So there's three square-ish pegs to fill the square hole that doesn't require shoe horning a shit winger we don't want into an unfamiliar role that he's even shitter in. 

[suewhistle]

6 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

I understand this, however our home form has been fucking dreadful for at least 6 seasons now. We haven't really put in regular entertaining performances at home since Koeman was here. 

I would add that when we are given something to cheer the crowd is very willing to do so. That buzz around the ground when we leave with three points is great but I can't remember it very often last season.. For Semmens to criticize the fans (and I haven't listened to the forum) shows he must be losing it.

What is needed at these events is somebody sharp enough to follow up an answer by changing their own planned question: "You've just said that we are lucky to be in the top division: how can you attract decent new players with that attitude?"

[skintsaint]

21 minutes ago, aintforever said:

True, but fact is playing up front for us had pundits raving about Broja, wether we win or lose we're a good platform to showcase talent.

And was banded about with 30m+ moves to other top flight clubs, even a random link with Real Madrid. So it does work in that respect for younger players trying to expose themselves (ooer).

[trousers]

14 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Jake Vokins - an actual left back with a little bit of Premier League experience. Salisu - who has filled in at left back on occasion (might as well make use of having seven CBs in the squad). Is it Matt Carson who is quite highly rated among the youngsters? We didn't think that picking an 18 year old in midfield was an outrageous gamble. Why not give him a go? The worst he can be is not up to it - and completely indistinguishable from the rest of the team.

So there's three square-ish pegs to fill the square hole that doesn't require shoe horning a shit winger we don't want into an unfamiliar role that he's even shitter in. 

If Ralph had picked either of those three in the LWB position, and it still went tits up, he'd have received as much flak on here as he has for picking Djenepo. 

Whilst I'm starting to lose faith in Ralph to a certain degree, he's very much damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, in scenerios such as this.

Edited 11 August, 2022 by trousers

[Chickendippers]

The cup game against Chelsea last year shows that we can play 5 at the back and be competitive. That defensive line had Lyanco and Valery in and I see no reason why the same personnel can't do a job for us provided they are sent out with the instruction to be aggressive and try and win the ball high up the pitch. We've been too passive since Feb which leads to dull boring risk averse losing football. Plus Erling Haaland wouldn't score goals if no-one passes to him when he makes runs off the shoulder of the last defender.

[aintforever]

4 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

And was banded about with 30m+ moves to other top flight clubs, even a random link with Real Madrid. So it does work in that respect for younger players trying to expose themselves (ooer).

It works for players of any age. Van Dijk and Mane were already great players before they came to Saints, we just showed how good they can perform at Prem level.

The club's policy is sound, they just shouldn't be dogmatic in their signings. We need a goalscorer otherwise we will probably go down, if a 30 something is available who can do the job we should sign him.

[Appy]

5 minutes ago, Chickendippers said:

The cup game against Chelsea last year shows that we can play 5 at the back and be competitive. That defensive line had Lyanco and Valery in and I see no reason why the same personnel can't do a job for us provided they are sent out with the instruction to be aggressive and try and win the ball high up the pitch. We've been too passive since Feb which leads to dull boring risk averse losing football. Plus Erling Haaland wouldn't score goals if no-one passes to him when he makes runs off the shoulder of the last defender.

I bet he does score goals if we start Lyanco and Valery against him, two players that should be playing at a much lower level 

[Saint Fan CaM]

Watched the forum this morning and I have to say I thought it was better than I’d anticipated. A smart move having the woman’s team Manager on the panel and despite the moneyman attending, there were no outright boring financial questions. There were some challenging questions, so I didn’t feel there was advance scripting going on but time pressure meant there was little opportunity to dig deeper on a particular subject.

I thought Semmens answers were acceptable and made sense - with the ever rising financial clout of the top 8 clubs (just in the uk), our model has to be different by necessity and we’ll not be spending £50m on one player. I don’t have a problem with this.  We create experience in the players that choose to stay with us, like JWP, Romeu etc. and bring in youngsters that can perform at close to the same level as the £50m players. I don’t think there is animosity with Ralph, but he’s his boss and there needs to be a level of ‘distance’ between them.

I thought Ralph to a degree wore his heart on his sleeve - clearly a passionate man that has the best interests of the club in mind and someone who is still living and breathing his time at SFC. You can’t help but want to get behind the guy and to be honest it’s debatable if there better fits to the clubs strategy and aspirations…always a risk getting into the managerial merry-go-round like Lowe did.

The one question to Ralph that was not asked (which amazed me) was, “do you accept that we are too one dimensional in our forward play, hence the lack of goals and if so, what are you doing to address this?”.

Edited 11 August, 2022 by Saint Fan CaM

[The Kraken]

20 minutes ago, trousers said:

If Ralph had picked either of those three in the LWB position, and it still went tits up, he'd have received as much flak on here as he has for picking Djenepo. 

Whilst I'm starting to lose faith in Ralph to a certain degree, he's very much damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, in scenerios such as this.

There weren’t a lot of options at left back / left wing back, we all know that Ralph had one hand tied behind his back. Personally, I’d have taken the option that Perraud was fit enough for the bench therefore fit enough to start. But we didn’t lose this game just because of Djenepo, he was merely contributory to it. We did have some other options though, including switching KWP to the left which gives options of Valery at RWB (not ideal at all but more defensive that Djenepo), or even JWP and shoring up CM with Romeu from the start. Like I say, none of those were ideal options. 

The problem I have with the Djenepo ‘solution’ at LWB is that we all saw it for what it was in pre season. Djenepo was ok going forward and against lesser teams, but in defence we looked completely vulnerable on the counter particularly down the flanks, Djenepo’s side mostly. Some of that was tactical, getting the wing backs to play high, some of that was the player just not being a defender (KWP for instance in pre season made the right side work a bit better). Playing away against one of the best sides in the division, we were on to a hiding to nothing with that system and the players we had to fill it.

[Dusic]

Just listened to it and felt actually Ralph came across well.

Say what you like about him but he is genuine, cares about the club and obviously gets it in terms of where the club is and what the limits are.

Obviously a difficult spell for him but would love it if he can turn itnaround and set us up for a solid season - which would be lower mid table.

[Chez]

2 hours ago, JRM said:

I didn't hear one, guess its a tough one to articulate,  Semmens particularly should have been asked more about the takeover, we take his word for it that he helped weed out the time wasters and get the best owners for the club, but we've been there before with Gao , maybe part of the deal is Semmens gets to stay in his job. 

I want to know about the loan, was the last of it (£28m) used to fund transfers this summer, when will repayments start, is the wage bill being trimmed to allow for that £10m-£20m a year payment (or whatever it will be).

We've made huge losses over the last three years, was that all down to Covid? If not, how will those losses be reversed, or will the club just increase debt to cover them?

I also wanted to know about where we stand in terms of outgoing and incomings. Is there any pressure to sell this summer, or is next summer when things will be rebalanced?

[qwertyell]

35 minutes ago, trousers said:

If Ralph had picked either of those three in the LWB position, and it still went tits up, he'd have received as much flak on here as he has for picking Djenepo. 

Whilst I'm starting to lose faith in Ralph to a certain degree, he's very much damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, in scenerios such as this.

I think it is a failure of management, though, to not have been better prepared - they knew weeks ago that Perraud was a major doubt for the start of the season.

Yet they only took one left back with them on tour - and then immediately loaned him out.

They could have, for example, spent the last month bedding in Vokins into the LWB role he often played at Ross County last season in a relatively decent loan. You could argue Scottish football is crap and Vokins doing all right in it isn't worth a damn, but then we signed Aribo based entirely on his exploits in Scotland. 

I'm not saying Vokins would've pulled up any trees - and may have made no difference at all - but having a full back playing in his natural position, with a month of well drilled, well organised preparation in that five man unit under his belt might have been a more viable alternative than trying to blag it with Djenepo.

But they're not well drilled. They're not well organised. And the preparation thus far has looked a shambles.

[OldNick]

11 hours ago, Turkish said:

Agreed, in my 40 odd years as a saints fan ive only known us to be out of the top league for 6 years. It’s pathetic really

over 55years supporting and seen them only in the lower divisions in the 70's for about 3 seasons and then the modern debacle. IMOHO I think the fans mindset has bee programmed to be also rans. 

I sometimes wonder whether the selfish Pompey way, where they had 5 memorable seasons and actually winning something may be a better thing than what we have had.

Ok I saw us win the FA cup, but the generations since then have really not much to really enjoy. My daughter and grand daughter have what to look forward to? The gulf is getting wider and prospect of winning a cup is fading, and now part of a crazy experiment (it seems at this stage) of throwing the dice on young players, added to a poor squad. 

I have spoken to quite a few fans who have been regular season ticket holders and they not only haven't renewed they also are not going to go as they are disenchanted.

Lets hope after Satuday things look up but I dont feel a good vibe

[beatlesaint]

I have just watched it and didnt really pick up on most of the negative things stated here like body language etc.

The only thing that really annoyed me is MS statement about if the fans arent "on it" the players wont be either.

Thats bullshit, im fed up of fans being made to feel like its their fault when the team are crap.  

[S-Clarke]

13 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

I have just watched it and didnt really pick up on most of the negative things stated here like body language etc.

The only thing that really annoyed me is MS statement about if the fans arent "on it" the players wont be either.

Thats bullshit, im fed up of fans being made to feel like its their fault when the team are crap.  

Martin was the disappointing one for me last night really. He let his frustration boil over and he shouldn’t have.

I can see why he’s frustrated; the club have invested money in improving the team (Something we’ve all been crying out for and moaning about previously), we’ve lost the first game and fans are already throwing vitriol on social media and demanding more, more, more.  He probably feels a little resentment to people who criticise what he views as them pushing the boat out (in relation to the ownership and investment in the team and backroom).

But whatever the frustration someone in his position has, you can't go into stuff like this and throwing the fingers at the fans, if they're right or wrong it never lands well. He'll be regretting how he came across today I'm sure.

Edited 11 August, 2022 by S-Clarke

[once_bitterne]

2 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Yeah that’s true I suppose. I feel there are a number of misfits and deadwood at the club currently.

I’ve just got a similar feeling that this is going to be a very painful long season. And this gamble of buying kids will backfire spectacularly, especially if we stick with Ralph. Bring in another coach or manager and I think it could be a different story and maybe we could push on. 
Personally I think Ralph has now hit his ceiling.

I don't think it will be long.  Our fate will be sealed before the clocks go forward.

[saintant]

12 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

That was my main issue with the forum. I thought Ralph came accross pretty well to be honest. The main bit I didn't like was the narrative that it's so hard to be In the prem. Why not have a bit f a winning mentality and aim as high as possible rather than just be grateful to cling onto premier league status? I bet you don't see Brighton or Palace or Leeds making similar points because they are aiming as high as possible and making exciting moves. He was an utter bellend but Cortese was at least good at thinking big and not accepting his place. 

This rather weak and pathetic claim that it is difficult to be in the Prem League is clearly an attempt to deflect criticism which neither Ralph or Semmens seem able to take. As others have said we've been in the top league for most seasons since the mid 60s so we belong there. All this defeatist nonsense from management does them no favours and sends out entirely the wrong message.  

[Dman]

14 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

I have just watched it and didnt really pick up on most of the negative things stated here like body language etc.

The only thing that really annoyed me is MS statement about if the fans arent "on it" the players wont be either.

Thats bullshit, im fed up of fans being made to feel like its their fault when the team are crap.  

You know what, as much as I am a firm believer in fans being able to moan and groan, especially after, in general, being served up total shit for the past 6 years and suffering 2 humiliating defeats with an ownership / board with absolutely 0 ambition, they do have a point. 

Everything is toxic at the minute, the tide has turned so that the majority want the manager out and some are very very against him. We know there is 90% chance we’ll serve up a pile of shit. We know we take the lead early, we throw it away. We make the same mistakes week after week. the fans go into games with a sense of doom and there is no way that doesn’t rub off on the players. 

It must be bloody awful for the players knowing that the fans have 0 confidence in you. After all, regardless of how much they’re rightly or wrongly paid, they’re still people and not robots. 

In a way, credit to the club for loyally sticking by the manager, but we absolutely should have pulled the tigger in the summer. A fresh start, new owners, new coach and exciting crop of youngsters etc. But any optimism was completely sucked out by a dismal performance we’ve become accustomed to. 

We’re delaying the inevitable by keeping him. Even if he puts a run of 10 wins together, we’re only 2 losses away from everyone turning again. 

[saintant]

11 hours ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

It seems like the true character of Semmens was shining through tonight. Maybe he is under more pressure now, and he thought he’d got away with it like he did when he engineered the Gao takeover. 

Heard some Americans were shown round St Marys with a view to buying the club.

[beatlesaint]

The only other thing is I hope Ralph goes back to the players today and tells them that some fans have suggested they aren't trying. Any sportsman worth their salt would go out next time and strain everything they had to prove that's not the case.

I wonder if these players have got that mentality in them ?  

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

The only other thing is I hope Ralph goes back to the players today and tells them that some fans have suggested they aren't trying. Any sportsman worth their salt would go out next time and strain everything they had to prove that's not the case.

I wonder if these players have got that mentality in them ?  

If you hate where you work and hate who you work for, subconsciously, would you work as hard? 

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Dman said:

If the fucking CEO is a loser and considers us ‘lucky to be there’, then what message does that send to potential, high profile signings? Like a new striker as an example. 
 

Club is rotten, Gao and the coaching staff have gone but a bigger clean out is needed across the board. Starting with the 2 idiots running the club and given free reign to pick the new owners, of whom conveniently didn’t get rid of him. A huge conflict of interest there. 

Not sure how these things normally work but shouldn't the sale of the club have been handled by an independent company rather than people with a vested interest?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

59 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Just listened to it and felt actually Ralph came across well.

Say what you like about him but he is genuine, cares about the club and obviously gets it in terms of where the club is and what the limits are.

Obviously a difficult spell for him but would love it if he can turn itnaround and set us up for a solid season - which would be lower mid table.

No one questions his passion and the desire for success but I have lost faith in his ability to get the tactics right, the team selection right or his ability to change things. I have a passion and a desire for the club to progress but I would make a shit manager. 

[Dman]

Just now, saintant said:

Not sure how these things normally work but shouldn't the sale of the club have been handled by an independent company rather than people with a vested interest?

I’d assume they used some form of broker to manage the sale, but as I understand it (pretty common knowledge), semmens hand picked who won the ‘bid’.

[MarkSFC]

Semmens mentioned that the PL is officially the toughest sporting league to be in. This by nature of football being all about the money at every level, it makes me compare the PL to something like F1. 

What I mean by that is that the team owners need to be extremely rich / have huge sponsorship in order to even consider competing. The PL is now more expensive than ever for owners and is not looking like slowing down anytime soon, so our owners need to put up to make sure we stay up (and not continually or only rely on "over performing" and "players developing") by rasing the standard of the team NOW to allow the manager and coaches a bit of breathing space. 

Without more investment and possibly a slight change of model we are only going one way; down. The pace of improvement in our players and therfore the collective of the team needs to stay ahead of level of quality our opponents are purchasing. More and more clubs are spending more on players and slowly but surely the overall quality is getting deeper in numbers. Thus us the curve we need to stay ahead of.

What we have done so far this summer is not keeping us ahead of the curve. 

[Kermitzasaint]

14 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

One of the criticisms fairly labelled towards Ralph has been his stubbornness to change the formation, notably his stubbornness to move from a 4-2-2-2. He's looked at last season and has clearly decided things need to change, so he's trying to create a more stable structure first and foremost which should allow for a better structure in both defending and attacking situations, but as with all these formational talks it does ultimately boil down to the quality of player you have in the positions across the pitch.

The weekend was a frustrating one, there were things in the 5-3-2 which showed why we tried it. For example I don't think Lavia would have had such an impressive game in a 4-2-2-2 for example, so that 5-3-2 allowed him to show up as well as he did. Our problem, in my opinion, was our wing backs and the passive nature of both the wing backs and the centre backs to come towards the ball when we were defending. We let too many crosses into the box, didn't defend them well enough when they did and sadly a player like Moussa (who isn't a defender) was ripped to pieces by a very, very good wide right player. 

I don't think one game is a reason to rip up every blue print and try all over again, but there will still be tweaks along the way with the overall aim of trying to combine the best of both worlds, and there will still be games where we feel 4-2-2-2 is the best fit for the opposition we're playing - we'll probably even change mid-game in some weeks. Fan's can't moan about his lack of change one week and then criticise him for changing the next.

Surely a decent coach chooses a formation and tactics based on the players he has at his disposal?

It never ceases to amaze me how some fans bend over backwards to avoid placing blame on Ralph .

[East Kent Saint]

2 hours ago, suewhistle said:

I would add that when we are given something to cheer the crowd is very willing to do so. That buzz around the ground when we leave with three points is great but I can't remember it very often last season.. For Semmens to criticize the fans (and I haven't listened to the forum) shows he must be losing it.

What is needed at these events is somebody sharp enough to follow up an answer by changing their own planned question: "You've just said that we are lucky to be in the top division: how can you attract decent new players with that attitude?"

When we made the long round trip to StMarys for years and rarely saw a win it does make you wonder why you keep doing it . Post covid we haven’t managed a game yet and I’m not sure if it’s worth it . The day out is good but the match … 

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

When we made the long round trip to StMarys for years and rarely saw a win it does make you wonder why you keep doing it . Post covid we haven’t managed a game yet and I’m not sure if it’s worth it . The day out is good but the match … 

its mental really when you think about it. You spend a fortune, spend hours travelling and do it over and over again for years and years following a team that has almost zero chance of winning anything, sells off almost every player that becomes half decent in the hope that you might be entertained and ocasionally nick a win against a team of millionaires run by billionaires. 

[64saint]

2 hours ago, aintforever said:

if a 30 something is available who can do the job we should sign him.

That policy certainly worked for Laurie back in 1983, runners up in the old Div 1 with Shilton, Mills, Nicholl, Rofe, Armstrong, Holmes, all thirty and above.    Keegan and Case weren't youngsters either when they signed and they weren't bad !! 

(Apologies for harking back to the old days but you can see my point)

Edited 11 August, 2022 by 64saint

[Toussaint]

53 minutes ago, Dman said:

If you hate where you work and hate who you work for, subconsciously, would you work as hard? 

I know what you are saying, but yes, as a professional "anything", you would, maybe even harder as you wouldn't want your reputation diminished in the wider industry, whatever that may be.

[LordHester]

1 hour ago, once_bitterne said:

I don't think it will be long.  Our fate will be sealed before the clocks go forward.

The clocks don't go forward until March 26th next year, so ... yeah.

[once_bitterne]

5 minutes ago, LordHester said:

The clocks don't go forward until March 26th next year, so ... yeah.

This was kinda my point, we will be relegated months before the season actually ends.

The stench of MLG has really infected the whole forum.

Edited 11 August, 2022 by once_bitterne

[Turkish]

8 minutes ago, 64saint said:

That policy certainly worked for Laurie back in 1983, runners up in the old Div 1 with Shilton, Mills, Nicholl, Rofe, Armstrong, Holmes, all thirty and above.    Keegan and Case weren't youngsters either when they signed and they weren't bad !! 

(Apologies for harking back to the old days but you can see my point)

blended in with Williams, Wallaces, Moran, Mark Wright who were all YHGTIers. 

 

In fairness our team on saturday wasn't full of kids, it was the players who have proven to be not good enough time and again letting us down. Bazumu couldn't do much about the goals, Lavia played well.

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Everything is toxic at the minute, the tide has turned so that the majority want the manager out and some are very very against him. We know there is 90% chance we’ll serve up a pile of shit. We know we take the lead early, we throw it away. We make the same mistakes week after week. the fans go into games with a sense of doom and there is no way that doesn’t rub off on the players. 

I think this is one of the main reasons why the atmosphere at St Mary's is often pre-emptively subdued. There used to be a time where I'd celebrate like a 'The Price is Right' contestant everytime we scored. These days, when we go 1-0 up and my son is jumping up and down with delight next to me, I often turn around to him in grumpy old man mode and say: "Nice goal, but you know what happens next, don't you...?". Knowing that there's a high probability we'll lose after taking the lead isn't really condusive to creating a great atmosphere in the first place. (Yes, I'm aware its a vicious circle.... fan aprehension leads to player aprehension etc... but it's human nature and it works both ways.)

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

blended in with Williams, Wallaces, Moran, Mark Wright who were all YHGTIers. 

 

In fairness our team on saturday wasn't full of kids, it was the players who have proven to be not good enough time and again letting us down. Bazumu couldn't do much about the goals, Lavia played well.

Yep. Bella Kotchap must start on Saturday there's no way he can be worse than the alternatives. 

[trousers]

6 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

we will be relegated months before the season actually ends.

So sayeth the Saintsweb intelligentsia year-upon-year... I guess they'll be right one of these days upon when they'll dust off their "told you so" card....

[Backrow91]

So When I started this thread I was keen to know whether the evening would be “scripted” …..after watching I don’t believe it was! Firstly kudos to the panel for turning up…..after Saturday I was starting to think the event would be cancelled😉I have to say a huge dose of realism from the panel (not unexpected to be fair)  and a lot of our fan base just do not get the fact we cannot compete with the bigger boys and now even clubs our size or just above. It is not FIFA 23. We have to have a model that generates money. Like it or loathe it they have set out a way of trying to achieve that end. I too want more success on the pitch but the way the Premier league is we are finding it increasingly difficult to find players that will do that. Not an excuse for the club but we are where we are! I said to my “current “ season ticket holding mates that we are very close to being back in the competitiveness position that we were when we were still at The Dell. It was holding us back. We competed more then on the pitch I felt (remembered) as the majority of clubs did not have the quality of player that we are up against today! Oh and the fans played a part at times which of course helped massively. Doubling your support inevitably brings more of a casual fan that perhaps isn’t as hardcore! Is that a fair comment? And that is why we do not consistently sell out. As a club we are getting left behind again. All that was spoken about by Ralph re passion and effort is true but from a fans perspective that effort all to quickly collapses when things go against us. You can see from all of the disillusioned comments on various threads that it won’t take much for there to be a very downcast atmosphere at the ground. We still have a few weeks left in the window..let’s see what happens but there is every chance we will be struggling in the table…. on Saturday we will see a set of fans that get behind their team in a very vocal way…. I just wish our fans could, would be allowed to do the same! Ever the optimist……

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

I have just watched it and didnt really pick up on most of the negative things stated here like body language etc.

The only thing that really annoyed me is MS statement about if the fans arent "on it" the players wont be either.

Thats bullshit, im fed up of fans being made to feel like its their fault when the team are crap.  

Perhaps the club could do a bit more on matchdays to have the fans 'on it' by perhaps having a quiet word stopping the stewards getting fans to sit down on the Northam.

That cant helpwith the singing fans mood but also slows the momentum of the atmosphere. I know its 'fans safety' etc etc but to get the ground rocking you need the Northam on it. I dont go now due to work commitments (and apathy to a degree) but I always felt our stewards were more keen to suppress our fans than the away fans. We already giver them an advantage by giving them a part of the ground where they can really give their team a lift

[Alan Sugarfree]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Heard some Americans were shown round St Marys with a view to buying the club.

I hear the glazers might be in the market for a new team soon….

[Alan Sugarfree]

48 minutes ago, trousers said:

I think this is one of the main reasons why the atmosphere at St Mary's is often pre-emptively subdued. There used to be a time where I'd celebrate like a 'The Price is Right' contestant everytime we scored. These days, when we go 1-0 up and my son is jumping up and down with delight next to me, I often turn around to him in grumpy old man mode and say: "Nice goal, but you know what happens next, don't you...?". Knowing that there's a high probability we'll lose after taking the lead isn't really condusive to creating a great atmosphere in the first place. (Yes, I'm aware its a vicious circle.... fan aprehension leads to player aprehension etc... but it's human nature and it works both ways.)

The Liverpool game at home at the end of last season, we were attacking them and the crowd were behind the team. We scored then sat back and wave after wave of Liverpool attacks happened and the crowd subdued. We all know how it played out, therein is the problem. Give the crowd something to get behind and they will. Offer up the dross we’ve become accustomed too and it it’s hard to watch with that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. I’m guessing it being the fans fault saves Ralph blaming the players….

[Streaky]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Martin was the disappointing one for me last night really. He let his frustration boil over and he shouldn’t have.

I can see why he’s frustrated; the club have invested money in improving the team (Something we’ve all been crying out for and moaning about previously), we’ve lost the first game and fans are already throwing vitriol on social media and demanding more, more, more.  He probably feels a little resentment to people who criticise what he views as them pushing the boat out (in relation to the ownership and investment in the team and backroom).

But whatever the frustration someone in his position has, you can't go into stuff like this and throwing the fingers at the fans, if they're right or wrong it never lands well. He'll be regretting how he came across today I'm sure.

Investing in improving the team?. I would say we are weaker than last season. Can't keep buying cheap players who hopefully come good because more often than not they don't. 

Some of our fans act like we are lucky to be in this league, it's bullshit. We are a bigger club than that.

[saintant]

19 minutes ago, Alan Sugarfree said:

I hear the glazers might be in the market for a new team soon….

You can be as sarcy as you like but I heard it from someone who worked at the club.

[saintant]

15 minutes ago, Alan Sugarfree said:

The Liverpool game at home at the end of last season, we were attacking them and the crowd were behind the team. We scored then sat back and wave after wave of Liverpool attacks happened and the crowd subdued. We all know how it played out, therein is the problem. Give the crowd something to get behind and they will. Offer up the dross we’ve become accustomed too and it it’s hard to watch with that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. I’m guessing it being the fans fault saves Ralph blaming the players….

Yeah, if I'm part of the blame for defeats I'm still waiting for my 50 grand a week.

[MarkSFC]

When Semmens said we should be celebrating 10 years in tbe PL it was a sad thing for our CEO to say. 

Weak mindset. A pragmatist is not a bad thing for a CEO but in sporting organisations when dealing with the public that kind of me tality is poor and ill-judged. 

Sports fans live on hope (well the vast majority do). 

That type of mindset at the top will eventually flow down the entire club. 

Contrast with Corteses (at least public) mindset. 

A balance of the two is probably best. 

Hes not the leader I thought he was. 

[Roo1976]

3 hours ago, Appy said:

I bet he does score goals if we start Lyanco and Valery against him, two players that should be playing at a much lower level 

I bet hell score goals regardless of who maybe in deffence. Long way to go maybe hes injured that week against us ?😉. Even top defenders would have a tough task  against Man City.

[Lord Duckhunter]

40 minutes ago, Streaky said:

Some of our fans act like we are lucky to be in this league, it's bullshit. We are a bigger club than that.

It’s not just fans, it’s the culture of the club, top to fucking bottom. Of course we can’t compete with the top sides, that ship sailed years ago, but we can fucking compete with half the friggin league. We need a few pirates to de-Noddyfy the club. Watching Ralph suck up to Klopp & Pep sums it up for me. And when was the last time one of our players was booed or abused by the opposition? Forget “nobody likes us, we don’t care”. We're “everybody likes us but nobody cares.” We’re becoming a nothing noddy club. Soft as shite, and grateful the big boys let us play against them. 

Edited 11 August, 2022 by Lord Duckhunter

[LGTL]

The ‘grateful to be here’ vibe certainly annoyed me the most and sums us up as a weak, nothing football club at this level. 

Edited 11 August, 2022 by LGTL

[Wade Garrett]

I thought Semmens sounded deluded when he was talking about our transfer business.

I thought Ralph sounded disingenuous when saying the players always tried.  Especially in front of an audience who could see to the contrary last season.

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

I’d assume they used some form of broker to manage the sale, but as I understand it (pretty common knowledge), semmens hand picked who won the ‘bid’.

If you’re offered three shit sandwiches and your life depended on eating one of them, which shit sandwich do you chose to eat? Probably the one that looks the most nutritious and beneficial without making you throw up.🤮

[cloggy saint]

1 hour ago, Streaky said:

We are a bigger club than that.

We really aren't.