Man City 4-0 Saints - Match Thread

[Saint86]

2 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Can't say that I'm enjoying my football at the moment. Are we supposed to be pleased with a 4-0 defeat?

No, and no one is saying we should be "pleased"... but we can still be grateful it wasn't worse. Put it that way, a 4-0 loss at the Ethiad won't be the worst result there this season.

[Chez]

Just now, Saint86 said:

Fair play to the saints fans that are up there.

Finished 4-0 because man city were in training mode for much of it. Clear we never had any belief in getting a result today, maybe the intent was only ever to limit the battering.

to be fair, there has to be some degree of caution against the best side in the world. The problem then is how do you threaten when you have strikers that offer no threat. 

[saintant]

Ralph will see this as a decent result but will completely overlook the performance which has been dire, clueless and lacking in any courage. He'll then trot back on the training field next week and carry on in his own sweet, stubborn way because he is either unable or unwilling to change anything. He's as stale as a pair of old socks that are never taken off. Get him gone today.

[Charlie Wayman]

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

In isolation, a 4-0 defeat away to Man City will be about par for most teams in the league this season, but doesn't mask the underlying issues.

Even you must admit this was inexcusable ineptitude on a grand scale despite the circumstances. Awful to watch. We are becoming a laughing stock amongst neutrals.

[SNSUN]

1 minute ago, obelisk said:

Looks like Tella will be just the striker we need next season.

Tella, Ballard, keep Edozie, the future is bright if we go down.

 

4 nil my predo, happy I got it right as a thumping would have harmed the GD. OK it's a thrashing but a lot of people were predicting much worse. Get Lavia back, get Tino back, stick Edozie in there and we have a chance of safety under the new boss but more signings needed in January. 

 

I say new boss... we wait and see.q

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, NewYorkSaint said:

People say our problem is no striker. But I think it's the midfield. We REALLY miss Romeu.  And Romeo.  With Stu Armstrong and JWP just a tad below their best, our traditional strength of winning back the ball relentlessly and blocking most attacks has ebbed.   Still, it wasn't really a humiliation today, and I still think we'll end up fine for the season. We'll get a much better sense next Sunday......

 

Its both. We don't win the ball back enough to dominate possession,  and when we don't have the ball, it relies on forwards that can break and create...but they can't. 

 

[DT]

We are going down unless we make a change now

[ally_uk]

Dress it how you want we were absolutely woeful. 

Midfield non existent, lightweight 

Attack devoid of ideas and passage of play just seems to get ball and run into opposition players rine and repeat... 

I've seen enough I seriously think we might go down this season and that isn't me overreacting.

 

No urgency, no cohesion just was abysmal across the field 

[Charlie Wayman]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

to be fair, there has to be some degree of caution against the best side in the world. The problem then is how do you threaten when you have strikers that offer no threat. 

Strikers on strike, midfielders in mid-life crisis and defenders in a last ditch stand. Not a lot to build on going forwards.

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, gammon cheeks said:

Man City are just world class.....simple as that really .

That's ok then. For a minute I thought it was another of Ralph's many poor days at the office. Carry on Ralph.

[Chez]

Just now, Charlie Wayman said:

Even you must admit this was inexcusable ineptitude on a grand scale despite the circumstances. Awful to watch. We are becoming a laughing stock amongst neutrals.

We are poor.No doubt about it.  Inexcusable ineptitude? What a load of bollocks.

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Strikers on strike, midfielders in mid-life crisis and defenders in a last ditch stand. Not a lot to build on going forwards.

don't worry, the new manager will have us top six in no time at all. 

[John B]

4 minutes ago, DT said:

We are going down unless we make a change now

We are going down because we have bought no experieced attacking players of quality for a long time

[Wade Garrett]

Just now, Chez said:

don't worry, the new manager will have us top six in no time at all. 

He’ll have us playing better than Ralph fucking has.

[Daft Kerplunk]

41 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Team was really static there until it was too late.

Real lack of effort being shown which makes you wonder if they are no longer behind the manager.

You have to wonder if JWP was one of the players surprised Ralph was there at the start of the season. 

The players aren’t there for Ralph, or themselves at the moment. But that’s what Ralph is supposed to inspire. Sleepwalking to relegation. 

[Convict Colony]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

don't worry, the new manager will have us top six in no time at all. 

Hahaha, only that happens if de bruyne is our player coach and haaland his assistant 

[trousers]

10 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Even you must admit this was inexcusable ineptitude on a grand scale despite the circumstances. Awful to watch. We are becoming a laughing stock amongst neutrals.

Let me know who's operating the 'Charlie Wayman' account this evening and I'll get back to you...

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

He’ll have us playing better than Ralph fucking has.

Hope so, but whoever the next man is, will have a squad that is limited. 

[DT]

Just now, Chez said:

Hope so, but whoever the next man is, will have a squad that is limited. 

But at least if it is done now it is before the transfer window, which needs to be a very good one…

[DT]

Surely an announcement tonight. Surely. SURELY?????

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

Hope so, but whoever the next man is, will have a squad that is limited. 

Whereas at the moment we have both a squad and manager who are limited.

[saintant]

Just now, DT said:

Surely an announcement tonight. Surely. SURELY?????

Doubt it. 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, DT said:

But at least if it is done now it is before the transfer window, which needs to be a very good one…

yep, wonder if the manager might actually bring some talent with him otherwise its the same scouts, same negotiators, same budget that has created this bang average squad.

[DT]

Clutching at straws but Brentford losing by quite a bit may have made getting Frank marginally easier. I know. That’s all I’ve got right now. 

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Whereas at the moment we have both a squad and manager who are limited.

fair enough. I just worry that the next manager will have the same squad to select from and this attack is an issue.  Where are the goals coming from. 

[Chez]

was Edozie injured by the way?

[Lighthouse]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

Whereas at the moment we have both a squad and manager who are limited.

You think we can get a manager who isn’t?

[The Kraken]

22 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Looks like Tella will be just the striker we need next season.

He’s doing very well. The step down to the Championship helps, as does the fact that he’s most often playing in probably his natural position, wide left or wide right in a front 3. We never did that with him, he’s not a central striker and he wasn’t given as much licence to bomb forward when played wide. Good luck to him, bet he’s fucking delighted he’s not with us right now.

[The Cat]

24 minutes ago, DT said:

We are going down unless we make a change now

I bet there a Leicester fan saying exactly the same on their forum right now.

[Sheaf Saint]

Just now, Chez said:

fair enough. I just worry that the next manager will have the same squad to select from and this attack is an issue.  Where are the goals coming from. 

Get in a new manager who is capable of at least getting us putting in more effort and playing well enough defensively to manage a clean sheet or two. That will keep our heads above water until January when we can go all out and splash the £30m we were allegedly prepared to shell out for Gakpo on a competent striker.

Do that and we might - might - just have a chance of staying up this season. 

[Vancouver Saint]

It's not losing games like this that bother me - it's losing games like Villa, Wolves and Everton - and going into every game thinking where are we going to get a goal from?

We badly need more goal-threat - not just from strikers, but from all sources.

To win games you need to score a goal. Pretty basic. Mara, Adams and A Armstrong are not going to cut it. So miss a Broja equivalent - we no doubt all saw his first goal for Chelsea.

[Pamplemousse]

I think everyone knows on here I'm one of Ralph's biggest supporters, and I want him to succeed so badly.

But that performance was terrible. There was NO ambition at all. And on reflection we simply need someone new at the helm, give these players a kick up the arse, a fresh perspective is needed.

It is painful because Ralph cares, not many managers do care as much as he has done. But the results don't lie.

[Warriorsaint]

I left at 2-0. Have never done that before in 30 years of going. Must be getting old.

[Suhari]

We lost to one of the best teams the EPL has ever seen, at a time when we are in transition and in poor form.

With a manager who is, in all likelihood, leaving us in the coming weeks.

I'm not overly pissed off. I remain optimistic about the SR project.

The next managerial appointment is crucial though. We all know that.

[gammon cheeks]

Man City were class and we were pretty shit !  Without Romeu and Lavia we are weak as fook in the middle! Diallo and JWP never worked last season so nothing changes ...no service... no creativity.....time for a change of manager and quickly !

[farawaysaint]

I fully expected 6-0 before this game and am mildly relieved it was only 4. Mental 😕

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Going to be hard to sign a decent forward in January with a lead weight around our neck and relegation beckoning. 

[Tanlee]

It's not the losing games that pisses me off, it's the way we lose games with zero plan b, other than to swap the Armstrongs and bring on djenepo and alike. If we actually win a league game it's almost by fluke. The last time I remember us winning any games comprehensively was Brentford and Norwich last season but the tactics seemed to be different, and we had quality up top with Broja and a decent partnership in the middle of the park. 

Things will never get better with Ralph because even  if we go on a unbeaten run of say 4 or 5 games, we all know its just a matter of time until the dross returns and so do the clueless defeats and that says everything about a manager, he can't push us onto the next level and eventually his luck will run out and the club will pay the price. We are not sleepwalking into relegation, I think we are all wide awake and can see it coming.

 

[DT]

8 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Going to be hard to sign a decent forward in January with a lead weight around our neck and relegation beckoning. 

Yup. Negligent. Many of us wanted this done at the end of last season when the record was, even then, astonishingly bad

[Lighthouse]

Out of curiosity, what would people say is a respectable score, away to Man City with zero respectable CMs?

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

56 minutes ago, Chez said:

Hope so, but whoever the next man is, will have a squad that is limited. 

Bompey's squad is even more limited than ours, yet they are 8th? 

[Pamplemousse]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Out of curiosity, what would people say is a respectable score, away to Man City with zero respectable CMs?

Not bothered about the score; the performance was shocking.

It wasn't that long ago we beat Chelsea. And they beat Man City in the Champions League final last year.

From an attacking viewpoint we were abysmal. Defensively it was too easy. Overall unacceptable.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 minute ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Bompey's squad is even more limited than ours, yet they are 8th? 

I would question that. Much as I dislike Bournemouth, I would say their squad is much better than ours

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Out of curiosity, what would people say is a respectable score, away to Man City with zero respectable CMs?

0-2 something like that?

Besides the point really. A 0-4 is acceptable if we are competing in other games. But we're not. What is it now 15 losses out of 21? That's not respectable, it's laughable

[saintant]

50 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You think we can get a manager who isn’t?

Why do you think we can't?

[The Kraken]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Out of curiosity, what would people say is a respectable score, away to Man City with zero respectable CMs?

As has been said, it’s not the score line. We were something like 22-1 before the game, we were never going to win and keeping it to 1-0 would have been very good. More obviously, it’s the manner of defeat that matters the most. Compare it to some of the better Ralph performances away against top teams under his tenure, and this is a million miles away.

[cloggy saint]

3 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I would question that. Much as I dislike Bournemouth, I would say their squad is much better than ours

I'm struggling to think of a worse Saints top flight squad.

[JRM]

28 minutes ago, gammon cheeks said:

Man City were class and we were pretty shit !  Without Romeu and Lavia we are weak as fook in the middle! Diallo and JWP never worked last season so nothing changes ...no service... no creativity.....time for a change of manager and quickly !

I think you are right, centre mid is so important and we are so poor there. 

Apparently last three away games we've scored 0 goals and have had a combined total of 2 shots on target, that's unbelievable really in 270 minutes of football 

[DT]

Paying off Ralph might be expensive but relegation is about seven times more costly

[Toussaint]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

was Edozie injured by the way?

Sick according to Solent