Saints 0-1 Aston Villa

[austsaint]

6 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Jones is a fucking idiot persisting with Diallo and bringing Elyounoussi on.  Terrible appointment.  

Bringing Elyounoussi on at the hour mark was madness - and it showed what a nothing player he is.   His two major/only contributions were the clumsy, unnecessary foul (even if it was doubtful) as our goal went in and bottling a clear chance on goal himself.    Just as your doubts about Jones start to thaw, on comes Elyounoussi.     The criticism over Diallo is fair - even though he did a lot of good intercept, disrupting work with Lavia, his habit of slack passing in dangerous areas is now a feature of his game.

[Dragon_man]

28 minutes ago, Jimmy_D said:

"I felt it was enough to go down..."

Cheating ****ing ****.

If there was ever an admission of guilt.

Says it all.

 

 

[OttawaSaint]

1 hour ago, aintforever said:

I would say the current squad is probably quite well suited for relegation. A few will obviously be sold but we have a lot of youngsters who should be on lowish wages who could probably do with a season in the Championship. Our owner obviously has some cash so if managed well we should be well placed to bounce back up.

I think we'll struggle in the championship. Lots of good teams and we have a team who are so used to losing that it has become a habit they find hard to break. 

[Micky]

13 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

I think we'll struggle in the championship. Lots of good teams and we have a team who are so used to losing that it has become a habit they find hard to break. 

Totally agree, I don't see us being back in the premiereship for years.  As you said the championship is a graveyard of 'good teams'.  The Sheffield's, Sunderland, West Brom, Norwich, QPR - and quite a few others,  all comparable to us in terms of resources. We made our way out of the lower league last time because of the investment Markus poured into the club.   I can't see the current owners doing the same, we are lower league bound for many, many years methinks. 

[jabei]

6 hours ago, Micky said:

Totally agree, I don't see us being back in the premiereship for years.  As you said the championship is a graveyard of 'good teams'.  The Sheffield's, Sunderland, West Brom, Norwich, QPR - and quite a few others,  all comparable to us in terms of resources. We made our way out of the lower league last time because of the investment Markus poured into the club.   I can't see the current owners doing the same, we are lower league bound for many, many years methinks. 

You mean the current owners who are almost up to £100m investment in players? Surely more than any other owner we've ever had in such a timeframe?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

9 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

After this unwittingly inept and disjointed performance it is hard to see where Saints go next. Despite the change of management and style any pattern of play remains indiscernible and elusive. Time surely is running out. It is true we have a few highly talented players but equally we continue to rely on too many journeymen stalwarts who have never convinced at this level. If today's performance was indicative of something near our best then relegation is a near certainty.

The clamour for a new striker is a last desperate cry for help from fans who know but cannot come to terms with the fact that we are collectively as a management team and squad of players no longer good enough to stay in this division. I sensed today that this was our last chance saloon, we were put to the test and failed. From my seat in the Kingsland there was little to warm the chilly day and few of my colleagues looked anything other than thoroughly bewildered and dejected.

Acceptance is replacing belief and that is proving to be a very painful transition

 

You are quite correct. I am amazed at the number of fans who thought we were Villa’s equal and we played alright. The first 45 mins was truly awful. We gave the ball away consistently (Diallo particularly guilty), we had so attacking substance and little possession. We looked like the away team. 2nd half had to be better (Diallo still gave the ball away) especially when Walker Peters ran the line but then the elephant in the room made an appearance when we suddenly realised our forwards can’t score. 

[obelisk]

Last week: Lyanco puts a dangerous cross into the penalty area. Mara is on the move and sweeps past the defender to fire into the net. Saints take the lead.

This week: Lyanco puts a dangerous cross into the penalty area. Adams is dawdling on his heels well offside before mis-controlling the ball and stumbling into the 'keeper. Another chance goes begging.

I've lost count of the numbers of points Che might have cost us this season. The calamity at Wolves will live long in the memory. If the choice is between him and Mara I'm inclined to persevere with the latter. Adams has had his chance and blown it - something that could be said about Saints as well come to think of it.

[Miltonaggro]

3 minutes ago, jabei said:

You mean the current owners who are almost up to £100m investment in players? Surely more than any other owner we've ever had in such a timeframe?

It’s their money, well Dragan Solak’s money, but likely won’t count for very much in the Championship having been frittered so incompetently. Do you think that Solak will put in a similar amount simply to get SFC back to the position we were in when he bought us? 

[macca155]

21 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

You are quite correct. I am amazed at the number of fans who thought we were Villa’s equal and we played alright. The first 45 mins was truly awful. We gave the ball away consistently (Diallo particularly guilty), we had so attacking substance and little possession. We looked like the away team. 2nd half had to be better (Diallo still gave the ball away) especially when Walker Peters ran the line but then the elephant in the room made an appearance when we suddenly realised our forwards can’t score. 

I think that's a tad harsh. Saints matched Villa for effort, created more chances (such as they were), but were outclassed in midfield.

They had a better goalkeeper, slightly tighter defence and a more dynamic midfield. Saints were more creative but as you say, no strikers, and Diallo passed to Villa more than Saints.

Subs made us weaker that's a worry.

It's grim, very grim but I'm sure as hell not giving up.

[Chez]

Armstrong's chance in the second half hasn't seemed to be mentioned on here. He's hit it pretty well, but he's on the penalty spot when he does and should be burying it. We don't create lots of chances, so really MUST have strikers that are clinical for us to win points. They aren't.

[SotonianWill]

8 minutes ago, Chez said:

Armstrong's chance in the second half hasn't seemed to be mentioned on here. He's hit it pretty well, but he's on the penalty spot when he does and should be burying it. We don't create lots of chances, so really MUST have strikers that are clinical for us to win points. They aren't.

best finisher in the club apparently 

[JRM]

10 minutes ago, Chez said:

Armstrong's chance in the second half hasn't seemed to be mentioned on here. He's hit it pretty well, but he's on the penalty spot when he does and should be burying it. We don't create lots of chances, so really MUST have strikers that are clinical for us to win points. They aren't.

I think you're right , how many 1-0 defeats have we had now? Not scoring goals is a huge problem for us and no sign of that new striker yet 

[jayrivers]

14 minutes ago, macca155 said:

I think that's a tad harsh. Saints matched Villa for effort, created more chances (such as they were), but were outclassed in midfield.

They had a better goalkeeper, slightly tighter defence and a more dynamic midfield. Saints were more creative but as you say, no strikers, and Diallo passed to Villa more than Saints.

Subs made us weaker that's a worry.

It's grim, very grim but I'm sure as hell not giving up.

Exactly! I was at the game and we generally matched them and deserved something from the game. Ultimately they are a better side, and since Emery took over only Arsenal have more points than villa. They are the league's in form team

We were set up well, defended very well apart from that one set piece. We restricted them, and caused them more problems in attack than they caused us. They couldn't handle Edozie and just constantly fouled him. Had the ref of given a yellow card as he should have in the first half, then they would have had to of backed off and he'd have even more space. 

 

It was a game of very fine margins in the end 

 

 

[Chewy]

My morning after two penneth.

Thats 6 points dropped by not having the striker we’ve obviously needed for months lined up for Jan 1st. This alone is entirely unacceptable by the board. I can’t stress enough what a dereliction I find this.

Adams bad, Mara even worse (nothing except give stupid fouls away including the one they scored from). Armstrong lively but doesn’t score.

Any good work by Diallo undone by giving the ball away dangerously at least 4 times. Bazunu really bad but I’m not blaming him for the goal - free header from 6 yards from a pointless free kick … give the guy some help lads!

Walker-Peters much better at right back, Elyonoussi utterly pointless and dreadful. And our new forward probably needs more than 5 minutes.

Aside from all that, my last game was Forest and we were much better. Villa are now a decent and well organised side and we matched them. Jones made an effective tweak at half-time which gave us some impetus though we appeared to lose it after the VAR break. Probably not helped by replacing Lavia (good times) with Elyonoussi (horrific times).

But for all that, if we don’t have anyone who can score or offer any realistic threat other than JWP we’re down.
This has been obvious for months and whatever decent work might be being done elsewhere will be utterly irrelevant if we don’t score. 

[redandwhitey]

Disappointed to say the least, the game was spoiled by weak refereeing early on, and the disallowed goal was a very soft decision.

Emery played a perfect plan as an away side, ensuring that we had no time in midfield and when we had “possession “ it was often headed clearances and very rushed. Some players trying to gain some time and space made silly mistakes and panicked.

villa not much better than us in the game but they were more astute at the dark side with nightly fouls etc. 

I thought surrounding the ref and harassing them was against the rules ? (Forcing the BAR check ?

[redandwhitey]

VAR check

[Saint86]

10 hours ago, SNSUN said:

Without checking (the game largely bypassed me for a number of reasons), but I'm guessing the overall response to this game is that the 'powers that be' should all now see the blatant flaws in the team that the rest of us can see... namely we need a striker, someone better than Diallo and a Keeper who isn't 'learning his trade'...

 

A draw today would have been huge. Shame. Still we march on.

My overall take on the game is two fold. 

The referee was appalling, blew up at any excuse to give villa free kicks, even for the most innocuous decisons. Ultimatley coating us 3 points through dodgy officiating. 

We clearly lack the required quality in the final 3rd to take enough chances. With a better left winger and central striker, we wouldn't have needed jwp's goal 😔. 

What I would say is that our response to the var call was poor. We were all over villa prior to it, but following that call we totally dropped off - despite no tactical changes from villa or substitutions etc. No excuse for that. 

Was a close game apart from that. But ultimatley 3 points have been lost due to Michael Salisbury (always shit for us) and Richard West on VAR, and that could very likely send us down. 

Also, the policing response to drone was simply not good enough. Supporters in much of the ground didn't realise what was going on until it was finally announced once the players were basically off the pitch, and many fans could be heard to say, "what about our safety" (re announcement on the players safety). Which is spot on - seemingly no provions in place to stop someone flying drones into the crowd if someone desired. 

Edited 22 January, 2023 by Saint86

[S-Clarke]

Back to earth with a bump really. I didn't think our overall game was THAT bad, but the same old problem continues to haunt us and will continue to haunt us until we sort it out - our centre forwards and 10's are truly, truly inept.

Armstrong had a chance on the pen spot, but he didn't take it. For a team who doesn't score goals as it is, it's absolutely infuriating that the few chances we get fall to players who are just horrendous. 

For me, the Armstrong experiment is over - he's not for this level, runs a lot and has a bit of pace, but technically one of the most limited players I've ever seen play for us at this level. Adams works hard, has physicality, but is not a lone player as we keep saying. He needs 'quality' alongside him to bring the best out of him, we should not be hanging Adams out to dry like we are. Filling the team up with wide players is not going to fix the problem, surely the club can't be that blind. 

Midfield, which has been decent for the last few games, was very weak - but what contributed to that is our lack of control or ball retention, Diallo in particular is still one of the worst CM's we've ever had so i really hope we take the opportunity to replace him, as he's absolutely shit.

Not sure why Orsic isn't playing, he needs to start in place of Elyounoussi. Fair enough he might work hard, and his off the ball stuff is good, but from an attacking impact point of view (which is what we need) he is again one of the worst ever players we've had in the PL.

So the crux is that we're continuing to carry players who are not good enough for this level and until that changes we will remain bottom. The chances of getting out of this are pretty slim now I think, I'm pretty resigned to it - I don't see us getting anywhere near enough points now, and we're pissing away the games where we should be getting those points.

One of the worst seasons supporting this club for sure, because everything we've done up to now is 100% self inflicted.

Edited 22 January, 2023 by S-Clarke

[badgerx16]

15 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Does anyone really deeply care that we are going down?

I was absolutely gutted in 2005...maybe because it was a much more rapid decline and almost a completely wasted opportunity

This time, it has been on the cards for a while and we completely deserve it, and I am very unbothered about it

This would be the 3rd time I have seen Saints drop out of the top flight, so nothing new.

[Wsaint]

10 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

"I felt it was enough to go down..."

Cheating ****ing ****.

Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that, disgraceful little shit. What kind of a comment is that. 

[badgerx16]

10 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

"I felt it was enough to go down..."

Cheating ****ing ****.

And our players do exactly the same.

[LeBizzier69]

Very rarely am I still angry/chewing over a defeat at 10am the next day, but here I sit still pissed right off.

I get the sentiment that we were largely awful yesterday, but it is perfectly possible for a team to be terrible and still get a jammy win. The VAR check and general officiating has (in my opinion) cost us that, or at least a point.

Would it paper over cracks? Of course it would in the short term, but it’s the points we need. Yesterday, I wouldn’t have cared how we got there if we could have just got the win.

For all we know Ings or Wood wouldn’t have chosen us over WH or NF, but it was another example of needing a proven PL forward. Opinion is divided on Ings, and I don’t have a dewy eyed fondness of him, but he will get you goals and I think as watching fans we’d all have been buzzing to know that the bloke up top can finish and get a goal from nothing. 

Big week for SR, but I fear it could be too little too late. 

[whelk]

Che Adams is not PL quality but now seems to below what was already not a good enough standard. Don’t know if his confidence is shot but he should not be starting

[Charlie Wayman]

11 hours ago, manji said:

Can’t see Sports Republic bottling it. My opinion on them is if they get these 3 or 4 players in . On the long interview with Rasmus he said be patient a very exciting couple of weeks coming up for Saints fans. We shall see.

It's just wishful thinking, we are not even playing the two new players that just arrived so why should anybody expect that more arrivals would be able to jump straight into the first team and make a huge impact. 

[derry]

On reflection, I posted last night that we retreated too quickly at the free kick and Lyanco played Watkins on side. There is more to it, firstly Lyanco was the first to take a step backwards so was the backmarker. We need an experienced defender that knows what he is doing to manage the defence. It needed two things in my opinion, one a player to call the play as the free kick is taken and secondly the whole line takes a step away from the goal on the call. That would in ninetynine times out of a hundred result in multi offsides. It would also give the keeper the room to try and claim the ball. He had no chance yesterday.

Lyanco is hopeless at heading, done like a kipper by Fulham and under the ball yesterday, who the hell ever thought he would make a centreback. Salisu isn't that good in the air and was between two Saints players marking nobody. The zonal marking doesn't work. We need to have a better plan than line up and just run back as the kick is taken and allow the opponents to move in.

Edited 22 January, 2023 by derry

[saintant]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Back to earth with a bump really. I didn't think our overall game was THAT bad, but the same old problem continues to haunt us and will continue to haunt us until we sort it out - our centre forwards and 10's are truly, truly inept.

Armstrong had a chance on the pen spot, but he didn't take it. For a team who doesn't score goals as it is, it's absolutely infuriating that the few chances we get fall to players who are just horrendous. 

For me, the Armstrong experiment is over - he's not for this level, runs a lot and has a bit of pace, but technically one of the most limited players I've ever seen play for us at this level. Adams works hard, has physicality, but is not a lone player as we keep saying. He needs 'quality' alongside him to bring the best out of him, we should not be hanging Adams out to dry like we are. Filling the team up with wide players is not going to fix the problem, surely the club can't be that blind. 

Midfield, which has been decent for the last few games, was very weak - but what contributed to that is our lack of control or ball retention, Diallo in particular is still one of the worst CM's we've ever had so i really hope we take the opportunity to replace him, as he's absolutely shit.

Not sure why Orsic isn't playing, he needs to start in place of Elyounoussi. Fair enough he might work hard, and his off the ball stuff is good, but from an attacking impact point of view (which is what we need) he is again one of the worst ever players we've had in the PL.

So the crux is that we're continuing to carry players who are not good enough for this level and until that changes we will remain bottom. The chances of getting out of this are pretty slim now I think, I'm pretty resigned to it - I don't see us getting anywhere near enough points now, and we're pissing away the games where we should be getting those points.

One of the worst seasons supporting this club for sure, because everything we've done up to now is 100% self inflicted.

A good summary apart from the fact that you overlook the point that Bazunu is not yet anywhere close to being good enough at this level. We need a keeper in this window if we are serious about wanting to stay up.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, derry said:

On reflection, I posted last night that we retreated too quickly at the free kick and Lyanco played Watkins off side. There is more to it, firstly Lyanco was the first to take a step backwards so was the backmarker. We need an experienced defender that knows what he is doing to manage the defence. It needed two things in my opinion, one a player to call the play as the free kick is taken and secondly the whole line takes a step away from the goal on the call. That would in ninetynine times out of a hundred result in multi offsides. It would also give the keeper the room to try and claim the ball. He had no chance yesterday.

Lyanco is hopeless at heading, done like a kipper by Fulham and under the ball yesterday, who the hell ever thought he would make a centreback. Salisu isn't that good in the air and was between two Saints players marking nobody. The zonal marking doesn't work. We need to have a better plan than line up and just run back as the kick is taken and allow the opponents to move in.

That’s how I saw it. I don’t know what Lyanco was thinking there but he’s not marking anybody, runs back early, goes beyond the near post and gets way under the flight of the ball. Was it supposed to be zonal marking? All I remember seeing is a line of Villa players rushing in with a couple of Saints’ players dotted amongst them.

Of course if Mara doesn’t make that reckless challenge they wouldn’t have had the opportunity.

[fanimal]

Having watched MOTD and calmed down the difference was Che not staying onside whilst Watkins did and AA not burying that golden chance in the second half 

So in essence as it’s been for a long time two strikers with more poise experience whatever needed for those fine margin moments 

[saintant]

6 minutes ago, derry said:

On reflection, I posted last night that we retreated too quickly at the free kick and Lyanco played Watkins off side. There is more to it, firstly Lyanco was the first to take a step backwards so was the backmarker. We need an experienced defender that knows what he is doing to manage the defence. It needed two things in my opinion, one a player to call the play as the free kick is taken and secondly the whole line takes a step away from the goal on the call. That would in ninetynine times out of a hundred result in multi offsides. It would also give the keeper the room to try and claim the ball. He had no chance yesterday.

Lyanco is hopeless at heading, done like a kipper by Fulham and under the ball yesterday, who the hell ever thought he would make a centreback. Salisu isn't that good in the air and was between two Saints players marking nobody. The zonal marking doesn't work. We need to have a better plan than line up and just run back as the kick is taken and allow the opponents to move in.

Spot on. Instead of stepping forward Lyanco panicked and stepped back and that simple movement cost us the goal. He should be well enough drilled by now to know how to control the defensive line against a free kick. Very unprofessional.

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, saintant said:

Spot on. Instead of stepping forward Lyanco panicked and stepped back and that simple movement cost us the goal. He should be well enough drilled by now to know how to control the defensive line against a free kick. Very unprofessional.

His sole contribution in that move was to play Watkins inside. 

[Miltonaggro]

On 21/01/2023 at 09:58, CB Fry said:

Narrow defeat leaving us bottom but with just enough "well, if we play like that every week then we definitely won't be relegated" content for the delusionals.

Soothsayer CBF - spot on it seems!  What's the non-delusional rationality forecast for our next match.  I guess it's the cup so a hammering can be dismissed as Nat prioritising.

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

His sole contribution in that move was to play Watkins inside. 

Exactly and I hope the coaches have the nous to make him sit down and watch re-runs of the goal while telling him in no uncertain terms how costly an error he made. Players need to be made accountable or these mistakes will just continue.

[obelisk]

While it's true to say that Lyanco's positioning played Watkins onside and cost a goal let's not forget that Adams' dawdling offside in the first half also cost us a goal - that's assuming he'd have managed to control the ball and actually put it in the net that is.

[derry]

19 minutes ago, obelisk said:

While it's true to say that Lyanco's positioning played Watkins onside and cost a goal let's not forget that Adams' dawdling offside in the first half also cost us a goal - that's assuming he'd have managed to control the ball and actually put it in the net that is.

In football terms I think he's thick. He never even reacted looking along the line, he was offside. Then panic set in and a simple finish was missed. He was offside anyway. His miss did more to sum him up, he has no idea as a finisher and the more time he gets the worse the finish. We can't keep playing a striker that is most comfortable thirty yards out from goal spoiling, he's there to finish and he doesn't do that regularly with the chances he gets. He is also unaware of the times he is regularly in offside positions. Even when he scores my first thought is always,was it offside?

[Chez]

39 minutes ago, derry said:

Lyanco is hopeless at heading, done like a kipper by Fulham and under the ball yesterday, who the hell ever thought he would make a centreback. Salisu isn't that good in the air and was between two Saints players marking nobody. The zonal marking doesn't work. We need to have a better plan than line up and just run back as the kick is taken and allow the opponents to move in.

I've flagged up before that Lyanco not dominating in the air at set pieces has cost us goals. He got under this cross and we concede again. It was a decent cross, so maybe not all on him, but he's not a giant guy that wins everything. I don't feel safe at all at set pieces with these CB's like I did with Fonte/Jadai or Fonte/VVD. DCC (standing behind him) doesn't exactly cover himself in glory either at that set piece, neither getting tight to Watkins or making any effort at all to win the header. Maybe it was just one of those crosses that is perfectly placed between two split CBs, but why does that always seem to happen.

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, Chez said:

I've flagged up before that Lyanco not dominating in the air at set pieces has cost us goals. He got under this cross and we concede again. It was a decent cross, so maybe not all on him, but he's not a giant guy that wins everything. I don't feel safe at all at set pieces with these CB's like I did with Fonte/Jadai or Fonte/VVD. DCC (standing behind him) doesn't exactly cover himself in glory either at that set piece, neither getting tight to Watkins or making any effort at all to win the header. Maybe it was just one of those crosses that is perfectly placed between two split CBs, but why does that always seem to happen.

If he holds the line Watkins is offside and Lyanco doesn't even need to head the ball. Having said that I agree that he is anything but dominant in the air - thought he'd be more like 'Killer' Svensson who would always stick his head in where it might get hurt.

[Lord Duckhunter]

It was also a poor free kick to give away, he didn’t really need to foul the bloke. When you keep conceding from set pieces you really need to stop giving away preventable corners and free kicks 

[davor99]

Greetings to everyone here. I am New here, a big personal fan of Mislav Oršić, hope Saints will sooner than later have the opportunity to realize what kind of effective and super loyal team-based player they have signed. 

[derry]

1 minute ago, davor99 said:

Greetings to everyone here. I am New here, a big personal fan of Mislav Oršić, hope Saints will sooner than later have the opportunity to realize what kind of effective and super loyal team-based player they have signed. 

Welcome, thanks. The sooner they start him the better. It's unbelievable he hasn't played yet.

[Saint Garrett]

We used to hold a way higher line under Ralph. We’re so deep on free kicks under Jones. 

[hypochondriac]

Jones keeps saying how much more solid we are and how much better. I'd be interested to know if the stats bear that out. I'm sure we've shown a little improvement in some areas, but I can't imagine we're better than our performance against Chelsea for example. We're still conceding every game and don't seem to be scoring more. 

[Badger]

13 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

"I felt it was enough to go down..."

Cheating ****ing ****.

Yet none of the MOTD pundits picked up on it, and Jenas even thought it was the right decision or words to that effect.

[Appy]

We got lucky in the first half, Bazunu fouls Ramsey, but it gets given as a corner. 

[The Cat]

25 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

We used to hold a way higher line under Ralph. We’re so deep on free kicks under Jones. 

Which people would routinely moan about. Maybe the reason Ralph did that was partly because he was concerned about the sort of thing that happened yesterday.

Edited 22 January, 2023 by The Cat

[Dragon_man]

Just need 8 wins from the next 18 games now. Easy-peasy.

 

 

[Convict Colony]

3 hours ago, derry said:

On reflection, I posted last night that we retreated too quickly at the free kick and Lyanco played Watkins on side. There is more to it, firstly Lyanco was the first to take a step backwards so was the backmarker. We need an experienced defender that knows what he is doing to manage the defence. It needed two things in my opinion, one a player to call the play as the free kick is taken and secondly the whole line takes a step away from the goal on the call. That would in ninetynine times out of a hundred result in multi offsides. It would also give the keeper the room to try and claim the ball. He had no chance yesterday.

Lyanco is hopeless at heading, done like a kipper by Fulham and under the ball yesterday, who the hell ever thought he would make a centreback. Salisu isn't that good in the air and was between two Saints players marking nobody. The zonal marking doesn't work. We need to have a better plan than line up and just run back as the kick is taken and allow the opponents to move in.

yeah we did this a fair bit under ralph, was quite tasty.

[Convict Colony]

What was the stat only arsenal had more points than villa since emery has come in, on reflection the fact that we felt we should of won or drawn that game maybe highlights we have made progression under NJ.

On reflection the biggest error yesterday for me was me attempting to drink my fridge dry as my weak coping mechanism.

[CB Fry]

36 minutes ago, Dragon_man said:

Just need 8 wins from the next 18 games now. Easy-peasy.

 

 

Er, you don't need 12 wins to stay up. 6 more wins max.

It doesn't matter, we're not going to get them but we might as well be realistic in what us actually required.

[Chez]

3 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That’s how I saw it. I don’t know what Lyanco was thinking there but he’s not marking anybody, runs back early, goes beyond the near post and gets way under the flight of the ball. Was it supposed to be zonal marking?

Yes. It's zonal marking.

I'm glad we have moved away from that crazy offside trap bollocks under Ralph, but I am starting to wonder if hold a high line at set pieces offers any advantages to the defensive side. 

If forwards and defenders are all moving towards the goal, it feels like its always going to be difficult for defenders to stick with opponents and make a suitable clearing header. If defenders were already on thee six yard box,  they could be facing the ball coming in and then attack it. I guess in practice though, sitting deep makes it even easier for attackers to score with the right delivery.

Perhaps it's just that Lyanco, DCC and Salisu aren't the ball winners we like to think they are.

[Whitey Grandad]

5 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Er, you don't need 12 wins to stay up. 6 more wins max.

It doesn't matter, we're not going to get them but we might as well be realistic in what us actually required.

We estimated yesterday that we need a point a game plus the odd win on top of that.