Ruben Selles

[S-Clarke]

I know people will throw the shit Selles way, but from a neutral point of view he was freshening up the midfield where Lavia was beginning to blow.

The real issue here, as many managers have found before him, is that the quality of replacements on the bench are utterly, utterly inept. I guarantee if that sub was made tonight but Romeu was the replacement the result would have been different. 

[Dman]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I know people will throw the shit Selles way, but from a neutral point of view he was freshening up the midfield where Lavia was beginning to blow.

The real issue here, as many managers have found before him, is that the quality of replacements on the bench are utterly, utterly inept. I guarantee if that sub was made tonight but Romeu was the replacement the result would have been different. 

And Moi wasn’t? It was a poor sub. 

when you’re fighting for your life, you keep your best player and only one capable of keeping the ball, on the pitch. 
 

All of his subs today were piss poor. 

[Ralph Fastenbüttl]

Some pretty fucking poor decisions from Ruben tonight. I think the right sub strategy might actually have won us that match, astonishingly.

[harvey]

1 minute ago, Dman said:

And Moi wasn’t? It was a poor sub. 

when you’re fighting for your life, you keep your best player and only one capable of keeping the ball, on the pitch. 
 

All of his subs today were piss poor. 

Bang on!

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Dman said:

And Moi wasn’t? It was a poor sub. 

when you’re fighting for your life, you keep your best player and only one capable of keeping the ball, on the pitch. 
 

All of his subs today were piss poor. 

I just find it hard to totally throw yet another manager under the bus when the fundamental issues here are the players. End of.

There are things every manager can have done better, no denying it, but the players get let off lightly here. 

[Archers Road Stand]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I just find it hard to totally throw yet another manager under the bus when the fundamental issues here are the players. End of.

There are things every manager can have done better, no denying it, but the players get let off lightly here. 

He deserves to be thrown under the bus. He's been a fucking appalling appointment. 

Subbed our two best players off today for players who don't make any other PL side. 

Lavia blowing? Make him power through the final 9 or so minutes. To not win that game at 3-1 is criminal. 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I know people will throw the shit Selles way, but from a neutral point of view he was freshening up the midfield where Lavia was beginning to blow.

The real issue here, as many managers have found before him, is that the quality of replacements on the bench are utterly, utterly inept. I guarantee if that sub was made tonight but Romeu was the replacement the result would have been different. 

The obvious sun was Armstrong for Elyauseless. He was shite again and knackered. Armstrong can keep the ball and ease pressure 

when Lavia went off Odegaard suddenly looked a world beater and waltzed through our midfield. He didn’t do it for the 85 minutes before that. 

[Dman]

It’s also no one but the managers fault for continually picking Bazunu who costs us week after week. 
 

Mccarthy is no world beater, but he’s better than Bazunu.. by a long way. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

17 minutes ago, Ralph Fastenbüttl said:

Some pretty fucking poor decisions from Ruben tonight. I think the right sub strategy might actually have won us that match, astonishingly.

Was it his his tactics that got us 2-0 & 3-1? 
 

Caraghar has just said his tactical explanation was brilliant, and he’s giving him credit for what he did. Neville praising him as well. Still what do they know compared to you? 

[Saint Garrett]

Came here expecting ppl to be giving Selles a bit of praise for getting a result against the league leaders. 

Some big expectations on his shoulders given what he has at his disposal. Obviously frustrating  to not get the win, but to get us into that position playing some decent front footed stuff, I think he deserves some credit personally. 

[Dman]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Was it his his tactics that got us 2-0 & 3-1? 
 

Caraghar has just said his tactical explanation was brilliant, and he’s giving him credit for what he did. Neville praising him as well. Still what do they know compared to you? 

Without being pedantic, Arsenal gifted us the first and arguably 3rd goal, not his tactics. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Came here expecting ppl to be giving Selles a bit of praise for getting a result against the league leaders. 

Some big expectations on his shoulders given what he has at his disposal. Obviously frustrating  to not get the win, but to get us into that position playing some decent front footed stuff, I think he deserves some credit personally. 

Well said. 
 

Summed it up perfectly. Some posters need to give their head a wobble.

[CB Fry]

4 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Was it his his tactics that got us 2-0 & 3-1? 
 

Caraghar has just said his tactical explanation was brilliant, and he’s giving him credit for what he did. Neville praising him as well. Still what do they know compared to you? 

Fucking give it a rest. We scored a freak goal in the first minute, it wasn't some tactical masterclass.

If that goal had gone during Ralph's reign you'd be falling over yourself to call it a fluke.

[RedArmy]

3 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Came here expecting ppl to be giving Selles a bit of praise for getting a result against the league leaders. 

Some big expectations on his shoulders given what he has at his disposal. Obviously frustrating  to not get the win, but to get us into that position playing some decent front footed stuff, I think he deserves some credit personally. 

Obviously we would have all taken the result before the game. 
 

He deserves the criticism for how it played out though. Arsenal had no cutting edge tonight, they were resorting to diving in the box and just lumping it to the back post and hoping for the best….until he took off Lavia for Diallo and it all fell to pieces in a matter of seconds. 

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Was it his his tactics that got us 2-0 & 3-1? 
 

Caraghar has just said his tactical explanation was brilliant, and he’s giving him credit for what he did. Neville praising him as well. Still what do they know compared to you? 

Selles got the first half right and the second half wrong.

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Fucking give it a rest. We scored a freak goal in the first minute, it wasn't some tactical masterclass.

 

Forget Neville & Carragher, Fry is the man who knows. 

[stevy777_x]

19 minutes ago, Archers Road Stand said:

He deserves to be thrown under the bus. He's been a fucking appalling appointment. 

Subbed our two best players off today for players who don't make any other PL side. 

Lavia blowing? Make him power through the final 9 or so minutes. To not win that game at 3-1 is criminal. 

You cannot criticize Selles i m sorry, it was a brilliant tactical set up, and we nearly got the win, something we ve never done at the Emirates.

Even the change at half time was a very good move. It reduced the spaces Arsenal had with Martinelli and Saka in the first half.

Your just bitter because of the result but have some perspective ffs.

Our players were extremely tired at the end, they did well to resist at the end.

[egg]

5 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Fucking give it a rest. We scored a freak goal in the first minute, it wasn't some tactical masterclass.

If that goal had gone during Ralph's reign you'd be falling over yourself to call it a fluke.

Oh come on. His team and tactics got us to 3-1. Wtf he was thinking bringing Lavia off I'm not sure though - that decision cost us the game. 

[harvey]

Just now, stevy777_x said:

You cannot criticize Selles i m sorry, it was a brilliant tactical set up, and we nearly got the win, something we ve never done at the Emirates.

Even the change at half time was a very good move. It reduced the spaces Arsenal had with Martinelli and Saka in the first half.

Your just bitter because of the result but have some perspective ffs.

Our players were extremely tired at the end, they did well to resist at the end.

Jesus christ.....you're one deluded individual.

[trousers]

31 minutes ago, Turkish said:

The obvious sun was Armstrong for Elyauseless. He was shite again and knackered. Armstrong can keep the ball and ease pressure 

when Lavia went off Odegaard suddenly looked a world beater and waltzed through our midfield. He didn’t do it for the 85 minutes before that. 

This. The Lavia sub obviously cost us the game. (Not that it matters because we're down regardless of tonight's result)

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Forget Neville & Carragher, Fry is the man who knows. 

You know those pundits and loads of other pundits spend a lot of time praising James Ward-Prowse while you twat on with your "son in law" routine every bloody week? They were right and you're wrong.

You know plenty of pundits could see how utterly shit Nathan Jones was while you were salivating about how agressive and hard to beat he was making us? They were right and you're wrong.

What do those pundits know, eh?

Duckhunter knows best everyone. 

Clueless cunt.

 

 

[Lighthouse]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

Oh come on. His team and tactics got us to 3-1. Wtf he was thinking bringing Lavia off I'm not sure though - that decision cost us the game. 

Arsenal bottling their own title fight got us 3-1 up. The first goal was a howler, the third was laughably bad defending from a corner. Today was another chance gone begging, nothing more.

[harvey]

16 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Came here expecting ppl to be giving Selles a bit of praise for getting a result against the league leaders. 

Some big expectations on his shoulders given what he has at his disposal. Obviously frustrating  to not get the win, but to get us into that position playing some decent front footed stuff, I think he deserves some credit personally. 

Not at all, we we're 3-1 up and we should have contained and won with a responsible and tactical astute manager...you have the same loosing attitude as the club!

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, CB Fry said:

You know those pundits and loads of other pundits spend a lot of time praising James Ward-Prowse while you twat on with your "son in law" routine every bloody week? They were right and you're wrong.

You know plenty of pundits could see how utterly shit Nathan Jones was while you were salivating about how agressive and hard to beat he was making us? They were right and you're wrong.

What do those pundits know, eh?

Duckhunter knows best everyone. 

Clueless cunt.

 

 

I thought JWP was excellent tonight. The pundits didn’t mention it much during the game but quite often he was the one getting the last tackle in or block. Late on I think it 3-3 he somehow got his boot on a ball to deflect it wide when it was heading into the bottom corner, Bazunu obviously wouldn’t have saved it. Plus he was winding up Jesus who is a little cunt. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Arsenal bottling their own title fight got us 3-1 up. The first goal was a howler, the third was laughably bad defending from a corner. Today was another chance gone begging, nothing more.

I noticed for the 3rd Ramsdale wasn’t even looking when the corner came in.
 

Im not sure it was a tactical masterclass, we were getting rinsed down the flanks, got gifted two goals, he took our best player off at half time and left on two players who were contributing nothing. At 2-1 we had nothing going forward the ball kept coming back and it was looking only a matter of time until we conceded. We nicked a third then he inexplicably took off lavia and handed them a way back in the game. Their second goal came as a direct result of lavia not being there. Once they got a second a third was inevitable 

[egg]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

I noticed for the 3rd Ramsdale wasn’t even looking when the corner came in.
 

Im not sure it was a tactical masterclass, we were getting rinsed down the flanks, got gifted two goals, he took our best player off at half time and left on two players who were contributing nothing. At 2-1 we had nothing going forward the ball kept coming back and it was looking only a matter of time until we conceded. We nicked a third then he inexplicably took off lavia and handed them a way back in the game. Their second goal came as a direct result of lavia not being there. Once they got a second a third was inevitable 

We couldn't have gone into that 2nd half with DCC and ABK our only 2 CB's. We needed to go to a 5 - Tessem on Solent rightly made the point and gave Selles credit for the change. The issue was who to sacrifice. If it was AA people will have whinged that he took off our striker. If it was Ely, and Alcaraz then got another yellow, people will have whinged that he wasn't taken off and was an accident waiting to happen. Personally, I think he called that right. Had Alcaraz not been on a yellow, I suspect he wouldn't have gone off at the break. Sulemana and tall Paul coming on was the right call too, although arguably too late. Where he messed up tactically was Lavia off for Diallo. Absolutely pointless change at a crucial time which cost us the game, and put the nail in our PL coffin.

[SotonianWill]

9 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Came here expecting ppl to be giving Selles a bit of praise for getting a result against the league leaders. 

Some big expectations on his shoulders given what he has at his disposal. Obviously frustrating  to not get the win, but to get us into that position playing some decent front footed stuff, I think he deserves some credit personally. 

front footed? yes we had some attacks where we were clinical but from where I was watching we sat back most the game and let Arsenal attack us. was not front footed. 

[derry]

I have always felt that packing the whole team into the last third and trying to defend by just sticking bodies in the way isn't the best use of resources. In a way thanks to the third goal we got a point by the skin of our teeth. We were at it again yesterday passing out short then losing the ball and allowing Arsenal to come at us in our half. We were far less vulnerable when the goalkeeper played long and we were competing higher up.

It seems to me that the way to hang on and defend  a lead is by counter attacking by sticking three even two pacy players high up the field because it pins three or four opponents and they join attacks at their peril. I will say that both Elyounoussi and Armstrong were strolling pedestrians, filling spaces, rarely making contact and flattering to deceive. Never mind substituting them neither should have been picked. Leaving players high helps defenders in two ways it reduces the number of opponents in the box and helps defenders play long and move out behind the ball. Packing the defence just plays into the attacking sides hands.

Having said that, I'd have snatched your hand off if you had offered me a point at seven o'clock. As for Selles, I don't rate him. Like his predecessors he is addicted to tinkering, doesn't know his best team and shows that he just doesn't see the big picture. A lifetime of concentrating on detailed minutiae results in not seeing the wood for the trees. We have a decent team in the squad but it is never selected and allowed to play. Blend and Balance is the goal but Selles shows that it's a numbers game to him so his selections never achieve this.

[Crab Lungs]

Please, no more after this season. Complete clean sweep required 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

12 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Forget Neville & Carragher, Fry is the man who knows. 

To be fair he probably does know more about Saints than those two. 
Selles is not the man we need next season - he’s a Hokey Cokey sort of manager. He picks someone out of nowhere, drops him, reinstates him a month later then dispenses him to oblivion before bringing him back from nowhere. 

Edited 22 April, 2023 by Fitzhugh Fella

[Pilchards]

Taking off Latvia to save his legs for the Bournemouth game is bonkers.

The guy is 1,000% better even if he was fucked than having a useless Diallo on the pitch.

The space created in that area gave Arsenal the opportunity to pile on even more pressure.

 

[derry]

1 minute ago, Pilchards said:

Taking off Latvia to save his legs for the Bournemouth game is bonkers.

The guy is 1,000% better even if he was fucked than having a useless Diallo on the pitch.

The space created in that area gave Arsenal the opportunity to pile on even more pressure.

 

If he wasn't injured he shouldn't have been substituted.

[Turkish]

38 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Taking off Latvia to save his legs for the Bournemouth game is bonkers.

The guy is 1,000% better even if he was fucked than having a useless Diallo on the pitch.

The space created in that area gave Arsenal the opportunity to pile on even more pressure.

 

It can’t have been for that. It’s six days between games. Taking him off for 5 minutes plus injury time would have made no difference. It made no sense at the time and cost us the game. Soon as Lavia went off Odegaard controlled the midfield. 

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, Pilchards said:

Taking off Latvia to save his legs for the Bournemouth game is bonkers.

The guy is 1,000% better even if he was fucked than having a useless Diallo on the pitch.

The space created in that area gave Arsenal the opportunity to pile on even more pressure.

 

He looked absolutely out on his feet at the end of the game, I can't be the only one who noticed that? I don't think it's a case of protecting him for the upcoming games, it was more a case of protecting him in the here and now. It's easy to forget that he's just a kid, 19 years old, probably doesn't quite have the stamina for top level football at that pace 'yet'. 

[Appy]

Bringing on Onuachu was another weird one too, he offered absolutely nothing, he’s going to be another Carrillo isn’t he? 

[JRM]

2 hours ago, derry said:

If he wasn't injured he shouldn't have been substituted.

This picture tells a story 

[Saint_clark]

21 minutes ago, Appy said:

Bringing on Onuachu was another weird one too, he offered absolutely nothing, he’s going to be another Carrillo isn’t he? 

I thought he looked alright actually, one excellent run in particular down the right wing that won us a freekick.

[The Cat]

54 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

He looked absolutely out on his feet at the end of the game, I can't be the only one who noticed that? I don't think it's a case of protecting him for the upcoming games, it was more a case of protecting him in the here and now. It's easy to forget that he's just a kid, 19 years old, probably doesn't quite have the stamina for top level football at that pace 'yet'. 

We had people moaning that Livramento was played too much and got injured because of it and now people moaning that Lavia gets rested occasionally.

He looked absolutely fucked last night. 

[Tom & Gerry]

My head says Selles was right to make the changes he did at half time. Arsenal's wingers were beginning to run riot and our full backs were on yellow cards, it was only a natter of time till they scored. 

My heart wishes he hadn't. If we could have started the second half like we did the first who knows, and in our position, why not gamble?. Also a player like Alcaraz playing as he was is gold dust for us, you have to keep him on.

Should he have kept Lavia on when he could hardly walk and risked being out for the rest of the season?

It' all right for you keyboard warriors but who'd be a manager?

[bangkoksaint]

1 hour ago, Appy said:

Bringing on Onuachu was another weird one too, he offered absolutely nothing, he’s going to be another Carrillo isn’t he? 

Going to be? He is

[Lord Duckhunter]

56 minutes ago, The Cat said:

We had people moaning that Livramento was played too much and got injured because of it and now people moaning that Lavia gets rested occasionally.

He looked absolutely fucked last night. 

I know from somebody close to Jones that they had concerns about his fitness levels/niggles back in Jan/Feb. Can’t remember the exact incident, but he was left out or substituted at a crucial time and I asked about it. It wasn’t a  “he’s not fit” criticism, more along the lines of managing him when he’s knackered. 

[Dark Munster]

11 hours ago, egg said:

We couldn't have gone into that 2nd half with DCC and ABK our only 2 CB's. We needed to go to a 5 - Tessem on Solent rightly made the point and gave Selles credit for the change. The issue was who to sacrifice. If it was AA people will have whinged that he took off our striker. If it was Ely, and Alcaraz then got another yellow, people will have whinged that he wasn't taken off and was an accident waiting to happen. Personally, I think he called that right. Had Alcaraz not been on a yellow, I suspect he wouldn't have gone off at the break. Sulemana and tall Paul coming on was the right call too, although arguably too late. Where he messed up tactically was Lavia off for Diallo. Absolutely pointless change at a crucial time which cost us the game, and put the nail in our PL coffin.

I wouldn't. AA offered f*ck all in the first half, and f*ck all until he was belatedly subbed in the second. Taking off our best player at half time instead of that waste of space was a moronic move by Selles.

[egg]

1 hour ago, Dark Munster said:

I wouldn't. AA offered f*ck all in the first half, and f*ck all until he was belatedly subbed in the second. Taking off our best player at half time instead of that waste of space was a moronic move by Selles.

We'll agree to differ. We needed to strengthen the defence and couldn't risk going to 10 men. I couldn't see another way of doing that.  

[egg]

7 hours ago, Appy said:

Bringing on Onuachu was another weird one too, he offered absolutely nothing, he’s going to be another Carrillo isn’t he? 

Are you saying Armstrong should have stayed on? There was nobody other than Onuachu. 

[Dark Munster]

31 minutes ago, egg said:

We'll agree to differ. We needed to strengthen the defence and couldn't risk going to 10 men. I couldn't see another way of doing that.  

Yes we needed to strengthen the defence, but Alcaraz isn't a dirty player, lunging in all the time and on his final warning from the ref. It wouldn't have been a huge risk to keep him on.

[egg]

Just now, Dark Munster said:

Yes we needed to strengthen the defence, but Alcaraz isn't a dirty player, lunging in all the time and on his final warning from the ref. It wouldn't have been a huge risk to keep him on.

Ok, so we agree on a defender coming on. So who would you have wanted to go off? Armstrong for a defender? If so, who would have gone up top? Alcaraz moved out of position, and no striker on? Or Ely off and Armstrong staying on? Something else? 

[Dark Munster]

1 minute ago, egg said:

Ok, so we agree on a defender coming on. So who would you have wanted to go off? Armstrong for a defender? If so, who would have gone up top? Alcaraz moved out of position, and no striker on? Or Ely off and Armstrong staying on? Something else? 

AArmstrong. His hold up play (and everything else) was non-existent. We were set up to park the bus with Lyanco coming on anyway, so at least Alcaraz with Walcott would've been a threat on breakaways.

[Turkish]

4 hours ago, egg said:

We'll agree to differ. We needed to strengthen the defence and couldn't risk going to 10 men. I couldn't see another way of doing that.  

For every midfielder that gets a yellow card in the first half and gets a red in the second I expect there are 100 others that don’t. Didn’t KWP and Perrard also get yellows in the first half? He didn’t take either of those off. Come on Egg, Alcarez was the best player on the pitch in the first half, the tactical change was right but the sub wasn’t. Armstrong, Elyanoussi and Walcott all offered considerably less than Alcarez in the first half. It was a strange choice. Armstrong of Elyanoussi would have been my choice as a sub, they offered nothing all game. To take the player off who’d scored, Set one up an headed one off the line and generally been excellent was wierd when there are lest 3 others who could have come off instead 

Edited 23 April, 2023 by Turkish

[Saint86]

10 hours ago, Tom & Gerry said:

My head says Selles was right to make the changes he did at half time. Arsenal's wingers were beginning to run riot and our full backs were on yellow cards, it was only a natter of time till they scored. 

My heart wishes he hadn't. If we could have started the second half like we did the first who knows, and in our position, why not gamble?. Also a player like Alcaraz playing as he was is gold dust for us, you have to keep him on.

Should he have kept Lavia on when he could hardly walk and risked being out for the rest of the season?

It' all right for you keyboard warriors but who'd be a manager?

The defensive changes were correct, it nullified arsenal's main attacking threat and led to us going 3-1 up. They were reduced to having to play through us which suited us and resulted in arsenal not having a shot on target (second half) until the 70th minute. It's a shame a lot of people can't see / understand that tbh. Ultimatley, Selles has taken a lot of flack for team selections / tactics, but he did alright vs arsenal. The simple reality is that we were away at top of league, who were playing in front of 60k fans to save their season, and ultimatley our lack of overall squad quality showed. Sadly the team just didn't have enough, or got complacent.

I distinctly remember having a sinking feeling it was coming when the clip of our fans turning their backs and doing a poznan style dance was showing, talk about tempting fate... Arsenal scored shortly after 😂... I would also say that the ref being incredibly biased/soft towards arsenal and playing circa 18min of inury time didn't help... Martinelli should never have been on the pitch by the end either. 

Edited 23 April, 2023 by Saint86

[chiknsmack]

6 hours ago, egg said:

Are you saying Armstrong should have stayed on? There was nobody other than Onuachu. 

Onuachu showed less energy when defending than even Aribo would've. If Armstrong had to come off I'd have almost rather seen McCarthy come on as a striker than Onuachu.

(Though the real question is where were Mara and Djenepo, who also would've been clearly better options than Onuachu when the job was to close down Odergard and Partey while offering some pace on the break.)