Leeds 1-0 Saints - Match Thread

[aintforever]

Nice of Bednarek to get out of the way of the shot. Twat.

[grezz]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

The idea that we've got a "best 11" is bizarre. Each week people come on here saying who should be picked, the formation etc, but it's all bollocks. There's no magic formula that means we suddenly click, there's nobody in our squad that hasn't been given a chance and that is being left out disgracefully, our whole squad is much of a muchness and 3 managers now are not picking the same players because of some conspiracy or trying to be clever or just to annoy you, it's because that's our squad and they have all made mistakes at the back and been pretty toothless going forward.

I respectfully disagree. I've never seen what I consider our best team/formation on the pitch at the same time.

[Saint_clark]

Just now, grezz said:

I respectfully disagree. I've never seen what I consider our best team/formation on the pitch at the same time.

Me neither. 

 

Caballero

KWP DCC Salisu Perraud

JWP Lavia Alcaraz

Sulemana Onuachu Edozie

[manji]

52 minutes ago, Turkish said:

He seemed to turn to the side and let it past him in was like a ref moving out of the way so a pass doesn’t hit him. Pathetic 

I’m not excusing it but Bednarak was like a frightened rabbit. He moved out of the way of the ball in case it came of him and was an own goal. No confidence.

[The Juice]

Was a shitty goal to concede but - lets imagine a world in which Bazunu saves it... now what. Same problem, shitty performance, no real chances on goal, significantly outplayed by 19th place Leeds Utd. We can talk about Bazunu/Bednarek all day  -makes no real difference when the issues are this big 

[CB Fry]

9 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Me neither. 

 

Caballero

KWP DCC Salisu Perraud

JWP Lavia Alcaraz

Sulemana Onuachu Edozie

41 year old in goal, a front three with a grand total of zero Premier League goals, a midfield that would get overrun putting pressure on a back four which has been involved in plenty of shitty defensive displays over and over again. DCC less so but give it time. 

That's a "so what" team - there's no magic formula there that that specific team is going to be some wonder team.

[CB Fry]

3 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

The idea that we've got a "best 11" is bizarre. Each week people come on here saying who should be picked, the formation etc, but it's all bollocks. There's no magic formula that means we suddenly click, there's nobody in our squad that hasn't been given a chance and that is being left out disgracefully, our whole squad is much of a muchness and 3 managers now are not picking the same players because of some conspiracy or trying to be clever or just to annoy you, it's because that's our squad and they have all made mistakes at the back and been pretty toothless going forward.

Spot on.

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, CB Fry said:

41 year old in goal, a front three with a grand total of zero Premier League goals, a midfield that would get overrun putting pressure on a back four which has been involved in plenty of shitty defensive displays over and over again. DCC less so but give it time. 

That's a "so what" team - there's no magic formula there that that specific team is going to be some wonder team.

I never said it was going to be a wonder team, just that I believe with the players available that's the formation and team that would work best together and it's not once ever been tried. 

[GDog07]

Selles made the same substitutions after 60mins against Chelsea, as if they’re pre-planned, stinks of not reading the situation of the game.

Took Sulemana, Onuachu & Stu Armstrong off against Chelsea after 60mins. Done the same today after 60mins.

Replaced them with Mara, Walcott and Adam Armstrong v Chelsea, Mara, Walcott and Diallo v Leeds.

Replacing our most attacking players that we’ve just spent £40m+ on and replacing them with Walcott, Diallo and Mara, especially against Leeds in a must win when it was still 0-0, what’s going on? Pre-planned obviously, but change the fucking plan to adapt to how the game is progressing when you’re needing a goal to win the game. Criminal.

[CB Fry]

7 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I never said it was going to be a wonder team, just that I believe with the players available that's the formation and team that would work best together and it's not once ever been tried. 

KWP has been injured/recovering, three of those players joined in January, two of them on the 31st. So "never once ever been tried" is a bit melodramatic being that you would be hard pressed to find many matches where this team could have been picked anyway.

And Caballero is a 41 year old makeweight for fucks sake.

Edited 25 February, 2023 by CB Fry

[Saint_clark]

Just now, CB Fry said:

KWP has been injured/recovering, three of those players joined in January, two of them on the 31st. So "never once ever been tried" is a bit melodramatic being that you would be hard pressed to find many matches where this team could have been picked anyway.

And Caballero is a 41 year old makeweight for fucks sake.

Fair point, I was just addressing the claim that we don't have a "best 11" when I would argue that is it and it hasn't been tried together. Every player I listed that didn't play today has put in performances superior to those playing instead of them - yes, including Caballero for Bazunu who looked much more composed and confident. I would have Mccarthy in but he's "injured". 

[SNSUN]

3 hours ago, macca155 said:

But it really isn't the points. 6 points covers 7 teams, with 14 games to go that's nothing.

Yes we're 3 off the pace now, clearly candidate one for relegation.

Eventually one team then another will go on a run and take themselves out of the fight. That's why this game was a don't lose rather than must win game. A draw made the table look a lot closer.

Somehow Saints need to find a way to win a few games. Leicester will be saying that, starting with Saints.

Point 1) it's not nothing. It's 6 points, almost 7 if you factor in goal difference. In 14 games. That's a hell of a run we'd need to go on. Even Leeds, that Leeds we lost to today, are 4 points clear of us with a much better goal difference. Huge at this stage of the season, especially with a team that can't remember how to string wins together.

 

Point 2) Leeds in the first safety spot are, as I said, 4 clear with a way better goal difference AND a renewed confidence. And new manager. Yes A point would have kept us in this battle for a little while longer but it wouldn't have done us huge favours long term towards survival, more it would have kept Leeds close. More dragging them down with us. A win was imperative. Today's game was exactly the situation in which the phrase "6 pointer" was coined.

 

Point 3) There's the rub. We've looked barely able to draw against teams all season let alone beat them. We lost to a 10 man Wolves when leading, we lost today to a team one place above us. We stank the place out against Forest. Shit we only scraped past Everton because of JWP and no new manager bounce for them. 

I appreciate we are not mathematically down but we need a comeback on the scale of Jesus Effing Christ coming back from the dead to stay up from here.

 

Believe what you wish but IMO Don't do it to yourself. The sooner you accept relegation the more comfortable the rest of this season will become. I would love to have the faith of you guys that still believe but I feel you're letting yourselves in for crushing disappointment. 

[Osvaldorama]

Today was absolutely soul destroying. 

After the hope of last week, and selles getting something out of the team, I started to allow myself to dream that we could stay up. Well.. that dream is gone. Today was as bad as it could possibly be. 
 

Inept. Horrendous. Pathetic. I feel sorry for Lavia & JWP. They battled hard, but as soon as they passed it to anyone except themselves, it was straight back at them. 

This is one of the worst Southampton sides I have ever seen. The 05 relegation side beats this team with ease. Most of this team are nowhere near PL standard, and have zero fight/heart. Embarrassment of a side. 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by Osvaldorama

[Saint_clark]

4 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

 

 

Believe what you wish but IMO Don't do it to yourself. The sooner you accept relegation the more comfortable the rest of this season will become. I would love to have the faith of you guys that still believe but I feel you're letting yourselves in for crushing disappointment. 

Today was almost freeing for me. Usually after a loss I am furious for half an hour before I calm down. Today was just acceptance. Not sure i'll even pay attention to our games too much for the rest of this season, might head to some non-league games instead. 

[Viking Saint]

48 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Me neither. 

 

Caballero

KWP DCC Salisu Perraud

JWP Lavia Alcaraz

Sulemana Onuachu Edozie

Yep, this. Not fucking difficult is it??

[Lighthouse]

14 minutes ago, Viking Saint said:

Yep, this. Not fucking difficult is it??

Apart from the fact that the LB has scored more goals than five of the front six, combined?

[grezz]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

Me neither. 

 

Caballero

KWP DCC Salisu Perraud

JWP Lavia Alcaraz

Sulemana Onuachu Edozie

Aside from one player, where I'm slightly leaning towards someone else, yeah this is it. More important, the formation and the 3 guys you have in the middle. If we want to win games those are the 3 players in the middle I think we need. Sulemana - I can already see he is a luxury player but he has to play wide, and I did see he can work back today. I can't see a player like him ever working through the middle, as he was today.

....And for the love of God, when we get the chance out wide let's please get some quality balls into the box. We have a guy who is rumoured to be mustard at converting those chances but we'll never find out it we don't play to those strengths. We've had plenty of options to do so in the last 2 games (at least) but we've either done something else pointless or the quality has been shocking and difficult to understand (based on the fact that I'm pretty sure the players I used to play with in a lower standard of football could do it)

[austsaint]

59 minutes ago, The Juice said:

Was a shitty goal to concede but - lets imagine a world in which Bazunu saves it... now what. Same problem, shitty performance, no real chances on goal, significantly outplayed by 19th place Leeds Utd. We can talk about Bazunu/Bednarek all day  -makes no real difference when the issues are this big 

You make a good point.   Much of the 78 minutes leading up to the goal was uncomfortable viewing with Leeds having many attacking entries, pressing hard and dominating possession - you never had the feeling we were going to do any better than a 0-0 and the 0-1 result always looked on.      Yes, perhaps Bazunu could have done better with the goal - he was obscured by Bednarek - yet their goal looked likely at any time, by contrast we produced very little.

It didn't help that three of the starting attacking players - Sulemana, Armstrong and Onuachu - all had quiet games and Elyounoussi did what Elyounoussi does; nothing in attack and much less off the ball and defensively than would justify his place.  That left us with Ward-Prowse and Lavia, both of whom were magnificent to hold the midfield and initiate some attacking threat.          

Hard to criticise Selles but perhaps in a must win game a roll of the dice with players like Edozie and Alcaraz....even Djenepo playing some part might have sparked some attacking threat that was never mustered.   Maybe KWP wasn't fit enough to start but him starting at RB (or even LB) would have provided the chance for getting forward on the flanks which rarely happened.    

A deflating result - and performance, because we never really landed a glove on Leeds in such an important game.

 

[Singapore Saint]

8 hours ago, Micky said:

We tried to be to clever, you reap what you sow.

My uncle, a very successful man, used to say, "In life be clever, but not too clever by half."

[Saint Fan CaM]

I’ve waited before posting my thoughts to really take stock. Firstly, I’m not surprised by the result or the position we’re still in. Three Managers and we’re still playing the same boring football with lack of ideas and pace that we’ve seen for nigh on three years now. This has to be either persistently deficient coaching or lack of basic footballing quality…possibly both, but lack of quality is a definite and epitomised by the gulf in class showed by Lavia. Let’s look at our starting 11, starting at the back…

Bazunu is nothing special…just ok. Bednarek is a joke. ABK is OK. Perraud is OK.

JWP is OK…nothing special except for his free kick ability. Useless taking corners, pressing or creating goal scoring chances. His passing stats are great when going backwards or sideways - shows little creativity. In other words a luxury player.

Lavia is very good…our only truly Prem class player.

Ely is a joke. Stu A is OK. Sulemana is at best OK, but likely not good enough. Tall Paul is a joke.

What about the Subs? Walcott is OK. Diallo is OK, but nothing special. Adam A is a joke. Alcarez Is at best OK, but likely not good enough.

There is a huge lack of quality in that collective and not enough guile/fight/fitness to make up the difference. Chelsea result was a fluke…three points gained from a chance free-kick utilising JWP’s only decent attribute. I’ve thought we were likely relegation candidates since seeing the first few games with Ralph at the helm, because there was no change to our playing style/tactics over the summer. Nothing has really changed now Selles is in place, except the players love him!  Not really inspiring when underperforming players give their Manager a vote of confidence!

We’re down. It’s OK though…I’ve given up hope and in that knowledge I’m not expecting anything from the Leicester game. In fact I don’t expect us to win another game. We’re that shit.

[Singapore Saint]

7 hours ago, saintant said:

Shocking all round but why isn't Bednarek launching himself to block instead of turning side on to make himself as small as possible - madness. Bazunu should  do better but Bednarek hinders rather than helps.  

Agreed, Salisu would have stuck out his foot to block and clear it. And someone ought to tell Bazunu he needn't dive for every shot, if the ball is low and near, he can clear it with his foot (like Fraser Forster used to do for us).

[Singapore Saint]

1 hour ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’ve waited before posting my thoughts to really take stock. Firstly, I’m not surprised by the result or the position we’re still in. Three Managers and we’re still playing the same boring football with lack of ideas and pace that we’ve seen for nigh on three years now. This has to be either persistently deficient coaching or lack of basic footballing quality…possibly both, but lack of quality is a definite and epitomised by the gulf in class showed by Lavia. Let’s look at our starting 11, starting at the back…

Bazunu is nothing special…just ok. Bednarek is a joke. ABK is OK. Perraud is OK.

JWP is OK…nothing special except for his free kick ability. Useless taking corners, pressing or creating goal scoring chances. His passing stats are great when going backwards or sideways - shows little creativity. In other words a luxury player.

Lavia is very good…our only truly Prem class player.

Ely is a joke. Stu A is OK. Sulemana is at best OK, but likely not good enough. Tall Paul is a joke.

What about the Subs? Walcott is OK. Diallo is OK, but nothing special. Adam A is a joke. Alcarez Is at best OK, but likely not good enough.

There is a huge lack of quality in that collective and not enough guile/fight/fitness to make up the difference. Chelsea result was a fluke…three points gained from a chance free-kick utilising JWP’s only decent attribute. I’ve thought we were likely relegation candidates since seeing the first few games with Ralph at the helm, because there was no change to our playing style/tactics over the summer. Nothing has really changed now Selles is in place, except the players love him!  Not really inspiring when underperforming players give their Manager a vote of confidence!

We’re down. It’s OK though…I’ve given up hope and in that knowledge I’m not expecting anything from the Leicester game. In fact I don’t expect us to win another game. We’re that shit.

I largely agree with your analysis of our players as individuals but we're not down yet. There are 14 games left to go, not 4. Keep the faith, stranger things have happened. I for one have not given up hope on our admittedly motley crew.

[Convict Colony]

We've been losing the vast majority of our games for a few seasons now but this season we have finally got the consistency right and are losing loads and loads, must of been the record transfer windows we've been having that's made us excellently shit.

Spend over 150m in 2 windows and get worse - the saints way.

[bangkoksaint]

9 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

The idea that we've got a "best 11" is bizarre. Each week people come on here saying who should be picked, the formation etc, but it's all bollocks. There's no magic formula that means we suddenly click, there's nobody in our squad that hasn't been given a chance and that is being left out disgracefully, our whole squad is much of a muchness and 3 managers now are not picking the same players because of some conspiracy or trying to be clever or just to annoy you, it's because that's our squad and they have all made mistakes at the back and been pretty toothless going forward.

I get that Fabrice, I really do. However is Bednarek better than DCC? Does Ellyounoussi offer anything that’s worthy of starting a game let alone playing 90 minutes? Everyone is pulling their hair out at times over team selection and formation. It’s all about opinions and nobody should be rubbished for what they think, especially on here, but for me there’s probably 3 players from yesterday that shouldn’t be anywhere near the team. 

[rooney]

There were three of our players around the Leeds player before he crossed the ball which led to their goal. This is really poor.

[austsaint]

7 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

I get that Fabrice, I really do. However is Bednarek better than DCC? Does Ellyounoussi offer anything that’s worthy of starting a game let alone playing 90 minutes? Everyone is pulling their hair out at times over team selection and formation. It’s all about opinions and nobody should be rubbished for what they think, especially on here, but for me there’s probably 3 players from yesterday that shouldn’t be anywhere near the team. 

Yes, we may not have a "best 11", but we had a "better 11" available than started yesterday given the high stakes resting on the result.    It showed that the principle of not changing a winning side was questionable.    Things went our way at Chelsea; we had big slices of luck, our Captain plucked a worldy goal.      We needed a brave team selection with the best chance of scoring goals - that meant a RB like Walker-Peters, not AMN.   It meant a more mobile attacking midfielder/wide player like Alcaraz, Adam Armstrong, even Edozie not Elyounoussi, and it meant a CB combination selected from our best CBs, which doesn't include Bednarek.    That would have been a better 11 - maybe not our best.

The end result was a limp, passive defeat in a style we have witnessed often before.

[64saint]

Maybe at the back of Bedenarks mind was the horrendous own goal from the other week and that's why he got out of the way ,or rather turned his back on the shot, as he didn't want a deflection going in off him and another OG marked up against his name.   Just my thoughts whilst trying to make sense of everything. !!!

Edited 26 February, 2023 by 64saint

[Weston Super Saint]

2 minutes ago, 64saint said:

Maybe at the back of Bedenarks mind was the horrendous own goal from the other week and that's why he got out of the way ,or rather turned his back on the shot, as he didn't want a deflection going in off him and another OG marked up against his name.   Just my thoughts whilst trying to make sense of everything. !!!

Solid 'team' player then?

[StrangelyBrown]

2 minutes ago, 64saint said:

Maybe at the back of Bedenarks mind was the horrendous own goal from the other week and that's why he got out of the way ,or rather turned his back on the shot, as he didn't want a deflection going in off him and another OG marked up against his name.   Just my thoughts whilst trying to make sense of everything. !!!

I think you are right and it is a measure of the man that once again he puts himself at the centre of things rather than put himself on the line for the team.

If he wasn't such a useless twat he would have been closed down the player with the ball rather than being in no man's land (again).

On a side note, he also slows down every piece of build up play he's involved in because he dithers on the ball taking away any opportunity for us to move the ball forwards quickly. He must be incredibly frustrating to play alongside.

I simply don't see what anyone sees in him - there is nothing very good about his game, when he's at his very best he's bang average.

[Pilchards]

We had 3 touches in Leeds penalty area in the last 30 minutes.

Even going 1 goal down we managed 1 touch. That’s pretty shit attacking play when trying to get a goal back.

What is also wrong with our managers that like playing players out of position all the time?

[obelisk]

Didn't we just know that after going a goal down there was no way Saints were going to come anywhere near getting an equaliser. We've been unable to apply any real sustained pressure on an opponent's goal for far too long now. The fact that we're toothless in attack piles even more pressure on our panicking defence. Not even sure how that gets resolved after relegation with the current set up.

Some are suggesting Saints just go all out attack for the remainder of the season but I don't think this squad have that ability.

Edited 26 February, 2023 by obelisk
grammar police

[FarehamSaintJames]

The difference between our defenders compared to say Leeds, Everton etc is that the latter clubs will throw their bodies in front of everything and do their bit for the team.

Yesterday was an example of some who choose not to do that for us.

[gallaghert366@yahoo.com]

8 hours ago, GDog07 said:

Selles made the same substitutions after 60mins against Chelsea, as if they’re pre-planned, stinks of not reading the situation of the game.

Took Sulemana, Onuachu & Stu Armstrong off against Chelsea after 60mins. Done the same today after 60mins.

Replaced them with Mara, Walcott and Adam Armstrong v Chelsea, Mara, Walcott and Diallo v Leeds.

Replacing our most attacking players that we’ve just spent £40m+ on and replacing them with Walcott, Diallo and Mara, especially against Leeds in a must win when it was still 0-0, what’s going on? Pre-planned obviously, but change the fucking plan to adapt to how the game is progressing when you’re needing a goal to win the game. Criminal.

60 million spent in the January window and not one of those signings on the pitch yesterday for the last half an hour!

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Didn't we just know that after going a goal down there was no way Saints were going to come nowhere near getting an equaliser. We've been unable to apply any real sustained pressure on an opponent's goal for far to long now. The fact that we're toothless in attack piles even more pressure on our panicking defence. Not even sure how that gets resolved after relegation with the current set up.

Some are suggesting Saints just go all out attack for the remainder of the season but I don't think this squad have that ability.

Absolutely - if you look at the number of goals conceded this season versus the number scored and it’s clear (to me) that the reason for our relegation will be primarily due to our inability to mount sustained pressure on the opposition’s goal and subsequent lack of goals. Our attacking moves are so easy to predict and counter it’s laughable.

[whelk]

Just seen goal again on MOTD. Bednarek you absolute useless fucker

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 hours ago, Singapore Saint said:

I largely agree with your analysis of our players as individuals but we're not down yet. There are 14 games left to go, not 4. Keep the faith, stranger things have happened. I for one have not given up hope on our admittedly motley crew.

Don’t do it to yourself…there’s NOTHING to suggest to me that this team have what it takes to win the required games to stay up. It would take an unprecedented turn in form, bearing in mind we’ve spunked away our most winnable games now. Look at the fixture list and tell me which 6-7 games we might win…it’s grim.

[JRM]

16 minutes ago, whelk said:

Just seen goal again on MOTD. Bednarek you absolute useless fucker

Janny B seems to be first choice at the moment, at least he can't play on Wednesday as cup tied 

[CB Fry]

5 hours ago, Singapore Saint said:

I largely agree with your analysis of our players as individuals but we're not down yet. There are 14 games left to go, not 4. Keep the faith, stranger things have happened. I for one have not given up hope on our admittedly motley crew.

EVERYONE SAID MAN WOULD NEVER WALK ON THE MOON

[Jimbo]

11 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Don’t do it to yourself…there’s NOTHING to suggest to me that this team have what it takes to win the required games to stay up. It would take an unprecedented turn in form, bearing in mind we’ve spunked away our most winnable games now. Look at the fixture list and tell me which 6-7 games we might win…it’s grim.

Agreed. If we lose to wolves Leeds and forest in must win six pointers…

[trousers]

48 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

The difference between our defenders compared to say Leeds, Everton etc is that the latter clubs will throw their bodies in front of everything and do their bit for the team.

Yesterday was an example of some who choose not to do that for us.

What I don't get is this...  Last week, our defenders (and the whole team) DID throw their bodies in front of everything and did their bit for team... But this week? Nah, can't be arsed....

Genuine question... Are there any psychologists on the forum who can explain to me how human being 'x' can flip from putting their all in one week to putting in a half-arsed performance the next...? What on Earth is going through their deficient minds?

Forget about extra training, do our players need to see a shrink first and foremost to determine why we seem to be the only team in the league where the majority of the players seemingly have a mental health issue?

As I say, genuine question. 

 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by trousers

[st alex]

Have only seen the highlights but unfortunately it viewed like a howlers reel of Bednarek mistakes.

[Tanlee]

Is Edozie injured?

[Saint Fan CaM]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

What I don't get is this...  Last week, our defenders (and the whole team) DID throw their bodies in front of everything and did their bit for team... But this week? Nah, can't be arsed....

Genuine question... Are there any psychologists on the forum who can explain to me how human being 'x' can flip from putting their all in one week to putting in a half-arsed performance the next...? What on Earth is going through their deficient minds?

Forget about extra training, do our players need to see a shrink first and foremost to determine why we seem to be the only team in the league where the majority of the players seemingly have a mental health issue?

As I say, genuine question. 

 

An interesting question. You could be forgiven for thinking that certain players went all out to get Selles the job…they love him after all. Come Friday, job done, everyone’s happy and content that a nice, amenable coach is the one picking the team…so no need to bust a gut anymore. Perhaps waiting until AFTER the Leeds game to appoint him may have been a better option?

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, st alex said:

Have only seen the highlights but unfortunately it viewed like a howlers reel of Bednarek mistakes.

The more I see it the more I can’t believe how unbelievably shit Bednarek was for the goal. Simply Embarrassing 

[Hodgey]

6 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’ve waited before posting my thoughts to really take stock. Firstly, I’m not surprised by the result or the position we’re still in. Three Managers and we’re still playing the same boring football with lack of ideas and pace that we’ve seen for nigh on three years now. This has to be either persistently deficient coaching or lack of basic footballing quality…possibly both, but lack of quality is a definite and epitomised by the gulf in class showed by Lavia. Let’s look at our starting 11, starting at the back…

Bazunu is nothing special…just ok. Bednarek is a joke. ABK is OK. Perraud is OK.

JWP is OK…nothing special except for his free kick ability. Useless taking corners, pressing or creating goal scoring chances. His passing stats are great when going backwards or sideways - shows little creativity. In other words a luxury player.

Lavia is very good…our only truly Prem class player.

Ely is a joke. Stu A is OK. Sulemana is at best OK, but likely not good enough. Tall Paul is a joke.

What about the Subs? Walcott is OK. Diallo is OK, but nothing special. Adam A is a joke. Alcarez Is at best OK, but likely not good enough.

There is a huge lack of quality in that collective and not enough guile/fight/fitness to make up the difference. Chelsea result was a fluke…three points gained from a chance free-kick utilising JWP’s only decent attribute. I’ve thought we were likely relegation candidates since seeing the first few games with Ralph at the helm, because there was no change to our playing style/tactics over the summer. Nothing has really changed now Selles is in place, except the players love him!  Not really inspiring when underperforming players give their Manager a vote of confidence!

We’re down. It’s OK though…I’ve given up hope and in that knowledge I’m not expecting anything from the Leicester game. In fact I don’t expect us to win another game. We’re that shit.

I’m not sure I agree that Lavia is our only Prem quality player, JWP and KWP clearly are and I’ve seen enough from ABK, Salisu and DCC that with good coaching / set up they could shine at this level. I also think Alcarez and Sulemana have all the attributes to be Prem players. So we do have some talent. 
What’s really killing us is not having a Prem competent gk (self inflicted) or striker (much harder to solve) or manager (self inflicted). We also seem to have a load of not quite good enough wingers.

we’ll see in the summer how many Prem level players we really have when the bids come in.

 

[Appy]

28 minutes ago, JRM said:

Janny B seems to be first choice at the moment, at least he can't play on Wednesday as cup tied 

Pretty sure he can play in FA cup 

[a1ex2001]

9 hours ago, CB Fry said:

KWP has been injured/recovering, three of those players joined in January, two of them on the 31st. So "never once ever been tried" is a bit melodramatic being that you would be hard pressed to find many matches where this team could have been picked anyway.

And Caballero is a 41 year old makeweight for fucks sake.

He maybe a 41 year old make weight but the current person who plays in goal is not even good enough to be called a goalkeeper, he looks further out of his depth than a toddler in a diving pool.  The only possible reason for his continued selection is that it’s in his contract I’d rather see a youth team player between the sticks than GB who looks like an appalling piece of transfer business, he is Angus Gunn bad if not worse!

[JRM]

2 minutes ago, Appy said:

Pretty sure he can play in FA cup 

No his limited Villa minutes included playing against and losing to league two Stevenage 

[kenneth_kenobi]

5 minutes ago, Appy said:

Pretty sure he can play in FA cup 

He should never play anyway, bring back DCC.  And KWP instead of AMN - he gives us nothing going forward, whereas KWP is excellent.  

Edited 26 February, 2023 by kenneth_kenobi

[trousers]

14 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

An interesting question. You could be forgiven for thinking that certain players went all out to get Selles the job…they love him after all. Come Friday, job done, everyone’s happy and content that a nice, amenable coach is the one picking the team…so no need to bust a gut anymore. Perhaps waiting until AFTER the Leeds game to appoint him may have been a better option?

I did float that potential outcome last week. I just thought/hoped the players would/could maintain the "give a shit" mode for the rest of the season. It would appear not. Do they genuinely not give a shit when they play like yesterday or do they have a mental condition that's treatable?

Edited 26 February, 2023 by trousers