Leeds 1-0 Saints - Match Thread

[Appy]

16 minutes ago, JRM said:

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

Phew,  never been happier to be wrong 

[Turkish]

8 minutes ago, trousers said:

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?

The fact that Selles said some of our players were being lazy suggests there might be something in it. Lazy where we’re bottom of the league playing the team second bottom of the league. Sums this lot up. 

[trousers]

14 minutes ago, Turkish said:

The fact that Selles said some of our players were being lazy suggests there might be something in it. Lazy where we’re bottom of the league playing the team second bottom of the league. Sums this lot up. 

I know I'm in danger of entering Glen Hoddle territory here, but I wonder if the club has ever considered getting a therapist in to determine whether the players have a genuine psychological problem or if they are simply indolent twats?

Edited 26 February, 2023 by trousers

[whelk]

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

I know I'm on danger of entering Glen Hoddle territory here, but I wonder if the club has ever considered getting a therapist in to determine when the players have a genuine psychological problem or whether they are simply indolent twats?

Eileen Drewery is exactly what we need. Fear she is knocking on a bit now though

[grezz]

2 minutes ago, whelk said:

Eileen Drewery is exactly what we need. Fear she is knocking on a bit now though

Not sure about that, I think she's lost a bit of pace

[JRM]

3 minutes ago, whelk said:

Eileen Drewery is exactly what we need. Fear she is knocking on a bit now though

We all must have done something bad in a past life to be lumbered with being Saints fans in this one 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

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

Yes but who picked him?

[trousers]

11 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Yes but who picked him?

The same bloke that picked him last week when he had a decent game...?

[Saint Fan CaM]

7 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Yes but who picked him?

His Agent/Contract? No, you can tell that for some reason he is regarded as some kind of leader…Selles kept talking to him on the sidelines. Why not talk to your Captain? Don’t begin to understand what the issue is, but there’s some weird relationship management going on.

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours 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. !!!

Maybe. But then why was he standing so far back, almost on the goalkeeper’s toes?

[Totton Saint]

I hope they go down. We would hopefully have the pleasure of Saints winning a few more matches than at present.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Maybe. But then why was he standing so far back, almost on the goalkeeper’s toes?

Clearly not true.  I reckon Bednarek even got a call....

[Totton Saint]

I am sick and tired of Sts. flirting with relegation season after season. . The championship beckons

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

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

He doesn't even adopt an athletic stance or show any urgency. Meekly stands upright, shuffles side on thus making himself as small as possible and lets it all go on around him. I hope Ruben Selles read the riot act to him in the dressing room and, even more, I hope to never see him in a Saints shirt again - wishful thinking I suspect.

[Viking Saint]

5 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

I am sick and tired of Sts. flirting with relegation season after season. . The championship beckons

You not been a Saints fan long? Been this way as long as I can remember bar the Poch/Koeman years

[Micky]

2 hours ago, Pilchards said:

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?

And in those 3 lines you have basically highlighted the reason we have been relegated.  We don't score goals.  You can have as much of the ball as you like, but if you don't score, you don't win.  Our front players are dire, players we have gambled on from lower leagues who frankly are nowhere near premiership quality.  The 3 new boys, from the little I've seen,  also look poor at this level and there is no way they are going to score enough goals to keep us up.   

Why our owner and various different managers can't see this is beyond me.  Goals win games and we very rarely score any.  It ain't rocket science. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

What sums up our pathetic attempt at attacking was our first corner (well I think it was, May have missed one first half but can’t remember one).  Centre halves up, Prowse comes over and away fans wake up. What happens? Prowse plays it to Diallo (I think it was him, but could have been any of the useless twats), who knocks it back to his fucking left foot !!!! He then plays a left footed loopy nothing cross that is cleared easily. FFS get it in the fucking mixer, put them under pressure, we’re not fucking Barcelona. 

[East Kent Saint]

Defending , loads of bodies but no one decisive , attacking , no bodies so long range shot only option .

[Appy]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

The fact that Selles said some of our players were being lazy suggests there might be something in it. Lazy where we’re bottom of the league playing the team second bottom of the league. Sums this lot up. 

He went absolutely mental at Sulemana in the first half for stopping running. 

[S-Clarke]

3 hours ago, Pilchards said:

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?

The mentality of this team is shot imo. I always thought we'd melt away in a relegation battle, in recent years we've started/had good enough mid seasons to not really be in the mix, but we have continually shown a lack of backbone in the sense of throwing away leads, heads dropping when things go bad etc.

So now this group is in a full on battle, well not really a battle anymore, you can see the paralysing fear take over everyone. A huge flaw in the makeup of all of our players imo, they might be good lads but they have absolutely no backbone when the going gets tough. Incapable of pulling something out of the bag when playing badly, we are always reliant on every single inch of a game going our way to get anything. 

At least next season will hopefully allow us an opportunity to build a team with some backbone again, I hope. Championship is a tough league, we need Morgans/Fontes/Lamberts at that level to do anything of note. I don't think we have any of those types personality wise these days.

[Lord Duckhunter]

27 minutes ago, Appy said:

He went absolutely mental at Sulemana in the first half for stopping running. 

I saw that, it was from their corner. , Sulemana was in a good position to break away. Somebody, I think it was Armstrong, then lost the ball, before it was won back quickly and a ball knocked into channel. I did’t think it was a lack of effort, more the lack of anticipation. He stopped moving once he thought the counter had broken down, so wasn’t  ready seconds later when we got it back. 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[Forester]

A long journey to see such a dispiriting performance, particularly after the hope of last week.  A few thoughts which are different to the pile on of Bazanu and Bednarek that occupied much of this thread:

- Completely agree it was a lame goal to concede with multiple players at fault.  But of far bigger concern to me was the total absence of creativity or any discernible pattern of attacking play yesterday (having been encouraging against Chelsea in the first half last week in particular)

- while everyone will scrutinise the goal, and rightly, Bednarek made one error first half with a careless back pass, but that apart actually defended very well yesterday, as he did last week.  To be clear, I would not have selected him at Chelsea, or recalled him from Villa,  but I am not pig headed enough to then ignore what we see.  And Bazanu has started to command his area a little more these last couple of games.

- if you stand back from the frustration, we have conceded a total of one goal in two away games.  That is good by any definition. And should yield four or six points.  So while those reliant on two mins Twitter clips will focus on the goal, and I get that, we are not looking defensively shambolic right now.

- so the problem is creativity, which is not the same as earlier in the season under Ralph where the problems were defending and finishing chances.  Don’t forget last week took a JWP free kick, as did Everton away, to win.  So this has been going on for some weeks,

- yesterday I thought there were shockingly poor performances from Moi, Armstrong and Kamaldeen.  Additionally we saw almost no overlapping from full backs, with some fleeting moments from Perraud.  AMN has defended well but isn’t either confident, capable or allowed to bomb on

- if we are going to start with Tall Paul we have to give him service, which means crosses in the box.  Next to nothing is coming in from wide positions.  And if we are going to play long ball (which Selles said in interview he doesn’t like) then we have to get runners close to and beyond him or there is no point.

Bizarrely I still haven’t given up hope because there are other poor teams near us, but we aren’t going to win games creating nothing.  I would like to see Grimsby game used to develop attacking patterns rather than just resting everyone to see more of the same against Leicester 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by Forester

[Chez]

9 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.

you are right, he should adapt to the situation, but there is obviously a concern about pushing these guys beyond their limits and them getting injured, plus it could be argued that all three were doing fuck all and could have been subbed earlier. We may have spent £40m on Sulemana and Onuachu, but it doesn't mean they have a divine right to play.

[S-Clarke]

28 minutes ago, Forester said:

A long journey to see such a dispiriting performance, particularly after the hope of last week.  A few thoughts which are different to the pile on of Bazanu and Bednarek that occupied much of this thread:

- Completely agree it was a lame goal to concede with multiple players at fault.  But of far bigger concern to me was the total absence of creativity or any discernible pattern of attacking play yesterday (having been encouraging against Chelsea in the first half last week in particular)

- while everyone will scrutinise the goal, and rightly, Bednarek made one error first half with a careless back pass, but that apart actually defended very well yesterday, as he did last week.  To be clear, I would not have selected him at Chelsea, or recalled him from Villa,  but I am not pig headed enough to then ignore what we see.  And Bazanu has started to command his area a little more these last couple of games.

- if you stand back from the frustration, we have conceded a total of one goal in two away games.  That is good by any definition. And should yield four or six points.  So while those reliant on two mins Twitter clips will focus on the goal, and I get that, we are not looking defensively shambolic right now.

- so the problem is creativity, which is not the same as earlier in the season under Ralph where the problems were defending and finishing chances.  Don’t forget last week took a JWP free kick, as did Everton away, to win.  So this has been going on for some weeks,

- yesterday I thought there were shockingly poor performances from Moi, Armstrong and Kamaldeen.  Additionally we saw almost no overlapping from full backs, with some fleeting moments from Perraud.  AMN has defended well but isn’t either confident, capable or allowed to bomb on

- if we are going to start with Tall Paul we have to give him service, which means crosses in the box.  Next to nothing is coming in from wide positions.  And if we are going to play long ball (which Selles said in interview he doesn’t like) then we have to get runners close to and beyond him or there is no point.

Bizarrely I still haven’t given up hope because there are other poor teams near us, but we aren’t going to win games creating nothing.  I would like to see Grimsby game used to develop attacking patterns rather than just resting everyone to see more of the same against Leicester 

I agree with your assessment, a lot of focus is put on the goals we concede simply because we don't score any ourselves from open play. If we'd have won that game 2-1 I doubt we'd see any focus on the goal we let in, similarly I don't remember any focus on the goal we conceded up at Everton as we won the game.

You are right in what you say - our defeats have been fine margins, 1 goal here, 1 go there. I'd argue that illustrates the problem is more with our attacking application rather than defensively, which I actually thought we were pretty good at yesterday in terms of shape and positioning. Teams will always concede goals, every team in the world, and there will always be inquests if they lose the game, but the better teams don't lose sleep as they are capable of scoring at the other end.

When we had Danny Ings we were still letting in goals, some pretty shit goals I'll add. But he could score goals, he could pull something out of nowhere and change the course of a game, so those goals we let in during 2020 didn't really get much focus as Ings was scoring at the other end. The home game against Burnley a few years ago will always stick in my mind for that reason, we were 0-2 down and out of absolutely nowhere a moment of individuality from Ings won the ball from Mee and he scored for 2-2. Then the game turned. It's those sorts of moments we don't have anymore, we haven't had players who can score out of nothing from open play since we sold Ings and that's why we are where we are.

All of our issues as we sit here today can be traced back to August 2021 when our board got excited by the £30m bid from Villa for Ings, and then patted themselves on the back for the forthcoming weeks for getting as much as they did. All well and good, but the failure to adequately replace him with a long-term option was careless - but how much of that was down to the ownership of Gao is unknown.

Football is simple, goals win games. Failure to score goals unearth your other weaknesses and put them in the spotlight, so what we did in the summer was backwards. Addressed our other weaknesses (defence) but still failed to add goals to the side. Catastrophic mistake, you simply cannot skimp or make do in that area.

Edited 26 February, 2023 by S-Clarke

[Sunglasses Ron]

It’s funny really (not in a good way), but we’ve scored one more and let in one less than Forest, yet they are seven points better off than us.

We’ve struggled to score, struggled to keep clean sheets, but crucially, also struggled to do the business when it really mattered (losing 1-0 to practically all our relegation rivals).

That’s why we’re going down sadly.

[Galway saint]

40 minutes ago, Forester said:

A long journey to see such a dispiriting performance, particularly after the hope of last week.  A few thoughts which are different to the pile on of Bazanu and Bednarek that occupied much of this thread:

- Completely agree it was a lame goal to concede with multiple players at fault.  But of far bigger concern to me was the total absence of creativity or any discernible pattern of attacking play yesterday (having been encouraging against Chelsea in the first half last week in particular)

- while everyone will scrutinise the goal, and rightly, Bednarek made one error first half with a careless back pass, but that apart actually defended very well yesterday, as he did last week.  To be clear, I would not have selected him at Chelsea, or recalled him from Villa,  but I am not pig headed enough to then ignore what we see.  And Bazanu has started to command his area a little more these last couple of games.

- if you stand back from the frustration, we have conceded a total of one goal in two away games.  That is good by any definition. And should yield four or six points.  So while those reliant on two mins Twitter clips will focus on the goal, and I get that, we are not looking defensively shambolic right now.

- so the problem is creativity, which is not the same as earlier in the season under Ralph where the problems were defending and finishing chances.  Don’t forget last week took a JWP free kick, as did Everton away, to win.  So this has been going on for some weeks,

- yesterday I thought there were shockingly poor performances from Moi, Armstrong and Kamaldeen.  Additionally we saw almost no overlapping from full backs, with some fleeting moments from Perraud.  AMN has defended well but isn’t either confident, capable or allowed to bomb on

- if we are going to start with Tall Paul we have to give him service, which means crosses in the box.  Next to nothing is coming in from wide positions.  And if we are going to play long ball (which Selles said in interview he doesn’t like) then we have to get runners close to and beyond him or there is no point.

Bizarrely I still haven’t given up hope because there are other poor teams near us, but we aren’t going to win games creating nothing.  I would like to see Grimsby game used to develop attacking patterns rather than just resting everyone to see more of the same against Leicester 

good summary and likewise I thought we looked ok defensively but were abject going forward and created nothing of note. Maybe we look ok defensively as we don’t push on and take a cautious approach but we seem largely incapable of scoring from open play and have done for some time. Someone will no doubt be able to confirm how many goals we have scored  from open play in the last ten games. Would imagine it’s less than 5.

[saint1977]

3 hours ago, whelk said:

Eileen Drewery is exactly what we need. Fear she is knocking on a bit now though

Heard a rumour at the time as to why Ray Parlour was dropped from the England squad despite being in the form of his career for Arsenal. Allegedly some of the players carrying minor knocks and niggles were asked to go and see Eileen Drewery. Parlour sat down in the chair, was asked close his eyes and Eileen put her hands on his temples. 

‘I’ll have a short back and sides please” was the response.

She laughed but this apparently got back to Glenn who was not amused. Parlour’s absence from the England squads was definitely an ongoing debate through that time period.

Edit - it’s true https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ray-parlour-ask-silly-question

[Sunglasses Ron]

4 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

Someone will no doubt be able to confirm how many goals we have scored  from open play in the last ten games. Would imagine it’s less than 5.

I think it’s just two!

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

good summary and likewise I thought we looked ok defensively but were abject going forward and created nothing of note. Maybe we look ok defensively as we don’t push on and take a cautious approach but we seem largely incapable of scoring from open play and have done for some time. Someone will no doubt be able to confirm how many goals we have scored  from open play in the last ten games. Would imagine it’s less than 5.

I make it maybe 1.5 goals from open play in the last 10 (up to Liverpool before the WC break).

JWP at Everton just after HT, and Alcaraz in the first half against Wolves. (kind of open play)

Shambolic really.

[Victor]

22 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

 

The home game against Burnley a few years ago will always stick in my mind for that reason, we were 0-2 down and out of absolutely nowhere a moment of individuality from Ings won the ball from Mee and he scored for 2-2. Then the game turned. It's those sorts of moments we don't have anymore, we haven't had players who can score out of nothing from open play since we sold Ings and that's why we are where we are.

 

 

If only we could find another player like Ings who can score two goals with one strike!

[Chez]

 

1 hour ago, Forester said:

A long journey to see such a dispiriting performance, particularly after the hope of last week.  A few thoughts which are different to the pile on of Bazanu and Bednarek that occupied much of this thread:

- Completely agree it was a lame goal to concede with multiple players at fault.  But of far bigger concern to me was the total absence of creativity or any discernible pattern of attacking play yesterday (having been encouraging against Chelsea in the first half last week in particular)

- while everyone will scrutinise the goal, and rightly, Bednarek made one error first half with a careless back pass, but that apart actually defended very well yesterday, as he did last week.  To be clear, I would not have selected him at Chelsea, or recalled him from Villa,  but I am not pig headed enough to then ignore what we see.  And Bazanu has started to command his area a little more these last couple of games.

- if you stand back from the frustration, we have conceded a total of one goal in two away games.  That is good by any definition. And should yield four or six points.  So while those reliant on two mins Twitter clips will focus on the goal, and I get that, we are not looking defensively shambolic right now.

- so the problem is creativity, which is not the same as earlier in the season under Ralph where the problems were defending and finishing chances.  Don’t forget last week took a JWP free kick, as did Everton away, to win.  So this has been going on for some weeks,

- yesterday I thought there were shockingly poor performances from Moi, Armstrong and Kamaldeen.  Additionally we saw almost no overlapping from full backs, with some fleeting moments from Perraud.  AMN has defended well but isn’t either confident, capable or allowed to bomb on

- if we are going to start with Tall Paul we have to give him service, which means crosses in the box.  Next to nothing is coming in from wide positions.  And if we are going to play long ball (which Selles said in interview he doesn’t like) then we have to get runners close to and beyond him or there is no point.

Bizarrely I still haven’t given up hope because there are other poor teams near us, but we aren’t going to win games creating nothing.  I would like to see Grimsby game used to develop attacking patterns rather than just resting everyone to see more of the same against Leicester 

good post.

We were fucking shit defensively before Bednarek was recalled. It pains me to say it, but maybe the other options are no better. DCC is slow, Lyanco poor and Salisu has been all over the place. Bednarek is just a easy target, but maybe we should be blaming the guy who should have been marking the goalscorer?  Diallo was faced with a two on one because Walcott goes towards the ball near the corner flag rather than inside with Firpo. That's why we conceded, not because Bednarek failed to block the shot. 

You are always going to concede goals in the Prem, so we have to be creating chances and scoring some goals to give ourselves a chance of winning games. Since Onuachu and Sulemana have got here, we have scored 2 goals in four games. One of those was a JWP freekick. Has Sulemana created a chance yet? There are flashes of skill and pace, but his inconsistency perhaps explains why he only played 356 total minutes in the entire first half of the season at Rennes. Onuachu certainly hasn't made us more of a threat either. His fitness levels are embarrassing.  He led the line well last week, but in terms of a goal threat, he basically is only useful if someone puts a great cross in and that happens once every thee games. 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by Chez

[Mr X]

Still just as pissed this morning, what's worse than just the losing is that we knew this was a huge huge game in our season a six pointer if you like and we just didn't look up for the fight from the beginning where was the fire and belief shown only a week or so ago! The players literally looked like they didn't give a shit about the result 

[The Juice]

the most telling factor in all of this is as follows: if we take away Prowsie's goals, we would not have won a premier league game since the 19th October. 

The only reason we are not embarrassingly adrift is because of JWP

 

 

[saintant]

14 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Still just as pissed this morning, what's worse than just the losing is that we knew this was a huge huge game in our season a six pointer if you like and we just didn't look up for the fight from the beginning where was the fire and belief shown only a week or so ago! The players literally looked like they didn't give a shit about the result 

We didn't fly out of the blocks from the first whistle. Rarely does a team like us that does not start fast win a game of football - have seen it time and time again. We always do better when we consciously make a fast start.

[OttawaSaint]

We didn't lay a single glove on a team that had lost 18 of 20. 

Let that sink in. Our players didn't have the guts to grab the game by the scruff and leave everything out there for the win.

The stoppage time showed us everything we need to know about these serial losers. Plodding around without a care in the world looking over at the tunnel thinking about getting some takeout for supper. 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by OttawaSaint

[Weston Super Saint]

6 hours 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. 

 

Win against Man City - players played well (relatively speaking) because it was a 'shop window', Man City spunk plenty of cash and pay good wages so they want to make an impression.

Win against Everton - another shop window against a club who pay well.

Win against Chelsea - hello shop window, the club that is most likely to buy our shit players and give them bags of money every week.

To me, it's that simple.  Most of our players are only prepared to put a shift in if they think they might get a move to a club that pay higher wages.  Mercenaries.

[rallyboy]

When I woke up about 3am and remembered how shit we are and how it can ruin your weekend, I did come up with a positive.

You don't want to be dragged into a relegation battle last-minute and get edged out on goal difference.

Nah, if it's going to happen you want it to be nailed on from October and despite the odd false dawn, you can then become comfortable with that and accept it when the inevitable happens.

That whole last ditch dodgy goal that changes everything situation looks horrendous, if we're going to go, we're on course to do it properly.

 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

I can't believe Edozie has been dropped from matchday squad last two games. Yes his final pass / end product isnt great but at least he carries the ball and takes defenders on. Leeds should have been pegged back and looking nervy after taking the lead but they got stronger and continued taking game to us. We were absolutely pathetic when we had the ball, gave it away almost instantly, zero ball retention which means we are never going to create meaningful chances in open play. It's so pitiful, just shocking really. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Win against Man City - players played well (relatively speaking) because it was a 'shop window', Man City spunk plenty of cash and pay good wages so they want to make an impression.

Win against Everton - another shop window against a club who pay well.

Win against Chelsea - hello shop window, the club that is most likely to buy our shit players and give them bags of money every week.

To me, it's that simple.  Most of our players are only prepared to put a shift in if they think they might get a move to a club that pay higher wages.  Mercenaries.

Roy Keane makes a similar point. Don’t judge teams against big clubs, the players have to give 100% other they’ll lose by 7 or 8 and get humiliated. They all try against the best because they’ll be embarrassed otherwise. Judge them in games against sides around them. 

[Mr X]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

We didn't fly out of the blocks from the first whistle. Rarely does a team like us that does not start fast win a game of football - have seen it time and time again. We always do better when we consciously make a fast start.

Yeah we let Leeds pile on the pressure from the start I don't get why would go into a game with such a negative attitude 

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

I can't believe Edozie has been dropped from matchday squad last two games. Yes his final pass / end product isnt great but at least he carries the ball and takes defenders on. Leeds should have been pegged back and looking nervy after taking the lead but they got stronger and continued taking game to us. We were absolutely pathetic when we had the ball, gave it away almost instantly, zero ball retention which means we are never going to create meaningful chances in open play. It's so pitiful, just shocking really. 

Totally agree. 
 

For me our best attack would be Sulemana on one wing, Edozie on the other with Alcaraz or Stu at 10 trying to get close to big Paul’s flicks and pull strings. 

Yet we have never tried the most obvious best attack we have. Instead we persist with absolute melons that can’t kick a football like Ely.  
 

Yesterday was absolutely horrendous. I am still in shock at just how bad we were. The shop window idea above is a really good one, because yesterday was utterly embarrassing. I am still angry at how pathetic we are as a club. Difficult to stomach. 

[derry]

Maybe we should be using the new players we have brought in at great expense instead of trying to incorporate them into the most unsuccessful side we've had in years. Saturday's selection was just another clusterfuck and lazy team selection rewarding a lucky win for holding on desperately for the whole second half with an undeserved unchanged side.

Stop trying to use Onuachu as a workhorse and get him into the box with the ball. Put Sulemana out right to help with that. After more than six weeks why isn't Orsic superfit or is he just doing routine training. Something wrong there. If he didn't arrive fit then a fitness program needed to be used to get him fit. So get him fit.

IMO Bazunu KWP Bella-Kotcha Salisu Perrault, JWP Lavia, Suleman Alcaraz Orsic (S Armstrong), Onuachu. Get the ball up to the byeline and into the box with Onuachu playing up on the centrebacks supported by the two spare with the winger on the ball. We got our best results recently with DCC at centreback so he could play with BC and maybe Salisu at left back.

The likes of Elyonoussie AMN etc just drag the level down. Selles selections in the three matches in charge have been far from inspirational even effective. Just more of the same teachers favourites contaminating the team. Picking them and complaining about a lack of energy etc makes no sense at all. absolutely predictable.

 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by derry

[Maury Dyer]

Maybe they'll sack this temp manager........ Or maybe, like me, the owners will realise the first team just lazy and cannot be arsed. Lots to leave in championship next year. And will somebody please break bedneraks fucking leg so he cannot get picked.

[davefizzy14]

Such a disappointing result yesterday. We needed to cause more of a threat to them and we didn't. The goal we conceded was poor. Next Saturday is must win! 

Edited 26 February, 2023 by davefizzy14

[Weston Super Saint]

18 minutes ago, Maury Dyer said:

Maybe they'll sack this temp manager........ Or maybe, like me, the owners will realise the first team just lazy and cannot be arsed. Lots to leave in championship next year. And will somebody please break bedneraks fucking leg so he cannot get picked.

Not sure that's going to stop him being picked....

[Badger]

25 minutes ago, Maury Dyer said:

Maybe they'll sack this temp manager........ Or maybe, like me, the owners will realise the first team just lazy and cannot be arsed. Lots to leave in championship next year. And will somebody please break bedneraks fucking leg so he cannot get picked.

 

6 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Not sure that's going to stop him being picked....

And would he have been less mobile for their goal yesterday if he'd been on two crutches ?

[64saint]

1 hour ago, davefizzy14 said:

 Next Saturday is must win! 

Don't we say that every week !!

[DT]

Maybe we will start playing free attacking football once it is clear we are down. And then we might actually pick up points. And then resort to the safety first Raph bollocks Selles has lapsed back into. We probably need to start thinking about puttting the building blocks together towards creating an actual team rather than a bunch of mercenaries who are almost certainly all thinking about their next club rather than fighting for this one, JWP included. Only takes 1 or 2 per cent below par and pulling out of those 50 50s for it all to add up to meh and Bednarek fuck ups losing games. Oh for a bit of bloody bravery.

[Maury Dyer]

10 minutes ago, 64saint said:

Don't we say that every week !!

I for one am sick of bad tempered weekends after these wankers lose so disappointingly week after week. I will be glad when they are relegated and I can stop fretting. No passion, no pride. Bastards. Even pompey try.......

[Chez]

21 hours ago, Galway saint said:

good summary and likewise I thought we looked ok defensively but were abject going forward and created nothing of note. Maybe we look ok defensively as we don’t push on and take a cautious approach but we seem largely incapable of scoring from open play and have done for some time. 

This is the issue and has been for a while. If we want to prevent goals, our full backs need to sit in and as a side we need to be more compact and less adventurous. That has perhaps happened in recent times and lead to less goals being conceded. To then score goals, you are reliant on having genuine quality up front that can create and score goals out of nothing. We don't seem to have that individual quality. Or at least it's not showing itself at the moment - and I am looking at Sulemana here. So we must then return to being a bit more gung ho, with fullbacks pushed high and try to create overloads out wide, but doing so will leave us open to the counter - and we are terrible defensively when running back towards our own goal. Finding the balance between attack and defence is critical. I don't see an easy solution here.