SaintJackoInHurworth Posted 25 February, 2023 Share Posted 25 February, 2023 They say it's the hope that kills you and I know what they mean, but let's be honest they (whoever 'they' are) are wrong!! It's the lack of hope that kills you - and the continual, repeated, destruction of hope that cuts like a proverbial dagger to the heart! Today's result strikes like a death knoll to our hopes of staying up in the Premier League and even the most optimistic of Saints' fans must surely now accept that relegation is highly probable. BUT ENOUGH OF THAT DEPRESSING REALITY...! WHERE IS THE HOPE?!!!!!! Let me (yeah, I probably am that most optimistic of fans that I just referenced above!) try to share some feint, almost fantasy-world-like glimmers of a possible alternative universe where somehow things from here on in might inexplicably and extraordinarily improve...! What if..... Over the next week the resukts involving the clubs at the bottom look like this... Arsenal 3 Everton 0 Liverpool 2 Wolves 0 Arsenal 4 Bournemouth 0 Brighton 2 West Ham 0 Chelsea 2 Leeds 0 Wolves 0 Spurs 2 Saints 2 Leicester 0 Forest 0 Everton 0 (or maybe Forest 1 Everton 0) Those scores are certainly not inconceivable and they could be the start of a turn-around... We would find ourselves off the bottom and once again starting to look upwards.... and that is just next week's results....! What, I suppose I am trying to say is this: Yes, it looks likley that we are going down, but let's keep hoping, keep supporting and maybe, just maybe, we might find ourselves in that surprising alternative universe where actually we might, somehow, stay up! 2 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsaint1 Posted 25 February, 2023 Share Posted 25 February, 2023 Love your positivity and can see some results going our way next week BUT I just cant see us beating Leicester. They've looked decent recently and we're absolutely hopeless at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 25 February, 2023 Share Posted 25 February, 2023 Of course it's possible. The win at Chelsea means we got the 3 points we would have expected to from the last two games. However, losing the Leeds game despite another new era shows that we just aren't capable of getting the big results when it's required. We will get the odd win throughout the rest of the season but not the 6 or 7 we need to keep us up. With those set of results we'd be 1 point off safety it's true, but then we're facing United away, Spurs at home, West Ham away, City at home in the next four games. Everyone else would pick up a few points in those rounds of fixtures while we will, in all likelihood, get nothing. Selles needs to ring the changes in the next game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamesaint Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 (edited) Let's face it. A team who has scored just 2 goals from open play in the last 900 minutes of league football is going to find it difficult to go on the sort of run that would keep us up. Edited 26 February, 2023 by Tamesaint 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 2 minutes ago, Tamesaint said: Let's face it. A team who has scored just 2 goals from open play minutes in the last 900 minutes of league football is going to find it difficult to go on the sort of run that would keep us up. Absolutely this. Drains whatever glimmer of hope there might be left. We don’t score goals and don’t keep clean sheets in the main, so we don’t win games. I don’t think we’ll win another game this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintJackoInHurworth Posted 26 February, 2023 Author Share Posted 26 February, 2023 (edited) Thanks for the comments so far... as I said in my OP, I'm not trying to suggest in any way that there is anything other than a huge likelihood that we are going down... But, hey, I will continue to clutch at whatever straws I can until it really is impossible! Sooooo... To throw some more alternative universe straws of comfort in there on the obvious glaring issue of goals, which some have rightfully highlighted as a major problem for us (not helped by Onuachu looking pretty inept so far)... What if... Sulemena shows that only that he is fast but also he quickly (i.e. this week) responds to coaching and gets to grips with both the pressing game and where and how he is best to position himself within the Selles-Saints system so that he begins to get success in both scoring and creating goals. Onuachu also gets to grips with this and the squad begin to see the best way to get crosses to him for attempts on target and for knock-downs which others can feed off. (NB I won't suggest the total fantasy option (for now) that Onuachu might actually develop a speed across the ground that would enable him to be better at pressing and running in on-goal - sadly that is not going to be his strength without a summer of training at least - if ever!) Ballard or Dibling get their chance against Grimsby and prove that they can take (maybe rediscover in Dibling's case) their goal scoring form from the B Team and replicate it with the first team. Edozie comes back in and alongside Sulemena is able to terrorise defences and provides not just dribbling ability but also telling final balls which lead to goals; what if he/they also manage to draw fouls which open up loads more chances for Ward-Prowse free kicks. Selles is able to work with Ward-Prowse in training to establish variety in corners which leads to more goal attempts and (crucially) goals. Selles realises that for all his hard work Elyounoussi offers little to the side and is the weakest of a large range of options (again, no fantasy options of Elyounoussi suddenly becoming a quality player here!) Selles drops AMN and starts with Perrraud and KWP and also gets them to work on the training ground at once again building patterns of quality attacking play down the wing in combination with other players - especially our wingers - the type of play we know that they are capable of; what if they are also able to combine that with developing a better understanding with those players and with the striker(s) to improve their final balls to be more incisive and productive, leading to goals. OK... hopefully you get the drift - while we are never going to see all of those happening between now and next week, maybe, just maybe, there is some hope that progress can be made in at least some of these soon in a way that may give us some faint hope of staying up. Edited 26 February, 2023 by SaintJackoInHurworth Faint not feint! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 Finally a thread i like 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Super Saint Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 9 hours ago, woodsaint1 said: Love your positivity and can see some results going our way next week ALL the results went 'our way' yesterday. Well, apart from 'ours', but that's the problem. When the results DO go our way, we don't bother turning up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintant Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 5 hours ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said: Thanks for the comments so far... as I said in my OP, I'm not trying to suggest in any way that there is anything other than a huge likelihood that we are going down... But, hey, I will continue to clutch at whatever straws I can until it really is impossible! Sooooo... To throw some more alternative universe straws of comfort in there on the obvious glaring issue of goals, which some have rightfully highlighted as a major problem for us (not helped by Onuachu looking pretty inept so far)... What if... Sulemena shows that only that he is fast but also he quickly (i.e. this week) responds to coaching and gets to grips with both the pressing game and where and how he is best to position himself within the Selles-Saints system so that he begins to get success in both scoring and creating goals. Onuachu also gets to grips with this and the squad begin to see the best way to get crosses to him for attempts on target and for knock-downs which others can feed off. (NB I won't suggest the total fantasy option (for now) that Onuachu might actually develop a speed across the ground that would enable him to be better at pressing and running in on-goal - sadly that is not going to be his strength without a summer of training at least - if ever!) Ballard or Dibling get their chance against Grimsby and prove that they can take (maybe rediscover in Dibling's case) their goal scoring form from the B Team and replicate it with the first team. Edozie comes back in and alongside Sulemena is able to terrorise defences and provides not just dribbling ability but also telling final balls which lead to goals; what if he/they also manage to draw fouls which open up loads more chances for Ward-Prowse free kicks. Selles is able to work with Ward-Prowse in training to establish variety in corners which leads to more goal attempts and (crucially) goals. Selles realises that for all his hard work Elyounoussi offers little to the side and is the weakest of a large range of options (again, no fantasy options of Elyounoussi suddenly becoming a quality player here!) Selles drops AMN and starts with Perrraud and KWP and also gets them to work on the training ground at once again building patterns of quality attacking play down the wing in combination with other players - especially our wingers - the type of play we know that they are capable of; what if they are also able to combine that with developing a better understanding with those players and with the striker(s) to improve their final balls to be more incisive and productive, leading to goals. OK... hopefully you get the drift - while we are never going to see all of those happening between now and next week, maybe, just maybe, there is some hope that progress can be made in at least some of these soon in a way that may give us some faint hope of staying up. Just seen a pig fly right past my window. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 (edited) I want to believe and it's important to have hope, but there is absolutely nothing in the makeup of this team to suggest we are capable of what would be European qualification form. It's just not going to happen. We've got way too much to do, with everyone above us. It might only be '5' points (6 if you count GD), but you've also got 5/6 teams above us who all need to be dropping points at the same time as well. Control the controllables they say, but we've got to the stage where we've tossed away all our controllables and it's all on those above us - which is why we're done. Insurmountable at this stage I'd suggest. All my hope is that we don't finish bottom, which would at least mean we've got a tiny bit of momentum to take into next season. The last thing we want to do is go down with a whimper in a similar vein to Sunderland, Huddersfield, Sheff U etc with a gap to the rest. That would be hard to shake for next year, as many teams have shown. Edited 26 February, 2023 by S-Clarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 We won't beat Leicester. We're just too broken. Need a fucking hard reset. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamplemousse Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 I'm not giving up hope but I just don't see how we stay up with our current abysmal home form. We simply have to beat Leicester. Have to win. Don't care how we do it, we've just got to do it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 We're down, we play like somone learning the buttons on FIFA. Oh shit is X pass? Which one is speed burst again? Fuck square is diving tackle, I've given away a penalty! Shit I'm in clear what is shoot what is shoot?...never mind... 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 26 February, 2023 Share Posted 26 February, 2023 If it's the hope that kills then i'm immortal right now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toussaint Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 Well my irrational hope has been raised, Arsenal could do us a massive favour, Everton at home tonight, and Bournemouth at home Saturday. Leeds away to Chelsea on Saturday who are going to spank someone soon. Forest v Everton on the weeknd, no idea. Plus I really think we will beat Leicester. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gecko Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 On 26/02/2023 at 13:41, OttawaSaint said: We won't beat Leicester. We're just too broken. Need a fucking hard reset. Difficult to dispute this as the likely outcome. However they were garbage last night against Blackburn, and rightly got beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyinthesky Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 26 minutes ago, gecko said: Difficult to dispute this as the likely outcome. However they were garbage last night against Blackburn, and rightly got beat. I think Leicester had a more or less 2nd team (bit no place for Vestergaard or Bertie (always injured!!) I watched Fulham v Leeds last night. Both sides contributed to an enjoyable game with performances on a higher plain that what I have seen from the Saints for quite a while. The lad Soloman who scored a pearler last night to go with his winner at Brighton recently came to Fulham on a free!!!!!!!!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiberalCommunist Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 We might well beat Leicester. But we are going down. No doubt about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom & Gerry Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 I think I'd rather be resigned to going down. It's just too stressful. Especially if you are not at the game, like the last two All that injury time at Chelsea and going behind late at Leeds. It doesn't seem so bad when you lose in the Championship, mind you you don't get quite the same buzz from winning either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Saint Posted 1 March, 2023 Share Posted 1 March, 2023 I honestly believe we will stay up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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