Saints 0-2 Palace - Match Thread

[Crab Lungs]

4 hours ago, SotonianWill said:

even when we were losing there was never any urgency. not once did we pile on the pressure. at points we got a few corners but we slowed down the play ourselves! we play it round the back. none of these players try. 

Yep, said this during the game too. Disgusting.

[Crab Lungs]

4 hours ago, Golactico said:

Strange but absolutely true: Walking back towards the Itchen Bridge after the game, I noticed that Chris Houghton was walking beside me. He took a turn off towards one of the match day car parks. 100% definitely him. Probably on a scouting trip for some League 1 club looking at our shit players, but I thought I'd give the rumour mill a stir.

Yeah saw him before the game. Maybe media duties of some sort. I keep bumping into him though. London last 2 times before that, and not outside football grounds. Maybe we’re star crossed ❤️

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

He left on his own accord to be the co-founder of Sport Republic and subsequently invest in us. He was a big part of Brentfords revamp and did very good work as Chairman of FC Midtjylland before that. Lets not rewrite history here. Some poor managerial decisions and transfer decisions seemingly but I think he'd have appreciated his head of recruitment staying for more than 1 window at the very least. 

Don't think the blame should be placed at one person for this season. It's the result of a lack of evolution in coaching style IMO and a failure to replace Ings to mask the problems mainly. Plenty to blame. 

Brentford kept the guy who worked with Ankersen and was the brains behind their rise. Ankersen left and wasn't replaced.

[Saint Gifford]

 Don’t want to give up hope just yet.
 

But I can’t see any points coming from our last 7 games. 
 

At least we were in a good place to bounce up last time we were in the Championship.

 

It looks to me that the team, owners off field, u23s ect ect aren’t equipped to launch a proper attack this time around.

This could take years to get back, unless we sell up again. 

[austsaint]

4 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

This is the thing for me, the endless wimpy crab football and keeping the ball at the back is the definition of a lack of fight. No penetration, no intent, no fire. They're just going through the motions, it's so obvious.

As we've been in the PL for a while we pay more than the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth etc - yet their players give twice the effort, even 3 times the effort. This is why I've really taken the ''we need the fans to support us' shit personally. It feels like the club have stamped on my head with that comment after they've been punching me in the gut for 5 years.

Everything about this club is dislikeable. Everything.

You're right, there's little or no fight, intent or penetration - yet, it's not a recent thing is it?.   The wimpy, crab football has been a feature of Saints play for ages.  If you watched a replay of every games since January last year, it's what you'd see, give or take the occasional performance.    The main architect of the crab football is JWP;  Bednarek an able deputy.   Take out Lavia and KWP from that side today and there is very little class, creativity, speed or flair - perhaps the raw pace and dribbling of Sulemana.   Today also highlighted the folly of the non-replacement of Ings - bad enough to have tried to make do with an Adams up front on his own; an out-of-his-depth A. Armstrong; a tyro like Mara or a lumbering Onuacho for so long but to start today without any form of striker seemed to sum up the decline and fall of the Club.

 

[Hophead]

1 hour ago, Crab Lungs said:

Yeah saw him before the game. Maybe media duties of some sort. I keep bumping into him though. London last 2 times before that, and not outside football grounds. Maybe we’re star crossed ❤️

He is the Ghana manager so was probably just watching some of his players.

[The Kraken]

2 hours ago, Hophead said:

He is the Ghana manager so was probably just watching some of his players.

Correct. Ayew and Schlupp.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Nigel Adkins. Now.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by Kingsbridge Saint
Urgency not made clear.

[Lone ranger]

Selling Ings was indeed stupid. He’s not the greatest as his subsequent moves have shown but he was the best we had and always gave a flicker of hope. I also think Che’s contribution has been underrated. He always tried hard and was strong and could hold and use the ball well. On a wider point, if you subtract all the Prowse free kick goals of the last couple of years we Seoul’s probably be playing Pompey by now. 

[Mr X]

It's not any easier to accept today.... I really thought the penny would drop yesterday and a sense of urgency would return to the players as they knew the palace game was their last chance... Exactly how were they motivated by selles for the game in the preparations? Or did they like most us accept we were already relegated and they couldn't even be bothered to bust a gut and go down fighting as they were already on the beach in their heads! 

[Mr Nimbus]

As that ball was played to Ayew, whilst it was in the air for what seemed like an eternity, I said to my pal here’s a goal.

We defend so poorly, so so poorly. This from a team that’s allegedly set up to be safety first but has now begun to leak a lot of goals.

Scared management breeds scared players.

I liked Selles initially but the performances from Brentford onwards have been woeful.

I can’t wait for this season to be over. In an ideal world we would get rid of the manager, most of the players, Rasmus and the rest of the people making decisions.

Last thing, that “finish” from Walcott in the first half sums everything up for us in the last 2 years. Fucking woeful.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by Mr Nimbus

[Micky]

13 hours ago, DG said:

The lack of fight and effort is criminal, can’t wait for all these players to fuck off.

Unfortunately though, most of them won't.  What little quality we do have will go, JWP, KWP,  Tella etc, but we will be stuck with the majority of them for some time to come.

[Harry_SFC]

13 minutes ago, Mr Nimbus said:

As that ball was played to Ayew, whilst it was in the air for what seemed like an eternity, I said to my pal here’s a goal.

We defend so poorly, so so poorly. This from a team that’s allegedly set up to be safety first but has now begun to leak a lot of goals.

Scared management breeds scared players.

I liked Selles initially but the performances from Brentford onwards have been woeful.

I can’t wait for this season to be over. In an ideal world we would get rid of the manager, most of the players, Rasmus and the rest of the people making decisions.

Last thing, that “finish” from Walcott in the first half sums everything up for us in the last 2 years. Fucking woeful.

For a so called professional, that should have been a simple finish across the keeper.

[Whitey Grandad]

22 minutes ago, Mr Nimbus said:

As that ball was played to Ayew, whilst it was in the air for what seemed like an eternity, I said to my pal here’s a goal.

We defend so poorly, so so poorly. This from a team that’s allegedly set up to be safety first but has now begun to leak a lot of goals.

Scared management breeds scared players.

I liked Selles initially but the performances from Brentford onwards have been woeful.

I can’t wait for this season to be over. In an ideal world we would get rid of the manager, most of the players, Rasmus and the rest of the people making decisions.

Last thing, that “finish” from Walcott in the first half sums everything up for us in the last 2 years. Fucking woeful.

Exactly how I saw it. 
 

We’ve got two good full backs and yet he plays AMN there. Djenepo and Mara play well against City yet don’t start the next game.

Weird.

[beatlesaint]

10 hours ago, Saint Gifford said:

 Don’t want to give up hope just yet.
 

But I can’t see any points coming from our last 7 games. 
 

🤣youe not giving up home lasted one sentence 🤣

[beatlesaint]

I noticed when the first goal went in all our players gathered around in a circle. I thought they were giving themselves a pep talk and telling wach other "right, we have to go for this" !

I was wrong, absolutely fuck all changed.

 

Interesting also that quite a few crosses went into the box first half, inc a lovely ball in from Theo. Yet as soon as Tall Paul came on we stopped worrying about putting crosses into the box.......

Edited 16 April, 2023 by beatlesaint

[LuckyNumber7]

I'm sick to death of us meekly surrendering in 'must win' games, just off the top of my head Forest and Brentford and now Palace at home, Leeds and West Ham away have all been pathetic performances where we've barely had a shot on goal and shown no urgency, seemingly playing for a 0-1 defeat.

What summed it all up for me yesterday was when the board went up for 1 minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half, instead of trying to get the ball forward and get a lead going into the break, we just passed it around at the back waiting for the half time whistle to go. No urgency, no intent, just negative cowardly football. Yet somehow it's the fans' fault for not getting behind the team. Seriously we've had 6/7 years of this utterly turgid rubbish at home, all the passion and belief has been sucked out of the fans to the point we hardly care any more. Let's look at our home record since Koeman left;

2016/17    W6 D6 L7 GF17 GA21 PTS24

2017/18    W4 D7 L8 GF20 GA26 PTS19

2018/19    W5 D8 L6 GF27 GA30 PTS23

2019/20   W6 D3 L10 GF21 GA35 PTS21

2020/21    W8 D3 L8 GF28 GA25 PTS27

2021/22    W6 D7 L6 GF23 GA24 PTS25

2022/23    W2 D4 L10 GF15 GA30 PTS10 - With 3 games still to play

This year has been a new low but not once in those seasons have we won more games than we've lost whilst mostly struggling to average much more than a goal a game. We have been given nothing to get behind on the pitch other than passive, dull crab football, whilst off it we are fed corporate bullshit about how league position isn't important and we are a stepping stone club for young talent. Home fans are treated like criminals whilst away fans have the red carpet rolled out and are allowed to pretty much do whatever they want and have a great day out.

Personally I can't wait for this season to end and a fresh start in the Championship and hopefully a fresh mentality. Things may or may not get better but there is literally no way it can be less enjoyable than it is now.

 

[Badger]

11 hours ago, saintant said:

Brentford kept the guy who worked with Ankersen and was the brains behind their rise. Ankersen left and wasn't replaced.

Stands out a mile. Phil Giles was the brains and recruitment. Ankersen did a good job talking about it though and taking the credit 

Edited 16 April, 2023 by Badger

[S-Clarke]

10 hours ago, austsaint said:

You're right, there's little or no fight, intent or penetration - yet, it's not a recent thing is it?.   The wimpy, crab football has been a feature of Saints play for ages.  If you watched a replay of every games since January last year, it's what you'd see, give or take the occasional performance.    The main architect of the crab football is JWP;  Bednarek an able deputy.   Take out Lavia and KWP from that side today and there is very little class, creativity, speed or flair - perhaps the raw pace and dribbling of Sulemana.   Today also highlighted the folly of the non-replacement of Ings - bad enough to have tried to make do with an Adams up front on his own; an out-of-his-depth A. Armstrong; a tyro like Mara or a lumbering Onuacho for so long but to start today without any form of striker seemed to sum up the decline and fall of the Club.

 

It goes further back than that, I can trace these wimpy fundamentals back to the end of the Claude Puel era. Risk averse, scared football. JWP has been a core component during all of those years as well.

We had a little spell under Ralph when we went for it, but in the main since 2017 it's been like this. Too scared to make a mistake, not confident enough to take a gamble. The life was sucked out of the guys we had, and we made sure the new ones we recruited didn't have any life to start with.

We can't start next season thinking we are on the right sort of path, we're not. This path needs to be ripped up, shredded, thrown away, whatever - and we need to start from scratch with every foundation. There is nothing to work with here and if the club believe there is, then we're onto a very nasty slope.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[allsa001]

Would love to think we could really go for it next year. Try to turn this around. Instead of the terrible football we have been playing, let's go and get goals. Would much rather that we went for it in a lower division, and finished mid table, than play this type of football again ever.

[Chez]

not sure which is worse, the hangover from the game or the beer.

It was all very predictable I suppose. In fact I am pretty sure I watched the exact same game against Palace at SMS last season. 

I thought we played OK in the first half, but one of the Walcott and Sulemana (an absolute powder puff shot in a great position) chances has to go in. I thought Aribo tried hard to get involved, but sometimes he ended up dropping too deep leaving us with little up front. There was one decent move and cross from the right, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was the kind of cross Onuachu begged for when he came on (but never got). At least he moved around in this game, but he's not a striker and never will be.

One issue (among many) I noticed was the difficulty ABK has distributing the ball. He's a right footer playing on the left side and it causes all kind of problems. He looks uncomfortable there and needs to move to the right side. No idea who plays beside him. We had a similar problem with KWP playing on the wrong side. He's done well there in the past, but was pretty ineffective yesterday. I don't blame Selles for starting him ahead of Perraud though.

The goal really changed the game. Afterwards we literally couldn't get the ball off Palace and they looked invigorated and full of confidence. It should have been 0-3 really. We were slightly unlucky Alcaraz's shot didn't go in. I was sat right behind it and it looked in all the way. It wouldn't have mattered.

As usual we faded. Onuachu looked a complete donkey, but as others have said, we didn't put a single cross into him. Not one. Our inability to change our style/approach when he comes on is an issue. So too is not having a single player that can cross a ball. 

 

 

 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

33 minutes ago, Chez said:

not sure which is worse, the hangover from the game or the beer.

It was all very predictable I suppose. In fact I am pretty sure I watched the exact same game against Palace at SMS last season. 

I thought we played OK in the first half, but one of the Walcott and Sulemana (an absolute powder puff shot in a great position) chances has to go in. I thought Aribo tried hard to get involved, but sometimes he ended up dropping too deep leaving us with little up front. There was one decent move and cross from the right, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was the kind of cross Onuachu begged for when he came on (but never got). At least he moved around in this game, but he's not a striker and never will be.

One issue (among many) I noticed was the difficulty ABK has distributing the ball. He's a right footer playing on the left side and it causes all kind of problems. He looks uncomfortable there and needs to move to the right side. No idea who plays beside him. We had a similar problem with KWP playing on the wrong side. He's done well there in the past, but was pretty ineffective yesterday. I don't blame Selles for starting him ahead of Perraud though.

The goal really changed the game. Afterwards we literally couldn't get the ball off Palace and they looked invigorated and full of confidence. It should have been 0-3 really. We were slightly unlucky Alcaraz's shot didn't go in. I was sat right behind it and it looked in all the way. It wouldn't have mattered.

As usual we faded. Onuachu looked a complete donkey, but as others have said, we didn't put a single cross into him. Not one. Our inability to change our style/approach when he comes on is an issue. So too is not having a single player that can cross a ball. 

 

 

 

Agree with all this. The ease in which Palace played through us from start of the second half was nothing short of scandalous. First half was dull but we were comfortable containing Palace for most part without putting them under any real pressure certainly not sustained pressure. We really struggle to play at a high tempo and revert back to walking with the ball and playing it across the back line. When you think about our relegation rivals they in most part have periods of pressure when they play each other but we simply don't and it's no wonder we create very little let alone score. It's just far to easy to defend against. I think to both Leeds and West ham games when we was one nil down both of them should have got nervous and started to drop deeper as we took the game to them but it simply didn't happen. In fact Leeds actually continued taking game to us and looked like the only team going to score. These players lack mental fortitude no doubt and some bad coaching habits are ingrained but the overall malaise at the club means a major reset and clear out from top to bottom needed.  

[Hophead]

8 hours ago, The Kraken said:

Correct. Ayew and Schlupp.

And Sulemana!

[Gooderz]

let's hope Jason Wilcox can add something to our recruitment for next season 

 

[gordonToo]

3 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

There is nothing to work with here and if the club believe there is, then we're onto a very nasty slope.

Even if the club believed it, is it practical?

Top priority though is to move JWP on. There will be no recovery while the team is built around his attributes.

[Whitey Grandad]

4 hours ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

What summed it all up for me yesterday was when the board went up for 1 minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half, instead of trying to get the ball forward and get a lead going into the break, we just passed it around at the back waiting for the half time whistle to go. No urgency, no intent, just negative cowardly football. Yet somehow it's the fans' fault for not getting behind the team. Seriously we've had 6/7 years of this utterly turgid rubbish at home, all the passion and belief has been sucked out of the fans to the point we hardly care any more.

 

My neighbour reckoned that Selles was telling them all to hold back. Unbelievable really.

[AlexLaw76]

4 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

There is nothing to work with here and if the club believe there is, then we're onto a very nasty slope.

How is there nothing to work with? Look at Bournemouth for comparison, a team greater than the sum of it parts, with Solanke leading the line and Jack Stephens leading the defence.

 

[Fabrice29]

15 hours ago, saintant said:

Brentford kept the guy who worked with Ankersen and was the brains behind their rise. Ankersen left and wasn't replaced.

🤣 bet Brentford wished they noticed that Giles was the brain behind it all a lot earlier. Would have saved them a salary.

But yes they decided to go with a sole director of football after Ankerson left so you're probably right, Ankerson was merely in the room for those 6 years and shouldn't get any credit for his time there. The Brentford fans I lived with during that time are wrong to be grateful to him, no credit should go to him for recommending Thomas Frank joined as a coach and don't even dare to suggest that a well run football club over a 6 year period with consistent player sales but consistent improvement should be in anyway be down to Ankerson and we have definitely got a dud.

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How is there nothing to work with? Look at Bournemouth for comparison, a team greater than the sum of it parts, with Solanke leading the line and Jack Stephens leading the defence.

 

I wasn't referring to individuals specifically, more so the approach and the 'southampton way' we try to sell. That's a busted flush, nothing to work with.

Need to re-design our approach from the ground up. There may be some players here who grow into a new approach/philosophy, but quite a few will need to be shifted on.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[Andrew Watson]

Leave it out Fabrice, the man is loathed by most of the Saints fanbase. I suggest you support Brentford.

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I wasn't referring to individuals specifically, more so the approach and the 'southampton way' we try to sell. That's a busted flush, nothing to work with.

Need to re-design our approach from the ground up. There may be some players here who grow into a new approach/philosophy, but quite a few will need to be shifted on.

It will be remarkable if we continue with the philosophy of signing the likes of Larios........Liam Delap this summer?

[Spark]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

🤣 bet Brentford wished they noticed that Giles was the brain behind it all a lot earlier. Would have saved them a salary.

But yes they decided to go with a sole director of football after Ankerson left so you're probably right, Ankerson was merely in the room for those 6 years and shouldn't get any credit for his time there. The Brentford fans I lived with during that time are wrong to be grateful to him, no credit should go to him for recommending Thomas Frank joined as a coach and don't even dare to suggest that a well run football club over a 6 year period with consistent player sales but consistent improvement should be in anyway be down to Ankerson and we have definitely got a dud.

Is all of that fact though? Or are you just speculating? Unless you see actual video or written proof you cant say for sure who did anything. Football is half PR. And the frank thing, theyd known each other for ten years before brentford. So its not like he did some amazing scouting and found some unkown. He employed his mate . So anything frank and rasmus say has to be taken with a pint glass of salt imho. They gunna back each other.

[Nemi]

23 hours ago, woodsaint1 said:

Tbf without his goals last season we would have been relegated. And without his goals this season we would probably be sitting on about 12 points. Theres plenty of other waste of spaces to be directing your annoyance at

Equally, replace him with  someone who can move the ball quickly, has a bit of composure, knows what's needed to win a game, can dictate play, can make penetrative passes, is happy to receive the ball in tight areas rather than always dropping into the backline to feel comfortable, maybe we would score a few more goals in open play rather than have to rely on his free-kicks and penalties.

[Boris Karloff]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How is there nothing to work with? Look at Bournemouth for comparison, a team greater than the sum of it parts, with Solanke leading the line and Jack Stephens leading the defence.

 

People with the right attitude. We got rid of all the characters with the right attitude at the start of the season - Oriol, Stephens, Tella, Redders, Smallbone. 

Replaced them with people who don't care. 

[Fabrice29]

35 minutes ago, Spark said:

Is all of that fact though? Or are you just speculating? Unless you see actual video or written proof you cant say for sure who did anything. Football is half PR. And the frank thing, theyd known each other for ten years before brentford. So its not like he did some amazing scouting and found some unkown. He employed his mate . So anything frank and rasmus say has to be taken with a pint glass of salt imho. They gunna back each other.

Okay. You're right. In that case, going back to the original point, history should be re-written to show him as a failure at Brentford, any success they enjoyed with him should be taken with a pinch of salt but we even though we need video proof of his work at Brentford we can 100% validate our theory that he's the sole reason for our failure this season. 

[Spark]

14 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Okay. You're right. In that case, going back to the original point, history should be re-written to show him as a failure at Brentford, any success they enjoyed with him should be taken with a pinch of salt but we even though we need video proof of his work at Brentford we can 100% validate our theory that he's the sole reason for our failure this season. 

Mate stop chatting nonsense.Pull your tongue out rasmus's arse ffs. Muppet.

[Fabrice29]

6 minutes ago, Spark said:

Mate stop chatting nonsense.Pull your tongue out rasmus's arse ffs. Muppet.

🤣 I'm not up anyones arse, I just think that maybe, just maybe, our issues might be slightly bigger and more fundamental than one bloke. We've currently got a seemingly non existent director of football so getting an active one in the summer will help, we had our head of recruitment leave within a few months, we've been consistently regressing for a few years now both in terms of recruitment and in terms of coaching on the pitch. Fanbase is disillusioned because of the football they are served up, especially at home and results in a nothing atmosphere at the ground. I think because the lack of the connection with the club in terms of good media theories, opinions and easy solutions are allowed to fester online and become part of the chaos (everything is leaked through a group of journalists rather than officially through the club). There's loads of shit that needs sorting at the club, but bloody Rasmus eh!

Clearly Rasmus should take the blame for his role in the managerial decisions and recruitment and whatever role he's played in other bits but it doesn't all start with him and doesn't end with him either. There's 3 others at his level, one of which is with Sports Republic for a start but apart from Semmens why doesn't Kraft and Crocker get any stick?

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Spark said:

Is all of that fact though? Or are you just speculating? Unless you see actual video or written proof you cant say for sure who did anything. Football is half PR. And the frank thing, theyd known each other for ten years before brentford. So its not like he did some amazing scouting and found some unkown. He employed his mate . So anything frank and rasmus say has to be taken with a pint glass of salt imho. They gunna back each other.

 

35 minutes ago, Spark said:

Mate stop chatting nonsense.Pull your tongue out rasmus's arse ffs. Muppet.

I think you are the one chatting shit here.

I think it is perfectly easy to accept that Ankersen was clearly responsible for the success at Brentford while at the same time seeing he is currently a disaster for us. 

It's like saying Lawrie Mac must have not had anything to do with Saints success in the 70s and 80s because he was shit at Sunderland afterwards. Or Koeman was shit for us after all because he was shit for Everton. 

So stop asking for "video evidence" like some chump and just accept that people can be successful in one place and not another. It happens in football all the fucking time. All the time.

Jesus wept.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by CB Fry

[Osvaldorama]

Anyone that thought Nathan Jones was a good fit for Southampton is completely incompetent, and that was categorically an Ankersen deal. 
 

Just that one decision is proof that he is a complete and utter fraud of a man 

[jasonbenali]

Still fuming about this one although I shouldn’t be surprised.

That first goal, if AMN puts in a proper challenge with the two opportunities it blocks the cross, if Bazunu doesn’t punch it into danger (basic, basic keeping), if we pick up men in the box (basic defending). FFS.

Fair play on the 2nd goal, real quality.

And we missed some golden chances even amid the mediocrity. Theo may have lost a few yards but with 47 England caps how can you not score from there, let alone hit the target. Really winds me up when he laughs off a bad miss, symptomatic of the whole team.

And Selles, Aribo is not a striker. He’s just not. 
 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, jasonbenali said:

Still fuming about this one although I shouldn’t be surprised.

That first goal, if AMN puts in a proper challenge with the two opportunities it blocks the cross, if Bazunu doesn’t punch it into danger (basic, basic keeping), if we pick up men in the box (basic defending). FFS.

Fair play on the 2nd goal, real quality.

And we missed some golden chances even amid the mediocrity. Theo may have lost a few yards but with 47 England caps how can you not score from there, let alone hit the target. Really winds me up when he laughs off a bad miss, symptomatic of the whole team.

And Selles, Aribo is not a striker. He’s just not. 
 

Does anybody have any idea why Aribo was chosen ahead of Mara?

[Appy]

5 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Does anybody have any idea why Aribo was chosen ahead of Mara?

Because we employed an unproven PE teacher as manager 

[SW11_Saint]

On 16/04/2023 at 08:51, Lone ranger said:

Selling Ings was indeed stupid. He’s not the greatest as his subsequent moves have shown but he was the best we had and always gave a flicker of hope. I also think Che’s contribution has been underrated. He always tried hard and was strong and could hold and use the ball well. On a wider point, if you subtract all the Prowse free kick goals of the last couple of years we Seoul’s probably be playing Pompey by now. 

At one point in the first half Theo received the ball on the left side of the box, with his back to goal. Yes, he had 2 defenders behind him, but he just didn’t know what to and they robbed him easily. Me and my mate both said, ‘imagine Ings getting that ball, he’d have shielded it, turned and would have found a way to get a shot away’. 

Semmen’s smug “no brainer” in selling him (and not replacing) was ultimately the act that sealed our fate.  
 

 

[SW11_Saint]

10 hours ago, Appy said:

Because we employed an unproven PE teacher as manager 

Because ‘Pep cosplay’ doesn’t = Pep. Strange that. 

[JRM]

2 minutes ago, SW11_Saint said:

At one point in the first half Theo received the ball on the left side of the box, with his back to goal. Yes, he had 2 defenders behind him, but he just didn’t know what to and they robbed him easily. Me and my mate both said, ‘imagine Ings getting that ball, he’d have shielded it, turned and would have found a way to get a shot away’. 

Semmen’s smug “no brainer” in selling him (and not replacing) was ultimately the act that sealed our fate.  
 

 

I think for a while Broja provided adequate replacement for Ings and gave us a proper goal threat , shame he lost it towards the end of last season and we had no replacement 

[DT]

I'm still fuming about this.

Even from when the players emerged onto the pitch, the body language was inexcusably relaxed. What on earth does Selles say to them? Then there was that infuriating thing where Bednarek and I think Bella K stand either side of the 'goalkeeper' and he pops it out to them slowly, they look up, and proceed to go walking pace along and back. 

You need to set the tone at the beginning of matches, and the mismatch of this as a tactic to our league position and generally the need to fire up the crowd should really result in the immediate sacking of Selles, who more and more looks to be the epicentre of our negative tactics, that came to the fore more in Ralph's latter years.

Then, when you add JWP's listless captaincy and lack of bite, as well as his lack of leadership qualities, fear of even shooting now, and the body language of someone already relishing meeting up with his fwend Forster at Spurs, you have the recipe for disaster. Walcott runs around like a Dad at his son's sports day, and that 'shot' was just atrocious. Barely league one standard.

Lavia, I thought, was superb. And he seems to care. Shame we don't stand a chance of seeing him next year.

Sulemana kept falling over. But at least he ran at players occasionally. When Stu came on I forgot we had him in the squad. Che obviously sulking somewhere, the bad egg. 

Aribo was better than I thought he'd be, but hasn't the pace for the Premier League.

KWP was alright, but still seems to be doing all he can to fight off the 'coaching you into shitness' that Saints have on the training ground, clearly. Alcaraz was okay.

Overall though, it felt like the death of a club, with 30 thousand disinterested people watching on. No guts, no fight, no talent, and we are in for a big shock when we struggle to stay in the Championship next year, not least with big clubs coming down too.

I was going to come to as many games as I can in the run-in, but after spending upwards of 200 quid to bring my kids to watch this utter shit I'm not going again until we have a bunch of players who actually care. Watched my son's team on Sunday, and it was a breath of fresh air seeing pace, intensity, determination, and fight rewarded with a 3-0 win. If Saints had an ounce of that instead of the deep fissure of discontent and ineptitude running through the club like letters through a stick of rock, then we might stand a chance of turning around this awful oil tanker of shit. Maybe back inside a decade?

Not sure.

[Spark]

16 hours ago, CB Fry said:

 

I think you are the one chatting shit here.

I think it is perfectly easy to accept that Ankersen was clearly responsible for the success at Brentford while at the same time seeing he is currently a disaster for us. 

It's like saying Lawrie Mac must have not had anything to do with Saints success in the 70s and 80s because he was shit at Sunderland afterwards. Or Koeman was shit for us after all because he was shit for Everton. 

So stop asking for "video evidence" like some chump and just accept that people can be successful in one place and not another. It happens in football all the fucking time. All the time.

Jesus wept.

Point out one thing i said thats chatting shit. Back up your words dont just mouth off. I simply said its all speculation as we have no evidence. Where did i ask for video evidence? I simply said without someone filming every single thing behind closed doors, its going to be speculation and chinese whispers.  Add in the fact frank was his mate ten years prior so obviously frank gunna talk him up.

Also 'chump' ? Are you 80?  LMFAO Hush your gums old man , cant even read so argues abut things i didnt even ask for . Now THAT is jesus wept.
 

Edited 17 April, 2023 by Spark
added stuff

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, DT said:

I'm still fuming about this.

Even from when the players emerged onto the pitch, the body language was inexcusably relaxed. What on earth does Selles say to them? Then there was that infuriating thing where Bednarek and I think Bella K stand either side of the 'goalkeeper' and he pops it out to them slowly, they look up, and proceed to go walking pace along and back. 

You need to set the tone at the beginning of matches, and the mismatch of this as a tactic to our league position and generally the need to fire up the crowd should really result in the immediate sacking of Selles, who more and more looks to be the epicentre of our negative tactics, that came to the fore more in Ralph's latter years.

Then, when you add JWP's listless captaincy and lack of bite, as well as his lack of leadership qualities, fear of even shooting now, and the body language of someone already relishing meeting up with his fwend Forster at Spurs, you have the recipe for disaster. Walcott runs around like a Dad at his son's sports day, and that 'shot' was just atrocious. Barely league one standard.

Lavia, I thought, was superb. And he seems to care. Shame we don't stand a chance of seeing him next year.

Sulemana kept falling over. But at least he ran at players occasionally. When Stu came on I forgot we had him in the squad. Che obviously sulking somewhere, the bad egg. 

Aribo was better than I thought he'd be, but hasn't the pace for the Premier League.

KWP was alright, but still seems to be doing all he can to fight off the 'coaching you into shitness' that Saints have on the training ground, clearly. Alcaraz was okay.

Overall though, it felt like the death of a club, with 30 thousand disinterested people watching on. No guts, no fight, no talent, and we are in for a big shock when we struggle to stay in the Championship next year, not least with big clubs coming down too.

I was going to come to as many games as I can in the run-in, but after spending upwards of 200 quid to bring my kids to watch this utter shit I'm not going again until we have a bunch of players who actually care. Watched my son's team on Sunday, and it was a breath of fresh air seeing pace, intensity, determination, and fight rewarded with a 3-0 win. If Saints had an ounce of that instead of the deep fissure of discontent and ineptitude running through the club like letters through a stick of rock, then we might stand a chance of turning around this awful oil tanker of shit. Maybe back inside a decade?

Not sure.

Isn't he injured?

[Dman]

16 hours ago, CB Fry said:

 

I think you are the one chatting shit here.

I think it is perfectly easy to accept that Ankersen was clearly responsible for the success at Brentford while at the same time seeing he is currently a disaster for us. 

It's like saying Lawrie Mac must have not had anything to do with Saints success in the 70s and 80s because he was shit at Sunderland afterwards. Or Koeman was shit for us after all because he was shit for Everton. 

So stop asking for "video evidence" like some chump and just accept that people can be successful in one place and not another. It happens in football all the fucking time. All the time.

Jesus wept.

In fairness, I remember when he took over the club, Brentford fans said it was the other bloke behind the success - naturally at the time I thought it was just bitterness from them. 
 

Since he left, they haven’t replaced him and have continued to perform. 
 

I do wonder how much input he had. Probably bouncing ideas around which 90% of we’re rejected based on what we’ve seen. 

[John Boy Saint]

Watching the game on Saturday I was sat next to my occasional neighbour who gets to use a club supplied ST from time to time, he is quite good company as we see similar things on the pitch and comment to each other. At one point in yet another inert period of play from Saints, we just just said its like they have never played football in the real world, and a comparison to when we were kids playing with mates and jumpers for goal posts, we all liked to believe that we were Pele, Cruyff et al (obviously nothing like them). But the one thing we did know even when playing like sheep chasing the ball en-masse, was the object of the game = to score goals: go a goal down you tried your hardest to get one back. 

I asked my "mate" if he had ever listened to "That Peter Crouch Podcast" a while back. One of the things that came through on that was the incredulity of Crouchies co presenters at just how cossetted professional footballers are, with the underlaying gag about Crouchy admitting that at Stoke he didn't have to think about anything other that playing football, not even what underpants to wear on a matchday as the club supplied them laid out with the kit too! I commented that this lot look to be so pampered that they don't seem to know how to work out football on the pitch for themselves as its not what they have  been told from the side line. Playground football you knew Willy was the fastest in the school get the ball to him, as you knew he would get it to Richard in the middle and he had a right foot like a hammer.

Driving home after the game, listening to Solent and they interviewed Theo, as he was going through his ramblings on the game he uttered something along the lines of "I wouldn't know about that, we leave that to the manager"!! I thought I can't believe a casual musing to a fellow supporter at the game has been pretty much answered by a senior player with years under his belt.

Hey ho its nearly all over