Saints 1-4 Leicester - Match Thread

[Long Shot]

15 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Yeah I’ve been very vocal in defending him but this is absolutely horrendous delusion. 
 

It’s like he’s watching a different game. We were completely shit. Schooled by Leicester and credit to them. 

Tonight was as bad as it gets really 

Perhaps you now see where I was coming from?

[trousers]

44 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Martin.....post match

• I am proud of the players, as this is different to Sunderland, they did what we asked them

Martin saying the players did what they were asked to do and KWP saying pretty much the opposite in his post-match interview. So, who's talking bollocks...? Martin or KWP?

Edited 15 September, 2023 by trousers

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

1 minute ago, Wiggles31 said:

Half the time it’s a back 2. 

It is a back 2. But we're so superior to other teams in the league, our other 8 can just concentrate on attacking apparently

[Master Bates]

Results like these puts a dampener on night time exercises.

[disconnect]

Smallbone and Downes should never play as a centre midfield pair again, awful, with Smallbone especially poor. Sulemana was a breath of fresh air when he came on, and Alcaraz should probably start. 
Manning was poor too. 
 

That red card will surely be rescinded?!

[S-Clarke]

When the window ''slammed shut'' I was nervous about our midfield options and felt we were weak in there. I think tonight proved that and then some.

Smallbone and Downes are physically weak and just get walked over, the alternatives are Armstrong who doesn't track and Alcaraz who is an attacking midfielder with zero discipline. We are relying on a 19 year old kid being fit all season to anchor our midfield, otherwise we will be played through every single week by anyone. Gillingham did it, QPR did it, Norwich did it, Sunderland did it and Leicester did it. It's like groundhog day, do the same and expect a different result. Doesn't happen in life nor football.

Our off the ball shape is simply atrocious, time and time again tonight Leicester had players over and players in space - they just had to play a straight pass, through our midfield and they were running at us. This is why I find it hard to put the blame solely on our 'defence'' or the GK, it's the entire team set up and how exposed we allow them to be. 

Leicester's shape off the ball was much better, we had the ball in front of them and tried to open them up - but they closed down the avenues, the blocked the channels, they got tight. The total opposite of what we did, we left gaping holes everywhere, channels wide enough for the QE2 to travel through and absolutely zero tackling in midfield. It was a painful watch no matter how anyone tries to dress it up.

I got pissed off shipping goals for fun in the PL, to ship the same level of goals in this league is nothing short of shambolic. The players we have are good enough, but we cannot expose them the way we are with the out of possession setup. We are begging to be countered time, and time and time again. Teams know it, they just need a bit of pace and we're done for. It won't take much.

A good start to the season has the risk of morphing into a disastrous start if we're not careful. I think we can safely rule out any 'trophy' again this year, we're not winning the league - that's Leicester's and probably by March. We'll make up the pack, but if it continues like this we'll be playing for 6th and no more and with our squad that isn't good enough by any stretch.

Comparing our midfield with our last Championship midfield is chalk and cheese, and that's what worries me. We're not fixing that now, we've got to run with that.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

7 minutes ago, 6ft8saint said:

Also could st marys turn up thr singing. We were so quiet tonight. It doesn't inspire them to play better. Kameldeen tried to spur us back on after hr came on but nothing. If anything it is slightly embarrassing. Wheres the noise from the Dell gone????

Was that the first game you've been to in a while? It's been like that for the past five seasons or so

[Midfield_General]

9 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Martin.....post match

• Everyones responsibility tonight
• we made it difficult, 3rd goal was the killer
• we were on top in the 2nd half, they were clinical, we were not
• people will talk about the score, but if we were more clinical, it would be different
• we cannot concede 2 early goals
• we went toe to toe, and you have to accept they will get through us at times
• I am proud of the players, as this is different to Sunderland, they did what we asked them
• Leicester lost the ball more than we did, but no one will criticise their manager
• we will continue to work on what we do
• if anyone expects to not experience pain now, they are naive
• This was much better than sunderland, and not a huge amount in it tonight
• the first goal was ridiculous, 2nd goal we know why as players were out of position, 3rd goal was about poor transition
• we will make more mistakes and we will see more bumps in the road
• how people react is up to them
• If we play like we did tonight, move the ball like that, we will be more than OK
• All will want a reaction on Tuesday. If we play like we did tonight, sure it will come
• James Justin said it was not a red card, I do not believe it was a red card, we will see.

"They did what we asked them"

God help us if that's what we asked them to do. 

"Proud of the players"

Jesus Christ. 

Awful, clownish comments to go with an awful, clownish performance. 

Show that you've got the basic competence to set up a football team with a defensive shape and the concept of a midfield, and show that you understand the basics of how to get results using the relatively immense resources you have available in this league, or fuck off mate. 

 

Edited 16 September, 2023 by Midfield_General

[saintant]

28 minutes ago, Paul.Studio said:

Just heard his post match thoughts (RM) - i dont think he was at the same game!  If anything the score should have been 1-8

Agree. I heard him say he was proud of the players. If he's saying that after a 4-1 home defeat that could have been worse and which followed a 5-0 thrashing that could also have been worse then he's sending out completely the wrong message. We need some honesty and home truths not some sort of propaganda statement.

[SambaMaverick]

10 minutes ago, 6ft8saint said:

Also could st marys turn up thr singing. We were so quiet tonight. It doesn't inspire them to play better. Kameldeen tried to spur us back on after hr came on but nothing. If anything it is slightly embarrassing. Wheres the noise from the Dell gone????

So is conceding within a minute for the second consecutive game

[HarvSFC]

I'm just angry now and I think that's the feeling shared among many now. Ever since we beat Norwich at home near two years ago it has been been awful supporting this club with a slither of hope mixed in between some terrible runs.

Tonight was a shambles, like Sunderland two weeks ago. I know Leicester are the favourites this season, but we should at least be competing with them, which we weren't tonight. We were fortunate it was only 4-1.

Not too sure how much influence the new set-piece guy has. But, for the second match in a row we've conceded from kick off, our own tonight, which is pretty special. Can't remember who took the kick off at Sunderland. And, again we've conceded from our own corner. Amazing how other teams leave players up the pitch for a defensive corner and get success from it, while we get everyone in the box when we're defending our own corners and get camped in. Something we've been saying for years.

All this tippy tappy shite around our own box is not beneficial at all. Most teams play pressing football these days and it puts unnecessary, self-inflicted pressure on our backline. As we've seen every week now, our defender is going to get caught out and even at Championship level they punish those mistakes if you hand them the ball on a plate. Get the ball up the pitch and then play like peak Arsenal if that's what you want to do. A lot of the balls being passed around our defence are hospital balls. Funnily enough, our goal came from a punt up the pitch, which we didn't try again in the match and thus the goal and the open goal miss were the only two clear cut chances we had tonight.

We only spent money on two players in the summer and one of them can't play until mid-October, pathetic after all the sales money. I don't care if SR made a lot of mistakes by spending loads last season. Write it off, instead of letting it fuck up multiple transfer windows.

Last time we got promoted we conceded 46 goals in 46 games. We're almost on half that after 6 games.

Just shite all round really and Ipswich on Tuesday are no mugs as they sit third place. A lot of optimism in the summer hence why numbers have been quite good at home this season, but that 28,000 figure will soon start dropping quickly like it did last time we played down here if this crap continues.

[Wade Garrett]

Smallbone and Downes were absolute dogshit.

Charles is a much better holding midfielder than both of them.

[SaintBobby]

Utterly dire. I was so optimistic a couple of weeks ago. We have utterly bombed since. Knee jerk reaction - but I think I’d consider sacking the manager before long. You can’t be letting in 3 goals a game.

[Captain Jack]

So in previous years at about this time, I would look and work out which 3 teams were worse than us. I can't believe I have already started doing that this season! Luckily I think there are plenty. Unfortunately, if we carry on defending the way we are, then even the really bad teams won't have to try too hard to beat us! Remembering that QPR and Plymouth were both able to carve us open and were let down by poor finishing. Sit back and wait for us to give the ball away, and we are there for the taking for any team with pace and a half decent finisher. Our 10 points flatter us at the moment. At least we now know we have to be realistic about our expectations. We are not 'walking this league' are we?!?

[HarvSFC]

Oh, and Vestergaard probably had his best match in a Leicester shirt tonight, because he didn't have to do fuck all. We know he's shite and like a tortoise in wet cement when he runs, but we didn't even test him.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, HarvSFC said:

I'm just angry now and I think that's the feeling shared among many now. Ever since we beat Norwich at home near two years ago it has been been awful supporting this club with a slither of hope mixed in between some terrible runs.

 

It's a good point, I've kind of forgot what it's like to win games at home. It hasn't happened, like you said. They shouldn't charge us to go to games, they should be paying us.

What we've had to put up with for so many years, the worst team out of 92 last season at one stage, is enough to warrant freebies for all.

The club still feels totally broken and smashed to pieces, yet it's all changed and 'refreshed' - yet it doesn't work any better. Losing the will with it all.

[rallyboy]

Chaotic - summed up by our first half attacking freekick that we passed to them so they could break on us unhindered.

Utterly shambolic.

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

2 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Oh, and Vestergaard probably had his best match in a Leicester shirt tonight, because he didn't have to do fuck all. We know he's shite and like a tortoise in wet cement when he runs, but we didn't even test him.

Vestergaard has the turning circle of a supertanker but didn't matter tonight because as you say, we never once even thought to test him

[S-Clarke]

Just now, rallyboy said:

Chaotic - summed up by our first half attacking freekick that we passed to them so they could break on us unhindered.

Utterly shambolic.

Yep - that summed up the first half for me. It's like our players are half asleep, they're not with it - are they stoned? They play like it half the time.

It's like we've gone out and bought another load of idiots who have no brain cell between them. As 11 on the pitch they've got to be able to work shit like that out, it's the constant ''pass the responsibility' card all the fucking time. No one wants to take ownership or take the lead, they let their mate do it - then when their mate doesn't, all shit breaks loose. 

That stinks of player make up to me and I don't think that changes.

[davefizzy14]

The shape and organisation of the team tonight was not right. No way should we be that open through the middle. Conceding as many as we have in the last two games is not good enough. 

[saintant]

24 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Biggest two issues for me of the recent games have been:

1. The midfield setup. Against Sheff Weds Smallbone was clearly holding and then JWP and Alcaraz more advanced. Downes IMO has been playing too high and is pressing when we need him to be in front of the back four. Part of the issue recently has been the shoehorning of Arma and vs Sunderland Stu into the midfield three when its not their position and then they don't do the job thats needed in a solid 433 shape. Now that Downes is injured hopefully Charles gets a run as the deep midfield and is instructed not to press the ball upfield.

2. The role of KWP. This guy is our best player and an excellent attacking outlet but the weird inverted position just means he is never available to receive the ball in those dangerous advanced positions. Plus when the ball is lost he is often out of position. Nothing against him moving inside sometimes but it needs to be dialled down.

The inverted position KWP goes into is because RM thinks he can emulate what Pep does. He can't and our players are not good enough to play that way. For pity's sake can we go back to basics, cut the inverted full backs nonsense and stop this obsession with playing out from the back, Set up in a good shape, play out when it's possible but if not the players must be told it is ok to hit the flanks or channels. We are not and never will be Man City. We have good players being played in totally the wrong way and this will only get worse as confidence drains and other teams press us hard high up the pitch. It is nonsense.

[FarehamSaintJames]

The issue with passing/possession football is that you play tika taka all the way up the pitch and more often than not, the opposition and drilled to contain, stay largely solid and then thread a long ball forward to players that can counter.

That’s exactly what happened tonight. 

Leicester didn’t need to attack. We drifted so far forward doing pointless three yard passes to no one, to then get picked off and then time and time again the midfielders threaded balls through to Vardy and Mvididi.

Excellent tactics by Leicester that worked like a charm.

[warsash saint]

First half, we kick off & I say to my nipper, 'what's KWP doing in the centre circle?'

The bloke was a car crash all game!

[hypochondriac]

Defense needs to be 

Bazunu 

Kwp THB Bednarek Manning 

Charles 

But we need to play the fullbacks in their proper positions and not however Martin has been trying to play them as it doesn't work. With Downes possibly injured, we may have little choice but to play Smallbone but if we could just get him to play like he played in the first couple of games that would be brilliant. 

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

The issue with passing/possession football is that you play tika taka all the way up the pitch and more often than not, the opposition and drilled to contain, stay largely solid and then thread a long ball forward to players that can counter.

That’s exactly what happened tonight. 

Leicester didn’t need to attack. We drifted so far forward doing pointless three yard passes to no one, to then get picked off and then time and time again the midfielders threaded balls through to Vardy and Mvididi.

Excellent tactics by Leicester that worked like a charm.

Leicester didn't do anything ground breaking though, they just tackled, blocked and closed off the space without going too high.

They had the pace in attack so they didn't commit everyone forward. We had the pace in attack too, but we felt inclined, on every fucking attack, to send everyone bar Bazunu into the final third - mind boggling really. It's just begging for a counter.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, warsash saint said:

First half, we kick off & I say to my nipper, 'what's KWP doing in the centre circle?'

The bloke was a car crash all game!

He was the worst player on the pitch but I don't think it's his fault. 

[Winnersaint]

There are times that I wish that my dad had taken me on a train to London in October 63, to Stamford Bridge, Highbury  or WHL or wherever instead of The Dell, but he didn’t, so I’ve endured the peak and troughs of being a Saints fan for nearly 60 years. It will all come good again, might take a while, 4 seasons out in the 70s and 7 seasons out  more recently, we’re not traditionally a bounce back club but it will happen and nights like this will be forgotten.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Defense needs to be 

Bazunu 

Kwp THB Bednarek Manning 

Charles 

But we need to play the fullbacks in their proper positions and not however Martin has been trying to play them as it doesn't work. With Downes possibly injured, we may have little choice but to play Smallbone but if we could just get him to play like he played in the first couple of games that would be brilliant. 

We're trying this sexy inverted full-back, pep-wannabe style. It's nonsense when you don't have the right players.

Play to your strengths, it's the most basic thing in football that anyone should be able to instruct and organise. Whenever you try to be clever and overcomplicate things then it will go to the shit.

The term 'back to basics' springs to mind tbh.

[Smirking_Saint]

Leicester didn’t have to work hard… and walked away with a 4-1 win

I said after Sunderland that RM has to be more resilient, he has to get the team in a better shape WHEN we lose the ball… I can swallow the slow possession play, but not if we are this soft

The fact we let in 9 in 2 is bad enough but it feels like we had an international break and learned nothing

Awful

[saintant]

14 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

So is conceding within a minute for the second consecutive game

Whichever way you cut it that first goal was a total clusterfuck. We kicked off and 25 seconds later the ball was in our net! I couldn't believe what I was watching - we took the kick off passed the ball back until Baz had it, he played a pass that left Charles under pressure but, knowing he wasn't allowed to send it long he tried a pass that wasn't remotely on. Leicester knew we'd do it, they had the ball and in the next breath it was nestling in the back of our net.  That should not happen at any level of football. RM should be embarrassed.

[Lone ranger]

What was wrong with 2-3-5 anyway? Two hard tackling backs, a dominant centre half , wingers who excited as they tore up and down and crossed to land on the head of big Ron or whoever was CF. Bring back those ‘60s tactics and get rid of this faffing around nonsense at the back. 

[Dan Johnson]

I’ve been an advocate for Russell Martin, he’d won me over and felt like the long term appointment we needed but that post match interview is a massive red flag!!!

What game was he watching!?!

We we’re desperately weak in midfield today, Downes and Smallbone both utterly terrible and both extremely weak. We lacked physicality tonight, they both let players run through and past them consistently.

Every single player was guilty of misplacing multiple simple 3 yard passes.

Edozie looked good going forward but he leaves us so hugely exposed defensively, 3rd goal he didn’t stay tight, let the man run off him and it resulted in a goal.

Charles needs to play in midfield as the holding midfielder. 
 

 

[woodsaint1]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Whichever way you cut it that first goal was a total clusterfuck. We kicked off and 25 seconds later the ball was in our net! I couldn't believe what I was watching - we took the kick off passed the ball back until Baz had it, he played a pass that left Charles under pressure but, knowing he wasn't allowed to send it long he tried a pass that wasn't remotely on. Leicester knew we'd do it, they had the ball and in the next breath it was nestling in the back of our net.  That should not happen at any level of football. RM should be embarrassed.

Franny made a good point post match when analysing the first goal. Theres times where you just need to go long, irrespective of what the manager is asking of you. If that means taking an ear bashing from him, then so be it. Shea should played it high up the line as opposed to trying to find a player between the lines, at least it would still be 0-0. Played ourselves out of the game after 15 mins

[woodsaint1]

5 minutes ago, Dan Johnson said:

I’ve been an advocate for Russell Martin, he’d won me over and felt like the long term appointment we needed but that post match interview is a massive red flag!!!

What game was he watching!?!

We we’re desperately weak in midfield today, Downes and Smallbone both utterly terrible and both extremely weak. We lacked physicality tonight, they both let players run through and past them consistently.

Every single player was guilty of misplacing multiple simple 3 yard passes.

Edozie looked good going forward but he leaves us so hugely exposed defensively, 3rd goal he didn’t stay tight, let the man run off him and it resulted in a goal.

Charles needs to play in midfield as the holding midfielder. 
 

 

He actually got too tight, dived in to try and nick the ball (a Lyanco special) just outside our box. Regardless, he shouldnt have been in that central position acting as our DM. We get so disjointed with players get pulled all over the place and the high full backs approach doesnt help

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

He was the worst player on the pitch but I don't think it's his fault. 

he was shite last season too. We badly need to get him back to his best. It's horrible watching him right now doing little of worth in attack or defence.

[kevdoh]

9 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Leicester didn’t have to work hard… and walked away with a 4-1 win

I said after Sunderland that RM has to be more resilient, he has to get the team in a better shape WHEN we lose the ball… I can swallow the slow possession play, but not if we are this soft

The fact we let in 9 in 2 is bad enough but it feels like we had an international break and learned nothing

Awful

They have a manager that can see how one dimensional we are and target our many and obvious weaknesses and set up and play how they need to depending on opposition, like mowbray couple of weeks ago. We keep getting clueless hipster cunts that have their (shite) way of playing and that's it. I'd take an allardyce or another so called dinosaur all day long. He would easily get this squad promoted. We've got the worst keeper I've ever seen but old Russ has committed to him by his comments a couple of weeks ago so even though he must know by now he's dog shit, I can't see him dropping him. The fish fiddler's call him their secret agent. I believe it because surely a pro keeper cannot be as bad as he is. And McCarthy is as bad. We have the worst keepers in the whole football league I would say

[Hodgey]

Hard not to over react after a couple of deserved hammerings - where to start?

so mitigating circumstances - we played probably the best team in the league with some key injuries 

that said there are some ominous things building. I suspect most saints fans looked at that midfield before kick off (like at Sunderland) and feared the worst. If Russel can’t see the problem it’s a serious fault. Simply put - like last year - we’re reliant on a rookie Man City midfielder to be our def mid - we have no other players in the squad who can do that job. We’ve learnt nothing from last year. I don’t care how bad our cb options are - Charles had to play in front of them - sticking him in defence makes us poorer. 
You cannot expect to go up if you have no defensive shape whatsoever. One game can be excused - two speaks to underlying problems - I genuinely rarely see teams give away a 3 v gk in professional football. That whole thing was a joke and having Smallbone who can’t tackle or intercept and isn’t quick as the last man was frankly negligent (where was the defence ???)

too early to make any judgements but I have no idea what Downes is - so far he looks like a very poor man’s JWP - I’m hoping he’s victim to poor set up.

im not buying the ‘Sulimana will instantly replace Tella’ thought. I don’t get the Sulimana love in - he clearly thinks he’s too good for this level and  I’ve yet to see any real end product - unlike Tella at this level.

There is no way that Armstrong is captain material, and I doubt he is the attacking midfielder Martin thinks either - hope I’m proved wrong here. On that front - again who of this bunch is captain material or has leadership qualities ? Another lesson we seem to have failed to learn.

I still believe that the squad we have is a top 4 squad. I also think we need to give Martin until at least Christmas to get his team playing. But there are worrying signs already that he simply can’t adapt and is quickly being found out. 
Final comment - is this a happy camp post window ? Do Downes / Adams / Sulimana etc really want to be here ? Since the window closed it genuinely looks like a fair few of this team couldn’t give a shit

Ipswich will be interesting - hopefully positively surprising…

[Chez]

Smallbone looks the same player as he always was. Passive, lightweight and ill equipped to play CM.  I saw Leicester players waltz past him like he wasn't there.  

[hypochondriac]

22 minutes ago, Dan Johnson said:

I’ve been an advocate for Russell Martin, he’d won me over and felt like the long term appointment we needed but that post match interview is a massive red flag!!!

What game was he watching!?!

We we’re desperately weak in midfield today, Downes and Smallbone both utterly terrible and both extremely weak. We lacked physicality tonight, they both let players run through and past them consistently.

Every single player was guilty of misplacing multiple simple 3 yard passes.

Edozie looked good going forward but he leaves us so hugely exposed defensively, 3rd goal he didn’t stay tight, let the man run off him and it resulted in a goal.

Charles needs to play in midfield as the holding midfielder. 
 

 

It sounds to me like he's more worried about how much they stick to his system than the actual results on the pitch. In one of the earlier games he said he was annoyed and unhappy because we hadn't played his system that well despite winning and here he sounds almost satisfied despite getting spanked at home because we've got closer to tippy tappy possession. I wonder if we play even closer to it on Tuesday and lose whether he will continue to be quite pleased with how things went. 

[Whitey Grandad]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

It sounds to me like he's more worried about how much they stick to his system than the actual results on the pitch. In one of the earlier games he said he was annoyed and unhappy because we hadn't played his system that well despite winning and here he sounds almost satisfied despite getting spanked at home because we've got closer to tippy tappy possession. I wonder if we play even closer to it on Tuesday and lose whether he will continue to be quite pleased with how things went. 

Pellegrino has much the same attitude. Concentrate on playing the way that he wanted and results are secondary.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

I saw Leicester players waltz past him like he wasn't there.

Would one of those players have been Winks by any chance? Lot of posters scoffed when Leicester got him, exactly the sort of player we need.

[Rebel]

It’s not bravery passing the ball out from the back when there is no pass on and you give it away on the edge of the area - it’s stupidity nothing else 

the team doesn’t look like it has the raw material to play the way Martin wants it to - and that is Wilcox and the owners fault

but Martin needs to accept it will take time to build a team capable of playing that way - and get real about the players he has and play the way that gets the best out of them

but even then we look light in midfield, lack a goal scorer or centre forward and attacking midfielders - and any real depth at full back 

I’d struggle to name a proper full first 11 playing either 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1

msubr you could just about name a team to play 4-2-3-1 

if you are going to play 4-3-3 you need a proper centre forward and 2 good wingers or at least a very talented false 9 and 2 wide or inside forwards

we have Adams whose a support striker, Adarma whose a second striker, and  2 left wingers in Edozie and Fraser (one is too small and the other is too young and inexperienced) neither of whom who should be starters

i won’t count Ross Stewart until he proved he is fit enough to play again - and shown he’s made a full recovery 

I am not sure what Kamaldeen is - apart from a load of false hype 

And that’s before you get to the gaps in midfield and defence.

Charles looks like a good DM but is too young to be first choice game in game out. I’m not sure what Flynn Downes is. Smallbone is box-to-box 8 I think and Stu and Alcaraz are attacking Central Midfielders.

Aribo - again I have no idea really - I forget about him most of the time 

we have 2 full backs who can’t seem to defend - and in Larios (too small/too young) and Bree (too bad) back- ups we don’t seem to have any confidence in

we should be able to name 22 players we can rely on to be OK (not great but OK) - 2 for each position - and we can’t 

 

 

 

 

 

[farawaysaint]

Welp I was looking forward to this season briefly. 

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, Rebel said:

It’s not bravery passing the ball out from the back when there is no pass on and you give it away on the edge of the area - it’s stupidity nothing else 

the team doesn’t look like it has the raw material to play the way Martin wants it to - and that is Wilcox and the owners fault

but Martin needs to accept it will take time to build a team capable of playing that way - and get real about the players he has and play the way that gets the best out of them

but even then we look light in midfield, lack a goal scorer or centre forward and attacking midfielders - and any real depth at full back 

I’d struggle to name a proper full first 11 playing either 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1

msubr you could just about name a team to play 4-2-3-1 

if you are going to play 4-3-3 you need a proper centre forward and 2 good wingers or at least a very talented false 9 and 2 wide or inside forwards

we have Adams whose a support striker, Adarma whose a second striker, and  2 left wingers in Edozie and Fraser (one is too small and the other is too young and inexperienced) neither of whom who should be starters

i won’t count Ross Stewart until he proved he is fit enough to play again - and shown he’s made a full recovery 

I am not sure what Kamaldeen is - apart from a load of false hype 

And that’s before you get to the gaps in midfield and defence.

Charles looks like a good DM but is too young to be first choice game in game out. I’m not sure what Flynn Downes is. Smallbone is box-to-box 8 I think and Stu and Alcaraz are attacking Central Midfielders.

Aribo - again I have no idea really - I forget about him most of the time 

we have 2 full backs who can’t seem to defend - and in Larios (too small/too young) and Bree (too bad) back- ups we don’t seem to have any confidence in

we should be able to name 22 players we can rely on to be OK (not great but OK) - 2 for each position - and we can’t 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not convinced you can build a team to play out from the back. The best sides can do it but only because their players are so good.  It's nigh on impossible to learn on the job because mistakes get made, sloppy goal are conceded, players confidence nose dives and the fans get restless. It's ok to play out when the option is on but it shouldn't be the default setting as there's nothing wrong with hitting long balls to the flanks and into the channels. RM will not last long if he does not learn to mix it up.

[Wade Garrett]

I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that RM is a cunt.

He is absolutely full of shit.  

[SNSUN]

I switched off 5 minutes before the end as I had to go to work so I only just found out Sulemana got sent off. That put a shitter on a shit performance. 

 

This is going to be a looooong season. After the dust has settled from the aftermath of the transfer window it's clear to see we are still CB and DM short. Yes I know we have injuries at CB but when your replacement in Holgate who was fricking useless a fortnight ago, or Charles who should really be in DM, it really doesn't look good.

For all the good work rate including defensively, AA was poor in an attacking sense today. He's nippy and he works hard but little else, the Shane Long of the current squad. Adams got little service but got the assist, Edozie was unlucky to get the knock but was possibly our brightest player first half, Fraser also works hard and is quick but there was little else besides blind crosses to nobody. Downes was poor, Smallbone was poor, KWP was poor, Manning little more than average at best, THB had a rough debut and Charles did OK but isn't really a CB. Bazunu was one of the best players on the pitch for us. Good saves and distribution. 

My MOTM was either Baz, who kept the score down, or Edozie.

 

Martin needs to sort this out FAST or we will find ourselves slipping down the league over the next few games.

[OttawaSaint]

Oh God, I've finally seen the goals. WTF?!?

2 big things stood out.

1) We are so utterly weak in or out of possession, powderpuff!

2) Once we have given the ball to Leicester they were so decisive, quick run, nice pass, goal. Easy. Can't help but think if it was the other way around we'd slowly move the ball back and forth until they'd regrouped and the chance gone.

Big changes needed. Martin-ball is putrid.

[Dragon_man]

Ipswich feels like a season defining game. Lose that, heads will go down, supporters lose interest and its a long way back from there. I don't think we have resiliency in the team, not enough gritty winners. 

The manager doesn't seem the sort, the players are weak overall and who knows what the f**k SR are up to. More pain to come I fear. No corners turned yet.

[OttawaSaint]

Club full of clueless loser no hopers.

Sick of the lot of them. Maybe only Alcaraz and SAA are players I like. The rest can get stuffed. 

Edited 16 September, 2023 by OttawaSaint

[Saint_clark]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't think saints fans are asking for much. Just a competitive team, a bit of entertainment and some grit and determination. What we saw today and in the last game was a total mess and is a result of us trying to reinvent the wheel and asking perfectly decent players for this level to do things they aren't comfortable with in the name of some ideology. I just want to be competitive in football games and blow the philosophy. I never saw us with any of this rubbish the last time we won promotion. 

Adkins was probably the happiest Saints fans have been since Strachan, maybe even Lawrie. All he asked for was hard work, solid defending and getting the ball forward quickly using wingers and potent finishers.