Whitey Grandad Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, miserableoldgit said: Interesting that things went wrong after Smallbone was subbed.... And Brooks. If ever a side didn’t need changing it was the one that played the first 55 minutes today. Martin thinks he’s a lot cleverer than he is. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 2 hours ago, gio1saints said: Russ says Hi, he also asked me to pop this question to the geniuses of this forum- what did you think of his subs impact scoring two goals? And was Ryan alright winning that penalty despite him meant to be on the bench? That “idiot’s” IMG_7554.MOV 88.35 MB · 12 downloads tactics helped win us the match by playing Ryan and putting Rothwell on at the right time to score two vital goals. If people still grasping g for things to be angry about I respectfully suggest the issue is not us smacking Sunderland 4-2- it’s something else- not Russ, not Ryan, it’s you 😂❤️ “That idiot’s” needless substitutions got Sunderland back into the game. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Tone Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Stephens is a reasonable CB at this level, but RM really needs to decide who our best 2 CBs are and just play them. Personally I'd go with JB and THB but not my choice. IMO though he can't keep playing all 3 with THB forced out to right back. Stephens tends to go marauding forward, so that THB has to come in off the wing to cover. That means we have no overlapping full back on the right wing ... a huge loss compared to when we have KWP or even Bree playing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Give it to Ron Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 I think am right in saying Bednarek on 9 bookings gets away with it and amnesty now as think Leicester was the final game for ten bookings? Was good again today Bednarek 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Just now, Give it to Ron said: I think am right in saying Bednarek on 9 bookings gets away with it and amnesty now as think Leicester was the final game for ten bookings? Was good again today Bednarek Does our amnesty get pushed back a game because Preston was postponed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 2 minutes ago, Saint_clark said: Does our amnesty get pushed back a game because Preston was postponed? It always used to be on a certain date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raging Bull Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, kwsaint said: Anyone know what the ref was chatting to the lino about after the penalty? Couldn’t see anything wrong with it. 1 hour ago, goodymatt said: I think Arma slipped and hit he ball into his standing foot. Officials missed it and we got away with it. That’s exactly what happened. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Duckhunter Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Sunderland were awful, it would have been criminal to have dropped points today against that shite. First half should have led to a routine win, instead of which we let them back in. Probably had too much of the ball & became a bit complacent. Some of the mincing around at the back was fucking ridiculous, and a better side may well have taken advantage. At 2-1 there’s nothing wrong with slowing the game down, taking old fashioned goal kicks & pinning them back in their half. Instead of that we gave them encouragement. Funny how chasing a win at 2-2 he played the proper back 4. He clearly sees Stephens as some sort of John Stones, drifting into midfield. I like Jack, but fuck me that’s over complicating the game. Play fucking centre halves at centre half and full backs at full back. You’re not Pep & we’re not Manchester City. Bree & Manning should have played beside Janny B & THB. Anyone can see that….. 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca155 Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 15 minutes ago, Long Shot said: It was a good win, Sunderland were woeful doesn’t really equate Good point. Good to have a win, get the momentum going again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwood Saint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Some RM likes Jack's attitude and leadership which is why he wants him on the pitch and to be fair, he has a point. So often in recent seasons we've lacked any leadership and little / no shithousery things which Jack definitely brings. Problem is that he is not as good a CB as THB or JB! A better option fit Jack in more naturally might be 3 at the back which would also suit KWP and Bree / RM but obviously requires a bigger rethink further up field. For certain games / situations if might be a useful option. The 'sweeper' type role suits Jack best in my view. When he is coming forward with the ball he can add something to our play but equally we are not so vulnerable to the odd error to which he is prone... When Downes plays we don't need Jack so much as he brings some leadership and grit defensively and if he is out then we must play Charles in that slot as many have said to keep the basic structure sound. THB did ok today at fullback because he is a good player but we certainly do not get the best out of him in that position. He also brings leadership and organisation and is defo future captain material. Despite the goals we are scoring in this division, we still don't have a natural finisher as far as I am concerned. I know it's not a popular opinion but I do think Mara might be the best we have in that department if we are prepared to give him more game time and some patience. He can score goals that Che never will. There is much to admire about Che but he is not a premiership class forward is he! Mara just might be as he matures. We have a decent set of midfield / attacking players for this level - Ryan, Sam, Stuey, Adam, Joe x 2, Will, Sule and Brooks - all can be excellent on their day and there are some nice combinations amongst them. We all know Saints really do things the easy way but we can get out of this division so keep the faith. COYRs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block41 Saint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Well we made hard work of that against really shite opposition. RM teams can't defend. It's a fact, all of his teams have conceded a ridiculous amount of goals, difference is here he has a CB/CDM triple that most teams would kill for at Championship level. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurosaint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 30 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said: “That idiot’s” needless substitutions got Sunderland back into the game. That idiot’s substitutions also won us the match ! Did you not notice Rothwell’s two goals ???? 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 2 minutes ago, eurosaint said: That idiot’s substitutions also won us the match ! Did you not notice Rothwell’s two goals ???? Rothwell is going to end up being a cult hero despite the fact his overall performances leave a lot to be desired. Very much in the right place at the right time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio1saints Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, eurosaint said: 3 points 4 goals good subs Enjoyed the game but having just scrolled through this thread I realise just how thick some of the posters are ! Concede 2 goals and the manager should be sacked, you couldn’t make it up…. 🤓 You can make it up. Some on here here get their kicks from being contrary on purpose. It’s called trolling. There’s some world class trolls here and you got to respect quality even if it’s in doing something as pathetically cheap as trolling other saints fans online. For those naive souls who make the mistake of “ enjoying “ a Saints win like today as if it’s the last win they will ever see us achieve - which for me is the ideal because living in the past or the future is for Dr. who & time travellers only - there is always the dyed in the wool cynic whose contempt for “ happy clappers” knows no bounds. That our saintly trolls apparently always combine both contempt for normal saints fans with apparent encyclopaedic knowledge of how-to-play -and -manage-a-football-club better than our existing players and management at any given moment is just one of the funniest things ever. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio1saints Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 9 minutes ago, eurosaint said: That idiot’s substitutions also won us the match ! Did you not notice Rothwell’s two goals ???? God help us. The idiotic substitutions which led to Rothwell scoring two goals are a big inconvenience to the “ it was the substitutions that fucked us up” narrative. Posters Literally grasping at straws NOT to be positive about a 4-2 win. Irredeemably miserable. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smirking_Saint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 20 minutes ago, eurosaint said: That idiot’s substitutions also won us the match ! Did you not notice Rothwell’s two goals ???? Its 50/50 tbh The subs didn’t help us at all, we got away with it though We looked a lot more cohesive with an actual back line and midfield structure but before JS went off and after the Smallbone sub we looked all at sea 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedArmy Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 6 points behind Leicester if we beat Preston. February form has made things a lot tougher but it’s far from over. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee On Solent Saint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 22 minutes ago, gio1saints said: God help us. The idiotic substitutions which led to Rothwell scoring two goals are a big inconvenience to the “ it was the substitutions that fucked us up” narrative. Posters Literally grasping at straws NOT to be positive about a 4-2 win. Irredeemably miserable. Rothwell coming on was Martin rolling the dice. Nothing more. To say it was the result of some tactical genius is utter bollocks. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Odd thing that stood out for me today second half was the ball constantly passed or rolled out from our box into the centre no man’s land where it was duly picked up by a Sunderland player who turned it into an attack or pin balled back in. Must have happened half a dozen times and though I was at wrong end of the ground to see detail, it looked tactical. If it was I hope we never fucking see it again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 35 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said: Its 50/50 tbh The subs didn’t help us at all, we got away with it though We looked a lot more cohesive with an actual back line and midfield structure but before JS went off and after the Smallbone sub we looked all at sea I agree with this post. Sub Sulemana (and Manning) cost us the first goal and we did look at sea for quite a while, though Rothwell does seem to know where the goal is which is a lot more than can be said for Adam Armstrong and Che at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Rothwell proper put his laces through the ball on both occasions, no pissing about. That was very heartening to see. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austsaint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 minute ago, Miltonaggro said: Rothwell proper put his laces through the ball on both occasions, no pissing about. That was very heartening to see. There's a case for believing that Fraser and Rothwell are our most clinical finishers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldandtired Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 I'm not sure what Rothwell brings to the party in a total football sense but boy he can certainly leather a ball straight and true. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exeter Saint Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 If a sub scores 2 winning goals that doesn’t necessarily prove that he is a good footballer, or that the manager knows what he’s doing. We could win the league and get relegated next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristopheVAFC Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Congratulations on another win this afternoon. Don't give up my friends, it's going to be a tough battle right up to the final day! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osvaldorama Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) I like Martin, I really do. I am happy we have an ambitious, positive young manager. I think he is still learning and yet the way he’s stamped his mark on the team is impressive. But games like today I still find myself having a niggling feeling that a more experienced / less philosophically stubborn manager would have this squad challenging for the title. As someone said, today we were worse than the sum of our parts. The style of our football made us weaker. That makeshift Sunderland were SO bad that we should have battered them. If we had started with THB at CB, Bree at full back and stephens on the bench, would we have won more comfortably? With that being said, it’s the players fault they missed so many chances in the first half - not Martin. I keep flip-flopping on how I feel about his management. It’s hard to form a coherent view when we are such a batshit crazy team. Flashes of brilliance, with self destructive tendencies. Edited March 9 by Osvaldorama 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry_SFC Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) Martin made a big error by taking Smallbone off when he did. It should've been Stu off at that point. You could see he was knackered. I love Stu but he's a bit of a luxury player and isn't best suited when you are defending a lead. Edited March 9 by Harry_SFC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, RedArmy said: 6 points behind Leicester if we beat Preston. February form has made things a lot tougher but it’s far from over. Yep, annoying really. Two wins from Bristol City, Millwall and Hull instead of three losses and things would look very different. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 15 minutes ago, Saint_clark said: Yep, annoying really. Two wins from Bristol City, Millwall and Hull instead of three losses and things would look very different. Whilst that's not untrue, pretty much every team can say the same thing. If Leicester had hung on to their lead at Leeds and beaten QPR at home, they'd be 12 points clear of third. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said: Whilst that's not untrue, pretty much every team can say the same thing. If Leicester had hung on to their lead at Leeds and beaten QPR at home, they'd be 12 points clear of third. Alternate universes are always perfect. I've never understood the logic of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, Oldandtired said: I'm not sure what Rothwell brings to the party in a total football sense but boy he can certainly leather a ball straight and true. Not much thankfully. Picks up the ball and starts charging to their goal rather than looking for ways to artfully work it back to Bazunu from the halfway line. For a squad with "no end product" Rothwell seems to be our only player who has too much end product compared to the rest of his game. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarehamSaintJames Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 It’s good to see players having a pop at others after the goals we conceded. Certainly shows who the leaders are in the team. Bednarek and Stu Armstrong both fuming. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 5 hours ago, Verbal said: Alternate universes are always perfect. I've never understood the logic of that. Because in my hypothetical situation i'm talking about games that Saints actually participated in. Talking about what Leicester could have done is irrelevant because we never had any control over that anyway. We DID have control over our performances against Bristol City, Hull and Millwall. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintBobby Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 1 hour ago, FarehamSaintJames said: It’s good to see players having a pop at others after the goals we conceded. Certainly shows who the leaders are in the team. Bednarek and Stu Armstrong both fuming. Agree, but their 2nd goal was majestic. And the first was pretty good too. I'm not arguing about the entertatinment value I'm getting at St Mary's...but I wanted to be bored in the 2nd half, not ecited tbh! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurosaint Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 9 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said: Rothwell coming on was Martin rolling the dice. Nothing more. To say it was the result of some tactical genius is utter bollocks. Nobody mentioned “tactical genius” and my response was to the comment “the idiot’s needless substitutions” ! A player was brought on, scored two goals which won us the game therefore it worked well. Most substitutions are a “roll of the dice”, that’s the way it goes ! Had we lost or drawn the manager would have been lambasted but we won and he’s still criticised, he just can’t win with some folks !! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusic Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) It was a must win game and we won it comfortably overall. Yes there are issues defensively but we also score a lot of goals and in the last two games could easily have had 6 or 7. The amount of games this season where we have really needed to find a goal or two in the last 20 mins and then have done is quite considerable. Amazed at the amount of negativity towards Martin, some of it is ridiculous - we are firmly in the race for promotion, have broken a club record for games unbeaten and quite possibly will end the season with our most ever wins in a league campaign. We are behind two teams who were already proven better than us and one that is having a freak season (and who I think we will finish above anyway - although playoff wise think finishing 4th may end up better than 3rd as would fancy us more over two legs vs WBA than either Hull or Norwich). Edited March 10 by Dusic 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 28 minutes ago, eurosaint said: Nobody mentioned “tactical genius” and my response was to the comment “the idiot’s needless substitutions” ! A player was brought on, scored two goals which won us the game therefore it worked well. Most substitutions are a “roll of the dice”, that’s the way it goes ! Had we lost or drawn the manager would have been lambasted but we won and he’s still criticised, he just can’t win with some folks !! He can’t win because we are 4th with little chance of automatic promotion. I dread to think where we will be when mincing around in defence with the ball next season when Manning is one of our best players as anyone we currently have who is good, has left 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc4prem Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 14 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said: He can’t win because we are 4th with little chance of automatic promotion. I dread to think where we will be when mincing around in defence with the ball next season when Manning is one of our best players as anyone we currently have who is good, has left I feel so sorry for you. 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErwinK1961 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 12 minutes ago, Dusic said: It was a must win game and we won it comfortably overall. Yes there are issues defensively but we also score a lot of goals and in the last two games could easily have had 6 or 7. The amount of games this season where we have really needed to find a goal or two in the last 20 mins and then have done is quite considerable. Amazed at the amount of negativity towards Martin, some of it is ridiculous - we are firmly in the race for promotion, have broken a club record for games unbeaten and quite possibly will end the season with our most ever wins in a league campaign. We are behind two teams who were already proven better than us and one that is having a freak season (and who I think we will finish above anyway - although playoff wise think finishing 4th may end up better than 3rd as would fancy us more over two legs vs WBA than either Hull or Norwich). He’ll never win with some, because some made their mind up on him when he arrived. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I thought we were absolute garbage. Lucky to be 2-0 up and it was more about how poor they were. Didn’t take the initiative given to us and we handed them a route back into the game with our needless fucking about at the back, again. A better team would’ve made us pay for that. Russ needs to stop trying to reinvent football, play our 2 best CBs at CB and let this squad’s quality get the results. I honestly think we’re where we are despite him, not because of him 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErwinK1961 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 1 minute ago, Jack said: I thought we were absolute garbage. Lucky to be 2-0 up and it was more about how poor they were. Didn’t take the initiative given to us and we handed them a route back into the game with our needless fucking about at the back, again. A better team would’ve made us pay for that. Russ needs to stop trying to reinvent football, play our 2 best CBs at CB and let this squad’s quality get the results. I honestly think we’re where we are despite him, not because of him Jesus. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 11 minutes ago, sfc4prem said: I feel so sorry for you. What did I say that is outside of reality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) 2 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said: Jesus. Tell me how you disagree? Our first was a gift from them and the penalty would’ve been chalked off if the ref had spotted it. Do you think we played well? Edited March 10 by Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGTL Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Rothwell’s first goal was an excellent finish - he appears to be one of the few players in our team who can strike a ball cleanly, along with Fraser. They could teach Sulamana a thing or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc4prem Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said: What did I say that is outside of reality? You just seem so pessimistic. Poor chap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obelisk Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Noticeable to me that in the build up to Saints 3rd and 4th goals the original good chances were fluffed, spurned & wasted, as is so often the case. Thankfully Rothwell was able to tidy up and apply a composed finishing touch in both cases. Something that has been missing somewhat. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toussaint Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 17 minutes ago, LGTL said: Rothwell’s first goal was an excellent finish - he appears to be one of the few players in our team who can strike a ball cleanly, along with Fraser. They could teach Sulamana a thing or two. He could teach everyone a thing or to, except Fraser, as you say. It’s been an issue for a long time, looking for an extra pass, taking an extra touch when the best option would be to have a dig. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toussaint Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 18 minutes ago, sfc4prem said: You just seem so pessimistic. Poor chap. How do you see the landscape next season if we don’t achieve promotion this season? Do you think we will retain our better players? What do you think the ambitious loan players will do, do you think they’ll want another season in the championship? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 another see-saw game that began with us getting two goals before HT whilst hardly breaking into a sweat. Two well-taken chances for Sunderland (both should have been preventable), but once again sloppy ball control from Saints let us down. If we get promoted we will look back on several games that made the difference during the season. Adam A's 97th min penalty home to Norwich, Che Adams 94th min. winner at Plymouth. Fraser's late winner at Hull, and "Bazunu's goal" at Preston, Joe Aribo's 96th minute goal at Brum, but surely Joe Rothwell has become our talismatic " super-sub " after yesterday's late performance. His previous two goal tally turned the game when we were 0-2 down v. Huddersfield, and helped us take all 3 points. Looking at Joe's shots to goals stats. he must rank amongst the best in the squad (?) .. and although I don't see him as a 90 minute player every game, he must surely be a candidate as alternative front man to Che Adams . With only 10 games left we have seen that his ability to take half-chances is amazing and that ability may well make the difference to our final position at the end of the season. Older heads may recall some former "unlikely heroes" whose late-season contributions were quite memorable in past seasons. Tony Funnell, Micky Evans, Marian Pahars, Billy Sharp and Manolo Gabbiadini all made the difference in some precarious times - long past. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 33 minutes ago, sfc4prem said: You just seem so pessimistic. Poor chap. Any danger of answering the question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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