Review: Almost a sixth of the season has passed...

[FarehamSaintJames]

...and seemingly it's been pretty bleak.

There was an excellent stat on Sky last night, Southampton are second worst in the league for possesion/chance created to converting to goals. Says it all really, that's been our issue for a number of years. We'll always create chances but we've never had that clincial player to finish.

Let's look at our signings:
Ben Brereton Diaz 1/10 (out of sympathy) - a player who somehow fraudulently made it onto the books of a football club despite failing to display any talent in terms of kicking a ball, spending most of his time arse over head, seemingly under his own steam rather than being touched, he did the same again last night against Bouremouth.
Flynn Downes 5/10 - sorry, he's been largely poor since rejoining, truth hurts.
Adam Lallana 7/10 - clearly even at the age of 36 our best and most creative player, his leadership is vital, unfortuntely we'll have to accept that attacking-wise we have sixty minutes every match and the remaining thirty we'll have to defend for our lives.
Ryan Fraser 4/10 - good last season, Premier League is a different kettle altogether.
Aaron Ramsdale 9/10 - mad isn't it that our best signing is also the one who has the picked the ball out his next over three million times in the last month. Feel for the guy, enjoy him whilst he is here this season.
Charlie Taylor 5/10 - decent but not seen anything stand out.
Ugowachu and Cornet - not convinced by either based on early cameo appearances.

Tactics/Games:
A few glimses of something promising, we seemingly tried to force a back five as they way forward through all of pre-season only to realise that tactically this wasn't in our best interest and ditched it after three games. Who'd have thought it, it's almost like we tried the same thing two years ago.
We have been poor for large parts.
The fact that an eighteen year old has come out and has been one of our stand outs says a lot about the wider squad. Dibling and Ramsdale have been our two best players.
We still try and play it out from the back, and we've conceded at least five goals from this stupidity.

The manager:
Russell Martin 2/10
Every time you think the penny has dropped and he knows his best team, he changes it. Against Ipswich it looked like that was the team to have out going forward. Two needless changes to the team last night and we're back to square one.
He is his own worst enemy.
In response to being asked why he had five strikers as subs he said "I wanted to have a ruthless bench" - Whats the fucking point if the game has already gone?!
He is getting a lot more ratty in interviews it would seem too, but these are only questions being asked that everyone is thinking.
I'll be shocked if he is still here by Christmas if we're still languishing near the bottom.
Let's look at the facts, we need to be competiting with at least the bottom half. We didn't bother turning up for Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Ipswich and now Bournemouth - going into these next couple of months with Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City etc on the horizon - it's going to be bumpy.

If he can't do the basics then what's the point, eh?
I could rant for another half an hour but in the grand scheme of things what is the point - we're all thinking similar.

He was never like this before he met Lucy Pinder - just saying.

Up the Saints!

[S-Clarke]

Obviously it's still early doors and in normal circumstances I'd say that things are still salvageable, but ultimately I just don't see anywhere near enough quality to be competitive in this league. The last time we came up there were glimpses with Lallana, Morgan, Lambert, Davis etc that we had something about us in the final third.

My main issues, as have been for many years, is the lack of real star quality at the top end of the pitch. If you look at all the teams who have struggled, but ultimately have enough, it's those with firepower. We don't have any firepower and that's why I don't see anything changing no matter what we do. We have a selection of absolute misfits.

We could go more pragmatic and harder to beat, but we still won't score enough goals. Our main CF options are Archer, BBD, Armstrong and Stewart - not one of them has a league goal, the closest any of them have come is Archers missed penalty. 

The fact that an 18 year old can come in to our attack and look like our best player is very, very telling for me. There was probably some belief that Adam Armstrong was re-born with us, but he still doesn't look anywhere near good enough for this level.

I generally think we have many shortcomings, defensively we are piss poor, but the fact that we're equally piss poor up top just hammers home the situation. There's no way we finish higher than 20th. I would call it one heck of an effort if we get 19th or 18th. 

Hold onto your hats, as this is going to be an absolutely bleak season of Sheffield United/Derby levels.

Edited October 1 by S-Clarke

[Whitey Grandad]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Obviously it's still early doors and in normal circumstances I'd say that things are still salvageable, but ultimately I just don't see anywhere near enough quality to be competitive in this league. The last time we came up there were glimpses with Lallana, Morgan, Lambert, Davis etc that we had something about us in the final third.

My main issues, as have been for many years, is the lack of real star quality at the top end of the pitch. If you look at all the teams who have struggled, but ultimately have enough, it's those with firepower. We don't have any firepower and that's why I don't see anything changing no matter what we do. We have a selection of absolute misfits.

We could go more pragmatic and harder to beat, but we still won't score enough goals. Our main CF options are Archer, BBD, Armstrong and Stewart - not one of them has a league goal, the closest any of them have come is Archers missed penalty. 

The fact that an 18 year old can come in to our attack and look like our best player is very, very telling for me. There was probably some belief that Adam Armstrong was re-born with us, but he still doesn't look anywhere near good enough for this level.

I generally think we have many shortcomings, defensively we are piss poor, but the fact that we're equally piss poor up top just hammers home the situation. There's no way we finish higher than 20th. I would call it one heck of an effort if we get 19th or 18th. 

Hold onto your hats, as this is going to be an absolutely bleak season of Sheffield United/Derby levels.

It doesn’t matter who plays up front if they’re playing on their own. They need support otherwise they have two defensive crowding them with others as backup.

[Saint Fan CaM]

11 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

It doesn’t matter who plays up front if they’re playing on their own. They need support otherwise they have two defensive crowding them with others as backup.

Yep, and there’s no point attacking without varying the manner in which attempts on goal are made. We’re so predictable in our build-up - almost schoolboy level. Whoever coaches this aspect of our play needs a rocket up their arse.

[HarvSFC]

Yeah, there was a stat on Sky last night that we're the 19th slowest club in the league at moving the ball up the pitch. God knows who the 20th club is, those poor fans. But, I don't think it's helping our forwards. Whenever they get the ball, they've then got to get through a defence which has had the time to setup. Only Dibling is good at getting past players with individual skill in our attack. If they get the ball in the box, they also have to try and work a shot through a crowded defence. While our forwards have been poor this season, they also aren't getting the chances due to the slow tempo that we play at. You look at Ipswich at the weekend where Delap had a few one on one chances, scoring one. We just don't give our forwards those chances. The only time really was one Archer chance against Ipswich where he hit it at Muric. But, as I said. Delap missed one, one on one against Villa, with Martinez saving with his foot, but he then got another chance which he put away. There are ways to play football and slow and ponderous isn't one of them. An old saying in football was that you always had to keep the ball moving, but watch how many times our players stop it dead.

[Galway saint]

I knew it would be tough but I have been surprised how poor we have been and how we look totally out of our depth. We have only been competitive over 90 mins against ten man Newcastle. I dont think it will even be close as even if we change the manager for a decent coach we havent the quality up front to score enough goals to stay up. Maybe a new manager could try and go long to TP and RS and play two wingers but that’s desperate stuff really. Fees  like we need to try and keep things respectable and wait for next season which is saying something on 1 October….

[Turkish]

5 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Obviously it's still early doors and in normal circumstances I'd say that things are still salvageable, but ultimately I just don't see anywhere near enough quality to be competitive in this league. The last time we came up there were glimpses with Lallana, Morgan, Lambert, Davis etc that we had something about us in the final third.

My main issues, as have been for many years, is the lack of real star quality at the top end of the pitch. If you look at all the teams who have struggled, but ultimately have enough, it's those with firepower. We don't have any firepower and that's why I don't see anything changing no matter what we do. We have a selection of absolute misfits.

We could go more pragmatic and harder to beat, but we still won't score enough goals. Our main CF options are Archer, BBD, Armstrong and Stewart - not one of them has a league goal, the closest any of them have come is Archers missed penalty. 

The fact that an 18 year old can come in to our attack and look like our best player is very, very telling for me. There was probably some belief that Adam Armstrong was re-born with us, but he still doesn't look anywhere near good enough for this level.

I generally think we have many shortcomings, defensively we are piss poor, but the fact that we're equally piss poor up top just hammers home the situation. There's no way we finish higher than 20th. I would call it one heck of an effort if we get 19th or 18th. 

Hold onto your hats, as this is going to be an absolutely bleak season of Sheffield United/Derby levels.

Nearly £50m spent on those 4 and probably £150k+ a week in wages and not one decent one between them. Add in Onachau and you’ve got nearly £70m and c£200k a week. we spend money we just do it very badly on quantity not quality. Utter shambles really. 

We’ve done the same in the past with centre backs and goalkeepers. We never learn 

Edited October 1 by Turkish