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Reply | Is Everyone as Fed Up as Me?
at 02:51 5 Apr 2024
Really excellent question to ask and a good little conversation going on here. I feel quite disillusioned with football in general, not so much with Saints. I'm definitely frustrated with the way we have collapsed lately, and think a large part of the reason for the collapse is mainly down to Martin completely scrambling our defence to try and accommodate Jack Stephens. Really can't understate how damaging this has been, and even worse the refusal to go back to basics over a number of weeks has made things 10 times worse. Not having a pop at Stephens here, but the effect on the team has been enormous.
So that annoys me but I've also got to give credit to Martin, of course for the unbeaten run (during which we played some of the best football I've ever seen us play) but also for picking us up after relegation. After last season, I remember his arrival being initially underwhelming, then optimistic, then pessimistic following the run of losses, then extremely positive on our unbeaten run. Fair play to him for picking us up when we needed it but sometimes the blind faith in the 'philosophy' does becomes a bit numbing, especially when it's not working.
I'm still enjoying the season and looking forward to the play offs. I wouldn't say I'm fed up with Saints but I'm definitely annoyed with how stupidly we have thrown our position away lately. But then again, that's what we have always always always done. So for me it's business as usual. I reckon however many 'resets' we end up having (hopefully none of which Rasmus is involved in any more) we'll always have that inclination to f@ck it all up deep in our DNA.
Football is becoming rubbish and they'll probably start messing with the championship soon in the same way that Prem has gone. While it's still a watchable spectacle, I don't mind us being the same old Saints team who always manages to throw it away. |
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Reply | If we end up in the Playoffs and blow it, Who's at fault?
at 00:13 17 Mar 2024
Totally agree with this.
In my eyes, SR have demonstrated almost nothing to suggest they have a clue what they are doing (aside from recruiting Jason Wilcox, I genuinely have no idea how they pulled that one off). Recruitment has been supremely poor and has carried on the longer term trend of expensive duds from a few years ago. The impact of poor recruitment on the long term really can’t be understated.
What I find infuriating is the attitude that seems to go with it - I’m thinking specifically of rasmus ankersen here; it seems he arrived at just about the worst possible time for our club. A vulnerable, dangerously listing ship under gao was jumped on by rasmus and his catalogue of David Brent blue sky f@ck wit football innovations. At that point I feel like we needed someone with football experience to steady things before attempting this supposedly revolutionary rebuild.
I do get frustrated by Martinball sometimes and the squarepegging of Jack Stephens into our robust round hole defence has really annoyed me but overall I think he’s doing a good job. I think he’s also done well off the pitch in developing a team spirit that is evident to the fans and has made us enjoy watching our team again (for the most part…). That said there seems to be a continuation of certain aspects of play that we could do a lot better - a bit more intelligence at the back or freedom to go long once in a while for example. Less ideological attachment to the tippy tappy and more autonomy for the players to chip it over the top. What happened to THB’s cross field long passes for example? Or has that stopped since Stephens has come in? It’s also confusing because Martin speaks about giving the players freedom and letting them play on ‘feel’ but then when they step on the pitch they seem barred from actually doing that, knocking it around in their own 6 yard box despite being swarmed by the oppositions press.
Anyway, I’m enjoying the season overall just think a little less f@ckery could have yielded more success. Reminds me a lot of England crickets ideological attachment to bazball - quite close in the recent test series in India but ultimately pummeled 4-1 and absolutely annihilated in the final test. If we’re a bit more pragmatic at certain times, I still think we’re one of if not the dominant force in this division.
Roll on the play offs, gonna be absolutely immense! |
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Reply | Russell Martin Must Stop Shoehorning Jack Stephens Into The Saints Side
at 01:50 12 Mar 2024
I don’t see how anyone can say Stephens really is a leader on the pitch. Would a leader allow the team to switch off as badly as it did against Sunderland? As we let the game drift on Saturday, Stephens’s leadership was nowhere to be seen. For all the talk of us lacking leaders, I see plenty in our 2 optimal CB’s, bednarek and THB. When the first goal went in it was Stephens turning his back and not getting close enough to his man that led to the deflection that took the ball in. You only have to look at bednareks exasperation with manning and sulemana to see a leader demanding better from his team mates.
The argument about Stephens’s leadership qualities being the main reason for him being in the team I find very confusing. He’s never looked like that sort of player to me, in all the time he’s been a saints player he’s always seemed like the opposite of a leader to me. Which makes his sudden inclusion in the team all the more baffling by Martin. Totally agree with Nicks article here, please let’s just get back to the back 4 who were doing so well previously. [Post edited 12 Mar 1:51]
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Reply | Saints v Sunderland Matchday Thread...
at 04:01 10 Mar 2024
Very bizarre game, happy with the win of course but alarm bells continue to ring despite Martins promises not to over complicate things and let the players go back to playing on “feel”…agree that Stephens coming in has upset the balance at the back, and I feel as soon as Bree came on yesterday we immediately looked much more comfortable as THB and bednarek partnered up again in the middle.
I felt we didn’t actually play that well in the first half, although should have scored more than we did. Sunderland were indeed truly awful. We were lucky to have played them without Clarke, he would have annihilated our out of shape defence yesterday.
Second half seemed like more of the same self inflicted idiocy. Lost count of the number of times we have them the ball in the final third. I feel there is a complacency that sets in at a certain point in many games. The players start cruising - for all the debate about Stephens’s presence in the team, shouldn’t he be the one to make sure this doesn’t happen and we keep our foot on the oppositions throat a little more?
Finally f@ck me sulemana is frustrating isn’t he. Skins his man every time, approaches box, cuts inside, scuffs shot. Repeat |
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Reply | Birmingham matchday thread
at 16:57 2 Mar 2024
Subs are killing us. Again. All the momentum gone. Hopefully one of them now makes me eat my words |
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Reply | Birmingham matchday thread
at 15:52 2 Mar 2024
The type of football we play will always always leave us exposed to a poor mistake like that and/or a long ball over the top. Combine that with mannings positioning and Stephens being shoe horned into the team and it’s no surprise to see us losing this game. Absolutely classic saints |
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Reply | Birmingham matchday thread
at 15:32 2 Mar 2024
The amount of space other teams get when attacking our left side game after game is extraordinary |
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Reply | Birmingham matchday thread
at 15:08 2 Mar 2024
Why the f@ck has Martin Fannied about with the back 4 once again? Stephens in at Cb to push thb out wide. Thb and bednarek have been rock solid all season.
Oh look now we’re 1-0 down, back 4 all over the place. Infuriating, especially after all the chat about not overcomplicating things. B@llocks |
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Reply | Sh1t or bust - perfect storm ahead
at 02:05 23 Feb 2024
I remember when we were relegated from the prem previously we had a team that many people expected us to blow other championship teams away with (John viafara ?!). Then we f@cked it in the playoffs, down to league 1 and eventually rebuilt properly from there. Eerily familiar feel |
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Reply | Sh1t or bust - perfect storm ahead
at 00:09 23 Feb 2024
Good post and calls into question what is basically the point in football anymore! I am enjoying the champ much much more than the prem but I don’t think I’d be saying that if we were mid table long term fodder. So promotion really is key this season, however playing in the prem again really does not excite me at all. Prem 1 and prem 2 is a decent shout |
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Reply | Five things from last night
at 09:09 21 Feb 2024
To add to the Bazunu thing, I’d add that he once again parried the ball straight to their striker for the first goal. Seems he has a real problem pushing shots to the side, seen this many times |
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Reply | No room for error or complacency
at 04:41 18 Feb 2024
If we’re agreeing it’s better for Leicester to beat Leeds, then their defeat to boro could work well for us. Hopefully there’s a backlash coming Leeds’s way |
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Reply | uh oh
at 04:42 10 Feb 2024
This idea sounds like it has come straight out of Rasmus’s playbook |
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Reply | European Super league 2.0 announced!
at 15:42 21 Dec 2023
They couldn’t care less about the fans, hence why they’re planning to broadcast games on streaming platforms for free. Broadcasters, A22 and super league wantaway clubs will find a way of making it happen sooner or later. Football died a while ago which is why this season has been such a breath of fresh air. Loving it.
The sooner the so called elites f@ck off the better. Let the Americanisation of football happen since it’s inevitable and let proper football fans get back to watching their club play in equitable competitions. Absolutely fine by me |
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Reply | Huge gap
at 04:28 26 Oct 2023
This is just about the most sensible and succinct summary of where we are at as a team. More of this kind of thing please!! |
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