Mate JWP was sick apparently. Though I suspect it was a bad back from carrying the whole team for the last couple of seasons. And at the moment I enjoy watching Lyanco more than anyone else. Limited and erratic he may be, but he has more passion than the rest of them combined.
One word: Ralph. He saved us from the drop, gave us a good season or two, but in the end I also think he became the catalyst for what we have now. His inability to find other ways of playing other than the press, and his poor man-management, led to the senior players growing disillusioned, and moving elsewhere. And then when he was failing at the end of last season, he threw the entire squad under the bus.
I thought that the result last night was predictable. It was disappointing not to get anything against our rivals and the disallowed goal was a disappointment. However, the preformance was no different from the other matches at St Mary's.this season. I cannot recall a season following Saints where there has be no entertainment whatsoever. I think it is eleven home defeats this season and nothing enjpyable whatsoever if watching constant inept and apaethetic. performances , week in and week out. No one at the club has a clue. I do not think it is possible to balme anyone tihing as the club has failed on all levels this season. SR have been incompetent , not only in not binning Ralph in the summer but appointing two sucessors who are clearly not up to the job. It is perplexing that we have signed so many players who do not seem to be good enough to get in the squad. I think the players lack guidance and seem clueless. This cannot be allowed to happen next season and I am hoping for wholesale changes across the board.
Not that the players should get any kind of pass, because they have been god awful and a lot of them clearly are just going through the motions and waiting to jump ship asap. But making that change kills any kind of potential 'we have 45 minutes to save our season' energy, intensity or purpose that we could have had going into the second half. JWP needs to come off because he's ill? Fine. But bringing him off and replacing him with a third CB, losing the midfield AND leaving the likes of Ely and AArmstrong on up front absolutely killed us. How anyone thought that was a good decision is beyond my comprehension. I Just don't get it. If you're not going to go for it at that point then you never are. Selles is a moron.
I don’t agree that they all won’t feel any pain as there should be a relagation clause that reduces their salary. Agreed that to some it won’t matter because they’ll be sold, but that won’t happen to everyone. We’ll be left with the ones that we.can’t sell
What is happening to this great club. Is it time for SR to sell up before it gets worse? Rumours of players and a certain danish chap not listening, JWP arguing with Selles at Half Time and ready to leave. Club is as toxic as I can ever remember. In my opinion SR have one more chance this summer. Strong progressive manager needed with a plan and high coaching and man management skills and support from SR. Clear out the bad eggs etc, press the re set button and start next season aggressively and on the front foot. It’s the hope that kills.
No. Fire Ankersen - yes but as LTL has said the problem hasn't been SR as a whole. They've done their part in investing in the club. It's that colossal bellend Ankersen who's made all the football decisions. SR have been fine as owners - they've secured the future of the club financially and have been active in backing Ankersen. The problem is his ego has ****ed everything up. He was the only one who wanted Jones. He thought he knew better than everyone else. Prick.
You are dead right. Perhaps he ought to be our new skipper next season! I watched the warm up and when Prowsie came over to our corner for the sprints on the touchline, he didn't look quite himself, even my grandson picked that up.
My brother is lucky he died in June 2022 so it hasn't had to see this utter shambles. I think my tenure as Dorcan Old Boys FC club secretary for three seasons was more successful and we were better run than this.
I think, and I'm guilty of this myself, when we refer to SR being **** and bad for the club - we're generalising slightly and really mean ****ersen.
BTW who took the armband when JWP went off. We are so short of leaders that i forget we even have a captain.
Romeu was the better midfielder last season, and Lavia is the better midfielder this season. Prowsie, bless him, he is just so negative. Never attempts to pass it through the middle, never. I remember first game of the season Lavia played, it was one of the very first things he did. It was like he didn't even need to think about it. But to be fair, I think we notice Prowse's negative playing style more, only because we have an absolute lack of any creative players.
Likewise Alcaraz. JWP doesn't pass forwards, and I barely remember him ever driving forwards like Lavia does either. I love the guy for the effort he's put into the club, but he's not a great player (as things stand). He's a decent premier league level CM, with a wicked free kick. I wonder if he worked under someone like Pep, he'd have those more safety-first and negative traits trained out of him. He may have been his own worst enemy by staying at Saints.
Wasn't Ankersen essentially the guy who tapped up Solak in the first place though? I've always seen it as, no Ankersen (and Kraft), no Solak. So maybe we need to keep Ankersen, but just restrict him a bit. Like solitary confinement.
Alcaraz was a bit off last night, but yeah, you can still just see his movement and sharpness are a league above Prowsie's. Always looking for quick one-two's, turning players with ease, dropping the shoulder to make space, quick burst of pace. I just don't see this at all with JWP. Even if he played higher up, he hasn't got the feet to create opportunities to shoot, and he hasn't got the vision to play through balls. He's a tackler, and a sweater. And of course, the greatest direct free-kick taker in the world. But so frustrating to watch.
