We are (hopefully) going to be in the playoffs and we are going to lose. As I just said we don’t have the match winners or the players that can create something from nothing - especially since we ridiculously let Alcaraz go. When the pressure builds in the big games we will be easy to play against again. Today was an absolutely massive game and we had no clue how to score
Didn’t Smallbone play DM with Charles wide? Today’s result was nothing to do with having/not having a DM, it was about not having a clue or ability on how to breakdown a resolute defence
Yes, he was, but we had defensive solidity as a result. Smallbone's positioning was good, and Charles was able to move back and support him when necessary. The problem with Smallbone is that he's slower than Joe.
Millwall beat us in a totally different fashion to Hull/Bristol. It isn't a case of being sussed out. It's a case of not being able to win them all. We've put in some incredible performances this season, and some shockers. But we're still averaging almost 2 points per game, which is enough to get autos any other season practically.
No, today wasn't directly because we didn't have a DM, although we looked sooooo wide open whenever they broke. But if we had played a DM, we could have pushed Smallbone/Aribo into a more natural creative role. Today was an outlier, and as I said, if it was in isolation it was "one of those games". There's a greater problem here though, in RMs refusal to pick a DM when Downes is out.
I thought KS was more threatening than Edozie today, by miles. He actually created a proper chance, for one.
100% this. One of the best squads in the league. Kicking out our most technically gifted player because he doesn't fit his style. The refusal to try anything different. Arrogant arrogant bastard
He had the advantage of coming on against tired defenders though. Agreed Edozie wasn't great either, but Millwall defended brilliantly, so fair play to them. Stuie and Brooks are far better players than Sulemana and Edozie, and yet they couldn't create anything much either.
Yeah you could say we were slightly unfortunate in that basically the only 2 times they got the ball into our box led to 2 goals, but the worrying thing is that we created next to **** all. Teams will look at that and say “well we’ll get 1 or 2 chances because of the way they play, just hope 1 of them goes in, but if we just stay compact they aren’t scoring many”. Sure it’s easier said than done and Millwall did it brilliantly today to their credit, but it is an obvious blueprint on how to play against us. The players need to take some initiative as well as I don’t care how automated Russ ball is into them to play that patient slow build up, when you are confronted with a team like today just up the tempo, play balls in behind them which we only started doing when Sulemana came on. It was far too easy defensively for Milllwall in the main today
Absolutely gutted to be honest. Proper raging. Supporting saints is always a massive roller coaster but today is a huge low. I don’t think we will win the playoffs and that leaves us in a huge predicament
Unfair to group those two together imo. Charly showed far more than Sully this season. Old ground though so not too bothered to have a detailed discussion on it. Rothwell certainly isn't an upgrade though and Charly offered something no one else does really.
Think Fraser staying on would’ve also had quite a big impact as well as he is always a willing runner. Brooks was probably the worst player on the pitch and quite happy for him to drop back to the bench and be more of an impact player. Rothwell is an utterly pointless player which was obvious about 10 mins into his debut
