Yeah, but I don’t remember watching Pochball, seeing us concede and thinking “we’re going to concede in exactly the same way in 2 minutes”, then it happening.
Yep win today and our game in hand and it is 3 points behind Leeds. Not easy, but hardly ‘game over’. Also, the way people are talking is there that we are now 7th. We will be in the playoffs whatever happens - as long as Leeds aren’t there I fancy us against anyone.
I’d understand this ‘all hope of autos is over’ reaction if we don’t win later, but I don’t get it after Leeds winning again last night. It’s one less opportunity for them to drop points gone and that’s it. There’s still plenty of games left. The table looks bad now, and if we don’t win our games in hand including today I’ll admit it’s over. But wait until we fail to win before throwing in the towel. Nothings changed yet.
Yes. Why does he play midfield for Serie A club Juventus? That's right, because we have sacrificed promotion for an unshakeable pig headed football philosophy.
He just wasn't that effective though was he? And 3 million or whatever it was for a bench player for a few months, is hard to turn down for a Championship club.
I’ve said it before but if ever there were a season where it would be great if there was some alternate universe where we could see how we would’ve faired if we had appointed someone who played much more direct this season would be it I appreciate the comments that all 4 teams are an anomaly etc but is it also an anomaly that there are 3 teams spending so much more than every other team on wages this season? I have no idea, but if it is then it’s not that much of a shock that we are doing so much better than the rest of the league, and we are sat 3rd out of the teams spending loads. Ipswich are the impressive ones. Martin clearly has some positives with his man management and turning round a club so low on confidence. Would anyone else have been able to do that with the talent available and winning games because of that talent then breeding confidence etc? It’s impossible to say.
Mmm, I don't really know how you can jump to that conclusion so readily. So many other players have excelled. Don't get me wrong I will criticise Martin where and when I see fit, but sometimes the players have to take blame. If Alcaraz receives the ball, dallies for too long, and then either gets tackled or plays a wayward pass, I don't see how that's on Martin.
We were the worst of the three teams last season in the Prem. We needed the biggest overhaul. How many of our players would get into either the Leeds or Leicester teams? KWP and maybe Downes. THB possibly. Well two of those aren't even our players. We are where we should be in all honesty.
Leeds attack is better than ours but our defence is better than theirs. They don’t have a left back like us (they were trying to get Manning as well remember so not too much of a stretch to say he would’ve been their first choice for at least a time if he had signed) It’s probably about half and half for me, maybe even 6/5 or 7/4 in our favour, but I appreciate that might be some sort of bias based on watching Saints games much more regularly. Leicester I agree more with although I would still say that on paper it’s not as one sided as you would think when you go through it
Leeds have conceded the fewest goals in the whole division. So their defence is obviously pretty good. They've let in 3 goals in the last 12 games. We've conceded 16 in the same period. I've been through it with both. Like I say, KWP for sure. I just don't see who else walks into either of the other teams. Flip it around though, and we'd quite easily take half a dozen of either of theirs. Taking 7/4 of our first team over Leeds is pretty biased. Haha, come on.
Not actually a starter "Juventus announced Thursday that January signing Carlos Alcaraz, who is fresh off his first career start for the club over the weekend largely because of the injury situation in midfield, is now himself going to be sidelined until late March because of a hamstring injury in his right leg he picked up in training on Wednesday." https://www.blackwhitereadallover.c...alanta-2024-serie-a-team-news-team-management. How you can write off promotion at this stage of the season is beyond me.
Yes because they don’t play idiot Martin ball around their box and gift teams goals. I don’t think there is much in the keepers, Bazunu has better distribution so that could sway it towards him THB is the best centre back on either team, I don’t think there is much in Bednarek/Rodon KWP is the best right back, although my Leeds mates think Gray is better than him Left back both teams weak position. As I mentioned the fact they wanted Manning would indicate they liked him and he may have been the starter but nobody stands out on either team as being the best. I’d probably go Firpo but Leeds fans hate him Ampadu is the best centre mid, even though he’s played centre back for large chunk of the season. Then it depends how you want to play. They don’t appear to have a Stu type and more deep lying players, so yeah if you want a more attack minded CM and play a 3 like Saints then Armstrong probably gets in to a combined 11, if not and you want to play 2 deeper players with someone like Rutter as the AM then it’s between Downes/Gruev/Kamara. I’d say Downes but that could be bias having watched much more of him Attack the only Saints players even in the conversation are Adams as the central striker and Brooks. Adams probably the best chance as Bamford is **** as well so depends who you prefer with Piroe as well. So yeah just depends how you lean on certain positions/formations and the old “the player I watch week in week out is better than the player I watch once a month or on highlights” argument, reality is there probably isn’t much in a fair few of them.
Martin can be blamed for certain results, for sure. But I don't blame him for us being 4th in the league. 70 points from 35 games is a very good return. If you had offered me that in July, I would have very happily accepted. We can't control the fact that there are three amazing teams in this division. Say we get 8 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats from our remaining 11 games. That would be 25 points. That would be an ever better points-per-game average which we're already on, despite the difficulty of the remaining fixtures. I would like to think that the majority of Saints fan would consider that to be a successful points haul. And yet, despite how impressive a final points tally 95 points would be, I don't see it being enough to get 2nd. Ipswich for example would only need 17 (or 18) points from their final 10 games. They could slip up 4 or 5 times and still make achieve that! Unless two of the top three fall away, the final points tally to be finish is going to be something around the 98 - 100 mark, which is utterly crazy. I can't blame Martin if we don't achieve that - and the run of results we would need is mind-blowing; totally unfair to judge anyone against.
It seems that it is entirely possible, not to say quite likely, that our 'last' match of the season (depending on when the Preston game is slotted in) could mean that we are the kingmakers for Leeds' promotion. There could easily be a situation where a Leeds win, possibly by at least a certain number of goals, guarantees their promotion, and also means that we won't have to face them in the playoffs. We could be masters of our own destiny, by losing to Leeds, sending them up, and giving us a Leeds-free playoff opportunity. Cue fans of other clubs (Ipswich?) accusing Saints of a stitch up
I'd rather play Leeds in the play offs I think. A final against them at Wembley would be a great occasion imo and I'd be delighted for Ipswich if they got autos.
What I will concede, is that there isn't much in it for a lot of the positions. But I'd still have a Leeds dominant side. THB is great but I don't think we can claim him as hands-down better than Rodon. And a lot of Leeds fans have been saying Ampadu is their player of the season, despite playing at CB. So he's obviously handy there too. I'd go; Either keeper KWP Ampadu Rodon Firpo/Manning (both sh*t) Downes/Kamara Gray Stuie Summerville Rutter Brooks Brooks has only been here for a month though, so over the entire season it's James/Gnonto vs Adarma. About even that one. If I were to put THB ahead of Ampadu, then I'd have to put Ampadu in midfield, and having him and Kamara definitely beats Downes/Charles. Also, it's not like every goal we concede is down to Russ-ball. The second Hull goal, yes. Quite a few earlier in the season during the four loss run. We concede a lot for other reasons (ie; Manning being sh*t).
I like having a look at Reddit sometimes because you get a much more reasonable football fan on there compared to Twatter and the like. Anyway, here's some posts from a thread I saw a moment ago. Turns out we're not the only ones who try to play it out from the back. Who'd a thought it? From Ipswich, Leeds, Hull and Bristol City fans;
