I wasn’t comparing them directly as players and accept he has been poor in his time so far. But, for me, he has all the stuff you can’t teach. He can beat a man without thinking, he has ridiculous pace and that “X” factor. The X factor is similar to Taarabt, especially in the Championship this season when we should be dominating most games. The poor passing/crossing/finishing is unproven in my view, he hasn’t had enough opportunities for me to confidently say that. Armstrong is a horrendous finisher based on PL games, but he has played most games this year and has 20 goals. I also like that in his one start recently people were complaining he would stop, get doubled, then pass backwards. When previously the main criticism has been he takes his man on too many times. That for me is a coaching issue. He clearly likes to run and take people on, and when he plays defences are terrified which leads to doubles and should open up space for others.
That’s just how probability works in a 4-team playoff! As for all those celebrating a clean sheet, we’ve all consumed a LOT of curry today, so let’s reassess on that front in the morning….
Low bar, but he actually was the only player that looked like he might do something when he came on twenty minutes too late.
Have you tried the Samosas from the shop in Derby Road? Lush Hmmm … sounds like heavy use of euphemism there
I was there. As I said to bloke in front of me, my WF team move faster than Saints players. Was expecting Szmodics to get at least one goal, probably two. So a clean sheet is a bonus. The turgid dross from Saints wasn’t.
Given all the curry chat on here, we are at a curry restaurant in Blackburn. Apparently the owner is "the king of curry" Looks and smells amazing, but yet to get our mains. Since the curry is more interesting than the football, will let you know!
My local in Spain charges €2.50 a pint and others charge €2.80 - €3.00. Sometimes I wish I was a drinker.
Dreadful, dreadful performance today. Totally flat from the first minute and lacking in energy yet still it was a case of “what might have been”. How the hell did Adarma not score in the 9th minute? That goes in and we might have a performance on our hands, but as we have seen all too often, a sitter was missed and we drop points. Rothwell, Fraser and Brooks just weren’t good enough. Even KWP couldn’t get forward as much as normal, but I wonder if that is because he needs to sit deeper because Stephens is playing the midfield hybrid role and KWP pushing forward too would just leave the 2 CBs to defend. Edozie did what Edozie does. He attacks the FB and occasionally gets to the line but fails to find anyone with a cross, but having said that I would start him Tuesday and bring Fraser on against tired legs. Che needs to start as well. Also found it a bit of a concern that THB needed help with cramp. Has the squad fitness levels dropped, which might be a reason for the late goals against Boro and Ipswich?
Just home from the game. Dreadful performance. No heart, no desire. If that’s playing when the pressure is off god help us and RM. He needs to change his Jack Stephen’s love in or I fear his job will be in jeopardy with sections of the fans started to get pissed off. We play out of the back but only have 3 players available as our new system left back has gone into central midfield. This kills what we’ve been doing all season, and means Fraser is very isolated on the left with no one over lapping him. It just doesn’t work. You saw a few of the players complaining to each other several times today as players aren’t in positions that they’ve been used to all season. We went 25 games unbeaten because we had a system that worked. Really worried that this season is just going to finish with a whimper but I guess as Saints fans we should be used to that.
I also wonder if it's hurting our right hand side too. One of the main features of our good run mid-season is that KWP was almost playing as a right-winger - he was so attack minded. It allowed us to create a front four, with Adam coming inside. But recently, Kyle hasn't been getting forward anywhere near as much. And I wonder if it's because Jack is being allowed to go forward instead (but into central midfield!).
TBF Martin has managed to do something incredible: get us all pining for Ryan Manning. He's so insistent on turning Stephens into John Stones he's failed to notice the total imbalance in the side. Stop trying to be the Scottish Guardiola, stop over complicating things and stop forcing Stephens into the team.
